1 Peter Chapter 1:
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
12Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
13Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
16Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
17And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
18Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
21Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
22Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
24For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
Sunday, November 14, 2010
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."
"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."
Saturday, November 13, 2010
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).
Friday, November 12, 2010
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
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
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
Thursday, November 11, 2010
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
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.
"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.
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Scripture: Psalm 100 (New International Version) Psalm 100 A psalm. For giving thanks. 1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worsh... -
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,...