THE LIBERTY WHEREWITH CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE
[p. 308] THE LIBERTY WHEREWITH CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE
Galatians 3: 23 - 29; Galatians 4: 1 - 31; Galatians 5: 1
There are two thoughts that come together in the latter part of the passage that I have read. The children of promise are children of the freewoman. The children of the flesh are children of the bondwoman, but the children of promise — like Isaac, for he was the child of promise — are children of the freewoman.
I will say a few words about the children of promise, and then about that with which they are connected. They are the children of the freewoman. I want to shew you, if I can, what it is that brings us into christian liberty — I think the greater part of saints very poorly enjoy liberty. The apostle says, “Stand fast ... in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free”. That is the end and object of what the apostle brought before them.
The apostle brings before us here the secret of liberty in the mother of whom we are begotten. I can understand the contrast to it in Ishmael. Ishmael took his character from his mother, who was a bondwoman. I have no doubt that he became an Ishmaelite from his mother: his hand against every man, and every man’s hand against him. That kind of man is really in bondage, knows nothing of true liberty. Nor did he know much of dwelling in a house or of being at home. He was the son of the bondwoman and took character from his mother.
On the other hand, Isaac, being the child of promise, was the child of the freewoman, and he too took his character from his mother. Sarah was Abraham’s wife, and Isaac was brought up under the influence of his mother. A man takes character from his mother, though not perhaps ability. You will rarely in the world [p. 309] see children of character if they have not a mother of character. You can readily understand this. While character is being formed children are thrown so much in contact with their mother, that it is no wonder if they take character from her. So it was with Isaac, and so with Ishmael and so with us as christians. “Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother”. As christians we take our character from the testimony presented to us, and the character we derive from that testimony is practically liberty. Jerusalem below was in bondage with her children, they were begotten of that system. The mother was in bondage, and so too her children. They took their character from their mother, as did Ishmael from his mother; but Jerusalem above, which is our mother, is free. It has that character like Sarah.
The secret why so many christians are not in the enjoyment of liberty is probably because they have not been sufficiently affected by the testimony.
I was lately speaking to some one with regard to special meetings in London for young men, and the observation was made that, whatever subject might be before them conversation eventually came round to the question of deliverance. I can very well understand this. You get together young men who have been converted, but they are not in the enjoyment of liberty. My impression is that they have never as yet taken character from their true mother, they have not yet been sufficiently affected by the testimony. Had it been so they would be in the enjoyment of liberty.
The Galatians had not taken character, were not in liberty. That is why the apostle brings this subject before them, and at the end he says, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”. That is the admonition. What a sorrowful thing to see these Galatians, who had begun in the Spirit, now turned away from the testimony — for that is what had taken place. Turning from the testimony and going back to [p. 310] some past testimony — it had a most mischievous effect. How do you think you can at the present time connect the thought of liberty with a christian in the Church of England? He never goes to church without repeating the ten commandments and prays over and over again, ‘Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law’. How can christians brought up in such associations be in the enjoyment of liberty? They too have gone back to a past testimony, and they take their character from it, and are consequently legal; and if legal, as sure as possible they are worldly. The two things are bound to go together, legality and worldliness. Legality recognises the world and men as they are; not the world to come. If we do not live in the light of that we are legal, and because legal we are worldly.
Now, as to the children of promise, I understand that they are the children of God’s purpose. Isaac was the child of purpose, and therefore the child of promise. Since the time of Abraham God has always been acting on that principle of sovereignty. It is declared in Romans 9, Romans 10. There were two children of Abraham — and if the principle of sovereignty had not been acted on Ishmael would have had part with Isaac, for he was the son of Abraham after the flesh. Had it not been for the principle of sovereignty the same would have been the case with Esau and Jacob. But God chose Jacob. He says, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”. Israel could not complain of that principle, for they were the children of Isaac and Jacob, and it was the principle on which Ishmael and Esau had been rejected. Isaac and Jacob were the children of promise.
The first thing, then, that comes out here is, that christians are the children of promise, that is, the children of God’s purpose. If you refer to the previous chapter you will see that “before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by [p. 311] faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus”. That is the way in which faith brings us into the light of God’s purpose. In that light we are God’s children through faith. Law had had its place up to a certain time. It was a schoolmaster up to Christ, but the divine purpose in Christ is revealed for faith, and according to that we are the sons of God. We have a place before God according to His purpose. I could say to any christian, You are a son of God according to His purpose. You may not have entered much into it, but it belongs to you according to God’s purpose. When God reveals His purpose it belongs to me. Time was when it was not known, but now it is revealed in Christ, and therefore I appropriate it. It is not a question of progress or attainment, but of relationship. We have passed the law and have got into the light of faith, and have apprehended by faith the expression in Christ of God’s purpose. God is bringing many sons to glory, and His purpose in regard of them has its expression in Christ.
You have a picture of this in Matthew 14 where the Lord encourages Peter to leave the boat to go to Himself. The picture is not completed till chapter 16. As far as I see, Peter did not reach Christ in his soul till then. In chapter 16 Peter reaches Christ by the revelation of the Father. He confesses Christ: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Peter apprehends Christ in that light as the blessed expression of the purpose of God, and in answer to that the Lord says: “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
The fact is, that the assembly is really built on the truth of sonship, and the light of sonship is come out in Christ. God has been pleased to reveal to us in Christ what sonship means — we could not understand it otherwise-it could not have been fully expressed otherwise. You may get the name in the Old Testament, as, for instance, “Israel is my son, my firstborn”: and so “out of Egypt have I called my son”; but this will not give you a true idea of sonship. It is vain to talk of sonship apart from affection. If sonship is revealed it is in One who is the object of the Father’s affection. That is how the Father revealed Christ to Peter, and Peter confesses Him as “the Son of the living God”, and the Lord says, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church”. Christ was the object of the Father, and He was an object to Peter.
How can the gates of hell prevail against that which is formed in the divine nature? If Christ is known in the Father’s love, and we are formed in that nature, how can the gates of hell prevail? They might prevail against faith as a system here, but they could not prevail against that which is built upon the Rock, that is, Christ as the divine expression and revelation of the purpose of the Father.
Now, in chapter 4 you get a point farther. “When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son” verse 4. That is very much like Matthew 16. Christ comes of a woman — that had reference to the ways of God with regard to His humanity; He is made under law. Those who were the heirs of promise were under law. Christ comes into both positions, “come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship”, be brought thus into the light of purpose. Sonship is the gift of God. It is of great importance to apprehend that. It is something akin to what we have in John 1: 12: to “as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be the children of God”.
Then further: “because ye are sons, God hath sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”. So far what we have got to is this. The christian is in the light of God’s purpose, apprehends His gift, and has the Spirit of God’s Son. This could never be till Christ was in glory. Sonship refers to [p. 313] Christ in glory. For us sonship means that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ in glory, and the Spirit is the Spirit of God’s Son, not as He was, but as He is: and by the Spirit the christian cries, “Abba, Father”. The apostle continues: “So thou art no longer bondman, but son” (verse 7). It is a great point to insist upon relationship. God looks upon every christian in the light of relationship. He is a son, and he has the Spirit of sonship, and by the Spirit cries, “Abba, Father”.
And yet after all the Galatians were very little grown — they had made but little progress! You see what the apostle says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you”, verses 19, 20. They had not gained much ground spiritually. Christ was not formed in them. They had the Spirit, but they were not in the good of sonship, for the Spirit of God’s Son cries, “Abba, Father”. They had poor apprehension of the love of God, and there was but a poor response to that love. They knew nothing about the assembly as Christ’s body though they had the Spirit. Until Christ is formed in us sonship is not of any very great account to us. You may rejoice in the term and in the knowledge that it belongs to you, but it is of little avail for present enjoyment. As I understand it the truth is made known that you may be in state and nature what is suitable to sonship, and what is suitable to sonship is Christ. To put it in other language it is to be holy and without blame before God in love. That is the effect of Christ being formed in you. There is a nature suitable to the relationship in which God has been pleased to place me, and the consequence of Christ being in me is that I am before God, not only in the light of His purpose, but in a condition to enjoy the position and the relationship that He has been pleased to give to me. “Before him in love”, “holy and without blame” comes by the way, but the great point is, “before him in love”.
[p. 314] I know but little of it, and therefore cannot talk much about it, but it appears to me a most wonderful idea that I can be in the presence of all that God is, and in love, conscious that I am there for His pleasure.
There is one thing more connected with it. It has often been impressed upon us that love will have company. That thought is not so prominent in grace. It is because God loves us (”for his great love wherewith he loved us”) that He will have us with Himself in His holy habitation. Just as God would have Israel in the land of Canaan. The wilderness would not satisfy God. And so God now desires His people to be with Him in His holy habitation — near Him. He has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”.
Now I want to come to an important point, and that is of character, and how you get it. Our character as christians is undoubtedly formed by the testimony, and I must refer a little to the testimony. Look at the latter part of the chapter, verses 21 - 31. We were speaking on a previous occasion of the testimony of God, and I will refer to it again in a very limited way. I go back only as far as Abraham, for the special testimony began with Abraham, and what came out in connection with him was this, that it was the purpose of God to bless; and not only to bless one special people, but “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. The principle that has come out in connection with that is that the blessing of Abraham has come to the gentiles in a risen Christ, as you see in chapter 3: 13, 14, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law ... that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. That is how it reaches the gentiles. Christ had to come after the flesh to redeem the Jew from the curse of the law, but to the end “that the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations in Christ Jesus”.
[p. 315] You may be assured of this, that every one formed on that testimony to Abraham will take a certain character. Isaac took a certain character; I do not doubt that he was formed on that testimony of the purpose of God to bless.
Now when we come to the law we find another testimony for faith, and what is shadowed there is this, that in virtue of the law being written in man’s heart God would dwell among men. It all depended on what we get in Psalm 40: Christ comes forth to be the reflex of God as a Man down here, and in connection with that God dwells in man. That is the next great testimony. If faith had apprehended that, the apprehension would have had an immense effect. It does not set aside what preceded — the blessing of Abraham, which really means that a man is justified in the eye of God, stands good, but that is followed by the further thought of man being the reflex of God, and, in consequence of that, God dwelling among men.
The present time is marked by two things: Christ, the last Adam, in the presence of God in subsisting righteousness, and the dwelling of God by the Spirit down here. Christ having taken up that last Adam position in blessing the Spirit has descended, dwelling in believers, and thus forming the house of God down here.
Now I come to a further testimony, and that is the throne. The testimony in David is this, grace acting in power. That is what the throne meant. What was established in David, was not merely the principle of grace but grace acting in power. The enemies of God’s people were subdued. It was the effect of God coming in. Grace was predominant when Israel had forfeited everything after the flesh. One thing comes out very prominently in connection with David — we have heard of it already today — “His mercy endureth for ever”. In a limited way it was the reign of grace. The beginning was that the ark had been taken captive and Ichabod [p. 316] written on Israel — the glory was departed. God raised up David from the sheepfold to be the shepherd of His people. He chose the tribe of Judah and mount Zion which He loved, and David to be king. The ark is brought to the city of David and the people sing “His mercy endureth for ever”. Thus we have the testimony of the throne; it was in principle the reign of grace. Any one that entered into the testimony in those days would be greatly affected by it, and would get the sense that, whatever the unfaithfulness of man, God was faithful, and “His mercy endureth for ever”.
That brings me to another point. The testimony of God is identified with a city. I could not say so much with regard to the blessing of Abraham; but when you come to the dwelling of God and to the throne, both the one and the other have eventually become identified with the city of the great king. Jerusalem was not the first resting-place of the ark. It was pitched at Shiloh, then brought by David to the city of the great king. When Jerusalem proved unfaithful, like an unfaithful wife, then God allowed Babylon to come into prominence. The idea of a city is maintained. The present time is really the time of Babylon, the fact being that the Jerusalem down here has had to give way to the Jerusalem above. That is what has come to pass, though eventually it will be restored to its place here. Now it is desolate, but eventually it will return to its first affections. But what marks the present time is “Jerusalem above”. What I understand by that is that there is a point where every testimony of God is centred. “Jerusalem above” is the full expression of God’s pleasure. It is not simply this testimony or that testimony of God, but the full expression of God’s pleasure. Every testimony rests and will be displayed there. If you want a definite idea of Jerusalem above I can only point you to the Lord Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. In Him every testimony rests. We have a full expression of God’s pleasure in the glory of the Lord. It speaks of righteousness;
of God’s pleasure in having a dwelling-place in man; of His pleasure in subduing every enemy of man. In connection with the Lord Jesus we read, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”. What marks the present moment is that grace reigns through righteousness past death “to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
I believe that if the truth of God’s pleasure is apprehended it will do away with legality in us. For God is not on the ground of legality at all. Law was never the pleasure of God. The law had its place as a foreshadowing of what was to come, but God never had pleasure in law. It is not the time of law now; God is not on that ground at all. We could not reach God’s pleasure on that ground. God now gives to man the testimony of His pleasure. Every part of it combined in the Man who has accomplished redemption and is now at His right hand.
If I were an evangelist I could go into the world and declare the pleasure of God. It is wonderful light to be set forth in the midst of the darkness of this world. God no longer on the ground of requirement but making known His pleasure, what He has accomplished for Himself in Christ. His blessing has reached the gentiles though they were afar off. It has reached them in Christ Jesus. God has found in Him His dwelling-place and the throne of grace.
I speak of these things because, if apprehended, we shall take our character from them, you will be brought into the enjoyment of liberty; for we can only enjoy liberty in the light of God’s pleasure. You are the children of that city in which the pleasure of God has been secured.
Nothing could come out fully till Christ came. There might be a little bit of light here and there, but the truth could not come out fully till Christ came. The fact is that in coming after the flesh Christ removed in His death the man that was an offence to God, and [p. 318] now, raised again from the dead, He is the blessed vessel of God’s pleasure, in whom the full light of God’s testimony shines. And it is now that we are formed by the testimony; when all comes to light in a public way people will not be formed by it though they will rejoice in the light. We are formed by it before the display. The Holy Spirit is come down from heaven the witness of how completely God has found His pleasure, of the pleasure which God has prepared for Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can understand the apostle saying “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage”.
May God grant that every heart here may be affected by the testimony of God’s pleasure!