We have seen earlier that there is a parallel between justification and sanctification, that is, between becoming a Christian and living the Christian life. The first step in justification is that I must acknowledge that I am a sinner, that I am justly under the wrath of God, and that I cannot save myself. The first step in living the true Christian life is that I must acknowledge that I cannot live the Christian life in my own strength or in my own goodness. The first step of restoration after I have sinned is in exactly the same line: I must ac-knowledge that my specific sin is sin. There are not three different principles; there is one principle in these three places, because we are dealing with the same God and basically the same problem. But neither in becoming a Christian, nor in fruit-bearing as a Christian, is the first step enough on its own. In each of the three situations, I must then raise the hands of faith for God's gift in that place. And when I, a Christian, have sinned, it is only the finished work of Jesus Christ in space, time, and history, back there on Calvary's cross, that is enough. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ that is enough to cleanse my sin as a Christian, and it is only upon the basis of the blood of Christ that the spot is removed. I must bring the specific sin under the blood of Jesus Christ, by faith. So it is the same thing again; here is the active passivity which we have al-ready discussed. We cannot do it of ourselves, but neither are we sticks or stones. God has made us in his own image, and he will always deal with us on that ground.
Now just as in the conscious area of sanctification as a whole, so here in restoration, everything rests upon the reality of the fact that the blood of Christ has meaning in our present life, and restoration takes place as we, in faith, act upon that fact in specific cases of sin. I think that much of the emphasis of the traditional, orthodox Church in the historic stream of the Reformation has laid insufficient stress on the conscious side of the Christian life. This is not a "second blessing," but it is learning the reality of the meaning of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, in our present life, and consciously beginning to act upon it.
I think this is what John Wesley knew. He knew a direct working of God in his life on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ. I think his theology in this area was mistaken and he used the wrong terminology, but certainly he did not have the wrong aspiration, but the right one: and that is the knowledge and practice of the availability of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in the present meaning of our life. No matter what terms we use to express it, the reality of it rests upon the knowledge of what Christ has purchased for us, not only in taking us to heaven, but in the present life; and then beginning to act upon this in moment-by-moment faith.
And in the question of restoration: the blood of Christ has meaning for me in my present life when I have fallen and my peace is gone. Restoration must be first upon the under-standing of what Christ has done for us in this area, and then beginning to practice this moment by moment. It is not a mechanical process; the meaning of the work of Christ in our present life is to be consciously acted upon. But the base is the finished work of Christ in history.
How glad we should be for Christ's story of the prodigal son. Here is one who is a son, and yet has gone deeply into sin, down into the mire. Scripture makes it plain that he has not just sinned a little, even in the world's view of sin. He has sinned the "big" sins. Yet the father stands waiting when the prodigal returns, his arms ready to close about him. The blood of Christ can cleanse the darkest sin. There is no sin so great-that our fellowship cannot be restored, if we humbly call it sin, and through faith bring that specific sin under the blood of Christ. When my heart condemns me and cries, "You have done it again," I am to believe God again as to the value of the finished work of Jesus Christ. There must be death, we have seen, before there can be resurrection. But on the basis of the victory of Christ, resurrection should follow death. The Christian life never ends on the negative. There is a negative, because man is a rebel. But it does not end there, it always goes on to the positive. As my body will one day be raised from the dead, so I am meant to live a resurrected life now.
I have found it extremely helpful that when a man has accepted Christ as his Savior, he should bow his head and say, "Thank you" to the God who is there—"Thank you for the completed work." Undoubtedly men have been saved and have gone away not consciously saying, "Thank you," but how wonderful it is when a man has seen himself as a sinner, and has understood his lostness, for that man to have accepted Christ as his Savior and then to have bowed his head consciously to say, "Thank you" for a work that is absolute, and complete. It is usually when the newly born one thanks God that the assurance comes, that he comes to rest in certainty and in peace.
It is the same in restoration. There is a continuing parallel here. If we have sinned, it is wonderful consciously to say, "Thank you for a completed work," after we have brought that specific sin under the finished work of Christ. While not absolutely necessary for restoration, the conscious giving of thanks brings assurance and peace. We say, "Thank you" for work completed upon the cross, which is sufficient for a completely restored relationship. This is not on the basis of my emotions, any more than in my justification. The basis is the finished work of Christ in history and the objective promises of God in the written Word. If I believe him, and if I believe what he has taught me about the sufficiency of the work of Christ for restoration, I can have assurance, no matter how black the blot has been. This is the Christian reality of salvation from one's conscience.
Martin Luther, in his commentary on Galatians, shows a great understanding of the fact that our salvation includes salvation from the bondage of our conscience. It is, of course, natural and right that as we become Christians our consciences should become ever more tender. This is a work of the Holy Spirit. However, I should not be bowed down by my con-science year after year over sins which are past. When my conscience under the Holy Spirit makes me aware of a specific sin I should at once call that sin sin and bring it consciously under the blood of Christ. Now it is covered and it is not honoring to the finished work of Jesus Christ to worry about it, as far as my relationship to God is concerned. Indeed, to worry about it is to do despite to the infinite value of the death of the Son of God. My fellowship with God is restored.
Now there may be a price yet to pay for my sins in regard to the State; there may be a harm to individuals that I have to deal with. These things still have to be faced. We will consider this later. But as far as my fellowship with the Father is concerned, God says it is restored upon the basis of the value of the blood of Jesus Christ. And if his blood is of such a value as to bring a rebel and a sinner from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son at justification, what sin is so black that it cannot cover it?
As I consciously say, "Thank you" to God for a completed work my conscience should come into rest.
For myself, through the twenty years or so since I began to struggle with this in my own life, I rather picture my con-science as a big black dog with enormous paws which leaps upon me, threatening to cover me with mud and devour me. But as this conscience of mine jumps upon me, after a specific sin has been dealt with on the basis of Christ's finished work, then I should turn to my conscience and say, in effect, "Down! Be still!" I am to believe God and be quiet, in my practice and experience. My fellowship with God has been supernaturally restored. I am cleansed, ready again to resume the spiritual life, ready again to be used by the Spirit for warfare in the external world. I cannot be ready until I am cleansed, but when I am, then I am ready. And I may come back for cleansing as many times as I need, on this basis.
This is for many Christians the point of reality. All of us battle with this problem of reality. Men go to strange extremes to touch reality, but here is the point of it: "My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not." So naturally the call is not to sin. "And if any man sin, we" (including John himself, who puts himself in this category) "have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the
righteous" (1 John 2:1).
This is the point of reality for me personally. If I lay hold upon the blood of Christ in faith, reality rests here: not in trying to live as though the Bible teaches perfectionism. That is no basis for reality; that is only a basis either for subterfuge or despair. But there is a reality here: the reality of sins forgiven; the reality of a certainty that when a specific sin is brought under the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is forgiven. This is the reality of restored relationship. Reality is not meant to be only credal, though the creeds are important. Reality is to be experienced, and experienced on the basis of a restored relationship with God through that finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
One thing more needs to be said on this subject. "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (1 Corinthians 11:31, 32).
This teaches us that we do not need to wait to be chastened before our fellowship with God can be restored. God's chastening is not a punishment. The punishment is altogether dealt with on Calvary's cross. It is a correction to bring us back to fellowship with himself, and we do not need to wait to be chastened before our fellowship can be restored. The chastening of a child of God does not have a penal aspect. That was finished on the cross. There is no double jeopardy when the holy God is the Judge. Our guilt is gone, once and forever. Therefore if we judge ourselves, we are not chastened.
Consequently we may read these two verses backwards. And that is, God is not going to have us condemned with the world, so he will chasten us. But if we judge ourselves, and call the sin sin, and bring it under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, then he will not have to chasten us. This is what Paul was urging upon us. It is overwhelmingly better not to sin. But is it not wonderful that when we do sin, we can hurry to the place of restoration?
So God means us to have, as one of his gifts in this life, freedom from a false tyranny of the conscience. Most, if not all, Christians find that the first step in the substantial healing that they can have in the present life is the substantial healing of the separation from themselves that is a result of the fall and of sin. Man is first of all separated from God, then from himself, and finally from his fellow men and from nature. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will give an absolute and perfect restoration of all these things when Jesus comes. But in the present life there is to be a substantial healing, including the results of the separation between a man and himself. This is the first step towards freedom in the present life from the results of the bonds of sin.
Freedom
in the Thought-life 9
The next step is to discuss true spirituality in relation to separation from ourselves in the internal world of thought.
In Romans 1:22-29, we find an order established. Introductory to this passage we notice in verse 21: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasoning, and their foolish heart was darkened."
Here are those who knew God. We can think of it in terms of the original fall of Adam and Eve, or we can think of it in terms of those many, many times when a culture has known the true God and has deliberately turned away, as is the case in our own post-Christian world. We see that they knew God, but they became vain in their reasoning. This is the world of their thoughts. Then, in the 22nd verse: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." This is an internal thing. Verse24: "Wherefore God gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves." This is the result. Thus we see the order: first there was an idea in their thought-life, and then came the outward result of the idea.
In verse 25 we are told that they changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the created thing rather than the Creator. Here is the inward rebellion, and immediately this brought external results as we saw in verse 24.
Look now at the 28th verse: "And even as they did not like to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a repro-bate mind," (that is, a mind void of judgment) "to do those things which are not becoming.
Here again is the same order. Beginning with the 29th verse we go through an awful list of the outward things.
We can say two things about the external act: the external follows the internal, and the external is a product of the internal. Thoughts are first, and they produce the external. This is the order.
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).
Now this is in the external world. But notice this cannot be separated from verse 2: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
There is indeed to be a presenting of our bodies, but this has meaning only on the basis of the understanding of the internal.
Paul speaks here of not being conformed to this world. But this is not simply externally. In contrast to this, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, and that is internal.
In Ephesians 4:17 Paul writes: "This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gen-tiles walk, in the vanity of their mind."
Here is the Gentile world, the lost world. They are walking "in the vanity of their mind." Surely this sounds like Romans
1. "They became vain in their reasonings." This is an inward thing. This is what is wrong with the Gentile world: the vanity of its mind.
In Ephesians 4:18 we are given the reason for this: "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts." So we are told that their under-standing is darkened; that is an internal thing. All of this flows from the basis of their rebellion against God. It is exactly as Romans 1 explains it. But after showing where "the Gentiles" stand, there comes the 19th verse, with its picture of men past feeling, giving themselves over to licentiousness, to the work of all uncleanness and greediness. So again the order is the same: the internal, then the external.
Now we are brought sharply to a contrast in the 20th verse: "But ye have not so learned Christ." The word "learned," let us notice, is again an internal thing.
This is exactly parallel to Romans 12, where in verse 2 we read: "By the renewing of your mind." That is an internal thing, and so is this. But Ephesians 4:22 is the outward: "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts."
The "conversation" here encompasses the whole set of life. It is in itself an internal aspect. Then it flows over into the external. So this all rests upon this 20th verse, "Ye have not so learned Christ," which is an internal thing. The internal thing has internal motion from it: to internal results, and then to external results.
Now you will notice here another element in this that is most important in the twentieth century, and in the midst of twentieth-century thinking. In the 18th verse it speaks of "ignorance." Ignorance is in relationship to content; it is not just a spirit of ignorance. In verse 21 it speaks of "the truth in Jesus." Truth is content, truth has something to do with reason. Truth has something to do with the rational creature that God has made us. The dilemma here in the internal world is not just some sort of grey fog, it is in relationship to content.
"Be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (verse 23). This again is not simply a feeling. It is a matter of thoughts in a rational sense, and with content. "That ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and" (the best translation here is) "holiness of truth" (Ephesians 4:24).
This is not just an emotional holiness but holiness in relationship to content, holiness in relationship to thought and a set of things that can be stated as true, in contrast to that which is false. What is being dealt with her
e is the problem of internal ignorance in the sense of rebellion, turning from those things which are truth.
Here are inward thoughts: thoughts in relationship to specific content, leading on to the external. In Ephesians 5:15, 16 there is a parallel passage: "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
The word "wise" here conveys the same message. It has to do with the thought-world, but in contact with that which can be stated as true: "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but under-standing what the will of the Lord is" (verse 17). "Unwise" is in contrast to "wise" and "understanding." "Understanding" is again in the thought-world, in relationship to what the will of the Lord is. The "will of the Lord" here is not an existential notion in the twentieth-century sense. It is concerned with con-tent again, in relationship to what we would speak of as propositional or objective truth. In contrast to "walking foolishly" there is the 18th verse: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit."
Verses 19, 20, and 21 begin to set out some of the external results of this: "Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
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