Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil world,” and so I am called to pass through this world. Supposing Christ had been crucified last night, well the question is, am I going on with the world that crucified Him, or am I going on with Him?
Again; I must have the Holy Ghost to know that I am accepted with joy. I cannot look up and say, “Come quickly,” unless I know that my redemption is settled; and then I find that Christ is all, and in all; He is everything to us as our object, and He is in all as the power of life and joy.
Having washed me from my sins in His own blood, He has become everything to my soul. I cannot find a thing in Christ the value of which has not been spent upon me. Let me remark one thing here, and that is, that we know whom we love, even if we do not love Him enough. If anyone says,
“I love my mother, and I think I love her enough,” I say,
“You wretch, you do not love her at all.” But if a child says,
“O, I do not half love my mother for all her care and painstaking, and labor for me,” I say, that child does love its mother.
So it is with the Lord and us; and we long therefore to see Him. This characterizes the Christian position; the Holy Ghost has come down from heaven, and we know that we are sons; He dwells with us consequent upon accomplished redemption; Christ has thus become precious to us.
The second thing, therefore, that characterizes the Christian is, that he is waiting for Christ; I say this advisedly. And herein is the test of everyone’s state: Supposing the Lord should come tonight, am I ready to meet Him? I do not know when He will come; but it says,
“In such an hour as ye think not.”
Are our hearts, our thoughts, and our affections in good order? Are our lights burning? Are we confessing Him before men? Are we like men that wait for their Lord? For to such He comes and knocks, and they open to Him immediately. That is, the character we are to have. We who are believers, through grace, we do not half believe in the interest Christ personally takes in each one of us. We have to go through the world, but can we say that we are watching for Christ?
Do our hearts answer to the love that Christ has to us now?
Are we answering to that love by waiting and watching for Him, because He is going to have us in the glory with Himself?
May the Lord give us to be as men that wait for their Lord: