A CHRISTIAN
A CHRISTIAN
I know that in christendom everyone who bears a christian profession is called a christian, but I desire to present the traits of one who is led by the Spirit of Christ (”If any one has not the Spirit of Christ he is not of him”, Romans 8: 9) and thus to expose that which assumes to be what it is not.
The first step in the soul after new birth has two parts: one, believing in the work of the cross, and the other, believing in Christ risen from the dead and now in glory (having borne the judgment of God upon man); and the Spirit is received, who assures him of God’s reception in Christ. And next, by another action of the Spirit, he knows that he is in Christ, and that he is as to himself free of the flesh that cannot please God. There are many who believe in the work of Christ who do not know that they have received the Spirit of God, though through the grace of God they are perfectly safe, but they have no power until they have learned the twofold action of the Spirit of God in them. They have not consciously a bond with Christ personally. The one who has known this twofold action of the Spirit, can truly say, “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”. (Galatians 2:20) Until this is known and realised there is no true knowledge of Christ in you or power for walk. When you know that Christ is your life He is endeared to you in a new and peculiar way; already He is endeared to you by His work, but now by His life, and this is made known to you by the Spirit of God.
Now the light breaks in upon you that He who is everything to you is not here, and therefore the world is a wilderness to you - He has been refused in this world and has been called of God to His right hand. If you accept Him as your life, you must follow Him to where He is, and you will have the sense, because you have His life, that He is rejected here, but that you can enjoy Him where He is in His present exaltation.
In the first step you see that man has gone in the cross, and that you are in Christ before God, and clear [p. 262] in yourself as to the old man. In the second step (accepting Him as your life) you find that your place is determined by Christ’s place, for he is your life. Now, if every believer knew these two steps, what a peculiar character they would present, how different would be the order and manner of their life down here, how different they would be from other men! But many who believe in the work of Christ have not consciously received the Spirit of Christ, and therefore have not practically accepted the crucifixion of the old man, and consequently they do not see that the earth is the place of Christ’s rejection and heaven His place at present. Believers who have not consciously drunk the living water do not know the power of the Spirit - they may know that by the work of Christ they are clear before God, they have assurance, but they are really not in peace; they have not the sense of the absolute removal to the glory of God of the offender, † they do not rest in the fact that the old man is crucified with Christ in the sight of God, so that they are before Him in love, and that by another action of the Spirit of God they are in Christ, delivered from the flesh which could not please God; therefore not knowing that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”, (Romans 8: 2) and that they have Christ for their life, they adopt the law for the rule of life here. All the systems are based upon the law for a rule of life, and every effort of devoted souls in system is to honour Christ on earth and to ignore His rejection from this world. With this idea they build churches and chapels. † To me it is inconceivable that a godly man with the Bible in his hand can fail to see that Christ is rejected
†If they return to it again, God judges them for that to which they have returned.
†Here the Romish ecclesiastic grasps every divine right on the earth, which will lead eventually to the usurpation of the earth by antichrist.
[p. 263] here, and consequently that He is in the highest exaltation in heaven. Ignore the one and you ignore the other. If He is not rejected there is liberty for everyone to assert his rights on the earth. A politician, for instance, who believes in Christ’s work, insists upon the rights of his country and his own rights where Christ who is his life is rejected, which is quite inconsistent. It is plain that it is not only faith in the work of Christ to the saving of the soul that constitutes a christian; to be a christian you must be a part of Christ, as a branch is part of a tree. You are not characteristic of Him unless you are in His life by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have not the Spirit of Christ you are not of Him.
Thirdly, when the christian knows that Christ is his life and that his life is not here, he comes to Him as the living Stone in the assembly, where he finds Him in His divine greatness in the holiest of all, above all the power of evil here. There, in that exclusive place, he learns His mind, and His present interest, and is enabled to “show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light”. (1 Peter 2: 9) Now the believer who has not advanced beyond the knowledge of Christ’s work on the cross, though he is saved, has not found his place in the assembly, and consequently he has no knowledge of Christ’s present mind and interests on the earth, but he is occupied with the official rule of the visible church. The more devoted anyone in system is, the more he seeks to maintain due order in the house of God from the bishop down to the curate, but you will remark that he has to do with office and not with gift. Gifts must come direct from the Head by the Spirit.
Finally, in the fourth step, which is knowing Christ in the assembly, you are led by Him into association with Himself into the highest scene, the holiest of all. Thus you rise above the wilderness and are across the Jordan in the sphere of His life; for there you know [p. 264] Him first as Head, and then that you are united to Him, so that you can carry out His pleasure here according to His will.
Scarborough,