Tonight all the brothers and sisters who are sitting here have seen the fact of the cross. We know that when the Lord was crucified on the cross, He not only took away our sins but also crucified our person. We are familiar with the teaching of Romans 6 already. We know that when the Lord died on the cross, He not only bore our sins, but He also crucified our old man together with Him. We know that the matter of sin has been dealt with, and that we ourselves have been crucified with Him. We have paid much attention to this truth for many years. It is true that we are crucified with Christ, but why has this truth not produced an effect on us? It is true that the Lord was crucified on the cross, but why are we not yet dead? The Lord has brought me to the cross, but I am still I. I am still bound, and I am still weak. I still fail, and I am still powerless. The Bible says that I have been crucified with Christ, but why am I still so powerless? Many saved Christians continue to strive and work, hoping that they can eventually overcome. Yet victory always seems to be far away from them.
Brothers and sisters, we have to realize that it is one thing for the Lord Jesus to accomplish salvation, and it is another thing for us to receive this salvation. Preparing a meal is one thing, but eating the meal is another. It is one thing for the Lord Jesus to accomplish something for us. It is another thing for us to receive what the Lord has accomplished. Paul showed us how we should receive the Lord’s death. Romans 6 shows us that every one of us is dead. Hallelujah! Every one of us is dead! Romans 7 shows us that even though every Christian should be dead, in reality we are still alive. Since we should be dead already, why are we still alive? Romans 6 shows us the objective truth, while Romans 7 shows us the subjective experience. Romans 6 presents the fact, while Romans 7 presents the experience. Today many Christians are very familiar with Romans 6, which tells us that our old man has been crucified with Him. They know that we should no longer be slaves to sin, that we are delivered from the bondage of the law, and that we should reckon ourselves dead to sin daily. They know all this, yet nothing works for them. The teaching remains a teaching, and they are still the same. The teaching tells us that we are crucified with Christ, but we say that we are still alive. The teaching tells us that we are delivered from sin, but we say that sin is still in us. The teaching tells us that we are delivered from the bondage of the law, but we say that we are still under the law. What is the problem?
Romans 7 tells us a great fact—man does not agree with what God has done. Man is not willing to accept God’s judgment. Brothers and sisters, why did God put us on the cross? He put us on the cross because He knows that we can do nothing and that we are absolutely useless. There is no way that we can be improved, corrected, or make any headway. We are completely useless. There is no hope for us except to be crucified. I once patted the shoulder of Brother Tsong-jie Hsu and said, “Tsong-jie Hsu is utterly corrupt. He is utterly corrupt. If there were any hope in punishing him, we could still punish him. If there were any hope in putting him in jail, we could put him in jail. But it is useless to punish him or to put him in jail. There is no hope in him. The only thing to do with him is to execute him. Tsong-jie Hsu is utterly corrupt. There is no hope in him. The only way is to crucify him.” You and I are as corrupt as Tsong-jie Hsu. Consequently, we deserve only to be crucified on the cross.
The cross is nothing other than an appraisal of ourselves! The cross appraises us and determines that we deserve only to die. God’s appraisal is that we deserve only to die. God’s evaluation of me is that I must die. If we realize that the cross is our appraisal report, if we know that we are absolutely useless, and if we know that we are not even capable of having right thoughts, we will agree that we deserve only to die. God says that we deserve only to die and that we are absolutely useless. But do we still want to produce some good of our own?
Recently the Chinese government announced a new law on the prohibition of opium. Anyone who goes through compulsory treatment and still takes opium will be executed. Suppose a person has been taking opium for a long time. He has gone through compulsory treatment but is back on opium again. When the government finds out about it, he will be put to death. What do you think the person will do? Since he is going to be executed, will he try to find a doctor from Shanghai to give him a few injections to stop his addiction, even though he is scheduled to die tomorrow? It would be meaningless for him to do this. A criminal that has been sentenced to death no longer thinks of improvement. He has no further need of progress. All he is waiting for is death. God says that we deserve only to die and that there is no way to improve or correct us. We cannot make any further headway. God’s final ruling is that we should die; we deserve only to die.
We think that before we were saved, we could not improve, correct, or make any headway in ourselves and that we should let go of our past. But now that we are saved, we think that we should try to improve, correct, and make some progress in ourselves in order to please God. Consequently, after we are saved, we make up our mind to be good. Brothers and sisters, how many times have we made up our mind to be good? How many times have we succeeded in becoming good? We have made many spiritual promises to God. We have told Him that we will obey this and that word of His. We have promised that we will get up early in the morning and that we will be zealous the next day. In spite of all our promises, however, how much have we achieved? One Western sister said that she had promised God more than thirty things, but that she had fulfilled none of these promises. We have not accepted God’s evaluation of us. We have not accepted God’s judgment of us. We have been sentenced to execution already, but we are still trying to find a doctor.
What is the cross? The cross signifies God’s despair of man! The cross tells us that God has given up hope in man! What is the cross? The cross tells us that God is proclaiming, “I cannot improve man; I cannot correct him. I cannot make any headway with him. I can only crucify him on the cross.” The strange thing is that we already know this fact. We already know that God considers us hopeless and that we deserve only to be crucified. But at the same time, we still think that we are not that bad. Therefore, we make resolutions every day. We say, “God, I promise that I will do this and that. From now on, I will no longer lose my temper.” But none of these promises work. Sometimes we think that our resolutions are not strong enough, and we try to do a better job the next time. We make more resolutions, and after we lose our temper, we vow that we will not lose our temper the next time. But we find ourselves still losing it, and we make a third resolution. This was the way Paul lived: “For to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not” (Rom. 7:18). He was always making resolutions, failing, making resolutions, and failing over and over again. This was not only Paul’s life but the frequent experience of many of us today. Brothers and sisters, are we through making resolutions? God says that we deserve only to die and that we are absolutely useless. He says that there is no hope in us.
What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? It means that God has given up hope in us and that we also have given up hope in ourselves. For God to crucify us with Christ means that God has no further hope. For us to say that “I am crucified with Christ” means that we also have no further hope. God sees through our condition; He knows that we are completely useless and that there is no further hope in us. What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? It means that we have given up all hope. We admit that we can never please God. God can do nothing except put us to death. There is no hope in a man of flesh. The only thing left for us to do is die. We deserve only to die.
Brothers and sisters, do you have any sick persons in your home? I have been to five or six homes where the husband, wife, or children were sick. Whenever the family lost hope in a sick person, they would say, “Mr. Nee, if it be God’s will, I hope he or she goes quickly.” Why would they say this? They said it because they had no further hope. When all hope was lost, they wished that the sick one would die quickly. Now God is telling you that there is no further hope in you; He can only crucify you. It would be well if you could also say that there is no further hope in you and that the only way is to be crucified.
Our problem today is that we are very familiar with Romans 6, but we are still making resolutions like the person in Romans 7. We still make promises to God and still think that we are somewhat useful. Although we are very clear about Romans 6, we are behaving in the way of Romans 7. In Romans 6 God told Paul that he was useless. In Romans 7 Paul told himself that he was useless. Brothers and sisters, God is clear about us. He gave up hope on us long ago. According to God’s evaluation we are not worth anything. He has already told us that we are useless. The question is how do we evaluate ourselves. If we also give up hope in ourselves and say that we are useless, we will experience deliverance immediately. God allows us to lose our temper, to be proud, jealous, and dishonest. He allows sin to turn us upside down. This is His way of telling us that we cannot make it. But how do we respond? We think that our first resolution was not strong enough and that we have to make a stronger resolution. We think that it may work the second time. But it still does not work. This is the experience of Romans 7. Romans 6 is merely the teaching, whereas Romans 7 leads us into the reality of Romans 6.
If anyone here told me that I was hopelessly corrupt, I would shout, “Hallelujah! I, Watchman Nee, am hopelessly corrupt.” Hallelujah! Paul could do nothing about himself. He suffered many years. He deserved only to be crucified. Today if you declare that you are no longer useful, you will experience deliverance immediately. Those who try to be good will never be saved. Similarly, Christians who resolve to be good Christians will never overcome. Brothers and sisters, God’s cross has not misjudged you. Day after day, I love to do one thing: I love to declare that I was useless yesterday, that I am useless today, and that I will be useless tomorrow. I will be useless forever.
God wants us to accept the appraisal of the cross because by accepting the appraisal of the cross, we accept the Lord as our sanctification, perfection, and victory. If we still cherish some hope and still have a glimmer of faith in ourselves, God will have to continue His work on us. He will not stop operating in us until we completely lose hope in ourselves. God has to take us to the point that we have no hope at all in ourselves. He does this so that we will accept the cross. God is leading us to this point because He wants us to realize that we are not able in ourselves, and He wants us to acknowledge this.
Many people realize that they cannot do anything in themselves. However, they still have not overcome. Why? This happens because God requires that we also fulfill another condition.