Believers are not to over-concern themselves with the evils of the “old man” (sin nature). Identifying what it is and “walking circumspectly” (Eph 5:15; 2Co 2:11) of it is sufficient contemplation of it and its works! The more we are shown of it evils within, the more we are to think of the sufficiency of God’s grace concerning it, and how all-encompassing and permanent His grace is!
NCGrace
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom 5:1, 2).
There is nothing so hard for our hearts as to abide in the sense of grace, to continue practically conscious that “we are not under law, but under grace” (Rom 6:15). It is by “grace” that the heart is “established” (Heb 13:9); but then there is nothing more difficult for us really to comprehend than the fullness of grace—that “grace of God wherein we stand” (Rom 5:2), and to walk in the power and consciousness of it.
It is only in the presence of our Father that we can truly know grace, and there it is our privilege to be. The moment we get away from His presence, there will always be certain workings of our own thoughts within us; and our own thoughts can never reach up to His thoughts about us, to the “grace of God.”
Even after we have “tasted that the Lord is gracious,” it is all too natural for our own thoughts to work (e.g. personal thoughts not necessarily related to God’s thoughts, which is normal in a certain degree—NC) as soon as we leave the presence of the Father; and the moment we do so, whether it be about our sins, or about His grace, or anything else that we are occupied with, we lose the sense of grace, and we no longer reckon upon it.
This getting out of our Father’s presence (when it’s more natural earthly thoughts than heavenly—NC) is the source of our weakness as saints, for in His strength we can do anything: “if God be for us, who could be against us?” The consciousness of our being in His presence (1Pe 3:12) makes us “more than conquerors.” Then, whether our thoughts be about ourselves, or about circumstances around us, everything becomes easy. But it is alone, when in fellowship with the Father and the Son, that we are able to measure everything according to grace.
Are our thoughts about ourselves (e.g. too often—NC)? When in our Father’s presence we rest in His grace, and nothing can trouble us. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect” (Rom 8:33)? Who is he that condemneth?” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” But when we get out of our Father’s presence, we cannot any longer rest in His grace as when in fellowship with Him.
Lack of peace may be caused by either of two things; my never having been fully brought to trust in grace, or my having through carelessness (or worse) lost the sense of grace, which is easily done. The grace of God is so unlimited, so full, so perfect, that if we get out of our Father’s presence, we cannot have the true consciousness of grace—we have no strength to apprehend it; and if we attempt to know it out of His presence, we shall only turn it into licentiousness.
If we look at the simple fact of what grace is, it has no limit, no bounds. Be what we may (and we cannot be worse than we are), in spite of all that, what our Father is towards us is love. Neither our joy nor our peace is dependent on what we are to God, but on what He is to us, and this is grace.
Grace supposes all the sin and evil that is in us (though we’re not in them – Rom 8:9—NC), and is the blessed revelation that through our Lord Jesus all this sin and evil have been put away. A single sin is more horrible to God than all the sins in the world are to us; and yet, with the fullest consciousness of what we are in ourselves, all that God is pleased to be towards us is love!
It is vain to look at any extent of evil: a person may be (speaking after the manner of man) a great sinner or a litter sinner; but this is not the question at all: grace has reference to what God is, and not to what we are, except indeed that the very greatness of our sins does but magnify the extent of the grace of our Father (Rom 5:20; 1Jo 3:20). At the same time, we must remember that the object and necessary effect of grace is to bring our souls to know Him and to love Him. Therefore the knowledge of grace is the true source of growth.
How am I to know what my Father’s mind is towards me? Is it from judging of it from what I find in myself? Surely not! Supposing that I even found some good in myself, if I expected the Father to look at me on that account, would that be grace? There may be a measure of truth in this kind of reasoning; for, if there be life in my soul, fruit will be apparent; but this is not to give me peace any more than the evil that is in me is to hinder my having peace.
I have got off the ground of grace if I have the slightest doubt or hesitation about my Father’s love for me. I shall then be saying, I am happy, because I am not what I should like to be. But, dear friend, this is not the question: the real question is, whether the Father is what we should like Him to be, whether the Lord Jesus is all we could ever wish.
If the consciousness of what we are, of what we find in ourselves has any other effect than, while it humbles us, to increase our adoration of what our Father is, we are off the ground of grace. The immediate effect of such consciousness should be to make our hearts reach out to our Father (concerning what He is to us—NC) and to His grace as abounding over all (2Co 12:9).
Sometimes perhaps the looking at our evil may be a partial instrument in teaching us His grace; but still even this is not all that is needed. In looking upon the risen Lord Jesus it is our privilege to forget ourselves. True humility does not so much consist in thinking badly of ourselves as in not thinking of ourselves at all. I am too bad (in my condition—NC) to be worth thinking about. What I want is to forget about myself and look at the Lord Jesus Christ who is indeed worthy of all my thoughts.
If we can say that “in me, that is, in my flesh (old man, sin nature—NC) dwelleth no good thing,” we have thought quite long enough about ourselves. Let us then think about our Father, who thought about us with “thoughts of good and not of evil” (Jer 29:11) long before we have thought of ourselves at all. Let us see what His thoughts of grace about us are, and take up the words of faith, “If God be for us, who can be (come successfully—NC) against us?”
When the heart is made full with the rich blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will not turn back to gnaw on itself.
—J N Darby (1800-1882)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for Feb 25
“If we look to other Christians as examples to follow, we will soon be discouraged by the prevailing low standard. If we look to Christ as our example, we will be utterly discouraged because of His infinitely high standard. Hence it is essential that we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is our life; He is not a legal example to emulate, but the source of life from which we grow.” -MJS
“It is not in any conventional standard of frames and feelings that the disciple is to find the measure of attainment required of him. It is not by any painful reproducing of another’s spiritual history that he is to acquire the true comfort of spirit which he longs for. Outward imitation, though it be of the perfect Example Himself, has little place in the order of spiritual growth—little place because little possibility. ‘Without Me ye can do nothing.’ To abide in Christ is the only secret of Christlikeness; for only thus is obtained the likeness of unity, which is perfect and enduring, instead of the likeness of conformity, which is only partial and transient.” - Alfred John Gardiner (1884-1976)
There is nothing so hard for our hearts as to abide in the sense of grace, to continue practically conscious that “we are not under law, but under grace” (Rom 6:15). It is by “grace” that the heart is “established” (Heb 13:9); but then there is nothing more difficult for us really to comprehend than the fullness of grace—that “grace of God wherein we stand” (Rom 5:2), and to walk in the power and consciousness of it.
It is only in the presence of our Father that we can truly know grace, and there it is our privilege to be. The moment we get away from His presence, there will always be certain workings of our own thoughts within us; and our own thoughts can never reach up to His thoughts about us, to the “grace of God.”
Even after we have “tasted that the Lord is gracious,” it is all too natural for our own thoughts to work (e.g. personal thoughts not necessarily related to God’s thoughts, which is normal in a certain degree—NC) as soon as we leave the presence of the Father; and the moment we do so, whether it be about our sins, or about His grace, or anything else that we are occupied with, we lose the sense of grace, and we no longer reckon upon it.
This getting out of our Father’s presence (when it’s more natural earthly thoughts than heavenly—NC) is the source of our weakness as saints, for in His strength we can do anything: “if God be for us, who could be against us?” The consciousness of our being in His presence (1Pe 3:12) makes us “more than conquerors.” Then, whether our thoughts be about ourselves, or about circumstances around us, everything becomes easy. But it is alone, when in fellowship with the Father and the Son, that we are able to measure everything according to grace.
Are our thoughts about ourselves (e.g. too often—NC)? When in our Father’s presence we rest in His grace, and nothing can trouble us. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect” (Rom 8:33)? Who is he that condemneth?” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” But when we get out of our Father’s presence, we cannot any longer rest in His grace as when in fellowship with Him.
Lack of peace may be caused by either of two things; my never having been fully brought to trust in grace, or my having through carelessness (or worse) lost the sense of grace, which is easily done. The grace of God is so unlimited, so full, so perfect, that if we get out of our Father’s presence, we cannot have the true consciousness of grace—we have no strength to apprehend it; and if we attempt to know it out of His presence, we shall only turn it into licentiousness.
If we look at the simple fact of what grace is, it has no limit, no bounds. Be what we may (and we cannot be worse than we are), in spite of all that, what our Father is towards us is love. Neither our joy nor our peace is dependent on what we are to God, but on what He is to us, and this is grace.
Grace supposes all the sin and evil that is in us (though we’re not in them – Rom 8:9—NC), and is the blessed revelation that through our Lord Jesus all this sin and evil have been put away. A single sin is more horrible to God than all the sins in the world are to us; and yet, with the fullest consciousness of what we are in ourselves, all that God is pleased to be towards us is love!
It is vain to look at any extent of evil: a person may be (speaking after the manner of man) a great sinner or a litter sinner; but this is not the question at all: grace has reference to what God is, and not to what we are, except indeed that the very greatness of our sins does but magnify the extent of the grace of our Father (Rom 5:20; 1Jo 3:20). At the same time, we must remember that the object and necessary effect of grace is to bring our souls to know Him and to love Him. Therefore the knowledge of grace is the true source of growth.
How am I to know what my Father’s mind is towards me? Is it from judging of it from what I find in myself? Surely not! Supposing that I even found some good in myself, if I expected the Father to look at me on that account, would that be grace? There may be a measure of truth in this kind of reasoning; for, if there be life in my soul, fruit will be apparent; but this is not to give me peace any more than the evil that is in me is to hinder my having peace.
I have got off the ground of grace if I have the slightest doubt or hesitation about my Father’s love for me. I shall then be saying, I am happy, because I am not what I should like to be. But, dear friend, this is not the question: the real question is, whether the Father is what we should like Him to be, whether the Lord Jesus is all we could ever wish.
If the consciousness of what we are, of what we find in ourselves has any other effect than, while it humbles us, to increase our adoration of what our Father is, we are off the ground of grace. The immediate effect of such consciousness should be to make our hearts reach out to our Father (concerning what He is to us—NC) and to His grace as abounding over all (2Co 12:9).
Sometimes perhaps the looking at our evil may be a partial instrument in teaching us His grace; but still even this is not all that is needed. In looking upon the risen Lord Jesus it is our privilege to forget ourselves. True humility does not so much consist in thinking badly of ourselves as in not thinking of ourselves at all. I am too bad (in my condition—NC) to be worth thinking about. What I want is to forget about myself and look at the Lord Jesus Christ who is indeed worthy of all my thoughts.
If we can say that “in me, that is, in my flesh (old man, sin nature—NC) dwelleth no good thing,” we have thought quite long enough about ourselves. Let us then think about our Father, who thought about us with “thoughts of good and not of evil” (Jer 29:11) long before we have thought of ourselves at all. Let us see what His thoughts of grace about us are, and take up the words of faith, “If God be for us, who can be (come successfully—NC) against us?”
When the heart is made full with the rich blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ, it will not turn back to gnaw on itself.
—J N Darby (1800-1882)
MJS daily devotional excerpt for Feb 25
“If we look to other Christians as examples to follow, we will soon be discouraged by the prevailing low standard. If we look to Christ as our example, we will be utterly discouraged because of His infinitely high standard. Hence it is essential that we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is our life; He is not a legal example to emulate, but the source of life from which we grow.” -MJS
“It is not in any conventional standard of frames and feelings that the disciple is to find the measure of attainment required of him. It is not by any painful reproducing of another’s spiritual history that he is to acquire the true comfort of spirit which he longs for. Outward imitation, though it be of the perfect Example Himself, has little place in the order of spiritual growth—little place because little possibility. ‘Without Me ye can do nothing.’ To abide in Christ is the only secret of Christlikeness; for only thus is obtained the likeness of unity, which is perfect and enduring, instead of the likeness of conformity, which is only partial and transient.” - Alfred John Gardiner (1884-1976)
Last edited: