LIBERTY

^[p. 302] LIBERTY

2 Corinthians 3: 7 - 18; Galatians 4: 28 - 31; 5: 1 Our subject this evening is how we are established in liberty. Those to whom both these epistles are written - the Corinthians and Galatians - had fallen from liberty, and now we see how the apostle establishes it. The defection is different in the Corinthians and in the Galatians. The natural mind led away the Corinthians, religiousness the Galatians. These two come out in a different way in the Colossians. Christendom is characterised by ritualism and rationalism. In Corinth we see in a church really enlightened, but led away by the natural mind, how the apostle seeks to establish them in liberty. There can be no progress till you are established in liberty. You may admire truth, but you cannot progress. The Spirit always leads you on in His own line. He never drops a stitch, as it were; He never deviates from His own order. The divine work is in the one line. The apostle had not been in Corinth between writing the two epistles. In the first epistle he tells them that he was determined to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Ques What is the gospel of the glory?

JBS The gospel of the glory is that your Saviour is in glory. You are drawn away by it to Christ where He is, out of the ruin here. The gospel in christendom does not go beyond the Passover. Many are not beyond pardon. Resurrection is another step. When I see Christ risen I am justified, I have peace with God. You cannot have peace till you know Christ risen. Paul calls the gospel of the glory “My gospel”. The gospel of the glory brings you to the Person. In Romans you are learning the gospel. If you study Romans, you will see that the apostle is bringing you ^[p. 303] to the Person, and that is deliverance. The first thing I know is that Christ did a work for me; the effect of that is that I give to Him, as Jonathan gave to David. Secondly, I know that He is my life. The effect of that is that I suffer with Him. If you know Him in the assembly, His interests occupy you. The gospel of the glory is that there is a ministration of righteousness from the glory. There was a demand for righteousness from mount Sinai, now there is a ministration of righteousness from the glory. The glory of God is the expression of all His attributes. This could not be shown to Moses, but all shines out in Christ.

Ques What is the effect of beholding the Lord’s glory?

JBS Transformation. In Psalm 73: 22 the godly man finds he is unfit for God’s presence; he says, “I was as a beast before thee;” but now, seeing Christ in glory, I am brought into moral correspondence with Him. You cannot enjoy the gospel of the glory unless you are in liberty. The Corinthians were led away by their natural minds, they gloried in their own wisdom.

The nearer you are to Christ in glory the better off you are. Isaiah felt unfit for the glory. He says, “Woe is me! for ... I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6: 5), etc. He was not in liberty. There is no live coal in the glory now. Why? Because there is a Man there, who has accomplished all for the glory of God. The live coal sets forth that God does not abate His holiness, but He always has grace. I have not found an illustration of the difference between law and grace. I have heard of a landlord forgiving his tenants, but becoming a giver to them instead of demanding from them I never heard of. Dr. Doddridge’s dream sets it forth in measure. He dreamed that he came to the gate of a palace, and that he was so well received that he went in; then he went on from room to room, and ^[p. 304] was better received as he went on, till he came to the presence of the Sovereign, where he was received with acclamation. He should have learnt from Scripture the truth that his dream sets forth, but God brings the light to a soul in different ways. The way in which the Corinthians are established is beautiful; it is like the queen of Sheba when she came to Solomon and saw his glory, she was so entranced that there was no spirit left in her. So it is in beholding the Lord’s glory, self is displaced. A man who is led by his own wisdom has never yet been in company with Christ in glory. If he were he would be transformed into the same image. This word (transformed) is only used four times in the New Testament.

Ques Is there any difference between the liberty in Galatians and in Corinthians?

JBS In Corinthians is set forth that man’s mind has to be surpassed by that which is infinitely beyond, and the effect is “always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4: 10). The liberty of Galatians is Christ formed in you; the true Isaac in His place, Ishmael cast out.

Ques Do you see distinction between the natural mind and religiousness?

JBS In the latter you observe days and months and years. You are under the law. The Galatians had begun in the Spirit, and were seeking to be made perfect in the flesh. That is religiousness. The Corinthians were full of their own wisdom; that is the natural mind.

Ques Would you explain the effect of beholding the Lord’s glory?

JBS You are in His company, and are made like Him - transformed.

Merely reading the Bible will not make you like Him. The two disciples going to Emmaus had a wonderful exposition of Scripture; it did not alter their course one bit. But when the Lord made Himself ^[p. 305] known to them all is changed. They leave their own course and take His. I may behold Him in my own room, and if I do, I drop my own things by being brought into company with Him. But when I behold Him in the assembly, His things absorb me. Even with those two disciples we see how when they behold Him their own things are secondary; they go back to the hive, and with good honey, too. I am lost in delight of heart in beholding Him. And besides this, I have guidance - I get scripture to corroborate it - fresh light.

Ques Does a person ever lose liberty?

JBS You do not really lose it, but it may be clouded, you may lose the enjoyment of it. If a father in Christ falls, he is restored to the height from which he fell.

The Corinthians were greatly endowed, but they were full of their own wisdom, they were not ready for the “hidden wisdom”. Your own wisdom is superseded by being with the greater than Solomon in the sphere of His glory, and you are brought into moral correspondence with Him. Stephen is an illustration. When he beheld Jesus in the glory of God he was in moral correspondence with Him here.

The Galatians were trying to be perfect in the flesh; they were not in liberty. How is it established in them? The apostle tells them that Abraham when Isaac was weaned made a feast, all in the house doing honour to Isaac; all except one, a youth of fourteen, and he mocked. That was Ishmael. Sarah says he must be cast out. The first great thing in getting rid of the religious man is that Christ must have an acknowledged right to everything that I have, from the nursery to the office. No man has liberty till he has parted with one man - Adam, and is in another - Christ; till he comes to “not I, but Christ liveth in me”. Then he is able to say, “I am crucified with Christ”. If I were absolutely under the control of ^[p. 306] Christ, I should do everything in a beautiful way, because a divine way. He does not help us with what is not of the Father. Nothing is more difficult than to say experimentally, I have done with the old man - he is eclipsed. Man tries to improve himself, he does not like to be eclipsed. The doctrine in christendom is - get Isaac to improve Ishmael; but no! you must turn Ishmael out. I studied the beautiful traits in man till I found that not a single trait in him would acknowledge Christ. Ishmael, Abraham’s son, brought up in Abraham’s house, was found after fourteen years persecuting the heir of promise. It is a more painful experience than that of Romans 7, to find that the best quality in my nature does not like Christ. It is a terrible discovery. Amiability, honey will not do; no! you cannot improve the flesh, it will be flesh still. As J.G.B. said, You may sublimate the flesh as much as you like, it will never yield spirit.

There are two things: the first is that you acknowledge Christ - the true Isaac - in His place. The second is that you do not tolerate Ishmael. It is a wonderfully blessed moment when a soul can say, I do acknowledge Him. Now comes no toleration for Ishmael. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free”. You may say, If I put Ishmael out of the door he will come in at the window. No; the Spirit resists the flesh, and He is within you, that you may not do the things that you would. I have a power in me that would not let the flesh in, that will keep the door like a policeman. I have said that flesh is stronger than grace. I would not say so now. Many are like teetotallers practising self-control; but that will not do - “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6: 14). There is not a word about sins in that passage, it is pure liberty - a new creation.

Now you can say, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”. And now comes the practical course - “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God”, etc. It is transcendent!

Ques What marks a person in liberty?

JBS He rejoices in Christ Jesus and has no confidence in the flesh; he shrinks from the flesh. Everything must come divinely. The more effective a man is, the more correctly will he quote Scripture.

Ques Will you explain again the difference between objective and subjective truth?

JBS Objective is - everything is done for me, all is pure grace. Subjective is - the Spirit’s work in me; you must not separate them. The Spirit effects in me what Christ has done for me. The Spirit makes it all good to me. He sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts. No one will be happy till he is as clear of the old man in his own eye as he is clear of him in God’s eye. In the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, I am free from the law of sin and death. If you have gone the road you will know what it is.

Ques Do you think that Romans, Corinthians and Galatians are different aspects of liberty?

JBS Liberty is taught in Romans, but the Corinthians and Galatians had departed from it. Romans is simple truth. Romans and Ephesians are generic (parent) epistles. One gives the gospel, the other the church.

Rem In Luke 15 we have the germ of both: “For this my son was dead” - Ephesians; “was lost” - Romans.

JBS Yes. Tomorrow the subject will be the assembly, Matthew 14, 1 Peter 2. Next the priesthood. Next the wilderness.