CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 7
In chapter 7 we see how man is set aside. We learn that he is nothing in himself, but Christ is for him. In verses 3 and 4, washings, etc., that man might be comely in man’s view. This is what we get in Colossians 2. Piety in itself is good, but when you are pious to make an impression it will not do. A Galatian seeks to stand well with himself. A Colossian wants to have reputation, a Corinthian is a self-indulgent character.
There is great lack when a person is not devout.
Ques Is it right to bow your head at the name of Jesus?
JBS It is right to bow your heart then your manner will be all right.
A person who has not a true sense of the nature of the union between himself and Christ is always religious outwardly. Whereas one who has a real sense of it feels that he never can be bowed enough, or controlled enough in heart. Watchfulness as to one’s manner and ways is real godliness. If there is love to God, what is genuine will come out. It is the fictitious thing that I am against - when a religious person puts it on like his Sunday clothes.
The Lord was perfectly simple and natural when He came down from the mount of glory. He paid the taxes. A beloved brother used to say, Take care how you live before people. It was quite a new doctrine for a Jew to hear that all the evil was inside. They were accustomed to evil outwardly, but they are taught here (verse 15) that it comes from within. All the mischief was inside, and now all the blessing is inside!
Verses 24 - 30. In this scene we have an example of how the Lord relieved one from the power of evil. Man is in such a state that the devil can take possession of him. No title, but confidence in God. You must have the two things together. You come as one entitled to nothing, but the Lord is so good that He can give to one who has no title.
If you walk about this world with the sense that you have no title to anything, but you count on His goodness, God will surprise you with His benefits.
Ques What is the force of “For this saying”? (verse 29.)
Just that - no title but confidence in God. The difficulty is with us to combine the two. They must go together. I am no more than a dog, but there is such goodness in Him that He could not refuse me a crumb.
In Eden they doubted God’s goodness, so helped themselves. The thief on the cross is the reverse of that. It is the way for either sinner or saint. No title on my side but perfect goodness in God. In Matthew 14 we get the power of the world outside us - winds and waves. But here it is the weakness in oneself. It is a question of immense importance how I can be superior to the power of evil acting in myself. The effect of the thorn in the flesh was to diminish Paul. “My grace is sufficient for thee” was the answer to it. That is the way I get deliverance given by the Lord now. All Job’s suffering was in order to bring about this combination, he says, “I abhor myself” but I have confidence in God. Then he prayed for his friends.
The way we have confidence in one another is the sense that I would do as much for you another time. This is the very opposite principle to that of confidence in God. The feeling of having title clings to us. You are labouring perhaps, and you have a sort of expectation from the Lord on account of it. You are disappointed if you do not get the favour you expect. Having done all we are to say, “We are unprofitable servants”. I am a poor thing, but there is grace in His heart for me.
Stephen is an illustration of chapter 6, and Paul of chapter 7. Paul’s trial was much greater than Stephen’s. All outside force was against him, but Paul had to carry the inside trial (assailed by Satan) all through his life. What crippled him was in consequence of the evil of [p. 160] the flesh. Otherwise Satan could not have got a hold - he would not have required the thorn but for the flesh. If we are simply where the Syrophenician woman was, we should be always surprised at God’s goodness to us. It is an immense thing to walk about in the full sense of this. I am entitled to nothing, but God is so good He will consider for me. “He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind”, Isaiah 27: 8. He hears the cry of the young lions; Psalm 104: 21. I should be afraid to afflict a poor person, even if he were not a christian, lest God should hear his cry; and to touch a christian is touching the apple of His eye. Much of our suffering comes from disappointment, which we should not have if we really took the low place - “I was brought low, and he helped me”. Jacob, at Peniel, was in the state for grace; he had not a word to say for himself; he could not get lower, but he clung to the Blesser.
In verse 32 they bring one deaf and dumb to the Lord. We do not get this case in the other gospels. It brings out in a wonderful way the ministry of Christ. It was a great moral service. He comes to put the person in a receptive state, to make him both hear and speak. This man is a type of the nation. They had no ear to hear. It was peculiarly affecting to the Lord. He marks it with a sigh; but He will make him both hear His word and speak plainly. It is a great thing to get the ear; faith comes by hearing. If the word of God is heard, there is no doubt that it will come out plainly. There is a moral character in all these cases. The Lord is opening out the moral character of His grace. It was not the disaster that suggests what He will do. He had from God what He was to do far beyond the disaster - it was according to the immeasurable love of God. It was such pleasure to Him to elevate a poor creature on the earth that He had no thought for natural food. He charged them that they should tell no man. He does not want to be a popular [p. 161] character; He shrinks from publicity. It is a mistake when a servant becomes popular now. It is the time for privacy.