Bright with the love of God is the cross of Jesus our Saviour, for there for us He suffered and went down into the deepest depths of death. Right up to the highest heights He has gone, “far above all heavens,” and is there crowned with glory and honour. Such an One as He is, is well able to remove all clouds of ill and every heart with blessing fill.
Can a man be found who has sunk too low for Him to save? He has already saved the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15)! Is there a creature too exalted to receive good from Him? He shall “fill all things” (Eph. 4:10). “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily!”
Find that weary, sin-stricken sinner who deeply feels his need of God’s salvation. There is no need to occupy him with his rightly-felt sinfulness now. A sure and effectual remedy is waiting for him—“CHRIST JESUS came into the world to SAVE sinners.”
Bring that one who fears that he is not one of those who shall never perish, and that life eternal will never be his portion. True and reliable is the word—“Whosoever believes in HIM should not perish, but have everlasting life!” To him who is most wretched because of sin’s presence in his members, who longs for deliverance, and cries, “Who shall deliver me?” how good is the answer—“I thank God through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!” (Rom. 7:25), and “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death!” (8:2).
Do you know one who is greatly distressed by innumerable difficulties and trials, who is wearied with cares and burdens too heavy to be borne: Christ is the sure resource! “Casting ALL your care upon HIM, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). He takes advantage of all we pass through to endear Himself to us, to draw us near to Himself, and to make His own love and power indispensable to us. He has proved His love to us in the depths of the cross, and He uses His power on our behalf from the heights of the glory, where He now is.
Should sorrows and sufferings abound, should still greater ills sweep over the world and the churches, should unexpected trials arise in the pathway—nothing can take CHRIST JESUS unawares! When Paul was cast into prison and bound with a chain and brought up to answer before King Agrippa, he, the prisoner of the Lord, because of the portion he had in Christ, could exclaim before the Christless monarch “I would to God, that not only thou, but all that hear me this day, were … altogether such as I am, except these bonds” (Acts 26:29). Paul knew well and had proved in many trials and much suffering the all-sufficiency of His almighty Saviour and Lord. His experience of the grace of Christ had corroborated every word of Holy Scripture, and he was a witness of the things he preached. He was rich in having Christ, though suffering as a prisoner. The king was poor without Christ, though adorned with royal robes. Paul himself knew well what he wrote to others—“Ye know the grace of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
A brother whose heart was filled with the love and grace and glory of Christ called upon another who was suffering and bedridden. He felt deeply for his afflicted brother, but he did not talk of his affliction but of Christ, and, as he talked, the joy that was in his heart filled the heart of the sufferer, and that so effectually that they were able to join together in glad praise and thanksgiving. The descent of the Lord Jesus Christ into the deepest depths of death and His ascent into the highest heights of glory, and His ability to fill all things—these were the things of which the visitor talked and that lifted the heart of the sufferer above his sufferings, for the Holy Spirit who is the Comforter brought it home to him, that Christ could fill his heart now and be to him all be needed, as He will surely fill the universe and sustain it in fullness of blessing. The sweet savour of the visit lingered long after the visitor had gone.
Yes, our God and Father in His love and wisdom has provided all for us in Christ, His beloved Son; from the deepest depths to the highest heights Christ is enough.