"IF ANY ONE BE IN CHRIST, THERE IS A NEW CREATION"
“[p. 481] IF ANY ONE BE IN CHRIST, THERE IS A NEW CREATION”
Genesis 24: 2 - 4; Hebrews 2: 11
I think, beloved friends, we should take more to heart the greatness of God’s purpose with regard to each of us while on the earth, and that His great purpose, and His object now, should be so little known. I am not going to speak on God’s present object, but no greater grace could be conferred on you than that you should know that you are united to the One who has glorified God here upon the earth. I do not say that it is when you know it that it is accomplished. It is an immense comfort of heart to everyone desiring it, to know that it is accomplished. God has set each in the body as it hath pleased Him. We did not put ourselves there; He has done so. But I ask every Christian, Do you know it? The fact is lamentable, that, turn where you will, you hear little of God’s greatest purpose for every believer while on earth, and His own present object, the body of Christ. You have to begin with your salvation in order to understand new creation. But I desire to trace, as far as I am able, from the beginning up to the consummation. If the consummation were known in the power of the Spirit the effect would be wonderful. I have read these verses to convey this subject. I believe the one great practical hindrance to your realising union with Christ is that you are not quite sure that you are of His kindred. I do not say that you are not sure of being saved, but you are not sure that you are of the kindred of Christ. You never can know union until you know that you are of His kindred. No one with any moral disparity could be united to Christ. Hence you get in Hebrews 2, “he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for [p. 482] which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”. You could not have a more comprehensive scripture. You could not put a noun to one, or you would limit it. We partake of Him, not He of us. There has been a popular statement, a most erroneous one, that Christ is our elder brother. Never! The wonderful excess of grace is, that we are His brethren. His brethren after the flesh did not believe on Him, we read in the gospels. I will not attempt to explain the marvellous grace involved in making us His brethren. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone”. That unique Man was alone, “but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit”. When He rose from the dead He entrusts Mary Magdalene with the most wonderful message ever entrusted to a messenger, “Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God”. I know I am addressing those who have often heard these truths, but I also believe that I am addressing those to whose hearts the thought comes with fresh joy, that they are really of the same stock and lineage as the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed One who was here. As another has said, thus we are connected with “all things are of God”.
I desire, as briefly as I can, to trace the new creation from its beginning, because I believe there is much darkness as to it. I shall try to make it simple to the youngest believer. I do not speak of new birth, or what we commonly call conversion. I believe a great deal depends upon the measure of grace first presented to the awakened soul. I see how very fully grace was declared at first in Acts; Jesus and the resurrection. The apostle Paul says to the jailor, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”. Very many of those who believe the gospel believe only in the sacrifice of Christ. That is the beginning; but they do not apprehend the value of His resurrection. The truth of the sacrifice is found in the Old Testament,
[p. 483] but there is no such thing as resurrection in the types of the Old Testament. There never was a victim raised. If you only know the sacrifice you do not know acceptance. You know that your sins are forgiven; you have assurance I admit, but not acceptance. You know that you are safe, safe as in Exodus 12; but that is not acceptance, but preservation from judgment. To know the truth of acceptance, we must pass on to chapter 15, where in type you have walked through the Red Sea, which typically is the death and resurrection of Christ. Then you have acceptance, you are brought to God. You have to do with God; the great mark of acceptance is you are occupied with God. Up to this the enemy, Pharaoh and the Egyptians, are before you. It is not only that Christ died, but He rose again. People do not deny His resurrection, but do you believe that He died and rose again for you? If you do there is no disturbing element between God and you. Many are occupied with their own feelings about themselves. I quote Romans 4, the end of the chapter, “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it [righteousness] was imputed to him: but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification”. God is the justifier. No soul has peace with God until he knows that there is no disturbing element between God and him. This is the first sense of the new creation. In the parable the prodigal son knew that his father had nothing against him. This really is the first step, but many believers, I am sorry to say, are more occupied with assurance than with acceptance. When you believe that God has raised Christ from the dead, you are justified, and being justified by faith you have peace with God. Now you are on new ground before God, you are before God in Christ. This is the first step; you are now on a new footing [p. 484] you have entered on the new creation. You are accepted in the One who has been raised out from among the dead; you are clear of the man who was under judgment, and you are before God in the Man who has glorified God in bearing judgment. “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand”, Romans 5:2. It is a never-to-be-forgotten moment when you know it. You have entered on a new history; you are no longer before God in Adam, the man under judgment, but in Christ who glorified God in bearing the judgment on man. In no other way can you solve what seemed incongruous to the elder brother in the father’s reception of the prodigal. He says, “These many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends”; but here is the scandal of the house, and there is no end to the favour you confer on him! The solution is this: the prodigal is received on the ground of another Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who glorified God. The elder brother wants to be received on the ground of being a good man who only did what he ought to have done. The abounding grace is that you are received on the ground of the One who has glorified God. Then you are “accepted in the Beloved”.
I turn now to the next step, where there is often a long delay before you have taken it. Many a day I knew that I was clear in the eye of God, that the man under judgment was ended in the cross to God’s endless satisfaction; it was unspeakable joy to me to look to Him; but when I looked to myself I saw it was not gone from me. I was not in moral keeping with my acceptance with God. You see it illustrated in the prodigal; when he came to know his father’s reception he could not say to his father, “Make me as one of thy hired servants”, seeing the terms on which he was received. But in the next step is the [p. 485] delay with souls. Hence we get in Romans 6 and 7 what we all have to learn experimentally, even that we are set free from sin. I need not tell you the many methods which have been tried in order to attain this. I think the prevailing error among ourselves is that some suppose that they can be free by faith. No; by faith you know that you are free in the sight of God. As to yourself you are not free, but as you are in the Spirit. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free”. But there may be a returning to the old man after you have received the Spirit. Look at the Corinthians and the Galatians. See how departure came in even though they had received the Spirit. See what they are brought to; they are powerless. The Corinthian allowed his mind to work, he was thinking of his natural wisdom, the Galatian how he could be religious. There are the two lines; you constantly see Christians in one line or the other. But if you have accepted the resurrection truly you must change your man. It is easy to say the words, but I know nothing more practically difficult than to change your man. It is easy in a way to accept the doctrine, but how little have we truly accepted it! It is the subject of the end of Romans 5, and in Romans 6 you are committed to death, baptised unto Christ’s death. How did you get out of judgment? By death. How do you keep free of the man who was judged? By death. You are committed to death. “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord”. The flesh cannot effect this, the Spirit of God only can. But if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body you live. You can believe that the old man has gone from the eye of God. God never deviates from the efficacy of Christ’s work. But you cannot believe that the old man is gone from you because it is not always true.
[p. 486] Holiness by faith is an unscriptural statement. There is no such thing. God has removed everything from His own holy eye in the cross. It is unspeakable joy to every heart that knows it, and not only that, but He has given you the Holy Spirit that you may be in moral consistency with Himself. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. Now I am free! You have acceptance first, and now you have liberty. This is a wonderful step! Now you are in the new order; you have advanced in new creation. “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh”, Romans 8: 2, 3. Thereupon comes out a statement which must gladden every true heart in this room. “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit”. God never reverts to the flesh; He has judged it. He never sees you in the flesh, He sees you in the Spirit; but do you walk in the Spirit? In the offerings of the Old Testament the most pious one found relief when he offered a sacrifice, but he had to offer again next day. But now not only are your sins gone, but the man who did the sins is also gone in the sight of God. If you walk in the flesh and do not judge yourself, God will judge you, as we read, “to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh”. There is no more offering for sin. Many do not believe that the old man is gone in judgment. Through grace you are in the risen Man. In Romans 6 you are severed from Adam by the death of Christ; you are alive in Him who by His death has severed you from the old man. Many are in darkness here. I can feel for them; like myself they are trying to improve themselves, overlooking that as now in Christ, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free. “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live”, Romans 8:13. You are [p. 487] committed to this in chapter 6; you find the way to it in chapter 8.
It is as you grow in the apprehension of new creation that you are able to appropriate what is yours through grace. It is yours before you appropriate it. It is true that every one who has received the Spirit is united to Christ; but you might know nothing about it; you must be fitted for it. The one thing Abraham’s steward was sworn to was that the bride should be of the kindred of Isaac. How did he find out that she was of his kindred? By her grace. He asked of God that the right person should not only offer to get water for himself, but for the camels. When the steward asked Rebekah, she immediately offered to get water for him and for his camels. Then he asked of her kindred, and found out that she was the one he sought. But Rebekah does not know union until she is brought to Isaac; and be assured that you must be brought by the Spirit to Christ where He is, in order to realise now the greatest distinction which God has vouchsafed to you, and that is that you are united to Christ in heaven. Until you consciously know this, you cannot be fully His confidential servant. You may serve Him and labour much, but you cannot be in full concert with His mind except as you realise union with Him.
But to proceed. It is a wonderful day when you can say: “Not I, but Christ liveth in me”. But mind the order in which it comes: one man is gone; “I am crucified with Christ”. My own personality is gone in the cross; a new Person comes in: “Christ liveth in me”. I think it is illustrated very forcibly in the case of the weaning of Isaac in Genesis 21. Then Isaac got his right place. There is a moment when Christ gets His right place in your heart; there is a day when He is owned there. Who refused Isaac his place? Ishmael, the cultivated man, the child of Abraham, brought up in his house; he [p. 488] mocked. That is a much deeper and more painful experience to go through than Romans 7. In Romans 7 you find that you are incompetent to keep the law; but here in Galatians 4 you find that the most cultivated sentiment of your nature does not like Christ.
“Who knows thee well, will quit thee with disgust,
Degraded mass of animated dust”.
Now you have turned the corner. Here you learn how you are delivered from the Galatian snare. The Corinthians were re-established by beholding the Lord’s glory. Beholding His glory you are transformed! Never was there a more wonderful statement. The translators could not catch the full meaning of it. We have it in our hymn:
“Yet sure if in Thy presence
My soul still constant were,
Mine eye would more familiar
Its brighter glories bear”. (51:4)
Transformed to what? To perfection, do you mean? No; but into the same image; the impression of Himself at the time. If our souls were more constant there, in His presence, we should know it better. I believe you come to a great step now; you have advanced to His own side. You come now nearly to what Scripture calls perfect, which simply means grown up. We speak wisdom among those who are grown up. The Corinthians were only babes in Christ; they were not ready for wisdom.
In John 13 the Lord speaks of “part with me”. In the Old Testament the highest favour was: “I will be with thee”. Now there is something higher: “WITH ME”. You shall have part with Me. You cannot know the priesthood unless you know part with Christ risen. Do not reject this because it is a great step, but believe it, and ponder on it. Unless you have known the work of the Saviour all that He has effected for you, you will not come to Him as Priest. The Priest is not occupied with sins but [p. 489] with infirmities. You cannot be in His company now except with Him risen. Possibly there is nothing more unknown to us than His sympathy. His sympathy can only be known in His company.
We have seen that in Hebrews 2 we are His brethren. We accompany Him into the holiest in His fragrance. In type Aaron and his sons go together into the holy place. It is important for you to bear in mind that the Spirit has brought you to this in order that you might avail yourself of it. You are never behind the Spirit’s work in you, and you are never before it. If I could know the Spirit’s work in every soul in this room I should know where that soul is; it is not how much you have read, or how much you know, but where are you? What is the measure of the work of the Spirit in you? No one can join the Lord in the assembly unless he is outside of man. Many come to the meetings who were never in His presence. His presence is outside of man and outside of the flesh. It is entirely new ground. Priesthood and the assembly are in the one connection.
Now in Colossians you pass not only outside of man but outside of the world, the things here. As far as I see, you have now passed beyond “young men” in 1 John 2. You have passed outside the world. I think a Christian may advance much without being outside present things. “Young men” have overcome the wicked one, Pharaoh, Satan, the power of death they are strong, the word of God abides in them but their share is that they are attracted to things here. Do not you like things here? I suppose you do! I say this, because I know myself! And I tell you that I never clung to any earthly thing that it did not fail; yet you will not lose anything which is of any use to you. You do not change your house or your place, but you are in the wilderness, morally a new position. You get there through death, you get out of judgment by the death and the resurrection [p. 490] of Christ. You are severed from the old man by the death of Christ.
To return to Colossians. You come to Christ there outside of everything here, where there is no human voice. Now you know Him as the Head of the body, and until you have known that Christ is your Head, you cannot know union with Him. It has been a comfort to me to remember the way the Lord was pleased to revive the truth some sixty years ago. He made known through the Scriptures to a brother that Christ in heaven was his Head. At that time he did not know the truth of Romans and hence could not enter as yet into this great light. It is a great thing to see what God is doing. It is a great thing to go like Moses on Mount Pisgah and to see the land; he was attracted to it. Is it not a great thing for any young Christian in this room to be attracted to Christ as Head, in order to know union with Him? When once you start on this line you will not be happy but as you continue in it. A Christian when he declines always surrenders the most advanced truth first. The top-shoot goes first. But you ask, Will he not get it back again? Yes, surely, if he returns to where he lost it, to the point of departure, but there is no restoration, the cloud is not removed till your feet are washed, until in Christ’s presence you get back to the point of your departure.
Christ is the only Head. God does not support anything that is not Christ’s. The five foolish virgins some say are Christians. Impossible! They are left behind. Every Christian goes to Christ; every member of Christ must go to Him. “Why persecutest thou me?” The body of Christ is formed here to fill up the hiatus consequent on the rejection of Christ. When Christ moves from off the Father’s throne every one of Christ must go to Him. That there will be a work of grace of another kind on the earth subsequently I do not doubt. If you do not [p. 491] understand the mystery, you will never understand the meaning of “all of one”, Hebrews 7: 11. Every trouble which has ever occurred amongst us has been from not understanding the nature of Christ as Man. If you do not understand the nature of Christ as Man you do not understand the mystery. The church is the complement of Himself. You will go too much one way or the other way if you do not understand Him.
Now I pass on to the greatest step. Ephesians 1: 1 - 14 refers to you individually, to your fitness. This I have been working out. Until you know you are morally suited to Christ, of His kindred, you cannot know that you are united to Him. We are all united to Him. I want you to maintain that; but I want you also to see the wonderful purpose of God for you on this earth, that you may realise your union with Christ, be brought to Christ, like Rebekah to Isaac; I do not think you can have the sense of union unless you know you are brought by the Spirit to Christ where Christ is. You have to travel in wilderness experience across the Jordan to get there, conducted by the Spirit to that spot, as in the language of the hymn:
“And see, the Spirit’s power
Has ope’d the heavenly door,
Has brought me to that favoured hour,
When toil shall all be o’er”. (74:5)
The Spirit can conduct you into the joy of it now. Though you have not been removed from the earth, the Spirit can conduct you into the purpose of God, even to know that you are united to Christ Himself in the place where He is. You cannot acquire heavenly power until then, nor can you be in concert with His mind until then.
As I began, so I must end. How it should distress and humble us that instead of the church being this day to Christ what Rebekah was to Isaac, as one [p. 492] homogeneous whole, many are contending for their own views and works, while Christ Himself is not the one absorbing object. The church should be a solace to Christ here on this earth, consequent on the failure of Israel. If I move your heart to one silent desire that you may be a comfort to Christ on earth, I thank God for it! The Lord grant that each of us may understand better the blessed distinction to which we are called, for His name’s sake!