The Lord Jesus Christ, God's blessed Son, is all our salvation. There is no salvation, no perfect peace, no real joy, no power over sin and Satan, no good works, no effectual service, till Jesus be received into the heart. In Jesus and Jesus alone we find eternal life, present happiness and future glory.
"Christ is all" (Col. 3:1111Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)). Jesus is the chief good-the center of rest and the source of grace and truth. God gives not His good things apart from Jesus; Jesus must be received first, and in Him we receive every blessing.
Communion with Jesus, in the spirit of faith and prayer, should be the habit of our life on earth; so precious is He that we should never forget Him, but always realize Him present in all places.
"To me to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:2121For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)). Any other object than Christ is below the Christian's dignity. Pursuit after riches, or honors, or worldly pleasures, is folly and sin.
A godly and beloved minister sent the following from his deathbed to his people:
"I have preached to you for thirty-two years, the complete atonement of Christ, His perfect righteousness, and salvation through His blood. These truths are now my hope, my comfort, my stay. I believe that God's righteousness is mine, and that Christ's atonement is my perfect satisfaction for sin; and God's Holy indwelling Spirit is my support and my life now. In this faith I have lived, and in this faith I die. I have nothing else, and I want no more. My faith is firm as a rock."
On another occasion he said to one by his bedside: "We ministers of the gospel ought to set before our people more fully the joys of communion with Christ as a living and present Friend. We are apt to preach about Christ, rather than to preach Christ; about salvation, rather than to set forth the Savior. I have learned to think more about the Person of my living Savior than about the doctrines that concern Him; and if I were raised up again from this bed of sickness—while I should preach the doctrines that I have ever preached—I would set before my people the joy of present, personal communion with Jesus; for He has said, 'Lip, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world [age]."'