CHRIST FOR ALL - BUT APPROPRIATED BY THE BELIEVER
[p. 394] CHRIST FOR ALL — BUT APPROPRIATED BY THE BELIEVER
Romans 3: 23 - 31; Acts 13: 44 - 47; Psalm 98: 1 - 3
It is a principle in my mind that we are not called upon to believe anything about ourselves. Many scriptures describe what God has wrought in Christians, but for that reason those statements are not the object of faith. Scripture is the word of God, given to us to keep us within bounds, but faith must rest in a divine Person and what is set forth in Him. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me”. Christ would not be an object of faith except as being a divine Person; though He became man nothing could make Him less than a divine Person, and as such He is presented to faith, and the whole purpose of God with regard to man is set before us in Christ, and Christ is thus the object of faith, as God is, for in Christ He has been pleased to reveal Himself, and the revelation of God is for faith. It is applicable to man. There would be no sense in God revealing Himself if the revelation were not applicable to somebody, and as man cannot possibly verify it he has to receive it by faith. What you can verify does not call for faith. I believe in the existence of such a city as Venice, but there is no faith in that. I believe that the earth moves round the sun, but that is no question of faith, for you can verify these things. The revelation of God you cannot verify, nor anything in heaven, for no one has been there but the One who came down, so it is purely a question of faith.
And so, too, with regard to Christ in heaven; no one knows what He is in heaven. The apostles knew certain things of Christ of their own knowledge, but even they only knew what He was in heaven by the Holy Spirit. The report has come by the Holy Spirit, come down from heaven, and if people believe on Him [p. 395] they believe by the report; never a person believed on Him otherwise. That is how Christianity began and has been continued from that day to this. It is very important to see what faith is and what it connects itself with. Christianity in the true power of it, is vital, it is not a question of faith only. Life must come in in connection with our relation to divine Persons, and it is only in that way that we can entertain the idea of life. I come back to what I started with, that it is not the way of Scripture to lead you to believe anything about yourself; you believe about God and about Christ.
Now there are many things which in a way are common to God and to man. If I speak of redemption it is common to God and to us — redemption is in Christ for God the basis of His ways. Righteousness is declared in Christ and is common for God and for us. And salvation is God’s salvation, “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God”, but it is for us, it is common for God and for us. These things have, of course, a different application for God and for us, but they are common.
I take up the thoughts of redemption, righteousness, light and salvation; they are all in Christ and Christ is for God; but then Christ is also for man, and all these things are for us, though in a different sense; it is a mistake to mix up the two sides. What is for God is an object for faith, but when it is a question of entering into what is in Christ for us, this is by the power of the Spirit.
I take up redemption — the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; that is for God, but then in Ephesians and Colossians it says, “In whom we have redemption”. It is one thing for it to be there in Christ for God, and another thing for us to say we have it. Again, Christ is God’s salvation to the ends of the earth, but it is a great thing for us to obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
[p. 396] I think I have laid down a distinction which it is important to apprehend between what is for God and what is for us. It is simply this; when it is a question of the working out of the counsels of God, everything is in Christ, He is the Man of God’s purpose and the One in whom all is carried out. When it is a question of grace, it is in Christ, and in this point of view the bearing is universal. He is God’s salvation to the ends of the earth — salvation to the Gentiles — God’s righteousness is towards all, the bearing is universal. On the other hand, when we look at what Christ is for us the thought is more limited, for the question of appropriation comes in. Comparatively few have appropriated the things that are towards all. Righteousness is towards all, but it is only upon those who believe. Christ is a light for the Gentiles, but to how many is He light? To those who have appropriated Him as light.
I take redemption to begin with. Redemption is a right of God. Of necessity by what God is, and what man is, God has rights with regard to man, and the law set them forth, but the law did not set forth save in type His rights in redemption; it set forth what I may call His natural rights. As a matter of fact, even before the law was given, man was under the penalty of death. But by the law he came under the curse — two things under which he lay by the judgment of God; as the hymn puts it, ‘Death and the curse were in our cup’. (415:2) But that which did not come out by the law has come out in Christ. The right of redemption lay with God. In Christ God could discharge the penalties under which man lay. Every right that God had in regard to man has its answer in Christ; as to what I may call the natural rights of God, He could say, “Thy law is within my heart”. But the right of redemption is also maintained in Christ. He has taken up every liability and discharged it on the part of God.
Where do you see God’s righteousness declared?
[p. 397] Every intelligent person would answer in a moment — in Christ. I see in Christ all that men should be for God, but I see also that He has taken up and discharged every liability under which man lay. Hence it is that there is redemption in Christ Jesus. It is very important to apprehend that that is for God. His proper rights as to the creature maintained, and the rights of redemption secured, and the practical result is that God has set forth Christ in relation to all men, a Mediator between God and men. Through one righteousness, grace is towards all men unto justification of life.
It is important to see what redemption has secured for God; the bearing of it is universal; righteousness of God is towards all, but upon all them that believe. This speaks of what He has secured for Himself in Christ, and not only for Himself, but for Christ, for apart from redemption it would be an impossibility that Christ should be head of all men.
All these things in their bearing are towards all, and when we believe we believe in that which is towards all — not what it is towards me, but towards all. If I believe in God and in God’s righteousness, I believe in righteousness of God towards all; that which is presented to us, the bearing and good of it, is towards men; that is the ground of faith.
I take another point — light. Christ is a light for the revelation of the Gentiles; the Gentiles have come thus into the view of God; they were hid away from God in the darkness. It is not often that He penetrated into the darkness as in the case of Nineveh; they were hid away in the darkness of idolatry. Now a great change has come in by Christ. He is a light on the part of God so that He might see the Gentiles. He has proclaimed to them in consequence His righteousness in Christ Jesus, that He would have all men to be saved, that was the effect of Christ being a light of the Gentiles.
[p. 398] Now I take up the thought of salvation. Christ is God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. I think what may be meant by that is the deliverance of the ends of the earth from the bondage of idolatry and Satan’s power. There is a beautiful expression in Psalm 98, “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God”. Where do they see it? It could only be in Christ. The ends of the earth were in the eye of God, there is a breach in the power that held them in bondage. All this mighty change has come in by Christ; we do not apprehend it enough. The introduction of Christ and the accomplishment of redemption could not leave the situation as it was. It changed the situation of the Jew, he has become lost in the world, but redemption was accomplished so that Christ might take up a certain position towards all, and so He claims the ends of the earth for our God.
Now I want to speak about the other side. What I have so far spoken of is what is presented to faith: “I have set thee for a covenant to the people, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth”. It is the common testimony and is preached for faith. But now as to our side. You may not yet exactly possess what you believe; your faith sees redemption and light and salvation in Christ, but you may not really have got them. The point is, how do you get them? You have not righteousness really till you are brought into attachment; you may apprehend that it is there, but if you have not Christ you have not it, for having Him is righteousness. You have Him by the Spirit. Righteousness in its application to all men is presented to faith, and when that is believed the Spirit is given and one is brought into attachment, and a bond is formed between Christ and the believer who can say — Christ is my righteousness. All appropriation is by the Spirit of God. It is very important to see the righteousness of God in its [p. 399] application toward all men, but it is all-important on my side that I am brought into attachment to Christ, a bond formed, and Christ is thus the end of the law for righteousness to me.
Now take redemption. We see the value of redemption to God and to Christ — that is for faith. It is a great thing to apprehend it, but how are we going to say, “In whom we have redemption”? We could never say that but by the Spirit, but having the Spirit we can say, “In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”. That depends on the Spirit of God who is the proof and seal of the believer being in Christ.
As to salvation. I have attempted to speak of what Christ is as God’s salvation, but if I have received the Spirit, and am so brought into attachment to Christ, I see that He is salvation to me; I have obtained the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, I have appropriated Him by the Spirit, and that is what many Christians lack. Faith is there, they apprehend what God is in the revelation of Himself, and in His mind toward man, but there is a lack in appropriating Christ to themselves and all that is set forth in Christ. He is salvation to me.
I add a word more. When you appropriate Christ and all that is in Christ, you of necessity reject yourself. If you say He is righteousness to you, how do you show it? You practise righteousness by the Spirit of Christ. And if you practise righteousness by the Spirit of Christ you reject yourself. The very fact that you practise it by the Spirit of another Man is the proof that you have no righteousness of your own. If you say, Christ is light to me, what do you virtually allow? That you have no light in yourself. A mariner could not steer his ship if he had not the light of heaven; even his compass will not do of itself, the light of the heavens is essential for its adjustment. Well, I say, Christ is light to us, and till we had Christ [p. 400] we walked in darkness and knew not whither we were going. Now we know very well where we are going, but we virtually admit that heretofore we were in the darkness.
No man can say that Christ is light to him but by the Spirit of Christ, but it means, I reject myself as dark. So every step brings you to the rejection of yourself as you adopt Christ instead of yourself. Salvation is in Christ Jesus. Naturally we are in bondage to the world and sin; how do you get out of it? By getting into another atmosphere, and until you do, you will never get out of the world. And what has established the atmosphere? Christ. He has established the Christian circle down here; you do not love the brethren naturally, you love them by the Spirit of Christ. What does all that mean? It means that in the apprehension of salvation in the Christian circle you reject yourself, because you have accepted and appropriated Christ.
Now that Christ has come in, it is an absolute impossibility that another man can have place before God. God may allow things to come to such a pass that antichrist may be set up, but no other man save Christ can abide before God. There must of necessity be the rejection of ourselves as we appropriate and adopt what is in Christ. It virtually means, I have no righteousness. And to say that Christ is light to me is tantamount to saying there is none in us. Would a philosopher say so? No, he is not prepared to humble himself, he thinks he has light in him. So as to salvation, it allows that I was in bondage and could not deliver myself. I reject the man that was not susceptible to salvation; that man has to be rejected as Christ is accepted and appropriated. We have to begin in faith to apprehend what Christ is for God in the moral universe, and its bearing; but then comes another experience on the part of the Christian, to find that he has everything in Christ — redemption,
[p. 401] righteousness, salvation, light — we are made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
The testimony goes out to the whole creation, God lifts up Christ as salvation for the ends of the earth and as righteousness towards all, like the sun in the heavens, there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
It is very blessed to see these things in their universal bearing — that all have a title to them, but that is not all the truth; we have to appropriate all that is set forth in Christ, that at every point and in every possible way we may reject ourselves, putting off the old and putting on the new.
I do not know if I have made my meaning plain, but I want you to see on the one hand the width and universal bearing of the grace of God presented in Christ, and, on the other, the great importance on the part of the Christian of appropriating all that is set forth in Christ. It has to be done in detail, it can be done in no other way. You have all you appropriate, and so you can say, I have righteousness, redemption, light, salvation, I am in the reality of them down here.
I would not point out these things if I did not believe in their importance. They have been much confused and need to be distinguished that you may get the idea of appropriating all that is presented in Christ, and so be able to say, I have it.