Accepted
in Christ by His Divine Merits #11
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Chap. 16 - Accepted in
Christ
ARTICLE IN SIGNS OF THE TIMES, JULY 4, 1892.
Christ is our Sacrifice, our Substitute, our Surety, our divine intercessor;
He is made unto us righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. "For
Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of
God for us" (Hebrews 9:24). {FW 105.2}
The intercession of Christ in our behalf is that of presenting His divine merits in the offering of Himself to the Father as our
substitute and surety; for He ascended up on high to make an
atonement for our transgressions. "If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for
our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world" (1 John 2:1, 2). "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins"
(1 John 4:10). "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them"
(Hebrews 7:25). {FW 105.3}
From these scriptures it is evident that it is not God's will
This Is Justification
The sinner so recently dead in trespasses and sins is quickened by faith in
Christ. He sees by faith that Jesus is his Saviour, and alive forevermore,
able to save unto "the uttermost [all] that come unto God by Him."
In the atonement made for him the believer sees such breadth and length and
height and depth of efficiency--sees such completeness of salvation,
purchased at such infinite cost, that his soul is filled with praise and
thanksgiving. He sees as in a glass the glory of the Lord and is changed into
the same image as by the Spirit of the Lord. He sees the robe of Christ's
righteousness, woven in the loom of heaven, wrought by his obedience, and
imputed to
When the sinner has a view of the matchless charms of Jesus, sin no longer
looks attractive to him; for he beholds the Chiefest among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely.
He realizes by a personal experience the power of the gospel, whose vastness
of design is equaled only by its preciousness of
purpose. {FW 107.1}
We have a living Saviour. He is not in Joseph's new tomb; He is risen from the dead and has ascended on high as a
Substitute and Surety for every believing soul. "Therefore being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ" (Romans 5:1). The sinner is justified through the merits of Jesus, and this is God's acknowledgment of the
perfection of the ransom paid for man. That Christ was obedient even unto the
death of the cross is a pledge of the repenting sinner's acceptance with the
Father. Then shall we permit ourselves to have a vacillating experience of
doubting and believing, believing and doubting? Jesus is the pledge of our
acceptance with God. We stand in favor before God, not because of any merit in ourselves, but because of our faith in "the Lord
our righteousness." {FW 107.2}
Jesus stands in the holy of holies, now to appear in the presence of God for
us. There He ceases not to present His people moment by moment, complete in
Himself. But because we are thus represented before the Father, we are not to
imagine that we are to presume upon His mercy and become careless,
indifferent, and self-indulgent. Christ is not the minister of sin. We are
complete in Him, accepted in the Beloved, only as we abide in Him by faith. {FW 107.3}
Perfection through our own good works we can never attain. The soul who sees
Jesus by faith, repudiates his own righteousness. He sees himself as
incomplete, his repentance insufficient, his strongest faith but feebleness,
his most costly sacrifice as meager, and he sinks
in humility at the foot of the cross. But a voice speaks to him from the
oracles of God's
A Truth Hard to Grasp
Standing before the broken law of God, the sinner cannot cleanse himself;
but, believing in Christ, he is the object of His infinite love and clothed
in His spotless righteousness. For those who believe in Christ, Jesus prayed:
"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth: . . . that they all
may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be
one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. And the glory
which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are
one" (John 17:17-22). "O righteous Father, the world hath not known
Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent Me. And
I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love
wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (verses 25,
26). {FW 108.2}
Who can comprehend the nature of that righteousness |
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