The Joy of Jesus is Complete in Christ

COMPLETE IN CHRIST



"Ye are complete in Him." -- Colossians 2:10.



The pardoned sinner for a while is content with the one

boon of forgiveness, and is too overjoyed with a sense of

freedom from bondage to know a wish beyond. In a little

time, however, he thinks about his position, his wants, and

his prospects: what is then his rapture at the discovery

that the roll of his pardon is also an indenture of all

wealth, a charter of all privileges, a title-deed of all

needed blessings! Having received Christ, he has obtained

all things in Him. He looks to that cross upon which the

dreadful handwriting of ordinances has been nailed; to his

unutterable surprise he beholds it blossom with mercy, and

like a tree of life bring forth the twelve manner of fruits

-- yea, all that he requires for life, for death, for time,

or for eternity. Lo! at the foot of the once accursed

tree grow plants for his healing, and flowers for his

delight; from the bleeding feet of the Redeemer flows

directing love to lead him all the desert through -- from

the pierced side there gushes cleansing water to purge him

from the power of sin -- the nails become a means of

securing him to righteousness, while above the crown hangs

visible as the gracious reward of perseverance. All things

are in the cross -- by this we conquer, by this we live, by

this we are purified, by this we continue firm to the end.

While sitting beneath the shadow of our Lord we think

ourselves most rich, for angels seem to sing, "Ye are

complete in Him."



"COMPLETE IN HIM!" -- precious sentence! sweeter than

honey to our soul, we would adore the Holy Spirit for

dictating such glorious words to His servant Paul. Oh! may

we by grace be made to see that they really are ours -- for

ours they are if we answer to the character described in

the opening verses of the Epistle to the Colossians. If we

have faith in Jesus Christ, love towards all the saints,

and a hope laid up in heaven, we may grasp this golden

sentence as all our own. Reader, have you been able to

follow in that which has already been described as the "way

which leads from banishment"? Then you may take this

choice sentence to yourself as a portion of your

inheritance; for weak, poor, helpless, unworthy though you

are in yourself, IN HIM, your Lord, your Redeemer, you are

complete in the fullest, broadest, and most varied sense of

that mighty word, and you will be glad to muse upon the

wonders of this glorious position. May the great Teacher

guide us into this mystery of the perfection of the elect

in Jesus, and may our meditation be cheering and profitable

to our spirits! As the words are few, let us dwell on

them, and endeavor to gain the sweets which lie so

compactly within this little cell.



Pause over those two little words, "IN HIM" -- in

Christ! Here is the doctrine of union and oneness with

Jesus -- a doctrine of undoubted truth and unmingled

comfort. The Church is so allied with her Lord that she is

positively one with Him. She is the bride, and He the

bridegroom; she is the branch, and He the stem; she the

body, and He the glorious head. So also is every

individual believer united to Christ. As Levi lay in the

loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him, so was every

believer chosen in Christ, and blessed with all spiritual

blessings in heavenly places in Him. We have been spared,

protected, converted, justified, and accepted solely and

entirely by virtue of our eternal union with Christ.



Never can the convinced soul obtain peace until, like

Ruth, she finds rest in the house of her kinsman, who

becomes her husband -- Jesus the Lord. An eminent pastor,

lately deceased, [Rev. Joseph Irons, Camberwell.] said in

one of his sermons, "Now, I am as sure as I am of my own

existence that wherever God the Holy Ghost awakens the poor

sinner by His mighty grace, and imparts spiritual life in

his heart, nothing will ever satisfy that poor sinner but a

believing assurance of eternal union with Christ. Unless

the soul obtains a sweet and satisfactory consciousness of

it in the exercise of a living faith, it will never `enter

into rest' this side eternity."



It is from oneness with Christ before all worlds that

we receive all our mercies. Faith is the precious grace

which discerns this eternal union, and cements it by

another -- a vital union; so that we become one, not merely

in the eye of God, but in our own happy experience -- one

in aim, one in heart, one in holiness, one in communion,

and, ultimately, one in glory.



This manifest union is not more real and actual than

the eternal union of which it is the revelation; it does

not commence the union, nor does its obscurity or clearness

in the least affect the certainty or safety of the

immutable oneness subsisting between Jesus and the

believer. It is eminently desirable that every saint

should attain a full assurance of his union to Christ, and

it is exceedingly important that he should labor to

maintain a constant sense thereof; for although the mercy

be the same, yet his comfort from it will vary according to

his apprehension of it. A landscape is as fair by night as

by day, but who can perceive its beauties in the dark? --

even so we must see, or rather believe, this union to

rejoice in it.



No condition out of Paradise can be more blessed than

that which is produced by a living sense of oneness with

Jesus. To know and feel that our interests are mutual, our

bonds indissoluble, and our lives united, is indeed to dip

our morsel in the golden dish of heaven. There is no

sweeter canticle for mortal lips than the sweet song, "My

Beloved is mine, and I am His," --





"E'en like two bank-dividing brooks,

That wash the pebbles with their wanton streams,

And, having rang'd and search'd a thousand nooks,

Meet both at length in silver-breasted Thames,

Where in a greater current they conjoin;

So I my best Beloved's am, so He is mine."



Verily the stream of life flows along easily enough

when it is commingled with Him who is our life. Walking

with our arm upon the shoulder of the Beloved is not simply

safe, but delightful; and living with His life is a noble

style of immortality, which may be enjoyed on earth. But

to be out of Christ is misery, weakness, and death -- in

short, it is the bud, of which the full-blown flower is

damnation. Apart from Jesus we have nothing save fearful

forebodings and terrible remembrances. Beloved, there is

no Gospel promise which is ours unless we know what it is

to be IN HIM. Out of Him all is poverty, woe, sorrow, and

destruction: it is only in Him, the ark of His elect, that

we can hope to enjoy covenant mercies, or rejoice in the

sure blessings of salvation. Can we now entertain a hope

that we are really hidden in the rock? Do we feel that we

are a portion of Christ's body, and that a real union

exists between us? Then may we proceed to unfold and

appropriate the privileges here mentioned.



Ye are COMPLETE in Him. The word "complete" does not

convey the whole of the meaning couched in the original

word PEPLEIROMENOI. It is on the whole the best word which

can be found in our language, but its meaning may be

further unveiled by the addition of other auxiliary

readings.



I. YE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM. Let us consider the

meaning of the phrase as it thus stands in our own

Authorized Version. We are COMPLETE. In all matters which

concern our spiritual welfare, and our soul's salvation, we

are complete in Christ.



1. COMPLETE WITHOUT THE AID OF JEWISH CEREMONIES.

They had their uses. They were pictures wherewith the law,

as a schoolmaster, taught the infant Jewish church; but now

that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster,

for in the clear light of Christian knowledge we need not

the aid of symbols:--



"Finished are the types and shadows

Of the ceremonial law."



The one sacrifice has so atoned for us that we need no

other. In Christ we are complete without any addition of

circumcision, sacrifice, passover, or temple service.

These are not but beggarly elements. They would be

incumbrances -- for what can we need from them when we are

complete in Christ? What have we to do with moon or stars,

now that Christ hath shone forth like the sun in his

strength? Let the dim lamps be quenched -- they would but

mock the dawn, and the sunlight would deride their unneeded

glimmerings. We despise not the ceremonial law -- it was

"the shadow of good things to come," and as such we

venerate it; but now that the substance has appeared, we

are not content with guesses of grace, but we grasp Him who

is grace and truth. How much more highly are we favored

than the ancient believers, for they by daily offerings

confessed themselves to be incomplete! They could never

stay their hand and say, "It is enough," for daily sin

demanded daily lambs for the altar. The Jews were never

made complete by their law, for their rites "could never

make the comers thereunto perfect;" but this is our

peculiar and superior privilege, that we are perfected by

the one offering on Calvary.



2. WE ARE COMPLETE WITHOUT THE HELP OF PHILOSOPHY.

In Paul's time there were some who thought that philosophy

might be used as a supplement to faith. They argued,

contended, and mystified every doctrine of revelation.

Happy would it have been for them and the Church had they

heeded the words of Paul, and kept entirely to the

simplicity of the Gospel, glorying only in the cross of

Christ! The Christian has such a sublime system of

doctrine that he never need to fear the vain speculations

of an infidel science, nor need he ever call in the

sophisms of the worldly wise to prop his faith -- in Christ

he is complete. We have never heard of a dying believer

asking the aid of a worldly philosophy to give him words of

comfort in the hour of dissolution. No! he has enough in

his own religion -- enough in the comforts of the Holy

Ghost. Never let us turn aside from the faith because of

the sneer of the learned: this a Christian will not,

cannot do -- for we see THAT eternal evidence in our

religion which we may call its best proof, namely, the fact

that in it we are complete.



No man can add anything to the religion of Jesus. All

that is consistent with truth is already incorporated in

it, and with that which is not true it can form no

alliance. There is nothing new in theology save that which

is false. Those who seek to improve the Gospel of Jesus do

but deface it. It is so perfect in itself that all

additions to it are but excrescences of error; and it

renders us so complete that aught we join with it is

supererogation, or worse than that. David would not go to

the fight in Saul's armor, for he had not proved it; so can

we say, "The sling and stone are to us abundant weapons; as

for the mail of philosophy, we leave that for proud

Goliaths to wear." One of the most evil signs of our day

is its tendency to rationalism, spiritualism, and

multitudes of other means of beclouding the simple faith of

our Lord Jesus; but the Lord's chosen family will not be

beguiled from their steadfastness, which is the only hope

of an heretical generation; for they know whom they have

believed, and will not renounce their confidence in Him for

the sophistries of "the wise and prudent."



3. COMPLETE WITHOUT THE INVENTIONS OF SUPERSTITION.

God is the Author of all revealed and spiritual religion;

but man would write an appendix. There must be works of

supererogation, deeds of penance, acts of mortification, or

else the poor papist can never be perfected. Yea, when he

has most vigorously applied the whip, when he has fasted

even to physical exhaustion, when he has forfeited all that

is natural to man -- yet he is never sure that he has done

enough, he can never say that he is complete; but the

Christian, without any of these, feels that he has gained a

consummation by those last words of his Savior -- "It is

finished!" The blood of his agonizing Lord is his only and

all-sufficient trust. He despises alike the absolutions

and the indulgences of priest or pontiff; he tramples on

the refuge of lies which the deceiver has builded -- his

glory and boast ever centering in the fact that he is

COMPLETE IN CHRIST. Let but this sentence be preached

throughout the earth, and believed by the inhabitants

thereof, and all the despots on its surface could not

buttress the tottering Church of Rome, even for a single

hour. Men would soon cry out, "Away with the usurper!

away with her pretensions! There is all in Christ; and

what can she add thereto, saving her mummeries, pollutions,

and corrupt abominations?"



4. WE ARE COMPLETE WITHOUT HUMAN MERIT, OUR OWN WORKS

BEING REGARDED AS FILTHY RAGS. How many there are who,

while waxing warm against popery, are fostering its

principles in their own minds! The very marrow of popery

is reliance on our own works; and in God's sight the

formalist and legalist are as contemptible, if found in an

orthodox church, as if they were open followers of

Antichrist. Brethren, let us see to it that we are resting

alone in the righteousness of Jesus, that He is all in all

to us. Let us never forget that if we are perfect in Him,

we are perfect only in Him. While we would diligently

cultivate works of holiness, let us be careful lest we seek

to add to the perfect work of Jesus. The robe of

righteousness that nature spins and weaves is too frail a

fabric to endure the breath of the Almighty; we must,

therefore, cast it all away -- creature doings must not be

united with, or regarded as auxiliary to, divine

satisfaction.



We would be holy, even as God is, but we are still

confident that this will not be supplementing the great

righteousness which is ours by imputation. No; though

compassed with sin and surrounded by our depravity, we know

that we are so complete in Jesus that we could not be more

so, even were we free from all these things, and glorified

as the spirits of just men made perfect.



Blessed completely through the God-Man, let our

unbelief be ashamed, and let our admiration be fastened

upon this interesting and delightful state of privilege.

Arise, believer! and behold yourself "perfect in Christ

Jesus." Let not your sins shake your faith in the

all-sufficiency of Jesus. You are, with all your

depravity, still in Him, and therefore complete. You have

need of nothing beyond what there is in Him. In Him you

are at this moment RIGHTEOUS, in Him entirely clean, in Him

an object of divine approval and eternal love. NOW, as you

are, and where you are, you are still complete. Feeble,

forgetful, frail, fearful, and fickle in yourself, yet

IN HIM you are all that can be desired. Your

unrighteousness is covered, your righteousness is accepted,

your strength is perfected, your safety secured, and your

heaven certain. Rejoice, then, that you are "complete in

Him." Look on your own nothingness and be humble, but look

at Jesus, your great Representative, and be glad. Be not

so intent upon your own corruptions as to forget His

immaculate purity, which He has given to you. Be not so

mindful of your original poverty as to forget the infinite

riches which He has conferred on you. It will save you

many pangs if you will learn to think of yourself as being

IN HIM, and as being by His glorious grace accepted in

Him, and perfect in Christ Jesus.



II. YE ARE FULLY SUPPLIED IN HIM. Having Him, we

have all that we can possibly require. The man of God is

thoroughly furnished in the possession of his great Savior.

He need never to look for anything beyond, for in Him all

is treasured. Do we need FORGIVENESS for the past?

Pardons, rich and free, are with Jesus. Grace to cover all

our sin is there; grace to rise above our follies and our

faults. Is it WISDOM which we lack? He is made of God

unto us wisdom. His finger shall point out our path in the

desert; His rod and staff shall keep us in the way when we

walk through the valley of the shadow of death. In our

combats with the foe do we feel want of STRENGTH? Is He

not Jehovah, mighty to save? Will He not increase power to

the faint, and succor the fallen? Need we go to Assyria,

or stay on Egypt, for help? Nay, these are broken reeds.

Surely, in the Lord Jehovah we have righteousness and

strength. The battle is before us, but we tremble not at

the foe; we feel armed at all points, clad in impenetrable

mail, for we are fully supplied in Him. Do we deplore our

ignorance? He will give us KNOWLEDGE; He can open our ear

to listen to mysteries unknown. Even babes shall learn the

wonders of His grace, and children shall be taught of the

Lord. No other teacher is required; He is alone efficient

and all-sufficient. Are we at times distressed? We need

not inquire for COMFORT, for in Him, the consolation of

Israel, there are fats full of the oil of joy, and rivers

of the wine of thanksgiving. The PLEASURES of the world

are void to us, for we have infinitely more joy than they

can give in HIM who has made us complete.



Ah! my reader, whatever exigencies may arise, we

shall never need to say, "We have searched, but cannot find

what we require; for it is, and ever shall be, found in the

storehouse of mercy, even in Jesus Christ." "It hath

pleased the Father that in Him should ALL fulness dwell;"

and truly none of the saints have ever complained of any

failure in Him. Tens of thousands of them have drawn from

this sacred well, yet is it as full as ever, and all who

come to it are supplied with the full measure of their

necessities. Jesus is not one single sprig of myrrh, but

"a BUNDLE of myrrh is my Beloved unto me;" [Song of Sol.

1:13,14] not one mercy, but a string of mercies, for "my

Beloved is unto me as A CLUSTER of camphire." "In Christ

is a cluster of all spiritual blessings; all the blessings

of the everlasting covenant are in His hands and at His

disposal; and saints are blessed with all spiritual

blessings in heavenly places in Him. He is the believer's

wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

There is not a mercy we want but is in Him, or a blessing

we enjoy but what we have received it from Him. He is the

believer's `ALL IN ALL.'" [Dr. Gill] The word

translated "complete" is used by Demosthenes in describing

a ship as fully manned -- and truly the Christian's ship,

from prow to stern, is well manned by her Captain, who

Himself steers the vessel, stills the storm, feeds the

crew, fills the sails, and brings all safe to their desired

haven. In every position of danger or duty Christ Himself

is all-sufficient for protection or support. Under every

conceivable or inconceivable trial, we shall find in Him

sufficient grace: should every earthly stream be dried,

there is enough in Him, in the absence of them all. His

glorious person is the dwelling-place of all-sufficiency.

"In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;"

as the fulness of Deity is sufficient to create and sustain

a universe of ponderous orbs, and whole worlds of living

creatures, can it be supposed that it will be found unable

to supply the necessities of saints? Such a fear would be

as foolish as if a man should tremble lest the atmosphere

should prove too little for his breath, or the rivers too

shallow for his thirst. To imagine the riches of the

incarnate God to fail would be to conceive a bankrupt God,

or a wasted infinite. Therefore, let us set up our banners

in His name, and exceedingly rejoice.



III. A third reading is -- YE ARE SATISFIED IN HIM.

Satisfaction is a jewel rare and precious. Happy is the

merchantman who finds it. We may seek it in RICHES, but it

does not lie there. We may heap up gold and silver, pile

on pile, until we are rich beyond the dream of avarice,

then thrust our hands into our bags of gold, and search

there for satisfaction, but we have it not. Our heart,

like the horse-leech, cries, "Give, give!" We may erect

the palace and conquer mighty nations, but among the

trophies which decorate the hall, there is not that

precious thing which worlds cannot buy. But give us

Christ, let us be allied to Him, and our heart is

satisfied. We are content in poverty -- we are rich; in

distress we have all, and abound. We are full, for we are

satisfied in Him.



Again, let us explore the fields of KNOWLEDGE; let us

separate ourselves, and intermeddle with all wisdom; let us

dive into the secrets of nature; let the heavens yield to

the telescope, and the earth to our research; let us turn

the ponderous tome, and pore over the pages of the mighty

folio; let us take our seat among the wise, and become

professors of science; but, alas! we soon shall loathe it

all, for "much study is a weariness of the flesh." But let

us turn again tot he fountain-head, and drink of the waters

of revelation: we are then satisfied. Whatever the pursuit

may be, whether we invoke the trump of fame to do us

homage, and bid our fellows offer the incense of honor, or

pursue the pleasures of sin, and dance a giddy round of

merriment, or follow the less erratic movements of

commerce, and acquire influence among men, we shall still

be disappointed, we shall have still an aching void, an

emptiness within; but when we gather up our straying

desires, and bring them to a focus at the foot of Calvary,

we feel a solid satisfaction, of which the world cannot

deprive us.



Among the sons of men there are not a few of restless

spirit, whose uneasy souls are panting for an unknown good,

the want of which they feel, but the nature of which they

do not comprehend. These will hurry from country to

country, to do little else but attempt a hopeless escape

from themselves; they will flit from pleasure to pleasure,

with the only gain of fresh grief from repeated

disappointments. It were hard indeed to compound a

medicine for minds thus diseased. Verily, the aromatics

and balms of Araby, or the islands of the sea, might be

exhausted ere the elixir of satisfaction could be

distilled, and every mystic name in the vocabulary of the

wise might be tried in vain to produce the all-precious

charm of quiet. But in the Gospel we find the inestimable

medicine already compounded, potent enough to allay the

most burning fever, and still the most violent palpitations

of the heart. This we speak from experience, for we too

were once, like the unclean spirit, "seeking rest and

finding none;" we once groaned for an unseen something,

which in all our joys we could not find, and now, by God's

great love, we have found the water which has quenched our

thirst -- it is that which Jesus gives, "the living water"

of His grace. We revel in the sweets of the name of Jesus,

and long for nought beside. Like Naphtali, we are

satisfied with favor, and full of the blessing of the Lord.

Like Jacob, we exclaim, "It is enough." The soul is

anchored, the desire is "satiated with fatness," the whole

man is rich to all the intents of bliss, and looks for

nothing more. Allen, in his "Heaven Opened," represents

the believer as soliloquizing in the following joyous

manner: -- "O happy soul, how rich art thou! What a booty

have I gotten! It is all mine own. I have the promises of

this life and of that which is to come. Oh! what can I

wish more? How full a charter is here! Now, my doubting

soul may boldly and believingly say with Thomas, `My Lord

and my God.' What need we any further witness? We have

heard His words. He has sworn by His holiness that His

decree may not be changed, and has signed it with His own

signet. And now return to thy rest, O my soul! for the

Lord has dealt bountifully with thee. Say, if thy lines be

not fallen to thee in a pleasant place, and if this be not

a goodly heritage? O blasphemous discontent! how absurd

and unreasonable an evil art thou, whom all the fulness of

the Godhead cannot satisfy, because thou art denied in a

petty comfort, or crossed in thy vain expectations from the

world! O my unthankful soul, shall not a Trinity content

thee? Shall not all-sufficiency suffice thee? Silence, ye

murmuring thoughts, for ever. I have enough, I abound, and

am full. Infiniteness and eternity are mine, and what more

can I ask?"



Oh, may we constantly dwell on the blissful summit of

spiritual content, boasting continually in the completeness

of our salvation IN HIM, and may we ever seek to live up

to our great and inestimable privilege! Let us live

according to our rank and quality, according to our rank

and quality, according to the riches conveyed to us by the

eternal covenant. As great princes are so arrayed that you

can read their estates in their garments, and discern their

riches by their tables, so let our daily carriage express

to others the value which we set upon the blessings of

grace. A murmur is a rag which is ill-suited to be the

dress of a soul possessed of Jesus; a complaining spirit is

too mean a thing for an heir of all things to indulge. Let

worldlings see that our Jesus is indeed a sufficient

portion. As for those of us who are continually filled

with rejoicing, let us be careful that our company and

converse are in keeping with our high position. Let our

satisfaction with Christ beget in us a spirit too noble to

stoop to the base deeds of ungodly men. Let us live among

the generation of the just; let us dwell in the courts of

the great King, behold His face, wait at His throne, bear

His name, show forth His virtues, set forth His praises,

advance His honor, uphold His interest, and reflect His

image. It is not becoming that princes of the blood should

herd with beggars, or dress as they do; let all believers,

then, come out from the world, and mount the hills of high

and holy living; so shall it be proved that they are

content with Christ, when they utterly forsake the broken

cisterns.



IV. The text bears within it another meaning -- YE

ARE FILLED IN HIM: --so Wickliffe translated it, "AND ZE

BEN FILLID IN HYM." A possession of Jesus in the soul is a

filling thing. Our great Creator never intended that the

heart should be empty, and hence He has stamped upon it the

ancient rule that nature abhors a vacuum. The soul can

never be quiet until in every part it is fully occupied.

It is as insatiable as the grave, until it finds every

corner of its being filled with treasure. Now, it can be

said of Christian salvation, that it, and it alone, can

fill the mind. Man is a compound being, and while one

portion of his being may be full, another may be empty.

There is nothing which can fill the whole man save the

possession of Christ.



The man of hard calculation, the lover of facts, may

feast his head and starve his heart; -- the sentimentalist

may fill up his full measure of emotion, and destroy his

understanding; -- the poet may render his imagination

gigantic, and dwarf his judgment; -- the student may render

his brain the very refinement of logic, and his conscience

may be dying: -- but give us Christ for our study, Christ

for our science, Christ for our pursuit, and our whole man

is filled. In His religion we find enough to exercise the

faculties of the most astute reasoner, while yet our heart,

by the contemplation, shall be warmed -- yea, made to burn

within us. In Him we find room for imagination's utmost

stretch, while yet His kind hand preserves us from wild and

romantic visions. He can satisfy our soul in its every

part. Our whole man feels that His truth is our soul's

proper food, that its powers were made to appropriate HIM,

while HE is so constituted that He is adapted to its every

want. Herein lies the fault of all human systems of

religion -- they do but subjugate and enlist a portion of

the man; they light up with doubtful brilliance one single

chamber of his soul, and leave the rest in darkness; they

cover him in one part, and allow the biting frost to benumb

and freeze the other, until the man feels that something is

neglected, for he bears a gnawing within him which his

false religion cannot satisfy. But let the glorious Gospel

of the blessed Jesus come into the man; let the Holy Spirit

apply the word with power, and the whole man is filled --

every nerve, like the string of a harp, is wound up, and

gives forth melody -- every power blesses God -- every

portion is lighted up with splendor, and the man exclaims,



"There rest, my long divided soul,

Fixed on this mighty centre, rest."



"Shaddai," the Lord all-sufficient, is a portion large

enough to afford us fulness of joy and peace. In Him, as

well as in His house, "there is bread enough and to spare."

In the absence of all other good things, He is an

overflowing river of mercy, and when other blessings are

present, they owe all their value to Him. He makes our cup

so full that it runneth over, and so He is just what man's

insatiable heart requires. It is a fact which all men must

acknowledge, that we are never full till we run over -- the

soul never has enough till it has more than enough; while

we can contain and measure and number our possessions, we

are not quite so rich as we desire. PAUPERIS EST NUMERARE

PECUS -- we count ourselves poor so long as we can count

our wealth. We are never satisfied till we have more than

will satisfy us. But in Jesus there is that

superabundance, that lavish richness, that outdoing of

desire, that we are obliged to exclaim, "IT IS ENOUGH --

I'M FILLED TO THE BRIM."



How desirable is that state of mind which makes every

part of the soul a spring of joys! The most of men have

but one well of mirth within them; according to their

temperament, they derive their happiness from different

powers of the mind -- one from bold imagination, another

from solitary meditation, and a third from memory; but the

believer has many wells and many palm-trees, for all that

is within him is blessed by God. As the waters cover the

sea, so has divine grace flooded every portion of his

being. He has no "aching void," no "salt land, and not

inhabited," no "clouds without rain;" but where once were

disappointment and discontent, there are now "pleasures for

evermore," for the soul is "filled in Him."



Seek then, beloved Christian reader, to know more and

more of Jesus. Think not that you are master of the

science of Christ crucified. You know enough of Him to be

supremely blessed; but you are even now but at the

beginning. Notwithstanding all you have learned of Him,

remember you have only read the child's first primer; you

are as yet on one of the lower forms; you have not yet a

degree in the sacred college. You have but dipped the dole

of your foot in that stream wherein the glorified are now

swimming. You are but a gleaner -- you have not at present

handled the sheaves with which the ransomed returned to

Zion. King Jesus has not showed you ALL the treasures of

His house, nor can you more than guess the value of the

least of His jewels. You have at this moment a very faint

idea of the glory to which your Redeemer has raised you, or

the completeness with which He has enriched you. Your joys

are but sips of the cup, but crumbs from under the table.

Up then to your inheritance, the land is before you, walk

through and survey the lot of your inheritance; but know

this, that until you have washed in Jordan, you shall be

but as a beginner, not only in the whole science of divine

love, but even in this one short but comprehensive lesson:

"COMPLETE IN HIM."



TO THE UNCONVERTED READER.



FRIEND, -- We will venture one assertion, in the full

belief that you can not deny it -- YOU ARE NOT ENTIRELY

SATISFIED. You are one of the weary-footed seekers of a

joy which you will never find outside of Christ. Oh! let

this chapter teach you to forgo your vain pursuit, and look

in another direction. be assured that, as hitherto your

chase has been a disappointment, so shall it continue to

the end, unless you run in another manner. Others have dug

the mines of worldly pleasure, and have gained nothing but

anguish and despair; will you search again where others

have found nothing? Let the experience of ages teach you

the fallacy of human hopes, and let your own failures warn

thee of new attempts.



But hark! sinner, all you need is in Christ. He will

fill you, satisfy you, enrich you, gladden you. Oh! let

your friend beseech you, "Taste and see that the Lord is

good."

The Joy of Jesus is God The Father

God is the Father of all men naturally, being their Creator. "Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us?" (Mal. 2:10). "But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our Potter; and we all are the work of Thy hand" (Isa. 64:8). The fact that such verses have been grossly perverted by some holding erroneous views on "the universal fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man," must not cause us to utterly repudiate them. It is our privilege to assure the most ungodly and abandoned that, if they will but throw down the weapons of their warfare and do as the prodigal did, there is a loving Father ready to welcome them. If He hears the cries of the ravens (Ps. 147:9), will He turn a deaf ear to the requests of a rational creature? Simon Magus, while still "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity," was directed by an apostle to repent of his wickedness and to pray to God (Acts 8:22, 23).

The Joy of Jesus is Love

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19

The Joy of Jesus is Being Blessed

Praise for the LORD's Benefits
A Psalm of David.

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul:

and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits:
3 who forgiveth all thine iniquities;

who healeth all thy diseases;
4 who redeemeth thy life from destruction;

who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies;
5 who satisfieth thy mouth with good things;

so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The LORD executeth righteousness

and judgment for all that are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways unto Moses,

his acts unto the children of Israel.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, Jas. 5.11

slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
9 He will not always chide:

neither will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins;

nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth,

so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,

so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children,

so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
14 For he knoweth our frame;

he remembereth that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are as grass:

as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;

and the place thereof shall know it no more.
17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting

upon them that fear him,
and his righteousness unto children's children;
18 to such as keep his covenant,

and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
19 The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens;

and his kingdom ruleth over all.
20 Bless the LORD, ye his angels,

that excel in strength,
that do his commandments,
hearkening unto the voice of his word.
21 Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts;

ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
22 Bless the LORD, all his works

in all places of his dominion:
bless the LORD, O my soul.

Published by The American Bible Society

The Joy of Jesus is The Power of God

The Power of God: "Who are kept by the power of God through faith.. . ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5). "Kept from what? Ah, what mortal is capable of returning a full answer? A whole section might profitably be devoted to this one aspect of our subject. Kept from the dominion of sin which still dwells within us. Kept from being drawn Out of the narrow way by the enticements of the world. Kept from the horrible heresies which ensnare thousands on every side. Kept from being overcome by Satan, who ever seeks our destruction. Kept from departing from the living God so that we do not make shipwreck of the faith. Kept from turning His grace into lasciviousness. Weak as water in ourselves, yet enabled to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. This "is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes."
Sin is a mighty monarch which none of his subjects can withstand. There was more in Adam while innocent to resist sin than in any other since, for sin has an ally within the fallen creature that is ever ready to betray him into temptation from without. But sin had no such advantage over Adam, nevertheless it overwhelmed him. The non-elect angels were yet better able to withstand sin than Adam was, having a more excellent nature and being nearer to God, yet sin prevailed against them, and threw them out of heaven into hell. Then what a mighty power is required to subdue it! Only He who "led captivity captive" can make His people more than conquerors.
"As the providence of God is a manifestation of His power in a continued creation, so the preservation of grace is a manifestation of His power in a continued regeneration. God’s strength abates and modifies the violence of temptations, His staff supports His people under them, His might defeats the power of Satan. The counterworkings of indwelling corruptions, the reluctancies of the flesh against the breathings of the spirit, the fallacies of the senses and the rovings of the mind would quickly stifle and quench grace if it were not maintained by the same all-powerful blast that first inbreathed it. No less power is seen in perfecting it, than implanting it (2 Peter 1:3); no less in fulfilling the work of faith, than in engrafting the word of faith (2 Thess. 1:11)."—S. Charnock.
The preservation of God’s people in this world greatly glories the power of God. To preserve those with so many corruptions within and so many temptations without magnifies His ineffable might more than if He were to translate them to heaven the moment they believed. In a world of suffering and sorrow, to preserve the faith of His people amid so many and sore testings, trials, buffetings, disappointments, betrayals by friends and professed brethren in Christ, is infinitely more wonderful than if a man should succeed in carrying an unsheltered candle alight across an open moor when a hurricane was blowing. To the glory of God the writer bears witness that but for omnipotent grace he had become an infidel years ago as the result of the treatment he had received from those who posed as preachers of the Gospel. Yes, for God to supply strength to His fainting people, and enable them to "hold the beginning of their confidence stedfast unto the end" (Heb. 3:14), is more marvelous than though He were to keep a fire burning in the midst of the ocean.
How the contemplation of the power of God should deepen our confidence and trust in Him: "Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength" (Isa. 26:4). The power of God was the ground of Abraham’s assurance (Heb. 11:19), of the three Hebrews’ in Babylon (Dan. 3:17), of Christ’s (Heb. 5:7). Oh, to bear constantly in mind that "God is able to make all grace abound toward us" (2 Cor. 19:8). Nothing is so calculated to calm the mind, still our fears, and fill us with peace as faith’s appropriation of God’s sufficiency. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:3 1). His infallible promise is, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness" (Isa. 41:10). He who brought a nation through the Red Sea without any ships, and led them across the desert for forty years where was neither bread nor water, still lives and reigns!

The Joy of Jesus is Life

"For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world" (John 6:33). The Father’s provision for a dying world was to send from heaven His only begotten Son. There is another suggestive contrast here, yea, a double one. The manna had no power to ward off death—the generation of Israel that ate it in the wilderness died! How, then, could it be the "true bread"? No; Christ is the "true bread," for He bestows "life." But again: the manna was only for Israel. No other people in the desert (the Amorites, for instance) partook of the manna; for it fell only in Israel’s camp. But the true Bread "giveth life unto the world." The "world" here does not include the whole human race, for Christ does not bestow "life" on every descendant of Adam. It is not here said that the true Bread offereth "life unto the world," but He "giveth life." It is the "world" of believers who are here in view. The Lord, then, designedly employs a word that reached beyond the limits of Israel, and took in elect Gentiles too!
"For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." Three different expressions are used by our Lord in this passage, each having a slightly varied meaning; the three together, serving to bring out the fulness and blessedness of this title. In verse 32 He speaks of Himself as the "true bread from heaven": "true" speaks of that which is real, genuine, satisfying; "from heaven" tells of its celestial and spiritual character. In verse 33 He speaks of Himself as "the bread of God," which denotes that He is Divine, eternal. Then, in verse 35 He says, "I am the bread of life": the One who imparts, nourishes and sustains life.
"Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread" (John 6:34). This was but the outcome of a fleeting impression which had been made by His words. It reminds us very much of the language of the woman at the well, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" (John 4:15), and those who recall our comments on that verse will remember the motive that prompted her. The words of these men but served to make their rejection of Him more manifest and decisive when they fully grasped His meaning: verse 36 proves this conclusively"But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not."
"And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). The Lord places Himself before us under the figure of bread. The emblem is beautifully significant, and like all others used in Scripture calls for prolonged and careful meditation. First, bread is a necessary food. Unlike many other articles of diet which are more or less luxuries, this is essential to our very existence. Bread is the food we cannot dispense with. There are other things placed upon our tables that we can do without, but not so with bread. Let us learn the lesson well. Without Christ we shall perish. There is no spiritual life or health apart from the Bread of God.

The Joy of Jesus is Compassion

Matthew 14: 13-21

And when he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. Jesus said, They need not go away; you give them something to eat".

When we read the synoptic gospels, we are struck by the fact that Jesus was always followed by large crowds of people. He attracted crowds in his public ministry. Listen to what Mark says:

Jesus and his disciples went away to Lake Galilee and a large crowd followed him. They had come from Galilee, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from the territory of Idumea, from the territory on the east side of Jordan, and from the cities of Tyre and Sidon. All these people came to Jesus because they had heard of the things he was doing. The crowd was so large that Jesus told his disciples to get a boat ready for him, so that the people would not crush him. He had healed many sick people, and all those who were ill kept pushing their way to him in order to touch him. And whenever those who had evil spirits in them saw him, they would fall down before him and scream, "You are the Son of God." (Mark 3:7-11)

Wherever Jesus went he was in the midst of people. "When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door..." (Mark 2:1)

Jesus among the multitude, Jesus among the crowd, Jesus with the people, this is one of the themes of the Gospel story. We often think of Jesus as a solitary preacher, a religious recluse or a hermit. He was not an arm-chair rabbi or a theological professor. He was a man of the people.