In Thee I am more than pardoned; I am justified freely by Thy blood.
Thou cleansest from all unrighteousness, and turnest the scarlet into snow, the crimson into wool. Through Thee is preached unto us the forgiveness of sins! Through Thee there is no condemnation for us, so that we can take up the apostle's challenge joyfully, and say, 'Who is he that condemneth?'
4. I see in Thee my Justification
In Thee I am more than pardoned; I am justified freely by Thy blood. I am partaker of a divine righteousness, so that all my imperfection vanishes, and becomes invisible in the glory of Thy perfection. In Thee, the Christ of God, I find not merely the Just One taking the place of the unjust, that the penalty might be remitted, and the wrath removed; but I find the Just so substituting Himself for the unjust, that the unjust rises to the judicial level of the Just, and is dealt with by God as if he were the Just One, possessing the excellence of His righteousness, and standing before God in His divine beauty. This is the fulness of that justification which we receive from Thee when we believe in Thee, consenting to take Thee as our substitute, and to be received by God according to the merits of Thee, the Christ, the Son of the living God. O Christ, I take Thee as my righteousness, my justification, my perfection, and gladly give up every claim of my own, hiding myself beneath Thy robe, and being 'found in Thee,' 'complete in Thee,' 'accepted in the Beloved.'
5. I see in Thee my Life Eternal
I take Thee as my life, for I am all death; and the life which I find in Thee is everlasting life. Because Thou livest, I live, and shall live. Life eternal! That is what I need; and of Thee, O Christ, I find it written, 'This is the true God, and eternal life' (1 John 5:20); nay, I find it also written, 'This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life' (1 John 5:11, 13). Again and again didst Thou speak of the life that is in Thee, and of that life as presented to us, that we might have it,—have it in