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CHRIST IS ALL IN ALL
HABITUATED as we have been from our early childhood to read the Holy Scriptures, and to hear them read in public, it is surprising that we do not gain a more clear and accurate knowledge of their contents. But experience shews, that, however strongly the inspired writers have declared the revealed will of God, it is but very partially and imperfectly known amongst us. The fact is, that we do not sufficiently consider the import of what we read. We pass over the most plain and significant expressions, without considering what is contained in them. When we read of a Saviour, we do not advert to the awful truth comprehended in that word, namely, that in ourselves we are utterly and eternally lost. In other words, we are very little affected with what is expressed in Scripture, because we do not pause to inquire into what those expressions imply. That we suffer great loss by this inadvertence is evident from what our blessed Lord taught respecting the resurrection of our bodies to eternal life. The Sadducees could not find that doctrine contained in the Holy Scriptures, or at all events not in the Pentateuch, which alone they regarded as of divine authority. Our Lord appealed to the name of Jehovah as proclaimed in the Pentateuch. namely, as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Now, says our Lord, consider what is implied in that name. Jehovah, as their God, is the God of their whole persons, their bodies as well as their souls; and, if their bodies are not to be raised again, that relation between God and them, so far as respects their bodies, is dissolved. But that relation never can be dissolved: therefore their bodies must be raised again, and be re-united to their souls, that so those departed saints may, in their whole and entire persons, for ever serve and enjoy their God [Note: Mat_22:32.].
Now I would wish to commend to you the passage before us in this peculiar view. St. Paul is shewing the Corinthians, that they neither have, nor ever can have, any thing to boast of; since “God has chosen the poor, and the weak, and the foolish, in preference to the rich, the mighty, and the wise;” and since whatsoever any of them may have, they have it solely in Christ, who of God is made to them wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; and that consequently, whosoever glories, must glory, not in himself, but in the Lord alone.
In order that we may unfold these words to the greater advantage, we shall, in accordance with this hint, consider, first, What is implied in them, and then, What is expressed.
Now if we will duly consider these words, we shall see this evidently implied in them: first, that we are destitute of all good in ourselves, and, secondly, that we are incapable of acquiring it by any power of our own. On a supposition that either of these positions were not true, what occasion would there be that all good should be treasured up for us in another, to be received from him? But they are true.—It is a fact, that we are destitute of all good in ourselves; for in ourselves we are ignorant, guilty, polluted, and enslaved.
We are ignorant. What do we by nature know of ourselves? What know we of the corruption of the human heart? God himself has told us, that in the heart of man there are depths of iniquity altogether unfathomable, and workings that are utterly unsearchable: the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: Who can know it? And what know we of God? of his holiness, which cannot behold iniquity without the utmost abhorrence of it? of his justice, which cannot but visit it with righteous indignation? and of his truth, which cannot but execute every threatening which he has denounced against it? As to any mere notions which men may entertain in theory, I speak not of them; it is of practical knowledge that I speak: and I need only appeal to the lives of all around us, to prove that, so far from having any just knowledge of God, “there is not in the whole world an unconverted man, that understandeth, so as duly and habitually to seek after him [Note: Rom_3:11. Psa_53:2-3.].” On the contrary the conduct of all clearly shews, that “God is not in all their thoughts [Note: Psa_10:4.].” And what know we of Christ and of the incomprehensible extent of his love? Or what of his Holy Spirit, and all his enlightening, sanctifying, and consoling operations? What know we of the evil and bitterness of sin? or of the beauty and blessedness of true holiness? The testimony which our Lord himself has borne of us is undeniably true, that, however we may fancy ourselves “rich, and increased in goods, and in need of nothing, we are wretched, and miserable, even poor, and blind, and naked [Note: Rev_3:17.].”
We are guilty also, to an extent which no words can adequately describe. As to gross sins, I make no mention of them. Our whole life has been one continued scene of rebellion against God. Nor have we ceased to “trample under foot the blood of Christ, by which we have been redeemed; or to do despite to the Spirit of God [Note: Heb_10:29.],” who has striven with us, warning us against the evils which we have been habituated to commit, and stimulating us to those duties, which we have neglected to perform. Truly, on the most superficial view of our state we must be convinced, that “every mouth must be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God [Note: Rom_3:19.].”
How polluted we are, in every member of our bodies and in every faculty of our souls, God alone knoweth or can conceive. Darkness is not more opposed to light, or Belial to Christ, than we, every one of us, are to the holy will of God, whether as proclaimed in his law, or as exhibited in his Gospel. How blind we are in our understanding, how perverse in our will, how sensual in our affections, who shall be able to declare? Even “the Apostles themselves once had their conversation in the lusts of their flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as other [Note: Eph_2:3.]:” And such have we been also. Our very “mind and conscience have been defiled,” so that there is not one amongst us who must not join in that humiliating acknowledgment, that “there is no health in us.”
In fact, we are altogether enslaved, or, as the Scripture expresses it, “taken in the snare of the devil, and led captive by him at his will [Note: 2Ti_2:26.].” Nor is this true merely in relation to more flagrant transgressors only; “for the prince of the power of the air worketh in all the children of disobedience [Note: Eph_2:2.];” and, however insensible we may be of his motions, does really instigate us to every evil we commit.
But I observed that there is yet further implied in my text, not only that we are destitute of all good in ourselves, but that we are incapable of acquiring it by any power of our own. Were not this true, there would, as I have before observed, have been no need that all good should be treasured up in another for us.
Now no one of these fore-mentioned evils can we remove. Not our ignorance; for we are told that “God alone giveth wisdom [Note: Pro_2:6.].” The Spirit of God must “open the eyes of our understanding [Note: Eph_1:18.]: nor can we without his gracious influence, “know the things which belong unto our peace.” We must have “a spiritual discernment in order to discern the things of the Spirit [Note: 1Co_2:14.].” St. Paul, notwithstanding he had made a greater proficiency in Jewish literature than most of his own age, yet could not comprehend the true import of the Mosaic writings, or see their accomplishment in Jesus Christ, till “the scales, by which his organs of vision had been obstructed, were made to fall from his eyes [Note: Act_9:18.]:” nor could the immediate disciples of our Lord, who had heard all his instructions both in public and private for the space of three years, see the law of Moses fulfilled in him. The end of his death as a sacrifice for sin, the necessity of his resurrection to carry on and perfect his work, and the spiritual nature of his kingdom, were still hidden from them, till “He opened their understandings to understand the Scriptures [Note: Luk_24:45.].” So must “the Holy Spirit be given unto us also, that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God [Note: 1Co_2:12.].” Earthly knowledge we may acquire by the powers of intellect and by dint of application: but heavenly knowledge is the gift of God alone, who, whilst he “takes the wise in their own craftiness [Note: 1Co_3:19.],” will reveal to babes “what is hid from the wise and prudent [Note: Mat_11:25.].” Nor can we by any means remove our guilt. Let us go and blot out of the book of God’s remembrance all the sins we have ever committed. Vain attempt! We cannot cancel so much as one sin; nor would rivers of tears suffice to wash away the slightest stain from our souls. Nor can we even abstain from contracting fresh guilt: for there is imperfection in our best deeds: our very tears need to be washed, and our repentances to be repented of. Even St. Paul himself, eminent as he was, could do nothing on which he could rely for his justification before God; and therefore “he desired to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness which was of God by faith in Christ [Note: Php_3:9.].” A justifying righteousness must be perfect: but we can do nothing perfect: we need one to “bear the iniquity even of our holiest actions [Note: Exo_28:38.]:” and therefore we must for ever despair of establishing a righteousness of our own, and must submit simply and entirely to the righteousness provided for us in the Gospel [Note: Rom_10:3.].
Nor can we cleanse ourselves from our pollution. “As well might an Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots, as we restore ourselves to the image of God in which we were at first created [Note: Jer_13:23.].” The renovation of the heart is on this very account called a new birth and a new creation [Note: Joh_3:3. 2Co_5:17.]; and it can be effected by none but God himself. Let any man put this matter to a trial: let him see whether he can mortify all the desires of the flesh, and efface from his mind the love of this world, and transform himself into the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness:—he may as well attempt to create a world.
As for deliverance from all spiritual bondage, that also is utterly unattainable by human efforts. St. Paul even to his dying hour was constrained to cry, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me [Note: Rom_7:24.]?” Hence in the truly scriptural Liturgy of our Church we are taught to acknowledge; that “we are tied and bound with the chain of our sins,” and to cry, “But do thou, O God, of the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us.”
Now all this is clearly implied in the words of our text: and by a just view of this we are prepared to consider, secondly, what is expressed.
In perfect correspondence with the foregoing truths, we find in our text two things expressed, viz. that God has treasured up for us in Christ all the good that we stand in need of: and that He will freely bestow it on every believing soul.
Observe here how God has treasured up for us in Christ all the good that we stand in need of. God “has laid help for us on One that is mighty [Note: Psa_89:19.],” even on his own dear and only-begotten Son. He has treasured up for us in Christ a fulness suited to the necessities of fallen man [Note: Col_1:19.], and has constituted him “Head over all things to the Church [Note: Eph_1:22.],” that “out of his fulness every member of his mystical body may receive [Note: Joh_1:16.]” such a measure of grace as his peculiar necessities require. This is shadowed forth under the image of a vine, which supplies every one of its branches with the sap and nutriment which alone can enable it to bring forth fruit [Note: Joh_15:5.]. “Separate from him,” every one of us would become dry and fit only for fuel. The Apostle Paul knew no other source of life and strength; and therefore he said, “The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith in the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me [Note: Gal_2:20.].” So in like manner must every soul of man come to Christ for grace to help him in the time of need. “Our fresh springs must be altogether in him [Note: Psa_87:7.].” “Our life is hid with Christ in God: yea, Christ is our very life:” and it is from that circumstance alone that we are warranted to hope, that “when he shall appear we also shall appear with him in glory [Note: Col_3:3-4.].” “He is ascended up on high on purpose that he may fill all things [Note: Eph_4:10.]:” and he does “fill all in all [Note: Eph_1:23.].” The very light which is reflected by the whole planetary system of moon and stars, proceeds from the sun; and the life of all the vegetable creation is sustained by its reviving rays. And so is “Christ the light and life of the whole world;” as it is written, “With thee is the fountain of life; and in thy light shall we see light [Note: Psa_36:9.].”
This is yet more fully expressed in our text, which declares, that Christ shall be made all unto us, even wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, to every soul that believes in him.
Do we need wisdom? He shall be made wisdom to us. Wonderful shall be the views which he will impart to the believing soul: yes, the believer shall have, according to the measure of the gift of Christ, “the very mind that was in Christ himself,” and be made to view every thing as God himself views it [Note: Php_2:5. 1Jn_2:20.]. What humiliating views will he have of himself as a guilty, corrupt creature, deserving of God’s wrath and indignation! What exalted views will he have of all the Divine perfections, and particularly of them as united and harmonizing in the person and work of Christ! How will he be enabled to “comprehend the height and depth and length and breadth of Christ’s unsearchable love, so as even to be filled by it with all the fulness of God [Note: Eph_3:18-19.]!” What a perception will he have of “the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost [Note: Rom_5:5.],” and of all his gracious influences, as “a spirit of adoption testifying to his soul, that God is his Father, and that he is God’s beloved child [Note: Rom_8:15-16.]!” In what hateful colours will he now behold the sins which he once loved; and how lovely in his estimation will be the paths of righteousness and true holiness! When once “God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness in the material world shall shine into his heart to give him this knowledge, he will behold all the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ [Note: 2Co_4:6.].”
Do we need righteousness? Christ shall be made righteousness to the believing soul. The very name by which we are privileged to call our blessed Lord, is, “Jehovah our righteousness [Note: Jer_23:6.].” In Christ we shall have a righteousness fully answering all the requirements of God’s holy law, and satisfying the demands of his inflexible justice. Clothed in the robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness, we shall be so pure that God will not behold in us a spot or blemish [Note: Eph_5:26-27.]. Not the angels before the throne of God shall shine more bright than we: indeed they have only the righteousness of a creature, whilst the believing soul is clad in the righteousness of the Creator himself. Nor let any one imagine that this is the privilege of the Apostles only: no: the righteousness of Christ is “given unto” every believing soul, and “put upon” him as a garment, in which he shall stand accepted of God to all eternity [Note: Rom_3:22. Eph_1:6.].
Do we need sanctification? This also shall Christ be made unto us. Yes, he will make us new creatures. He will enable us to “put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and to put on the new man, whereby we shall be assimilated to the Divine image [Note: Eph_4:22-24.].” He has promised his Holy Spirit for this end, even to “sanctify us wholly [Note: 1Th_5:23.].” By applying to our souls his promises, he will enable us to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God [Note: 2Co_7:1.].” Yea, by enabling us to “behold his glory, he will change us into his own image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord [Note: 2Co_3:18.].”
Finally, do we need redemption? He will be redemption to us, “delivering us from all the bondage of corruption, and bringing us into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.” “When once the Son thus makes us free, we become free indeed [Note: Joh_8:36.].” With what delight do we then walk in the ways of God, and with what enlargement of heart do we run in the paths of his commandments! Truly under the influence of his grace we enjoy almost a heaven upon earth. The exercises of prayer and praise are far different from what they were wont to be in our unregenerate state. Formerly we had no taste for them, no pleasure in them: now we are never so happy as when we get access to God in these duties: it is even “as marrow and fatness to our souls, when we can praise our God with joyful lips [Note: Psa_63:5.].”
True, “the flesh will yet lust against the spirit, as well as the spirit against the flesh:” but “sin shall no more have dominion over us [Note: Rom_6:14.];” we shall, in desire at least, be “holy as God himself is holy, and perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect [Note: 1Pe_1:15-16.].”
Before I come to my concluding remarks on this subject, I beg you to inquire with yourselves, whether you have ever had a practical experience of these things in your own souls? It is said in my text, “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Now is this true of you? Have you, (I speak to every individual,) Have you ever been brought to such a sense of your own destitution of all good, and of your utter incapacity to supply, by any efforts of your own, your manifold necessities? Have you also been led to see what a fulness there is in Christ, exactly suited to your necessities? and have you actually received out of his fulness a supply of all that you stand in need of, so that Christ is daily regarded by you as your entire Saviour, your all in all? I pray you, let not this matter be thought of small import; No indeed. These things are not to be viewed as a mere theory, but as practical truths, upon the experience of which your everlasting salvation depends: and, if you die before they are realized by you in your daily experience, it will be better for you that you had never been born.
Here I might well close my subject. But, having taken hitherto only the more obvious and superficial view of it, I would, if it detain you not too long, briefly entreat your attention to some points which are more deep and recondite, and which, I hope, will repay the trespass which I thus reluctantly make upon your time.
Mark then, I pray you, how entirely salvation is of grace from first to last. You have seen what provision God has made for us in our low estate. You have seen what he has laid up for us in Christ, and what Christ is made unto us, even all that we stand in need of. But you have not seen how it is that Christ is made all this to the believing soul. It is by our being “in Christ Jesus:” “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus.” Now we must be engrafted into Christ as scions, before we can partake of any of these things: we must be cut off from the old stock whereon we grew in our natural state, and be made living branches of Him the living Vine. And who, I beg leave to ask, can do this for us? It can be done by none but God, the great husbandman, who has himself ordained this as the only way of saving our ruined race. And this is twice marked in my text with very peculiar force and emphasis: “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who Of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Now I ask, who was it that gave the Saviour to us, or us to him? Who was it that accepted him in our behalf? Who was it that, after accepting his sacrifice in our behalf, constituted him our living Head, and treasured up in him such a fulness of all that we stood in need of? And who was it that cut us off from our old stock and grafted us into him? And who was it that by this mysterious process actually made us partakers of all these benefits? Hear it, and forget it not: “It is of God that ye are in Christ Jesus: and of God that Christ is made unto you all that you stand in need of.” Let God then have all the glory. This was the very end for which he did all this, as he tells us both in the words that precede my text, and in the words that follow it: “God, says the Apostle, has chosen things which are not, to bring to nought things which are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that, according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” Now I entreat your attention to this. Do not rob God of his glory. Do not ascribe any thing to yourselves, but give him the glory of your salvation from first to last. If you could go up to heaven, you would not find one soul there that arrogates any thing to himself. All with one heart and one voice are singing, “Salvation to God and to the Lamb;” to God, as the alone Author of salvation, and to the Lamb, as the only means: and I call on every one of you to begin this song on earth, giving all praise to God the Father as the source and fountain of your happiness, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has both purchased it for you by his blood, and imparted it to you by his Spirit. God is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to another: and if you rob him of his glory here, you shall not be partakers of it in the world to come.
Having called your attention to this, I next say, seek this salvation in the precise way that God has appointed. Seek it in its full extent—seek it in its proper order—seek it for its only just and legitimate end—seek it with a confidence that you shall not seek in vain.
Seek it in its full extent. Look to Christ for every thing without exception. Look to him for wisdom. Even though you be the most learned man on earth in respect of human sciences, you must look to him alone to instruct you in that which is divine. You must come to him even as a little child, to be taught of him; you must in your own apprehension “be a fool, if you would be truly wise [Note: 1Co_3:18.].” If you “lean to your own understanding,” instead of relying upon the teaching of his Spirit, you will never attain true saving knowledge. If you would be made wise unto salvation, “your eyes must be anointed with the eye-salve which he alone can bestow [Note: Rev_3:18.].” Look to him also for righteousness. There must be no dependence whatever on any thing of your own. There must be no attempt to blend your own righteousness with his. You must not even look to any attainments of your own, as your warrant to go to him, or to hope in him: your hope must be founded wholly on the sufficiency of his atonement, and the perfection of the righteousness which he wrought out for you. I do not mean that you are to be remiss in your obedience; but you are not to rely upon it. In point of dependence, your best deeds must be disclaimed as much as your worst. The fixed and habitual sentiment of your heart must be, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ [Note: Heb_12:14.].” For sanctification also must you look to him, and that with as much earnestness, as if you were to be saved by your own works. Whilst I warn you that your own good works must be renounced in point of dependence, I would not have you imagine that you can ever be saved without them: No: I declare to every living man, that antinomianism is a horrible delusion, and a damning sin. God has plainly warned us, that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord;” and that “every man who has a scriptural hope in Christ, must purify himself even as he is pure [Note: 1Jn_3:3.].” Your complete redemption also must be received from Christ alone. You must “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus [Note: 2Ti_2:1.].” It is in his strength alone that you are to maintain your contest with your great adversary, for it is he alone that can “bruise Satan under your feet [Note: Rom_16:20.].” And bear in mind, that no one of these things is to be separated from another. There must be no harbouring of philosophic pride, or of pharisaic self-righteousness, or of antinomian licentiousness: but the whole of Christ’s benefits must be sought by you, without partiality and without hypocrisy [Note: Jam_3:17.].”
Next, I would observe, these things must be sought in their proper order, that is, in the very order in which they are here proposed. Divine teaching must be sought in the first instance; for without that, you can know nothing either of your own need of Christ, or of his sufficiency. Then you must, as a poor perishing sinner, look to Christ, to wash you in his blood, and to clothe you in the unspotted robe of his righteousness. Then, having obtained a hope of acceptance through him, you must seek to be “sanctified throughout, in body, soul, and spirit.” And further, having obtained a measure of holiness, you must not be self-confident, but, like the Apostle Paul, must “keep your body under, and bring it into subjection, lest after all your high professions, you prove a cast-away at last [Note: 1Co_9:27.].” To the latest hour of your life, you must retain the frame recommended by the Apostle, “Be not high-minded, but fear.” “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall [Note: Rom_11:20. 1Co_10:12.].” And, whilst you acknowledge Christ as “the author of your faith,” you must look to him, and to him alone, as “the finisher of it [Note: Heb_12:2.].”
Further, seek all these blessings for the only just and legitimate end, the glory of God. The mind of all the glorified saints must be your mind. They all “prostrate themselves before the throne of God, and cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet [Note: Rev_4:10.].” They are nothing; and He is all. This is the true end of all religion, “that God in all things may be glorified through Christ Jesus [Note: 1Pe_4:11.].” An adoring frame of mind is that which you should cultivate to your dying hour. Whilst you are in that frame, God, if I may so speak, is in his place, and you in yours. Even the angels that never sinned, are all upon their faces before God [Note: Rev_7:11.]. Much more should you, who have never done any thing but sin, and yet have been redeemed from condemnation by the blood of your incarnate God. The higher you are exalted by God, the lower you must lie before him: and the deeper your sense of your own unworthiness, the more devoutly will you join in the song of the redeemed, “To him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and the Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen [Note: Rev_1:5-6.].”
Lastly, seek these blessings with a due confidence that you shall not seek in vain. Recollect, who were the persons of whom these things were spoken? They were sinners of no common stamp. Such were the enormities which many of them had committed, that they seemed to be almost beyond the reach of mercy: yet of them was it said, “But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God [Note: 1Co_6:9-11.].” Let none then entertain the doubt, ‘Shall Christ be made all this to me?’ for he shall be so made to every believing soul; nor shall the vilest sinner in the universe be suffered to seek God’s face in vain [Note: Isa_45:19.]. Only let the pursuit of these things be your great object in life (for, what is there that can for a moment be put in competition with them?) and there shall not be a soul amongst us, who shall not be able to say, ‘I am the happy person in whom all this blessedness is realized;’ ‘Of God am I in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto me wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; and in him do I glory, yea and will glory throughout all the ages of eternity.’ May this be the happy experience of us all, for Christ’s sake! Amen and Amen.
So did Christ (Mat_22:32,) and so will we.
I. What is implied.
1. That we are destitute of all good in ourselves—
We are ignorant, guilty, polluted, and enslaved—
2. That we are incapable of attaining it by any power of our own—
We cannot remove any one of these; ignorance, guilt, pollution, or bondage.
II. What is expressed,
1. That God has treasured up for us in Christ all the good that we stand in need of—
He is the Vine and we the branches—
2. That he will impart it to every soul that believes in him—
Do we need wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? He will make Christ all unto us.
Inquire whether He is made all this to you.
application.
1. See how entirely salvation is of grace from first to last.
Who gave the Saviour to us? God alone.
Who gave us to him? God alone.
Both these things are marked in the text, and must be marked by us.
2. Seek it altogether in God’s appointed way—
In its full extent—omitting none, preferring none—
In its proper order—the precise order stated ill the text—
For its only just and legitimate end—God’s glory—twice mentioned.
With full confidence that you shall not seek it in vain—
None can be more unworthy of it than the persons addressed in the text, 1Co_6:9-11.