IN the Epistle to the Romans believers are looked at as adopted sons: they are found away from God in their sins; and there it is God, in His grace, sets them free through the death of His Son, and then gives them His Spirit, whereby they cry Abba. Father.
In this Epistle we are not looked at as adopted. It is something nearer than that: we are born of God. And while the adopted side is one that we ought to know and enter into, that we may realize our responsibility before God for every wrong thing we have done and thought, and our need of knowing that the end of all such things is judgment; yet here we get something more intimate; for I do not believe there ever can be the same blessedness in the mind of an adopted child, that there is in one that is a born child. And so, having learned in Romans what our adopted side is, and how well founded, how sweet to learn now the born side and the resulting intimacy.
So the apostle begins: " That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us)." Now I say, that is the life: This is what the Holy Ghost is going to occupy you about, " that your joy may be full." That is the life that is in you, and henceforth characterizes you. The life which links you with God, and which puts you in the same relationship with Him as Christ Himself.
And, mind you, there is something exceedingly sweet about this. It is a Man whom " we have heard, whom we have seen, whom we have looked upon, and our hands have handled." It is a Man, a Man who is up there at the right hand of God, that is my life. And with Him and in Him I am linked to God for time and for all eternity, being, by His blood, cleansed from the sin which before hindered such a tie.
" My children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not." There is no " little " in this verse. It is simply the fact that children, born ones, are addressed. And these are not to sin. It is the knowledge of Christ that keeps us from sin. If we get acquainted with Christ, if there is real heart acquaintance with Him, it is then we learn to loathe sin in every form. Those who do not know Christ will tell us, that a man must be under the law to keep him from falling into sin; that this is the only way to check it. Their words show that they know nothing of the power of Christ's company. Being in company with Him will keep me holy. His disciples had to drop some way behind Him when they wanted to quarrel about who should be the greatest. If they had been near enough to Him to be conscious that their quarrel reached His ear, do you think they would have done it? So it is when we get away from Christ that we act in a manner unworthy of Him. Close to Him it is impossible. Close to Him we see on His uplifted hand the marks of the deepest step in His humiliation-that step caused by our sin; and we shall see it to all eternity; it will be " in the midst of the throne, a Lamb as it had been slain." We cannot sin near Him.
But suppose I get away from Him and I do sin? Is there no remedy? Yes, thank God. If there were no remedy where should we all be? " We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." The One who is there at the right hand of God to maintain what is just and true, to maintain the righteous character of God, He is the One who is there for me if I sin. It is " Jesus Christ the righteous," the upholder of the character of God. And thus He enables God to go on with us even if we sin.
" And he is the propitiation for our sins." How blessed this is every day! As I grow in experience of what I am; when I am conscious that I have sinned; when I own my sin, and my soul is restored, I appreciate the more the blessed fact, that " He is the propitiation for our sins."
" And not for ours only, but also for the whole world." Fifteen years I have gone about the world telling of the salvation of God, and at the end of these it is sweeter than it was at the beginning. Why? Because as one knows himself better, redemption grows sweeter, and He that has wrought it is loved more deeply. To speak of Him therefore has increased delight. As the roots of the tree go deeper down, the branches spread out the more towards heaven. So also' the soul led deeper down into the sense of sin, rises higher up into fellowship with Himself. There must be the first if there is to be the last. The ballast must be increased if there is to be more sail carried. The danger is not in too much sail, but in too much sail for our ballast. That is, the danger is not in having much high and heavenly truth, but in not having in ourselves a corresponding sense of what we are in ourselves. God must have reality. If we profess more than we really have practically with God, we shall suffer for it; we make a way for Satan to come in; we open our ranks to the enemy.
Now we all know that in scripture there are two representative men, Cain and Abel. The first man is proved all through the word to be worthless; he is a tree that brings forth nothing but leaves, so the gardener ends with cutting it down. God gets rid of the first Adam and brings in Christ. Now how does He do this? How did we, who are now in Christ, get rid of our old pedigree? By the death of Christ, At the cross of Christ was ended before God the first man. Christ's death has severed me from the first man; I do not mean in creation, but in sin. The relationships which God created are not sinful; they remain; but sin is ended in the cross of Christ; everything in nature that is connected with sin is ended there for the believer. And He is coming back now to put an end to sin in every way; but meanwhile, we, in whom sin still is, are linked with Him the second Man, and have done with the first wan altogether as to our standing before God.
To illustrate it, I say, Here is a woman: she was one man's wife, but he died, and now she has become another man's wife; thus she has changed her relationship, the first being ended. Her name is changed, and she now follows him whose wife she has become wherever he goes; she shares his joys, she shares his cares, she shares his sorrows, she shares his riches, she shares his poverty, she shares no matter what may come with him. And so with us. By the cross of Christ the link is broken that bound us to the first man, we belong to the Second, and now we go with Him. We say: " My beloved is mine, and I am his;" " I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;" and " I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me;" the three links between the Bridegroom and the bride which we find in Canticles.
And now are we going to be ashamed of our connection with Him in this scene? He is not going to be ashamed of us before the angels. Many a person in this land would not have one not in their own rank sit at table with them; they would be ashamed before their servants standing round them. And I say the Son of God, with all His angels standing round Him, is not going to be ashamed to have us with Him there! Oh, if He has chosen me to be with Him there, if He is not going to be ashamed to have me with Him in such company as that, I say I must go on with Him now; I cannot be ashamed of Him!
And I will go on cheerfully too, not grudgingly. How many a wife has gone on with her husband through every kind of discomfort and deprivation. She says, I might have comforts, I might have ease and plenty if I turned my back on him; but I would sooner go on with him; I prefer to lack all, if I have only his company. And surely so with us. He has shown us His love, and our heart is bound up in Him, and we say, Come what may, we will go with Him. All sorts of things may now press on us, but there is one unfailing remedy: intimacy with Him. When you have that, every breeze that blows is only so much to fill your sails, and brighten your hope of the glory.
But suppose we have got away from Him, and are depressed in soul, and cannot go on, what is still the remedy? Just to go to Him and tell Him all, and we shall find Him a very present help. Truly the lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places. He is always there for us; He is our remedy at all times; if the winds are blowing high, still there He is for us, and coming to meet us among the waves.
And this is the way we grow in age; it is through intimacy with Christ. This is the way we grow from " little children " to " fathers." We all like to grow into fathers, even in natural things.
Again the apostle addresses all believers as " children:" " I write unto you, children," not to ask if your sins are forgiven, but "because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake." And then he passes on to address the fathers, young men and little children separately. Little babes are all children; they are all begotten ones. He can say of all three classes collectively " Children, your sins are forgiven you;" and then he writes to each separately.
He begins with the fathers " I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning." Experiences come as we get on in the christian life, and they may be of such a nature that the soul, like Peter on the restless wave, is affrighted; but this only turns, through grace, into an occasion for the Lord to put out His hand and make Himself better known. This is what produces " fathers." They learn through these experiences the emptiness of everything but Christ. One younger may go to the word to find comfort; the " father" goes there to find Christ. " Little children" may think of their glory in heaven and their crowns; " fathers" are satisfied with the thought of having Christ there. Christ only is enough.
Just to sit down at His feet, as a child, who has got wearied of all his playthings, comes at last and sits down beside his father, and there he is comfortable and goes to sleep, for he is close to one who has a heart for him, a heart that he can rest on, one who is his friend, and near whom he is satisfied. Oh, beloved friends, all the trials, all the sorrows by the way, are sent just that we may get weary of our toys, weary of our plays things, and be satisfied with Him! sent that we may grow up into fathers.
Lower down he says again: " I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning." He can only say to them what he has said before, for there can be nothing higher than Christ.
Then he turns to the young men: "I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one."... " I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." I would say a word in passing here. I believe many saints are not clear about the difference between the flesh and the devil; I believe many ascribe to the flesh what belongs to the devil, and to the devil what belongs to the flesh. Now the flesh is an evil principle within us, while the devil is an intelligent person with.. out. The flesh goes after that which satisfies the passions, ministers to the senses, and gratifies self in its varied propensities. Satan has an object entirely beyond anything of this sort: Satan has no object short of the throne of God. Satan loves to busy himself with scripture, but his application of it is always wrong. You can always detect Satan when scripture is used to establish a wrong principle. There is nothing he has on his tongue's end better than scripture, but he uses it to tear down, not to build. Satan may make use of the flesh in a child of God to make him dishonor Christ, for there is no person he hates like Christ. Flesh has nothing higher than self. Satan's ambition has nothing short of the throne of Christ for its aim.
How can I practically silence flesh-that evil principle in me which is ever asking self: What would you like me to do to gratify you? I answer, by receiving the blessed fact that I, myself, have been put to death in the death of Christ. Thus flesh has nothing to work on. Its field of operation is gone if I accept my death in Christ's. But with Satan it is quite a different thing. His sphere of operation is where Christ is, and where Christ is at work. We silence him by using the word of God against him, using it aright against his false use of it. We "flee youthful lusts," hut we resist the devil and he flees from us.
Now the fathers are, so to speak, done with Satan; they " know him that is from the beginning." Satan knows Him too, and knows well it is useless throwing darts at men who are clad with such an armor. They have also proved that in them, that is in their flesh, dwells no good thing; moreover they have proved the emptiness of the world and the things which are in the world.
The " young men " have not learned, all this, but they are learning it. The word of God abides in them, and that is their strength to meet Satan. They are in the battle.
But there is a great danger for them here: the world and the things that are in the world. " Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world," is the admonition for them. In the battle with Satan, where his attacks against the soul and the things of Christ are of paramount importance, the danger from that quarter is apt to be overlooked. The necessities of life come; the family and its cares; property, business, and so on. Beware! Beware! " The hurt is deceitful and desperately wicked," and while you really are beginning to get rooted in this poor, wretched scene where your Master had not a pillow, your heart will not fail to find an excuse.
And now to the little children, who know the Father, the apostle adds: " It is the last time; and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time." But you answer, perhaps, this time has been going on for eighteen hundred years, so it could not have been the last time when John wrote. I reply that before Christ came it was not the last time. A great event had to take place-that which was promised after the fall; a great promise had to be fulfilled-that which foretold that the woman's seed should bruise the serpent's head. The great turning-point in the world's history had not come. But now it has come. And what remains? Nothing, but that " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." When? At any time! Then, I say, it is "the last time!" Wonderful grace that He has waited so long I Thank God that He has waited till to-day! If He had come ten years ago, how many of you would have been lost? His waiting, what is it caused by? By infinite grace, by infinite love. He says, I cannot shut the door; I am keeping it open still. Beloved, it has been " the last time " ever since Christ went back to heaven, and He is still loth " to rise up and shut to the door."
And then the apostle warns the little children too. Their danger is Antichrist-that which looks like Christ and is not. There are many things that look like Christ and yet they are only antichrists. Doctrines of all kinds which have such a lovely aspect, and are introduced by such lovely people, that the "little children," unacquainted as yet with the word of God, and the malice of Satan, and the cunning of man, easily fall into.
But if you are a little child, and are simply subject to God, He will teach you Himself. You have the Holy Ghost as much as the fathers have, and He is your teacher. " The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you." It is not that you are not to be ministered to by others, for God gives teachers to His church; but it is that you are not to be in bondage to man in the things of God. You have the Holy Ghost, the unction from Him, therefore you may trust Him to lead you in His truth. Only walk near Him.
Now I tell you, that if any young child of God falls into bad doctrine, it is a proof, no matter how young he be, that he has not been walking with God; for the anointing that is in him, if he were walking with God, is enough to keep him from all evil. And however young he may be, if he has fallen into evil he ought to be humbled before God about it. How responsible a makes us for everything that we hear, when we are told that we " have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things." This means that we have the ability to judge all things; we are able to discern between what is true and what is not true.
Well, beloved, here we all are: fathers, young men, and little children, all going on together in the same path. May God give us grace to walk in the power of the tie that binds us all together, putting tender care in the fathers' hearts, watchfulness in the young men's against the world, and in the little children's against Antichrist.
(P. J. L.)