PH 3{When we think of our wretchedness, of our state of sin, and of how unworthy we are of any relationship whatsoever with God, if it were not that divine grace was altogether free, and that God has been pleased to show the exceeding riches of His grace to the ages to come, we could scarcely realize the possibility of such relationships as are here presented to us with a God of Holiness. No; we should not dare to take the Bible, and to speak of these things as of things that pertain to ourselves. Certainly, if we did not know that the Lord has been pleased to manifest the exceeding riches of His grace, we could not even conceive that He should take sinners such as we are to establish us in His presence.
When conscience is alive to all the sin and to the amount of selfishness and vanity that is in us, we are tempted to say, even in view of the glory of God, " As for me, there is nothing in me but sin."
It is the consciousness of sin which leads us towards God, when God acts in grace and love. If we had nothing but the consciousness of sin, we should not dare to think of the judgment of God. What sets us at ease is the thought of that grace and love in God, which unfolds itself in spite of our sin and of our corrupt flesh.
Title in man to the love of God there is none. I cannot form for myself any relationship with God, I cannot even touch that which pertains to Him. That which can alone set us at liberty is the consciousness that it is grace which acts, and that thus, in a certain sense, the greater sinners we are, the more we owe to God-the more is He glorified, and made manifest to be excellent in His ways.
This it is which opens the lips of a poor sinner; it is a subject of interest as connected with himself, and of importance to others.
We see, in the case of the Apostle Paul, how full his heart was of this thought. The words which he employs when he desires to express that he, " the chiefest of sinners, is less than the least of all saints," sets at defiance all the rules of common language. Thinking of himself, and of the preciousness of the free gifts which God had bestowed upon him, in pardoning all his sins, and (not only so, but further) in instructing him with the word of that grace for others, he is abashed before God.
Two examples of this grace, two chosen vessels, have been remarkable in their work-Peter and Paul.
What was Peter's preparation for the strengthening of his brethren, for the feeding of the lambs? The denial of the Savior. That was his preparation; that was the education which made him understand that he was worse than nothing.
And Paul, how was he prepared? By persecuting and ravaging the Church, by displaying an energy most execrable against Christ. If Peter could say to the Jews, "You have denied the Holy One and the Just," they might say to him, "And you, you too, did the same!" If Paul could say to them, "You have filled up the cup of the wrath of God," they might answer him, "And you, what were you? You were a minister of Satan when you persecuted the Christians, forcing them to blaspheme, and dragging them to prison!" Such circumstantially was the preparation, according to God, of these two men, in order that the flesh might be known for that which it is, and the heart as it is.
When Paul is proclaiming the faith to the Gentiles, he who had been caught up to the third heavens must, on account of the importance of the revelations, have a thorn in the flesh.
I add this, in order to show that the wickedness of the flesh is always the same.
As to the other Apostles, they disappear, so to speak, from the scene. The work is, for the greater part, placed in the hands of Peter and Paul; the former was Apostle of the Circumcision, the latter Apostle of the Uncircumcision.
It was very humbling to the flesh, at least, when we think of all that these two men had done, for one of them to have to say-" I have denied the Lord, He who has been so good toward me, who has so loved me, who has anticipated and met for me all the danger"; and for the other to have put Christians to death, and to be obliged to say-" I did it with my whole heart; all that my religion did for me was to make me a bitter enemy of God." At the same time, it tended to fill the heart with the taste of grace, because God was there; and there where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Not only so, but the vessels in which this treasure had been deposited, the vessels themselves, had been prepared, not by good qualities, but by sad experiences. Paul was well fitted, because, as a man, he must have been rendered sensible of the grace which was needed by himself, so that in him those that should afterward believe might know what were the riches of that grace.
The Apostle was to be the witness of the kindness and of the grace of Christ. In him was to be shown sin, just as it is, set in the presence of the love and of the grace of God. Then the flesh was in its proper place, and Paul could preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. We see in Paul how grace overflows constantly, when his thoughts turn towards the grace of God.
The fact was just the same as to the Jews; but then they were expecting something, because they had the promises. Peter, the Apostle of the Circumcision, addressed himself to a people who were outwardly the people of God. He could say to them -" Ye are the children of Abraham, the first-fruits. As to the Gentiles, they were dogs, as Jesus said to the woman of Canaan, It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs'" (Matt. 15:26).
When Paul addresses himself to the Gentiles, he founds his right to speak to them of Christ on the depth of that grace which recognized nothing, but that God has the right to show grace.
This poor Syro-Phoenician, who was of a race to appearance cursed, who had a right to nothing, arid acknowledges that she is but a dog, it is she who tastes all the sweetness of the grace of God. " Be it to thee even as thou wilt," said the Lord. " If it was a question of thy right, I tell thee, thou hast a right to nothing. I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and thou art not one of these sheep." But it is to grace that this woman addressed herself; and there is so much grace in God, that she can say, " Dog though I be, yet I may eat"; thereupon the Lord could not say to her, " No, thou mayest not." Salvation proclaimed to the Gentiles brought to light all the riches of the grace which was in God for us. The circumstances which gave occasion to the flesh, gave occasion also to that manifestation of the unsearchable riches of Christ, of which we speak, and which, indeed, are incomprehensible.
A Jew, as such, could not speak of the unsearchable riches. (though grace was always grace); he could say, "Lo, 'tis grace which comes to me." The prophets, Isaiah, for instance, or any ether prophet, would have taken the law, and found things which belonged to him; he had found the Messiah. This the law showed to him. He could say, " See what a magnificent promise will be fulfilled for us." He could show the wonderful favor of God towards His people: it was a thing understood by him who had intelligence in the words of God. It was a promise made to a race to whom God declared remarkable blessings, but which placed man in relationship with God upon revealed promises.
But as soon as a Gentile was in question, all that was gone. For the grace of Christ, it must be they that are spiritual, for such alone could seek it in the prophets. A Jew could say, He will be a king exalted above all people; all the promises of God will form his crown of glory. But when the Gentile was in question, blessings which flowed from the eternal counsels of God must be discovered; not only a people called to enjoy blessings, but Christ must be received according to the counsels of God. Grace was about to find a poor sinner, who had a right to nothing, who was incapable of enjoying the promises, and incapable of understanding them. It took these poor sinners, who had not an idea or feeling in harmony with God, to place them in the enjoyment of all the riches of the thoughts of God, in Christ Himself. This is why the Apostle says, they are the unsearchable riches of Christ. It was not only things which were suitable to man, but things which were meet for God; even things which were quite new, not in the thoughts of God, but as to revelation, and which were to be manifested to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places by the Church itself, and by this revelation.
Let us examine a little what this grace is; and in order to understand it better, let us take Col. 1:26,27-" The mystery which had been hidden from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to the saints: to whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." This it is which manifests what these unsearchable riches are. If it was a Christ for the Jews, it was not a Christ the hope of glory, but a Christ who was the fulfiller of the glory. Here it is a Christ who is not the glory, but only the hope of glory, because, though He is in heaven He dwells in us, and in the midst of us, by His Spirit. It is a thought entirely new; but, after all, it is but a hope: this is the idea the Apostle presents to us. We are about to see how he brings this in, and leads us up to that blessed position of the child of God, to have Christ in him, by His Spirit, as it is said, Rom. 8:9,10. Christ in us the source of strength, and of hidden relationships is the hope of glory. This is the position in which he puts us, and it is our joy.
In Eph. 2:12, Paul says, speaking of the Gentiles-" Ye were at that time without Christ, being strangers to the covenants of promise, and without God in the world." Children of wrath, even as others, without hope, and Godless.
Now, on what basis, on what foundation is it, that God builds this glorious hope? At the very beginning God had said to Adam-" In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread." This is not a promise, for there is none made to Adam, and thorns and thistles are not a promise. What God said He said to the serpent, judging him-" The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head." Who is the man who is not the seed of the woman? Adam; he was excluded from this promise, as head of the race. It is in the second Adam that the promises are Yea and Amen. It is not a promise made to men, but to Christ, the second Adam, because God had outwardly set aside the first Adam as object of the promises of God. There is another who is brought in, and He is the object of all the promises. It is the second Adam, the seed of the woman.
We find it very hard to be willing to come down so low as to know ourselves, and to say-" I am a sinner, and nothing but a sinner; I have a right to nothing; I have sinned against God, against the light of my conscience, against knowledge; I have nothing, and I have a right to nothing but condemnation." Nevertheless, the thing is true, and conscience tells us so, even when the will will not submit to it. If you say, "I can present myself before God," go and do so; but you cannot answer him one of a thousand, and conscience tells us so, as did the conscience of Adam. Adam did not await the presence of God; he hid himself among the trees of the garden, because he did not dare to appear before God. Well, are you, reader, prepared to be judged? Would you like all that you have ever done to be published before the whole world? Whoever you may be, you would not dare to appear before God such as you are, with all that you have ever done; and your conscience bears witness to the justice of God. You well know that you are guilty, and if your will does not tell you so, you may well try to make some excuse for yourself. You would be very glad to say, " The woman whom thou gavest me has been the cause of my ruin"; but, though your conscience does not tell you so, God, in His goodness, has provided for all: He has taken to Himself the knowledge of good and evil.
Even when man is in unbelief, his conscience tells him truths from which he cannot escape. Can we think that a bad conscience could be happy in heaven! No; that cannot be. I do not here speak of grace. Some, perhaps, think that they can, as to the natural conscience, be happy in heaven; well, see what man is, and what God says to him. He tells him not to fear the flesh, because He means to deal with him in grace, in which is found a remedy for everything. God sets aside man who is condemned, and introduces the new man, and even the very condemned, into His glory. He has set eternal life in the new man, in the seed of the woman; it is in the Son, and we have life in Him.
Here then from the beginning, in the second Adam, all the promises are Yea and Amen in Christ, to the glory of God -It is this Christ who is the object of all the thoughts of God. We see what are the riches of this grace, for it is the Son of God who is in question, the second Adam, who is also the Holy One and the Just.
All the various glories are given to Him, and He must wear them all. All that is a manifestation of God must be in Him, and must display itself in Him who is the only Object of it. This is why the love of Christ passes knowledge. Yes, and it is for us that this is accomplished, and that it takes its dimensions; and, when I speak of its dimensions, I speak of that which is infinite, and it is Christ who is the object of it.
As to the poor world, all difference between the Jew and the Gentile disappears; 'tis altogether effaced. God spews grace to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. They are all wretched sinners; and if the Jews have tried to enjoy the promises, through their own righteousness, they are the more guilty, because they have the light of the law. They are the ungodly without strength. When the true God was there, when He introduced Himself into their midst by miracles, they were without strength because they had broken the law. The consequence thereof was it was evident that the due time was come, as to man, because he had showed his utter powerlessness; and as to God also it was the due time. Why? Because He was about to manifest His pure love, and to show that all depended on this love.
When we have arrived at this, then we find all the fullness of the blessedness of the love of God. All difference between the Jew and the Gentile is done away, for they who are heirs were by nature the children of wrath.
Man has shown what man is, and God what God is-we were children of wrath even as others; we had nothing but judgment to expect, but God has shown Himself rich in mercy.
This is where we must begin. We must take the other end, if we can speak of an end of that which has no end, and find in God the resources of grace and goodness, which find their development in a being far off from Him, and who is the enemy. We must see the grace of Him who has met every requirement and who wills to save the sinner in spite of his wickedness whatsoever he may be.
It is a God who acts in grace towards those who are ungodly, towards poor sinners who have a right to nothing.-Who can understand this? It is the unsearchable riches of Christ, which are to be revealed to the principalities and powers-Christ becomes the vessel of all this grace. It is the love of Jesus which displays itself towards the most miserable sinner, even towards one who would not draw near to God, and who has a right to nothing. God, who is rich in mercy, comes to save him who is in sin and in misery.
Instead of making man come to Him, as would have been right and just, God Himself comes to meet man in order to make Himself known-He comes into the midst of evil, because man will not come into the midst of goodness-God comes in flesh into the midst of all this iniquity, in order to show what it is, but He comes in holiness to skew also what it is. It is the love of a perfect God who is far from repelling iniquity: He comes on the contrary to seek it. How blessed it is, to feel that one has to do with God, with God infinite and infinitely holy. If He were not altogether holy, I might doubt if my salvation was finished; but it is a God infinitely holy, who presents His love to me, and while abiding in His holiness, comes to seek the sinner, people of bad character, in order to present to them His grace, and to set them at peace with Him.
It is He who is there, with the woman taken in adultery, with women of bad character, as he was reproached with. It is God who eats with, and who makes Himself the companion of, people of bad character. Is it there where one would seek God if He were in this town? What man would seek there would be iniquity. God saves people of bad character, and He is only the more glorified-He sets aside the pride of man, and He makes manifest not that man has sought God, but that God has sought man. Well, here it is that we have all these unsearchable riches of Christ: all is there, in His person. Christ, as Creator, as Son of God, Heir of the promises, and as Son of Man, has a right to all. He is the witness of love and holiness by His life, and God has been fully glorified in Him. Jesus could say, " I have finished the work that Thou gavest me to do." If it is question of the holiness of God, He bears witness to this holiness, He deserves to be seated at the right hand of God.-" I have glorified Thee on the earth," He says, " and now, glorify Thou Me, with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." He has a right to this glory through His work, and He had already a right to it without that.
What a work is His I See again the unsearchable riches of this grace, when He was made sin for us. Here it is that these two ends meet, if one can speak of the ends of infinity. It is where the Holy One was made sin, when the Son of God who was the Prince of Life was made subject unto death, when the wrath of God fell upon His Beloved, upon His Son, and all for us poor miserable sinners, far off from God, not desiring to belong to Him. He whose sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, and who bore our sins, was at the time that He endured the terrible wrath of God, He was at that very moment the most precious object of the infinite love of His Father, because He glorified Him perfectly. All this was accomplished between God and Christ. The angels desired to look to the very bottom of this mystery and man would avoid it altogether. The very outside of this was too fearful, too solemn, for him to dare to expose himself to such a conflict.-Yes, our pardon is a work all divine.
In the first chapter of the Hebrews the apostle presents us with the divine glory of Christ. " God has spoken to us by His Son whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
What a proof the apostle gives us of the glory of Jesus and His divine work. " He has purged our sins." It is the most precious part of His grace.-In His love in redemption He skews Himself more excellent than in creation. Has Jesus ceased to be man? No, He is the God-man, who manifests Himself as man made sin. It is not a Messiah who was fulfilling the promises made to a nation, but more than that; all that passes between God and man, between Satan and sin, without that blessing would have been impossible. If I say, does sin separate me from God? Does the power of Satan separate me from God? No.-Is it that even morally there is a barrier between the heart of God and man?-No. All that could come in as a barrier between me and God has been done away in the death of Jesus. If difficulties were insurmountable,-there where the heart of man (who cannot rise to the height of the thoughts of God) shows itself as it is-Christ presented Himself in the most complete weakness; He came into the lower parts of the earth, and there it was, He laid this Stone which cannot be shaken, this Rock of ages; there it is that we have found the certainty of our salvation-these are the unsearchable riches of Christ. What can now be denied to us, when God Himself has passed through this? Can I still have a doubt, a difficulty? God has provided for all. If He fails me, He will not have that which He Himself has merited. We belong to Christ, as it is said, " He shall see of the travail of His soul." We see then how everything has shown itself, everything has tried its strength in the presence of the work of the love of God, and has but served to make manifest what is the power of His love.
All that was a barrier to the salvation of man is destroyed and has but served to bring it about. As to all
I was, all has been judged, the love of God has been more mighty than my hatred; He has removed the evil: I was an instrument of Satan, there was also the state of enmity of my heart, there were also the sins that I had committed; but all is accomplished, and there is no longer a barrier between God and me; it is Christ who has taken all this, and taken it all away.
God has shown that His love was stronger than the evil.-At the cross I have discovered that.-Where was I? Among those wretched ones who hated the Lord;. with Peter who could not confess Him. At the cross I have found grace; there I have found that which my heart wanted; it is God Himself who has taken away my sin, who has done the very thing which has saved me, and has introduced me into all that belongs to Himself.-Christ, whither is He gone? Into the light and presence of God. He has finished that which fully glorifies His Father.
I have the righteousness of God, of Him who died for my sin, I have life in the Son, in the second Adam; my portion is to be with Him. I know that Jesus brings to me the righteousness of God, and the reward of this righteousness.
God has loved me in Jesus; He has given His Son for me; that which was most precious in heaven. I am the object of His love, and now, passed beyond the thick clouds which were between me and God, I am in the presence of Him who has brought me into the dwelling-place of His holiness.-I am in the Father, because Christ has made peace through the blood of His cross. This perfect peace is in Him. Now I have peace, and all who believe have it also. I am raised high enough, and I can say, beholding Jesus: Ah! He has well deserved it.
No sooner is a person placed in the presence of God, but he feels all his own bitterness.-I have deserved hell, he can say to himself, but I can understand what God has given to me. Where then have I found it all? In Christ. What is there which does not belong to Him? Christ is the object of all the love of God. So far as I am able to estimate all that I find in God, so far can I appropriate it to myself: He who has descended into the lower parts of the earth, is Christ; but now He has ascended up far above all things, and He fills all things.- I am in Him, and He in me. I have found redemption, and I enter into the full possession of all things. I enjoy Christ wherever I may be.-This was where the apostle found himself, and where a poor wretched Gentile is placed who had no title to a single promise; but who now possesses Christ, the object of all the love of God.
Examine what the love of God has done (instead of considering what man has done by his ruin). What has followed the ruin? Christ, at the right hand of God, is the object of faith. He dwells in us in order that we may enjoy the love of God as He Himself expresses it, " The love wherewith Thou East loved me may be in them and I in them." Christ dwells in us, by His Spirit, and we are in Him. My thoughts are directed towards Him. "Ye shall know," He says, " that I am in you, and ye in Me."-Christ is in me the hope of glory, and I enjoy all that He is. The hope that I have makes not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in my heart; so that, in the weakness of my poor body, I may learn in difficulties, in temptations, in the presence of Satan the same as in the presence of God, all the faithfulness, all the tenderness, all the goodness of this Jesus, and that in all the details of my life. I become acquainted with Him intimately; I know Him who is the "hope of glory." For me it is not a Christ who is a stranger, an unknown One, but a Christ whom I know in all the difficulties of my life; a Christ who reflects God to me in all His fullness, who accompanies me as a friend, who knows how to apply all the riches of His grace to the wants of my heart. Yes, I know Him,-I do not fear to go up to heaven, by faith, for there is He who loves me; He hears me, though I am not yet there; but very soon He will enjoy of the travail of His soul and He will be satisfied when I shall be with Him. Christ has completed grace for His people, and hereafter He will share with them His glory. He will present them to His father such as His father would have them to be, in order that the heart of the Father may be satisfied.
I have only presented here some parts of these unsearchable riches of Christ. The angels are the spectators of these things, and we are the objects of them. God acts for our salvation, and even the flesh must learn what God is in His ways of grace. We must know how to learn what this grace is, this goodness of God, this infinite love of which we are the objects, and without which we should be lost.
May God humble us by the Power of His Spirit, and cause us to understand that which we have not yet rightly understood-the horror of sin, what it is to be without God, enemies of God, in order that we may understand, in all its fullness, this grace which introduces us into the riches of glory
Our poor hearts must learn in the details of life, the goodness of the Lord Jesus himself; and in His favor and in His grace, the favor and the grace of God Himself. We must become acquainted with God in order to enjoy Himself.
May He by His Spirit apply to our poor hearts this grace, and all the various expressions of it which are reflected in Jesus. May God make us to grow in the knowledge of Him who is the peace of our hearts, in order that we may understand all His riches and all His love!