CHAPTER 12

^[p. 120] CHAPTER 12

We have seen in the former section, the reconciling of God’s outward dispensational ways with His sovereign mercy and election in the gospel. The compassions of God are the ground of the exhortation in chapter 12. We find two principles which have marked God’s dealings in the world: on the one hand election, and on the other rejection; the first man is rejected all along the line, and everything is brought to pass in the second Man. If we trace this through Scripture, Isaac is the man of purpose and Ishmael is rejected; then Jacob is chosen and Esau is rejected; Israel finds mercy, “I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion”, and Pharaoh is destroyed. Then there is the election from Jew and gentile, and Lo-ammi on Israel; and eventually Israel is brought back and the gentile rejected. These two principles of sovereign mercy and rejection have always lain underneath the dispensational dealings of God: every one who is saved in the present dispensation is saved through sovereign mercy; at the same time the principle of rejection is shown in the Jews, for the time being they are cut off. The rejection of man is not until he has filled up the measure of his perverseness. Pharaoh was allowed to fill up his measure, and so the Jew and the gentile. There is the sovereign grace of God to the vessels of mercy, and the perverseness of man; and there are the sovereign rights of God, and if He rejected Ishmael and Esau He had a right to do so. Rejection is a principle on which God has acted from the outset, and the force of this to the Jew was that their own position was dependent on it; if Ishmael had not been rejected, Isaac would not have had the place he had. Israel is spared on the ground of sovereign mercy. All who are saved come in on that ground, but if there is the sovereignty of mercy, there must be rejection. God would have been ^[p. 121] perfectly just in rejecting everybody, but He acts in the sovereignty of mercy, and says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy”. If a man does not admit God’s right to reject, he has very little idea of being himself an object of sovereign mercy; and if he does not accept mercy, he is rejecting God. If any one is saved, it is of the pure sovereign mercy of God, nor can we understand chapter 12 apart from that; the apostle takes up those at Rome on that ground, the whole epistle goes upon the ground that God hath concluded all under sin and unbelief that He might have mercy upon all. The world has rejected Christ, and the gospel has come in to accomplish God’s purpose; and the light having come into the world presents itself to everybody, but he that doeth evil hateth the light, he feels the light.

Saints ought to be conscious that they are the objects of God’s sovereign mercy, and, in proportion as we are affected by the compassions of God, we are here for His pleasure, that is, for His will. The christian’s body is a sacrifice — a thing devoted which cannot be recalled, it is for the will of God; hence the christian cannot use his body as he pleases. It would make a great change with us, if we were conscious in the depths of our souls of being saved in the sovereignty of God’s mercy. There comes a moment in the soul’s history when the obligation to present the body as a living sacrifice is accepted, but then this has to be maintained. If the body is a living sacrifice, there is not a bit of the will of the flesh animating it. It could not be a living sacrifice unless its deeds were mortified, it would only bring forth fruit unto death; but if the body is a living sacrifice it is dead in regard of the lusts and will of the flesh. A point of great practical importance in yielding the body a living sacrifice is, that, in effect, it breaks the link with the course of things here; we are not conformed to this age, but are transformed by ^[p. 122] the renewing of our minds, and consequently engaged with the faith sphere. Really the will of God is connected with His purpose for us, and in presenting the body a living sacrifice, we prove practically and experimentally what God has taken us up for. We are connected through the renewing of the mind with an order of things entirely outside of the natural order. First, we see the light of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ, God’s effulgence; then the Lord Jesus Christ as the last Adam in the presence of God in subsisting righteousness; as the first Adam was head in sin, so the last Adam is Head in subsisting righteousness, the witness that sin has been removed. Further, there is the house of God where God dwells by the Spirit; all that is to faith an entirely new order of things. You see the whole order of things in which the will of God is expressed, and have to order your course accordingly; if you do not get an idea of what God’s will is, you cannot order your course for His pleasure.

No one can really understand the house of God, who does not see the last Adam appearing in the presence of God in subsisting righteousness; there is not only the perfect purgation of sins, but the last Adam appearing for us in the presence of God, so that all is administered by Him in grace; the first thing resulting from that was the gift of the Holy Spirit which formed the house of God. The house is set up in the sanctification of the Spirit, as separate from the world as the Holy Spirit is separate; we all admit now the existence of the great house, and we have to confront the confusion, but we are not worth much if we do not get hold of the divine idea in the midst of the unreality around. The tabernacle as presented in Hebrews 9 was a pattern of things in the heavens, and everything connected with it had to be purged with blood; but the heavenly things, that is, the things connected with christianity, had to be ^[p. 123] purged with better sacrifices than these, for “Christ is not entered”, it goes on to say, “into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us”, that is, that He appears in the presence of God in subsisting righteousness, and this is connected with heavenly things, that is, with christianity. There is perfect purgation, but there is also Christ appearing representatively in the presence of God for us in connection with what is down here the antitype of the tabernacle — the house of God, but then the house of God was set up in the sanctification of the Spirit. In the type, the sacrifices had to be repeated year by year, their value only went for a year, now Christ appears for us in subsisting righteousness. He is our righteousness in the presence of God, therefore it cannot be impugned. The consequence of righteousness being established in the last Adam, is that the house of God is set up here, the last Adam is Son over God’s house. What is important is that we should get the apprehension of a system or order of things wholly outside the course of things here. Hence the necessity for the renewing of the mind.

The will of God is developed sufficiently here for our individual conduct, as Peter says, God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness; the details come in to show us how we can be here for God’s pleasure. In the end of the chapter we have a principle of tremendous moment. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good”. It is a divine principle, and is possible only in what is of God. We find in the first part of the chapter that everything is new, everything is of God, it has come down from heaven, it is the will of God. God has dealt to every man the measure of faith, that is of God; then there are gifts, they come from heaven in consequence of the last Adam being in heaven.

The measure of faith is the sense that a man has of ^[p. 124] divine favour; it comes out in connection with his not thinking of himself beyond what he ought to think, for the fact is that if you come down to the measure of faith, you come down to what is very small. Many a man has come into the house of God, and thought he was going to be as important in the house of God as he was in the world; but you have to act on a wholly new principle, that is, according to the measure of the light you have from God, the favour that each is conscious of from God. It is no use a man venturing beyond his faith, he will only expose himself. No doubt to him that hath shall be given, but there is also the sovereignty of God. It is as God has dealt to every man. If we had a little more courage, we should be here for the will of God more distinctly, for it needs courage to act up to your light. It is a serious thing for a man to act up to the light God has given him, because the path will make increased demands upon him; we are often inclined to seek a little easier path. There is not in the passage the idea of imitating one another, nor of studying all day long, even though it be Scripture, so as to become like some of our great leaders. When God takes up a man that man will to a certain extent be marked by originality. It is foolish in anyone to wish to be like another, though it is good to own in another the favour bestowed of God; we could wish as Moses did, that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that all had light and spiritual power, it would have an immense effect.

The thought here in connection with gifts is that each gives himself up to his gift, it is his paramount business. If a man exercises his gift as being subordinate to his social life, then a man’s life is the first thing, but that is not the divine idea. A man is characterised by his gift; his family, life, business, is subordinate to it; he may become very much more competent by the exercise of his gift; the gift is not ^[p. 125] altered, but as be is bent on it he becomes more efficient in its exercise. There is such a thing as stirring up a gift, and thus becoming more characterised by it. Every member of the body is capable, but a gift is more distinct. There is a great deal in what our beloved brother who has just departed has said, that he thought a gift was the impression which a man had received of Christ. The apostle Paul for instance says, “When it pleased God ... to reveal his Son in me”; the revelation of God’s Son in him was what peculiarly characterised the apostle in his ministry. Ministry becomes the expression of the impression received. Gift is an immense favour, so, too, faith. It is wonderful to think that God should give a man light down here so that he can walk in the will of God; and it is a further favour to be endowed with a gift, so that one can be efficient in the service of the Lord. We ought to be deeply exercised as to the favour granted to us, and to be those attending on it, so that we should be efficient in regard of the scene and sphere of God’s will. The gift is individual, but it would not do to separate it from the idea of the body, or the effect would be to make one independent, and gift is connected with the idea of interdependence. A gift does not make a man independent, for it is bound up with all the interests of Christ, and it must be exercised in the reality of our being members one of another. Paul took pains to vindicate his ministry to the saints at Corinth when it was called in question; they were not a very satisfactory company, and yet he vindicates himself before them. Some of the Lord’s servants may have had to go through their forty years of training as Moses did, that is the fitting of the vessel; but that which qualifies them for service is the gift; it is what has come from heaven. It is an extraordinary favour to have a gift from the Lord, even though it be not a conspicuous one. A man may be set on having the best gifts — those which most ^[p. 126] tend to the edification of the saints. Stephen began with the service of a deacon, but he ended with a very distinct gift. The Corinthians were to desire gifts, but chiefly that they might prophesy, and yet without the more excellent way all the gifts were nothing to a man. The more excellent way comes in lower down (verses 9). The point in the exhortation is not only the doing a good thing, but the doing it in the best way. How often a person does a good thing, but in such a way that it loses its value. Distributing alms for the assembly is a gift, but the point is to do it in such a way that it may not be deprived of its value.

A man is not really efficient outside of his own line. One who teaches may preach the gospel, nor could we wish it otherwise, but he does not set up to be an evangelist. In one sense there is little proclamation of the gospel in the present day, the preaching today is almost all in christendom. At the first it was God’s proclamation and the apostles were heralds, they went out and proclaimed the gospel. But it is to be remembered that the gospel is the means by which souls are established. The epistle to the Romans was written to establish christians in their souls in the gospel, and there the service of a teacher may come in. You do not see the effects of teaching so clearly as of preaching, but one cannot go about without observing that a certain amount of result is produced, you constantly hear that people are helped. Each one is efficient in the gift he has. The gift makes way for him.