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"I COME ... TO DO THY WILL, O GOD"

“^[p. 193] I COME ... TO DO THY WILL, O GOD”

I could not, beloved brethren, pretend for an instant to carry your thoughts to where what we have heard would carry them. But in confirmation of what has been brought before us, I have read this scripture, and would seek to bring out a little, the line on which Christ came here; feeling that it involves truth of vital importance to our souls.

The greatest service that can, perhaps, be rendered at the present moment to saints is so to minister to them the truth, as to transfer them as to the state of their souls from the ground of man’s responsibility to the ground of divine counsel.

There is a tendency in every one of us to limit the grace of God to the clearance of our responsibility; but though all is cleared, I do not think for a moment that that is the measure of grace, nor is it really the line on which Christ came into this world.

If you study the epistle to the Hebrews you may see that the evident object of the apostle is to lead those whom he addresses, off the ground of law, and to place them on that of the purpose of God. They were naturally on the ground of ordinances, and were accustomed to connect religion with their responsible life down here. The law did not go beyond the measure of man’s responsibility. It was interwoven with the responsible life of man on earth, although it contained “the shadow of good things to come”. Under the old covenant, religion was mixed up with responsibility; but now the counsel of God is revealed, God is bringing many sons to glory.

It is evident that promise is the expression of counsel, and indeed apart from counsel we should not have promise. In chapter 6 it is stated that, “God, willing ^[p. 194] more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it with an oath”. Counsel was expressed in promise as regards Abraham and the promises being unconditional, must be of counsel. Clearly every absolute promise of God is, of necessity, an expression of His counsel. The great difficulty is to lead saints, as to the apprehension of their souls, to the ground of counsel.

If we look around, it would not perhaps be too much to say that the greatest part of Christians are little more than advanced Jews; that is, their Christianity (religion rather) is interwoven with their responsible life down here: they know something of grace, and of the forgiveness of sins; but their religion may be said not to be beyond what is suited to man on earth — it is interwoven with their responsible everyday life. That is well enough in its place, but it is not the height of grace — not Christianity; and it indicates a lack of apprehension of the counsel of God; for what God has now given us is a calling in its nature entirely outside of our responsible life on this earth.

We read in Ephesians 1, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”. How could this be spoken of as part of our responsible life? Clearly it is God’s calling, not our responsibility; and what should be desired and sought after is, that saints should be led into the apprehension of God’s calling in grace, for the more the calling is apprehended the more they will come out in the colour of it. The more anyone apprehends the calling the more he will seek to carry the souls of the saints into it; and the more they apprehend it the more will it affect their responsible life here, and the manner in which they carry out their duties here.

In Hebrews 9: 26 - 28 and chapter 10 the apostle is putting Christ in contrast to the law; the force of the passage at the end of chapter 9 is marred by the ^[p. 195] division of the chapters; evidently the great point is to put in contrast the yearly recurrence of the sacrifices with the complete and efficacious character of the work of Christ.

There are two distinct thoughts in verses 26 and 28 — the dealing with sin and with sins. I have more than once felt thankful for the passage, as it appears to me to throw a reflex light on what was foreshadowed in the day of atonement; for though in contrast with the day of atonement it is nevertheless instructive as to it. Evidently allusion to the day of atonement is made in the end of chapter 9, and apart from verse 26, I could hardly have associated sin with the day of atonement; I judge that what this verse teaches us is that the carrying in of the blood on the day of atonement indicated the clearing of sin as before God.

But I do not see that sin is here viewed as man’s responsibility. In verse 28 sins are so viewed; verse 28 is the complete clearance of responsibility. But it is plain enough that what the work Christ came to accomplish was to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and that is the complete clearing away of sin from before God in order that God might have a free hand to accomplish His counsel.

That is the line on which Christ came, and in this light Psalm 40 is here quoted, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God”. We have the will of God presented in contrast to the offerings under the law: He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second. He takes away the system of offerings which were connected with man’s responsibility — the first, that He may establish the second. And what is that? God removed by Christ that which caused distance between Himself and us. The will, the good pleasure of God, was to remove every bit of distance between Himself and man. The cause of the distance between God and man has been removed, and whether we apprehend it or not, God has come close to us. The veil was rent ^[p. 196] from the top to the bottom. No one will ever have a right apprehension of what it is to go in to God, if they do not see the distinct object for which He came out in Christ.

It is blessed to know that all distance is gone, whether we apprehend it or not. God in His boundless love and grace has drawn near to us, and the wonderful display of this is in the work of the cross. The veil was rent from the top to the bottom. No mere human mind could conceive such a thought as that the will of God was to remove every bit of distance between Himself and man; that in it He might be fully revealed, and Himself and His love fully known and enjoyed in the most perfect nearness and intimacy. I need hardly say that unless there were a corresponding work of grace in us it would be all unavailing.

For a true idea of eternal life you must put together what is presented in John 3 and 4. Chapter 3 is objective, chapter 4, subjective. In the one we see God coming out as the Giver of it, and in the other, the corresponding state in us, “A well of water springing up into everlasting life”. The water that Christ gives cannot be disconnected from the believer nor the believer from it. It is a well of water in him.

In regard to the truth before us, we see in chapter 10 that He does away with the one, the order of sacrifices under law, that He may establish the other — the will of God, by which will we are sanctified. We thus see how the whole system of offerings is set aside, that God may establish another and a better thing.

I would add a few words on how He makes good to us that will. It is in putting us in company with the very One who came to accomplish His will. By that will we are sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ, and the sanctification is that we are of the kindred and company of the priest. The Sanctifier and the sanctified are all of one — are one company, like Aaron and his sons, and He is not ashamed to ^[p. 197] call us brethren. That is where we are. It is what Christ came for. It is Christianity. People are defective because they limit Christ’s work to the clearance of sins, and fail to see the will of God and the place of association with Christ with which it connects us. Christianity is that God has come out, and believers are placed in association with the very One who came out to do the will of God. He leads the praises of the assembly because He knows the heart that is toward the assembly.

But the apostle adds a word to show the completeness of the clearance of those who are sanctified, first contrasting the position of Christ with that of priests under the law. “This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God ... For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified”. They who are sanctified by God’s will are perfected by one offering. If sins are not completely cleared, they never can be for there remains no more offering.

The object in Hebrews is not to unfold the ground and doctrine of justification, but to show the completeness of it — “perfected for ever”. We get the practical part of the chapter in verses 23 - 25. We are to consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as we see the day approaching. We have individual privilege, but we have also special obligations one toward another, and responsibility, through grace, for one another’s welfare.

With the wonderful reality before us that our salvation is commensurate with the revelation of God, and taught of Him to enter into the true apprehension of it, its gracious effect will be wrought in us, in leading us to the acceptance and fulfilment of our responsibilities in a true care for the spiritual welfare of one another.

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