Our souls are never fully established until we see that our ever-changing practical state has nothing to do with our acceptance before God.
When Abel brought his offering to the Lord — “the firstling of his flock and the fat thereof” — we are told that “he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts.” It was not the personal excellence of Abel that God looked at in counting him righteous, but the excellence of the sacrifice he brought, and his faith in it. When a business man takes a check to the bank, he receives the full value of what that check is worth. He wouldn’t get more if his character were extremely good or less if it were extremely bad. It is not a question of what he is worth, either morally or commercially, but what the check is worth. It was thus with Abel, and it is thus with every sinner coming to God through Christ. God reckons to the account of every such believer all that He knows the work of Christ is worth.
Is it perfect?
Yes.
Is it forever perfect?
Yes.
Then the believer’s place of acceptance corresponds thereto. Therefore we read, “By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified;” that is, those who have faith in Him. (See Acts 26:1818To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18).) Notice, it is not merely “perfect” in the present tense but “perfected.” There can be no rest when the work isn’t in the past tense as complete and finished forever.
A few years ago I travelled from the town of Penzance, in Cornwall, to the Land’s End. The driver drew my attention to a church in the distance. “That church,” he said, “we’ll pass soon, and I am told that between this point in the road and reaching the church we lose sight of it nine times.” This made me curious to test his statement. Presently we descended a small hill and entirely lost sight of the church. Once more we rose to the crest of the next hill, and once more the building could be distinctly seen. Again we dipped into the valley, the church becoming hidden from view; again we reached the summit, and again saw the church. So we traveled, sometimes losing sight and sometimes catching a fresh view, until we came within a few yards with the ancient pile in full view; having, as the driver had stated, lost sight of the old building nine times within that three or four miles.
How often do you suppose the church went up and down, in that short three or four miles drive?
The church up and down! you say. Not once. The ups and downs were with you, not with the church.
Exactly! And in the variable conditions of soul which you speak of, the ups and downs are with you, not with Christ. There are no ups and downs in God’s thought of Christ’s personal worth, or of the value of His sacrifice; and if He accepts you on that ground, there can be no ups and downs in your acceptance either. There is no change in Him above. He is “the same yesterday, and today, and forever;” and God “hath made us accepted in [Him] the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:66To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)).
A preacher of our acquaintance, who had spent long years in the hopeless endeavor of reaching a kind of perfection in the flesh, at last got set free. He described his experience as follows. “I used to think that I must try to be good enough to be accepted; but now I see that it is Christ who is good enough to be accepted, and God accepts me in Him.” If our behavior had anything to do with our title to acceptance, then a flaw in our behavior would necessarily mean a flaw in our title. But, thank God, the truth is that our behavior flows from the knowledge of our place of acceptance before the Father, and not that our acceptance is based upon our behavior. We are “called saints,” that is, constituted saints by the calling of God, and then asked to “walk as becometh saints.” We are called to behold the manner of love bestowed upon us that we should be called His children, and then told, “as dear children,” to “walk in love” (1 Corinthians 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2); Ephesians 5:33But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; (Ephesians 5:3); 1 John 3:11Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1 John 3:1); Ephesians 5:11Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; (Ephesians 5:1)). To use a figure, God first fills the wallet, and then teaches us how to spend what He gives.