Absolute Surrender Part 2

I hardly know a more solemn warning in G.o.d's Word than that which we find in the third chapter of Galatians, where Paul asked: "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"

(Gal. 3:3).

Do you understand what that means? A terrible danger in Christian work, just as in a Christian life that is begun with much prayer, begun in the Holy Spirit, is that it may be gradually shunted off on to the lines of the flesh; and the word comes: "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" In the time of our first perplexity and helplessness we prayed much to G.o.d, and G.o.d answered and G.o.d blessed, and our organization became perfected, and our band of workers became large; but gradually the organization and the work and the rush have so taken possession of us that the power of the Spirit, in which we began when we were a small company, has almost been lost.

Oh, I pray you, note it well! It was with new prayer and fasting, with more prayer and fasting, that this company of disciples carried out the command of the Holy Spirit, "My soul, wait thou only upon G.o.d." That is our highest and most important work. The Holy Spirit comes in answer to believing prayer.

You know when the exalted Jesus had ascended to the throne, for ten days the footstool of the throne was the place where His waiting disciples cried to Him. And that is the law of the kingdom-the King upon the throne, the servants upon the footstool. May G.o.d find us there unceasingly!

Then comes the last thought-What a wonderful blessing comes when the Holy Spirit is allowed to lead and to direct the work, and when it is carried on in obedience to Him!

You know the story of the mission on which Barnabas and Saul were sent out. You know what power there was with them. The Holy Spirit sent them, and they went on from place to place with large blessing. The Holy Spirit was their leader further on. You recollect how it was by the Spirit that Paul was hindered from going again into Asia, and was led away over to Europe. Oh, the blessing that rested upon that little company of men, and upon their ministry unto the Lord!

I pray you, let us learn to believe that G.o.d has a blessing for us. The Holy Spirit, into whose hands G.o.d has put the work, has been called "the executive of the Holy Trinity." The Holy Spirit has not only power, but He has the Spirit of love. He is brooding over this dark world and every sphere of work in it, and He is willing to bless. And why is there not more blessing? There can be but one answer. We have not honored the Holy Spirit as we should have done. Is there one who can say that that is not true? Is not every thoughtful heart ready to cry: "G.o.d forgive me that I have not honored the Holy Spirit as I should have done, that I have grieved Him, that I have allowed self and the flesh and my own will to work where the Holy Spirit should have been honored! May G.o.d forgive me that I have allowed self and the flesh and the will actually to have the place that G.o.d wanted the Holy Spirit to have."

Oh, the sin is greater than we know! No wonder that there is so much feebleness and failure in the Church of Christ!

PETER'S REPENTANCE "And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the c.o.c.k crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:61, 62).

That was the turning-point in the history of Peter. Christ had said to him: "Thou canst not follow me now" (John 13:36). Peter was not in a fit state to follow Christ, because he had not been brought to an end of himself; he did not know himself, and he therefore could not follow Christ. But when he went out and wept bitterly, then came the great change. Christ previously said to him: "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Here is the point where Peter was converted from self to Christ.

I thank G.o.d for the story of Peter. I do not know a man in the Bible who gives us greater comfort. When we look at his character, so full of failures, and at what Christ made him by the power of the Holy Spirit, there is hope for every one of us. But remember, before Christ could fill Peter with the Holy Spirit and make a new man of him, he had to go out and weep bitterly; he had to be humbled. If we want to understand this, I think there are four points that we must look at. First, let us look at Peter the devoted disciple of Jesus; next, at Peter as he lived the life of self; then at Peter in his repentance; and last, at what Christ made of Peter by the Holy Spirit.

Peter the Devoted Disciple of Christ Christ called Peter to forsake his nets, and follow Him. Peter did it at once, and he afterward could say rightly to the Lord: "We have forsaken all and followed thee" (Matt. 19:27).

Peter was a man of absolute surrender; he gave up all to follow Jesus.

Peter was also a man of ready obedience. You remember Christ said to him, "Launch out into the deep, and let down the net." Peter the fisherman knew there were no fish there, for they had been toiling all night and had caught nothing; but he said: "At thy word I will let down the net" (Luke 5:4, 5). He submitted to the word of Jesus. Further, he was a man of great faith. When he saw Christ walking on the sea, he said: "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee" (Matt. 14:28); and at the voice of Christ he stepped out of the boat and walked upon the water.

And Peter was a man of spiritual insight. When Christ asked the disciples: "Whom do ye say that I am?" Peter was able to answer: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living G.o.d." And Christ said: "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." And Christ spoke of him as the rock man, and of his having the keys of the kingdom. Peter was a splendid man, a devoted disciple of Jesus, and if he were living nowadays, everyone would say that he was an advanced Christian. And yet how much there was wanting in Peter!

Peter Living the Life of Self You recollect that just after Christ had said to him: "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven,"

Christ began to speak about His sufferings, and Peter dared to say: "Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee." Then Christ had to say: "Get thee behind me, Satan; for thou savorest not the things that be of G.o.d, but those that be of men" (Matt. 16:22-23).

There was Peter in his self-will, trusting his own wisdom, and actually forbidding Christ to go and die. Whence did that come? Peter trusted in himself and his own thoughts about divine things. We see later on, more than once, that among the disciples there was a questioning who should be the greatest, and Peter was one of them, and he thought he had a right to the very first place. He sought his own honor even above the others. It was the life of self strong in Peter. He had left his boats and his nets, but not his old self.

When Christ had spoken to him about His sufferings, and said: "Get thee behind me, Satan," He followed it up by saying: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me"

(Matt. 16:24). No man can follow Him unless he do that. Self must be utterly denied. What does that mean? When Peter denied Christ, we read that he said three times: "I do not know the man"; in other words: "I have nothing to do with Him; He and I are no friends; I deny having any connection with Him." Christ told Peter that he must deny self. Self must be ignored, and its every claim rejected. That is the root of true disciples.h.i.+p; but Peter did not understand it, and could not obey it.

And what happened? When the last night came, Christ said to him: "Before the c.o.c.k crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice."

But with what self-confidence Peter said: "Though all should forsake thee, yet will not I. I am ready to go with thee, to prison and to death" (Mark 14:29; Luke 22:33).

Peter meant it honestly, and Peter really intended to do it; but Peter did not know himself. He did not believe he was as bad as Jesus said he was.

We perhaps think of individual sins that come between us and G.o.d, but what are we to do with that self-life which is all unclean-our very nature? What are we to do with that flesh that is entirely under the power of sin? Deliverance from that is what we need. Peter knew it not, and therefore it was that in his self-confidence he went forth and denied his Lord.

Notice how Christ uses that word deny twice. He said to Peter the first time, "Deny self"; He said to Peter the second time, "Thou wilt deny me." It is either of the two. There is no choice for us; we must either deny self or deny Christ. There are two great powers fighting each other-the self-nature in the power of sin, and Christ in the power of G.o.d. Either of these must rule within us.

It was self that made the Devil. He was an angel of G.o.d, but he wanted to exalt self. He became a Devil in h.e.l.l. Self was the cause of the fall of man. Eve wanted something for herself, and so our first parents fell into all the wretchedness of sin. We their children have inherited an awful nature of sin.

Peter's Repentance Peter denied his Lord thrice, and then the Lord looked upon him; and that look of Jesus broke the heart of Peter, and all at once there opened up before him the terrible sin that he had committed, the terrible failure that had come, and the depth into which he had fallen, and "Peter went out and wept bitterly."

Oh! who can tell what that repentance must have been? During the following hours of that night, and the next day, when he saw Christ crucified and buried, and the next day, the Sabbath-oh, in what hopeless despair and shame he must have spent that day!

"My Lord is gone, my hope is gone, and I denied my Lord. After that life of love, after that blessed fellows.h.i.+p of three years, I denied my Lord. G.o.d have mercy upon me!"

I do not think we can realize into what a depth of humiliation Peter sank then. But that was the turning point and the change; and on the first day of the week Christ was seen of Peter, and in the evening He met him with the others. Later on at the Lake of Galilee He asked him: "Lovest thou me?" until Peter was made sad by the thought that the Lord reminded him of having denied Him thrice; and said in sorrow, but in uprightness: "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee" (John 21:17).

Peter Transformed Now Peter was prepared for deliverance from self, and that is my last thought. You know Christ took him with others to the footstool of the throne, and bade them wait there; and then on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came, and Peter was a changed man. I do not want you to think only of the change in Peter, in that boldness, and that power, and that insight into the Scriptures, and that blessing with which he preached that day. Thank G.o.d for that. But there was something for Peter deeper and better. Peter's whole nature was changed. The work that Christ began in Peter when He looked upon him, was perfected when he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

If you want to see that, read the First Epistle of Peter. You know wherein Peter's failings lay. When he said to Christ, in effect: "Thou never canst suffer; it cannot be"-it showed he had not a conception of what it was to pa.s.s through death into life. Christ said: "Deny thyself," and in spite of that he denied his Lord. When Christ warned him: "Thou shalt deny me," and he insisted that he never would, Peter showed how little he understood what there was in himself. But when I read his epistle and hear him say: "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of G.o.d and of glory resteth upon you" (1 Pet. 4:14), then I say that it is not the old Peter, but that is the very Spirit of Christ breathing and speaking within him.

I read again how he says: "Hereunto ye are called, to suffer, even as Christ suffered" (1 Pet. 2:21). I understand what a change had come over Peter. Instead of denying Christ, he found joy and pleasure in having self denied and crucified and given up to the death. And therefore it is in the Acts we read that, when he was called before the Council, he could boldly say: "We must obey G.o.d rather than men" (Acts 5:29), and that he could return with the other disciples and rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ's name.

You remember his self-exaltation; but now he has found out that "the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of G.o.d of great price." Again he tells us to be "subject one to another, and be clothed with humility" (1 Pet. 5:5).

Dear friend, I beseech you, look at Peter utterly changed-the self-pleasing, the self-trusting, the self-seeking Peter, full of sin, continually getting into trouble, foolish and impetuous, but now filled with the Spirit and the life of Jesus. Christ had done it for him by the Holy Spirit.

And now, what is my object in having thus very briefly pointed to the story of Peter? That story must be the history of every believer who is really to be made a blessing by G.o.d. That story is a prophecy of what everyone can receive from G.o.d in Heaven.

Now let us just glance hurriedly at what these lessons teach us.

The first lesson is this-You may be a very earnest, G.o.dly, devoted believer, in whom the power of the flesh is yet very strong.

That is a very solemn truth. Peter, before he denied Christ, had cast out devils and had healed the sick; and yet the flesh had power, and the flesh had room in him. Oh, beloved, we have to realize that it is just because there is so much of that self-life in us that the power of G.o.d cannot work in us as mightily as G.o.d is willing that it should work. Do you realize that the great G.o.d is longing to double His blessing, to give tenfold blessing through us? But there is something hindering Him, and that something is a proof of nothing but the self-life. We talk about the pride of Peter, and the impetuosity of Peter, and the self-confidence of Peter. It all rooted in that one word, self. Christ had said, "Deny self," and Peter had never understood, and never obeyed; and every failing came out of that.

What a solemn thought, and what an urgent plea for us to cry: O G.o.d, do reveal this to us, that none of us may be living the self-life! It has happened to many a one who had been a Christian for years, who had perhaps occupied a prominent position, that G.o.d found him out and taught him to find himself out, and he became utterly ashamed, falling down broken before G.o.d. Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow and pain and agony that came to him, until at last he found that there was deliverance! Peter went out and wept bitterly, and there may be many a G.o.dly one in whom the power of the flesh still rules.

And then my second lesson is-It is the work of our blessed Lord Jesus to reveal the power of self.

How was it that Peter, the carnal Peter, self-willed Peter, Peter with the strong self-love, ever became a man of Pentecost and the writer of his epistles? It was because Christ had him in charge, and Christ watched over him, and Christ taught and blessed him. The warnings that Christ had given him were part of the training; and last of all there came that look of love. In His suffering Christ did not forget him, but turned round and looked upon him, and "Peter went out and wept bitterly." And the Christ who led Peter to Pentecost is waiting today to take charge of every heart that is willing to surrender itself to Him.

Are there not some saying: "Ah! that is the mischief with me; it is always the self-life, and self-comfort, and self-consciousness, and self-pleasing, and self-will; how am I to get rid of it?"

My answer is: It is Christ Jesus who can rid you of it; none else but Christ Jesus can give deliverance from the power of self. And what does He ask you to do? He asks that you should humble yourself before Him.

IMPOSSIBLE WITH MAN, POSSIBLE WITH G.o.d.

"And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with G.o.d" (Luke 18:27).

Christ had said to the rich young ruler, "Sell all that thou hast ...

and come, follow me." The young man went away sorrowful. Christ then turned to the disciples, and said: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of G.o.d!" The disciples, we read, were greatly astonished, and answered: "If it is so difficult to enter the kingdom, who, then, can be saved?" And Christ gave this blessed answer: "The things which are impossible with men are possible with G.o.d."

The text contains two thoughts-that in religion, in the question of salvation and of following Christ by a holy life, it is impossible for man to do it. And then alongside that is the thought-What is impossible with man is possible with G.o.d.

The two thoughts mark the two great lessons that man has to learn in the religious life. It often takes a long time to learn the first lesson, that in religion man can do nothing, that salvation is impossible to man. And often a man learns that, and yet he does not learn the second lesson-what has been impossible to him is possible with G.o.d. Blessed is the man who learns both lessons! The learning of them marks stages in the Christian's life.

Man Cannot The one stage is when a man is trying to do his utmost and fails, when a man tries to do better and fails again, when a man tries much more and always fails. And yet very often he does not even then learn the lesson: With man it is impossible to serve G.o.d and Christ. Peter spent three years in Christ's school, and he never learned that, It is impossible, until he had denied his Lord and went out and wept bitterly. Then he learned it.

Just look for a moment at a man who is learning this lesson. At first he fights against it; then he submits to it, but reluctantly and in despair; at last he accepts it willingly and rejoices in it. At the beginning of the Christian life the young convert has no conception of this truth. He has been converted, he has the joy of the Lord in his heart, he begins to run the race and fight the battle; he is sure he can conquer, for he is earnest and honest, and G.o.d will help him. Yet, somehow, very soon he fails where he did not expect it, and sin gets the better of him. He is disappointed; but he thinks: "I was not watchful enough, I did not make my resolutions strong enough." And again he vows, and again he prays, and yet he fails. He thought: "Am I not a regenerate man? Have I not the life of G.o.d within me?" And he thinks again: "Yes, and I have Christ to help me, I can live the holy life."

At a later period he comes to another state of mind. He begins to see such a life is impossible, but he does not accept it. There are mult.i.tudes of Christians who come to this point: "I cannot"; and then think G.o.d never expected them to do what they cannot do. If you tell them that G.o.d does expect it, it appears to them a mystery. A good many Christians are living a low life, a life of failure and of sin, instead of rest and victory, because they began to see: "I cannot, it is impossible." And yet they do not understand it fully, and so, under the impression, I cannot, they give way to despair. They will do their best, but they never expect to get on very far.

But G.o.d leads His children on to a third stage, when a man comes to take that, It is impossible, in its full truth, and yet at the same time says: "I must do it, and I will do it-it is impossible for man, and yet I must do it"; when the renewed will begins to exercise its whole power, and in intense longing and prayer begins to cry to G.o.d: "Lord, what is the meaning of this?-how am I to be freed from the power of sin?"

It is the state of the regenerate man in Romans 7. There you will find the Christian man trying his very utmost to live a holy life. G.o.d's law has been revealed to him as reaching down into the very depth of the desires of the heart, and the man can dare to say: "I delight in the law of G.o.d after the inward man. To will what is good is present with me. My heart loves the law of G.o.d, and my will has chosen that law."

Can a man like that fail, with his heart full of delight in G.o.d's law and with his will determined to do what is right? Yes. That is what Romans 7 teaches us. There is something more needed. Not only must I delight in the law of G.o.d after the inward man, and will what G.o.d wills, but I need a divine omnipotence to work it in me. And that is what the apostle Paul teaches in Philippians 2:13: "It is G.o.d which worketh in you, both to will and to do."

Note the contrast. In Romans 7, the regenerate man says: "To will is present with me, but to do-I find I cannot do. I will, but I cannot perform." But in Philippians 2, you have a man who has been led on farther, a man who understands that when G.o.d has worked the renewed will, G.o.d will give the power to accomplish what that will desires. Let us receive this as the first great lesson in the spiritual life: "It is impossible for me, my G.o.d; let there be an end of the flesh and all its powers, an end of self, and let it be my glory to be helpless."

Praise G.o.d for the divine teaching that makes us helpless!

When you thought of absolute surrender to G.o.d were you not brought to an end of yourself, and to feel that you could see how you actually could live as a man absolutely surrendered to G.o.d every moment of the day-at your table, in your house, in your business, in the midst of trials and temptations? I pray you learn the lesson now. If you felt you could not do it, you are on the right road, if you let yourselves be led. Accept that position, and maintain it before G.o.d: "My heart's desire and delight, O G.o.d, is absolute surrender, but I cannot perform it. It is impossible for me to live that life. It is beyond me." Fall down and learn that when you are utterly helpless, G.o.d will come to work in you not only to will, but also to do.

G.o.d Can Now comes the second lesson. "The things which are impossible with men are possible with G.o.d."

I said a little while ago that there is many a man who has learned the lesson, It is impossible with men, and then he gives up in helpless despair, and lives a wretched Christian life, without joy, or strength, or victory. And why? Because he does not humble himself to learn that other lesson: With G.o.d all things are possible.

Your religious life is every day to be a proof that G.o.d works impossibilities; your religious life is to be a series of impossibilities made possible and actual by G.o.d's almighty power. That is what the Christian needs. He has an almighty G.o.d that he wors.h.i.+ps, and he must learn to understand that he does not need a little of G.o.d's power, but he needs-with reverence be it said-the whole of G.o.d's omnipotence to keep him right, and to live like a Christian.

The whole of Christianity is a work of G.o.d's omnipotence. Look at the birth of Christ Jesus. That was a miracle of divine power, and it was said to Mary: "With G.o.d nothing shall be impossible." It was the omnipotence of G.o.d. Look at Christ's resurrection. We are taught that it was according to the exceeding greatness of His mighty power that G.o.d raised Christ from the dead.

Every tree must grow on the root from which it springs. An oak tree three hundred years old grows all the time on the one root from which it had its beginning. Christianity had its beginning in the omnipotence of G.o.d, and in every soul it must have its continuance in that omnipotence. All the possibilities of the higher Christian life have their origin in a new apprehension of Christ's power to work all G.o.d's will in us.

I want to call upon you now to come and wors.h.i.+p an almighty G.o.d. Have you learned to do it? Have you learned to deal so closely with an almighty G.o.d that you know omnipotence is working in you? In outward appearance there is often so little sign of it. The apostle Paul said: "I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and . .

. my preaching was ... in demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

From the human side there was feebleness, from the divine side there was divine omnipotence. And that is true of every G.o.dly life; and if we would only learn that lesson better, and give a wholehearted, undivided surrender to it, we should learn what blessedness there is in dwelling every hour and every moment with an almighty G.o.d. Have you ever studied in the Bible the attribute of G.o.d's omnipotence? You know that it was G.o.d's omnipotence that created the world, and created light out of darkness, and created man. But have you studied G.o.d's omnipotence in the works of redemption?

Look at Abraham. When G.o.d called him to be the father of that people out of which Christ was to be born, G.o.d said to him: "I am G.o.d Almighty, walk before me and be thou perfect." And G.o.d trained Abraham to trust Him as the omnipotent One; and whether it was his going out to a land that he knew not, or his faith as a pilgrim midst the thousands of Canaanites-his faith said: This is my land-or whether it was his faith in waiting twenty-five years for a son in his old age, against all hope, or whether it was the raising up of Isaac from the dead on Mount Moriah when he was going to sacrifice him-Abraham believed G.o.d.

He was strong in faith, giving glory to G.o.d, because he accounted Him who had promised able to perform.

The cause of the weakness of your Christian life is that you want to work it out partly, and to let G.o.d help you. And that cannot be. You must come to be utterly helpless, to let G.o.d work, and G.o.d will work gloriously. It is this that we need if we are indeed to be workers for G.o.d. I could go through Scripture and prove to you how Moses, when he led Israel out of Egypt; how Joshua, when he brought them into the land of Canaan; how all G.o.d's servants in the Old Testament counted upon the omnipotence of G.o.d doing impossibilities. And this G.o.d lives today, and this G.o.d is the G.o.d of every child of His. And yet we are some of us wanting G.o.d to give us a little help while we do our best, instead of coming to understand what G.o.d wants, and to say: "I can do nothing. G.o.d must and will do all." Have you said: "In wors.h.i.+p, in work, in sanctification, in obedience to G.o.d, I can do nothing of myself, and so my place is to wors.h.i.+p the omnipotent G.o.d, and to believe that He will work in me every moment"? Oh, may G.o.d teach us this! Oh, that G.o.d would by His grace show you what a G.o.d you have, and to what a G.o.d you have entrusted yourself-an omnipotent G.o.d, willing with His whole omnipotence to place Himself at the disposal of every child of His!

Shall we not take the lesson of the Lord Jesus and say: "Amen; the things which are impossible with men are possible with G.o.d"?

Remember what we have said about Peter, his self-confidence, self-power, self-will, and how he came to deny his Lord. You feel, "Ah!

there is the self-life, there is the flesh-life that rules in me!" And now, have you believed that there is deliverance from that? Have you believed that Almighty G.o.d is able so to reveal Christ in your heart, so to let the Holy Spirit rule in you, that the self-life shall not have power or dominion over you? Have you coupled the two together, and with tears of penitence and with deep humiliation and feebleness, cried out: "O G.o.d, it is impossible to me; man cannot do it, but, glory to Thy name, it is possible with G.o.d"? Have you claimed deliverance? Do it now. Put yourself afresh in absolute surrender into the hands of a G.o.d of infinite love; and as infinite as His love is His power to do it.

G.o.d Works in Man But again, we came to the question of absolute surrender, and felt that that is the want in the Church of Christ, and that is why the Holy Spirit cannot fill us, and why we cannot live as people entirely separated unto the Holy Spirit; that is why the flesh and the self-life cannot be conquered. We have never understood what it is to be absolutely surrendered to G.o.d as Jesus was. I know that many a one earnestly and honestly says: "Amen, I accept the message of absolute surrender to G.o.d"; and yet thinks: "Will that ever be mine? Can I count upon G.o.d to make me one of whom it shall be said in Heaven and on earth and in h.e.l.l, he lives in absolute surrender to G.o.d?" Brother, sister, "the things which are impossible with men are possible with G.o.d." Do believe that when He takes charge of you in Christ, it is possible for G.o.d to make you a man of absolute surrender. And G.o.d is able to maintain that. He is able to let you rise from bed every morning of the week with that blessed thought directly or indirectly: "I am in G.o.d's charge. My G.o.d is working out my life for me."

Some are weary of thinking about sanctification. You pray, you have longed and cried for it, and yet it appeared so far off! The holiness and humility of Jesus-you are so conscious of how distant it is.

Beloved friends, the one doctrine of sanctification that is scriptural and real and effectual is: "The things which are impossible with men are possible with G.o.d." G.o.d can sanctify men, and by His almighty and sanctifying power every moment G.o.d can keep them. Oh, that we might get a step nearer to our G.o.d now! Oh, that the light of G.o.d might s.h.i.+ne, and that we might know our G.o.d better!

I could go on to speak about the life of Christ in us-living like Christ, taking Christ as our Saviour from sin, and as our life and strength. It is G.o.d in Heaven who can reveal that in you. What does that prayer of the apostle Paul say: "That he would grant you according to riches of his glory"-it is sure to be something very wonderful if it is according to the riches of His glory-"to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man"? Do you not see that it is an omnipotent G.o.d working by His omnipotence in the heart of His believing children, so that Christ can become an indwelling Saviour? You have tried to grasp it and to seize it, and you have tried to believe it, and it would not come. It was because you had not been brought to believe that "the things which are impossible with men are possible with G.o.d."

And so, I trust that the word spoken about love may have brought many to see that we must have an inflowing of love in quite a new way; our heart must be filled with life from above, from the Fountain of everlasting love, if it is going to overflow all the day; then it will be just as natural for us to love our fellow men as it is natural for the lamb to be gentle and the wolf to be cruel. Until I am brought to such a state that the more a man hates and speaks evil of me, the more unlikable and unlovable a man is, I shall love him all the more; until I am brought to such a state that the more the obstacles and hatred and ingrat.i.tude, the more can the power of love triumph in me-until I am brought to see that, I am not saying: "It is impossible with men." But if you have been led to say: "This message has spoken to me about a love utterly beyond my power; it is absolutely impossible"-then we can come to G.o.d and say: "It is possible with Thee."

Some are crying to G.o.d for a great revival. I can say that that is the prayer of my heart unceasingly. Oh, if G.o.d would only revive His believing people! I cannot think in the first place of the unconverted formalists of the Church, or of the infidels and skeptics, or of all the wretched and peris.h.i.+ng around me, my heart prays in the first place: "My G.o.d, revive Thy Church and people." It is not for nothing that there are in thousands of hearts yearnings after holiness and consecration: it is a forerunner of G.o.d's power. G.o.d works to will and then He works to do. These yearnings are a witness and a proof that G.o.d has worked to will. Oh, let us in faith believe that the omnipotent G.o.d will work to do among His people more than we can ask. "Unto him," Paul said, "who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think... . unto him be glory." Let our hearts say that. Glory to G.o.d, the omnipotent One, who can do above what we dare to ask or think!

"The things which are impossible with men are possible with G.o.d." All around you there is a world of sin and sorrow, and the Devil is there.

But remember, Christ is on the throne, Christ is stronger, Christ has conquered, and Christ will conquer. But wait on G.o.d. My text casts us down: "The things which are impossible with men"; but it ultimately lifts us up high-"are possible with G.o.d." Get linked to G.o.d. Adore and trust Him as the omnipotent One, not only for your own life, but for all the souls that are entrusted to you. Never pray without adoring His omnipotence, saying: "Mighty G.o.d, I claim Thine almightiness." And the answer to the prayer will come, and like Abraham you will become strong in faith, giving glory to G.o.d, because you account Him who hath promised able to perform.

"O WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM!"

"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank G.o.d through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:24, 25).

You know the wonderful place that this text has in the wonderful epistle to the Romans. It stands here at the end of the seventh chapter as the gateway into the eighth. In the first sixteen verses of the eighth chapter the name of the Holy Spirit is found sixteen times; you have there the description and promise of the life that a child of G.o.d can live in the power of the Holy Spirit. This begins in the second verse: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:12). From that Paul goes on to speak of the great privileges of the child of G.o.d, who is to be led by the Spirit of G.o.d. The gateway into all this is in the twenty-fourth verse of the seventh chapter: "O wretched man that I am!"

There you have the words of a man who has come to the end of himself.

He has in the previous verses described how he had struggled and wrestled in his own power to obey the holy law of G.o.d, and had failed.

But in answer to his own question he now finds the true answer and cries out: "I thank G.o.d through Jesus Christ our Lord." From that he goes on to speak of what that deliverance is that he has found.

I want from these words to describe the path by which a man can be led out of the spirit of bondage into the spirit of liberty. You know how distinctly it is said: "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear." We are continually warned that this is the great danger of the Christian life, to go again into bondage; and I want to describe the path by which a man can get out of bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of G.o.d. Rather, I want to describe the man himself.

First, these words are the language of a regenerate man; second, of an impotent man; third, of a wretched man; and fourth, of a man on the borders of complete liberty.

The Regenerate Man There is much evidence of regeneration from the fourteenth verse of the chapter on to the twenty-third. "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me" (Rom. 7:17): that is the language of a regenerate man, a man who knows that his heart and nature have been renewed, and that sin is now a power in him that is not himself. "I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man" (Rom. 7:22): that again is the language of a regenerate man. He dares to say when he does evil: "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." It is of great importance to understand this.

In the first two great sections of the epistle, Paul deals with justification and sanctification. In dealing with justification, he lays the foundation of the doctrine in the teaching about sin, not in the singular, sin, but in the plural, sins-the actual transgressions.

In the second part of the fifth chapter he begins to deal with sin, not as actual transgression, but as a power. Just imagine what a loss it would have been to us if we had not this second half of the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, if Paul had omitted in his teaching this vital question of the sinfulness of the believer. We should have missed the question we all want answered as to sin in the believer. What is the answer? The regenerate man is one in whom the will has been renewed, and who can say: "I delight in the law of G.o.d after the inward man."

The Impotent Man Here is the great mistake made by many Christian people: they think that when there is a renewed will, it is enough; but that is not the case. This regenerate man tells us: "I will to do what is good, but the power to perform I find not." How often people tell us that if you set yourself determinedly, you can perform what you will! But this man was as determined as any man can be, and yet he made the confession: "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not" (Rom. 7:18).

But, you ask: "How is it G.o.d makes a regenerate man utter such a confession, with a right will, with a heart that longs to do good, and longs to do its very utmost to love G.o.d?"

Let us look at this question. What has G.o.d given us our will for? Had the angels who fell, in their own will, the strength to stand? Surely not. The will of the creature is nothing but an empty vessel in which the power of G.o.d is to be made manifest. The creature must seek in G.o.d all that it is to be. You have it in the second chapter of the epistle to the Philippians, and you have it here also, that G.o.d's work is to work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Here is a man who appears to say: "G.o.d has not worked to do in me." But we are taught that G.o.d works both to will and to do. How is the apparent contradiction to be reconciled?

You will find that in this pa.s.sage (Rom. 7:6-25) the name of the Holy Spirit does not occur once, nor does the name of Christ occur. The man is wrestling and struggling to fulfill G.o.d's law. Instead of the Holy Spirit and of Christ, the law is mentioned nearly twenty times. In this chapter, it shows a believer doing his very best to obey the law of G.o.d with his regenerate will. Not only this; but you will find the little words, I, me, my, occur more than forty times. It is the regenerate I in its impotence seeking to obey the law without being filled with the Spirit. This is the experience of almost every saint. After conversion a man begins to do his best, and he fails; but if we are brought into the full light, we need fail no longer. Nor need we fail at all if we have received the Spirit in His fullness at conversion.