If you turn to Isaiah and chapter
30, we read from verse 18 the following, Isaiah 30 verse 18. And therefore will the Lord wait
that He may be gracious unto you. And therefore will He be
exalted that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God
of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for Him. For the people shall dwell in
Zion at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no more. He will
be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry. When he
shall hear it, he will answer thee. And though the Lord give
you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet
shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more. But thine
eyes shall see thy teachers. And thine ears shall hear a word
behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when
ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. The
people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no
more. He will be very gracious unto
thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he will
answer thee. and thine ears shall hear a word
behind thee saying this is the way, walk ye in it when ye turn
to the right hand and when ye turn to the left. This is the
way, walk ye in it. There is a way that the Lord
brings his people to walk on his children. He does not leave
them alone. He does not point them on a way
and leave them to progress on their own. But as a father leads
his children, and as a shepherd guides his sheep, he walks amongst
them. He is in the midst of them. And
as they journey, should they turn to the left or to the right,
he will say unto them, this is the way. Walk ye in it. He won't allow his children to
go wrong. When they stumble to the left
and when they stumble to the right, he'll pick them up and
put them back upon the path and guide them. He is with them. He is a father to his children.
He cares for them. He is a shepherd to the sheep.
He will lead them. He is gracious to those who by
nature deserve nothing but his judgment. He has delivered his
people. He has set them free. He sent
his son as a sacrifice for their sins. His wrath burned from heaven
against all that they had done. He was angry with the wicked.
But he had this people and he sent his son and he said, I will
slay my son instead of them. And he took his son before their
gaze as the priest took the lamb before all the people of Israel,
he took his son before the gaze of his people and he took his
sword and he slew his son and he shed his blood and he judged
their sins in him and he took that blood and he took it in
to the holy of holies and sprinkled it upon the mercy seats and made
atonement for his people. And the people looked on by faith
and knew that all was well. They knew their sins had been
washed away. They knew the wrath of God had
been appeased. They knew that he had been propitiated. They knew they were forgiven
and they looked on in wonder. And we today Children of God,
by faith have been brought by the Spirit of God to look on
to that place of sacrifice, to look on to God taking his own
Son and slaying him in our place and shedding his blood and sprinkling
it and we know by grace the love of God even for us. We know that our sins have been
forgiven. We know the blood has covered
them. And we know that our Great High
Priest has walked into the very presence of God the Father, unto
the mercy seat, and sprinkled His blood for us. If we're His,
we know. Do you know? Did He go that way
into that place for you? Did Christ come into this world
and walk to the cross and offer Himself for you? Was His blood
shed for you? Did He go as the Great High Priest
taking His own blood into the Holy of Holies, into the presence
of His Father and sprinkle His blood for you? Have your sins
been forgiven? Has faith taken you to the way,
the one way to come into the presence of God? This is the
way. Walk ye in it. Should you be
tempted to turn to the left hand or to the right hand, to some
other way to come in before God except through the blood of Jesus
Christ, except through the cross, except through the death of Christ,
should you be tempted to go some other way? If you're his, you
will hear a voice behind you saying this is the way. Walk in it. This is the way,
walk ye in it. My son is the way. I am the way,
the truth and the life, Christ said. If any man shall come to
the Father, he shall come by me, I am the way. My cross is
the way. My death is the way. My blood
is the way. My righteousness is the way.
My love for my people is the way. There's no other way. This
is the way. Walk in Christ. Walk in the Spirit. In Galatians, which we read from,
Paul speaks of the walk of the believer. He makes it very plain
that their walk is a walk of grace and not law. It's a walk
in the spirit, not in the flesh. It's a pathway led of God, not
of man. Every step we take is ordered
by God. Every step we take is a step
of grace, of mercy. Therefore will the Lord wait
that he may be gracious unto you. And therefore will he be
exalted that he may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God
of judgment. And blessed are all they that
wait for him. This is the way. Walk ye in it. God is a God of judgment and
a God of grace. A God of righteousness and a
God of mercy. And he will not show his grace
or his mercy unto you except he judge your sin. And he judged the sins of his people
at the cross. So there's no path or faith There
is no walk of grace. There is no way to mercy except
by the cross. It is a walk in the spirit. It
is a walk to that place where the flesh was judged and crucified. It is a walk to that place where
the law was satisfied and done away with. that it is a walk
continually in grace. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, Paul says, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage, because he's taken the law, he's
taken the judgment of the law against you, and he's poured
it out upon Christ, and Christ has set you free. at the cross,
at the place of judgement, at the place where his blood was
shed, that he may take that blood to the mercy seat and show you
his grace. This I say then, he says, walk
in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under
the law. Because the Father has taken
that law, and poured out his judgment upon Christ, and delivered
you in Christ, and he leads you now by grace. What are you going
to add to what Christ has done when he's done it all? What more
will the law say to you when it's already poured out its full
judgment upon Christ? Come the Spirit says. Come and
see. Come and behold what God has
done for his people. Come and see the Saviour. crucified
for sinners. If you be led of the Spirit you
are not under the law. Walk in the Spirit. How do we
walk in the Spirit? What is this way in which we
walk? This is the way walking in it. What way? Let's consider this
way. in seven aspects. Firstly as
I say it's a way of grace not of law. It's not a way of condemnation. The law was said not to direct
our path of how we might live. Yes it told man how he should
live but it wasn't sent that man should live by it, it was
sent with a purpose to show us that we couldn't live by it. It was sent to condemn us and
shut us up to another way of righteousness. It was a law that
demanded righteousness from man that man could not render. that
man could not keep. God never gave it as a means
by which man could walk, a means by which he could bring forth
righteousness. It was never the intent. It was
sent to show us that we have no righteousness, we have no
goodness, we have no ability to walk according to the law's
demands. That's why God gave it and the
use of the law, the purpose of the law, the fulfilling of the
law is to show us that we are condemned by it. It's to slay
us, it's to judge us, it's to bring us down. If you know anything of the work
of the law of the meaning of the law of why God gave the law
if you know anything by experience of the teaching or the guidance
or the leading of the law it is that it will bring you to
nothing. Now there are those believers
like the Galatians who have been led astray to think that having
been saved by Christ they can return to the law as though it
will lead them in the right path. But if they know anything already
of the Lord's dealings, they'll know that it just brings them
down to nothing. It destroys, it slays, it kills,
it judges. And far from directing them,
far from leading them, far from being an aid to their Christian
walk, it does the very opposite. It condemns them. As they live
underneath its rule they find sin bubbling up, they find themselves
living worse than they would have done without it, they find
everything they're striving to do they fail to do and everything
the law says they should do they don't do and they find its condemnation
upon them. Every day again it comes and
it slays and it says thou shalt not and they do, thou shalt and
they do not. It's a killing letter. It always
was and it always will be. It was sent for that purpose. It was sent to show you and I
what we are. It is a yoke of bondage. It brings its chains upon us
and ties us down. Those who were under the law,
as Israel were, found themselves chained and condemned, captive
under it, they could not escape, they could not do what it said.
And when Christ came with his gospel he came to set them free,
he came to take that law, the penalty of the law, their breaking
of the law, the judgment of the law, and take it upon himself
and pay the price that they should be delivered from it. and he
comes to these Galatians who are confused by this false teaching
that sent them back to the law for their walk as believers and
he comes unto them and he says you've been delivered already
from this law you found it was a yoke of bondage you found it
was a killing letter you found it judged you are you so foolish
you've been delivered from it why are you going back to it?
Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
You've been delivered. Then don't be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. I testify again to every man
that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you. Whosoever of you are
justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. For we through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. Walk
in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
You've been delivered from the law. The pathway of the believer
is not a pathway of condemnation. we don't live under rules and
commands which come upon us each and every day condemning us under
which we feel condemned and judged we did under the law and if you
go back to the law you will feel that way and if you take the
exhortations of the gospel and make them into a law you will
feel that way because you'll feel that you fail But we are on a journey of faith.
And our pathway is one of comfort and encouragement in the gospel. The law addressed those that
didn't want to do what it commanded. Our natural sinful nature doesn't
want to serve God. It wants to serve self. It covets
that which it can have. It seeks its own self-glory. It doesn't want to bow down to
the one true and living God. So the law comes to those who
are essentially unwilling to do what it commands. Now man
in religion might strive to do what it commands but he can't
because his natural nature, the sin within him doesn't want to.
He tries to constrain what he is, to do that which what he
is will not do. He tries to bind up the sinful
flesh of his own nature and force it to do that which it will not
do. It's a pathway of constraint, but not so the gospel, not so
grace, not so the walk in the spirit. The believer wants to
walk right. He wants to live right. He wants
to seek God. He wants to be with God. He doesn't
need a law that threatens him if he will not because he wants
to. His problem is not being told
what he should be doing when he really wants to do something
else. His problem is being led to do that which he wants to
but which he finds himself constantly failing to because of the flesh
which wars against him. He wants to walk in the Spirit.
but he finds within him a flesh, a nature, sin that wars against
the Spirit. These are contrary, the one to
the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
He wants to follow God, but his flesh doesn't want to. Then the
Gospel is not sent to condemn him and to force him. and to
tell him what he should be doing and condemn him when he doesn't
do what he should do. The gospel is sent with its exhortations
and encouragements to help him, to lead him, to comfort him.
We fail and we need to be lifted up. We will fail if we strive to
walk in our own strength. If we return to the law to guide
us. if we look to the commands and
not to Christ. But we don't fail when we walk
in the Spirit who leads us unto Christ. If ye be led of the Spirit,
ye are not under the law. Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall
not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Well, where is the Spirit leading
us? Unto Christ. And that's why we
don't Fulfill the lust of the flesh when we walk in the Spirit
because the Spirit will constantly take us to Christ and to that
place where Christ delivered us from the flesh. The life of the believer, the
life of faith, the walk of the Gospel, the exhortations of the
Gospel, the precepts of the Gospel, The epistles are not about forcing
unwilling people to do that which they don't want to, but of encouraging
the willing in the sense that they can. Of directing the willing
to that which will enable them to walk and not to be hindered. To take the gaze of the willing
to Him who is their all in all. To set their gaze constantly
upon Christ. in whom they are more than conquerors. Why do believers want to walk
in this path? This is the way walking in it.
We want to walk in it. Why do we want to walk in it?
Not for any personal gain or glory. not to perfect our own
righteousness not that we should have raw to self-righteousness
by our own strength it's not to perfect ourselves that we
walk in this way We don't view this pathway as some personal
sanctification by which we're making ourselves more holy and
suitable to go to glory. We are already sanctified in
Christ, we're already separated under Christ. We know that in
Christ he's washed away all our sin. if he took us from this
world to eternity today we'd be perfect if he kept us in this
world under grace in his pathway for a hundred years and then
took us we'd be perfect just as perfect there's no improvement
on this journey it's not about some personal
sanctification, some progress which we make, some sort of increase
in holiness, we're already completely holy in Christ, we're separated
under him. But we want to walk this way
every day of our life here because we love God, because we love
the glory of God, because we hate the sin and the flesh and
its works. simply because we want to see
the glory of God in his gospel shine forth in the darkness of
this world and we don't want to be found get it in its way. We've bowed down by faith and
seen the glory of God in Christ washing away our sins at the
cross. We're full of wonder at what
he's done for us and we're thankful And we don't want the flesh within
us from bringing up its deeds and showing us as unthankful,
from getting in the way, from being that which mars the glory
of Christ in the gospel. We don't want the world to look
on us and see our faults. We want them to see what God
has done. We want them to see the grace
of God in the gospel. We want them to hear the gospel.
We want them to know that we ourselves are nothing, but Christ
is all. So when the believer walks this
walk, as led of the Spirit, he's not preoccupied with himself,
or his own righteousness, or his own glory. He's occupied
with Christ. He receives all that Christ would
tell him in the gospel, all the exhortations, all the rebukes. He gladly receives them because
he knows they're right and he knows that the rebukes are for
his good and for the good of the church and the good of the
gospel. The rebukes are sent not to judge
us or to condemn us but for the good of the gospel, that the
gospel should not be hindered by the flesh. which wars against
the Spirit. This is a way of grace. But as
the believer knows it's also a way of warfare. It's also a way in which he knows
the warfare daily between the flesh and the Spirit. Daily he needs God. by his spirit
to take his gaze and point him unto Christ because every time
his gaze is turned away he fills the flesh warring against the
spirit that which he wants to do he does not do and that which
he does not want to do that he does they're contrary to one
to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would
Galatians 5.17 mirrors Romans 7. And not regarding some event
in the past, some initial stage which we pass through as we're
brought to Christ, but something which we feel throughout our
journey in this world. The flesh is always there and
if it's allowed any space it will fight constantly against
the spirit, it will fight to take our gaze away from Christ,
it will fight to bring us down, it will fight to bring forth
its fruit, it will fight. If Romans 7 describes some stage
which the believer passes through before reaching some plateau
of spirituality it would make a mockery of this verse which
speaks of our walk in the spirit it speaks of an ongoing situation
it speaks of an ongoing warning that if our gaze is taken away
from Christ if we do any walking in the flesh if we bring any
of our own effort or ability into our walk then we will find
that the flesh wars against the spirit and we cannot do that
which we would. We cannot. There's a constant
battle. The flesh simply won't lie down
and die. It's constantly there and we're
constantly aware of it. We're constantly aware of its
fruit. How awful are the works of the flesh. Paul lists some
of them how awful they are now the works of the flesh are manifest
which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variants, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envions, murders, drunkenness,
revelings and such like, of the which I tell you before as I
have also told you in time past that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Well have you done such
things? Yes you have. Do you do such
things? Yes you do. Believer, have you
done such things? Yes you have. Believer, Do you
do such things? Yes, you do. You're painfully
aware of this fruit of the flesh. Oh, what a mix of evil Paul brings
in here. Murders, drunkenness, revelance. Oh how we put different sins
on different levels. How we might look at upon ourselves
in our self-righteousness and say well I've never, I've never
indulged in witchcraft and I've never murdered. But have you
been drunk? Have you reveled? Have you felt
hatred for another? Have you envied what someone
else has? this cuts across us all we know
it's we know the fruit of the flesh and we feel it every day
and we hate it as believers we hate it we don't need to be warned
against it like it's something we want that we must turn against
we hate it to the natural man this sin that comes from the
flesh can be very appealing, the flesh likes it's ease, it
likes it's wealth, it likes it's pleasure but the spirit in the
believer is grieved and it's grieved when the warfare rises
up and it's grieved when we fall it's grieved when we stumble
the spirit, the new man, the believer loves the fruit of the
spirit the fruit of the spirit is love joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against
such there is no law. Oh what a difference, what a
different fruit, how the believer wants to walk in love with joy
and peace, how he wants to walk in faith. for how he fills this
warfare on a daily basis. The flesh won't go away. He won't
lie down. He is dead and yet alive. Thirdly, he's dead and yet alive. You see, we know our position
in Christ if we know Christ. We know that at the cross Christ
took the flesh he took the works of the flesh, he took the old
man Adam and he crucified him he took all the works of the
flesh for all his people for at all time and paid the price
and judged those sins he paid the judgment for those sins and
he took their old man, he took the flesh, he took the sin and
destroyed it The old man has been crucified. He's been done
away with. And as believers we know that
our position in Christ is that he is gone. The old man has been
judged completely. He's dead. And all his deeds
have been judged. Then why, if he's judged, if
he's slain, if he's gone, Why do I feel the fruit of the flesh
in my life today? Why do I feel the flesh warring
against the spirit? If he's dead why does he feel
like he's alive? If Christ has judged him why
is he still here? It is a puzzle at times. But we
walk as those who walk in time. And God lives as he who dwells
in eternity. And God sees the end from the
beginning. Whereas we journey through, halfway
through. God has taken all of our sins,
past, present and future. He's taken our lives up to our
last breath upon this earth and he's placed all that we think,
do and say upon Christ and judged it. But we in time must continue
to walk alone. By nature, all men are said to
be dead in trespasses and sins. But by nature, They all feel
like they're alive. Yet in God's eyes, the sentence
has already been passed. And as believers, our old man
has already been judged, already been crucified, but we're still
in time. And he's still bringing forth
his fruit until our last breath has been breathed. That's why
we still feel the influence. We live as believers in the light
of the cross but the cross took our lives in their entirety and
until our lives in this world have been brought to their conclusion
we will still feel the effects of the flesh which Christ took
and placed upon himself at the cross. It's because of how time
and eternity meet. When we pass from this world
into the next, we will pass into eternity. Time will be no more
for us, but until then we still have the old man in us. And yet
he was slain at the cross. Because although in time the
cross was 2,000 years ago, before we were ever born, In God's eyes
spiritually it is the meeting place of all time and eternity. It is that point at which time
and eternity meets. It is that point which we pass
through as we go from this world into the next. So though we live
in time with our lives being worked out this side of the cross,
we will when we die as it were passed through the cross as we
enter eternity and all of our deeds and all the flesh will
be crucified. We walk in the light of the cross. We walk with the knowledge that
the old man has been slain. We walk with the understanding
that God has judged him. And because of that, he is mortified. The flesh is mortified, the old
man is mortified. We walk in that knowledge, we
starve him as we walk in the spirit as we look under Christ. In verse 24 Paul says, They that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and
lusts. They that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the
Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. He does not say here
that they that are Christ have had the flesh crucified, though
that is true. The flesh has been crucified
with Christ. But they in their experience
have also crucified the flesh. They look unto the cross. Every
day they look unto the cross. They see their flesh crucified. And in so doing, He is mortified
and they rise up by faith and walk in the Spirit. If we live
in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit. We know that we
have been brought to life by God, we know we are born again,
we know we are risen from the dead, then let us so walk. You see as believers the flesh
has been crucified and we are born again and we are alive in
the Spirit. you can walk in the flesh and
you can walk in the spirit but God through his gospel leads
his people every time they turn to the left hand and to the right
every time they turn into the ditch in which the flesh would
lead them and he says this is the way walk ye in it Ye began
in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? O foolish
Galatians, who have bewitched you? Ye began in the Spirit,
then walk in the Spirit. You're alive in the Spirit, then
walk as though you live in the Spirit. Your flesh has been crucified,
then walk as though he's been crucified. Don't feed him. Starve him. They that are Christ's
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. We must treat the flesh as he
is, dead, slain and buried, with the law over him and the sentence
of the law over him having dealt its penalty out against him. We must look upon the flesh as
dead and not encourage him or feed him. Not think that we can
perfect him or improve him. Not strive to endeavour to live
a life in his strength, but constantly to look by faith unto Christ. We must treat him as dead. Don't
feed him. Don't flatter him. Don't allow
him to get the better of the new. Starve him. Mortify him. This isn't something
that just happened to the flesh, the old man at the cross. It's
something we do. We have crucified the flesh.
Sometimes people despair when they fall, when they fail, when
they stumble, when their heart grows cold. And they say, why
am I thus? Yet the answer is often not far
away. They spend all their time feeding
the old man and his desires. All their time walking in the
world. All their time reading this,
that and the other and never the scriptures. All their time
thinking about this, that and the other and never about Christ.
And they say, why am I thus? They need the gospel. We need
the gospel. We need the voice of Christ.
We need to hear that voice behind us saying, this is the way, walk
ye in it. We keep falling in the ditch
because we keep looking at this and looking at that and listening
to this one and listening to that one. And we keep striving
in our own strength and we fall. And then there comes this voice.
This is the way, walk ye in it. If ye be led of the Spirit, ye
are not under the law. Walk in the Spirit and ye shall
not fulfil the lust of the flesh. You see, so many spend all their
time feeding the old man and starving the new. They say they
believe in Jesus Christ, they say they love the Gospel, but
they never hear the Gospel. They never hear the gospel in
their churches. All they speak of is how they
live and what they should do and where they should go. All
they're keen on is getting more people into their churches. But
they never think of Christ. They never hear of Christ. They
never hear of his death. They never hear of his resurrection.
They never hear of justification by faith. They never hear of
a particular atonement. They never hear of election.
They never hear of his sovereignty. They never hear of his grace.
They never heard the gospel. So many churches so called that
profess Christ's name are full of those that are full of what
they will do and what they have done for God and how they should
be and full of people who in private are full of despair at
how cold their hearts are. and how they are not living as
they think they should be but they never heard the gospel. They watch their rubbish, they
listen to rubbish, they read rubbish, the Bible's left on
the side gathering dust, the gospel's neglected and they wonder
why their hearts are so cold. Mortify the deeds of the flesh
Paul says. But how can you? Don't think
you have any strength in yourself for this particular battle. Don't
think that you can mortify the flesh or crucify the flesh with
some strength that you have in the flesh. The flesh won't kill
itself. The flesh isn't in the business
of self-destruction. By your own will, by your own
strength, you can't do it. All you do in religion as you
try to mortify the flesh is you try to hide the deeds of the
flesh. But all is a walk of self-righteousness. All in fact feed the self-glory
of the old man. All in fact boost the flesh.
It's not a walk in the spirit. How can you? How can we crucify
the flesh? Only by grace. only when we hear
that voice of grace behind us which says this is the way walk
ye in it only when we hear on a daily basis the voice of the
spirit of God the voice of our father leading us and saying
look unto my son look upon my son who has delivered you. That's how the flesh is mortified. Look unto my Son. God often lets us fall. God often
lets us turn to the left hand and the right hand that he might
pick us up again. And he always picks us up by
the gospel. He always says this is the way
and points us by faith to Christ upon the cross. He always takes
us back to that which I spoke of at the beginning. He always
brings us back to the blood that poured forth, the sacrifice slain,
the sprinkling of that blood upon the mercy seat. He brings
us back by that gospel and says this is the way. How do you walk
in the Spirit, in the Gospel, being led to see Christ? Walk in this way. This is the
way. You may ask, how can I mortify
the flesh? How can I walk in the Spirit? How can I? How can I crucify
the flesh with the affections and lusts? Through the cross. Only at the cross. Only when
you hear the Gospel. all in Christ. You take it to
the cross. You take the flesh to the cross.
When you feel the warfare, you go to the cross. When you feel
the fruit of the flesh rise up, you go to the cross. When you
know the doubts rise up, you go to the cross. When you feel
your heart grow cold, you go to the cross. You look to where
God judged it. You look to where God judged
the old man. Only by looking by faith to Christ
in your place at the cross will you know deliverance. That is
how the flesh is mortified. Not by some strength, effort
or willpower or spiritual state which we try to work up. We cannot. It's only by faith. It's only through the cross.
It's only by the Spirit. It's only when we hear those
words behind us. This is the way. Walk ye in it. This is the way. Which way? A way of an easy yoke, fifthly. This is the way of an easy yoke. Paul says in verse 1 of chapter
5 of Galatians, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. You can be yoked to the law,
which is a yoke of bondage. or you can be yoked unto Christ. As cattle have a yoke, where
they have two beasts, two cows, two cattle, each yoked together
to pull the plough. We are yoked. We are as a cattle
that is yoked to another. And you can be yoked to the law,
and you'll find it hard to walk with the yoke of the law against
you. it provides no strength it's
like you're on your own or you can be yoked to Christ and you'll
find he's the one with all the strength he's the one that pulls
you along oh you think you're taking steps you think you're
walking but he's the one that's doing it all he's the one that
says every day this is the way Christ said take my take my yoke
it's an easy yoke This is how we walk with Christ. This is how the flesh is crucified
in the light of what Christ has done. That's the only way we
can face this warfare. Then we can walk this path. Then
we can live by faith. This is why we must be yoked
to him, that we might receive the exhortations of the gospel.
When we are, these are an easy burden. We don't fight against
them. We don't want to live in sin.
We receive all that God instructs us gladly. All the exhortations
and precepts of the gospel, we receive gladly. They take us
with Christ, yoked to Him, to the cross. All the exhortations
of the Gospel ultimately lead us to the cross where our sin
was judged and where we were delivered. Whence springs our
deliverance. And we know that all these things
are said for a reason. Not to perfect us for we're already
perfect in Christ as we've said. But to take all that hinders
and all that gets in the way of the Gospel away. To take all
that hindrance in our own lives and to take all that hindrance
in the people of God's life, to take all that hindrance in
the church out of sight that the gospel might shine forth
clearly. That we might have a clear sight
of Christ in our place, that the gospel might be preached
boldly, that nothing should be done or said in the church of
Christ which brings shame upon it. But that people might see
that Christ is all and in all. This is the way. Walk ye in it. But it's a way, as we've said,
in which we know that the old man and its fruit is still there,
the flesh is there. The struggle is always there,
there are always two men in this world. Two men, two Adams. There are two seeds in this world.
And the one always fights against the other. The natural man always
war if against the spiritual. The first Adam and his fruit
will always war against Christ and his people. In the beginning
in the garden there were two trees. Two trees which stand
as a picture throughout all time. The one tree brought forth fruit
unto death and the other tree brings forth fruit unto eternal
life. The one tree is a picture of the knowledge of good and
evil, the picture of the law and the strength of man and what
man in the flesh does in eating of that tree and trying to live
in his own strength, unto his own glory, in his own righteousness. But it's fruit which is unto
death. But the other tree is the tree
of life, Christ, in the midst of the garden, which if you eat
of you will know life forevermore. You will know the righteousness
of God. You will know peace and deliverance.
You will know freedom. Feed on the one tree and its
knowledge of good and evil. Feed on a diet of self-righteous
works and all you'll know is death. But feed on the tree of
life. and you'll know what it is to
be forgiven of all your sin, to be the righteousness of God
in Jesus Christ, to have the faith of Christ, and to reckon
the old man and all his ways dead. Of which tree are you eaten? As you feed on this tree, the
tree of life, you'll turn from the world, turn from the man
of this world, and all His ways and be brought by faith to look
up. To be brought to look up to a Saviour sat down in glory. To a Saviour in glory who has
four wounds in His hands and His feet and a fifth wound in
His side which speak and declare throughout time and eternity
of that which He has done to deliver His people from their
sins. They shout out unto the darkness of this world. They
shine forth the glory and light of God. They shout out of the
salvation that Christ has wrought. How he finished the work of how
his people in him are complete. They shout out. Are you feeding
on this tree? As God said unto you, as he led
you through that garden to that tree and said unto you, this
is the way, walk ye in it. Eat of this tree, drink of this
water, and ye shall never die, ye shall never thirst, ye shall
live forever. Has he led you unto the one and
only Saviour? Seventhly, the one Saviour. This
is the way, walk in it. There is only one way unto God. There is only one way unto salvation. The world speaks of its religions
and of many ways. There's only one way. Jesus said,
I am the way. No man cometh to the Father except
by me. There is only one man who can
reconcile between God and man. There is only one mediator between
God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ, the tree of life. The tree of
life. Walk in the Spirit. This is the
way. Walk ye in it. All the believer's
hope is in Christ and Christ alone. All his hope is in the
mercy and the grace of God, freely given in Jesus Christ. All his strength is in Christ
alone. All his peace is in Christ alone. All he glories in is Christ and
his gospel. God forbid that I should glory,
Paul says, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in
Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. How can we conquer? that which
troubles us. How can we win this warfare?
How can we be crucified to the world? How can the flesh be mortified? Through the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. This is the way. Walk ye in it. A way which leads to Christ,
a way which leads to the cross, a way which leads through that
cross to eternity, a way which leads his people into the heavenly
city, a way which leads to a tree of life, which was in the midst
of the garden, which in the beginning man did not take from, but in
the heavenly city all God's children are led unto. Of which they eat
that tree of life in the midst of the city unto Christ. Of which tree are you eating?
Where are you walking? How are you walking? Are you
walking in Christ alone? This is the way. Walk ye in it. Amen.