PEACE AND LIBERTY
E. M. Walkinshaw
Romans 3: 22 (last clause)–26; 4: 23–25; 5: 1, 2; 8: 15–17
I desire to speak simply and briefly about our Lord Jesus Christ, the subject of God’s glad tidings, in particular to speak of peace and liberty, which He would desire we should all have.
The day is coming when peace will be known in the world and liberty too. It is God’s desire that men should have it.
I suppose there are two things for which man is struggling today. We would all have read or heard of the Polish workers. I suppose the two things they are struggling for are peace and liberty. These things are not much known even in our part of the world where persons are more free. Real liberty is not known. I think in God’s glad tidings He desires that we should have peace and liberty, so the Lord Jesus is presented to us as the One who laid the basis for us to have them. I wonder if all of us here have them. Paul says in writing this letter that the gospel of God is concerning His Son. It is not concerning us, although of course it is towards us, and the message is to us good news concerning God’s Son. So that we present the Person and the work of Jesus. That is what people would call an old-fashioned gospel, the Person and the work of Jesus. So we think of Jesus, the Son of God and we think of His perfection.
He was just alone here, perfect in blood and flesh. Because He was without blemish and without spot He was able to offer Himself spotless to God, so that the great question of sin and sins might be settled for God’s satisfaction. How wonderful that is that He should have come in to do that.
Here in Romans 3 it says that all have sinned. There is no difference whether it is the pagan or heathen, or whether it is the philosopher, a man who can tell you all kinds of things, or whether it be the Jew. There is no difference; all have sinned and come short of the glory of God—now that does not exclude anybody. I expect you have all read the little tract where one man was trying to excuse himself. A brother turned to this scripture and began to read it.
I believe the man’s name was George and the brother read the scripture like this in the presence of this self-righteous man—‘There is not a righteous man, not even one—except George. There is not the man that understands—except George. There is not one that seeks after God—except George. All have gone out of the way—except George’. That brought it home to his conscience immediately. There are no exceptions. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”.
Then it says, “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”. That is, believers in Him are freely justified—“Justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat”. Think of Christ Jesus being set forth as a mercy-seat. That is, God can dispense mercy to all men; Chinamen, Frenchmen, Germans, Englishmen; He says there is no difference. God can dispense mercy. We sometimes think what a wonderful thing it is that we can receive mercy.
Of course it is, but I think, speaking guardedly, it is a more wonderful thing that God has a righteous basis whereby He can dispense mercy, and He can dispense mercy because of the work of Jesus.
So it says here, “God has set forth (Christ Jesus) a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of his righteousness”. How wonderful to think of the blood of Jesus! I wonder if everyone here has faith in the blood of Jesus. Has everybody here? I suppose we could say, Well, we are all breaking bread so it must be so. But I would not say it must be so that because we are all breaking bread we have faith in the blood of Jesus. It is possible to break bread, as I often say in the preaching, and not be converted. It is possible, and has been known. So God still has the gospel preached that we might be reminded of the work of Jesus which He has done for God, what we will call the Godward aspect of the work of Christ Jesus. It says, “through faith in his blood, for the showing forth of his righteousness ... that he should be just, and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus”. God must be just. He could not be otherwise, could He? Could God do anything wrong? But because of the work of Jesus and the shedding of His precious blood, God is just and at the same time justifies him that believes in Jesus. How wonderful that is, that God is satisfied. We sometimes sing, ‘God is satisfied with Jesus’, then we sing—I hope we sing it truthfully—‘We are satisfied as well’. But the first thing to see is that God is satisfied with Jesus. God is satisfied with His work. God has been glorified in the work of Jesus. When Jesus on the cross bore the judgment of God against sin and sins God was glorified and God was satisfied; it was a perfect work.
You will remember that in the Old Testament the blood had to be taken in to the holy of holies. The high priest had to take it in and put it on the mercy-seat. Then he sprinkled it seven times before the mercy-seat (see Leviticus 16: 14). The first was for God, and we do need to understand, all of us, young and old, that what Jesus did, His work and the shedding of His blood, satisfied the righteous claims of God. So that God has a basis whereby we can be justified and cleared from every charge of guilt. He at the same time is just in doing that—
‘God could not pass the sinner by,
Justice demands that he should die;
But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be’. (Hymn 357)
How wonderful! Who would ever have thought of a scheme like this, except God Himself.
And the Person who has effected this work for God’s satisfaction is Jesus. So it is through faith in His blood, and God, in what He does in extending forgiveness to men, is just and righteous, and we come into the benefit of what Jesus did on the cross.
You might say, ‘Well, my sins were all future when Jesus died’. That is perfectly true, but the work was done there, and you and I come into the benefit of it through faith in Jesus. Mr. Darby said, and I think it will convince us all, that it is not right that the believer should speak about past, present, and future sins, because he should never anticipate future sins. In point of fact all our sins were future when Jesus died, were they not? And the point is, He had done a work at the cross before any of us were born, and we can have the benefit of that work through faith in Him, and know that God is satisfied in respect of sin and sins, and glorified.
It is not simply for our benefit, but it means that sin was such an insult to God. That insult to God, which had come into the world, has been completely dealt with for His eternal glory.
How wonderful that is so, that He should be just and justify him that is of the faith of Jesus.
Now in the next passage it is not that side, but it speaks of the One who has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification. Now I would remind us all—some of the older brethren know it well—that while the blood of the one goat was taken in and put on the mercy-seat—which meant a work done for God and the satisfying of God in respect of sins—the scapegoat had the sins of the people laid on its head and it was taken away into a land not known by men the bearing away of offences and sins, remitted, taken right away, so here it says (this is our side of it), “Jesus our Lord, who has been delivered for our offences”.
I suppose some might say, ‘Well, you say He was delivered for our offences; but that happened before we were born’. God is God; He knows everything. So we accept the simple
message that Jesus was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification. I can say, through simple faith in the Lord Jesus, that all my sins were dealt with when He died on the cross. Can you say that? Can everybody here say that? I hope you can. Can you put yourself in this little word—“delivered for our offences and … raised for our justification”? If so, God reckons you righteous.
You might say, ‘I do not feel very much like it’. It is not a question of what you feel. It is a question of God’s mind and thought about you. If you believe on Him that has raised up Jesus our Lord from among the dead, God reckons you righteous. Your feelings have nothing to do with it. It is God’s mind about you. This is from His point of view. Everyone who believes in Him that has raised up Jesus our Lord from among the dead is reckoned righteous, justified, cleared from every charge of guilt. You may not feel very much like it, and you might still be anxious and might still wonder. It makes no difference.
You may have read, ‘Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment’. The writer gives the illustration of two men in their houses and in both cases the blood was put on the lintel and the door-post (see Exodus 12). He says in the one house we will suppose there was a man who was very anxious when the avenging angel was coming to execute judgment. He wondered, Will the avenging angel pass over my house, or will he not? But in the house next door the other man was quite calm and settled and at peace. He had no fears. Now the writer of the tract says,
‘Which of the two persons was safer?’ Who do you think was safer? The person who was anxious or the person who was at peace? They were both equally safe, because the removal of the judgment for them did not depend on their feelings,
it depended on the word of God, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you”. So whether one man was trembling and fearful, and the other one was at rest and peace, both were equally safe, and so it is here; it depends on God’s word which says that righteousness is reckoned to him that believes on Him that has raised up Jesus our Lord from among the dead.
So, whatever my feelings, if I believe on the God who has raised up Jesus our Lord from among the dead I am reckoned righteous and cleared from every charge of guilt. That is His mind about me. We need to understand this. Then it says, “having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God”. You may say, ‘Well, I do not enjoy it very much’, but here it is from God’s point of view. How wonderful that God should regard us like this as believers on the Lord Jesus. Whatever our feelings, failings, and the like may be, it does not alter God’s mind about us.
Now I go on to chapter 8. Of course there are experiences in between through which we must pass, but God desires, as I have said, that we should have peace, and I think if we can grasp the fact that things depend on God’s word and do not depend on our feelings it will greatly help us to enjoy the peace that is ours. I wonder if all of us here enjoy peace towards God or whether we have some little fear. God would remove all fears. He will point us to the work of Christ on the cross, and in addition to that He will point us to His word, which is sure. Mr. S. J. B. Carter used to say, ‘Trust in His word who cannot lie, and faithful on His work rely’; you see, you are relying not on yourself, or your feelings, but on the work of Christ and on the word of God.
Now in the last scripture we read it says, “For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye have received a spirit of adoption”. How often we get into bondage, do we not? God wants us to be in liberty. How do we come into liberty? I think we should really come into the joy and experience of peace and liberty as we receive the Holy Spirit, and, of course, then we must make room for the Holy Spirit. It has often been said that we may have received Him, but perhaps we do not give Him much room. We might have someone in our house, and perhaps we do not give the person very much room in the house. We keep him shut up, hindered. The Holy Spirit has come to dwell. It says a little earlier in this passage that the Spirit of God dwells in us (Romans 8: 9).
I wonder if every one has received the Holy Spirit. That is most important. Then if you say, ‘I have received the Holy Spirit’, I would ask you, How much room do you give to Him? Do you speak to Him day by day? Do you ask Him to help you, ask Him to direct your attention to the Lord Jesus and the blessings that are yours in Him? That is a question for us who are older. Perhaps the question for those that are younger is—Have you received the Holy Spirit?
If not, the Father would encourage you to go to Him and ask so that you might receive the Holy Spirit. But for those of us who are older the question might not be. Have you received the Holy Spirit, but. How much room do you give Him in your life? How much room do you give Him in your mind? How much are your thoughts occupied with spiritual things? Then, of course, if we go back a step further we have to ask ourselves, How much room do we want to give Him? Would you like to give Him all the room?
You older brothers and sisters, would you like to be full of the Holy Spirit? If I think of being full of the Holy Spirit it means I must be
emptied of myself and, to be quite honest, naturally I certainly do not want that. We speak sometimes very glibly about being full of the Holy Spirit, but if I am full of the Holy Spirit, what else? That is a very deep exercise, is it not? And yet, the Holy Spirit would desire to fill the vessel and if the Holy Spirit fills the vessel then Christ is magnified in the vessel, because the Holy Spirit is here to glorify Him. Then, to come to my point, it says, “Ye have not received a spirit of bondage … but … a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father”.
Think of speaking to God like that, knowing God as your Father, even speaking to Him as your Father. We cry, “Abba, Father”. Those were the words of the Lord Jesus, “Abba, Father”; but then Paul goes on to say, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, heirs also”. Have you ever considered that to which you are an heir? I suppose if I had a very rich father I would give certain consideration to the things to which I was an heir. Think of being heirs of God. God has very extensive riches and blessings. Then we are Christ’s joint-heirs, linked with Christ, “if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him”.
What blessings the gospel brings, does it not? it brings forgiveness of offences, peace towards God, liberty, joy, and security, not only for eternity, but security in time too. Believers are cleared of every charge of guilt; no one can point a finger at them at all, and then the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit so that we might be brought into liberty. So God’s gospel, you see, if men only knew it and appreciated it, really presents to us the very things they are struggling for; peace and liberty. Are these things not what the presidents of the world desire?
Are they not what men generally want? You ask the man on the street, Do you want war? Do you want bondage? No, I want peace and liberty. That is what he would tell you. The answer is in God’s glad tidings, (not in the way in which men desire it, because when men say they wish to be free what they really mean is they want to do as they please); but this is liberty with God, peace towards God, and liberty with God, and the wonderful outlook of the second coming of the Lord Jesus.
Are you looking forward to it? I suppose when we get a little older we look forward to it more; perhaps when we are younger we are looking forward to life. Well, I think the Holy Spirit would work in our hearts so that we might be increasingly looking forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when you see Him, how will you feel? I might ask myself the same question. How will I feel when I see Him? When I am at the judgment-seat of Christ how shall I feel? I love to think of the simple fact that the One that I shall see as my Judge is my Saviour. I shall be able to tell Him that my faith was in His blood; I had believed on the God who raised Him from among the dead. There can be no charge of guilt; my faith and all that I have depend entirely upon Himself. The One who will then be my Judge is also my Saviour.
How wonderful the glad tidings are! We hear them so often that, to men, they are like Tennyson’s brook which babbles on for ever. The gospel will not go on for ever. It will stop suddenly. And when it stops men may wake up. Like the steam hammers in the iron-working town, which I expect you have all heard about, constantly making a noise. Accustomed to it, all the village slept right through the night. One night the noise of the hammers stopped. All the village woke up. The gospel will be like that. One day it will stop. People then may wake up, but it will be too late. Let none of us here treat the gospel lightly. Let us increase in the knowledge of our Saviour God and of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, for His glory.
Preaching at Rotherham
2 November 1980