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We Are Complete In Christ, March 3
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
.
When the sinner has a view of the matchless charms of Jesus, sin no longer
looks attractive to him; for he beholds the Chiefest among ten thousand, the One
altogether lovely. He realizes by a personal experience the power of the gospel,
whose vastness of design is equaled only by its preciousness of purpose.
We have a living Saviour. He is not in Joseph’s new tomb; He is risen from
the dead and has ascended on high as a substitute and surety for every believing
soul.... The sinner is justified through the merits of Jesus, and this is God’s
acknowledgment of the perfection of the ransom paid for man. That Christ was
obedient even unto the death of the cross is a pledge of the repenting sinner’s
acceptance with the Father. Then shall we permit ourselves to have a vacillating
experience of doubting and believing, believing and doubting? Jesus is the pledge
of our acceptance with God. We stand in favor before God, not because of any
merit in ourselves, but because of our faith “in the Lord our righteousness.”
Jesus stands in the holy of holies, now to appear in the presence of God for
us. There He ceases not to present His people moment by moment, complete in
Himself. But because we are thus represented before the Father, we are not to
imagine that we are to presume upon His mercy and become careless, indifferent,
and self-indulgent. Christ is not the minister of sin. We are complete in Him,
accepted in the Beloved, only as we abide in Him by faith.
Perfection through our own good works we can never attain. The soul who sees
Jesus by faith repudiates his own righteousness. He sees himself as incomplete, his
repentance insufficient, his strongest faith but feebleness, his most costly sacrifice
as meager, and he sinks in humility at the foot of the cross. But a voice speaks to
him from the oracles of God’s Word. In amazement he hears the message, “Ye are
complete in him” (
Colossians 2:10
). Now all is at rest in his soul. No longer must
he strive to find some worthiness in himself, some meritorious deed by which to
gain the favor of God.
Beholding the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, he finds
the peace of Christ; for pardon is written against his name, and he accepts the word
of God, “Ye are complete in him.” How hard is it for humanity, long accustomed
to cherish doubt, to grasp this great truth! But what peace it brings to the soul,
what vital life!—
The Signs of the Times, July 4, 1892
.
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