Faith's Abiding Place

In a work of a well-known Scotch divine occurs the following striking observation: — “To make the death of Christ a mere refuge-house for pardons is to degrade it to the most selfish end, and to receive the grace of God in vain. The Lord whom we acknowledge laid down His life to blot out all the sinful past; but He rose again, that, in His spirit of purity and love, He might be our Leader in the war with sin in every form and degree.”*

“The death of Christ a mere refuge-house for pardons**! Let us not shrink from the searching thoughts suggested by these weighty words.

The cross of Christ is our refuge for pardon; and to the cross we must look to the

Seimons by the Rev. John Ker, D.D.

last, as the ground and source of the forgiveness of sins. But Christ is more than a Refuge. He is the Home of the soul that has been forgiven and saved. In Him is more than forgiveness — in Him is purity. He is not only the Refuge for pardon — He is the Dwelling-place for holiness. The salvation God has given us is by His Son — first through His blood, and then in His life. “This life is in His Son.*’ He, the Risen One, is the true element of the saved soul. Just as the water is the element of the fish, and the air is the element of the bird, so the Living, Personal, Present Saviour, is the element of the renewed soul. The fish lives whilst it is in the water; the bird lives whilst it is in the air; so the believer lives whilst he abides in Christ.

Have we not too exclusively taken these words, in Christ,** as referring to our standing in heaven? We have not sufficiently grasped the meaning of the phrase in its practical bearing upon our spiritual life.

as indicating the sphere in which here on earth we are called to abide. The very term “abide” implies a locality — a place. If abiding is a reality, the place in which we are to abide is also a reality, though unseen and spiritual. That place is Christ.

On the cross Christ is our propitiation — the source of our salvation — the ground of our confidence. In glory Christ is our standing — our completeness before the throne. In His spiritual Presence here on earth He is the Sanctuary of our souls. “The perpetual presence of Christ is the highest article in the whole Christian creed. It was no figurative language that our Lord employed when He said, * Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.* His crucifixion is only the base of His resurrection, and His resurrection is only the base of His ascension, and His ascension is only the base of His perpetual presence.”* To abide in that pre-

Rev. James Vaughan.

sence is to live, in the highest and truest sense.

‘* In Him “is peace — soul-filling and abiding. “These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace” (John xvi.

and anxious fear. If we are rpstless and full

abiding in Him, where all is perfect peace.**

“In Him “is victory. He is above all powers of darkness. He has overcome every foe. If we would overcome we must not seek it by struggling to get into the victorious position, but by faith, taking our position in the Victorious One, overcome ‘*i« Him.** Victory will depend, not upon our attainments — what we are; but upon our position by faith — where we are.” This is the victory that overcometh the world, even out faith,’’

In Him is fruitfulness. If we would bring forth fruit, we must not seek to do it by vigorous efforts from self, but by taking our iH Jfsiit’i 9bAtng £Iace.

place by faith in Him who is the Vine. “Abide in Me, and I in you/* ^’ From Me is thy fruit found.” “He that abideth in Me “— i.e. he who is living in fellowship with Me — “and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.”

In Him “is purity. He is our sanctification. We have Him as our holiness when we abide in Him. God was said to have dwelt in the bush (Deut. xxxiii. 16). The bush was in the Rre, and the fire was in the bush. It was holy, not because of anything in itself but because He was holy who dwelt in it. So, if we would be holy, we must not seek it as something to be obtained out of Christ, but as that which we have in Him by faith, and which the Holy Ghost will unfold and reveal to us more and more, as we abide in Him. It is not merely that Christ in heaven is the Source of our sanctification, and the Holy Spirit is the Agent who sanctifies us. It is more. Christ Himself is our sanctification here with us — the “life-sphere”

of the soul. If we would be holy, the first condition is that we be in Hinit judicially and experimentally.

“In Him “is power. Not merely has all authority {^ovaia) been given unto Him in heaven and in earth (Matt, xxviii. 18), but He is Himself” the Power (yvvafxiv) of God *’ (i Cor. i. 24.) It is when we are abiding in Him that we are being kept in (ev) the Power of God through faith (i Pet. i. 5) — garrisoned as in a fort.

“In Him “is fulness of supply. “It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell” (Col. i. 19). To enjoy that fulness we must abide in the place where the fulness dwells. It is “z« Him” that all the promises are “Yea “and “Amen,” It is “in Christ Jesus” that my God shall fill to the full all your need according to His riches in glory “(Phil. iv. 19). And it is “in Him” that we are “filled full” (Col. ii. 10).

It is not enough, then, that Christ is the refuge of my soul — the place to which I may ii6 ifatt|i*j( SbOitng 3PIace.

instantly flee when sin overcomes me. I must know Him as the home of my soul, where, if I only abide, “sin shall not have dominion over *’ me (Rom. vi. 14). “Preserved in Christ Jesus** (Jude i). “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in Godj and God in him ‘* (1 John iv. 16).