The Normal Christian Life
Watchman Nee
Expanded Edition
"It's no longer I . . . but Jesus Christ!"
Chapter 1: The Blood of Jesus Christ
What is the normal Christian life? We do well at the outset to ponder this question. The object of these studies is to show that it is something very different from the life of the average Christian. Indeed a consideration of the written Word of God -- of the Sermon on the Mount for example -- should lead us to ask whether such a life has ever in act been lived upon the earth, save only by the Son of God Himself. But in that last saving clause lies immediately the answer to our question.
The Apostle Paul gives us his own definition of the Christian life in Galatians 2:20.
I have died, but Jesus Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.
It is "no longer I, but Christ". Here he is not stating something special or peculiar -- a high level of Christianity. He is, we believe, presenting God's normal for a Christian, which can be summarized in the words: I live no longer, but Jesus Christ lives His life in me.
God makes it quite clear in His Word that He has only one answer to every human need -- His Son, Jesus Christ. In all His dealings with us He works by taking us out of the way and substituting Christ in our place. The Son of God died instead of us for our forgiveness: He lives instead of us for our deliverance. So we can speak of two substitutions -- a Substitute on the Cross who secures our forgiveness and a Substitute within who secures our victory. It will help us greatly, and save us from much confusion, if we keep constantly before us this fact, that God will answer all our questions in one way only, namely, by showing us more of His Son.
A. Our Dual Problem: Sins and Sin
We shall take now as a starting-point for our study of the normal Christian life that great exposition of it which we find in the first eight chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, and we shall approach our subject from a practical and experimental point of view. It will be helpful first of all to point out a natural division of this section of Romans into two, and to note certain striking differences in the subject-matter of its two parts.
The first eight chapters of Romans form a self-contained unit. The four-and-a-half chapters from Romans 1:1 to 5:11 form the first half of this unit and the three-and-a-half chapters from Romans 5:12 to 8:39 the second half. A careful reading will show us that the subject-matter of the two halves is not the same. For example, in the argument of the first section we find the plural word `sins' given prominence. In the second section, however, this changed, for while the word `sins' hardly occurs once, the singular word `sin' is used again and again and is the subject mainly dealt with. Why is this?
It is because in the first section it is a question of the sins I have committed before God, which are many and can be enumerated, whereas in the second it is a question of sin as a principle working in me. No matter how many sins I commit, it is always the one sin principle that leads to them. I need forgiveness for my sins, but I need also deliverance from the power of sin. The former touches my conscience, the latter my life. I may receive forgiveness for all my sins, but because of my sin I have, even then, no abiding peace of mind.
When God's light first shines into my heart my one cry is for forgiveness, for I realize I have committed sins before Him; but when once I have received forgiveness of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of sin, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within. I discover that I have the nature of a sinner. There is an inward inclination to sin, a power within that draws to sin. When that power breaks out I commit sins. I may seek and receive forgiveness, but then I sin once more. So life goes on in a vicious circle of sinning and being forgiven and then sinning again. I appreciate the blessed fact of God's forgiveness, but I want something more than that: I want deliverance. I need forgiveness for what I have done, but I need also deliverance from what I am.
B. God's Dual Remedy: The Blood and the Cross
Thus in the first eight chapters of Romans two aspects of
salvation are presented to us: firstly, the forgiveness of our sins, and
secondly,
our deliverance from sin. But now, in keeping with this fact, we must
notice a further difference.
In the first part of Romans 1 to 8, we twice have reference to the Blood of the Lord Jesus, in
Romans 3:25 God sent Jesus to be the punishment for our Sin and relieve God’s anger upon us. Jesus offered His life's blood, so that by faith in His sacrifice we could turn to God. God did this to show that in the past He was right to be patient and forgive sinners.
and
Romans 5:9 And now that God has accepted us because Jesus Christ sacrificed His life's blood for us, we will also be kept safe from God's judgment.
In the second, a new idea is introduced
Romans 6:6 Our sinful selves were nailed to the cross with Jesus Christ so that sin would lose it’s power in our lives, and we would no longer be slaves to sin.
Our sinful selves have been "crucified" with Jesus Christ. The argument of the first part gathers round that aspect of the work of the Lord Jesus which is represented by `the Blood' shed for our justification through "the remission of sins". This terminology is however not carried on into the second section, where the argument centers now in the aspect of His work represented by `the Cross', that is to say, by our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. This distinction is a valuable one. We shall see that the Blood deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin. The latter aspect will be the subject of our consideration in later chapters.
C. The Problem Of Our Sins
We begin, then, with the precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and its value to us in dealing with our sins and justifying us in the sight of God. This is set forth for us in the following passages:
"All have sinned" (Romans 3:23).
All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.
Romans 3:23 All of us have sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard.
"God commends his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through him" (Romans 5:8,9).
Romans 5:8 But God shows His great love for us by having Jesus Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.
Romans 5:9 And now that God has accepted us because Jesus Christ sacrificed His life's blood for us, we will also be kept safe from God's judgment.
But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life's blood, we will also be kept safe from God's anger.
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by his blood, to show his righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins one aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus"
Romans 3:24 But God kindly accepts us and declares us “not guilty” because of Jesus Christ, who purchased us.
Romans 3:25 God sent Jesus to be the punishment for our Sin and relieve God’s anger upon us. Jesus offered His life's blood, so that by faith in His sacrifice we could turn to God. God did this to show that in the past He was right to be patient and forgive sinners.
Romans 3:26 This shows us that God is right when He accepts people today who have faith in Jesus.
We shall have reason at a later stage in our study to look closely at the real nature of the fall and the way of recovery. At this point we will just remind ourselves that when sin came in it found expression in an act of disobedience to God
Romans 5:19 Adam disobeyed God and caused others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed God to make many people acceptable to God.
Now we must remember that whenever this occurs the thing that immediately follows is guilt.
Sin enters as disobedience, to create first of all a separation between God and man whereby man is put away from God. God can no longer have fellowship with him, for there is something now which hinders, and it is that which is known throughout Scripture as `sin'. Thus it is first of all God who says,
Romans 3:9 What does all this mean? Does it mean that we Jews are better off than the Gentiles? No, it doesn't! Jews, as well as Gentiles, are ruled by the power of Sin.
Then, secondly, that sin in man, which henceforth constitutes a barrier to his fellowship with God, gives rise in him to a sense of guilt -- of estrangement from God. Here it is man himself who, with the help of his awakened conscience, says, "I have sinned"
Luke 15:18
I will go to my father and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you.. Nor is this all, for sin also provides Satan with his ground of accusation before God, while our sense of guilt gives him his ground of accusation in our hearts; so that, thirdly, it is `the accuser of the brethren'
Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a voice from heaven shout, "Our God has shown his saving power, and his kingdom has come! God's own Chosen One has shown his authority. Satan accused our people in the presence of God day and night and now he has been thrown out!
who now says, `You have sinned'.
To redeem us, therefore, and to bring us back to the purpose of God, the Lord Jesus had to do something about these three questions of sin and of guilt and of Satan's charge against us. Our sins had first to be dealt with, and this was effected by the precious Blood of Christ. Our guilt has to be dealt with and our guilty conscience set at rest by showing us the value of that Blood. And finally the attack of the enemy has to be met and his accusations answered. In the Scriptures the Blood of Christ is shown to operate effectually in these three ways, God-ward, Man-ward and Satan-ward.
There is thus an absolute need for us to appropriate these values of the Blood if we are to go on. This is a first essential. We must have a basic knowledge of the fact of the death of the Lord Jesus as our Substitute upon the Cross, and a clear apprehension of the efficacy of His Blood for our sins, for without this we cannot be said to have started upon our road. Let us look then at these three matters more closely.
D. The Blood Is Primarily For God
The Blood is for atonement and has to do first with our standing before God. We need forgiveness for the sins we have committed, lest we come under judgment; and they are forgiven, not because God overlooks what we have done but because He sees the Blood. The Blood is therefore not primarily for us but for God. If I want to understand the value of the Blood I must accept God's valuation of it, and if I do not know something of the value set upon the Blood by God I shall never know what its value is for me. It is only as the estimate that God puts upon the Blood of Christ is made known to me by His Holy Spirit that I come into the good of it myself and find how precious indeed the Blood is to me. But the first aspect of it is God-ward. Throughout the Old and New Testaments the word `blood' is used in connection with the idea of atonement, I think over a hundred times, and throughout it is something for God.
In the Old Testament calendar there is one day that has a great bearing on the matter of our sins and that day is the Day of Atonement. Nothing explains this question of sins so clearly as the description of that day. In
Leviticus 16:3
Before entering this most holy place, you must offer a bull as a sacrifice for your sins and a ram as a sacrifice to please me.Leviticus 16:4
You will take a bath and put on the sacred linen clothes, including the underwear, the robe, the sash, and the turban.Leviticus 16:5
Then the community of Israel will bring you a ram and two goats, both of them males. The goats are to be used as sacrifices for sin, and the ram is to be used as a sacrifice to please me.Leviticus 16:6
Aaron, you must offer the bull as a sacrifice of forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family.Leviticus 16:7
Then you will lead the two goats into my presence at the front of the sacred tent,Leviticus 16:8
where I will show you which goat will be sacrificed to me and which one will be sent into the desert as the escape goat.Leviticus 16:9
After you offer the first goat as a sacrifice for sin,Leviticus 16:10
the other one must be presented to me alive, before you send it into the desert to take away the sins of the people.Leviticus 16:11
You must offer the bull as a sacrifice to ask forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family.Leviticus 16:12
Then you will take a fire pan of live coals from the bronze altar, together with two handfuls of finely ground incense, into the most holy place.Leviticus 16:13
There you will present them to me by placing the incense on the coals, so that the place of mercy will be covered with a cloud of smoke. Do this, or you will die right there!Leviticus 16:14
Next, use a finger to sprinkle some of the blood on the place of mercy, which is on the lid of the sacred chest; then sprinkle blood seven times in front of the chest.Leviticus 16:15
Aaron, you must next sacrifice the goat for the sins of the people, and you must sprinkle its blood inside the most holy place, just as you did with the blood of the bull.Leviticus 16:16
By doing this, you will take away the sins that make both the most holy place and the people of Israel unclean. Do the same for the sacred tent, which is here among the people.we find that on the Day of Atonement the blood was taken from the sin offering and brought into the Most Holy Place and there sprinkled before the Lord seven times. We must be very clear about this. On that day the sin offering was offered publicly in the court of the tabernacle. Everything was there in full view and could be seen by all. But the Lord commanded that no man should enter the tabernacle itself except the high priest. It was he alone who took the blood and, going into the Most Holy Place, sprinkled it there to make atonement before the Lord. Why? Because the high priest was a type of the Lord Jesus in His redemptive work
Hebrews 9:12
Then Jesus Christ went once for all into the most Holy Place and freed us from sin forever. He did this by offering his own Life blood instead of the blood of goats and bulls.and so, in figure, he was the one who did the work. None but he could even draw near to enter in. Moreover, connected with his going in there was but one act, namely, the presenting of the blood to God as something He had accepted, something in which He could find satisfaction. It was a transaction between the high priest and God in the Sanctuary, away from the eyes of the men who were to benefit by it. The Lord required that. The Blood is therefore in the first place for Him.
Earlier even than this there is described
Exodus 12:13
The blood on the houses will show me where you live, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and you won't be bothered by the terrible disasters I will bring upon Egypt.the shedding of the blood of the Passover Lamb in Egypt for Israel's redemption. This is again, I think, one of the best types in the Old Testament of our redemption. The blood was put on the lintel and on the door-posts, whereas the meat, the flesh of the lamb, was eaten inside the house; and God said: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you". Here we have another illustration of the fact that the blood was not meant to be presented to man but to God, for the blood was put on the lintel and on the door-posts, where those feasting inside the house would not see it.
E. God Is Satisfied
It is God's holiness, God's righteousness, which demands that a sinless life should be given for man. There is life in the Blood, and that Blood has to be poured out for me, for my sins. God is the One who requires it to be so. God is the One who demands that the Blood be presented, in order to satisfy His own righteousness, and it is He who says: `When I see the blood', I will pass over you.' The Blood of Christ wholly satisfies God.
Now I desire to say a word at this point to my younger brethren in the Lord, for it is here that we often get into difficulties. As unbelievers we may have been wholly untroubled by our conscience until the Word of God began to arouse us. Our conscience was dead, and those with dead consciences are certainly of no use to God. But later, when we believed, our awakened conscience may have become acutely sensitive, and this can constitute a real problem to us. The sense of sin and guilt can become so great, so terrible, as almost to cripple us by causing us to lose sight of the true effectiveness of the Blood. It seems to us that our sins are so real, and some particular sin may trouble us so many times, that we come to the point where to us our sins loom larger than the Blood of Christ.
Now the whole trouble with us is that we are trying to sense it; we are trying to feel its value and to estimate subjectively what the Blood is for us. We cannot do it; it does not work that way. The Blood is first for God to see. We then have to accept God's valuation of it. In doing so we shall find our valuation. If instead we try to come to a valuation by way of our feelings we get nothing; we remain in darkness. No, it is a matter of faith in God's Word. We have to believe that the Blood is precious to God because He says it is so
1Peter 1:18
You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don't last forever.1Peter 1:19
You were rescued by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb.If God can accept the Blood as a payment for our sins and as the price of our redemption, then we can rest assured that the debt has been paid. If God is satisfied with the Blood, then the Blood must be acceptable. Our valuation of it is only according to His valuation -- neither more nor less. It cannot, of course, be more, but it must not be less. Let us remember that He is holy and He is righteous, and that a holy and righteous God has the right to say that the Blood is acceptable in His eyes and has fully satisfied Him.
F. The Blood And The Believer's Access
The Blood has satisfied God; it must satisfy us also. It has therefore a second value that is man ward in the cleansing of our conscience. When we come to the Epistle to the Hebrews we find that the Blood does this. We are to have "hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience"
Hebrews 10:22
So let's come near God with pure hearts and a confidence that comes from having faith. Let's keep our hearts pure, our consciences free from evil, and our bodies washed with clean water.This is most important. Look carefully at what it says. The writer does not tell us that the Blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses our hearts, an then stop there in his statement. We are wrong to connect the heart with the Blood in quite that way. It may show a misunderstanding of the sphere in which the Blood operates to pray, `Lord, cleanse my heart from sin by Thy Blood'. The heart, God says, is "desperately sick"
Jeremiah 17:9
You people of Judah are so deceitful that you even fool yourselves, and you can't change., and He must do something more fundamental than cleanse it: He must give us a new one.
We do not wash and iron clothing that we are going to throw away. As we shall shortly see, the `flesh' is too bad to be cleansed; it must be crucified. The work of God within us must be something wholly new. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you"
Ezekiel 36:26
I will take away your stubborn heart and give you a new heart and a desire to be faithful. You will have only pure thoughts,No, I do not find it stated that the Blood cleanses our hearts. Its work is not subjective in that way, but wholly objective, before God. True, the cleansing work of the Blood is seen here in
Hebrews 10:18
When sins are forgiven, there is no more need to offer sacrifices.Hebrews 10:19
My friends, the blood of Jesus gives us courage to enter the most holy placeHebrews 10:20
by a new way that leads to life! And this way takes us through the curtain that is Christ himself.Hebrews 10:21
We have a great high priest who is in charge of God's house.Hebrews 10:22
So let's come near God with pure hearts and a confidence that comes from having faith. Let's keep our hearts pure, our consciences free from evil, and our bodies washed with clean water.to have reference to the heart, but it is in relation to the conscience. "Having our hearts sprinkled from a evil conscience". What then is the meaning of this?
It means that there was something intervening between myself and God, as a result of which I had an evil conscience whenever I sought to approach Him. It was constantly reminding me of the barrier that stood between myself and Him. But now, through the operation of the precious Blood, something new has been effected before God which has removed that barrier, and God has made that fact known to me in His Word. When that has been believed in and accepted, my conscience is at once cleared and my sense of guilt removed, and I have no more an evil conscience toward God.
Every one of us knows what a precious thing it is to have a conscience void of offense in our dealings with God. A heart of faith and a conscience clear of any and every accusation are both equally essential to us, since they are interdependent. As soon as we find our conscience is uneasy our faith leaks away and immediately we find we cannot face God. In order therefore to keep going on with God we must know the up-to-date value of the Blood. God keeps short accounts, and we are made nigh by the Blood every day, every hour and every minute. It never loses its efficacy as our ground of access if we will but lay hold upon it. When we enter the most Holy Place, on what ground dare we enter but by the Blood?
But I want to ask myself, am I really seeking the way into the Presence of God by the Blood or by something else? What do I mean when I say, `by the Blood'? I mean simply that I recognize my sins, that I confess that I have need of cleansing and of atonement, and that I come to God on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus. I approach God through His merit alone, and never on the basis of my attainment; never, for example, on the ground that I have been extra kind or patient today, or that I have done something for the Lord this morning. I have to come by way of the Blood every time. The temptation to so many of us when we try to approach God is to think that because God has been dealing with us -- because He has been taking steps to bring us into something more of Himself and has been teaching us deeper lessons of the Cross -- He has thereby set before us new standards, and that only by attaining to these can we have a clear conscience before Him. No! A clear conscience is never based upon our attainment; it can only be based on the work of the Lord Jesus in the shedding of His Blood.
I may be mistaken, but I feel very strongly that some of us are thinking in terms such as these: `Today I have been a little more careful; today I have been doing a little better; this morning I have been reading the Word of God in a warmer way, so today I can pray better!' Or again, `Today I have had a little difficulty with the family; I began the day feeling very gloomy and moody; I am not feeling too bright now; it seems that there must be something wrong; therefore I cannot approach God.'
What, after all, is your basis of approach to God? Do you come to Him on the uncertain ground of your feeling, the feeling that you may have achieved something for God today? Or is your approach based on something far more secure, namely, the fact that the Blood has been shed, and that God looks on that Blood and is satisfied? Of course, were it conceivably possible for the Blood to suffer any change, the basis of your approach to God might be less trustworthy. But the Blood has never changed and never will. Your approach to God is therefore always in boldness; and that boldness is yours through the Blood and never through your personal attainment. Whatever be your measure of attainment today or yesterday or the day before, as soon as you make a conscious move into the Most Holy Place, immediately you have to take your stand upon the safe and only ground of the shed Blood. Whether you have had a good day or a bad day, whether you have consciously sinned or not, your basis of approach is always the same -- the Blood of Christ. That is the ground upon which you may enter, and there is no other.
As with many other stages of our Christian experience, this matter of access to God has two phases, an initial and a progressive one. The former is presented to us in
Ephesians 2:18
And because of Jesus Christ, all of us can come to the Father by the same Spirit.Ephesians 2:19
You Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens with everyone else who belongs to the family of God.and the latter in
Hebrews 10:10
So we are made holy because Jesus Christ obeyed God and offered himself once for all.Hebrews 10:11
The priests do their work each day, and they keep on offering sacrifices that can never take away sins.Hebrews 10:12
But Jesus Christ offered himself as a sacrifice that is good forever and now He is sitting at God's right side,. Initially, our standing with God was secured by the Blood, for we are "made nigh in the blood of Christ"
Ephesians 2:13
and you were far from God. But Jesus Christ offered his life's blood as a sacrifice and brought you near to God.. But thereafter our ground of continual access is still by the Blood, for the apostle exhorts us: "Having therefore... boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus... let us draw near"
Hebrews 10:19
My friends, the blood of Jesus gives us courage to enter the most holy placeHebrews 10:20
by a new way that leads to life! And this way takes us through the curtain that is Jesus Christ himself.Hebrews 10:21
We have a great high priest who is in charge of God's house.Hebrews 10:22
So let's come near to God with pure hearts and a confidence that comes from having faith. Let's keep our hearts pure, our consciences free from evil, and our bodies washed with clean water.. To begin with I was made nigh by the Blood, and to continue in that new relationship I come through the Blood every time. It is not that I was saved on one basis and that I now maintain my fellowship on another. You say, `That is very simple; it is the A.B.C. of the Gospel.' Yes, but the trouble with many of us is that we have moved away from the A.B.C. We have thought we had progressed and so could dispense with it, but we can never do so. No, my initial approach to God is by the Blood, and every time I come before Him it is the same. Right to the end it will always and only be on the ground of the Blood.
This does not mean at all that we should live a careless life, for we shall shortly study another aspect of the death of Christ which shows us that anything but that is contemplated. But for the present let us be satisfied with the Blood, that it is there and that it is enough.
We may be weak, but looking at our weakness will never make us strong. No trying to feel bad and doing penance will help us to be even a little holier. There is no help there, so let us be bold in our approach because of the Blood: `Lord, I do not know fully what the value of the Blood is, but I know that the Blood has satisfied Thee; so the Blood is enough for me, and it is my only plea. I see now that whether I have really progressed, whether I have really attained to something or not, is not the point. Whenever I come before Thee, it is always on the ground of the precious Blood. Then our conscience is really clear before God. No conscience could ever be clear apart from the Blood. It is the Blood that gives us boldness.
"No more conscience of sins": these are tremendous words of
Hebrews 10:2
If there were worshipers who already have their sins washed away and their consciences made clear, there would not be any need to go on offering sacrifices.We are cleansed from every sin; and we may truly echo the words of Paul: "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin"
Romans 4:8
The Lord blesses the people whose sins are erased from His book."G. Overcoming The Accuser
In view of what we have said we can now turn to face the enemy, for there is a further aspect of the Blood which is Satan-ward. Satan's most strategic activity in this day is as the accuser of the brethren
Revelation 12:10
Then I heard a voice from heaven shout, "Our God has shown His saving power, and His kingdom has come! God's own Chosen One has shown his authority. Satan accused our people in the presence of God day and night. Now he has been thrown out!and it is as this that our Lord confronts him with His special ministry as High Priest "through his own blood"
Hebrews 9:12
Then Jesus Christ went once for ALL into the most holy place and freed us from sin forever. He did this by offering his own life blood instead of the blood of bulls and goats.How then does the Blood operate against Satan? It does so by putting God on the side of man against him. The Fall brought something into man which gave Satan a footing within him, with the result that God was compelled to withdraw Himself. Man is now outside the garden -- beyond reach of the glory of God
Romans 3:23
All of us have sinned and have fallen short of God's glorious standard.-- because he is inwardly estranged from God. Because of what man has done, there is something in him which, until it is removed, renders God morally unable to defend him. But the Blood removes that barrier and restores man to God and God to man. Man is in favor now, and because God is on his side he can face Satan without fear.
You remember that verse in John's first Epistle -- and this is the translation of it I like best: "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin" It is not exactly "all sin" in the general sense, but every sin, every item. What does it mean? Oh, it is a marvelous thing! God is the light, and as we walk in the light with Him everything is exposed and open to that light, so that God can see it all -- and yet the Blood is able to cleanse from every sin. What a cleansing! It is not that I have not a profound knowledge of myself, nor that God has not a perfect knowledge of me. It is not hat I try to hide something nor that God tries to overlook something. No, it is that He is in the light and I too am in the light, and that there the precious Blood cleanses me from every sin. The Blood is enough for that!
Some of us, oppressed by our own weakness, may at times have been tempted to think that there are sins which are almost unforgivable. Let us remember the word: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from every sin." Big sins, small sins, sins which may be very black and sins which appear to be not so black, sins which I think can be forgiven and sins which seem unforgivable, yes, all sins, conscious or unconscious, remembered or forgotten, are included in those words: "every sin". "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin", and it does so because in the first place it satisfies God.
Since God, seeing all our sins in the light, can forgive them on the basis of the Blood, what ground of accusation has Satan? Satan may accuse us before Him, but, "If God is for us, who is against us?"
Romans 8:31
What can we say about all this? If God is on our side, can anyone be against us?. God points him to the Blood of His dear Son. It is the sufficient answer against which Satan has no appeal.
Romans 8:33
If God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them?Romans 8:34
Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed! Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God's right side, speaking to him for us.So here again our need is to recognize the absolute sufficiency of the precious Blood.
Romans 9:11
Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebecca that her older son would serve the younger one.Romans 9:12
The Lord said this to show that he makes his own choices and that it wasn't because of anything either of them had done.. He was Redeemer once. He has been High Priest and Advocate for nearly two thousand years. He stands there in the presence of God, and "he is God's satisfaction for our sins"
1John 2:1
My children, I am writing this so that you won't sin. But if you do sin, Jesus Christ always does the right thing, and He will speak to the Father for us.1John 2:2
Jesus Christ is the sacrifice that takes away our sins and the sins of all the people of the world.Note the words of
Hebrews 9:14
But Jesus Christ was sinless and He offered himself as an eternal and spiritual sacrifice to God. That's why His life's blood is much more powerful and makes our consciences clear. Now we can serve the living God and no longer do things that lead to death."How much more shall the blood of Jesus Christ..." They underline the sufficiency of His ministry. It is enough for God.
What then of our attitude to Satan? This is important, for he accuses us not only before God but in our own conscience also. `You have sinned, and you keep on sinning. You are weak, and God can have nothing more to do with you.' This is his argument. And our temptation is to look within and in self-defense to try to find in ourselves, in our feelings or our behavior, some ground for believing that Satan is wrong. Alternatively we are tempted to admit our helplessness and, going to the other extreme, to yield to depression and despair. Thus accusation becomes one of the greatest and most effective of Satan's weapons. He points to our sins and seeks to charge us with them before God, and if we accept his accusations we go down immediately.
Now the reason why we so readily accept his accusations is that we are still hoping to have some righteousness of our own. The ground of our expectation is wrong. Satan has succeeded in making us look in the wrong direction. Thereby he wins his point, rendering us ineffective. But if we have learned to put no confidence in the flesh, we shall not wonder if we sin, for the very nature of the flesh is to sin. Do you understand what I mean? It is because we have not come to appreciate our true nature and to see how helpless we are that we still have some expectation in ourselves, with the result that, when Satan comes along and accuses us, we go down under it.
God is well able to deal with our sins; but He cannot deal with a man under accusation, because such a man is not trusting in the Blood. The Blood speaks in his favor, but his is listening instead to Satan. Christ is our Advocate but we, the accused, side with the accuser. We have not recognized that we are unworthy of anything but death; that, as we shall shortly see, we are only fit to be crucified anyway. We have not recognized that it is God alone that can answer the accuser, and that in the precious Blood He has already done so.
Our salvation lies in looking away to the Lord Jesus and in seeing that the Blood of the Lamb has met the whole situation created by our sins and has answered it. That is the sure foundation on which we stand. Never should we try to answer Satan with our good conduct but always with the Blood. Yes, we are sinful, but, praise God! the Blood cleanses us from every sin. God looks upon the Blood whereby His Son has met the charge, and Satan has no more ground of attack. Our faith in the precious Blood and our refusal to be moved from that position can alone silence his charges and put him to flight
Romans 8:33
If God says his chosen ones are acceptable to him, can anyone bring charges against them?Romans 8:34
Or can anyone condemn them? No indeed! Jesus Christ died and was raised to life, and now He is at God's right side, speaking to him for us.and so it will be, right on to the end
Revelation 12:11
Our people have seen Satan defeated because of the blood of the Lamb of God and they were willing to give up their lives to deliver the Good News of God.. Oh, what an emancipation it would be if we saw more of the value of God's eyes of the precious Blood of His dear Son!
Chapter 2: The Cross of Jesus Christ
We have seen that Romans 1 to 8 falls into two sections, in the first of which we are shown that the Blood deals with what we have done, while in the second we shall see that the Cross deals with what we are. We need the Blood for forgiveness; we need also the Cross for deliverance. We have dealt briefly above with the first of these two and we shall move on now to the second; but before we do so we will look for a moment at a few more features of this passage which serve to emphasize the difference in subject matter and argument between the two halves.
A. Some Further Distinctions
Two aspects of the resurrection are mentioned in the two sections, in Romans 4 and 6. In
Romans 4:25
God gave us Jesus to die for our sins, and he raised him to life, so that we would be made acceptable to God.the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is mentioned in relation to our justification: "Jesus our Lord... was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification." Here the matter in view is that of our standing before God. But in
Romans 6:4
When we were baptized into Christ, we died and were buried with Jesus Christ. We were baptized into Christ so that we would live a new life, as Jesus Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father.the resurrection is spoken of as imparting to us new life with a view to a holy walk: "That like as Christ was raised from the dead... so we also might walk in newness of life." Here the matter before us is behavior.
Again, peace is spoken of in both sections, in the fifth and eighth chapters.
Romans 5:1
By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live in peace with God.Romans 5:2
Jesus Christ also introduced us to God's undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God.This tells of peace with God which is the effect of justification by faith in His Blood: "Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." This means that, now that I have forgiveness of sins, God will no longer be a cause of dread and trouble to me. I who was an enemy to God have been
Romans 5:10
Even when we were God's enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son - Jesus Christ, died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son's life.I very soon find, however, that I am going to be a great cause of trouble to myself. There is still unrest within, for within me there is something that draws me to sin. There is peace with God, but there is no peace with myself. There is in fact civil war in my own heart. This condition is well depicted
Romans 7:18
I know that my selfish desires won't let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot.Romans 7:19
Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong.Romans 7:20
And so, if I don't do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.Romans 7:21
The Law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right.Romans 7:22
With my whole heart I agree with the Law of God.Romans 7:23
But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do.Romans 7:24
What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die?where the flesh and the spirit are seen to be in deadly conflict within me. But from this the argument leads in
Romans 7:25
Praise God that Jesus Christ will rescue me. So with my mind I serve the Law of God, although my selfish desires make me serve the law of sin.Romans 8:1 If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won't be punished.
Romans 8:2
The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death.
to the inward peace of a walk in the Spirit.
Romans 8:6
If our minds are ruled by our desires, we will die. But if our minds are ruled by the Spirit of God, we will have life and peace.Romans 8:7
Our sinful desires fight against God, because they do not and cannot obey God's laws.Looking further still we find that the first half of the section deals generally speaking with the question of justification (see, for example,
Romans 3:24
But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins.Romans 3:25
God sent Jesus Christ to be our sacrifice and Jesus Christ offered his life's blood, so that by faith in Him we could come to God. And God did this to show that in the past he was right to be patient and forgive sinners.Romans 3:26
This also shows that God is right when he accepts people who have faith in Jesus.Romans 4:5
But you cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God accepts sinners only because they have faith in Him through Jesus Christ.Romans 4:25 God gave Jesus to die for our sins, and he raised him to life, so that we would be made acceptable to God.
while the second half has as its main topic the corresponding question of sanctification
Romans 6:20
When you were slaves of sin, you didn't have to please God.Romans 6:21
But what good did you receive from the things you did? All you have to show for them is your shame, and they lead to death.Romans 6:22
Now you have been set free from sin, and you are God's servants. This will make you holy and will lead you to eternal life.Romans 6:23
Sin pays off with death. But God's gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord.When we know the precious truth of justification by faith we still know only half of the story. We still have only solved the problem of our standing before God. As we go on, God has something more to offer us, namely, the solution of the problem of our conduct, and the development of thought in these chapters serves to emphasize this. In each case the second step follows from the first, and if we know only the first then we are still leading a sub-normal Christian life. How then can we live a normal Christian life? How do we enter in? Well, of course, initially we must have forgiveness of sins, we must have justification, we must have peace with God: these are our indispensable foundation. But with that basis truly established through our first act of faith in Christ, it is yet clear from the above that we must move on to something more.
So we see that objectively the Blood deals with our sins. The Lord Jesus has borne them on the Cross for us as our Substitute and has thereby obtained for us forgiveness, justification and reconciliation. But we must now go a step further in the plan of God to understand how He deals with the sin principle in us. The Blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my `old man'. It needs the Cross to crucify me. The Blood deals with the sins, but the Cross must deal with the sinner.
You will scarcely find the word `sinner' in the first four chapters of Romans. This is because there the sinner himself is not mainly in view, but rather the sins he has committed. The word `sinner' first comes into prominence in:
Romans 5:6
Jesus Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful.and it is important to notice how the sinner is there introduced. In that chapter a sinner is said to be a sinner because he is born a sinner; not because he has committed sins.
Romans 5:12
Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned and must die.Romans 5:18 Everyone was going to be punished because Adam sinned. But because of the good thing that Jesus Christ has done, God accepts us and gives us the gift of life.
Romans 5:19
Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God.
The distinction is important. It is true that often when a Gospel worker wants to convince a man in the street that he is a sinner, he will use the favorite verse
Romans 3:23
All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard.where it says that "all have sinned"; but this use of the verse is not strictly justified by the Scriptures. Those who so use it are in danger or arguing the wrong way round, for the teaching of Romans is not that we are sinners because we commit sins, but that we sin because we are sinners. We are sinners by constitution rather than by action.
Romans 5:19
Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God.How were we constituted sinners? By Adam's disobedience. We do not become sinners by what we have done but because of what Adam has done and has become. I speak English, but I am not thereby constituted on Englishman. I am in fact a Chinese. So Romans 3 draws our attention to what we have done -- "all have sinned" -- but it is not because we have done it that we become sinners.
I once asked a class of children. `Who is a sinner?' and their immediate reply was, `One who sins'. Yes, one who sins is a sinner, but the fact that he sins is merely the evidence that he is already a sinner; it is not the cause. One who sins is a sinner, but it is equally true that one who does not sin, if he is of Adam's race, is a sinner too, and in need of redemption. Do you follow me? There are bad sinners and there are good sinners, there are moral sinners and there are corrupt sinners, but they are all alike sinners. We sometimes think that if only we had not done certain things all would be well; but the trouble lies far deeper than in what we do: it lies in what we are. A Chinese may be born America and be unable to speak Chinese at all, but he is a Chinese for all that, because he was born a Chinese. It is birth that counts. So I am a sinner not of my behavior but of my heredity, my parentage. I am not a sinner because I sin, but I sin because I come of the wrong stock. I sin because I am a sinner.
We are apt to think that what we have done is very bad, but that we ourselves are not so bad. God is taking pains to show us that we ourselves are wrong, fundamentally wrong. The root trouble is the sinner; he must be dealt with. Our sins are dealt with by the Blood, but we ourselves are dealt with by the Cross. The Blood procures our pardon for what we have done; the Cross procures our deliverance from what we are.
B. Man's State By Nature
Romans 5:12
Adam sinned, and that sin brought death into the world. Now everyone has sinned and must die.Romans 5:13
Sin was in the world before the Law came. But no record of sin was kept, because there was no Law.Romans 5:14
Yet death still had power over all who lived from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. This happened, though not everyone disobeyed a direct command from God, as Adam did. In some ways Adam is like Jesus Christ who came later.Romans 5:15
But the gift that God was kind enough to give was very different from Adam's sin. One sin brought death to many others. Yet in an even greater way, Jesus Christ alone brought God's gift of kindness to many people.Romans 5:16
There is a lot of difference between Adam's sin and God's gift. That one sin led to punishment. But God's gift made it possible for us to be acceptable to him, even though we have sinned many times.Romans 5:17
Death ruled like a king because Adam had sinned. But that cannot compare with what Jesus Christ has done. God has been so kind to us, and he has accepted us because of Jesus. And so we will live and rule like kings.Romans 5:18
Everyone was going to be punished because Adam sinned. But because of the good thing that Christ has done, God accepts us and gives us the gift of life.Romans 5:19
Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God.Romans 5:20
The Law came, so that the full power of sin could be seen. Yet where sin was powerful, God's kindness was even more powerful.Romans 5:21
Sin ruled by means of death. But God's kindness now rules, and God has accepted us because of Jesus Christ our Lord. This means that we will have eternal life.
First Adam (First Man)
| Jesus (Second Man, Last Adam)
Death
| Life
Punishment
| Reward
Rejection
| Acceptance
Disobedience
| Obedience
Judgment
| Kindness
Separated
| United
Slaves
| Servants
Sin
| Salvation
Buried
| Raised
Bondage
| Liberation
Guilty
| Righteous
Law
| Liberty
Evil
| Goodness
Shame
| Glory
Conflict
| Peace
Orphaned
| Adopted
Rules
| Relationship
Commandments
| Holy Spirit
Selfish
| Giving
From Dust
| From Heaven
Grace is brought into contrast with sin and the obedience of Jesus Christ is set against the disobedience of Adam. It is placed at the beginning of the second section of (Romans 5:12 to 8:39) with which we shall now be particularly concerned, and its argument leads to a conclusion which lies at the foundation of our further meditations. What is that conclusion?
Romans 5:19
Adam disobeyed God and caused many others to be sinners. But Jesus obeyed him and will make many people acceptable to God.Here the Spirit of God is seeking to show us first what we are, and then how we came to be what we are.
At the beginning of our Christian life we are concerned with our doing, not with our being; we are distressed rather by what we have done than by what we are. We think that if only we could rectify certain things we should be good Christians, and we set out therefore to change our actions. But the result is not what we expected. We discover to our dismay that it is something more than just a case of trouble on the outside -- that there is in fact more serious trouble on the inside. We try to please the Lord, but find something within that does not want to please Him. We try to be humble, but there is something in our very being that refuses to be humble. We try to be loving, but inside we feel most unloving. We smile and try to look very gracious, but inwardly we feel decidedly ungracious. The more we try to rectify matters on the outside the more we realize how deep-seated the trouble is within. Then we come to the Lord and say, `Lord, I see it now! Not only what I have done is wrong; I am wrong.'
The conclusion of Romans 5:19 is beginning to dawn upon us. We are sinners. We are members of a race of people who are constitutionally other than what God intended them to be. By the Fall a fundamental change took place in the character of Adam whereby he became a sinner, one constitutionally unable to please God; and the family likeness which we all share is no merely superficial one but extends to our inward character also. We have been "constituted sinners". How did this come about? "By the disobedience of one", says Paul. Let me try to illustrate this.
My name is Nee. It is a fairly common Chinese name. How did I come by it? I did not choose it. I did not go through the list of possible Chinese names and select this one. That my name is Nee is in fact not my doing at all, and, moreover, nothing I can do can alter it. I am a Nee because my father was a Nee, and my father was a Nee because my grandfather was a Nee. If I act like a Nee I am a Nee, and if I act unlike a Nee I am still a Nee. If I become President of the Chinese Republic I am a Nee, or if I become a beggar in the street I am still a Nee. Nothing I do or refrain from doing will make me other than a Nee.
We are sinners not because of ourselves but because of Adam. It is not because I individually have sinned that I am a sinner but because I was in Adam when he sinned. Because by birth I come of Adam, therefore I am a part of him. What is more, I can do nothing to alter this. I cannot by improving my behavior make myself other than a part of Adam and so a sinner.
In China I was once talking in this strain and remarked, `We have all sinned in Adam'. A man said, `I don't understand', so I sought to explain it in this way. `All Chinese trace their descent from Huang-ti', I said. `Over four thousand years ago he had a war with Si-iu. His enemy was very strong, but nevertheless Huang-ti overcame and slew him. After this Huang-ti founded the Chinese nation. Four thousand years ago therefore our nation was founded by Huang-ti. Now what would have happened if Huang-ti had not killed his enemy, but had been himself killed instead? Where would you be now?' `There would be no me at all', he answered. `Oh, no! Huang-ti can die his death and you can live your life.' `Impossible!' he cried, `If he had died, then I could never have lived, for I have derived my life from him.'
Do you see the oneness of human life? Our life comes from Adam. If your great-grandfather had died at the age of three, where would you be? You would have died in him! Your experience is bound up with his. Now in just the same way the experience of every one of us is bound up with that of Adam. None can say, `I have not been in Eden' for potentially we all were there when Adam yielded to the serpent's words. So we are all involved in Adam's sin, and by being born "in Adam" we receive from him all that he became as a result of his sin -- that is to say, the Adam-nature which is the nature of a sinner. We derive our existence from him, and because his life became a sinful life, a sinful nature, therefore the nature which we derive from him is also sinful. So, as we have said, the trouble is in our heredity, not in our behavior. Unless we can change our parentage there is no deliverance for us.
But it is in this very direction that we shall find the solution of our problem, for that is exactly how God has dealt with the situation.
C. As In Adam So In Jesus Christ
Romans 5:12 to 21 tells us something about Adam; we are told also something about the Lord Jesus. "As through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous." In Adam we receive everything that is of Adam; in Christ we receive everything that is of Christ.
The terms `in Adam' and `in Christ' are too little understood by Christians, and, at the risk of repetition, I wish again to emphasize by means of an illustration the hereditary and racial significance of the term `in Christ'. This illustration is to be found in the letter to the Hebrews. Do you remember that in the earlier part of the letter the writer is trying to show that Melchizedek is greater than Levi? You recall that the point to be proved is that the priesthood of Christ is greater than the priesthood of Aaron who was of the tribe of Levi. Now in order to prove that, he has first to prove that the priesthood of Melchizedek is greater than the priesthood of Levi, for the simple reason that the priesthood of Christ is "after the order of Melchizedek"
Hebrews 7:14
Everyone knows he came from the tribe of Judah, and Moses never said that priests would come from that tribe.Hebrews 7:15
All of this becomes clearer, when someone who is like Melchizedek is appointed to be a priest.Hebrews 7:16
That person wasn't appointed because of his ancestors, but because his life can never end.Hebrews 7:17
The Scriptures say about him, "You are a priest forever, like Melchizedek."while that of Aaron is, of course, after the order of Levi. If the writer can demonstrate to us that Melchizedek is greater than Levi, then he has made his point. That is the issue, and he proves it in a remarkable way.
He tells us
Hebrews 7:1
Melchizedek was both king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He was the one who went out and gave Abraham his blessing, when Abraham returned from killing the kings.Hebrews 7:2
Then Abraham gave him a tenth of everything he had. The meaning of the name Melchizedek is "King of Justice." But since Salem means "peace," he is also "King of Peace."Hebrews 7:3
We are not told that he had a father or mother or ancestors or beginning or end. He is like the Son of God and will be a priest forever.Hebrews 7:4
Notice how great Melchizedek is! Our famous ancestor Abraham gave him a tenth of what he had taken from his enemies.Hebrews 7:5
The Law teaches that even Abraham's descendants must give a tenth of what they possess. And they are to give this to their own relatives, who are the descendants of Levi and are priests.Hebrews 7:6
Although Melchizedek wasn't a descendant of Levi, Abraham gave him a tenth of what he had. Then Melchizedek blessed Abraham, who had been given God's promise.Hebrews 7:7
Everyone agrees that a person who gives a blessing is greater than the one who receives the blessing.Hebrews 7:8
Priests are given a tenth of what people earn. But all priests die, except Melchizedek, and the Scriptures teach that he is alive.Hebrews 7:9
Levi's descendants are now the ones who receive a tenth from people. We could even say that when Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth, Levi also gave him a tenth.Hebrews 7:10
This is because Levi was born later into the family of Abraham, who gave a tenth to Melchizedek.Hebrews 7:11
Even though the Law of Moses says that the priests must be descendants of Levi, those priests cannot make anyone perfect. So there needs to be a priest like Melchizedek, rather than one from the priestly family of Aaron.Hebrews 7:12
And when the rules for selecting a priest are changed, the Law must also be changed.Hebrews 7:13
The person we are talking about is our Lord Jesus Christ, who came from a tribe that had never had anyone to serve as a priest at the altar.Abraham, returning from the battle of the kings (Genesis 14), offered a tithe of his spoils to Melchizedek and received from him a blessing. Inasmuch as Abraham did so, Levi is therefore of less account than Melchizedek. Why? Because the fact that Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek. But if that is true, then Jacob also `in Abraham' offered to Melchizedek, which in turn means that Levi `in Abraham' offered to Melchizedek. It is evident that the lesser offers to the greater (Hebrews 7:7). So Levi is less in standing than Melchizedek, and therefore the priesthood of Aaron is inferior to that of our Lord Jesus Christ. Levi at the time of the battle of the kings was not yet even thought of. Yet he was "in the loins of his father" Abraham, and, "so to say, through Abraham", he offered tithes (Hebrews 7:9,10).
Now his is the exact meaning of `in Christ'. Abraham, as the head of the family of faith, includes the whole family in himself. When he offered to Melchizedek, the whole family offered in him to Melchizedek. They did not offer separately as individuals, but they were in him, and therefore in making his offering he included with himself all his seed.
So we are presented with a new possibility. In Adam all was lost. Through the disobedience of one man we were all constituted sinners. By him sin entered and death through sin, and throughout the race sin has reigned unto death from that day on. But now a ray of light is cast upon the scene. Through the obedience of Another we may be constituted righteous. Where sin abounded grace did much more abound, and as sin reigned unto death, even so may grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:19-21). Our despair is in Adam; our hope is in Christ.
D. The Divine Way of Deliverance
God clearly intends that this consideration should lead to our practical deliverance from sin. Paul makes this quite plain
Romans 6:1
What can we believe? Should we keep on sinning, so that God's wonderful kindness will show up even better?Romans 6:2
No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning?But here is our problem. We were born sinners; how then can we cut off our sinful heredity? Seeing that we were born in Adam, how can we get out of Adam? Let me say at once, the Blood cannot take us out of Adam. There is only one way. Since we came in by birth we must go out by death. To do away with our sinfulness we must do away with our life. Bondage to sin came by birth; deliverance from sin comes by death -- and it is just this way of escape that God has provided. Death is the secret of emancipation. "We... died to sin" (Romans 6:2).
But how can we die? Some of us have tried very hard to get rid of this sinful life, but we have found it most tenacious. What is the way out? It is not by trying to kill ourselves, but by recognizing that God has dealt with us through Jesus Christ. This is summed up in the apostle's next statement:
Romans 6:3
Don't you know that all who share in Christ Jesus by being baptized also share in his death?But if God has dealt with us `in Christ Jesus' then we have got to be in Him for this to become effective, and that now seems just as big a problem. How are we to `get into' Christ? Here again God comes to our help. We have in fact no way of getting in, but, what is more important, we need not try to get in, for we are in. What we could not do for ourselves God has done for us. He has put us into Christ. Let me remind you of
1Corinthians 1:30
You are God's children. He sent Christ Jesus to save us and to make us wise, acceptable, and holy.I think that is one of the best verses of the whole New Testament: `You are in Jesus Christ'. How? "Of him (that is, `of God') are ye in Christ." Praise God! it is not left to us either to devise a way of entry or to work it out. We need not plan how to get in. God has planned it; and He has not only planned it but He has also performed it. `Of him are you in Christ Jesus'. We are in; therefore we need not try to get in. It is a Divine act, and it is accomplished.
Now if this is true, certain things follow. In the illustration from Hebrews 7 which we considered above we saw that `in Abraham' all Israel -- and therefore Levi who was not yet born -- offered tithes to Melchizedek. They did not offer separately and individually, but they were in Abraham when he offered, and his offering included all his seed. This, then, is a true figure of ourselves as `in Christ'. When the Lord Jesus was on the Cross all of us died -- not individually, for we had not yet been born -- but, being in Him, we died in Him.
II Corinthians 5:14
We are ruled by Jesus Christ's love for us. We are certain that if one person died for all, then all of us have died.When Jesus was crucified all of us were crucified.
Many a time when preaching in the villages of China one has to use very simple illustrations for deep Divine truth. I remember once I took up a small book and put a piece of paper into it, and I said to those very simple ones, `Now look carefully. I take a piece of paper. It has an identity of its own, quite separate from this book. Having no special purpose for it at the moment I put it into the book. Now I do something with the book. I post it to Shanghai. I do not post the paper, but the paper has been put into the book. Then where is the paper? Can the book go to Shanghai and the paper remain here? Can the paper have a separate destiny from the book? No! Where the book goes the paper goes. If I drop the book in the river the paper goes too, and if I quickly take it out again I recover the paper also. Whatever experience the book goes through the paper goes through with it, for it is in the book.'
"Of him are ye in Christ Jesus." The Lord God Himself has put us in Christ, and in His dealing with Christ God has dealt with the whole race. Our destiny is bound up with His. What He has gone through we have gone through, for to be `in Christ' is to have been identified with Him in both His death and resurrection. He was crucified: then what about us? Must we ask God to crucify us? Never! When Christ was crucified we were crucified; and His crucifixion is past, therefore ours cannot be future. I challenge you to find one text in the New Testament telling us that our crucifixion is in the future. All the references to it are in the Greek aorist, which is the `once-for-all' tense, the `eternally past' tense.
Romans 6:6
We know that the person we used to be was nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin.Galatians 2:20
I have died, but Jesus Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.Galatians 5:24
And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires.Galatians 6:14
But I will never brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his cross, the world is dead as far as I am concerned, and I am dead as far as the world is concerned.And just as no man could ever commit suicide by crucifixion, for it were a physical impossibility to do so, so also, in spiritual terms, God does not require us to crucify ourselves. We were crucified when He was crucified, for God put us there in Him. That we have died in Christ is not merely a doctrinal position, it is an eternal fact.
E. Jesus' Death and Resurrection Representative and Inclusive
The Lord Jesus, when He died on the Cross, shed His Blood, thus giving His sinless life to atone for our sin and to satisfy the righteousness and holiness of God. To do so was the prerogative of the Son of God alone. No man could have a share in that. The Scripture has never told us that we shed our blood with Christ. In His atoning work before God He acted alone; no other could have a part. But the Lord did not die only to shed His Blood: He died that we might die. He died as our Representative. In His death He included you and me.
We often use the terms `substitution' and `identification' to describe these two aspects of the death of Christ. Now many a time the use of the word `identification' is good. But identification would suggest that the thing begins from our side: that I try to identify myself with the Lord. I agree that the word is true, but it should be used later on. It is better to begin with the fact that the Lord included me in His death. It is the `inclusive' death of the Lord which puts me in a position to identify myself, not that I identify myself in order to be included. It is God's inclusion of me in Christ that matters. It is something God has done. For that reason those two New Testament words "in Christ" are always very dear to my heart.
The death of the Lord Jesus is inclusive. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is alike inclusive. We have looked at the first chapter of I Corinthians to establish the fact that we are "in Christ Jesus". Now we will go to the end of the same letter to see something more of what this means.
1 Corinthians 15:45
The first man was named Adam, and the Scriptures tell us that he was a living person. But Jesus, who may be called the last Adam, is a life-giving spirit.1 Corinthians 15:46
We see that the one with a spiritual body did not come first. He came after the one, (Adam), who had a physical body.1 Corinthians 15:47
The first man, (Adam), was made from the dust of the earth, but the second man, (Jesus), came from heaven.Two remarkable names or titles are used of the Lord Jesus. He is spoken of there as "the last Adam" and He is spoken of too as "the second man". Scripture does not refer to Him as the second Adam but as "the last Adam"; nor does it refer to Him as the last Man, but as "the second man". The distinction is to be noted, for it enshrines a truth of great value.
As the last Adam, Christ is the sum total of humanity; as the second Man He is the Head of a new race. So we have here two unions, the one relating to His death and the other to His resurrection. In the first place His union with the race as "the last Adam" began historically at Bethlehem and ended at the cross and the tomb. In it He gathered up into Himself all that was in Adam and took it to judgment and death. In the second place our union with Him as "the second man" begins in resurrection and ends in eternity -- which is to say, it never ends -- for, having in His death done away with the first man in whom God's purpose was frustrated, He rose again as Head of a new race of men, in whom that purpose shall be fully realized.
When therefore the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, He was crucified as the last Adam. All that was in the first Adam was gathered up and done away in Him. We were included there. The First Adam brought Sin to the human race and the First Man brought death to the human race. The Last Adam wiped out the power of Sin over the human race and the Second Man brings new life to the new human race. It is in His resurrection that He stands forth as the second Man, and there too we are included.
Romans 6:5
If we shared in Jesus' death by being baptized, we will also be raised to life with Him.We died in Him as the last Adam; we live in Him as the second Man.
The Cross is thus the power of God which translates us from Adam to Christ.
Philippians 2:8
Jesus Christ was humble and obeyed God and died on the cross.Philippians 2:9
Then God gave Jesus the highest place and honored His name above all others.and secondly, in a wider sense, the union of believers with Him therein through grace
Romans 6:4
When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Jesus Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father.Ephesians 2:4
But God was merciful and loving.Ephesians 2:5
We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Jesus Christ, and God's wonderful kindness is what saves you.Ephesians 2:6
God raised us from death to life with Christ Jesus, and he has given us a place beside Christ in heaven.Clearly in that use of the term the operation of `the Blood' in relation to forgiveness of sins (as dealt with in Chapter 1 of this book) is, from God's viewpoint, included (with all that follows in these studies) as a part of the work of the Cross. In this and the following chapters, however, the author is compelled, for lack of an alternative term, to use `the Cross' in a more particular and limited doctrinal sense in order to draw a helpful distinction, namely, that between substitution and identification, as being, from the human angle, two separate aspects of the doctrine of redemption. Thus the name of the whole is of necessity used for one of its parts. The reader should bear this in mind in what follows.)
Chapter 3: The Path of Progress: Knowing
Our old history ends with the Cross; our new history begins with the resurrection.
II Corinthians 5:17
Anyone in Jesus Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.The Cross terminates the first creation, and out of death there is brought a new creation in Christ, the second Man. If we are `in Adam' all that is in Adam necessarily devolves upon us; it becomes ours involuntarily, for we have to do nothing to get it. There is no need to make up our minds to lose our temper or to commit some other sin; it comes to us freely and despite ourselves. In a similar way, if we are `in Christ' all that is in Christ comes to us by free grace, without effort on our part but on the ground of simple faith.
But to say that all we need comes to us in Jesus Christ by free grace, though true enough, may seem unpractical. How does it work out in practice? How does it become real in our experience?
As we study Romans 6 - 8 we discover that the conditions of living the normal Christian life are fourfold. They are: (a) Knowing, (b) Reckoning, (c) Presenting ourselves to God, and (d) Walking in the Spirit, and they are set forth in that order. If we would live that life we shall have to take all four of these steps; not one nor two nor three, but all four. As we study each of them we shall trust the Lord by His Holy Spirit to illumine our understanding; and we shall seek His help now to take the first big step forward.
A. Our Death With Jesus Christ is A Historic Fact
Romans 6:1
What should we say? Should we keep on sinning, so that God's wonderful kindness will show up even better?Romans 6:2
No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning?Romans 6:3
Don't you know that all who share in Christ Jesus by being baptized also share in his death?Romans 6:4
When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father.Romans 6:5
If we shared in Jesus' death by being baptized, we will be raised to life with him.Romans 6:6
We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin.Romans 6:7
We know that sin doesn't have power over dead people.Romans 6:8
As surely as we died with Jesus Christ, we believe we will also live with him.Romans 6:9
We know that death no longer has any power over Jesus Christ. He died and was raised to life, never again to die.Romans 6:10
When Jesus Christ died, he died for sin once and for all. But now he is alive, and he lives only for God.Romans 6:11
In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.These verses make clear that the death of the Lord Jesus is representative and inclusive. In His death we all died. None of us can progress spiritually without seeing this. Just as we cannot have justification if we have not seen Him bearing our sins on the Cross, so we cannot have sanctification if we have not seen Him bearing us on the Cross. Not only have our sins been laid on Him but we ourselves have been put into Him.
How did you receive forgiveness? You realized that the Lord Jesus died as your Substitute and bore your sins upon Himself, and that His Blood was shed to cleanse away your defilement. When you saw your sins all taken away on the Cross what did you do? Did you say, `Lord Jesus, please come and die for my sins'? No, you did not pray at all; you only thanked the Lord You did not beseech Him to come and die for you, for you realized that He had already done it.
But what is true of your forgiveness is also true of your deliverance. The work is done. There is no need to pray but only to praise. God has put us all in Christ, so that when Christ was crucified we were crucified also. Thus there is no need to pray: `I am a very wicked person; Lord, please crucify me'. That is all wrong. You did not pray about your sins; why pray now about yourself? Your sins were dealt with by His Blood, and you were dealt with by His Cross. It is an accomplished fact. All that is left for you to do is to praise the Lord that when Christ died you died also; you died in Him. Praise Him for it and live in the light of it.
Psalms 106:12
Then your people trusted you and sang your praises.Do you believe in the death of Christ? Of course you do. Well, the same Scripture that says He died for us says also that we died with Him. Look at it again:
Romans 5:8
But God showed how much he loved us by having Jesus Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.That is the first statement, and that is clear enough; but is this any less clear?
Romans 6:6
We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin.Romans 6:7
We know that sin doesn't have power over dead people.Romans 6:8
As surely as we died with Jesus Christ, we believe we will also live with Him.When are we crucified with Him? What is the date of our old man's crucifixion? Is it tomorrow? Yesterday? Today? In order to answer this it may help us if for a moment I turn Paul's statement round and say, `Christ was crucified with (i.e. at the same time as) our old man'. Some of you came here in twos. You traveled to this place together. You might say, My friend came here with me', but you might just as truly say, `I came here with my friend'. Had one of you come three days ago and the other only today you could not possibly say that; but having come together you can make either statement with equal truth, because both are statements of fact. So also in historic fact we can say, reverently but with equal accuracy, `I was crucified when Christ was crucified' or `Christ was crucified when I was crucified', for they are not two historical events, but one. My crucifixion was "with him". 3 Has Christ been crucified? Then can I be otherwise? And if He was crucified nearly two thousand years ago, and I with Him, can my crucifixion be said to take place tomorrow? Can His be past and mine be present or future? Praise the Lord, when He died in my stead, but He bore me with Him to the Cross, so that when He died I died. And if I believe in the death of the Lord Jesus, then I can believe in my own death just as surely as I believe in His.
Why do you believe that the Lord Jesus died? What is your ground for that belief? Is it that you feel He has died? No, you have never felt it. You believe it because the Word of God tells you so. When the Lord was crucified, two thieves were crucified at the same time. You do not doubt that they were crucified with Him, either, because the Scripture says so quite plainly.
You believe in the death of the Lord Jesus and you believe in the death of the thieves with Him. Now what about your own death? Your crucifixion is more intimate than theirs. They were crucified at the same time as the Lord but on different crosses, whereas you were crucified on the self same cross as He, for you were in Him when He died. How can you know? You can know for the one sufficient reason that God has said so. It does not depend on your feelings. If you feel that Christ has died, He has died; and if you do not feel that he died, He has died. If you feel that you have died, you have died; and if you do not feel that you have died, you have nevertheless just as surely died. These are Divine facts. That Christ has died is a fact, that the two thieves have died is a fact, and that you have died is a fact also. Let me tell you, You have died! You are done with! You are ruled out! The self you loathe is on the Cross in Christ.
Romans 6:6
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Jesus Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life--no longer at sin's desire.This is the Gospel (good news) for Christians.
Our crucifixion can never be made effective by will or by effort, but only be accepting what the Lord Jesus did on the Cross. Our eyes must be opened to see the finished work of Calvary. Some of you, prior to your salvation, may have tried to save yourselves. You read the Bible, prayed, went to Church, gave alms. Then one day your eyes were opened and you saw that a full salvation had already been provided for you on the Cross. You just accepted that and thanked God, and peace and joy flowed into your heart. Now salvation and sanctification are on exactly the same basis. You receive deliverance from sin in the same way as you receive forgiveness of sins.
For God's way of deliverance is altogether different from man's way. Man's way is to try to suppress sin by seeking to overcome it; God's way is to remove the sinner. Many Christians mourn over their weakness, thinking that if only they were stronger all would be well. The idea that, because failure to lead a holy life is due to our impotence, something more is therefore demanded of us, leads naturally to this false conception of the way of deliverance. If we are preoccupied with the power of sin and with our inability to meet it, then we naturally conclude that to gain the victory over sin we must have more power. `If only I were stronger', we say, `I could overcome my violent outbursts of temper', and so we plead with the Lord to strengthen us that we may exercise more self-control.
But this is altogether wrong; this is not Christianity. God's means of delivering us from sin is not by making us stronger and stronger, but by making us weaker and weaker. That is surely rather a peculiar way of victory, you say; but it is the Divine way. God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything but by removing him from the scene of action.
For years, maybe, you have tried fruitlessly to exercise control over yourself, and perhaps this is still your experience; but when once you see the truth you will recognize that you are indeed powerless to do anything, but that in setting you aside altogether God has done it all. Such a revelation brings human self-effort to an end.
B. The First Step: "Knowing This...(Bible FAITH)"
The normal Christian life must begin with a very definite `knowing', which is not just knowing something about the truth nor understanding some important doctrine. It is not intellectual knowledge at all, but an opening of the eyes of the heart to see what we have in Christ.
How do you know your sins are forgiven? Is it because your pastor told you so? No, you just know it. If I ask you how you know, you simply answer, `I know it!' Such knowledge comes by Divine revelation. It comes from the Lord Himself. Of course the fact of forgiveness of sins is in the Bible, but for the written Word of God to become a living Word from God to you He had to give you
Ephesians 1:17
I ask the glorious Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will make you wise and let you understand what it means to know God.What you needed was to know Christ in that way, and it is always so. So there comes a time, in regard to any new apprehension of Christ, when you know it in your own heart, you `see' it in your spirit. A light has shined into your inner being and you are wholly persuaded of the fact. What is true of the forgiveness of your sins is no less true of your deliverance from sin. When once the light of God dawns upon your heart you see yourself in Christ. It is not now because someone has told you, and not merely because Romans 6 says so. It is something more even than that. You know it because God has revealed it to you by His Spirit. You may not feel it; you may not understand it; but you know it, for you have seen it. Once you have seen yourself in Christ, nothing can shake your assurance of that blessed fact.
If you ask a number of believers who have entered upon the normal Christian life how they came by their experience, some will say in this way and some will say in that. Each stresses his own particular way of entering in and produces Scripture to support his experience; and unhappily many Christians are using their special experiences and their special scriptures to fight other Christians. The fact of the matter is that, while Christians may enter into the deeper life by different ways, we need not regard the experiences or doctrines they stress as mutually exclusive, but rather complementary. One thing is certain, that any true experience of value in the sight of God must have been reached by way of a new discovery of the meaning of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. That is a crucial test and a safe one.
And here in our passage Paul makes everything depend upon such a discovery.
Romans 6:6
We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin.
C. Divine Revelation Essential To Knowledge
So our first step is to seek from God a knowledge that comes by revelation -- a revelation, that is to say, not of ourselves but of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. When Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, entered into the normal Christian life it was thus that he did so. You remember how he tells of his long-standing problem of how to live `in Christ', how to draw the sap out of the Vine into himself. For he knew that he must have the life of Christ flowing out through him and yet felt that he had not got it, and he saw clearly enough that his need was to be found in Christ. `I knew', he said, writing to his sister from Chinkiang in 1869, `that if only I could abide in Christ, all would be well, but I could not.'
The more he tried to get in the more he found himself slipping out, so to speak, until one day light dawned, revelation came and he saw. `Here, I feel, is the secret: not asking how I am to get sap out of the Vine into myself, but remembering that Jesus is the Vine -- the root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit, all indeed.'
Then, in words of a friend that had helped him: `I have not got to make myself a branch. The Lord Jesus tells me I am a branch. I am part of Him and I have just to believe it and act upon it. I have seen it long enough in the Bible, but I believe it now as a living reality.'
It was as though something which had indeed been true all the time had now suddenly become true in a new way to him personally, and he writes to his sister again: `I do not know how far I may be able to make myself intelligible about it, for there is nothing new or strange or wonderful -- and yet, all is new! In a word, "whereas once I was blind, now I see"... I am dead and buried with Christ -- aye, and risen too and ascended... God reckons me so, and tells me to reckon myself so. He knows best... Oh, the joy of seeing this truth -- I do pray that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that you may know and enjoy the riches freely given us in Christ.'
Oh, it is a great thing to see that we are in Christ! Think of the bewilderment of trying to get into a room in which you already are! Think of the absurdity of asking to be put in! If we recognize the fact that we are in, we make no effort to enter. If we had more revelation we should have fewer prayers and more praises. Much of our praying for ourselves is just because we are blind to what God has done.
I remember one day in Shanghai I was talking with a brother who was very exercised concerning his spiritual state. He said, `So many are living beautiful, saintly lives. I am ashamed of myself. I call myself a Christian and yet when I compare myself with others I feel I am not one at all. I want to know this crucified life, this resurrection life, but I do not know it and see no way of getting there.' Another brother was with us, and the two of us had been talking for two hours or so, trying to get the man to see that he could not have anything apart from Christ, but without success. Said our friend, `the best thing a man can do is to pray.' `But if God has already given you everything, what do you need to pray for?' we asked. `He hasn't', the man replied, `for I am still losing my temper, still failing constantly; so I must pray more.' `Well', we said, `do you get what you pray for?' `I am sorry to say that I do not get anything', he replied. We tried to point out that, just as he had done nothing for his justification, so he need do nothing for his sanctification.
Just then a third brother, much used of the Lord, came in and joined us. There was a thermos flask on the table, and this brother picked it up and said, `What is this?' `A thermos flask.' `Well, you just imagine for a moment that this thermos flask can pray, and that it starts praying something like this: "Lord, I want very much to be a thermos flask. Wilt Thou make me to be a thermos flask? Lord, give me grace to become a thermos flask. Do please make me one!" What will you say?' `I do not think even a thermos flask would be so silly,' our friend replied. `It would be nonsense to pray like that; it is a thermos flask!' Then my brother said, `You are doing the same thing. God in times past has already included you in Christ. When He died, you died; when He lived, you lived. Now today you cannot say, "I want to die; I want to be crucified; I want to have resurrection life." The Lord simply looks at you and says, "You are dead! You have new life!" All your praying is just as absurd as that of the thermos flask. You do not need to pray to the Lord for anything; you merely need your eyes opened to see that He has done it all.'
That is the point. We need not work to die, we need not wait to die, we are dead. We only need to recognize what the Lord has already done and to praise Him for it. Light dawned for that man. With tears in his eyes he said, `Lord, I praise Thee that Thou hast already included me in Christ. All that is His is mine!' Revelation had come and faith had something to lay hold of; and if you could have met that brother later on, what a change you would have found!
D. The Cross Goes To The Root Of Our Problem
Let me remind you again of the fundamental nature of that which the Lord has done on the Cross. I feel I cannot press this point too much for we must see it. Suppose, for the sake of illustration, that the government of your country should wish to deal drastically with the question of strong drink and should decide that the whole country was to go `dry', how could the decision be carried into effect? How could we help? If we were to search every shop and house throughout the land and smash all the bottles of wine or beer or brandy we came across, would that meet the case? Surely not. We might thereby rid the land of every drop of alcoholic liquor it contains, but behind those bottles of strong drink are the factories that produce them, and if we only deal with the bottles and leave the factories untouched, production will still continue and there is no permanent solution of the problem. The drink-producing factories, the breweries and distilleries throughout the land, must be closed down if the drink question is to be permanently settled.
We are the factory; our actions are the products. The Blood of the Lord Jesus dealt with the question of the products, namely, our sins. So the question of what we have done is settled, but would God have stopped there? What about the question of what we are? Our sins were produced by us. They have been dealt with, but how are we going to be dealt with? Do you believe the Lord would cleanse away all our sins and then leave us to get rid of the sin-producing factory? Do you believe He would put away the goods produced but leave us to deal with the source of production?
To ask this question is but to answer it. Of course He has not done half the work and left the other half undone. No, He has done away with the goods and also made a clean sweep of the factory that produces the goods.
The finished work of Christ really has gone to the root of our problem and dealt with it. There are no half measures with God. "Knowing this," says Paul, "That our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin" (Rom. 6:6). "Knowing this"! Yes, but do you know it? "Or are you ignorant?" (Rom. 6:3). May the Lord graciously open our eyes.
Chapter 4: The Path of Progress: The Reckoning
We now come to a matter on which there has been some confusion of thought among the Lord's children. It concerns what follows this knowledge. Note again first of all the wording of
Romans 6:6
We know that the persons we used to be were nailed to the cross with Jesus. This was done, so that our sinful bodies would no longer be the slaves of sin.The tense of the verb is most precious for it puts the event right back there in the past. It is final, once-for-all. The thing has been done and cannot be undone. Our old man has been crucified once and for ever, and he can never be un-crucified. This is what we need to know.
Then, when we know this, what follows? Look again at our passage. The next command
Romans 6:11
In the same way, you must think of yourselves as dead to the power of sin. But Christ Jesus has given life to you, and you live for God.This, clearly, is the natural sequel to Romans 6:6. Read them together: `Knowing that our old man was crucified, ... reckon ye yourselves to be dead'. That is the order. When we know that our old man has been crucified with Christ, then the next step is to reckon it so.
Unfortunately, in presenting the truth of our union with Christ the emphasis has too often been placed upon this second matter of reckoning ourselves to be dead, as though that were the starting point, whereas it should rather be upon knowing ourselves to be dead. God's Word makes it clear that `knowing' is to precede `reckoning'. "Knowing this... reckon." The sequence is most important. Our reckoning must be based on knowledge of divinely revealed fact, for otherwise faith has no foundation on which to rest. When we know, then we reckon spontaneously.
So in teaching this matter we should not over-emphasize reckoning. People are always trying to reckon without knowing. They have not first had a Spirit-given revelation of the fact; yet they try to reckon and soon they get into all sorts of difficulties. When temptation comes they begin to reckon furiously: `I am dead; I am dead; I am dead!' but in the very act of reckoning they lose their temper. Then they say, `It doesn't work. Romans 6:11 is no good.' And we have to admit that Romans 6:11 is no good without Romans 6:6. So it comes to this, that unless we know for a fact that we are dead in Jesus Christ, the more we reckon the more intense will the struggle become, and the issue will be sure defeat.
For years after my conversion I had been taught to reckon. I reckoned from 1920 until 1927. The more I reckoned that I was dead to sin, the more alive I clearly was. I simply could not believe myself dead and I could not produce the death. Whenever I sought help from others I was told to read Romans 6:11, and the more I read Romans 6:11 and tried to reckon, the further away death was: I could not get at it. I fully appreciated the teaching that I must reckon, but I could not make out why nothing resulted from it. I have to confess that for months I was troubled. I said to the Lord, `If this is not clear, if I cannot be brought to see this which is so very fundamental, I will cease to do anything. I will not preach any more; I will not go out to serve Thee any more; I want first of all to get thoroughly clear here.' For months I was seeking, and at times I fasted, but nothing came through.
I remember one morning -- that morning was a real morning and one I can never forget -- I was upstairs sitting at my desk reading the Word and praying, and I said, `Lord, open my eyes!' And then in a flash I saw it. I saw my oneness with Christ. I saw that I was in Him, and that when He died I died. I saw that the