Already the believer has the word that “Whosoever believeth in Him (Christ) shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43); “And by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38, 39). Like the woman in Luke 7, he has heard the word, “Thy sins are forgiven,” —Christ Jesus is thus his own personal Savior.
Another precious gift is his—when he believed the gospel of his salvation, the Holy Spirit as He promised, came to dwell in him—he was sealed (Eph. 1:13), and the Holy Spirit abides in him forever (John 14:16); his body is now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19); he is sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30), that is, till the Lord comes to take us home to Himself, making our bodies like to His glorious body (Phil. 3:21). It is sad that we are often by our behavior, doing things that grieve Him, yet He will not leave us, but we make ourselves so unhappy by our carelessness.
This is a blessing never known to saints before the death and resurrection and ascension of Christ in glory (John 7:39).
“Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not the spirit of Thy holiness from me” (Psa. 51:11), is a prayer suited to the saints of Old Testament times, but not to saints of this day of grace. (Read all the passages cited above). He it is that dwelling in us enables us to take our places as children of God, and with confidence to cry, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15, 16). “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” Galatians 4:6.
It is blessedly true, “I write unto you, little children (that is, dear children) (of God), because your sins are forgiven you for His (Christ’s) name sake.” This is eternal forgiveness, as in Hebrews 10:14, and provision is made if we fail to walk aright by Christ living before the Father. “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” He is the propitiation for our sins. Thus we are eternally secure, and the other Comforter, or Advocate—the Holy Spirit—leads us to confess our sins, to restore to us our happiness which we had lost when we grieved Him.
We have now a new life, Christ in us, but we have the flesh also. Sin is not our master now, we are set free from its power, and we are to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our old man was crucified with Christ, we are now alive in Him before God, though the flesh is in us (Rom. 6:6, 7).
If we grow careless, and do not watch and pray, our affection for the Lord grows cold, and this allows the flesh to work again; we grieve the Holy Spirit and become unhappy, but are not unsaved. The “Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous,” maintains us as children before the Father. To be restored to communion and happiness of nearness of our spirits to the Lord, needs self-judgment and confession of our failures, and this faithfully done, will also bring cleansing from all unrighteousness, as well as the sense of forgiveness (1 John 1:9).
This self-judgment is needed, and if real, it strengthens the soul to walk more carefully in dependence on the Lord, and in the sense of our own inability to stand unless held by Him. His forgiving and keeping love strengthens our souls.
In Hebrews 7:25, we read, “Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost (that is completely) that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” His high priesthood cannot fail, He will carry through to the end every believer without fail, and not one of them will be lost, for this depends entirely on Him. “Because I live ye shall live also,” John 14:19, yet we need the throne of grace, and to this we are invited to come boldly, that we may obtain mercy and find grace for timely help, that is, to keep us from falling, to give us strength for the way as we go on day by day.
We will all be brought through, but, if like Jacob, we struggle along in our own wisdom and strength, we shall have trouble for our portion. If in dependence on Him, there are promises given to sustain us in every difficulty:
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths,” Proverbs 3:5, 6; and again, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee:” therefore “Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength (margin the Rock of Ages)” (Isa. 26:3, 4). He will guide us all the way.
“Having loved His own which were in the world He loved them to the end” (John 13:1). This love is never weary, never changes, cannot cease. He gave Himself for us, and lives for us now on high. He knew all our tendencies, our dispositions, or tempers and all our sins. The woman in John 4, could truly say, “He told me all that ever I did.” What peace to have all out with Him, to know all is put away, and that God is satisfied, also the believer is satisfied, and He loves us still, though yet so unworthy. “We love Him because He first loved us,” and with the commandment to love one another, came the nature, and the power, and the desire to carry it out in practice (John 13:34; 1 John 5:1). And in the figure of washing the feet with water, we see how we are taught by the Word applied by the Holy Spirit to walk in the path marked out by His own blessed feet—the path of lowliness and meekness, of confidence in God and dependence upon Him, the path of submission to His will, and obedience to His Word. This is the washing of the water by the Word (Eph. 5:26; Psa. 19:7-11), and as He said to Peter, so He says to us, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me,” for that is communion. We all who are believers, have part in Him, for that is possession. He is our eternal portion.
‘Tis the treasure we’ve found in His love
That has made us now pilgrims below,
And ‘tis there, when we reach Him above
As we’re known, all His fullness we’ll know.