This little paper was originally written for one who, at the time, was in sore need of help and encouragement. It has been thought that it might be used to meet the wants of others in similar circumstances, and perhaps also to establish and strengthen, in some small degree, those young in the truth who have not yet become familiar with the glorious foundations on which our faith rests. May the Lord bless it, and He shall have all the praise!
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Nothing is more distressing than to see a believer—one who is a child of God—in a condition of uncertainty with regard to his place in Christ. To one who has been enabled by grace to grasp with assurance the truth “as it is in Jesus,” to accept God’s testimony concerning the completeness and perfection of the work of Him who is now at the right hand of God in glory, it is a subject of continual marvel, as well as sorrow, that any fellow-believer should be in uncertainty as to that which to him is so bright, so real, so certain. But still, there is the fact that there are some, yea, many, dear souls—dear to God, dear to Christ—who never, for any considerable time together, can feel the certainty, “the full assurance,” which, properly and according to God’s expressed desire, they should possess. At one moment in their history, they are all happiness, all joy, all satisfaction; at another, they are all clouds, all darkness, realizing nothing but their distance, knowing no power in communion, no strength in walk, none of the brightness of the “hope set before us.” Such is the fact, strange and incongruous as it may seem. I say “incongruous,” because there is not the shadow of ground or authority in the Word for such a condition of things. There all is certainty, all clearness and brightness—for the simple reason that all is Divine. In God’s order, no place can be found for that which has any doubt or misgiving about it; and therefore we are justified in saying that where there is doubt or misgiving, it must be man’s work: it cannot be God’s.
Now it is my earnest desire to be used, in some small way, in helping to deliver souls from the condition I have described, not only for their own benefit, but that the name of the Lord Jesus might be exalted and magnified. For how can His glory be understood or appreciated when souls keep back from that which He died to give them, from that which His resurrection has secured for them, if they will but have faith to accept it?
In opening out this subject, therefore, I would look at three points:
First, What God says in His Word about our place in Christ.
Second, How man has received it, and appreciated it.
Third, How we are to get freedom and deliverance from that which is, on the one hand, so dishonoring to Christ, and on the other, so hindering to ourselves.
We feel what a serious task we have before us; but we know we can rely upon that blessed Spirit of God to guide us and direct us.
1. No Uncertainty in the Word of God
First, then, let us look at a few Scriptures, which show us the place we are entitled to by virtue of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. First, the well-known passage (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18))— “Christ hath once suffered for sins; the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” That is to say, the work of Christ on the cross had, as one of its objects, to bring us, lost and guilty sinners, into the presence of God. But for that, we must have remained at the distance in which our condition by nature and practice had put us. We were “dead in trespasses and sins,” and as such we could not come near a holy God—One who cannot even look upon sin, One into whose presence sin never can enter. But the work of Christ does away with all that, and in virtue of it, He brings us to God; that is, He introduces us, gives us a right to enter, into a place from which we in our natural state were excluded. Every one, therefore, who appropriates the value of Christ’s sacrifice, or, in Levitical language, lays his hand on the head of the offering (Leviticus 1:44And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. (Leviticus 1:4), and 4:4), is entitled to know that he is brought into the presence of God Himself, as one delivered entirely from that which formerly kept him away; as it says in John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12), “As many as received him, to them gave he power [or, as it is more correctly put in the margin, the right, or privilege] to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on his name.”
Then look at that beautiful passage in the 10th of Hebrews— “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near, with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” Here we get the same place referred to, but with fuller details; and it is put in a form which is, perhaps, more comprehensible to us, as it refers to a beautiful type, familiar, not only to the Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, but to all of us. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter” —where?— “into the holiest!” What was that? Why the very innermost sanctuary, where God Himself dwelt. (See Exodus and Leviticus) There was the “court,” or “holy place,” for the people, the “holy,” for the priests, and the “most holy,” where God was, into which none but the high priest could enter, and he only once a year, having made an atonement for himself first. But we—wonderful fact!—have “boldness to enter into the holiest,” to go right through the “holy place,” and the “holy,” and to penetrate into the very presence-chamber of the great God Himself! What a privilege! What a title! After this, how utterly insignificant do earthly titles appear! How the privilege of having an audience, an interview, with some great one on earth, sinks into nothingness as compared with the title we possess, yea, and the “boldness” too, to have communion with the blessed Father Himself, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”!
But do not let us forget the ground for all this— “By the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” The place is thus ever connected, you see, with the work of Christ on the cross. Nothing without that; but with that, everything. What did the “blood of Jesus” do? It is familiar to us all. After the Lord Jesus had done His work on the cross, after He had cried “It is finished” — “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;” that which had for ages kept man away from the presence of God was removed, and the way into the holiest was opened; and it has never been shut since, blessed be His name.
Could anything be more divinely clear than this? Could anything more completely set forth the perfection of the work which Christ accomplished on the cross? And how beautiful are the verses following— “And having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith; having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water;” or in other words, having the privilege, let us exercise it; having the right, let us use it! Do not let us be found possessing an inestimable privilege, and yet be afraid to avail ourselves of it; but in all confidence, in the knowledge that the evil conscience we once had is sprinkled, cleansed, purged, and that everything that was impure in us, has been, in God’s sight, washed away, let us come into His presence, to commune with Him, to worship Him, and to tell forth the praises of Him who hath called us “out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Such, then, is the place into which, by the grace of God, we have been called. These passages are only two out of a multitude which might be referred to if we had time enough now to look through them. Either of these two is amply sufficient to establish the truth eve have before us; but we will just enumerate a few other passages to show that Scripture omits no aspect of the truth which might help to establish the believer, and to give him perfect confidence and assurance.
First, as to what we are now:
Second, as to the future, both in this world and in that to come—
“I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38, 3938For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38‑39).)
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they dial never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-2927My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (John 10:27‑29).)
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [judgment, same Greek word as in the 22nd verse] but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).)
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 8, 4.)
We have quoted these passages without comment, for surely they speak for themselves; but before passing on to our next head, we will just mention two thoughts which occur to us with regard to them.
First, the intimate connection which exists in many of them between the present and the future; showing that God sees our salvation, as it were, at one glance, as a complete thing, from its beginning on the cross, to its end in glory. The thought of our being Christ’s down here, and then not Christ’s up there, is an utter impossibility (we say it with all reverence) to the infinite mind of God. He sees us as believers in, belonging to, accepted in, Christ, and therefore there is no distinction in His mind, as to our standing, whether we are down here or up there, inasmuch as Christ is ever “in His bosom.” How blessed, how truly wondrous!
Then secondly, every one of these passages, and all others of a like kind, are absolute statements; no “ifs,” no conditions, no qualifications; all is sure and certain, for the simple reason that all in and through the Lord Jesus Christ who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” As to our walk and responsibility as being in this place, we find them amply provided for in other passages, but these are not what we are just at present dealing with.
2. Man’s Difficulties.
Why have we so much difficulty in receiving and appreciating such blessed truth as this we have been looking at There are several reasons. One is, because we look at Divine things from human point of view. We reason and argue about God’s ways to us according to the same rule as we reason about our nays one to another. In human maters, our relations one to another (leaving out the family relationship, which we shall look at presently) hang upon slender a thread, and are so easily set wide by causes which in themselves are often frivolous, that few of us (oh, how few!) can realize that God deals not with us after the same manner, that His affection for us is infinitely beyond and above the influence of things which, from a human point of view, would be sufficient to sever the relationship. What is the consequence of all this? Why, simply this, that whenever, through unwatchfulness, we have allowed evil to come in; whenever we feel that we have not been walking up to the standard we have fixed for ourselves; how ready we are, many of us, to think that our place in Christ is lost to us, instead of coming to our Father, as His children, and confessing the evil, knowing that “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” How easily do we let “that wicked one” persuade us that we shall have to begin all over again! O happiness for the time is gone; our communion is hindered; we realize none of the freshness and freedom we once knew How sad all this is! How the blessed Savior must mourn and grieve those of His people who can thus be turned away from Him! He, on His, part, holding out peace, rest, everything to satisfy us; we, on ours, ready to be; drifted away from it, ready to lose sight of it, ready almost to surrender all we hold most dear!
Another reason is that we have never laid hold sufficiently of a personal Christ; i.e., we have never had Him sufficiently, before us as a real man—a real person. Our conception of Christ has been too indistinct, too hazy. The moral beauties of Christ, as a living and glorified man at God’s right hand, have never been before our souls with sufficient power. The consequence is that we have never realized, to the full extent, our association with Him. We may have, by faith, been enabled to enter into His work on the cross, by which our sins were in some way, we hardly know how, dealt with; but we have never known Him as the one raised from the dead, seated at God’s right hand, His work all done (Heb. 10:1212But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; (Hebrews 10:12)), and we seated there in Him (Eph. 2:66And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6)). Even now, one often meets with Christians who really hardly know that Christ is a man still (a glorified man, of course). Their knowledge of Him extends not beyond His work; they know nothing of Him personally.
All this we believe to be the source of vast injury and loss to souls. The want of knowledge of the personal tie which exists between Christ and us—which, blessed be God, exists whether we realize it or not—throws us back more upon ourselves and our own doings, making us feel happy or otherwise, according as we think our doings are acceptable or not in the sight of God whereas, blessed be His name, the link which unites us to a personal Christ is totally independent of our own doings of experiences. This we saw in the first section. “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,” says the apostle. Could anything be more intimate and personal? How many of us realize this, or even believe it? To one who has been enabled to grasp this blessed truth, uncertainty cannot come in, because lie knows himself associated, personally and individually, with One who never can be set aside. Christ and the believer are so closely knit together in the presence of God that they must stand or fall together. Is Christ forever accepted before God? So is the believer. In the fragrance of the person of Christ ever ascending in the presence of God (compare Ex. 30:88And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. (Exodus 30:8)) we see there we are— “accepted in Him.”
Just look at this for a moment in another aspect. Supposing, for the sake of argument, that all I have said about our acceptance in Christ is wrong, and that our salvation does depend upon our own doings, which of us would be saved? Not one! Not one of us could stand up before God, even when we are most satisfied with ourselves, and say we deserve to be saved. No; it is a mercy to think that God does not accept us for and in ourselves. What does the Scripture say? “There is none righteous, no, not one.” How completely, then, are we shut out from our own doings, and cast upon the perfect work of another, even that One at God’s right hand— “the man Christ Jesus.”
We must not, however, go on with this point longer, though we would fain do so; but we must just look at one other cause of the uncertainty of some before going on to the third point; had set before us at the beginning and this is, the sad mistake which; many make, of confounding our responsibility, as believers, with our standing, our position, in Christ. The two things are in Scripture carefully separated, as is quite evident to anyone who; like Timothy, knows how to “rightly divide the word of truth.” In no case do they ever clash one with the other. All the numerous exhortations to watchfulness against evil, of whatever kind they may be, are addressed to those who are already believers. Let me make this distinct and clear. The very fact of our being believers makes these exhortations necessary. It would be quite useless to address exhortations as to walk and ways to an unbeliever, one who has not even been brought to Christ. How can he understand them? To illustrate this—it would have been the value of the Jewish ceremonies to the unbelieving nations around? They would not have understood or entered into them. All that we find in Exodus and Leviticus was for the Jews, as being God’s chosen people. So is it now. The Holy Spirit arts with the fact that we are believers, and then proceeds to give us admonitions as to our walk and ways before God. Solemn indeed they are. Let no one suppose I am attempting to weaken them. A holy God must have holiness. “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” were the words that Moses heard at the burning bush. “Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever.”
But this is where the mistake is—man looks upon holiness as a means to an end; or, in other words, as that upon which his salvation depends; while God looks upon it as the outcome, the fruit, of one who has already been brought to Him through believing in Jesus. Do I make this clear? If so, does it not open out to your mind, dear fellow-believers, a different order of things altogether frail what you have been accustomed to? Instead of your striving to do what is “right,” in order to make yourself as acceptable before God, does it not open on to you the multitude of opportunities you will have of doing His will, because you are a child of His? In gratitude and love to Him, and in the spirit of consecration to Christ, will you not henceforth live for Him, and speak for Him, as one who has been picked up out of the dust; who has been “translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom God’s dear Son?” Oh, it is a wonderful position to be in, and one which calls upon us all to “walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work.” (Col. 1:1010That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; (Colossians 1:10).)
3. How Freedom May Be Obtained.
I believe the first thing is to get into God’s presence, and, in absolute self-nothingness, to look to Him to open our eyes to the exceeding glory and beauty of Christ. He is the one that solves every difficulty. In the sight of Him every cloud vanishes; and (would it be too much to say?) having once seen Him as He is in glory, the soul will be delivered, once for all, from that which may hitherto have kept it in doubt and uncertainty. Did Paul ever forget “the glory of that light” which he saw on the way to Damascus? Was it not the remembrance of that which made him say in his later years— “Forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” What were the “things which are before,” — “the prize of the high calling”? Why, the same glory which he had seen for one brief moment many a long year before, but which was still so vividly present to him that he longed to be where he would see not else; where the things “which are behind” would be, indeed, forever forgotten. Oh, it is a wonderful power, this knowledge of the person of the Lord Jesus! We do not see the glory of it literally, as Paul did, but it is as real a thing to us as it was to him. May the Lord enable many a one who has never seen Jesus to see Him now! The apostle says in the Hebrews— “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” May you, reader, thus see Him!
Then our freedom and deliverance are materially helped by our accepting in simple faith, and entering into, God’s declaration that we are His children. The apostle says (Gal. 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26))— “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus,” and to this the “Spirit bears witness with our spirit” (Rom. 8:1616The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Romans 8:16)). This family relationship which God has set up between Himself and us, when duly appreciated, is most helpful to us, and God intended that it should be so. Let us look at this relationship for a moment as it exists between ourselves here on earth, and the first thing that strikes us is, that it is something which cannot be done away with. Whatever may be the circumstances, whether the child be an obedient one or not, whether he be an honor to his parents or the reverse, though it may be he is doing nothing but seeking his own pleasure, despite the grief and distress of the loving ones at home, still the relationship exists. It cannot be set aside. Take a simple illustration. In a family of, say, half-a-dozen, you may find every shade of obedience, from the child who seeks in everything to study the wishes of its parents, and to live for them in loving return for all the care they have manifested, down to the one who goes its own way, thinks its own thoughts, and only remembers its parents in the moment of need. But yet they are all children; nothing has interfered with their relationship; and though, sad to say, some are absolutely useless as regards service; or in producing any fruit that may bring credit to those who have nurtured them and watched over them in their helpless moments, yet they have still the inalienable right and title to be called children. Well now; the great God has deigned to take up this relationship and to bring us into it. He calls Himself our Father (John 20:1717Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. (John 20:17)) and us His children (Gal. 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)). We have not invented this, but He, out of the fullness of His grace, has set it up, and given it to us to enjoy. Shall we be found refusing to take what God has given? Shall we be presumptuous enough to try to set aside that which God has distinctly and clearly established? Nay, dear fellow-believers, let us rather thankfully accept God’s appointment; and further, let us live in constant self-judgment, and subjection to the written Word, that we, as children, may be found among those who live nearest to God, “as obedient children,” (1 Peter 1:1414As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: (1 Peter 1:14)), being followers of God “as dear children.” (Eph. 5:11Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; (Ephesians 5:1)).
I might just add (though it is surely not necessary) that the fact of our being set in such close and enduring relationship with God is not intended to give us the liberty to act in disobedience, or to walk according to our own ways, presuming on our relationship. God will surely chasten us for unjudged evil. The whole history of the Jewish people is an illustration of this. But it is meant to establish the feeble, hesitating soul, and to deliver such an one from the fear of Satan coming in to rob us of our place in Christ. Thank God, he never can do it!
One more point and I have done. If believers would keep before them constantly the expectation of the Lord’s return for His people—to take them out of this scene of darkness and rejection (John 14), would they not find in them such a power as would keep them always bright, always joyous, always free? By taking away their thoughts from themselves, and transferring them to such a delightful object as the return of the Lord Jesus, will not the mind and heart be preoccupied as to afford no room for the seasons of gloomy disquietude? None but those who are watching for the Lord can tell the wonderfully elevating effect it has. Read this verse in Luke 12: “Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.” After this, can any believer in Christ fail to watch for Him? “Watching” for Him, they will find a continual source of delight, and a superiority over self, such as, we venture to say, will set them, and keep them, right outside the region of doubt and misgiving.
I must not go on any further, but I would leave these thoughts with you, looking to the Lord, above all things, to open your eyes to the exceeding beauty of the blessed Jesus—that, having your attention taken off from yourselves and centered upon Him, you may know what it is to have perfect rest. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”