0324. 319. Except

319. Except

Law is the recognised authority or principle of any given thing. Thus the law of the mind is conscience; the law of sin is death; the law of the universe is attraction; the law of Sinai is righteousness; the law of grace is love; the law of the Gospel is faith; and the law of the Spirit is holiness. To each one of these laws there are subordinate principles. In thinking of the principles which operate in the Kingdom of grace, there are certain conditions to be fulfilled on our part, that we may know the power of them. Some of them are enunciated in Christ’s use of the word “except” in John’s Gospel.

1. The Door of the Realm of Grace. “Except a man be born from above (margin), he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (Joh_3:3). As birth admits us into the natural kingdom, so the new life ushers into the spiritual realm of grace. This life is not the product of man, nor the bestowment of the creature, nor the result of will power, but is the result of a personal faith in Him whose death brings life to all who believe in Him—Joh_1:12-13; Joh_3:14-16, Joh_3:36.

2. The Gain of Loss. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit” (Joh_12:24). Christ illustrated His own precept by losing His life in death for us, and He has gained a ransomed host in consequence. Self-extinction is the way to gain distinction. To lose one’s comfort in helping another in discomfort is to get the comfort of the Comforter; to lose one’s ease in doing the task of a feeble brother, is to gain the thanks of appreciation; to lose one’s good name in spreading Christ’s fame, is to find it embrazoned in Heaven’s fane, and to lose oneself for the sake of Christ Himself, is to find in Himself what self can never give—heart-satisfaction.

3. The Source of Blessing. “A man can receive nothing except it be given him from Heaven” (Joh_3:27). “No man can come to Me except the Father… draw him” (Joh_6:44, Joh_6:65). There is no reluctance on God’s part in giving, but He alone is the One who can give. We cannot will that He should give, any more than we can make the sun to shine; but He wills to give to all who will to receive, even as He willed in saying, “Let there be light,” and light was. The right to give is His, the right to receive is ours. The might to draw is His, the weak to be drawn are ourselves. A man might wish to lift himself to the housetops by his shoe-strings, but his will would not land him there; but a power outside of himself, like an elevator, would place him there quickly.

4. The Secret of Fruit-bearing. “As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in Me” (Joh_15:4). Fruit-bearing is the outcome of union with Christ. The vine branch is useless in itself—Joh_15:5, but it is useful to the vine when the sap flows unhindered through it. What the sap is to the branch, so the Spirit is to the believer in Christ. We cannot have the fruit of the Spirit without the Spirit of the fruit. The fruit is His production, and where He is fruit is always found—Hos_14:8. There are no fruitless branches in the True Vine. There are some who profess to be there, who are like fruitless branches.

5. The Means of Sustenance. “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you” (Joh_6:53). Spiritual participation of Christ by means of the Word through the Spirit is what is here meant, as Christ Himself says, “The words I speak unto you, they are spirit and life” (Joh_6:63). As in nature insects become like the things upon which they feed, so those who feed on Christ become like Him. The way to get the truth of the Word is to feed upon the Word of truth.

By: DR. F. E. MARSH