Feb 11
11
I believe that Christ came into the world not to put men into a salvable state, but into a saved state. Not to put them where they could save themselves, but to do the work in them and for them, from first to last. If I did not believe that there was might going forth with the Word of Jesus which makes men willing, and which turns them from the error of their ways by the mighty, overwhelming, constraining force of a divine influence, I should cease to glory in the cross of Christ.
Charles Spurgeon
You might as soon yoke a gnat with an archangel as think of your going in to help Christ save you. To join a filthy rag from off a dunghill with the golden garments of a king or a queen cannot be permitted. Christ will be everything, or else he will be nothing. You must be saved wholly by mercy, or else not at all. There must not be even a trace of the fingers of self-righteousness on the acts and documents of divine grace.
Charles Spurgeon
He who provides the banquet, invites and prepares the guests. The love that spread the feast, provides the festal robe. Jesus supplies His merit for your demerit, substitutes His worthiness for your unworthiness, freely gives and graciously imputes the righteousness that entitles you to take your place at His table and, in grateful remembrance of His atoning death, to eat and drink of His provision abundantly.
Octavius Winslow
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The Heavenly Song of Victory
“Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ—for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night.”—Revelation 12:10.
This is a song of heaven—of that heaven from which the dragon had been cast out. It was sung with a loud voice, that all in heaven and earth might hear. It is a song of triumph and gladness, like that which is sung over one sinner who repents. Yet it is not a song of consummation, as if the whole work was completed, and the last battle won. For the dragon is only cast down to earth, to do terrible things there in his last wrath. But it is a song of progress. Another victory won—another advance made—the glorious termination becoming nearer and nearer.
Often had such a song been sung. Even at the first promise—still more at each successive unfolding of it—at the covenant with Abraham, and again with David; at each prophetic announcement of Messiah; at His birth; at His death (He himself took it up, ‘Now is the judgment of this world’); at His resurrection; at His ascension; at subsequent events both in heaven and earth; last of all shall it be sung at His second coming, when the development shall reach its fullness, the consummation be realized, the kingdom set up, and the glory revealed. It is like the feeling of seamen, at rounding some new coast which brings them more within sight of home; like soldiers, after defeating one and another squadron of the enemy’s troops, and pressing on, flushed with victory; like climbers of some mountain-range, surmounting first one and then another of the intervening heights that lie between them and the object of their ambition.
Thus runs the heavenly song—’Now has come to pass the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ.’ Let us attend to each of the notes separately.
I. The salvation. It is ‘the salvation’ that is here sung of—the salvation of Him whose name is Jesus, the Savior. It is salvation—not consisting of one blessing or one kind of blessing, but of many—made up of everything which can be indicated by the reversal of our lost condition. It is not done at once, but in parts and at sundry times, each age bringing with it more of ‘salvation’ in every sense; unfolding it; building it up; gathering in new objects; overcoming new enemies; occupying new ground; erecting new trophies. But little of it has yet taken effect; an ‘election,’ no more—yet something is doing, age after age. At each new development, or conquest, a new song in sung—’Now is come the salvation;’ and if these intermediate shouts of triumph be so loud and rapturous—what will be the last of all?
II. The power. This is the more common rendering of the word (not ‘strength’), as when Christ’s miracles are spoken of, or ‘the powers of the world to come.’ As yet God’s power has not been fully manifested; it has been hidden. Man’s power and Satan’s have been in the ascendant. The counteraction of and victory over these have not yet been conspicuously revealed. Many trophies, no doubt, it has won; many enemies it has defeated; many brands it has plucked from the burning; but the full revelation of its greatness is yet to come. When that day arrives, earth as well as heaven shall rejoice—’Now is come the salvation and the power.’ That shall be the day of power—’the Lord God omnipotent reigns.’
III. The kingdom of our God. It is the kingdom—the kingdom of kingdoms; not of Satan or man, as now, but of God, no, our God. Our God, says heaven; our God, re-echoes earth. God’s purpose is to have a kingdom and a king. The original grant or command to Adam involved this—’Have dominion’ (Genesis 1:28); He ‘put all things under his feet’ (Psalm 8:6). Man in the person of the first Adam was declared king, with this globe for his dominion. He fell, and forfeited his tenure. The second Adam has come in his stead; and the kingdom of our God is yet to be set up. As yet it is but the kingdom of man and of Satan. Earth has not acknowledge God; but in the day when God’s original purpose shall be fulfilled, shall be heard the loud voice in heaven and earth, ‘Now is come the kingdom of our God.’ Then shall the Church’s prayer be answered—’Your kingdom come.’
IV. The authority of His Christ. ‘The Christ of God’ is the full name for Jesus of Nazareth—God’s Messiah—He in whom all royal, priestly, judicial, prophetically power is invested. To this Messiah all power has been given, all authority entrusted, in heaven, and earth, and hell. But now we see not yet all things under Him. His authority is in abeyance until the fullness of the times shall come. Then it shall be put forth over all the earth. He shall destroy Antichrist; bind Satan; deliver creation; bring all the nations under His sway as King of kings and Lord of lords. His authority shall be supreme. His throne shall be above all thrones. His scepter shall be acknowledged everywhere. All nations shall submit themselves. Earth shall be as heaven. Then shall the loud voice be heard—
‘Now is come the authority of His Christ.’
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“For we who have believed enter into rest.” Hebrews 4:3
To rest is to ‘lean’ upon something. Is it not so spiritually? We need to lean upon something. The Lord himself has given us this figure. “Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?” The figure of “a rock” on which the Church is built, “the foundation” which God has laid in Zion, points to the same idea, that of leaning or dependence. Now when the soul comes to lean upon Jesus, and depend wholly and solely on him, it enters into the sweetness of the invitation.
Have we not leaned upon a thousand things? And what have they proved? Broken reeds that have run into our hands, and pierced us. Our own strength and resolutions, the world and the church, sinners and saints, friends and enemies, have they not all proved, more or less, broken reeds? The more we have leaned upon them, like a man leaning upon a sword, the more have they pierced our souls. The Lord himself has to wean us from the world, from friends, from enemies, from self, in order to bring us to lean upon himself; and every prop he will remove, sooner or later, that we may lean wholly and solely upon his Person, love, blood, and righteousness.
But there is another idea in the word “rest”–termination. When we are walking, running, or in any way moving, we are still going onwards; we have not got to the termination of our journey. But when we come to the termination of that we have been doing, we rest. So spiritually. As long as we are engaged in setting up our own righteousness, in laboring under the law, there is no termination of our labors. But when we come to the glorious Person of the Son of God, when we hang upon his atoning blood, dying love, and glorious righteousness, and feel them sweet, precious, and suitable, then there is rest. “We who have believed enter into rest,” says the Apostle. His legal labors are all terminated. His hopes and expectations flow unto, and center in Jesus–there they end, there they terminate; such a termination as a river finds in the boundless ocean.
J.C. Philpot
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CHRIST IS ALL, AND IN ALL “The Lord is my portion, says my soul.”
“Christ is all, and in all.”–Col. 3:11
We close these devout meditations with a magnificent Doxology–Christ all, and Christ in all! It is an epitome, the substance, the consummation and crown of the whole. Each theme has been a wider opening of the Divine jewel box, presenting another and a closer glimpse of the precious, priceless gem it contained. We now uplift and remove the lid, and, lo! it stands before us in all its grandeur, luster, and completeness–CHRIST, ALL AND IN ALL. Language is exhausted, imagery supplies its last symbol, imagination drops her wing, for inspiration can bear it no higher–Christ is all, and in all!
“Blessed Jesus! You are all in all, in creation and redemption, in pardon, grace, and glory. You are all in all in Your Church, and in the hearts of Your people–in all their joys, all their happiness, all their exercises, all their privileges. You are all in all in Your word, ordinances, means of grace, the sum and substance of the whole Bible. Do we speak of promises? You are the first promise in the sacred word, and the whole of every promise that follows; for all in You are ‘Yes and Amen’. Do we speak of the law? You are the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes. Do we speak of sacrifices? By Your one sacrifice You have for ever perfected those who are sanctified. Do we speak of the prophecies? To You give all the prophets witness, that whoever believes in You shall receive the remission of sins. Yes! blessed, blessed Jesus, You are all in all. May You be to me, Lord, the all in all I need in time, and then, surely, You will be my all in all to all eternity!”
My soul! all that Jesus has is yours! Every perfection of His nature, every throb of His heart, every thought of His mind, every drop of His blood, every shred of His righteousness, every atom of His merit, is yours! How rich and vast the inventory! How precious and boundless the wealth! Draw largely upon His opulence–He will honor every draft–sink deeply into His fullness–He will supply every need–“for all is yours.”
But, my soul, Jesus is not only all to you, but He is in all that concerns you. He is in every event of your history, and He is in every circumstance of your life. He is in every affliction–sanctifying it; He is in every sorrow–sweetening it; He is in every cloud, brightening it–He is in every burden–sustaining it; He rides upon every storm and walks upon every billow, saying to the winds and the waves, “Peace! be still.” Oh, never meet an event or a circumstance in your daily life, be it sad or joyous, but let your faith exclaim, “Jesus is in this! He sent it, He comes with it, He will control it, and I shall prove the all-sufficiency of His grace, and He shall have every ascription of my praise!” And if the Lord has seen fit to remove from you the one you loved–the blessing you prized–the supplies you needed–the prop upon which you leaned, it is only that He Himself should be your all in all. Jesus can fill every blank, replace every loss, and be infinitely more to you than the fondest and most essential treasures He ever gave or took away!
Christ will be all in all when eternity is nearing, and the eye is closing, and the heart is chilling, and the pulse is sinking, and the countenance is changing, and earth is disappearing, and heaven is opening, and friends are weeping–oh then, then, JESUS will be ALL AND IN ALL! Down the shaded valley–across the swelling flood–up the celestial hills–onward to the throne high and lifted up–glory bathing it, saints and angels circling it, anthems floating around it–Jesus will then appear as never before–THE ALL AND THE IN ALL of His Church.
“My flesh and my heart fails; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.”- Octavius Winslow