This is the part where an attempt is made to give you some idea of what you are going to be getting yourself into with this book. Writing this has felt like stuffing a thousand bottles with messages and letting them drift out to sea, hoping that one gets through to someone. I hope that someone is you. My hope is that there will be something here for you – even if only one thought. It might be something you’ve never considered before, or something you just needed to be reminded of.
This is not a serious theological work, at least in the usual sense of that phrase. I am serious about these things, but you will quickly see that it is not an in-depth “exegetical” effort. It’s actually quite subjective at times. I may have taken things out of context. You just might accuse me of reading too much into Scripture. I’m alright with that. But the gravity of my seriousness finds it’s centre in the finished work of Christ – A work that is more complete than most seem to give him credit for.
I was told long ago that there are only two religions in the whole world. One is called “Do” and the other is called “Done”. I’m all about the one with the name “Done”. When Jesus said, “It is finished”, I believe he meant it. Everything that I needed to have done for me – He did it. He has covered needs that I never knew I had. And he didn’t ask my permission first. He went ahead and “gave himself for me”. That is the message that, like Jeremiah, burns in my bones.
I am indebted to so many who have pointed me back to the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus. People like T. Austin-Sparks, J.B. Stoney, William Newell, Miles Stanford, Ruth Paxton, Hannah Whitehall-Smith, and C.H. Mackintosh. Maxwell’s “Born Crucified”, Huegel’s “Bone Of His Bone” and Watchman Nee’s “The Normal Christian Life” have also been so helpful for me to understand just what Jesus did for me. Christ is my complete spiritual provision, so much so that I can say I am “complete in Him.” I can’t add to that. I just believe it and receive it.
There is one more person that the Lord has used to get through to me. His name is Paul. His letters have revealed to me a man who knew by experience that Jesus is life. We have his journal to see just how the Lord taught him that “to live is Christ”. Paul learned to value weakness over strength. He learned to say “when I am weak, then I am strong.” He settled in to the restful grace of Christ, and fought to preserve the integrity of that message. It is a message of grace and grace again.
The thing that has continued to stupefy me is that the grace I’ve found in Jesus is relentless. “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more” was the cry of Paul. It’s merciless grace. It’s grace that shows no mercy – no sign of giving up any time soon. I can’t exhaust it. I can’t get to the end of it. And that grace has meant judgment on things that I must accept, just as much as I accept the forgiveness it offers. The grace of Jesus is merciless toward sin. It pays no attention to the white flag sin might wave. The cross of Christ not only offers forgiveness, but it also condemns sin, judging it for what it is. Sin has not been excused. It’s been executed.
This may not be making much sense yet. It will as you go on. I believe that the experience of every Christian person bears out the fact that we all fail to live the Christian life. Why this is so, is always due to our misunderstanding of what he has done for us. And once you see it, you’re amazed that you didn’t see it before. It sounds too easy. It seems too simple. It’s simply trusting that God has already “condemned sin in the flesh” through Jesus Christ.
Once again, I hope there is something here for you. Maybe once you find it, you can just put this book down, and move on to higher ground. Along with Paul, my prayer for you is that you will have “the eyes of your heart” opened to see the finished, complete, and perfect work of Christ. Please pray the same thing for me.