the Lord Jesus Christ. Another char acteristic of the complete Christian is found in verse 17, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye be rooted and grounded in love.” Most trees that grow have tap roots which go down into the ground in proportion to the height of the tree. The reason they’re able to re main standing is because the roots have gone down for water. The feed er roots spread out to find moisture. Not only are we to be rooted for life, but also we’re to be grounded for stability. Paul’s prayer is that we might be grounded in the solid Rock of Ages so that we’ll stand regard less of the tempests which will beat down upon us. Paul presents a great challenge: “That ye . . . may be able to compre hend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (v. 18). The breadth is seen as our Lord stretched His arms out and lit erally encompassed the whole earth and all humanity. The length is “as far as the east is from the west.” Some of the great telescopes reveal light galaxies out in space twice five hundred million light years away. Farther than that have our trans gressions been removed from us. The depth suggests our Lord coming down from heaven’s glory, tabernac ling among men, and dying on Cal vary’s cross. He was laid in a bor rowed tomb to unfold the depth of His love. He did this for you and me. The height of His love? “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Once we can com prehend these great truths, we will be on our way to becoming “Com plete Christians.” 10
THE VICTORIOUS CHR IST IAN by Dr. Samuel H. Sutherland I N THE B ible , there are certain chapters which are associated with various truths. For example, Romans eight is the great victory chapter in Scripture. This follows hard upon the defeatist seventh chapter which shows what happens when one’s life is not guided and filled by the Holy Spirit. Paul’s com ment, “0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” This is a picture of a carnal Christian. Here is reflected the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. The victory chapter begins, “There is therefore now no condem nation to them who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). “Condemnation” is a legal and forensic term. It has to do with judgment. The law of sin and death of the Old Testament could only bring condemnation. It couldn’t do anything to redeem a man or make him want to be per fect. It simply revealed sinfulness. So the law of the Spirit of Christ makes us free. We are sinners saved by grace. There’s no condemnation again to those who are in Christ Jesus. God has saved us so that He might bestow His blessings upon us. We are now children of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. We haven’t “cashed in” our wealth yet. I heard a story of a tax-assessor who came to the home of a very poor minister. The home needed painting and there was no rug on the floor or much in the way of furniture. The assessor was invited in, only to hear
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