CONFIDENCE
[p. 189] CONFIDENCE
2 Corinthians 4: 16 - 18; 2 Corinthians 5: 1 - 10
My object in previous addresses has been to present certain moral characteristics by which Christians should be marked, and how they are produced in us. The first was stability; the second transparency; and I want now to present another very important characteristic — namely, confidence, and the way in which it is reached in our souls. The apostle speaks of it twice in the fifth chapter. He was “always confident”, and in connection with confidence was diligence. “We are zealous” because we are confident, and not in order that we might be. The true divine way is zeal because of confidence.
I think everybody will own the great importance to the Christian of these principles. As regards stability, it results from the apprehension of purpose, how God has secured everything for His own glory in Christ, and then that the saints are established in Him.
You will never be stable so long as you are on the ground of responsibility; it is when in your soul you get off the ground of responsibility on to the ground of purpose that you are established; it is there that God establishes you in Christ.
Next, as to transparency, there is no veil on God’s side, and we are privileged to be in the light as God is in the light. Jesus stands as the anti-type of Moses. We can see that the mediator of the new covenant is the Son of God. Thus, because there is no veil on God’s side, there is to be none on ours. Paul says, “If also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost”, not in himself.
The apostle did not obtrude himself; if he had made anything at all of himself he would so far have [p. 190] veiled the truth. The meaning of transparency is walking in the light, flesh completely judged, everything out.
Everything is out on God’s part, and it should be so on ours, with the result that “we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”. If you allow the flesh you are more or less artificial, for you have to keep up appearances. People of the world keep up appearances. They have not the courage to appear what they are — they are artificial. If you put on anything you are not transparent.
With the apostle it was not only what he said, but what he was. The system of the world depends on the keeping up of appearances, for things would be intolerable if every one appeared nakedly what he was.
Now I come to confidence, an important principle in Christian life. It is a great thing to see on what these things depend. It is evident from the passage I read that confidence depends on the work of God not for but in us. “He that hath wrought us for this self-same thing (the glorified condition) is God”. “Therefore we are always confident”, etc. If we are conscious of the work of God in us, the effect is that we are always confident. If you know that God has wrought you for His purpose, whatever may be the difficulty or contrariety you will be confident, and the effect of that will be that you are zealous, whether present or absent, to be acceptable to the Lord. I have been sometimes afraid lest the Lord’s coming should find me unprepared — not confident. If you are confident, you are prepared. I want to refer a little to the work of God in us. People may tell me I am turning saints in on themselves. Nothing of the kind! I do them great harm if I do not seek to help them to recognize the nature of God’s work in them. Before touching on that [p. 191] I will, however, say a word as to the work of God for us. This is to give the believer a standing before Him. He has been pleased in Christ to bring in the condemnation of sin in the flesh, and in resurrection to give man a new status before God — completely justified. This is the result of a work for, not in us. We are not only freed from judgment, but raised up to life.
That is the blessed footing on which saints are. We can only enter on life on the footing of resurrection, because the judgment of death is on man, and until you accept death with Christ you do not get on to the footing of resurrection. The work of God for us is to give us this standing (see Colossians 2: 12).
But now as to the work of God in us. In the first verse I read (2 Corinthians 4: 16) we have “the outward man” and “the inward man” spoken of. You could not talk of that in connection with any one but a Christian, because there is only one man in the unconverted. But as to the Christian, Scripture speaks of “the outward man”, which is in touch with seen things, and “the inward man”, which is in touch with unseen things. The outward man is that which is connected with the things of human life down here — that in which we can suffer. The things in which an unconverted man lives do not go beyond that which is seen. But in the Christian there is the inward man, and the inward man is in touch with the things that are not seen. “The things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal”. There is a power in the Christian by which he can be abstracted from the seen things and placed in relation consciously with unseen things. Our blessings are all connected with unseen things, though we enjoy temporal mercies in connection with seen things. I have had large experience of mercy with regard to seen things; but my blessings as a Christian are all [p. 192] connected with unseen things. Eternal life, for instance, is so because eternal things are unseen.
The word of God gives light as to unseen things; we could not have to do with them unless they were revealed — it would be only imagination. Our place as sons of God and our proper blessings as Christians are unseen. “We are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus”; we have the light of the word as to these things, and the “inward man” is therefore in touch with them. The Christian can abstract himself from seen things, and in the power of the Spirit have to do with unseen things. It may be difficult to some to understand this; but all spiritual life is connected with the power of abstraction, and the power of abstraction represents the work of God in us. The unseen things are the same that we shall have to do with in heaven; now we see them through a dim glass — obscurely; by-and-by we shall see “face to face”, but they are the same things.
The Christianity of many believers does not rise much beyond seen things. They honour God in their life down here, but it is in connection with seen things. The “inward man” is connected with unseen things. Most of us know, I trust, something of being withdrawn from things down here into a region where everything is of God.
Now to speak more of what is called state. “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan ... not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord”.
[p. 193] I turn to a verse in Hebrews (Hebrews 4: 12) for the sake of one expression, “the dividing asunder of soul and spirit”. That is what you would call dissection.
The word of God can carry out the most delicate dissection, cutting even between the soul and spirit. You must understand that, in order to enter into this fifth chapter of 2 Corinthians. Whatever may be God’s work in the Christian, his individuality, the conscious “I”, remains unchanged. The being connected with the “old man” or “new man” does not alter this. You may have before you an individual, who was once in a certain moral condition, now detached from that condition and connected with another, but the individuality is never changed. Whatever the measure of the work of God in us we are not different persons. Paul as an apostle was the same individual as Saul the persecutor.
New creation does not touch the fact of individuality; it leaves us the same in person that we were before we became the subjects of the new creation; but the word of God is living and can come between the spirit, in which the truth of our individuality lies, and the natural condition which the soul represents, and can divide between the two. The effect of it is very remarkable. You have here in 2 Corinthians 5 an individual in a certain condition, and yet having power to detach himself in his own thought from that condition and to attach himself in spirit to a condition which as to him has not yet come to pass.
The “tabernacle” was Paul’s natural condition down here, but even if it were dissolved he was not touched by it. We are all in this condition down here, subject to suffering and death, but able in spirit to attach ourselves to a new condition not yet made manifest. No Old Testament saint could do that, because the new glorious condition [p. 194] of man was not revealed, and until it was, no such thing could be known. Now it is revealed, but not yet manifested. We are waiting for it, we look for the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour from heaven, who shall change our vile bodies into the fashion of His glorious body. The new condition is revealed, though not manifested; and as the effect of the work of God the Christian can detach himself from the one condition and in spirit attach himself to the other. “If our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands”. A tabernacle is not an adequate or permanent dwelling for man. It may do for a time, but a man looks to live some day in a house. We are here in a tent, but we look some day to be clothed with a house. One is content to be in the tabernacle — our present earthly condition — for a time; but the work of God in us represents that for which a tabernacle is not adequate, and the apostle presents the thought of the tabernacle being exchanged for a house, a building in contrast to a tent.
“In this we groan”. Why do we groan? Because we are conscious of being hampered in our present condition. If my tabernacle were big enough I should not groan. The Christian groans by reason of the weakness of the condition in which he is. Even if the will is not at work the condition is one of weakness. The work of God is greater than the actual condition in which we are. The house is looked at as out of heaven, “a building from God”, suited to one who is heavenly. The idea of being clothed so that we should not be “found naked” is introduced by way of warning. I understand by it the possibility of people being clothed in another condition and yet Christless. Man can only stand before God as covered. The principle of covering runs through Scripture. Adam and Eve needed a [p. 195] covering. When Balaam would have cursed Israel, they were seen covered in their tents. Laodicea is counselled to buy raiment that she may be clothed. But the desire of the saints is to be “clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life”. Life is connected with the glorious condition which God has been pleased to purpose for us. It is a great thing to have this in view. If we understood much about it, we should be different in our ways here, and prepared even for dissolution. I can conceive nothing more wonderful than that a work of God has taken place in me which enables me to detach myself from one condition and connect myself with another.
Are we all looking for the Lord Jesus from heaven as the Saviour? He is going to change these bodies, and we shall have a house, not a tabernacle, but a building, a condition adequate to the greatness of God’s work in us.
Nothing is more important for saints to recognize than the fact of the glorious condition in view. We have the earnest of the Spirit; already boldness to enter into the holiest and into sonship, before we come into the actual condition which we are awaiting. It has not yet been manifested what we shall be. The only light we have on it is the glorious condition into which Christ has entered, and “we know that ... we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”. Meantime God has given to us the earnest of the Spirit. The Spirit always connects Himself with the work of God in the Christian and operates in that. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God”.
We should be “always confident” if we understood more about the work of God in us. We have not to wait for our relationship to God, for we have a present relationship and can cry “Abba, Father”.
[p. 196] We have not to wait for the Spirit. He bears witness, and is the pledge of the glorious condition in which we are to be; and “therefore”, says the apostle, “we are always confident”, for while here there is always something better in view — if we should be absent from the body we shall be present with the Lord. It may be that we shall lose the tabernacle and for the present not get the house, and as thus apart we may not have the faculties connected with the condition; but even so we shall be “present with the Lord”, which is far better.
The importance of maintaining the fact of our unchanged individuality is seen in that the individual remains — and if absent from the body is present with the Lord.
The moral effect of this confidence in the apostle was that he was zealous, whether present or absent, to be acceptable to Him. Things will work in that line.
The first thing is that God has wrought us for His pleasure. His purpose is His pleasure. If I recognize that, I shall be always confident. If your tabernacle be dissolved you will go to be with the One who loves you and whom you love. If I am to be with Him, I want to be acceptable to Him during the little while I remain here.
I should like to put the question, Are you confident? You are not in the condition for which you are wrought, but can connect yourself in spirit with it; and if your tabernacle should be dissolved, are you willing to be absent from the body and present with the Lord? Things become very simple to the Christian where love is in exercise. If you love the Lord it is simple to cherish the thought that if absent from the body you will be present with Him. If you love Him you will seek to be near Him and to know that He is near you. Are we travelling on that road? We are here in a contrary [p. 197] scene, where the Lord is not owned, but He is our Lord and He loves us.
I think all here will acknowledge the importance of these principles: stability, transparency and confidence. God has wrought us for the glorious condition which He has purposed for us. “When he shall appear, we shall be like him”. “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly”.