BELIEVING IT'S
FINISHED
By Clinton
White
I can remember a ship I traveled on
once and there were these people in the front of the ship. They were sure
hooting it up. They had accordions and guitars, and they were singing--they were
having a marvelous time. Then, there was this other group of people on board.
They were griping, grumbling and throwing up overboard; they were sick,
miserable and wretched.
When you receive Christ as your Savior,
you are in the ark of safety. We are all in the same boat. The only difference
is that some of us have got the accordions, the guitars and the music, and we
are having a good time; and the rest of us are grumbling and mumbling, throwing
up and complaining, murmuring and striving, and struggling and straining. There
are two kinds of Christians, but they are both Christians. One kind is enjoying
the trip and the other is enduring it.
Once, somebody asked me about an old
man in our town who had just died. She said, "Was that man a Christian?" I said,
"Yes, he was a cantankerous old Christian, but he was a Christian." She said,
"Wait a minute, what did you say?" I said, "He was a cantankerous old Christian,
but he was a Christian." And the woman said, "You know, something just fell off
of my eyes when you said that. Do you mean it is possible that somebody could
have a behavioral default and still be a Christian?"
You see, God doesn't see that
behavioral default in a Christian; He sees the robe of
righteousness.
Now, you can lose the joy of the Lord,
and you can be despondent and suffer needless depression, but you have not lost
your salvation. You have still got the robe of righteousness on, you are still
in the boat--you are just not enjoying the trip.
Christian, would you dare believe that
you have come before the Bar of Justice and God has said, "Guilty or not
guilty?"; you have said, "Guilty, Lord" and by His divine power, He has pounded
the gavel down and said, "Not guilty, free of all charges!"? Do you dare believe
that?
Don't you see how much glory believing
that brings God? What glory does it give God when you bring before Him some
tattered thing you call your righteousness. The Bible says that "all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags" in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6). It
brings glory to God when you accept His Son.
Let me ask you a question. Now,
personally, I love God, and I would give anything the Lord wants me to give; but
I don't want God to take any of my children. I cannot say, "God, if you want one
of my children, take him." I cannot say that, and you cannot either. You would
give God anything, but would you give Him your son? I wouldn't. Well, you don't
have to, because God did. The Bible says, "Shall I give . . . the fruit of my
body for the sin of my soul?" (Micah 6:7). What do you think the fruit of
your body is? It can be your child, or it can be your works and
labors.
God has offered His Son as a priceless
redemption. You accept it or reject it. The Bible says not to offer the blood of
God's sacrifice with leavened bread (Exodus 34:25). It means that when you drink
the blood of Christ's sacrifice (receive Christ as your Savior), you are then
acceptable in God's sight on those terms and those terms alone.
What is bread? It is the bread of life,
it is the word of God. If I were to offer you the blood of Christ's sacrifice
mingled with other rules, regulations and contingencies, then, I would be
offering you the blood of His sacrifice with leavened bread.
Jesus said, "While ye have light,
believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light" (John
12:36). And what is the light? That if you have come to Christ, God looks at you
and He sees Jesus. Do you really dare to accept and believe that you are
righteous in God's sight and that He receives you because of Christ's sacrifice?
Or secretly, honestly, are you harboring a multitude of contingencies in your
heart and thinking, "Well, when finally . . . finally . . . when I get those
things worked out, then I will be acceptable in the sight of God." You are only
acceptable in the sight of God because of the robe of righteousness that He put
on you when you received Christ into your heart.
Will you dare believe that He saved
you? Have you really received Him as your Messiah? "Whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1John 5:1). Your salvation rests, not
on something that you are going to do tomorrow or next week; it rests on the
unchanging fact that almost two thousand years ago a man bled and died on a
cross. He said, "Father forgive them." He said, "It is
finished."
What is finished? The road to
salvation. The way to Heaven. IT IS
FINISHED!