“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. Being made free from sin, Ye have your fruit unto holiness” Romans 6:18,22.

“But now we are delivered from the law” Romans 7:6.

“The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” Romans 8:2.

Freedom is counted in Scripture as one of the greatest privileges of the child of God. Throughout history, there is nothing for which nations have made great sacrifices except freedom. Slavery is the lowest condition into which man can sink, for in it he can no longer govern himself. Freedom is the deepest need of his nature.

To be free, then, is the condition in which anything can develop itself according to the law of its nature–according to its own disposition. Without freedom nothing can attain its destiny or become what it should be. This is true of the animal and man, of the worldly and the spiritual alike. It was for this reason that God chose the redemption of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt and into the glorious liberty of the promised land as the everlasting example of redemption out of the slavery of sin and into the liberty of the children of God.1 On this account, Jesus said, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). And the Holy Scriptures teach us to stand firmly in the freedom with which Christ made us free. Complete insight into this freedom opens up to us one of the greatest glories of the life that the grace of God has prepared for us.2

There are three passages from the Epistle to the Romans which speak of our sanctification through a threefold freedom. There is freedom from sin in the sixth chapter, freedom from the law in the seventh, and freedom from the law of sin in the eighth.

There is freedom from sin (Romans 6:7,18,22). Sin is represented as a power that rules over man, and under which he is brought and taken captive: It urges him to be a slave to evil.3 By the death of Christ and in Christ, the believer–who is one with Him–is made entirely free from the dominion of sin. It has no more power over him. If, then, he still sins, it is because he permits sin still to rule over him, not knowing his freedom by faith. But if by faith he fully accepts what the Word of God thus confirms, then sin has no power over him. He overcomes it by the faith that he is made free from it.4

Then there is freedom from the law. This leads us deeper into the life of grace than freedom from sin. According to Scripture, law and sin always go together. “The strength of sin is the law” (I Corinthians 15:56). The law does nothing but make the offence greater.5 The law reveals our sinfulness. It cannot help us against sin; rather, with its demand for perfect obedience, it hopelessly gives us over to the power of sin. The Christian who does not realise that he is made free from the law will still always abide under sin.6 Christ and the law cannot rule over us together. In every endeavour to fulfil the law as believers, we are taken captive by sin.7 The Christian must know that he is entirely free from the law–from the you must that stands around us and over us. Then, for the first time, he will know what it is to be free from sin.

Then there is also freedom from the law of sin–actual liberation from the power of sin in our members. What we have in Christ, freedom from sin and from the law, is inwardly appropriated for us by the Spirit of God. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” The Holy Spirit in us takes the place of the law over us. “If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Galatians 5:18). Freedom from the law is not anything external. Instead, it takes place according to the amount of dominion and leading of the Spirit within us. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Accordingly, as the law of the Spirit rules in us, we are made free from the law, and from the law of sin. We are then free to do what we, as God’s children, would gladly do–serve God.

Free expresses a condition in which nothing hinders me from being what I could and should be. In other words, free is to be able to do what I desire. The power of sin over us, the power of the law against us, and the power of the law of sin in us, hinder us. But he who stands in the freedom of the Holy Spirit–he who is then truly free–cannot be prevented or hindered from being what he could and should be. As it is the nature of a tree to grow upwards–free from all hindrances–so a child of God then grows to what he should and will be. As the Holy Spirit leads him into this freedom, the joyful consciousness of his strength for the life of faith springs up. He shouts joyfully, “I can do all things through Him which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). “Thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” (2 Corinthians 2:14).

Son of God, anointed with the Spirit to announce freedom to the captives, make me also truly free. Let the Spirit of life in You, my Lord, make me free from the law of sin and of death. I am Your ransomed one. Let me live as Your freed one, who is hindered by nothing from serving You. Amen.

Footnotes

1) Ex. 1:14; 4:23; 6:5; 20:2; Deut. 24:18

2) John 8:32; Gal. 4:21,31; 5:1

3) John 8:34; Rom. 7:14,23; 2 Pet. 2:19

4) Rom. 5:21; 6:13,14

5) Rom. 4:15; 5:13,20; 7:13

6) Rom. 6:15; 7:5

7) Rom. 7:23

Notes

1. The freedom of the Christian extends over his whole life. He is free in relation to the institutions and teachings of men: “Ye are bought with a price: be ye not the servants of men” (1 Cor. 7:23; Col. 2:20). He is free in relation to the world and in the use of what God gives. He has power to possess it or to dispense with it, to enjoy it or to sacrifice it (1 Cor. 9:1).

2. This freedom is no lawlessness. We are free from sin and the law to serve God in the Spirit. We are not under the law, but give ourselves, with free choice and in love, to Him who loves us (Rom. 6:18; Gal. 5:13; 1 Pet. 2:16). Not under the law, also not without the law, but in the law–a new and higher law. “The law of the Spirit of life,” “the law of liberty,” (1 Cor. 9:21; Jas. 1:1.5; 2:12), the law written in our hearts, is our rule and measure. In this last passage the translation ought to be, “bound by a law to Christ.”

3. This freedom has its subsistence from and in the Word. The more the Word abides in me and the truth lives in me, the freer I become (John 8:31,32,36).

4. Freedom manifests itself in love. I am free from the law and from man and from institutions to be able now, like Christ, to surrender myself for others (Rom. 14:13,21; Gal. 5:13; 6:1).

5. This glorious liberty to serve God and our neighbour in love is a spiritual thing. We cannot by any means seize it and draw it to us. It becomes known only by a life in the Holy Spirit. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). “If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Gal. 5:18). It is the Holy Spirit who makes us free. Let us allow ourselves to be introduced by Him into the effectual, glorious liberty of the children of God. “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2).

“So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring forth and grow up, he knoweth not how. The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, after that the ear, then the full corn in the ear” Mark 4:26-28.

“The Head, from which all the body increaseth with the increase of God” Colossians 2:19.

“That we may grow into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body maketh the increase” Ephesians 4:15,16.

Life is continual movement, progressiveness. Increase or growth is the law of all created life. Consequently, the new life in man is destined to increase–always by becoming stronger. As there are in the seed and in the earth a life and power of growth which impels the plant to achieve its full height and fruit, so is there in the seed of the eternal life an impelling force by which that life always increases and grows. This divine growth continues until we come to be a perfect man–measuring up to the stature of the fullness of Christ.

In this parable of the seed that springs up of itself, and becomes great and bears fruit, the Lord teaches us two of the most important lessons on the increase of the spiritual life. The one is that of its self-sufficiency; the other is that of its gradual timing.

The first lesson is for those who ask what they are to do in order to grow and advance more in grace. As the Lord said of the body, “Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto his stature? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow” (Matthew 6:27,28). So He says to us here that we can do nothing, and need to do nothing, to make the spiritual life grow.2 Do you not see how, while man slept, the seed sprang up and became high? Do you not see that he did not know how the earth brought forth fruit by itself? Once man has sown, he must believe that God cares for the growth. Man does not have to care. He must trust and rest.

And must man then do nothing? You must understand that he can do nothing. The power of life must come from within–from the life and the Spirit implanted in him. He can contribute nothing to the growth itself. His growth will be given to him.3

All he can do is to let the life grow. All that can hinder the life, he must take away and keep away. He can take away any thorns and thistles in the soil which occupy the place and power that the plant should have.4 The plant must have its place in the earth alone and undivided. The farmer can care for this. Then it is able to grow further of itself. Likewise, the Christian must take away what can hinder the growth of the new life. He must surrender his heart entirely and completely for the new life, allowing it alone to possess his heart, so that it may grow free and unhindered.5

The farmer can also bring forth what the plant requires in the way of food or drink. He can manure or moisten the soil as it is needed. So must the believer see to it that for the new life nourishment is brought forth out of the Word, the living water of the Spirit, by prayer. It is in Christ that the new life is planted. From Him it increases with divine increase. Stay rooted in Him by the exercise of faith, and the life will grow of itself.6 Give it what it must have, take away what can hinder it, and the life will grow and increase of itself.

Then comes the second lesson of the parable–the gradual timing of the growth, “first the blade, after that the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” Do not expect everything at once. Give God time. By faith and endurance we inherit the promises–faith that knows that it has everything in Christ, and endurance that expects everything in its time according to the rule and the order of the divine government. Give God time. Give the new life time. It is by continually remaining in the earth that the plant grows. It is by continually standing in grace, in Christ Himself–in whom God has planted us–that the new life grows.7

Yes, give the new life sufficient time–time in prayer, time in communion with God, time in continuous exercise of faith, and time in persistent separation from the world. Give it time. The divine inner growth with which the life of God perfects man in Christ is slow but sure, hidden but real, and weak but endowed with heavenly power.

Lord God, graciously strengthen the faith of Your children, showing them that their growth and progress are in Your hands. Enable them to see what a precious, powerful life was implanted in them by You–a life that increases with a divine increase. Enable them, by faith and patience, to inherit the promises. And teach them in that faith to take away all that can hinder the new life, and to bring forward all that can further it, so that You may make Your work in them glorious. Amen.

Footnotes

1) Eph. 4:13; 2 Thess. 1:3,4

2) Hos. 14:5; Matt. 6:25,30

3) Ps. 92:12,13; Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3

4) Matt. 13:22.23: John 15:1,2

5) Song 2:15; Heb. 12:1

6) John 15:4,5; Col. 2:6,7

7) Heb. 3:13; 6:12,15; Jas. 5:7

Notes

1. For the plant, the principal thing is the soil in which it stands and out of which it draws its strength. For the Christian, this also is the principal thing. He is in Christ. Christ is all. He must grow up in Him, for out of Him the body obtains its increase. The main thing is to abide in Christ by faith.

2. Remember that faith must set itself toward a silent restfulness so that growth is just like that of the lilies of God’s hands, and so that He will see to it that we increase and grow strong.

3. By this firm and joyful faith we become “Strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Col. 1:11).

4. This faith that God cares for our growth takes away all anxiety and gives courage for doing the two things that we have to do–the taking away of what might be obstructive to the new life, and the bringing forward of what may be serviceable to it.

5. Observe well the distinction between planting and growing. Planting is the work of a moment. In a moment the earth receives the seed. After that comes the slow growth. Without delay–immediately–the sinner must receive the Word. There can be no delay before conversion. Then, with time, the growth of the seed follows.

6. The main thing is Christ. From Him and in Him is our growth. He is the soil that of itself brings forth fruit, yet we do not know how. Hold fellowship with Him daily. A month’s worth of meditations on the blessed life of continued fellowship with Him are provided in my book, Abide in Christ.

“O how I love Thy law! it is my meditation all the day” Psalm 119:97.

“Search the Scriptures: and they are they which testify of Me” John 5:39.

“The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard” Hebrews 4:2.

At the beginning of this book there is more than one passage on the use of God’s Word in the life of grace. Before I take leave of my readers, I would like to come back to this all important point. I cannot too earnestly and urgently address this call to my young brothers and sisters–your spiritual life greatly depends on your use of God’s Word.

Man lives by the Word that comes from the mouth of God. Therefore, seek with your whole heart to learn how to use God’s Word correctly. With this in mind, reflect on the following hints:

Read the Word more with the heart than with the understanding. With the understanding I know and comprehend–with the heart I desire and love and hold firmly. Let the understanding be the servant of the heart. Be very afraid of your understanding or carnal nature, which cannot receive spiritual things.1 Deny your understanding, and wait in humility on the Spirit of God. On every occasion, keep silent during your reading of the Word. Say to yourselves, “This Word I now receive in my heart, to love and to let it live in me.”2

Always read the Word in fellowship with the living God. The power of a word depends on my conviction regarding the man who wrote it. First, set yourself in loving fellowship with the living God under the impression of His nearness and love. Deal with the Word under the full conviction that He, the eternal God, is speaking with you. Let your heart be silent while you listen to God–to God Himself.3 Then the Word will certainly become a great blessing to you.

Read the Word as a living Word in which the Spirit of God dwells, and that certainly works in those who believe. The Word is seed. Seed has life, and grows and yields fruit of itself. Likewise, the Word has life, and of itself grows and yields fruit.4 If you do not wholly understand it–if you do not feel its power–carry it in your heart. Ponder it and meditate on it, and it will of itself begin to yield a working and growth in you.5 The Spirit of God is with and in the Word.

Read it with the resolve to be, not only a hearer, but a doer of the Word. Let the great question be–What would God now have of me with this Word? If the answer is–He would have me believe it and rely on Him to fulfil it–immediately do this from the heart. If the Word is a command of what you are to do, immediately yield yourself to do it.6 There is an unspeakable blessedness in the doing of God’s Word, and in the surrender of myself to be and to act just as His Word dictates. Do not be only hearers, but doers of the Word.

Read the Word with time. More and more, I see that one obtains nothing on earth without time. Give the Word time. Give the Word time to come into your heart, on every occasion on which you sit down to read it. Give it time, in the persistence with which you are faithful to it, from day to day and month to month.7 With perseverance, you become exercised and more accustomed to the Word and the Word begins to work. Please, do not be discouraged when you do not understand the Word. Hold on, take courage, give the Word time. Later on the Word will explain itself. David had to meditate day and night to understand it.

Read the Word with a searching of the Scriptures. The best explanation of the Bible is the Bible itself. Take three or four texts on one point, and set them close to one another and compare them. See where they agree and where they differ. See where they say the same thing or again something else. Let the Word of God in one place be cleared up and confirmed by what He said in another place on the same subject. This is the safest and the best explanation. Even the holy writers used this method of instruction with the Scriptures, “and again ” (John 19:37).8 Do not complain that this method takes too much time and energy. It is worth the trouble. Your pains will be rewarded. On earth you have nothing without effort.9 He who wants to go to heaven never goes without taking pains. Search the Scriptures, you will be richly rewarded.

Young Christian, let one of my last and most earnest words to you be this–your growth, your power, and your life depend on your faithfulness to the Word of God. Love God’s Word. Esteem it sweeter than honey, better than thousands in silver or gold. In the Word, the Father can and will reveal His heart to you. In the Word, Jesus will communicate Himself and all His grace. In the Word, the Holy Spirit will come into you, to renew your heart and all your thoughts, according to the mind and will of God. Do not simply read enough of the Word to keep you from falling away. Make it one of your chief occupations on earth, to yield yourself so that God may fill you with His Word, and may fulfil His Word in you.

Lord God, what grace it is that You speak to us in Your Word, that we in Your Word have access to Your heart, to Your will, and to Your love. Forgive us for our sins against Your precious Word. And, Lord, let the new life become so strong by the Spirit in us, that all its desire will be to abide in Your Word. Amen.

Footnotes

1) I Cor. 1:21,27; 2:6,12,14; Col. 2:18,23

2) Ps. 119:10,47; Rom. 10:18; Jas. 1:21

3) Gen. 17:3; 1 Sam. 3:9,10; Isa. 50:4; 52:6; Jer. 1:2

4) Mark 4:26,27,28; John 6:63; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:23

5) Ps. 119:15,40,48,69; 2 Tim. 3:16,17

6) Matt. 5:19,20; 7:21,24; Luke 11:28; Jas. 1:21,25

7) Deut. 6:5-9; Ps. 1:2; 119:97; Jer. 15:16

8) Isa. 34:16: John 5:39; Acts 17:11; Heb. 2:13

9) Prov. 2:4,5; 3:13,18; Matt. 13:44

Notes

1. In the middle of the Bible stands Psalm 119, in which the praise and the love of God’s Word are so strikingly expressed. It is not enough for us to read through the divisions of this psalm successively. We must take its principal points and seek what is said in different passages upon each of these points. Let us, for example, take the following points, observing the indications of the answers, and seek in this way to come under the full impression of what is taught us of the glory of God’s Word:

a. The blessing that the Word gives–verses 1,2,6,9,11,24,45,46,47,etc.

b. How we have to handle the Word (observe, walk, keep, mark, etc.).

c. The names that are given to God’s Word in this psalm.

d. Prayer for divine teaching–verses 5,10,12,18,19,26.

e. Surrender to obedience to the Word–verses 93,105,106,112,128,133.

f. God’s Word, the basis of prayer-verses 41,49,58,76,107,116,170.

g. Observance as the ground of confidence in prayer-verses 77,159,176.

h. Observance as promised upon the hearing of prayer–verses 8,17,33,34,44.

i. The power to observe the Word-verses 32,36,41,42,117,135,146.

j. The praise of God’s Word-verses 54,72,97,129,130,144.

k. The confident confession of obedience–verses 102,110,121,168.

1. Personal fellowship with God, seen in the psalmist’s use of Thou and I, Thine and Mine.

I have merely mentioned a few points and a few verses. Seek out more and mark them until your mind is filled with the thoughts about the Word which the Spirit of God desires to give you. Read the words of that great man of faith, George Muller, with great thoughtfulness. He says, “The power of our spiritual life will be according to the measure of the room that the Word of God takes up in our life and in our thoughts. After an experience of 54 years, I can solemnly declare this. For three years after my conversion I used the Word little. Since that time, I have searched it with diligence, and the blessing was wonderful. From that time, I have read the Bible through a hundred times and at every time with increasing joy. Whenever I start fresh with it, it appears to me as a new book. I cannot express how great the blessing is of faithful, daily, regular searching of the Bible. The day is lost for me on which I have used no solid time for enjoying the Word of God.

“Friends sometimes say: `I have so much to do that I can find no time for regular Bible study.’ I believe that there are few that have to work harder than I have. Yet it remains a rule with me never to begin my work until I have had real, sweet fellowship with God. After that I give myself heartily to the business of the day, that is, to God’s work, with only intervals of some minutes for prayer.”

“I will cry unto God most High; unto God that performeth all things for me” Psalm 57:2.
“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me” Psalm 138:8.

“Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” Philippians 1:6.

“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: To whom be glory for ever” Romans 11:36.

We read that David once succumbed to unbelief, and said, “I shall now one day perish by the hand of Saul” (1 Samuel 27:1). So even the Christian may indeed fear that he will one day perish. This is because he looks at himself and what is in him, and does not set his trust wholly on God. It is because he does not yet know God as the Perfecter. He does not yet know what is meant by His name, “I am the Alpha and the Omega: the Beginning and the End: the First and the Last” (Revelation 21:6; 1:8). If I truly believe in God as the beginning out of whom all comes, then I must trust Him as the continuation and the end, to whom all goes.

God is the beginning. “He which hath begun a good work in you”; “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16). We are to be thankful for God’s free choice, made before the foundation of the world, that we became believers and have the new life.1 Those who are still unconverted have nothing to do with this election–for them there is the offer of grace and the summons to surrender.

Outside, over the door of the Father, stands the inscription, “Him that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). This everyone can see and understand. No sooner are they inside the door than they see and understand the other inscription, “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me” (John 6:37).2 Then they can understand how all things are of God–first, obedience to the command of God, then, insight into the counsel of God.

But then it is of great importance to firmly hold onto this truth–He has begun the good work. Every thought of God will strengthen the confidence that He will also perfect it. His faithfulness, His love, His power, are all pledged so that He will perfect the good work which He began. Please read how God has taken more than one oath regarding His unchangeable faithfulness. Your soul will rest and find courage in this.

And how will He finish His work? What has its origin from Him is sustained by Him. It will one day be brought to Him and His glory. There is nothing in your life, worldly or spiritual, for which the Father will not care, because it has influence on you for eternity.3 There is no moment of day or night in which the silent growth of your soul is not to go forward. The Father will take care of this, if you believe.

There is no part of your destiny as a child of God that the Father will not continue and complete His work in–even in things which you have not yet given thought to.4 There is one condition–you must trust Him for this. You must in faith allow Him to work. You must trustfully say, “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” You must trustfully pray, “I will cry unto God that performeth all things for me.” Christian, let your soul become full of the thought–The whole care, for the continuation and the perfecting of God’s work in me, is in His hands.5

And how glorious the perfecting will be. In our spiritual life, God is prepared to exhibit His power in making us participants of His holiness and the image of His Son. He will make us fit, and set us in a condition for all the blessed work in His Kingdom that He would have from us. He will make our body like to the glorious body of His Son. We may wait for the coming of the Son Himself from heaven to take His own to Him. He will unite us in one body with all His chosen, and will receive and make us dwell forever in His glory. How can we think that God will not perfect His work’? He will surely do it He will gloriously do it–for everyone who trusts Him for it.

Child of God, please say in deep assurance of faith, “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” In every need say continually and with great boldness, “I will call on God, that performeth all things for me.” And let the song of your life be the joyful doxology, “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: To Him be the glory for ever.” Amen.

Lord God, who will perfect that which concerns me, teach me to know You and to trust You. And let every thought of the new life go hand in hand with the joyful assurance–He who began a good work in me will perfect it. Amen.

Footnotes

1) Rom. 8:29,30; Eph. 1:4,11

2) Gen. 28:15; Ps. 89:29,34-36; Isa. 54:9, l0; Jer. 33:25,26

3) Matt. 6:25,34; 1 Pet. 5:7

4) Isa. 27:2,3; 51:12,13

5) Heb. 10:35; 13:5,6,20,21; 1 Pet. 5:10

Notes

1. “He that endureth to the end, shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22). It brings but little profit to begin well. We must hold the beginning of our hope firm unto the end (Matt. 10:27; 24:13; Heb. 3:14,16; 11:12).

2. How do we explain the falling away of some believers? They were only temporary believers. They were partakers only of the workings of the Spirit (Heb. 6:4).

3. How do I know whether I am a partaker of the true new birth? “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). The faith that God has received me is matured —is confirmed–by works and by a walk under the leading of the Spirit.

4. How can any one know for certain that he will persevere to the end? By faith in God the Perfecter. We may take the Almighty God as our Keeper. He who gives himself in sincerity to Him, and trusts wholly in Him to perfect His work, obtains a divine certainty that the Lord has him and will hold him firm unto the end.

5. Child of God, live in fellowship with your Father. Live the life of faith in your Jesus with an undivided heart, and all fear of falling away will be taken from you. The living seal of the Holy Spirit will be your assurance of perseverance to the end.