THE WAY OF VICTORY AND PEACE.
By J. G. Wilson
“The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7:12. It is spiritual, but man is carnal, sold under sin. Verse 14. The law demands perfect righteousness, and Jesus Christ is righteousness. Therefore the law demands Christ of every individual. But as “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” all are carnal, sold under sin, and therefore are not, and can not, be subject to the law of God. Any one can see that although the law demands of everyone a life such as Jesus Christ lived here on earth, it does not, and can not, furnish that life to a single soul. Truly, “If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Gal. 2:21. “If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” Gal. 3:21. Dear brother, have you been toiling, striving, doing your best, to see the righteousness demanded by the law manifested in your life, and that by keeping the law? Are you satisfied with your efforts, or is there a conviction that something is lacking? Is it not true that all your efforts have failed to bring you that peace and rest for which your soul has been longing so many years? Be not discouraged; there are better things for the child of God than these fruitless efforts. But they will not come by a greater determination to do, nor by more painstaking efforts. Let us for a moment examine the experience of ancient Israel. They saw that the law was good, and promised to keep it, just as we have done. Their intentions were good, but they failed; and we have done the same. What was the cause of their failure? Mark the answer, and you will know the cause of your own. They were natural men, earthly, carnal. The carnal mind, which is not, and never can be, subject to the law of God, was trying to subject itself thereto, and there could not possibly be anything but failure, and that continually. Do you think that it is in vain that the Scripture says, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: . . . neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”? 1 Cor. 2:14. And do you not know that we, by our birth into this world, are only natural men? When we were born into this world, we were born of flesh; but Christ says, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” John 3:6. But “they which are the children of the flesh . . . are not the children of God.” Rom. 9:8. So we see that unless a man is born again, he is only flesh, only carnal, and therefore not subject to the law, which is spiritual. Israel was natural. The law is spiritual. Israel tried to subject themselves to a law that had no place in their hearts. The result of their effort should teach us the utter uselessness of trying to subject ourselves to something that has no place in our hearts. In the new covenant the law is written in the heart and mind of everyone who comes into the new-covenant relation. The writing of the law in the heart and mind means a new man—a new creature. The agency by which God writes his law in the heart and mind is the Holy Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:3. And now we begin to see the necessity of receiving this heavenly Guest. For if we do not first receive him, the law can not be written in our hearts and minds; and if it is not written there, we are not subject to it, and can not be, and so, in the very nature of things, are transgressors. We may think we are commandment-keepers; but unless we receive the Holy Spirit, all our efforts to keep the law will amount to nothing. Therefore it is evident that the most important thing is, and always has been, to recognize and receive the Holy Ghost. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we begin to realize what it means to be a Christian. We then know that it is to be just what Christ was here in this world. If our idea of Christianity falls short of what Christ was, we shall miss it just that much. “But,” you say, “I can not live such a life.” True, you can not. Neither can any one else but Christ. That is why he is so anxious to come into our hearts by his Holy Spirit. The Father has one “only begotten Son,” and only one; and “whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” 1 John 3:9. So, brother, if you are born from above, it is not you, but Christ, that lives. This is the fact in the case. Will you receive it? And because you are born again, you are a son of God, and God is waiting for you to receive the Spirit of his Son into your heart, so that you will have not simply the name, but also the life, of the Son of God. The apostles understood the correct method of gospel labor. First, they preached Christ739as the only Saviour, and then baptized the believers. Second, they instructed the believers in regard to the reception of the Holy Ghost, without which the lives of the believers would be variable, as was their own before Pentecost brought to them the fullness. It is a fact that many of God's children stop just where the Samaritan believers were when Peter and John went to visit them—they believe and are baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16), but go no further, and so miss the peace and joy of communion with God. “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” was Paul's question to the Ephesian believers. Paul did not believe in putting off to some future time the reception of this most precious gift. When the believers expressed their ignorance of even the existence of the Holy Ghost, Paul asked, “Unto what then were ye baptized?” Do you not know that all the steps you have taken are only preparatory to the reception, the baptism, of the Holy Ghost? Then they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and received the Holy Ghost, who was to be their teacher to lead them into all truth. We talk of truth. But do you not know that without the Holy Spirit we are incapable of knowing the things of God? No man knows the things of God, but the Spirit of God knows them. 1 Cor. 2:11. As only the Spirit knows the things of God, it is evident that they can be learned only through the Spirit. Therefore the first thing to do after one has been born—has become a child of God by faith—is to recognize and receive the Spirit of the Son, and by that Spirit be taught the things of God. “The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart,” etc. 1 Tim. 1:5. And “love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. 13:10. Only when one is filled with love, is the law fulfilled in him. But we have no love, and can not produce it ourselves. But “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. 5:5. The law without the Holy Spirit will do you no good, but the Holy Spirit supplies all that the law requires. Do not delay therefore, but receive the Holy Spirit now, and cease to struggle, to work, and—to fail. The followers of Christ are to be one with him as he is one with the Father. What a union! One with Christ! Can you grasp the meaning of those three words? One with Christ! no longer two, but only one—Christ. “For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21); no longer I, but Christ. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Gal. 2:20. We are dead, and it is Christ that lives, and the world is to see nothing but Christ henceforth. Oh, receive the Holy Spirit, and know the gift of God! You will not have to go over the same old experience year after year; but victory will be yours. Thank God for his unspeakable gift.