In the ministry of the gospel as in that of the new covenant God comes out and approaches man in the Lord Jesus Christ.

• It is what God is in His grace and in His love toward us;
  • but in the ministry of reconciliation it is what we are toward God.

• We never learn truth by regarding ourselves. The whole truth of Christianity has been set forth perfectly in the Lord Jesus Christ as a Man; we learn it in Him.

• We know the difficulty that is encountered by many souls in connection with the gospel; but it can invariably be traced to one simple fact, and that is, souls try to learn the truth of the gospel in connection with themselves:
  • it can never be learned in that way, we must learn it in connection with Christ, it is set forth in Him.

• Romans 5 is a striking illustration of what I say, "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts", but we do not learn the love of God by studying our hearts.
  • Introspection in Christianity is a most pernicious thing.

• Having told us that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts the Spirit of God turns our attention to the evidence of that love. It is outside ourselves, it is in the death of Christ that we learn everything in connection with Himself. It is so with the ministry of reconciliation.

Now let me name a point of importance – it is nothing new, you will find it plainly set forth in the writings of Mr. Wigram, Mr. Darby and Mr. Stoney, they put it in very clear form years ago

• – speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ as a divine Person, scripture says of Him,
  • "The Word became flesh".

• No human book ever put it like that; that is the divine way – the perfect way.

• There is His place as Man in connection with the revelation of God; the setting forth of what God is in righteousness and grace. The law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by and subsists through Jesus Christ, and in the new covenant you get the perfect setting forth of it in righteous power.

• Love is absolutely set forth in Him. It is wonderful to apprehend and appreciate what He is as Man and as Revealer of God. He perfectly sets forth what God is towards man.

Now the second point is not so readily apprehended: I refer to the place which the Lord Jesus has taken as a Man Godward.

• We see His place on God's side manward much more readily; saints are generally clear on that side, but what about His place on our side Godward? Now it is in this that we come to reconciliation and new creation

• New covenant ministry involves the work of God in us, but nowhere are we told that it involves new creation.
  • "If any one be in Christ, there is new creation".

• That is a momentous expression. In Christ you have new creation.

• The apostle here speaks of the individual, "If any one", but he does not say that the person is new creation, he says of that person,
  • "there is new creation". – New Translation [JND] –

• "He is" is an incorrect and unfortunate addition to that scripture. The excellent translators of the authorised version had no spiritual apprehension of new creation, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" will not do.

• Reconciliation involves being in Christ and new creation.

Hence it involves the body of Christ. You do not get one body in new covenant ministry.

• In Romans 12: 5 – Romans is fundamental – you get "One body in Christ". In Ephesians 2 you get both Jews and Gentiles reconciled to God in one body;
  • and then again there is something else connected with new creation, and that is the new man. You get it in both Ephesians and Colossians.

• Take Ephesians 4: 24, it is not an exhortation, it is not put in that way. We are not exhorted to put off the old man and to put on the new. The fact is stated that you have put off the old and put on the new.

• You get the same thing in Colossians 3. The point is the new Man. What about Him?
  • "Which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness".

  • In Colossians we get, "According to the image of him that has created him".

• It is a new Man, a new creation of God. In Ephesians it is not simply, as in Colossians, the thought of freshness and brightness, but it is that which never existed before – a new creation of God in truthful righteousness and holiness.

• I may put it in an awkward way, but I hope you will get hold of the thought of God in it.

Reconciliation is presented in Christ as Man on our side Godward.

• If you take the thought of His death there is no more simple statement of it than
  • "He hath made him to be sin for us",

• but what a marvellous statement it is! It is carefully added,
  • "who knew no sin".

• There are three statements made of the Lord in respect of sin,
  • "He did no sin",

    "Who knew no sin",

    "In him is no sin".

• Of course we know that He never sinned, but there it is a stronger statement, because under certain conditions believers do not sin, "He that abideth in him sinneth not".

• But mark what is said of the Lord, "In him is no sin".
  • "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves".

• God has put that stamp on every one who says he has no sin.

• I was once well acquainted with people who went in for two applications of the blood of Christ. Their idea was as if they were always lying in a brook which was always cleansing them. They would say that their inward sin was cleansed out like a washed garment. Every bit of that kind of thing is outside of scripture.
  • "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves".

• But what about the Lord? "In him was no sin".

• Adam was created in innocence. You and I have to go back to natural birth, like the Psalmist – shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin – that is the characteristic condition; we spring from a man whose fall has corrupted the race.

• But as to the Lord, it was not only that He did, no sin, or that in Him was no sin, but "He knew no sin". He was the holy One of God.

When in 1848 it was propounded that the Lord Jesus Christ as a Man was, in virtue of identifying Himself with Israel, subject to God's governmental wrath – at a distance from Him! –

• it was a good thing for us that J.N.D. stood for the truth of His Person; had it been otherwise we should not have the rich heritage of the truth of God which is ours today.

• "He knew no sin", otherwise He could not have been made sin; His qualification was His absolute perfection, His unsullied holiness.
  • "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him".

• That is reconciliation. In Him man is made perfectly suitable to God, so that God has perfect complacency, perfect pleasure in man.

• Take the opening of Luke; the angel announces the birth of Christ, and suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
  • "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men".

• That is the point in reconciliation. Read that side by side with Genesis 6,
  • "It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart".

• Think of that! Then look at that blessed One under the eye of God, a babe in swaddling clothes, all heaven in accord, the angelic host sweeps down from the plains of light and glory praising God and saying,
  • "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men".

• That is the idea of reconciliation, Then that blessed One goes into death; He becomes the sin-offering. That is the point in Romans,
  • "God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh".

• God has laid the foundation of reconciliation in the death of Christ. "He hath made him to be sin for us". Mark those two words "for us".

• You might have said, 'It is wonderful, but who is it for?' Do not hesitate to put yourself in the portion of that "us", you have a place there; that little word "us" embraces every beloved believer.

Well, beloved, there is the foundation, there is the basis, but now I would like to shew the effect of it and in what connection it stands. It is not a question now of what God is for us, but of what we are for God.

• Reconciliation is on that side. It is set forth in parable in Luke 15; the father had compassion on the younger son – he ran and fell on his neck, and – the way it is put in the Greek is beautiful – "covered him with kisses".

• Actions speak louder than words. Is there any need for the father to say, 'I am glad to see you' when he was on his neck kissing him?

• How the father's joy and delight at his return must have spoken to the heart of the young man, and then he can confess his sin, When he was hugged by his father it was easy to him to confess.
  • He says, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight".

• Now we get reconciliation; the father speaks, not now to him but to the servants,
  • "Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet".

• What is all this for? He is to be made suitable to his father. The best robe is reconciliation, and the ring and sandals are the accompaniments of reconciliation.

• Paul felt the pressure of the ring when he wrote the end of Romans 8. Thank God there is something in Christianity that has no end.

• Put sandals on his feet – that is sonship. These are the accompaniments of reconciliation.

• The object is that when the son finds himself face to face with his father, the banquet on, he is perfectly at home; that is where reconciliation comes in.

• Do you know what it is to be perfectly at home in the presence of God? If we were more in the good of reconciliation we should have more freedom as worshippers, we should be so at home in the very presence of God.

Then there is another side.

• "That he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross".

• How does it work out now? In relation to each other, just think of fifty or a hundred saints in the good of reconciliation! There would be no trouble among them.

• The thing that is at the bottom of trouble is the flesh; the flesh is gone in reconciliation. New creation is not a mixture of iron and clay and no cohesiveness.
  • "Created according to God in truthful righteousness and holiness".

• Ah, beloved! if we knew more about it we should be beyond all suspicious fear of each other. By-and-bye we shall be actually – not only in faith – but actually apart from the flesh; we shall get along all right then, but we may get along all right now.

• Look, beloved, we may get our heads filled with doctrine, but it is one thing to have one's head filled, and another thing to have divine things in spiritual vitality in one's soul.

• We need the ministry of reconciliation. What for? Is it simply to sit down in rhapsody? We need it that we may be here for the pleasure of God, for the pleasure of Christ, walking in happy relations together.

• We should be walking like trained soldiers, keeping step,
  • "Thinking the same thing", "Joined in soul", "Having the same love".

• The ministry of reconciliation will bring this about. And let me say the ministry of reconciliation is for all saints. May the Lord encourage our hearts with regard to it.

Now the position in which the saints are seen down here is as having died; they have been circumcised with the circumcision of the Christ, they have been buried with Christ, and then he says that we are risen with Christ.

• "We are risen with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead".

• It is a position taken up in the mind: you regard yourself now as risen with Christ. It is a wonderful thing to have faith of the working of God who raised Him from among the dead.

• As circumcised with the circumcision of Christ you have put off the body of the flesh, and then as having died with Christ you have died morally to the rudiments or elements of this world; and not only so but you have been buried with Him in baptism, put out of sight, and then you are risen with Him, and that puts you in a position outside and beyond everything here.

• Then there is the further statement – we are quickened together with Him, and that is a very important point to observe in this epistle, because in being quickened together with Him there is power and ability given to take up the position in which God sees us power to act according to it.

• You will observe in all this how in the Epistle to Colossians our previous history comes in, not exactly as it comes in in Romans; the standpoint here is different from that of Romans. Romans has its application more to us individually, as viewed in connection with our individual life of responsibility here; but not so Colossians; yet it has our former history in view.

• In Ephesians it is not our responsible life, as alive in the world that is in view, but our state viewed as regard of God – dead in offences and sin; hence there is nothing about being buried with Him by baptism, or about circumcision, nothing about dying with Christ;
  • in Ephesians we are dead, and Christ is dead, and we are quickened with Him, are raised up together with Him, and are made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus; so our responsible history here does not come in in the Epistle to Ephesians

• but here in Colossians it does come in, and so these various steps are traced by the Spirit of God in connection with our spiritual history. Colossians is complete in itself, and the position in which the saints are seen in Colossians is peculiar to that epistle.

We have often been told that in Romans, though we have death with Christ, resurrection is future, because it is actual:

• "If we are become identified with him in the likeness of his death, so also we shall be of his resurrection".

• So quickening in Romans is in the future tense and applies to the quickening of our mortal bodies;
  • but in Colossians we are quickened now; we are made to live together with Christ in the life in which He lives consequent upon resurrection.

• Christ is viewed not only as risen, but as ascended; but the saints are not taken off the earth in Colossians. Well now, that is the position.

"If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above".

• The question is often raised – What are the things above? I think the answer is this – "He that seeks finds".

• If you do not know what the "things above" are, that is sure evidence you have not been seeking, because there is no such thing as seeking and not becoming acquainted with what you seek.

• It is really what is practical as the result of the subjective power of the truth that is before the mind of the Spirit of God in Colossians 3, and you can see how perfectly incompatible with the fact that we have died with Christ it would be to seek the things down here.

• You have done with the whole scene here, everything below is behind you; death has closed up the history of your connection with the things on the earth; ye have died. And what about your life?
  • "Your life is hid with Christ in God".

• Now that is another peculiar and very beautiful feature of the truth in Colossians. You have got your life, but it is hid with Christ in God. Where is Christ? He is hid in God. Christ has gone out of sight so far as this world is concerned.

• In John 12 you get the close of His public ministry in the solemn statement,
  • "And going away, he hid himself from them";

• and He has been hid in God ever since.
  • "When Christ is manifested who is our life, then shall ye also be manifested with him in glory".

• It is no question in Colossians of the manifestation of anything before the world. One has often said, and would say it carefully, that
  • in Colossians there is neither testimony before man nor conflict with the power of evil;

• but our life is hid with Christ in God, and it goes straight on to manifestation in glory, for the first four verses are a complete paragraph.

• If you are manifested here, I say – you are going to be manifested ahead of Christ. He was down here – He was presented to man, but He was rejected – but He is going to appear in glory, and when Christ, who is our life, appears, we also shall be manifested with Him.

• It is not a question of being like Christ now in glory,
  • "What we shall be has not yet been manifested; we know that if it is manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is".

We have a twofold unfolding of His glory in chapter 1. There is what Christ is in relation to God and what He is in relation to the saints.

• As regards the first, He is "the image of the invisible God".

• Everything that could be made known of God has been made known in Him; as it is put in Hebrews,
  • "Who being the effulgence" [the outshining] "of his glory and the expression of his substance".

• Then we have His relation to creation, and how it exposes the blunders of man in departing from the scriptures, when divine Persons are distinguished as they are in the creeds of Christendom, and they tell us that the Father created all things.

• When divine Persons are distinguished in the scriptures in connection with the creation it is the Son, not the Father, of whom it is predicated
  • that "by him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth".

Now we come to His relation with the saints. There is a peculiar presentation of Christ in each epistle, and the way in which Christ is presented determines the character and scope of the application of the truth in each epistle.

• In chapter 1: 17 it says: "He is before all, and all things subsist together by him"

• – you are still in the region of the creation of God and His relationship to that creation –
  • Then in verse 18: "And he is the head of the body, the assembly

• – here we get His relation to the saints –
  • "who is [the j beginning, firstborn from among the dead, that he might have the first place in all things".

In Ephesians, where His resurrection and exaltation are unfolded, it says that

• God "gave him to be head over all things to the assembly, which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all".

• You can understand the Spirit of God making that prominent in Ephesians, because there we are in the presence of the vast scope of the counsels of God, the universe is in view, both heaven and earth,

• and so He has given Christ to be Head over all things, and no doubt it is in that capacity, if one might say so reverently, that He is Head of the assembly – the body.

But the statements of the Spirit in Colossians are confined to the body – the assembly; that brings in the thought of the assembly as His body.

• I think perhaps we have been inclined to take an ecclesiastical view of the body, but I am sure in that we have been mistaken.

• Your body is that in which you live. If I know anything about you, your character, your ways, I have learned it in your body. I am expressed as a man in my body, and you are expressed in your body.

• So the body of Christ is that in which Christ is to find expression here, not in the form of testimony; no doubt that is a testimony – there are plenty of scriptures for that –
  • but so far as this epistle is concerned, Christ expressed in His body here is for the delight and satisfaction of the heart of God.

• And I think it is a wonderful, yet an exercising, thought. I do not know how far we have compassed it and given it a place in our souls, that as the body of Christ, the saints are here as a continuation of Christ for the delight of God.

• Take the portion I read just now in chapter 3. Our authorised version says "Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord": but it should read:
  • "Singing with grace in your hearts to God".

• You are not singing to be heard by anybody here; this spontaneous outburst of joy in the saints is for the delight and joy of the heart of God.

• How little have we taken in what it was to God to have Christ down here. He was ever the delight and joy of the heart of God.

• And, beloved, although Christ has gone on high the body of Christ is here, to be the reproduction, in the power of the Holy Ghost, of Christ in the saints, and this is for the delight of God.

• Do not think that I overlook the idea of testimony or conflict, but I would that we were big enough spiritually to take in what there is in this epistle to the Colossians. I think it is so encouraging and so exercising.

• We might ask ourselves – What delight is God finding in us here as the body of Christ?

• As I have said, it is not an ecclesiastical idea, we should discard that thought; it is entirely moral.

Well now, that is the view of the epistle. I have not time to go fully into what is in chapter 2, but I will just say briefly that in chapter 2 there are certain adverse elements against which the saints are safeguarded and warned.

• There are three things mentioned, and they are alike in this respect – "man" appears in them all.
  1. You are to beware of the philosophical man, who is after the rudiments of this world and not according to Christ,

  2. and you are to beware of the religious man with his sabbaths and new moons,

  3. and then you are to beware of the mystical man, the man who is vainly puffed up with his fleshly mind and dares to intrude into things that are unseen.

That chapter deals with the outside things; but in chapter 3 we come to ourselves. It is not there what is outside of you but what is within.

• In Ephesians we are looked at as in Christ, but in Colossians Christ is in us:
  • "Christ in you the hope of glory",

• and the early part of the chapter deals with the things that would hinder – things from within ourselves, hence verse 5 –
  • "Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth".

• By those who understand it we are told that the tense of the Greek verb here is in the aorist; that is – you do not keep on mortifying; the effect abides, you do not repeat it, but you maintain it.

• When the Israelites entered the land God said to Joshua,
  • "Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time";

• Joshua did not keep on circumcising them after they had come into the land, yet they pitched their tents at Gilgal, and when they went out to conflict they went out from Gilgal, and when they returned they returned to Gilgal – it had to be maintained, and so the mortifying has to be maintained.

• Your members are here, and they are the only connection with earth that this epistle will allow; you have to put them to death, because if you do not, if there is not the maintenance in your soul of what this putting to death means, these members which are upon the earth will betray you into what will really hinder your soul.
  • "In which ye also once walked when ye lived in those things".

• It is not contemplated that the saints are walking in these things, but where the connecting link exists – these members upon the earth – death must come in.
  • Verse 8: "Put off, ye also, all these things, wrath, anger, malice, blasphemy, vile language out of your mouth".

• What are these exhortations based upon? They are based upon a spiritual fact, and that fact is that you have "put off the old man with his deeds".

• It is not simply what God did with the old man in the cross of Christ, though if God had not dealt with the old man in the cross of Christ, it would have been out of the question for you or me to deal with him; but this is our side – you put off.
  • "Having put off the old man with his deeds",

• you have learned the character of the old man, and you have done with him; you have put him off and based upon that fact are these exhortations; you put off in habit, put off practically everything that is of the old man.

• You could not have put off the old man without the corresponding side – the putting on. You ask, Where is the ability for it? Why, you are said to be quickened together with Christ. That is ability enough.

• Do not say you are not able for it; people shut their eyes to these plain statements of scripture, and looking only at them selves they say they cannot. Paul, in the gaol at Rome, says:
  • "I have strength for all things in him that gives me power"; perhaps you will say, that is the language of an apostle, but no, it is the language of a Christian, for Philippians is the epistle of christian experience, not apostolic.

Well now, "having put on the new, renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him".

• Here it is the new man in the sense of fresh; in Ephesians it is the new kind of man, it is remarkable how the terms are transposed in the two epistles.
  • In Ephesians it is "having put on the new man, which according to God is created in truthful righteousness and holiness",

• and the moment you bring in the thought of creation you have got something that did not exist before, you have got the new kind of man – you are renewed in the spirit of your mind.

• Here – in Colossians – you put on the new – that which is fresh –
  • and it is "renewed into full knowledge according to the image of him that has created him".

• The word translated "renewed" here is just the word that means in a way what the new man does in Ephesians; you are renewed here after the image of Him that created him,
  • "wherein there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is everything, and in all".

• You are outside all the distinctions mentioned here – religious, – circumcision or uncircumcision, bondman, freeman; you might actually be a poor slave, but you are outside of it, or you might be a master, but you are outside of it; you have come into that spiritual sphere where Christ is everything.

Now I want to come to these last verses just for a moment before we close.

• "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye".

• The word "therefore" refers back to the beginning of verse 10, and as the exhortations preceding verse 10 are based upon the fact that you have put off the old man, so these exhortations are based upon the fact that you have put on the new.

• "Put on therefore". It is practical, and comes out in our relationships one with another in the body of Christ.

• Now it is a matter of common experience that the closer the relationship the more you are tested by it, and so the Christians that put one to the test are not the Episcopalians, etc., or those I do not walk with.

• I do not have anything to do with them, though, of course, I trust I carry about in my heart, by the grace of God, real affection for every Christian;
  • but it is the people with whom I walk, the Christians with whom I am in close touch – that is where the test comes.

Let me call your attention to these terms elect, holy and beloved.

• They primarily apply to Christ as a Man down here; He was God's elect, God's holy One; He was God's beloved One;
  • and the very titles applicable primarily to the Lord Jesus Christ as a Man here are taken up now and applied to His people. It is very touching, very wonderful.

• "Put on therefore" as what? – "as the elect of God". These traits were all true of Christ as God's elect One, God's holy and beloved One; how these things shone out in undimmed moral splendour in His Person!

"Bowels of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering".

• Have we got these things on? These traits of Christ are to be reproduced in us, manifested in us. I trust that, by the grace of Christ, we may apply these things honestly to ourselves.
  • "Forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye".

• Are we equal to it? Oh, what a truth the body of Christ is! – it is to be down here for the expression of Christ, for the delight and joy of the heart of God; it is wonderful!

• The opportunity of expressing Him down here is what heaven and eternity will not give us. Just think of being down here in this scene of contrariety as the body of Christ, to express the traits of Christ, the very life of Christ coming out in us!

Then verse 14: "And to all these [add] love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been called in one body, and be thankful.

• Love is the bond of perfectness. It is a delightful thought to me that there is something down here that is the bond of perfectness; there is that which never fails – love never fails.
  • "Let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts".

• What a wonderful thing among the saints in their relationship to each other in the body of Christ – the very peace of Christ presiding. You know the idea of a presiding officer, he is in entire control, he presides, and so,
  • "Let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been called in one body, and be thankful".

• That is individual. The Spirit of God knows where to drop that word – "in one body "; we need each to be reminded of that; nothing contrary to unity can be entertained for one moment.

Verse 16: "Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another".

• Our ability to teach and admonish one another depends upon the word of the Christ dwelling in us; how could we do is apart from that? It is Christ Jesus who has been made to us wisdom from God. Not one of us has any resources of wisdom in himself.
  • "In psalms, hymns, spiritual songs".

• There are three varieties of praise, and I have no doubt they are in an ascending scale. There is great liberty, and while the unity of the body must never be forgotten there is variety.

• Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God. What kind of singing is that? The singing in scripture is spontaneous. I love the thought of the spontaneity of Christianity. In John 4 the Lord says,
  • "The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life",

  • and in John 7 He speaks of " rivers of living water " flowing out.

  • Paul says, " I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the understanding also".

• What music for the ear and heart of God!

There is one more verse: "And everything, whatever ye may do in word or in deed, do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by him".

• Everything is covered by His name; you do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by Him.

• It is not a formula of language put into your mouth, it is like Himself – the company is in correspondence with Him, they do all in His name, giving thanks. That is just what He did.

• We are not told much about it, but we are told once – and it is very striking – that when everything down here was so dark:
  • "At that time, Jesus answering said, I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes".

• May we understand it and follow Him, and be in correspondence with Him.

Let me say another thing that may perhaps be helpful.

• In taking up the scripture I have read it is of the greatest importance that everything connected with Christianity should be taken account of in a spiritual way;
  • we must drop from our minds every thought of materialism – we are hindered by materialism to a much greater extent than perhaps we are prepared to acknowledge.

• I think it is a matter to be deplored that there seems to be so little ability to take account of spiritual things – that there is so little spirituality amongst us.

• It is only as we are spiritual that we can take account of things in a spiritual way.

The figures employed by the Spirit of God in the scripture I have read, especially in the first part of it – that part of it which pertains to privilege – are figures of material things.

• "Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies".

• That, of course, to a mind acquainted with the letter of scripture brings before it that which was really material.

• We are speaking from Hebrews; there is nothing of the temple in Hebrews; there it is the tabernacle exclusively, and so the holy of holies would as a figure bring before us the west end of that tabernacle tent of the testimony of Jehovah.

• There was the court surrounding the tabernacle and inside those curtains which rested upon the sockets of silver, and then the tabernacle was set with the face of it toward the east; and there was a twofold division –

• at the eastern end there was the holy place; there was the outer veil through which the priest must enter into the holy place; and in the west end of that tent behind the second veil was found the holy of holies.

Now we must drop the figure; it is all right to get the thought of the Spirit of God in the figure, but you must not be detained in your mind by the materialism of the figure.

There are two statements about Christ – one is a negative statement and the other is a positive statement;

• the negative statement is that Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands – and that is the end, for you and me, as Christians, of the material thing;

• but in the same chapter – chapter 9 – he says that Christ has entered into the holy of holies, so that there is that which the Spirit of God speaks of as the holy of holies, which is not at all material, but which is exclusively spiritual,
  • and that is what we want to be concerned about, for it is a wonderful privilege, and I desire to speak very simply of it.

• I do not say too much about the holy of holies as figure, because there is that which is more important – I mean that which the figure leads to.

• I know I read this passage years ago, and I used nearly always to find my mind struggling with the thought of the holy of holies, trying to grasp what it must mean for us Christians, and I found on looking more closely at the passage that I was not taking much account of what follows –
  • "Let us approach".

• You draw near to God, and God is greater than the holy of holies; this is not the only statement of privilege, but it is a very encouraging word.

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a great priest over the house of God, let us approach".

• I would that the Spirit of God might bring it home to us; it would be a poor thing if we missed it tonight; it would be a poor thing if we only thought of the holy of holies as a figure.

• To me it is most marvellous that God not only presents the wonderful privilege to us, but that God Himself seeks to encourage us to avail ourselves of it. Think of the Spirit of God saying, "let us approach", let us draw near!

• Why then should there be any hesitation? I hope that we can all say that there are no fears – no hesitation any longer in approaching.

I have a good word to say to every believer here tonight:

• it is a very encouraging thought that when you touch privilege in Christianity you touch that which does not belong to any exclusive class;

• in that way Christianity in this epistle stands in marked contrast to Judaism.

• In the first place there was the court of the tabernacle; then the tabernacle, and inside the tabernacle there was first the holy place, and then was the most holy place. But there was a kind of exclusiveness connected with every part of it.

• The ordinary Israelite, legally clean, might enter within the curtain of linen which sheltered the court; he might tread the court of the tabernacle; he might enjoy the privileges of that court, but the first veil, which guarded entrance into the tabernacle, was the limit for him; he would not dare to pass behind that first veil.

• Not even the Levite, although he had a special place and special relationship to the priest, and special service connected with the things of God, would dare to pass within that first veil;
  • none but the priest – a man thirty years of age and upwards, of the family of Aaron, a man who had been duly consecrated and set apart in a most solemn way to the priestly office; he alone could enter that holy place.

• But what about the most holy place, and that second veil? Well, you will bear with me if I read what the Spirit of God says about that second part of the tabernacle, chapter 9:
  • "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.

  • "And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.

  • "Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

  • "But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people".

But now in Christianity, when you touch privilege, you touch that which is common to every Christian.

• When we come to Christianity, not a privilege belongs to the Apostle Paul that does not belong to you and to me;
  • if it were office, or gift, or apostolic authority, we should all have to take a back seat;

• but as to privilege, as to approach, there is no difference.

• Are there young Christians among those to whom I am speaking now? You may say, But it is not long since I was converted – since I got peace with God. Let me say to you – and get the good of this into your soul; it is intended to cheer you – you are just as much entitled to the privileges of Christianity as the most advanced Christian.

• Men may stand out in connection with their gifts; it is not very common, but the Lord does seem to put His mark on one and another, whom He has gifted, and they are marked in that respect amongst their brethren, something like Saul, who, amongst the children of Israel, stood head and shoulders above all of them – there are such, and for my part I think it is our wisdom to recognise them;
  • but when it comes to privilege, all distinctions are wiped out, it belongs alike to all.

• Look at the term which the Spirit of God uses – look at that lovely word,
  • "Having therefore, brethren, boldness", etc.

• Are you one of these brethren? I thank God that I am. I am not aware that the term is used in two senses. It may be used in the sense of our relationship one to another, or it may be used as it was used by the Lord when He said:
  • "Go to my brethren";

• and again as we get in chapter 2 of this epistle:
  • "Both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren".

• But it belongs to us all, and I think, beloved, the Lord would distinctly encourage our hearts tonight in connection with the marvellous privilege which belongs to us.

Well, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness". What is boldness? It is liberty title.

• "By the blood of Jesus".

• I wish I could speak of that properly. Is it a question of cleansing?
  • "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses from every sin";

• and one believer is no more cleansed than another. But it is not here exactly the blood in its cleansing efficacy – it is a question of approach, it is the blood giving a divine title to enter into the holy of holies.

• Hebrews is a wonderful epistle. I would that we were all more familiar with it. It would be a wonderful thing for us.

• It is not only that propitiation has been made, but Christ has entered into the holy of holies. He has entered in for every believer. He has entered in in the power, the virtue, the efficacy of His own blood.

• Do you want any better title to enter than that? You might as well ask me if I want anything better than the blood to cleanse me from every sin: "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses from every sin".

• That is true, but it is just as true, and would admit of just as emphatic a statement that the blood has opened the way into the holy of holies for every one of us; there is nothing more to be done. Christ has entered into the presence of God for us – then where He is is the holy of holies.

"The new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a great priest over the house of God "– not high priest, here it is great priest – "let us approach".

• We could not enter there without the Priest, but the Priest is there: the blood has been shed, the way into the holiest has been opened for us –
  • boldness to enter there is the privilege alike of every believer, young and old, whatever they may be

• – they are one of the "brethren"; they are embraced in that blessed term.

Now do you want to think of the subjective side? We will dwell on it for a moment. We may, and I would like to assert that there is holy liberty to take account of ourselves subjectively.

• The scripture says: "Let us approach" – with what kind of a heart? – a "true heart".

• There are various sorts of hearts spoken of in scripture, there is a "true heart".

• A true heart is a heart that beats responsively to the wonderful way that God has come out in the blessed Person of His Son, In chapter 3 we get:
  • "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" – there is no other calling in Christianity than a heavenly one – "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus".

• Now a "true heart" is a heart that beats responsively to what has come out in Him as the Apostle – it beats in answer responsively to that.

Then, "In full assurance of faith".

• Why should we make any difficulty about that? Are you not a believer? Are you not in full assurance of faith? Are you doubting? Are you questioning anything that God says? God forbid.

"Sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience".

• That is no rare or exceptional attainment; that is true alike of every Christian. I remember when I had a wicked conscience, but thank God it has gone and it will never come back. I know I have failed, but that is not a wicked conscience.

"And washed as to our bodies with pure water".

• You know that when one of the family of Aaron was thirty he was consecrated; he was brought to the door of the tabernacle and he was washed as to his body with pure water; and there is that which answers spiritually to that in Christianity.

• It is not a matter of attainment, but
  • "And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified".

• That washing is complete – it never needs any repetition, It is like what the Lord said in John 13 about His disciples – making the exception of Judas –
  • "He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean".

• Well now, there was the priest. He was washed all over; then he was brought to the brazen altar, and there were three sacrifices – the burnt offering, and the sin offering, and the ram of consecration – and when it was a question of the ram of consecration the blood was brought and put upon the tip of the right ear, and upon the thumb of the right hand, and upon the great toe of the right foot.

• Never was that repeated. Once was enough, and if once was enough then, do not you think once is enough now? Thank God, it is.

• Do you think God is inviting us to approach, do you think God is spreading out before us the blessed privilege of entering the holy of holies knowing that we are not fit? He knows we are fit, and reminds us of our fitness. That ought to make every believer's heart exceedingly glad.

• Do you say, What do you do in the holiest? You do not do anything. When you get there, you find it is a wonderful place. You will find Christ there in the presence of God, and Christ there is the Antitype of what was literally in the holiest.

• Outside the veil there was the candlestick, the golden altar of incense, and the table of shewbread – all these were outside, but what was there inside? Read verses 4, 5 of chapter 9.

• Christ is the blessed Antitype of all these things, and when you enter there you will contemplate Him.

We need to be enlarged: we do not know Christ in all His blessed relations.

• We want to know what Christ is in relation to God, and to the vast system of God's counsels and purpose; we sometimes sing about the universe of bliss, but do we take in what a wonderful thing it is to come to know Christ in what He is in relation to God?

• These things in the holiest set forth what Christ is in relation to God and the purpose of God, and how God will by means of Christ bring to pass a universe of bliss. What we need, beloved, is spiritual education; in the world it is not very difficult to discern a man of education; and we need to be spiritually educated.

• It is in the holy of holies – the presence of God – where Christ is known in His relation to God and in His relation to the whole system of the purpose and counsels of God – that is what we need to know.

• If a man is educated naturally, it comes out in his life – he has got a knowledge of things, an understanding of things, so that, being an educated man, he is capable of doing things that other people are not capable of.

• But we ought to be thoroughly educated on the line of Christ and what Christ is in relation to God. That would bring about such an enlargement, such an expansion in our souls that we have not yet known. We live too much in relation to ourselves even in divine things.

• Charles Wesley said, "Myself in things divine I sought, and mourned because I found them not".

• We need to get thoroughly educated; then we can come out in our responsibility, and what is the proof of your education?, The first proof of it is that you
  • "hold fast the confession of the hope unwavering".

• You go dead against the current of this world, It is not the rapture in Hebrews which is the hope; the point of the hope in Hebrews is:
  • "For yet a very little while he that comes will come, and will not delay".

  • He is going to "appear to those who look for him the second time without sin for salvation".

My brethren, do not give up; do not give up to the currents – especially the religious currents – of this world.

• Today – December 25 – is a great time of high religious festivities, and, beloved, there is no connection between it and the hope.

• There are things that belong to our responsible life in flesh, but, as J.N.D. says:

And stayed by joy divine,
As hireling fills his day,
Through scenes of strife and desert life,
We tread in peace our way.

You are a stranger here – a "Gershom".

Now what is the next thing? You

• "hold fast the confession of the hope unwavering, for he is faithful who has promised".

• You hold fast the confession of the hope that is based on the promises of God, and the promises of God are based upon the faithfulness of the One who promised. Is not that a good foundation?

Then, "Let us consider one another for provoking to love and good works".

• If you are spiritually educated, the saints are the people you will be occupied with. Now as to the way we are to consider one another – "good works".

• I can tell you exactly how to provoke your brethren to love; that is, by loving them; there has never been any other way like it; and you provoke them to good works by doing good works yourself – very simple and practical.

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom is with some; but encouraging one another, and by so much the more as ye see the day drawing near".

Driving hard and fast bargains now is the spirit of the world; it is everywhere, this rush after shillings and pounds. It ought to concern us to keep wholly separate from the terrible spirit of commerce, and the rush after things here.

• "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God"!

• We ought to be able to see that the day is drawing near. We profess to believe in the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; we need to be thoroughly aroused about it.

The Lord grant, beloved, that we may be encouraged in respect of our privilege, and that we may so know and so enjoy it that we may be able to answer to our responsibility and to come out in the way this scripture indicates,

• so that we may be here not only for His glory, but so to connect His glory with the welfare of His people,

• that we may be here for the promotion of His interests among His people and for the mutual encouragement of each other.

In chapter 14 the Lord says, "In my Father's house are many mansions … I go to prepare a place for you"

• Now that settles the question of our place in the future! What an expression of His love! He has gone in His great love and interest for us to prepare a place for us.
  • He says, "I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am there ye also may be".

• How indescribably lovely it is, "where I am". He is speaking from the standpoint of His own love, not from the standpoint of our desires.

• In Philippians 1 Paul says, "Having the desire for departure and being with Christ". That is wonderful! But beautiful as that is, the desire of Christ overshadows the desire of Paul.

• He is speaking purely from His own love. He has such love for us that He has no thought of going to fill the place for Himself. He says, "I go to prepare you a place".

• The other day I picked up a tract by J.N D. about the Melchizedek priesthood, and my heart was moved in reading it. At the end he said, "We have a better portion than reigning. Our portion is to be with Himself".

• Think of it! The Lord seems to say, 'I love you so much that I cannot be content to remain without you. I am coming again and shall receive you to Myself, that where I am ye also may be'. What place has that thought of His in your heart and in mine?

• There is in scripture a great deal that tells us about our part, both present and future; but whatever has been presented to us has been presented to affect us here and now. We may well challenge ourselves and say, 'How am I affected by it?' But the effect of what the Lord says here would be to put our hearts in the attitude of waiting for Himself.

• Has He lavished His love on us without stint and without measure, and has He not ground for counting on our appreciation of His love, so that when He expresses it there should be an answer to it in us?

• The Lord takes account of our love, He takes account of our response to His love. See the pains He takes to get an answer to His love. That is one great point in the breaking of bread; He is seeking to secure in us a response to His love.

• The point here – verse 1 – is the Lord counts on our hearts leaping up in response to His love. He is coming again to receive us.

• Do we say we want to get out of things here? That is not it; it is –
  • "that where I am ye also may be".

• When Paul says, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord", his desire is "to be with Christ". How few are longing "to be with Christ"!

• That is His thought when He says – "that where I am there ye also may be". I delight in that! The thought of being with Himself is beyond everything else. It is from the height of His own love for us that He says,
  • "I am coming again … that where I am ye also may be".

Now turn to chapter 17: 24. There, too, He expresses the desire of His heart.

• From verse 20 we get the part that applies to us directly, as those brought to believe on the Son of God. So He desires that we should be with Him where He is. What for?

• The Lord here goes beyond chapter 14, for there He only says, "I am coming again", etc., but now, pouring out the desires of His heart to His Father He tells why He desires to have us with Him
  • "that they may behold my glory".

• He had said in verse 22:
  • "The glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me".

  • But here it is, "That … they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world".

• Everything that belongs to Him as Man has been given to Him by His Father. "For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world".

• We get that wonderful beginning in John 1. Think of it:
  • "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us".

• That is His distinct personality, and yet
  • "The Word was God. He" [that Person] "was in the beginning with God. All things received being through him".

• He became flesh and came in human condition and dwelt among us. How exquisitely beautiful those words,
  • "For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world".

  • And His desire is, "that they may behold my glory".

• That is not the glory that He shares with us. The crowning privilege of being with Himself is to behold His glory. We are going to behold it. I cannot explain it. Who could?

• It was given to Him as Man – as belonging to Him as Man. He wants to have us there to behold it, and we shall behold it – a glory expressed in Him which will be an eternal witness to what He was with the Father.

• Think of that! And I ask do you not think it should have a place in our hearts beyond everything else? How these words of His ought to affect us! He had said in verse 22,
  • "The glory which thou halt given me I have given them",

• but this glory – verse 24 – we shall not share, but He wants us with Him that we may behold it – and He connects with it:
  • "For thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world".

• In that place there will ever be the expression of that which shall speak of the Father's love for Him "before the foundation of the world", and we shall behold it. How wonderful are these desires that fill the Lord's heart, and at such a moment!

After expressing these desires to His Father He says,

• "That the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them".

• I cannot expound that, but there it is! The inside of a Christian is better than the outside! The Father's love for His Son is to be in them and He – the Object of the Father's love, in them too! Christ dwelling in them would be the conductor to their hearts of the Father's love.