Life in Christ

Thetext contains in it very much of weighty truth, far more than we shall be ableto bring forth from it this morning. First, we see in it a life; secondly, that lifepreserved; and thirdly, the reasonfor the preservation of that life: “Because I live, ye shall live also.”

1.Life

We mustnot confound this with existence. It were indeed to reduce a very rich text toa poverty-stricken sentence if we read it, “Because I exist, ye shall existalso.” We could not say of such a use of words that the water of ordinaryspeech was turned to wine, but rather that the wine was turned to water. Beforethe disciples believed in Jesus they existed, and altogether apart from him astheir spiritual life their existence would have been continued; it wassomething far other and higher than immortal existence which our Lord was heredealing with.

Life, what is it? We know practically, but wecannot tell in words. We know it, however, to be a mystery of differentdegrees. As all flesh is not the same flesh, so all life is not the same life.There is the life of the vegetable, the cedar of Lebanon, the hyssop on thewall. There is a considerable advance when we come to animal life—the eagle orthe ox. Animal life moves in quite a different world from that in which theplant vegetates—sensation, appetite, instinct, are things to which plants aredead, though they may possess some imitation of them, for one life mimicsanother. Animal life rises far above the experience and apprehension of theflower of the field. Then there is mental life, which we all of us possess,which introduces us into quite another realm from that which is inhabited bythe mere beast. To judge, to foresee, to imagine, to invent, to perform moralacts, are not these new functions which the ox hath not? Now, let it be clearto you, that far above mental life there is another form of life of which themere carnal man can form no more idea than the plant of the animal, or theanimal of the poet. The carnal mind knoweth not spiritual things, because ithas no spiritual capacities. As the beast cannot comprehend the pursuits of thephilosopher, so the man who is but a natural man cannot comprehend theexperience of the spiritually minded. Thus saith the Scripture: “The naturalman receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishnessunto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Buthe that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”There is in believers a life which is not to be found in other men—nobler,diviner for education cannot raise the natural man into it, neither canrefinement reach it; for at its best, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,”and to all must the humbling truth be spoken, “Ye must be born again.”

It is to be remarked concerning our life in Christ, thatit is the removal of the penalty which fell upon our race for Adam’s sin. “Inthe day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” was the Lord’sthreatening to our first parent, who was the representative of the race. He dideat of the fruit, and since God is true, and his word never fails, we may besure of this, that in that selfsame day Adam died. It is true that he did notcease to exist, but that is quite another thing from dying. The threatening wasnot that he should ultimately die, but “In the day thou eatest thereof thoushalt surely die;” and it is beyond all doubt that the Lord kept his word tothe letter. If the first threatening was not carried out we might take libertyto trifle with all others. Rest assured, then, that the threat was on the spotfulfilled. The spiritual life departed from Adam; he was no longer at one withGod, no more able to live and breathe in the same sphere as the Lord. He fellfrom his first estate; he had need if he should enter into spiritual life to beborn again, even as you and I must be. As he hides himself from his Maker, andutters vain excuses before his God, you see that he is dead to the life of God,dead in trespasses and sins. We also, being heirs of wrath even as others, arethrough the fall dead, dead in trespasses and sins; and if ever we are topossess spiritual life, it must be said of us, “And you hath he quickened.” Wemust be as “those that are alive from the dead.” The world is the valley of drybones, and grace raises the chosen into newness of life. The fall broughtuniversal death, in the deep spiritual sense of that word, over all mankind;and Jesus delivers us from the consequences of the fall by implanting in us aspiritual life. By no other means can this death be removed: “He that believethon the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall notsee life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” The work of regeneration, inwhich the new life is implanted, effectually restores the ruin of the fall, forwe are born again, “not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the wordof God which liveth and abideth for ever.”

But you remind me that still sin remains in usafter we have received the divine life. I know it does, and it is called “thebody of this death;” and this it is which rages within, between the power ofthe death in the first Adam, and the power of the life in the second Adam; butthe heavenly life will ultimately overcome the deadly energy of sin. Even todayour inner life groans after deliverance, but with its groan of “O wretched manthat I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” it mingles thethankful song, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Thislife is of a purely spiritual kind. We find analogies and resemblances of it inthe common mental life, but they are only analogies, the spiritual life is farand high above the carnal life, and altogether out of sight of the fleshlymind. Scarce are there words in which it can be described. To know this lifeyou must have it; it must pulsate within your own bosom, for no explanations ofothers can tell you what this life is; it is one of the secrets of the Lord. Itwould not be possible for us with the greatest skill to communicate to a horseany conception of what imagination is; neither could we by the most diligentuse of words, communicate to carnal minds what it is to be joined unto the Lordso as to be one spirit. One thing we know of it, namely, that the spirituallife is intimately connected with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in thesoul. When he comes we are “born again from above,” “born of the Spirit.” Whilehe works in us mightily our life is active and powerful if he withdraws hisactive operations our new life becomes faint and sickly. Christ is our life,but he works in us through his Holy Spirit, who dwelleth in us evermore.

Further,we know that this life very much consists in union with God. “For to becarnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the lawof God, neither again can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot pleaseGod.” Death as to the body consists in the body being separated from the soul;the death of the soul lies mainly in the soul’s being separated form its God.For the soul to be in union with God is the soul’s highest life; in hispresence it unfolds itself like an opening flower; away from him it pines, andloses all its beauty and excellence, till it is as a thing  destroyed. Let the soul obey God, let it beholy, pure, gracious, then is it happy, an truly living; but a soul saunteredfrom God is a soul blasted, killed, destroyed; it exists in a dreadful death;all its true peace, dignity, and glory, are gone; it is a hideous ruin, themere corpse of manhood. The new life brings us near to God, makes us think ofhim, makes us love him, and ultimately makes us like him. My brethren, it is inproportion as you get near to God that you enter into the full enjoyment oflife—that life which Jesus Christ gives you, and which Jesus Christ preservesin you. “In his favour is life” (Ps 30:5). “The fear of the Lord is a fountainof life” (Prov 14:27). Toturn to God is “repentance unto life.” To forget God is for a man to be “deadwhilst he liveth.” To believe the witness of God is to possess the faith whichovercometh the world. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness inhimself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believethnot the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hathgiven to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Sonhath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

This life within the soul bears fruit on earth inrighteousness and true holiness. It blooms with sweetest of flowers offellowship with God below, and it is made perfect in the presence of God inheaven. The life of glorified spirits above is but the life of justified menhere below; it is the same life, only it is delivered from encumbrances, andhas come to the fullness of its strength. The life of heaven is in everybeliever even now. The moment a sinner believes in Jesus he receives from Godthat selfsame life which shall look down serenely upon the conflagration ofearth, and the passing away of those lower skies. Blessed is that man who hatheverlasting life, who is made a partaker of the divine nature, who is bornagain from above, who is born of God by a seed which remaineth in him, for heis the man upon whom the second death hath no power, who shall enjoy lifeeternal when the wicked go away into everlasting punishment.

Thus much concerning this life. We have now to ask eachof you whether you have received it. Have you been born, not of blood, nor ofthe will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God? Was there a timewith you when you passed from death unto life, or are you abiding in death?Have you the witness in yourself that you have been operated upon by a divinelyspiritual power? Is there something in you which was not once there, not afaculty developed by education, but a life implanted by God himself? Do youfeel an inward craving unknown to carnal minds, a longing desire which thisworld could neither excite nor gratify? Is there a strange sighing for a landas yet unseen, of which it is a native, and for which it yearns? Do you walkamong the sons of men as a being of another race, not of the world, even asChrist was not of the world? Can you say, with the favoured apostle, “We knowthat the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we mayknow him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son JesusChrist. This is the true God, and eternal life.” Oh! then, thank God for this,and thank God yet more that you have an infallible guarantee for this, andthank God yet more that you have an infallible guarantee that your life shallbe continued and perfected, for so saith the text, “Because I live, ye shalllive also.”

2. Life Preserved

“BecauseI life, ye shall live also.” There stands the promise, Ye shall live also. This heavenly life of yours which ye havereceived shall be preserved to you.

Thetext secures that the death-penalty of the law shall never fall upon believers.The quickened man shall never fall back into the old death from which he hasescaped; He shall not be numbered with the dead, and condemned either in thislife or the next. Never shall the spiritually living become dead again in sin.As Jesus being raised form the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominionover him; even so sin shall not have dominion over us again. Once, through theoffence of one, death reigned in us; but now having received abundance of graceand of the gift of righteousness, we shall reign in life by one, Christ Jesus(Rom 5:17). “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by thedeath of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life”(Rom 5:10).

We areunited to Christ this day by bands of spiritual life which neither thingspresent nor things to come can separate. Our union to Jesus is eternal. It maybe assailed; but it shall never be destroyed. The old body of this death mayfor awhile prevail, and like Herod it may seek the young child’s life, but itcannot die. Who shall condemn to death that which is not under the law? Whoshall slay that which abides under the shadow of the Almighty? Even as sinreigned unto death, even so must grace reign unto eternal life, by Jesus Christour Lord.

Noticecarefully the continuance insistedupon in this verse. Continuance is indeed the main element of this promise—“Yeshall live.” It means certainly that during our abode in this body we shalllive. We shall not be again reduced to our death-state during our sojourn here.Ten thousand attempts will be made to bring us under dominion to the law of sinand death, but this one word baffles all. Your soul may be so assailed that itshall seem as if you could not keep your hold on Christ, but Christ shall keephis hold on you. The incorruptible seed may be crushed, bruised, buried, butthe life within it shall not be extinguished, it shall yet arise. “Ye shalllive.” When ye see all around you ten thousand elements of death, think yebelievers, how grand is this word, “Ye shall live.” No falling from grace foryou, no being cast out of the covenant, no being driven from the Father’s houseand left to perish. “Ye shall live.”

Nor is this all, for when the natural death comes,which indeed to us is no longer death, our inner life shall suffer no hurtwhatsoever; it will not even be suspended for a moment. It is not a thing whichcan be touched by death. The shafts of the last enemy can have no more effectupon the spiritual, than a javelin upon a cloud. Even in the very crisis, whenthe soul is separated from the body, no damage shall be done to the spiritualnature. And in the awful future, when the judgment comes, when the thrones areset, and the multitudes are gathered, and to the right the righteous, and tothe left the wicked, let what may of terror and of horror come frothy, thebegotten of God shall live. Onward through eternity, whatever may be the changeswhich yet are to be disclosed, nothing shall affect our God-given life. Likethe life of God himself—eternal, and ever-blessed, it shall continue. Shouldall things else be swept away, the righteous must live on; I mean not merelythat they shall exist, but they shall live in all the fullness of thatfar-reaching, much-comprehending word “life.” Bearing the nature of God as faras the creature can participate in it, the begotten from the dead shall provethe sureness of the promise, “Ye shall live.”

Let mefurther call to your notice that the fact here stated is universal, in application to all spiritual life. The promise is,“Ye shall live,” that is to say, every child of God shall live. Every one whosees Christ, as the world sees him not, is living and shall live. I canunderstand such a promised given to eminent saints who live near to God, but mysoul would prostrate herself before the throne in reverent loving wonder whenshe hears this word spoken to the very least and meanest of the saints, “Ye shalllive.” Thou art not exempted, thou whose faith is but as a smoking flax, thoushalt live. The Lord bestows security upon the least of his people as well asupon the greatest. It is plain that the reason given for the preservation ofthe new life is as applicable to one saint as another. If it had been said,“Because your faith is strong, ye shall live” then weak faith would haveperished; but when it is written, “Because I live,” the argument is as powerfulin the one case as in the other. Take it home to thyself, my brother, howeverheavy thy heart, or dim thy bone, Jesus lives, and you shall live.

Noteyet again that this text is exceeding broad. Mark its breadth and see how it meets everything to the contrary, andoverturns all the hopes of the adversary. “Ye shall live.” Then the inbredcorruption which rides within us shall not stifle the new creature. Chained asthe spirit seems to be to the loathsome and corrupt body of this death, itshall live in spite of its hideous companionship. Though besetting sins may beas arrows, and fleshly lusts like drawn swords, yet grace shall not be slain.

Neither the fever of hasty passion, nor the palsyof timorousness, nor the leprosy of covetousness, nor any other disease of sin,shall so break forth in the old nature as to destroy the new. Nor shall outwardcircumstances overthrow the inner life. “For he shall give his angels chargeover thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” They shall bear thee up in theirhands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. If providence should cast youinto a godless family, where you dwell as in a sepulcher, and the air youbreathe is laden with the miasma of death, yet shall you live. Evil exampleshall not poison your spirit, you shall drink this deadly thing and it shallnot hurt you, you shall be kept from giving way to evil. You shall not bedecoyed by fair temptation, you shall not be cowed by fierce persecution:mightier is he that is in you than he which is in the world. Satan will attackyou, and his weapons are deadly, but you shall foil him at all points. To youis it given to tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragonshall you trample under foot. If God should allow you for awhile to be sorelytried, as he did his servant Job, and if the devil should have all the world tohelp him in his attempt to destroy your spiritual life, yet even on thedunghill of poverty, and in the wretchedness of sickness, your spirit shallstill maintain its holy life, and you shall prove it so by blessing andmagnifying God, notwithstanding all. We little dream what may be reserved forus; we may have to climb steeps of prosperity, slippery and dangerous, but weshall live; we may be called to sink into the dark waters of adversity, allGod’s waves and billows may go over us, but we shall live. We may traversepersilent swamps of error, or burning deserts of unbelief, but the divine lifeshall live amid the domains of death.

Let the future be bright or black, we need not wish toturn the page; that which we prize best, namely, our spiritual life, is hidwith Christ in God, beyond the reach of harm, and we shall live. If old ageshall be our portion, and our crown shall be delayed till we have fought a longand weary battle, yet nevertheless we shall live; or if sudden death should cutshort the time of our trial here, yet we shall have lived in the fullness ofthat word.

3.The Reason For the Security of the Spiritual Life

Thereason assigned is this, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Christ has lifeessentially as God. Christ, as man, having fulfilled his life-work, havingoffered full atonement for human sin, dieth no more, death hath no moredominion over him.

Hislife is communicated to us, and becomes the guarantee to us that we shall livealso.

Observe,first, that this is the sole reasonof the believer’s spiritual life. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Themeans by which the soul is pardoned is found in the precious blood of Jesus;the cause of its obtaining spiritual life at first is found in Christ’sfinished work; and the only reason why the Christian continues still to liveafter he is quickened, lies in Jesus Christ, who liveth and was dead and isalive for evermore. When I first come to Christ, I know I must find all in him,for I feel I have nothing of my own; but all my life long I am to acknowledgethe same absolute dependence; I am still to look for everything to him. ” I amthe vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the samebringeth forth much fruit: for without me, yet can do nothing.” the temptationis after we have looked to Jesus and found life there, to fancy that in futuretime we are to sustain ourselves in spiritual existence by some means withinourselves, or by supplies extra and apart from Christ. But it must not be so; allfor the future as well as all for the past is wrapped up in the person and thework of the Lord Jesus. Because he died, ye are pardoned; because he lives, yelive; all your life still lies in him who is the way, the truth, and the life.Does not the Christian’s life depend upon his prayerfulness? Could he be aChristian if he ceased to pray? We reply, the Christian’s spiritual healthdepends upon his prayerfulness, but that prayerfulness depends on somethingelse. The reason why the hands of the clock move may be found first in acertain wheel which operates upon them, but if you go to the primary cause ofall, you reach the main-spring, or the weight, which is the source of all themotion. Many secondary causes tend to sustain spiritual life; but the primarycause, the first and foremost, is because Jesus Christ lives. “All my freshsprings are in thee.” While Jesus lives, he sends the Spirit; the Spirit beingsent, we pray; our payer becomes the evidence of our spiritual life.

“But are not good works essentialto the maintenance of the spiritual life?” Certainly, if there be no goodworks, we have no evidence of spiritual life. In its season the tree must bringforth its fruit and its leaves; if there be no outward sign we suspect thatthere is no motion of the sap within. Still, to the tree the fruit is not thecause of life, but the result of it, and to the life of the Christian, goodworks bear the same relationship, they are its outgrowth, not its root. If thenmy spiritual life is low, what am I to look to? I am not to look to my prayers,I am not to find comfort in my works. I may from these discover how declining Iam; but if I want my life to be renovated, I must fly to the fountain of mylife, even Jesus, for there, and there only, shall I find restoration. Do letus recollect this, that we are not saved because of anything that we are, oranything that we do; and that we do not remain saved because of anything we areor can be. A man is saved because Christ died for him he continues saved becauseChrist lives for him. The sole reason why the spiritual life abides is becauseJesus lives. This is to get upon a rock, above the fogs which cover all thingsdown below. If my life rests on something within me, then today I live, andtomorrow I die; but if my spiritual life rests in Christ, then in my darkestday, and when sin has most raged against my spirit- still I live in theever-living One, whose life never changes.

Secondly,it is a sufficient cause for my life.“Because I live, ye shall live also.” It must be enough to make believers livethat Christ lives; for first, Christ’s life is a proof that his work hasaccomplished the absolution of his people from their sins.

Hewould have been in the tomb to this hour had he not made a complete satisfactionfor their sins, but his rising again from the dead is the testimony of God thathe has accepted the atonement of his dear Son; his resurrection is our fullacquittal. Then if the living Christ be our acquittal, how can God condemn usto die for sins which he has by the fact of Christ’s resurrection declared tobe for ever blotted out? If Jesus lives, how can we die? Shall there be twodeaths for one sin, the death of Christ and the death of those for whom hedied? God forbid that there should be any such injustice with the Most High.The very fact that Jesus lives, proves that our sin has been atoned for, thatwe are absolved, and therefore cannot die.

Jesus is the representative of those for whom he is thefederal head. Shall the representative live, and yet those represented die? Howshall the living represent the dead? But in his life I see my own life, for asLevi was in the loins of Abraham, so is every saint in the loins of Christ, andthe life of Christ is representatively the life of all his people.

Moreover,he is the surety for his people, under bonds and pledges to bring his redeemedsafely home. His own declaration is, “I give unto my sheep eternal life, andthey shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hands.” Will hebreak his covenant bonds? Shall his suretyship be cast to the winds? It cannotbe. The fact that if any of his people for whom he died, to whom he has givenspiritual life, should after all die, Christ would be disappointed of hisintent, which supposition involves the grossest blasphemy. What so many shallhe have for his reward? The purchase-price shall not be given in vain; aredemption so marvelous as that which he has presented upon the tree, shallnever in any degree become a failure. His life, which proves his labour to beover, guarantees to people. Know ye not, my brethren, that if one of those towhom Christ has given spiritual life should after all fall from it and die, itwould argue either that he had a want of power to keep them, or a want of willto do so. Shall we conceive him to be devoid of power? Then how is he mightyGod? Is he devoid of will to keep his people- is that conceivable? Cast out thetraitorous thought! He must be as willing as he is able, and as able as he iswilling. While he was in this world, he kept his people; having loved his own,he loved them to the end; he is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,” hewill not suffer one of these little ones to perish.

Recollect, and this perhapswill cheer you most of all, that all who have spiritual life are one withChrist Jesus. Jesus is the head of the mystical body, they are the members.Suppose one of the members of the mystical body of Christ should die, then fromthat moment, with reverence be it spoken, Christ is not a complete Christ. Whatwere the head without the body? A most ghastly sight. What were the head withonly a part of the members? Certainly not perfect. There must be every memberpresent to make a complete body. Therefore we gather that you, brother, thoughyou think yourself the meanest part of the body, are nevertheless, essential toits perfection; and you, sister, though you fancy yourself to be one of theuncomely portions of the body, yet you must be there, or else the body cannotbe perfect, and Christ cannot be a complete Christ. From him, the head, thelife streams into all the members and while that head lives as a perfect headof a perfect body, all members must live also. As we have often said, as longas a man’s head is above water you cannot drown his limbs; as long as our headis above the reach of spiritual death we also are the same-no weapons can hurt,no poison can destroy, not all hell’s fires could burn, nor all earth’s floodscould drown, the spiritual life within us: it must be safe because it is indissolublyone with Jesus Christ the Lord. What comfort, then, lies in this, the sole butsufficient reason for the eternal maintenance of the new-born life within us,is this, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”

And be it remembered, that this reason is an abiding reason—“Because I live, ye shalllive also”—a reason which has as much force at one time as another. From causesvariable the effects are variable; but remaining causes produce permanenteffects. Now Jesus always lives. Yesterday, dear brother you were exalted infellowship with him, and stood upon the mountain top; then your heart was glad,and your spirit rejoiced, and you could say, “I live in Christ.” Today darknesshas intervened, you do not feel the motions of the inner life as you did yesterday,but do not therefore conclude that the life is not there. What is to be yoursign; what is to be the rainbow of the covenant to you? Why, that Jesus lives.Do you doubt that he lives? You dare not. You trust him, doubt not then thatyou live, for your life is as sure as his. Believe also that you shall live,for that also is as sure as the fact that he lives. God gave to Noah, a tokenthat he would not destroy the earth-it was the rainbow: but then the rainbow isnot often seen; there are peculiar circumstances before the bow is placed inthe cloud. You, brother, you have a token of God’s covenant given you in thetext which can always be seen, neither sun nor shower are needful to itsappearance. The living Christ is the token that you live too. God gave to Davidthe token of the sun and the moon; he said if the ordinances of day and nightshould be changed, then would he cast off the seed of David. But there aretimes when neither sun nor moon appear, but your token is plain when these arehidden. Christ at all times lives. When you are lowest, when you cannot pray,when you can hardly groan, when you do not seem to have spiritual life enougheven to heave a desire, still if you cling to Jesus this life is as surely inyou as there is life in Christ himself at the right hand of the Father.

Andlastly, it is a most instructive cause.It instructs us in many ways: let us hint at three. It instructs us to admirethe condescension of Christ. Look at the two pronouns, “ye” and “I”; shall theyever come into contact? yes, here they stand in close connection with eachother. “I”—the I AM the Infinite; “ye” the creatures of an hour; yet I, theInfinite, come into union with you, the finite; I the Eternal, take up you thefleeting, and I make you live because I live. What? Is there such a bondbetween me and Christ? Is there such a link between his life and mine? Blessedbe his name! Adored be his infinite condescension!

Itdemands of us next abundance of gratitude. Apart from Christ we are dead intrespasses and sins; look at the depth of our degradation! But in Christ welive, live with his own life. Look at the height of our exaltation, and let ourthankfulness be proportioned to this infinity of mercy. Measure if you can fromthe lowest hell to the highest heaven, and so great let your thankfulness be tohim who has lifted you from death to life.

Letthe last lesson be to see the all-importance of close communion with Jesus.Union with Christ makes you live; keep up your enjoyment of that union, thatyou may clearly perceive and enjoy your life. Begin this year with the prayer,“Nearer to thee, my Lord, nearer to thee.” Think much of the spiritual life andless of this poor carnal life, which will soon be over. Go to the source oflife for an increase of spiritual life. Go to Jesus. Think of him more than youhave done, pray to him more; use his name more believingly in yoursupplications. Serve him better, and seek to grow up into his likeness in allthings. Make an advance this year. Life is a growing thing. Your life onlygrows by getting nearer to Christ; therefore, get under the beams of the Sun ofthe Righteousness. Time brings you nearer to him, you will soon be where he isin heaven; let grace bring you nearer also. You taste more of his love as freshmercies come, give him more of your love, more of your fellowship. Abide inhim, and may his word abide in you henceforth and for ever, and all shall be tohis glory. Amen. Ω