Biblical Essays
THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST
Introduction
When the soul realizes the reality of its spiritual condition, i.e., the depth of its ruin, its guilt, its misery, its utter and hopeless bankruptcy, there can be no rest until the Holy Spirit reveals a full and an all-sufficient Christ to the heart. The only possible answer to our total ruin is God’s perfect remedy.
This is a simple, but important truth; and the more deeply and thoroughly we learn it the better. The true secret of peace is finding the path that can lead us to the end of a guilty, ruined, helpless, worthless self, there finding an all-sufficient Christ – God’s provision for our deepest need. This truly is rest; a rest that can never be disturbed. There may be sorrow, pressure, conflict, exercise of soul, heaviness through manifold temptations, ups and downs, all sorts of trials and difficulties. However, when God brings a soul to the end of self; when a soul is resting in Christ, it finds a peace that can never be interrupted.
Sadly, many of God’s people today live in an unsettled state, resulting from not fully receiving God’s provision – Jesus Christ – into their hearts. No doubt this sad and painful situation is brought about by various contributing causes, such as a legalistic mind, a morbid conscience, a self-occupied heart, bad teaching, a secret love for this present world, some little reserve in the heart regarding the claims of God, of Christ, and of eternity. This lack of settled peace, so common among the Lord’s people today, is, in our opinion, the result of not seeing or believing what Jesus Christ has eternally done to them and for them.
Our purpose in this brief study is to show, from the precious pages of the Word of God, that everything we need is treasured up in Christ, whether it be meeting the claims of our conscience, the cravings of our heart, or the exigencies of our path. By the grace of God we seek herein to show that the work of Christ is the only true resting place for the conscience: His Person, the only true object for our heart: His Word, the only true guide for our path.
Part I: The Past Work of Christ – Atonement
In considering this great subject, two things claim our attention: first, what Christ has done; secondly, what He is doing. In the former we have atonement; in the latter, advocacy. He died for us on the cross; He lives for us on the throne. By His precious atoning death, He met our entire condition as sinners. He has borne our sins, putting them away forever. He was charged with our sins – all our sins. “Jehovah laid on him the iniquities of us all” (Isaiah 53). And again, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
This is a grand and all-important truth for the anxious soul – a truth that lies at the very foundation of the whole Christian position. It is impossible for a spiritually enlightened conscience, to enjoy divinely-settled peace until this precious truth is laid hold of in simple faith. In other words, we must know on divine authority that all our sins are forever put away from God’s sight; that He has disposed of them in a way that satisfies all the claims of His throne, as well as all the attributes of His nature.
The gist and marrow, the heart’s core of the whole matter is this: God has done it! God laid our sins on Jesus, and so we can know it on divine authority, He tells us so in His Holy Word – an authority that cannot lie. God planned it; God did it; God says it. It is all of God, from first to last, and our part is to simply rest in it like a little child. How do we know that Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree? By the same authority that tells us that we had sins to be borne. In His marvelous and matchless love, God assures us, as guilty, hell-deserving sinners, that by Himself He has undertaken the whole matter of our sins, disposing of them in such a that brings a rich harvest of glory to His own eternal name, throughout the wide universe, in presence of all created intelligence.
Forgiveness and peace: Living faith tranquilizes the conscience. If God has satisfied Himself about our sins, then we should be satisfied also. We might say, “I know I’m a sinner – the chief of sinners. I know my sins are greater than the hairs of my head; that they are black as midnight. I know that any one of my sins deserves the eternal flames of hell – because God’s Word tells me that a single speck of sin can never enter His holy presence. I know that left on my own, I’m eternally separated from God. All this I know, based on the clear and unquestionable authority of that word which is settled for ever in heaven.”
Praise God. Through the profound mystery of the cross, the glorious mystery of redeeming love, we see God Himself taking all our sins, laying them on the head of Jesus Christ, our blessed Substitute – dealing with them through Him. All the billows and waves of God’s righteous wrath; His wrath against our sins; His wrath that should have consumed our souls in a dreary eternity – all this He laid on His beloved Son, Who stood in our stead. Jesus Christ represented each of us before God, bearing all that was due us. The holy God dealt with Jesus as He should have dealt with us. In other words, with an inflexible justice, holiness, truth, and righteousness, God dealt with our sins through Jesus Christ, making a clear and eternal riddance of them. Through Christ not one of them is allowed to pass! Once God Himself took the matter in hand, there could be no connivance, no palliation, no slurring over, and no indifference. His glory was at stake; His unsullied holiness, His eternal majesty, the lofty claims of His government.
All this had to be provided for in such a way as to glorify Himself in view of angels, men, Satan and his devils. Because of our sins, God would have been righteous and just to send us away from His presence, into eternal destruction – we deserve nothing less. Our whole moral being, from its profoundest depths, deserves this. We have no excuse for a single sinful thought, or for a life of deliberate, rebellious, high-handed sin.
But, thanks be to the living God, instead of sending us to hell because of our sins, He sent His Son to be the propitiation for those sins. And in the unfolding of the marvelous plan of redemption, we see a holy God dealing with the question of our sins, executing judgment on them in the Person of His beloved, eternal, and co-equal Son, so that the full flood-tide of His love might flow into our hearts. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
Without question, this gives peace to the conscience – if received in the simplicity of trusting faith. How is it possible not to have peace, when God has satisfied Himself as to our sins? If God says, “Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more,” what more could we desire as a basis of peace for our conscience? If God assures us that all our sins are blotted out – forever gone from His sight, should we not have peace? If He shows us the One Who bore our sins on the cross, now crowned at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, should not our souls enter into perfect rest?
How did Christ reach the place that He now fills on the throne of God? Was it as God over all, blessed forever? No; He was always that. Was it as the eternal Son of the Father? No; He was always the object of the Father’s eternal and ineffable delight. Was it as a spotless, holy, perfect Man, whose nature was absolutely pure, perfectly free from sin? No; at any moment, from the manger to the cross, He could have claimed a place at the right hand of God. How then? – Eternal praise to the God of all grace. It was as the One Who, by His death, accomplished the glorious work of redemption. He stood charged with the full weight of our sins – perfectly satisfying all the righteous claims of that throne on which He now sits.
This is a grand, cardinal point for the anxious soul to seize – emancipating the heart and tranquilizing the conscience. We cannot possibly behold by faith the Man who was nailed to the tree, now crowned on the throne, and not have peace with God. The Lord Jesus Christ, having taken upon Himself our sins, as well as the judgment due them, could not be where He now is if a single one of those sins remained unatoned for – unforgiven. To see the Sin-Bearer crowned with glory is to see our sins gone forever from the divine presence – obliterated. How do we know this? The One who took them all upon Himself has passed through the heavens to the highest pinnacle of glory. The Accomplisher of our redemption – the Bearer of our sins proved beyond all possibility of question that our sins are put out of God’s sight forever. It is a wondrous fact. A crowned Christ and a clear conscience are, in the blessed economy of grace, inseparably linked together. We should be chanting the praises of redeeming love with all our ransomed powers.
But how is this consolatory truth set forth in Holy Scripture? “But now the righteousness of God, without law [coris nomou], is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission [or passing over] of sins that are past [in time gone by], through the forbearance of God; to declare at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:21-26, emphasis added).
Again, speaking of Abraham’s faith being counted to him for righteousness, the apostle adds, “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him: but for as also to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:23-25).
Here God is introduced to our souls as the One who raised the Bearer of our sins from the dead. Why did He do so? Because the One who had been delivered for our offences had perfectly glorified God regarding those offences, putting them away forever. God not only sent His only begotten Son into the world, but He bruised Him for our iniquities, raising Him from the dead, in order that we might know and believe that all our iniquities are disposed of in a manner that glorifies Him infinitely and everlastingly. Eternal and universal homage to His name.
But we have farther testimony on this grand fundamental truth. In Hebrews 1 we read such soul-stirring words as these: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners [or in divers measures and modes] spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by [His] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (vv.1-3, emphasis added).
Our blessed Lord Christ would not take His seat on the throne of God until, by the offering of Himself on the cross, He had purged our sins. Hence a risen Christ at God’s right hand is the glorious and unanswerable proof that our sins are gone. In other words, Jesus Christ could not be where He now is if a single one of those sins remained. God raised from the dead the selfsame Man on whom He Himself had laid the full weight of our sins. Thus all is settled – divinely, eternally settled. It is just as impossible that a single sin can be found on the very weakest believer in Jesus, as it is for one to be on Jesus Himself. Not only is this a wonderful thing to be able to say, but it is the solid truth of God, established in manifold places in Holy Scripture. The soul that believes it must possess a peace which the world can neither give nor take away.
Deliverance from sin: Thus far, we have been occupied with that aspect of the work of Christ that bears on the question of the forgiveness of sins. It is assuredly the Christian’s happy privilege, if we take God at His Word. “Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”
Since Christ has suffered for our sins, shouldn’t we know the deep blessedness of being eternally delivered from the burden of those sins? Does it make sense that God wants one for whom His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, painfully suffered to remain in perpetual bondage? Tied and bound by the chain of sins? Crying out from week to week, month to month, and year to year, that the burden of sin is intolerable?
If such utterances are true and proper for the Christian then what has Christ done for us? Can it be true that Christ put away our sins, yet God still keeps us tied, bound, and chained to them? Is it true that Jesus Christ painfully bore the heavy burden of our sins, yet God keeps us crushed beneath their intolerable weight?
Some want us to believe that it is not possible to know that our sins are forgiven; that we must live life to the end in a state of uncertainty on this most vital and important question. If this is true, what becomes of the precious Gospel of the grace of God – the glad tidings of salvation? In the view of such teaching, what is the meaning of these glowing words of the apostle Paul, in the synagogue of Antioch? “Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man [Jesus Christ, dead and risen] is preached [not promised as a future thing, but proclaimed now] the forgiveness of sins; and by him all who believe are [not shall be, or hope to be] justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38, 39, emphasis added).
If we are resting on the Law of Moses – keeping the commandments, doing our duty, valuing Christ and loving God as we should – then we have every right to be in doubt and dark uncertainty, because we have no ground of assurance.
But, on the other hand, the living God proclaims the glad tidings that His own beloved Son died on the cross, was buried, then rose from the dead, and is now seated in eternal glory – that through Him alone, full and everlasting remission of sins is preached. It is a present reality, enjoyed by every soul who truly believes the precious work of God. How is it possible for anyone to continue in doubt and uncertainty? Is Christ’s work finished? He said it was. What did He do? He put away our sins. So the question arises: Are they put away, or not?
Where are our sins? Are they blotted out as a thick cloud? Or still lying as a heavy load of guilt – a condemning power on our conscience? If they were not put away by the atoning death of Christ, they will never be put away. If He did not bear them on the cross, then we will have to bear them forever, and ever, and ever. Be assured of this: if Christ did not settle the matter on the cross, then one day we will have to settle it by ourselves at the judgment bar of God. It must be so, if God’s Word be true.
But, God’s own testimony assures us that Christ has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. His awesome work brings us not merely to heaven when we die, but to God now. How does He bring us to God? Tied and bound with the chain of our sins – with an intolerable burden of guilt on our souls? No; He brings us to God without charge; without spot or stain. Jesus Christ brings us to God through His own acceptableness. Is there any guilt on Him? No; there was when He took our place, but it is forever gone – cast as lead into the unfathomable waters of divine forgetfulness. Yes, Jesus Christ was charged with our sins on the cross. God laid on Him all our iniquities, and dealt only with Him concerning them. The whole question of our sins was fully and definitively answered; amid the awful shadows of Calvary – divinely settled between God and Christ. Yes, it was all done, once and forever there on Golgotha’s hill. How do we know? – By the authority of the only true God. His Word assures us that we have redemption through the blood of Christ, the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace. He declares, in accents of sweetest, richest, deepest mercy, that He will remember our sins and our iniquities no more. Is it not enough? If so, then why continue to cry out about being tied and bound with the chain of our sins? Have you ever consider that for a Christian to do so is a slur on the perfect work of Christ? Shall we thus tarnish the luster of divine grace, making a lie of the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the Scripture of Truth? Throw out the thought! It must not be so. Let us rather praise with thanksgiving the blessed treasure so freely conferred on us by love divine, through the precious blood of Christ. Forgiving our sins brings joy to the heart of God. Yes, it is true; God delights in pardoning iniquity and transgression. It gratifies and glorifies Him to pour into a broken and contrite heart His precious balm of pardoning love and mercy. He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up, bruising Him on the cursed tree. Why did He do that? So that, in perfect righteousness, He might be able to let the rich streams of grace flow from His large, loving heart, to the guilty, self-destroyed, conscience-smitten sinner.
But, if you still feel disposed to inquire how the assurance of this blessed remission of sins – this fruit of Christ’s atoning work, applies to you, then hearken to those magnificent words that flowed from the lips of the risen Savior, as He commissioned the earliest heralds of His grace. “And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46, 47).
Here we have the great and glorious commission – its basis, its authority, its sphere. Christ has suffered. This is the meritorious ground of remission of sins. Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. But by the shedding of His blood (by it alone), there is remission of sins – a remission as full and complete as the precious blood of Christ can effect.
But where is the authority? “It is written.” Blessed, indisputable authority! Nothing can ever shake it. Because of the solid authority of the Word of God, we know that all our sins are forgiven, blotted out, gone forever; cast behind God’s back – never to rise against us.
The sphere is “all nations” – without exception, condition, or qualification; to the entire world, to every creature under heaven. Have we somehow missed what the Lord said in the Gospel accounts? Are His words so hard to understand? “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt. 28:19-20). “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved...” (Mark 16:15-16). “And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).
The apostle Peter’s inspired words that soon followed, are not hard to understand. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins...” (Acts 2:38).
Obviously, Peter’s inspired words were understood by a large number of those who heard him speak, because Scripture says, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).
Have you “gladly received his word”? Have you obeyed Jesus and His apostle? If so, then how could you be excluded from this world-wide commission? Do you question that the beams of God’s sun are intended for you? Hopefully not. Why question the precious fact that remission of sins is for you? It is for you if you have “gladly received his word” – as surely as though you were the only sinner beneath the canopy of God’s heaven. The universality of its aspect precludes all questions as to whether it was designed for you.
If further encouragement is needed, surely it can be found in the fact that the Lord’s ambassadors were to “begin at Jerusalem.” They were to make the first offer of pardon to those involved in the crucifixion of God’s Son. This the apostle Peter does in those words of marvelous and transcendent grace, “Unto you first, God having raised up his Son, sent him to bless you, by turning away every one of you from your iniquities” (Acts 3:26).
One who has “gladly received” the Word of Christ and His apostle should not hesitate to accept the forgiveness of sins? Christ suffered for the sins of this world. God’s Word proclaims remission of sins. He pledges His own Word on the point. “To him give all the prophets’ witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” What more could anyone want or need? We have Christ’s finished work and God’s faithful Word. These should satisfy the anxious heart and tranquilize the questioning mind. We pray that you have accepted the full and everlasting remission of all your sins; that you have received the sweet tidings of God’s love and mercy by gladly receiving the Holy Word. If so, then hear the voice of a risen Savior, speaking from the throne of the majesty in the heavens, assuring you that your sins are forgiven. Let the soothing accents from the mouth of God Himself, fall in their enfranchising power on your troubled spirit, “Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Is it not enough that God assures you that He will “no more” remember your sins? Is this not enough to make you fully and forever satisfied? Why should you go on doubting and reasoning when God has spoken? What more do you need than the Word of God? It is our only ground of certainty; and no power of earth or hell, human or diabolical, can ever shake it. The finished work of Christ and the faithful Word of God are the basis and authority of full forgiveness of sins.
But, there is more. Not only do Christians enjoy remission of sins through the atoning death of Christ, they also have the following blessing.
Deliverance from the power of sin: This is a grand point for every true lover of holiness. According to the glorious economy of grace, the same work that secures complete remission of sins has forever broken the power of sin. Not only are the sins of this life blotted out, but the believer who has “gladly received” the Word of God is dead to sin.
The proper attitude of a Christian is this: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” This is Christianity. The old “I” crucified, and Christ living “in me.” The Christian is a new creation. Old things are passed away. The death of Christ forever closed the history of the old “I”; and hence, though sin dwells in the true believer, its power is forever broken – its guilt cancelled; its terrible dominion overthrown.
This is the glorious doctrine of Romans 6-8. The thoughtful student of this magnificent epistle will observe that, from Romans 3:21 to 5:11, we have the work of Christ applied to the question of sins. And from Romans 5:12 through chapter 8, we have another aspect of that work, namely, its application to the question of sin – “our old man”; “the body of sin”; “sin in the flesh”. God has actually done more than forgiving sin; He has condemned it – an immensely important distinction. In the cross of Christ, God set forth His eternal abhorrence of sin – expressing and executing His judgment on it. Now, as true believers, we can see ourselves as linked to and identified with the One who died on the cross and rose from the dead. Jesus Christ passed from the sphere of sin’s dominion into that new and blessed sphere where grace reigns through righteousness. The apostle says, “God be thanked, that ye were [once, but now no longer are to be] the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that type of doctrine to which ye were delivered (Margin). Being then made free from sin [not merely sins forgiven], ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom. 6:17-22; emphasis added).
Here lies the precious secret of holy living. The Christian is dead to sin – the reign of sin is over. What has sin to do with a dead man? Nothing. Those who “gladly receive” God’s Word have died with Christ; were buried with Christ; have risen with Christ, and walk in newness of life. The Christian lives under the precious reign of grace – his fruit is holiness. The one, who accepts the abundance of God’s grace, and then returns to live in sin, denies the very foundation of Christianity. “How shall we that have died to sin, live any longer therein?” To do so is a denial of the whole Christian life. A Christian is not sinless, and humbly repents of known and unknown mistakes, but to imagine the Christian as one who goes on and on, day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, sinning and repenting, sinning and repenting, sinning and repenting, degrades Christianity and falsifies the whole Christian position. In other words, to say that a Christian must continue sinning because he is of the flesh is to ignore one of the grand aspects of the death of Christ, and makes a lie of the apostle’s teaching in Romans 6-8. Thank God, there is no necessity for the Christian to continue in sin. “My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not.” We should never attempt to justify a single sinful thought. It is our sweet privilege to walk in the light, as God is in the light; and, when we are walking in the light, we are not committing sin. But, do we sin? Yes; when we get out of the light. But the normal, the true, the divine idea of a Christian Life is walking in the light, not committing sin. A sinful thought is foreign to the true genius of Christianity. We have sin in us, and we will have it so long as we are in the body: but as long as we walk in the Spirit, the sin in our nature will not show itself in the life. To say that we need not sin, is to state a Christian privilege; to say that we cannot sin is a deceit and a delusion.
Grand result: The grand result of the past work of Christ is to give us a divinely perfect standing before God. “He has perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Through His own perfect acceptability, Jesus Christ has introduced us to the Divine Presence, in the full credit and virtue of His name, His Person, and His work. The Apostle John declares, “As he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).
Even the feeblest lamb in all the blood-bought flock of Christ has this promise. It cannot be otherwise. We are either in our sins, or in a risen Christ. There is no middle ground. We are either covered with guilt, or complete in Christ. In Scripture, the authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit declares the true believer to be “complete in Christ”; “Perfect, as pertaining to his conscience”; “Perfected in perpetuity”; “Clean every whit”; “accepted in the beloved”; “Made [or become] the righteousness of God in Christ.”
How is all this accomplished? Through the sacrifice of the cross. The precious atoning death of Christ forms the solid and irrefragable foundation of the Christian’s standing. “This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever sat down on the right hand of God.” A seated Christ is the glorious proof, the perfect definition of the true believer’s place in the presence of God. Glorifying the Father by bearing His judgment on us as sinners, Jesus Christ placed us in living association with Himself, where we are given not only forgiveness, acceptance, and peace, but complete deliverance from the dominion of sin. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ provides, for those that have “gladly received” the Word of God, a place of assured victory over everything that could possibly be against us, such as indwelling sin, the fear of Satan, the law, or this present evil world.
Holy Scripture settles the issue, and we earnestly pray that all true believers will not be satisfied with anything less. Let us no any longer accept the muddled teachings of Christendom’s creeds and dogmas; its liturgical services, that drives the soul back into the darkness and bondage of legalism.
We solemnly call on the Lord’s people to consider where they are spiritually, and ask, “Do you really understand and enjoy the true Christian position, as revealed in Scripture?” So, we beseech you to humbly, diligently, and faithfully compare the teachings of Christendom with the Word of God, and see for yourself if they agree. It is sad, but true, when the self-perpetuating legalism of professing Christianity stands in contrast with living teachings of the New Testament, souls are kept in the moral distance that characterized the Mosaic economy, being robbed of the precious privileges Christ painfully suffered and died for on Calvary.
How deplorable. It grieves the Holy Spirit, wounds the heart of Christ, dishonors the grace of God, and contradicts the plainest statements of Holy Scripture. We are persuaded that the guilty condition felt by so many precious souls can, to a large extent, be traced to self-serving, legalistic creeds and formularies designed to maintain a worldly and materialistic organizational structure. How often do you find in the church of our Lord a person who obviously enjoys a perfectly purged conscience, peace with God – the Spirit of adoption? When was the last time your preacher, elder, or teacher taught that the sins of a true believer are completely forgiven? There is eternal life? All things are justified? For the most part, people today are systematically being taught that it is the height of presumption for a child of God to assume that sins can be completely forgiven – that it is possible to be accepted by the Beloved – sealed with the Holy Spirit – united to Christ by the indwelling Spirit – that as long as a child of God walks in the light, salvation is assured. Too bad that so many of these Christian privileges are practically denied and ignored in Christendom? Instead, people are taught that it is dangerous to be too confident; that it is morally safer to live in doubt and fear; that the most we can look for is the hope of getting to heaven when we die? Are we taught the glorious truths connected with the new creation? Are we rooted and grounded in the knowledge of our close association with Jesus Christ – the risen and glorified Head in the heavens? Are we truly enjoying those things that are freely given by God to His beloved people?
We grieve to think of the only true answer that can be given to such inquiries. Spiritually speaking, many in the flock of Christ are scattered on dark mountains and desolate moors. Too many of God’s people live in the dim distance of legalism, so characterized by the Mosaic system. They do not know the meaning of the rent veil, of nearness to God, of conscious acceptance by the Beloved Son of God. Some even shroud the table of the Lord with the dark and chilling mists of superstition, surrounded by the repulsive barriers of a dark and depressing legality. Accomplished redemption, full remission of sins, perfect justification before God, acceptance by a risen Christ, the Spirit of adoption, and the bright and blessed hope of the coming of the Bridegroom – all these grand and glorious realities; these chartered privileges of false and shallow teachings and religious machinery.
Some may think we are drawing too gloomy a picture. However, we fear the picture is true; the reality far more appalling than the picture. If we could only see the picture as God sees it, it would surely break our hearts. Let us pursue the subject further in the hope of suggesting a remedy for the sad and deplorable condition of so many of the Lord’s people.
We have dwelt on that precious work accomplished by Jesus Christ – securing for us perfect remission of and deliverance from sin. In other words, the Christian is not only forgiven but delivered. Christ has died for us, and we have died in Christ. Hence we are free, as one raised from the dead – alive to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. A Christian is a new creation, passing from death to life. Death and judgment are in the past, only glory lies ahead. A Christian possesses an unblotted title, as well as an unclouded prospect.
If all this is true of every child of God – everyone who has “gladly received his word” – then what more could we want? Title? No. Position? No. Hope? No. We have absolute, divine perfection. But our state is not perfect, our walk is not perfect. We are still in the flesh, compassed about with manifold infirmities, exposed to manifold temptations, liable to stumble, fall, and wander. Alone, we are unable to keep ourselves in the blessed position that God’s grace has provided. Though this is true, we are still linked to the living Head in heaven, so that we are eternally secure. Nothing can touch our soul, because it is “hid with Christ in God.”
But, while it is true that as long as we “gladly receive his word”, nothing can touch our soul, or interfere with our position, yet, seeing that our state and walk are imperfect, and our communion liable to be interrupted, makes part II of our brief study important.
Part II: The Present Work of Christ – Advocacy
Jesus lives at the right hand of God. His active intervention on our behalf never ceases – not for a single moment. Before God, in virtue of accomplished atonement, He carries on His perfect advocacy for us. As our subsisting righteousness, He personally maintains our divine integrity – a position and relationship His atoning death provided for us. Thus we read, “If, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Rom. 5:10). So also, in Hebrews 4, we read, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted, in like manner, without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Again, in Hebrews 7: “But this man, because he continueth for ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
And in Hebrews 9: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Then, in the first epistle of John, we have the same great subject presented under a somewhat different aspect. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any one sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not our sins only, but also for the whole world.”
All this is precious to the true-hearted Christian who is always deeply and painfully conscious of weaknesses, needs, infirmities, and failures. Thinking of the above passages, with a sense of our own imperfect state and walk, how could we ever question the need of Christ’s unceasing ministry on our behalf? How could any reader of Hebrews deny the application of Christ’s priesthood and advocacy to Christians now?
For whom is Christ now living and acting at the right hand of God? – For the world? Clearly not, for in John 18, He says, “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” Who are these? They are believers, children of God, Christians, who are now passing through this sinful world, liable to fail and contract defilement every step of the way. These are the subjects of Christ’s priestly ministry. He died to make them clean. He lives to keep them clean. By His death He expiated our guilt, and by His life He cleanses us, through the action of the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. “This is he that came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood.” We have expiation and cleansing through a crucified Savior. That double stream (water and blood) emanated from the pierced side of Christ – dead for us. Praise His Holy Name.
In virtue of the precious death of Christ, we have it all. What about our guilt? It is cancelled by the blood of His atonement. What about our daily shortcomings? We have an Advocate with the Father – a great High Priest with God. “If any man sin” does not remove repentance. No; there is, and must be, repentance and self-judgment. But how are they produced? Whence do they proceed? Here it is: “We have an advocate with the Father.” It is His all-prevailing intercession that procures the grace of repentance, self-judgment, and confession for the sinning one.
It is of utmost importance for Christians to be thoroughly clear regarding this great cardinal truth – the advocacy or priesthood of Christ. Sometimes we erroneously think that when we fail something has to be done on our part to set matters straight between our souls and God. That because of failure, our Father has left us! We forget that even before we are conscious of the failure – before our conscience becomes cognizant of the fact – our blessed Advocate has been to the Father about it. In other words, it is to His intercession that we are indebted for the grace of repentance, confession, and restoration. “If any man sin, we have” – what? The blood to return to? No; consider carefully what the Holy Spirit declares. “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Why does He say, “the righteous?” Why not the gracious, the merciful, the sympathizing? Isn’t Jesus Christ all this? Most assuredly; but not any one of these attributes are in place here, because the apostle is putting before us this consolatory truth: in all our errors, our sins, and our failures, we have “a righteous” representative always before the righteous God, the Holy Father. “He ever liveth to make intercession for us;” and because He ever liveth, “He is able to save to the uttermost” – right through to the very end – “them that come unto God by him.”
This should provide solid comfort for the child of God! For a Christian to feel or think otherwise; to live in a state of guilt, expresses a failed view, a lack of spiritual understanding about what Christ has done for us in the past. On the contrary, others have such a one-sided view of the state of the Christian, that they do not see or grasp the meaning of what Christ is doing for us now. Both views need correcting. The former are ignorant of the extent and value of the atonement; the latter are ignorant of the place and application of the advocacy. But the apostle states the perfection of our position, when he says, “As he is, so are we in this world.” If this was the end of it, then we would have no need of priesthood or advocacy. But that’s not our state, so the apostle has to say, “If any man sin.” This proves our continual need of the Advocate. And, blessed be God, we have Him continually – living always for us. He lives and serves on high. He is our subsisting righteousness before God. He lives to keep us always right in heaven, and to set us right when we go wrong on earth. He is the divine and indissoluble link between our souls and God.
Conclusion
If we are not enjoying peace of conscience, it can only be because we are not resting on the finished work of Christ; and if the heart is not at ease, it proves that we are not satisfied with Christ Himself. Sadly, few of the Lord’s beloved people know either the one or the other. In this age of technology, it is rare to find a Christian with true peace of conscience and rest of heart – apprehending the grand truth of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to cry, “Abba, Father.” Yes, they have life. They love divine things. Their tastes, habits, aspirations, even their exercises, conflicts, anxieties, doubts, and fears, all lend proof to the existence of divine life. They are, in a way, separated from the world, but their separation is more negative than positive. It is more because they see the utter vanity of the world, and its inability to satisfy their hearts, than because they have found peace of conscience or rest of heart through Christ. They have lost their taste for the things of the world, but because they live in the legalism of law, they have not found their place and portion in the Son of God where He now is at the right hand of God. They are missing the deep blessedness of living under the reign of grace. The things of the world cannot satisfy them, and they are not in the enjoyment of their proper heavenly standing, object, and hope; hence they are in an anomalous condition, having no certainty, no rest, and no fixedness of purpose – unhappy and without spiritual bearing.
The Word of Christ – our all-sufficient guide: If Christ’s work suffices for the conscience, and if His blessed Person suffices for the heart, then most certainly His precious Word suffices for the path. We confidently suggest that the divine volume of Holy Scripture possesses all we need, not only to meet the exigencies of our individual path, but also the varied necessities and minute details of the church of our Lord.
Making this assertion opens one to the possibility of scorn and opposition – on one hand by the advocates of tradition and on the other by those contending for the supremacy of man’s reason and will. But this should give us little concern. The authoritative traditions of men, whether fathers, brothers, or doctors are microscopic dust of the balance; and human reason can be compared to a bat in sunshine, dazzled by the brightness, blindly dashing itself against objects it cannot see. Leaving the conflicting traditions and doctrines of men, walking into the calm light of Holy Scripture; encountering the impudent reasonings of the infidel, rationalist, and skeptic, yet bowing down to the authority and power of Holy Scripture – these bring the deepest joy to the Christian heart. We are never stronger than when we recognize the Word of God as the only perfect standard for doctrine, morals, for everything. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect [artios], throughly furnished unto all Good works” (emphasis added).
What more could we want? What more do we need? If Scripture can make a child “wise unto salvation”; if Scripture can make a man “perfect,” and furnish him “throughly to all good works”; then why do we need human tradition or human reasonings? Since God has graciously condescended to give us a written revelation of His mind, clearly explaining what we need to know, think, feel, believe, and do, why turn to either a ritualist or rationalist fellow-mortal for help? We might as well turn to our fellow-man to add something to the finished work of Christ, as to condescend to human tradition or human reason.
Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, Who has given us all we need for the conscience, for the heart, for the path – for time, with all its changing scenes – for eternity, with its countless ages. We can say, “Thou, O Christ, art all we want; more than all in Thee we find.” There never has been and never will be any lack in the Christ of God. His atonement and advocacy must satisfy all the cravings of the most deeply exercised conscience. The moral glories and powerful attractions of His divine Person satisfies the most intense aspirations and longings of the heart – His peerless and priceless revelation contains within its covers all we could ever need, from the starting post to the final eternal goal of our Christian career.
May there be, in each of us, a fuller, clearer, and more decided testimony to “The All-sufficiency of Christ,” till “that day!”
(Unless noted, King James Version translation used in this essay)
