Combat Communication
Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:1–2.
“And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3:10.
I’ve been meditating upon the way the New Testament opens with the message of the Kingdom. It comes with John the Baptist saying, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And while it is recorded in all four gospels, the ministry of repentance which John the Baptist preached is probably little understood by us today. While he was specific about certain things that should be repented of, yet the repentance that is needed is voiced this way: “Now is the axe laid to the root of the tree.” This will lead us, of course, to understand: Of what do we repent? There probably isn’t anything more futile or more time-consuming, that takes more energy and accomplishes so little, than the constant repentance of the evidences and actions of failure. That is like going out and stripping off the leaves of the carnal tree of our flesh. The trees are well fed and they will grow the leaves back again. But now this we understand—the axe is laid to the root of the tree.
Satan seems to be engaged in the process of condemning us, or causing us to condemn ourselves. And we know that he is called, in Revelation 12:9–10, “the accuser of the brethren.” So he accuses you of all the things that are a result of a nature that you have by heredity, of a weakness that is in your flesh—something of the Adamic nature that has been carried on down through the hundreds of generations until it has reached you. And every time you find yourself caught in that nature, then you begin to repent of the acts. And in a sense that is a futile thing to do. Or, if you don’t repent of the “leaves,” at least you are condemned for them in your own mind. Consequently you never have a sense of having righteousness, because you don’t really have a sense of having the fleshly nature either. You don’t know what the new nature is going to be like or what you have of it, because there is not an awareness that God is looking on natures that are at war within us more than He is looking at the actions that we commit. This is difficult to understand.
We can condemn a man’s actions and wholly judge him to hell over a few mistakes that he might make, and yet we may overlook the fact that God was working a beautiful, wonderful new nature in him. We don’t balance the two natures at all. We don’t weigh years of God bringing forth a new nature against a few actions that we see of the old nature. Thus the actions become the basis of our condemnation. And that is all because Satan is inspiring that. Satan is always highlighting your actions. I think what we should really do is repent of the sin nature. Condemnation does not come because each day God looks down upon you and says, “You missed it here. You missed it there. You stumbled a little here. You didn’t do what you should have. You procrastinated. You withdrew a little bit.” The little things that we do become the basis by which self-condemnation begins to really take hold of us. So we condemn ourselves because of our actions when we really should know that the old nature was condemned already. It’s not that as we come to the age of accountability then suddenly we are condemned because we do this or that. When a young person begins to sin, it is because he already has a sin nature in him. And that sinful, Adamic nature is condemned already. In sin did our mothers conceive us; we were born and shapen in iniquity (Psalm 51:5, KJV). We were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Condemnation does not result from actions day by day. Condemnation already rests upon the old nature (John 3:17–18, KJV). It is there permanently (Romans 8:5–9).
And it is for this reason that we must help people not to be wiped out over every little individual incident. That’s the whole picture. Something happened when you were tired and hadn’t been looking to the Lord the way you should have, and you reacted with the old nature. Is that going to wipe out all the years of walking with God and the sacrifice and the work of the cross? God forbid. Let’s just say the ugly thing came to the surface. Thank God for it. We repent of the nature that was buried below the surface. We don’t want it buried anymore. And we will interpret actions as but the symptoms, the leaves, the superficial signs of the deep root that must be dealt with. That root we look for, and that we perpetually condemn.
For this reason we see that sin is more a nature and righteousness is more a nature—neither one of them is just actions or acts. I am not taking away from the fact that sin is committed in acts, but I am emphasizing that those acts are an expression of what is a root and a nature in the life. If we understand this, we’re going to be more free from the wipe-outs. Every time certain ones boil over (and they may be under a lot of stress, a lot of pressure, a lot of battle), they begin to condemn themselves. They shouldn’t. They should rejoice that they are so much in the battle—that they are mature enough sons of God that they are allowed to be in the battle, because God has done so much for them.
When you get wounded, bleed a little and then get up and go on. But don’t condemn yourself because of the fact that momentarily in the battle you got hit pretty hard. Being hit is not a sin, but the sin in your nature may open the door to your being hit. Don’t say, “I was hit so I’ve sinned.” No. The old nature can open you up to be hit, but being hit is not a sin.
This also has to be understood in our mind. Your actions can be an expression of righteousness, but not necessarily so. Actions can also be an expression of a religious nature or a disciplined life and still fall short of being an expression of the divine nature. The issue isn’t just what you do. The issue is the spirit and nature that prompts what you do.
And now to conclude this. Of what shall we repent? Shall we repent because of the weakness of the flesh and its inability to perform the will of God? I would say, “Yes, we repent that we have not broken out of the flesh nature into God.” But if we follow the trail of repenting for every word, every act, everything for which Satan would condemn us, then we will continually search out for actions that are wrong and try to deal with those, without realizing that all we are doing is cutting off leaves. We are not getting to the root. What is righteousness? With what shall we glorify God? Shall we glorify Him by our works? At best they will be dead works if they are not wrought in God. But if they are a result of a new nature, then they are the righteousness of God come forth. “The Kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). If we see this, then we rejoice more in what we see coming forth within us, what we are becoming, rather than in what we are doing. And what we are doing is to be identified as right or wrong based upon whether it is a living work or a dead work. If it is a dead work, it can be very religious. But if it is a living work, it is wrought by the anointing of God through our new nature. And that is the true righteousness of God. So it all comes back again to this focus: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). It doesn’t say, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and be on a real witch hunt to condemn everything that you see wrong.” You seek His Kingdom and His righteousness.
Are we going to tie apples to the tree and say, “Behold how fruitful it is”? Or do we grow them by the drawing of a life flow from God? Do we produce dead works? Or do we produce living works?
This Word on repentance is important. Many of us continually repent of the acts and the expressions of the flesh when we should repent of the basic nature of the flesh that prompts these acts and expressions in life. Do we trim the branches or do we put an axe to the root? This meditation should lead us to the difference between self-condemnation and dead works that are ineffective, and the true repentance and righteousness that brings us into the living works of God and brings the Kingdom of God forth. The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink—it isn’t in the actions—but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you do these things you’re going to be acceptable before God.
For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. Romans 14:17–18.