May 1924
T H E
K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
273
In Sight of the Cross By Rev. F. E. Marsh,, London, England In “ The Wonderful Word”
IV. Self Crucified. “ I am crucified with Christ.” The Lord wishes us to recognize this as true of every believer, judically; but He also wants us to know it practically. There is only one way to get rid of self, good and bad, and that is to die, and the only way to die is to see we are dead in the death of Christ. “ For years I have been trying to realize I was dead to self, and I cannot realize it,” so said an earnest child of God to the writer. I replied “ It is not trying to realize you are dead, but to do ;a,s the Spirit enjoins.” “ Reckon” we are dead to sin, for He says, “ The old man is crucified.” The old man is the old man of self. Faith believes what the Lord says, and in the Spirit’s power makes it true in the experience. Pascal says, “ It is one of the great principles of Christianity that everything which happened to Jesus Christ should come to pass in the soul and in the body of each Christian." When Christ died for us, He lost His life in self-sacrifice, and calls upon us to do the same. Peter said to Christ;''“ Pity thyself,” but Christ responded * “ Deny thyself.” Self-denial is not deifying certain things to self, but denying self itself. This is not self trying to put itself to death, but faith reckoning that self is dead in the death of Christ, as A. J. Gordon, of sainted memory says, “ The dying of our’ Lord in His members is to be constantly effected by the indwelling Spirit.” V. Consecration Begotten. “ For their sakes I sanctify Myself,” so said Christ to His Father. The thought here is that Christ willingly conse crated Himself to death for us; and He goes on to say the reason why He thus consecrated Himself was, “ That they also might he sanctified in the Truth.” As Christ hallowed Himself for our benefit in holy consecration to God, so there should burn on the altar of our life the holy fire of His passion, which shall inflame us in whole-hearted devotion to the will and service of God. This thought lifts us away from the low conception of the merely negative aspect of holiness, namely: separation from that which defiles, into the positive realm of consecration to God. In that realm our spiritual comforts do not concern us, our Christian work does not fret us, our soul’s salvation does not trouble us, our brethren do not disturb us, our spiritual experience does not occupy us, and our difficulties do not depress. The Lord Himself is the One with whom we are concerned. When we live in Him, as Rutherford says, “ He, He Him self, is more excellent than Heaven, for Heaven is but a creature, but He is something more than a creature.” VI. Sorrow Comforted. “ Since we believe Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that sleep, by means of Jesus will God bring with Him.” The Man of Sorrows is the only One who can meet the sorrowing heart in its lonely grief. But He can and does. The Nailed Hand of Calvary has a touch of con solation for every riven heart of sorrow. “ Jesus wept” tells out His sympathetic nature, and His “ weep not” is His word for every sorrowing soul. . The Man of Sorrows is the only one that can meet the sorrows of men. There is no sad sorrowing place on earth, but Christ has sanctified it by His presence. Recall the sorrow of Gethsemane and Golgotha, and it shall be medicine to heal thy sorrow. (Continued on Page 327)
“ Standing by the cross o f Jesus” (John 19:25, R . V .). S we stand like Mary and John at the Cross, we see a sevenfold color as the light of Scripture strikes the prism of Christ’s sacrifice. I. Sin Condemned. “ By a sacrifice for sin, God condemned sin” (Rom. 8 :3 ). Sin condemns the sinner, and puts him in the place of death and judgment, and all are there. As the father does not forgive the temper of his stubborn child, but condemns it, while he forgives the child when penitent, so God never for gives sin, but judges it, although He forgives the believing sinner in Christ. As the fire of judgment consumed the sin- offering, so the wrath of God against our sin ,fell upon the Christ of Calvary, and it can never fall upon us. This is eyer the message ef the Lord’s Supper, and we do well to remember Him with gratitude, for the Cross is ever the starting point and the staying place of all Christian life and service. So let us sing with new thankfulness, each of us, II. Love Manifested. Man is seen at his worst at Calvary, and God at His best. Ponder the Spirit’s words, “ In this Was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son, that we might live through Him!” and then He ex plains the “ through Him” by the words, “ to be a propitia tion for our sins” (1 John 4:9, 10). “ This!” not something else. “ In this’” satisfaction which God provided in the death of Christ is love manifested. Love unparalleled, un precedented, and unrivalled. The motto of the Scotch Baron Newark Is, “ I had perished unless I had perished.’’ Love’s exhaustion is seen at the Cross, and from those dying embers there flames into sight an exhibition of love never seen before. The pure unsullied light of love dies out in death at Calvary, and comes forth in life again in blood-red rays of sun-warming grace to bless and benefit all. The unquenchable seemed to be quenched when the overwhelm ing flood rolled over Christ, but the quenchable was only fuel to feed the unquenchable and to make it burn with more vehement flame and heat. Let us keep near the fire of Calvary’s love, then we shall find ourselves kept from chills, yea, we shall find food and fir$, as when Christ in vited His disciples to come to His kindled fire, and to “ come and dine.” HI. Guilt Removed. “Now, where remission of these is” (the “ sins and in iquities” ) “ there is no more offering for sin” (Heb. 10:17, 18). An offering for sin speaks of the sins which demand the offering, but when the sins are cancelled, there is no necessity for an offering. If there were a call for another offering for sin, it would show Christ’s offering was not sufficient. The suggestion proves its fallacy. But Christ has, in the eternal value of His own Spirit, offered Himself for us. Since He has shed His blood for us, there is remis sion of the guilt of our sins, and the sins that brought the guilt, and we are accepted in the eternal value of Christ’s offering, and in the intrinsic value of His own personal worth. Who is he that condemneth, since Christ died and rose again? Who indeed, for the only One who has the right to condemn has been condemned for us. “ Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood.”
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