ONE great principle interlines Christianity—salvation. When a soul is in its right place before God, resting on redemption, there is at once salvation and blessing. Some think a visible change must take place ere they can "read their title sure to mansions in the skies." But no, all is done, all settled, and we have only to enter into the enjoyment of it. There is a direct line from the dust of the sinner up to Christ. There are difficulties until we get there, but the very moment you are in the dust, helpless and hopeless, then there is a direct line to a triumphant Saviour, to a risen Christ. There all is settled and never can be unsettled; the soul that is once there can never lose its place.
The reason so many have unsettled peace is that they have not got to the bottom of self; they are occupied too much with their own state and feelings. The Holy Ghost will not occupy a sinner about himself, though he will chew him his sins. I get no peace whilst looking at myself. Looking within keeps me from the enjoyment of the peace which Christ has made by the blood of His cross. And He who has entered into the glory of God, having found eternal redemption, is now my peace. Look then away from self to Christ. He has made atonement for our sins, and so completely, that He has now sat down at the right hand of God. Why is He there? Because His work is done. What work? The bearing of our sins. The ground of peace is what Jesus Christ has done; and His blood cleanses from all guilt the soul that believes on Him. Further, I am brought into the presence of God whiter than snow through the efficacy of His death for me—where there is no condemnation. For I am there in all the acceptance of Christ Himself, and shall never come into judgment, as Christ Himself has said (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)).
Another reason believers do not enjoy peace is that they have a legal mind, a mind that is still under the sway of the law, that has not got rid of the legal principle. The legal mind reasons up from itself to God instead of from God to itself. I am delivered from law as a principle before I can enjoy peace. A man who is under the law has lustings and law workings until he is brought free from all through free grace—then all is victory. Law takes the legs from under the sinner, grace takes the legs from under sin. All this will enable you to see the fullness and beauty of this verse 11 (1 Cor. 6.). The 9th and 10th verses are a picture of what some of the Corinthians had been up to the moment the grace of God reached them. Every intelligent reader will be struck with the force of the monosyllables of scripture, as the little word "not" in Rom. 4. This little word "But" is the line of demarcation between a sinner in his sins and a sinner saved. It shows the great difference between the two. Every soul stands on one side or other of this "But"; there is no half and half, no neutral ground. Make it an intense question which side of the apostolic "but" am I? Don't say, I hope; I am striving to be on the right side; the only way is to be sure. Take your true place; acknowledge yourself spirit, soul, and body, that you are ruined and undone. When you are there, what is it but that you are washed, etc.? Every soul that trusts in the blood is as white as the snow from heaven, as white as the blood can make it. When once God puts into your hand the cup of salvation He never withdraws it. You may fail to enjoy it; fail to drink the blessings which He has provided. "But, ye are washed." Who washed you? God. God has washed every believing soul in this assembly.
Then He says, "Ye are sanctified." This sanctification is the setting apart to God at once forever, of the believer, at his conversion, and is as complete a thing before God as the justification. Here "sanctification" and "justification" are both put together. As is the one, so is the other—both are perfect. Many say, I know I am justified, but my sanctification is not complete; and think they are left here to complete it and get themselves fit for heaven. The devil succeeds in darkening souls immensely. On what authority does man take out this important word "sanctification"? It is as much the fruit of free grace as justification, and I have it all in Christ. The moment you truly turn to Him in faith you are taken from one side of the "but" to the other, and you are sanctified, and justified. As thus sanctified and justified, the believer is henceforth to walk as such, as a child of God, indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and this is practical sanctification or holiness which we are to pursue every day. And this will be growingly manifest in my walk as I look to the Lord Jesus. He is my life, and my object. Henceforth, for me to live is Christ. My desire in all things is now to please Him because I am His, and not in order to be His. The craft of the enemy is to rob you of peace. But Christ is our peace (Eph. 2:1414For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; (Ephesians 2:14)); as well as made unto us "righteousness and sanctification" (1 Cor. 1:3030But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)); and He is in the presence of God for me, in heaven, where all is sure. It may be compared to a parent who, when his son is leaving for school, furnishes him with a trunk in which he will find everything he can possibly need. So the believer has Christ, and in this precious casket I see all I require. I am complete in Him. Fit at any time to enter into the presence of God. "Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins" (Col. 1:12-1412Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Colossians 1:12‑14)).
C. H. M. (1862).