Spurgeon's Sermon Notes
Volume 2. The New Testament
130. Matthew 4:3. Sonship Questioned131. Matthew 4:19. The Making of Men-catchers
132. Matthew 7:21–23. The Disowned
133. Matthew 8:7, Luke 7:7. Your Word suffices me
134. Matthew 9:9. "A man named Matthew"
135. Matthew 9:36. A Portrait of Jesus
136. Matthew 10:27. Learning in Private what to Teach in Public
137. Matthew 10:30. The Numbered Hairs
133. Matthew 10:38. Cross-bearing
139. Matthew 11:28–30. Rest for the Restless
140. Matthew 11:28. Jesus calling
141. Matthew 14:31. The Why and the Wherefore of Doubt
142. Matthew 20:3, 4. From Twenty-five to Thirty-five
143. Matthew 22:8–10. Guests for the Wedding-feast
144. Matthew 25:10. Entrance and Exclusion
145. Matthew 27:29. Mocked of the Soldiers
146. Matthew 28:9, 10. "All Hail!"
147. Mark 4:24. Hearing with Heed
148. Mark 5:6, Luke 15:20. He ran, and HE ran
149. Mark 5:7. Resistance to Salvation
150. Mark 8:22–25. The Free-agency of Christ
151. Mark 9:24. Feeble Faith appealing to a Strong Savior
152. Mark 10:49, 50. The Blind Beggar of Jericho
153. Mark 12:34. So Near
154. Mark 14:32. Gethsemane
155. Mark 14:72. Fountains of Repentant Tears
156. Mark 16:10. A Sad Interior and a Cheery Messenger
157. Luke 5:26. Strange Things
158. Luke 7:38. "At His Feet"
159. Luke 7:42. Love's foremost
160. Luke 8:40. A Welcome for Jesus
161. Luke 10:39. Love at Home
162. Luke 15:4–6. The Good Shepherd in three Positions
163. Luke 19:5. Must he?
164. Luke 22:19, 20. The Ordained Memorial
165. Luke 22:27. Servus Servorum
166. Luke 23:34. "Father, forgive them"
167. Luke 24:36. A Divine Visitation
168. Luke 24:50. Our Lord's Attitude in Ascension
169. John 1:29. The Baptist's message
170. John 1:47. The Israelite indeed
171. John 4:6. Jesus Sitting on the Well
172. John 4:11. The Source
173. John 5:9. Sabbath-work
174. John 7:11. "Where is He?"
175. John 7:43. Christ the Cause of Division
176. John 8:37. Place for the Word
177. John 9:31. True and Not True
178. John 10:9. The Door
179. John 10:22, 23. The Lord in our Assemblies
180. John 14:28. Love's Importance
181. John 14:31. A Watchword
182. John 19:14. "Behold your King!"
183. John 20:15. A Handkerchief
184. John 20:17. Noli Me Tangere
185. John 20:27. Signs and Evidences
186. John 20:29. Faith without Sight
187. Acts 2:24. Bonds which could not hold
188. Acts 2:37. Life-wounds
189. Acts 4:14. The Golden Muzzle
190. Acts 7:13. "The Second Time"
191. Acts 7:58. Stephen and Saul
192. Acts 13:26. "To You"
193. Acts 19:18–20. Growing and Prevailing.
194 Acts 26:14. The Ox and the Goad
195. Acts 28:2. Kindling a Fire
196. Romans 2:4. Concerning the Forbearance of God
197. Romans 4:24. "Jesus our Lord"
198. Romans 6:11, 12. Dead but Alive
199. Romans 8:17. Heirs of God
200. Romans 10:16. Disobedience to the Gospel
201. Romans 12:15. Fellowship in Joy
202. Romans 15:4. Patience, Comfort and Hope from the Scriptures
203. 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20. Bought with a Price
204. 1 Corinthians 11:24. In Remembrance
205. 1 Corinthians 11:28. Examination before Communion
206. 1 Corinthians 15:6. Fallen Asleep
207. 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4. Comforted and Comforting
208. 2 Corinthians 1:10. The Tenses
209. 2 Corinthians 1:20. All the Promises
210. 2 Corinthians 7:1. The Cleansing which comes of Godliness
211. 2 Corinthians 7:10. Sorrow and Sorrow
212. Galatians 1:16. A Conference to be Avoided
213. Galatians 3:23. Under Arrest
214. Galatians 5:7. Various Hindrances
215. Galatians 5:11. The Offence of the Cross
216. Galatians 6:2–5. Burden-bearing
217. Galatians 6:7. Sowing and Reaping
218. Galatians 6:14. Three Crucifixions
219. Ephesians 1:13, 14. The Earnest
220. Ephesians 3:15. The Royal Family
221. Ephesians 3:16-19. Measuring the Immeasurable
222. Ephesians 4:15, 16. The Head and the Body
223. Ephesians 4:20, 21. True Learning
224. Ephesians 5:11. The Child of Light and the Works of Darkness
225. Ephesians 5:25. The Pattern of Love
226. Ephesians 6:15. Heavenly Shoes
227. Philippians 4:4. Joy a Duty
228. Colossians 1:16. Christ the Creator
229. Colossians 2:6. AS and SO
230. Colossians 3:11. Christ is All
231. 1 Thessalonians 2:13, 14. A Happy Minister's Meeting
232. 2 Thessalonians 3:13. Weariness in Well-doing
233. 1 Timothy 1:15. The Faithful Saying
234. 1 Timothy 1:16. Paul's Conversion a Pattern
235. 2 Timothy 1:12. Our Gospel
236. 2 Timothy 1:18. Mercy in the Day of Judgment
237. 2 Timothy 2:9. The Word of God Unbound
238. Titus 2:10. Gospel Jewelry
239. Hebrews 4:12. The Sword of the Lord
240. Hebrews 4:16. Boldness at the Throne
241. Hebrews 5:2. Compassion on the Ignorant
242. Hebrews 5:8. The Education of Sons of God
243. Hebrews 10:9. The First and the Second
244. Hebrews 12:13. Lame Sheep
245. Hebrews 12:25. Hear! Hear!
246. Hebrews 13:5. Never, No Never, No Never
247. James 1:12. The Tried Man the Blessed Man
248. James 4:6. More and More
249. 1 Peter 1:9. Salvation as it is Now Received
250. 1 Peter 4:18. If so—What Then?
251. 1 Peter 5:1. A Witness and a Partaker
252. 2 Peter 2:9. The Lord's Knowledge our Safeguard
253. 1 John 3:2. By-and-by
254. 1 John 3:3. Purification by Hope
255. 1 John 3:14. Life Proved by Love
256. 1 John 3:20, 21. The Lower Courts
257. 1 John 5:4. Victorious Faith
258. 3 John 2. Soul-health
259. Jude 24, 25. Jude's Doxology
260. Revelation 1:7. The Coming with Clouds
261. Revelation 11:19. The Ark of his Covenant
262. Revelation 16:8, 9. The Repentance which Glorifies God
263. Revelation 19:9. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
264. Revelation 19:9. The Scriptures Divinely True
130
Matthew 4:3—"If you be the Son of God."
There is no sin in being tempted; for the perfect Jesus "was in all points tempted like as we are:" Hebrews 4:15.
Temptation does not necessitate sinning; for of Jesus, when tempted, we read, "yet without sin."
Not even the worst forms of it involve sin: for Jesus endured without sin the subtlest of temptations, from the evil one himself.
It may be needful for us to be tempted—
For test. Sincerity, faith, love, patience, are thus put to proof.
For growth. Temptation develops and increases our graces.
For usefulness. We become able to comfort and warn others.
For victory. How glorious to overcome the arch-enemy!
For God's glory. He vanquishes Satan by feeble men.
Solitude will not prevent temptation.
It may even aid it. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.
Nor will fasting and prayer always keep off the tempter; for these had been fully used by our Lord.
Satan knows how to write prefaces: our text is one.
He began the whole series of his temptations by a doubt cast upon our Lord's Sonship, and a crafty quotation from Scripture.
He caught up the echo of the Father's word at our Lord's baptism, and began tempting where heavenly witness ended.
He knew how to discharge a double-shotted temptation, and at once to suggest doubt and rebellion: this was such—"If you be the Son of God, command" etc.
I. The tempter assails with an "if."
1. Not with point-blank denial. That would be too startling. Doubt serves the Satanic purpose better than heresy.
2. He grafts his "if" on a holy thing. He makes the doubt look like holy anxiety concerning divine Sonship.
3. He ifs a plain Scripture. "You are my Son": Psalm 2:7.
4. He ifs a former manifestation. At his baptism God said, "This is my beloved Son." Satan contradicts our spiritual experience.
5. He ifs a whole life. From the first Jesus had been about his Father's business; yet after thirty years his Sonship is questioned.
6. He ifs inner consciousness. Our Lord knew that he was the Father's Son; but the evil one is daring.
7. He ifs a perfect character. Well may he question us, whose faults are so many.
II. The tempter aims the "if" at a vital part.
1. At our sonship.
In our Lord's case he attacks his human and divine Sonship.
In our case he would make us doubt our regeneration.
2. At our childlike spirit. He tempts us to cater for ourselves. "Command that these stones be made bread."
3. At our Father's honor. He tempts us to doubt our Father's providence, and to blame him for letting us hunger.
4. At our comfort and strength as members of the heavenly family.
By robbing us of our sonship, he would leave us orphans, and consequently naked, poor, and miserable.
Thus he would have us hindered in prayer. How could we say, "Our Father" if we doubted our sonship? Matthew 6:9.
Thus he would destroy patience. How can we say, "Father, your will be done," if we are not his sons? Luke 22:42.
Thus he would lay us open to the next shot, whatever that might be. Doubt of sonship leaves us naked to the enemy.
III. The tempter supports that "if" with circumstances.
1. You are alone. Would a Father desert his Child?
2. You are in a desert. Is this the place for God's Heir?
3. You are with the wild beasts. Wretched company for a Son of God!
4. You are an hungered. How can a loving Father let his perfect Son hunger?
Put all these together, and the tempter's question comes home with awful force to one who is hungry, and alone.
When we see others thus tried, do we think them brethren? Do we not question their sonship, as Job's friends questioned him? What wonder if we question ourselves!
IV. When overcome, the tempter's "if" is helpful.
1. As coming from Satan, it is a certificate of our true descent.
He only questions truth: therefore we are true sons.
He only leads sons to doubt their sonship; therefore we are sons.
2. As overcome, it may be a quietus to the enemy for years.
It takes the sting out of man's questionings and suspicions; for if we have answered the devil himself we do not fear men.
It puts a sweetness into all future enjoyment of our Father.
3. As past, it is usually the prelude to angels coming and ministering to us, as in our Lord's case. No calm is so deep as that which follows a great storm. Mark 4:39.
Friend, are you in such relation to God that it would be worth Satan's while to raise this question with you?
Those who are not heirs of God are heirs of wrath.
Selections
What force there is often in a single monosyllable! What force, for instance, in the monosyllable "If," with which this artful address begins! It was employed by Satan, for the purpose of insinuating into the Savior's mind a doubt of his being in reality the special object of his Father's care, and it was pronounced by him, as we may well suppose, with a cunning and malignant emphasis. How different is the use which Jesus makes of this word "if" in those lessons of Divine instruction and heavenly consolation, which he so frequently delivered to his disciples when he was on earth! He always employed it to inspire confidence; never to excite distrust. Take a single instance of this:—"If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" What a contrast between this divine remonstrance and the malicious insinuation of the great enemy of God and man!
Daniel Bagot.
God had but one Son without corruption, but he had none without temptation. Such is Satan's enmity to the Father, that the nearer and dearer any child is to him, the more will Satan trouble him, and vex him with temptations. None so well-beloved as Christ; none so much tempted as he. Thomas Brooks.
Satan does not come to Christ thus, "You are not the Son of God"; or, "That voice which gave you that testimony was a lie or a delusion." No, he proceeds by questioning, which might seem to grant that he was the Son of God, yet withal might possibly beget a doubt in his mind. Richard Gilpin.
Oh, this word "if"! Oh, that I could tear it out of my heart! O you poison of all my pleasures! You cold icy hand, that touches me so often, and freezes me with the touch! "If! If!"—Robert Robinson.
131
Matthew 4:19—"And he says unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Conversion is most fully displayed when it leads converts to seek the conversion of others: we most truly follow Christ when we become fishers of men.
The great question is not so much what we are naturally, as what Jesus makes us by his grace: whoever we may be of ourselves, we can, by following Jesus, be made useful in his kingdom.
Our desire should be to be men-catchers; and the way to attain to that sacred are is to be ourselves thoroughly captured by the great Head of the College of Fishermen. When Jesus draws us we shall draw men.
I. Something to be done by us. "Follow me."
1. We must be separated to him, that we may pursue his object.
We cannot follow him unless we leave others. Matthew 6:24.
We must belong to him, that his design may be our design.
2. We must abide with him, that we may catch his spirit.
The closer our communion with Christ, the greater our power with souls. Near following means full fellowship.
3. We must obey him, that we may learn his method.
Teach what he taught. Matthew 28:20.
Teach as he taught. Matthew 11:29; 1 Thessalonians 2:7.
Teach such as he taught, namely, the poor, the base, children, etc.
4. We must believe him, that we may believe true doctrine.
Christ's own teaching catches men; let us repeat it.
Faith in Jesus on our part is a great force to beget faith.
5. We must copy his life, that we may win his blessing from God; for God blesses those who are like his Son.
II. Something to be done by him. "I will make you."
Our following Jesus secures our education for soul-winning.
1. By our following Jesus he works conviction and conversion in men; he uses our example as a means to this end.
2. By our discipleship the Lord makes us fit to be used.
True soul-winners are not self-made, but Christ-made.
The making of men-catchers is a high form of creation.
3. By our personal experience in following Jesus he instructs us until we become proficient in the holy are of soul-winning.
4. By inward monitions he guides us what, when, and where to speak.
These must be followed up carefully if we would win men.
5. By his Spirit he qualifies us to reach men.
The Spirit comes to us by our keeping close to Christ.
6. By his secret working on men's hearts he speeds us in our work.
He makes us true fishers by inclining men to enter the gospel net.
III. A figure instructing us. "Fishers of men."
The man who saves souls is like a fisher upon the sea.
1. A fisher is dependent and trustful.
2. He is diligent and persevering.
3. He is intelligent and watchful.
4. He is laborious and self-denying.
5. He is daring, and is not afraid to venture upon a dangerous sea.
6. He is successful. He is no fisher who never catches anything.
See the ordination of successful ministers. They are made, not born: made by God, and not by mere human training.
See how we can partake in the Lord's work, and be specimens of his workmanship: "Follow me, and I will make you."
Hooks
I love your meetings for prayer, you cannot have too many of them: but we must work while we pray, and pray while we work. I would rather see a man, who has been saved from the gulf below, casting life-lines to others struggling in the maelstrom of death, than on his knees on that rock thanking God for his own deliverance; because I believe God will accept action for others as the highest possible expression of gratitude that a saved soul can offer. Thomas Guthrie.
Ministers are fishers. A busy profession, a toilsome calling, no idle man's occupation, as the vulgar conceive it, nor needless trade, taken up at last to pick a living out of. Let God's fishermen busy themselves as they must, sometimes in preparing, sometimes in mending, sometimes in casting abroad, sometimes in drawing in the net, that they may "separate the precious from the vile," etc. (Jeremiah 15:19, Matthew 13:48); and no man shall have just cause to twit them with idleness, or to say they have an easy life. John Trapp.
The minister is a fisherman. As such he must fit himself for his employment. If some fish will bite only by day, he must fish by day if others will bite only by moonlight, he must fish for them by moonlight—Richard Cecil.
I watched an old man trout-fishing the other day, pulling them out one after another briskly. "You manage it cleverly, old friend," I said: "I have passed a good many below who don't seem to be doing anything." The old man lifted himself up, and stuck his rod in the ground. "Well, you see, Sir, there be three rules for trout-fishing, and 'tis no good trying if you don't mind them. The first is, Keep yourself out of sight; and the second is, Keep yourself farther out of sight; and the third is, Keep yourself farther still out of sight. Then you'll do it." "Good for catching men, too," thought I. Mark Guy Pearse.
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of your tone:
As you have sought, so let me seek
Your erring children, lost and lone.
O lead me, Lord, that I may lead
The wandering and the wayward feet;
O feed me, Lord, that I may feed
Your hungering ones with manna sweet.
O strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the Rock, and strong in you,
I may stretch out a loving hand
To wrestlers with the troubled sea.
O teach me, Lord, that I may teach
The precious things you do impart;
And wing my words, that they may reach
The hidden depths of many a heart.
F. R. Havergal.
The best training for a soul-saving minister is precisely that which he would follow if his sole object were to develop the character of Christ in himself. The better the man, the more powerful will his preaching become. As he grows like Jesus, he will preach like Jesus. Given like purity of motive, tenderness of heart, and clearness of faith, and you will have like force of utterance. The direct road to success in saving souls is to become like the Savior. The imitation of Christ is the true are of sacred rhetoric. C. H. S.
Mr. Jesse relates that certain fish give preference to bait that has been perfumed. When the prince of evil goes forth in quest of victims, there does not need much allurement added to the common temptations of life to make them effective. Fishers of men, however, do well to employ all the skill they can to suit the minds and tastes of those whom they seek to gain. G. McMichael.
132
Matthew 7:21–23 "Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father which is in Heaven.
"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works?
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity."
One of the best tests of everything is how it will appear in the moment of death, in the morning of resurrection, and at the day of judgment. Our Lord gives us a picture of persons as they will appear "in that day."
Riches, honors, pleasures, successes, self-congratulations, etc., should all be set in the light of "that day."
This test should especially be applied to all religious professions and exercises; for "that day" will try these things as with fire.
The persons here depicted in judgment-light were not gross and open sinners; but externally they were excellent.
I. They went a long way in religion.
1. They made an open profession. They said, "Lord, Lord."
2. They undertook Christian service, and that of a high class: they habitually prophesied and worked miracles.
3. They had obtained remarkable success.
Devils had owned their power.
4. They were noted for their practical energy.
They had done many wonders: they were active in many ways.
They had done wonders. Astonished everybody.
5. They were diligently orthodox.
They did everything in the name of Christ. The words "Your name" are mentioned three times.
II. They kept it up a long while.
1. They were not silenced by men.
No one discovered their falsehood, or detected their inconsistency.
2. They were not openly disowned by the Lord himself during life.
3. They were not made a laughing-stock by being left to use the holy name without result. Acts 19:13–17.
Devils were cast out.
4. They expected to enter the Kingdom, and they clung to that false hope to the last.
They dared to say, "Lord, Lord," to Christ himself, at the last.
III. They were fatally mistaken.
1. Their tongue was belied by their hand. They said, "Lord, Lord," but did not do the will of the Father.
2. They used the name which is named by disciples, but did not possess the nature of obedient servants. Luke 6:46.
3. They prophesied, but did not pray.
4. They cast out devils, but the devil was not cast out of them.
5. They attended to marvels, but not to essentials.
6. They wrought wonders, but were also workers of iniquity.
IV. They found it out in a terrible way.
They had the information from the mouth of him whom they called Lord. Here let us carefully notice—
1. The solemnity of what he said. "I never knew you." He had been omitted from their religion. What an oversight!
2. The terror of what it implied: they must depart from all hope, and continue forever to depart.
3. The awful truth of what he said. They were utter strangers to his heart. He had not chosen them, nor communed with them, nor approved them, nor cared for them.
4. The solemn fixedness of what he said. His sentence would never be recalled, altered, or ended. It stood, "depart from me."
Brethren, the Lord cannot say to some of us that he does not know us, for he has often heard our voices, and answered our requests.
He has known us—
In repentance, seeking mercy, and receiving it.
In gratitude, blessing his gracious name.
In adversity, looking for his aid, and enjoying it.
In reproach, owning his cause under ridicule.
In difficulty, seeking help and safety under his wing.
In love, enjoying happy fellowship with him.
In these and many other ways he knows us.
Professors, does Jesus know you? The church knows you, the school knows you, the world knows you; does Jesus know you?
Come unto him, you strangers, and find eternal life in him.
Warnings
In many simple works God is more seen than in wonderful works. The Pharisee at Heaven's gate says, "Lord, I have done many wonderful works in your name"; but, alas! has he ever made the Lord's name wonderful?—T. T. Lynch.
Pollok describes the hypocritical professor as—
"The man that stole the livery of Heaven
To serve the devil in."
I knew you well enough for "black sheep," or, rather, for reprobate goats: I knew you for hirelings and hypocrites, but I never knew you with a special knowledge of love, delight, and delight. I never acknowledged, approved, and accepted of your persons and performances. See Psalm 1:6; Romans 11:2. John Trapp.
Not "I once knew you, but cannot own you now"; but "I never knew you;—as real penitents, suppliants for pardon, humble believers, true followers."—E. R. Conder.
Note our Lord's open confession before men and angels, and specially to the men themselves—"I never knew you." I knew about you; I knew that you professed great things; but you had no acquaintance with me; and whatever you knew about me, you did not know me. I was not of your company, and did not know you. Had he once known them, he would not have forgotten them.
Those who accept his invitation, "Come unto me," shall never hear him say, "Depart from me." Workers of iniquity may now come to the Savior for mercy; but if they set up a hope of their own, and ignore the Savior, he will bid them depart to endure the rigors of his justice. Is it not striking that preachers, casters-out of devils, and doers of wonders, may yet be workers of iniquity? They may work miracles in Christ's name, and yet have neither part nor lot in him. C. H. S.
"Depart from me,"—a fearful sentence, a terrible separation. "From me," says Christ, that made myself man for your sakes, that offered my blood for your redemption. "From me," that invited you to mercy, and you would not accept it. "From me," that purchased a kingdom of glory for such as believed on me, and have resolved to honor their heads with crowns of eternal joy. "Depart from me:" from my friendship, my fellowship, my paradise, my presence, my Heaven.
Thomas Adams.
133
Matthew 8:7—"And Jesus says unto him, I will come and heal him."
Luke 8:7—"Say in a word, and my servant shall be healed."
The centurion who cared for the religious welfare of the people, and built them a synagogue, had also a heart of compassion for the sick. It is well when public generosity is sustained by domestic kindness.
This servant was his boy, and perhaps his slave; but he was dear to him. A good master makes a good servant.
It is well when all ranks are united in sympathy: captain and page are here united in affection.
The master showed his affection by seeking help. Heart and hand should go together. Let us not love in word only.
It is well that the followers of Jesus should be ready to help all sick folk; and that healing should be still associated with prayer to Jesus.
Mark the growingly manifest faith of the centurion, and the growing manifestation of Jesus.
Centurion sends elders with request to "come and heal." Jesus will come and heal.
Centurion comes himself asking for "a word." Jesus gives the word, and the deed is done.
We see in this passage a miracle in the physical world, and are thereby taught what our Lord Jesus can do in the spiritual world.
Let us imitate the centurion in seeking to Jesus about others.
We learn from the narrative—
I. The perfect readiness of Christ.
1. He did not debate with the elders of the Jews, and show the weakness of their plea, "He was worthy": Luke 7:4, 5.
2. He cheerfully granted their request, although it was needless for him to come. "Then Jesus went with them": Luke 7:6.
3. He did not raise a question about the change which the centurion proposed, although he was already on the road. Luke 7:6.
4. He did not suspect the good man's motive, as some might have done. He read his heart, and saw his true humility.
5. He did not demur to the comparison of himself to a petty officer Our Lord is never captious; but takes our meaning.
6. He promptly accepted the prayer and the faith of the centurion, gave the blessing, and gave it as desired.
Our Lord's love to sinners, his forgetfulness of self, his willingness to please us, and his eagerness to fulfill his own mission, should encourage us in prayer to him for ourselves and others.
II. The conscious ability of Christ.
1. He is not puzzled with the case. It was singular for the servant to be at once paralyzed and tormented; but whatever the disease may be, the Lord says, "I will come and heal him."
2. He is not put in doubt by the extreme danger of the servant. No, he will come to him, though he hears that he is stricken down, and is utterly prostrate.
3. He speaks of healing as a matter of course.
His coming will ensure the cure: "come and heal."
4. He treats the method of procedure as of no consequence.
He will come or he will not come, but will "say in a word"; yet the result will be the same.
5. He wonders more at the centurion's faith than at the cure.
Omnipotent grace moves with majestic ease.
We are worried and fretted, but the Lord is not.
Let us thus be encouraged to hope.
III. The abiding method of Christ.
He is accustomed to heal by his Word through faith. Signs and wonders are temporary, and answer a purpose for an occasion; but both faith and the Word of the Lord are matters for all time.
Our Lord did not in the case before us put in a personal appearance, but spoke, and it was done; and this he does in our own day.
1. This is coming back to the original form of working in creation.
It is apparently a greater miracle than working by visible presence; at any rate, the means are less seen.
2. This method suits true humility. We do not demand signs and wonders; the Word is enough for us. Luke 7:7.
3. This pleases great faith; for the Word is faith's chosen manifestation of God. It rejoices more in the Word than in all things visible. Psalm 119:162.
4. This is perfectly reasonable. Should not a word of command from God be enough? Mark the centurion's reasoning. Matthew 8:9.
5. This is sure to succeed. Who can resist the divine fiat? In our own case, all we need is a word from the Lord.
6. This must be confidently relied on for others. Let us use the Word, and pray the Lord to make it his own word.
Henceforth, let us go forward in his name, relying upon his Word!
Insertions
Had the centurion's roof been Heaven itself, it could not have been worthy to be come under of him whose word was almighty, and who was the Almighty Word of his Father. Such is Christ confessed to be by him that says, "only say the word." None but a divine power is unlimited: neither has faith any other bounds than God himself. There needs no footing to remove mountains, or devils, but a word. Do but say the word, O Savior, my sin shall be remitted, my soul shall be healed, my body shall be raised from dust, and both soul and body shall be glorified. Bishop Hall.
"I have been informed," says Hervey, "that when the Elector of Hanover was declared by the Parliament of Great Britain successor to the vacant throne, several persons of distinction waited upon his Highness, to make timely application for valuable preferments. Several requests of this nature were granted, and confirmed by a kind of promissory note. One gentleman solicited the Mastership of the Rolls. Being indulged in his desire, he was offered the same confirmation which had been given to other successful petitioners; upon which he seemed to be overcome by grateful confusion and surprise, and begged that he might not put the royal donor to such unnecessary trouble, protesting that he looked upon His Highness's word as the best ratification of his suit. With this compliment the Elector was not a little pleased. 'This gentleman,' he said, 'treats me like a king; and, whoever is disappointed, he shall certainly be gratified.' "
Our Lord can cure either by coming or by speaking. Let us not dictate to him the way in which he shall bless us. If we were permitted a choice, we ought not to select that method which makes most show, but that in which there is least to be seen and heard, yet most to be admired. Comparatively, signs and wonders show less of him than his bare Word, which he has magnified above all his name. Marvels dazzle, but the Word enlightens. That faith which sees least sees most, and that which has no eyes at all for the visible has a thousand eyes for the invisible. Lord, come in your glory, and bless me, if such be your will; but if you will stay where you are, and bless me only through your will and Word, I will be as well content, and even more so if this method the more honors thee!—C. H. S.
CXXXIV
Matthew 9:9—"And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he says unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him."
Matthew is here writing about himself. Note his modesty in the expression—"a man, named Matthew," and in his omission of the fact that the feast mentioned in verse 10 was held in his own house.
The story is placed immediately after a miracle, as if to hint that Matthew's conversion was a miracle.
There are points of similarity between the miracle and the conversion.
Matthew was spiritually palsied by his sins, and his money-making; hence he needed the divine command, "Arise, and walk."
There may be points of likeness also between Matthew's personal story and our own. These may be profitably considered.
I. His call seemed accidental and unlikely.
Jesus had often been at Capernaum, which he had selected to be "his own city"; and yet Matthew remained unsaved. Was it likely that he would now be called? Had not his day of grace closed?
Jesus was about other business; for we read, "as Jesus passed forth from thence." Would he now be likely to call Matthew?
Jesus left many other persons uncalled; was it not highly probable that the tax-gatherer would be passed by?
Yet Jesus called to himself this "man, named Matthew," while many another man had no such special call.
"He saw a man, named Matthew," for he foresaw him.
He knew him, for he foreknew him.
In all which there is a parallel between Matthew and ourselves.
II. His call was altogether unthought of and unsought.
1. He was in a degrading business. None but the lowest of the Jews would care to gather taxes for the Roman conqueror. His discipleship would bring no honor to the Lord Jesus.
2. He was in an ensnaring business. The publicans usually made a personal profit by extorting more than was due. He was not paying away, but sitting "at the receipt of custom; and this is a pleasing exercise." Money is bird-lime to the soul.
3. He would not have dared to follow Jesus even if he had wished to do so. He felt himself to be too unworthy.
4. He would have been repulsed by the other disciples had he proposed to come without the Lord's open invitation.
5. He made no sign in the direction of Jesus. No prayer was offered by him, nor wish expressed towards better things.
The call was of pure grace, as it is written, "I am found of them that sought me not."
III. His call was given by the Lord, with full knowledge of him.
Jesus "saw a man, named Matthew," and called him.
1. He saw all the evil that had been in him, and was yet there.
2. He saw his adaptation for holy service, as a recorder and penman.
3. He saw all that he meant to make of him.
4. He saw in him his chosen, his redeemed, his convert, his disciple, his apostle, his biographer.
The Lord calls as he pleases, but he sees what he is doing. Sovereignty is not blind; but acts with boundless wisdom.
IV. His call was graciously condescending.
The Lord called "a man, named Matthew,"—that was his best.
He was a publican—that may not have been his worst.
He allowed such a sinner to be his personal attendant; yes, called him to that honor, saying, "Follow me."
He allowed him to do this immediately, without putting him into quarantine. He was to follow the Lord there and then.
V. His call was sublimely simple.
1. Few were the words: "Follow me."
It is very tersely recorded, "He saw. he says. he arose."
2. Clear was the direction: "Follow me."
3. Personal was the address: "He says unto him."
4. Royal was the command: "He says."
VI. His call was immediately effectual.
1. Matthew followed at once. "He arose, and followed him."
2. He followed spiritually as well as literally. He became a sincere, devout, earnest, intelligent disciple.
3. He followed wholly: bringing his voice and his pen with him.
4. He followed growingly, more and more.
5. He followed ever after, never deserting his Leader.
What a call was this! None could have given it but the Lord.
VII. His call was a door of hope for others.
1. His salvation encouraged other publicans to come to Jesus.
2. His open house gave opportunity to his friends to hear Jesus.
3. His personal ministry brought others to the Savior.
4. His written gospel has convinced many, and will always do so.
Are you up to your neck in business? Are you "sitting at the receipt of custom?" Yet may a call come to you at once. It does come.
Hear it attentively, rise earnestly, and respond immediately.
Good Words
God often calls men in strange places. Not in the house of prayer, not under the preaching of the Word; but when all these things have been absent, and all surrounding circumstances have seemed most adverse to the work of grace, that grace has put forth its power. The tavern, the theater, the ball-room, the gaming-house, the race-course, and other similar haunts of worldliness and sin, have sometimes been the scenes of God's converting grace. As an old writer says: "Our calling is uncertain in respect of place, for God calls some from their ships, and some from their shops; some from under the hedges, and others from the market; so that, if a man can but make out unto his own soul that he is certainly called, the time when and the place where matter little."
How I now loved those words that spoke of a Christian's calling! As when the Lord said to one, "Follow me"; and to another, "Come after me." Oh! thought I, that he would say so to me: how gladly would I run after him! I could seldom read of any that Christ did call, but I presently wished, "Would I had been in their clothes! Would I had been born Peter, or John!" I often thought, "Would I had heard him when he called them, how would I have cried, 'O Lord, call me also!' " But I feared he would not call me. John Bunyan.
We read in classic story how the lyre of Orpheus enchanted with its music, not only the wild beasts, but the very trees and rocks upon Olympus, so that they moved from their places to follow him; so Christ, our heavenly Orpheus, with the music of his gracious speech, draws after him those less susceptible to benign influences than beasts and trees and stones, even poor, hardened, senseless, sinful souls. Let him but strike his golden harp, and whisper in your heart, "Come, follow me," and you, like another Matthew, shall be won.
CXXXV
Matthew 9:36—"He was moved with compassion on them."
The expression is very strong ( óðëáã÷íßóèç.) All that was within him was stirred by the sight which he beheld. He was full of emotion, and showed it in his whole person.
His yearning compassions gathered around (ðåñ ) the people.
Exhibit the picture of Jesus under strong emotion.
This is a portrait of him as he appeared on many occasions.
Indeed, the words before us might sum up his entire life.
Let us behold his compassion as manifested in—
I. The great transactions of his life.
1. The Eternal Covenant, in its conception, arranging, provisions, &c., is full of compassion to men.
2. The Incarnation of our Lord shows matchless compassion.
3. His living in the flesh among men declares it.
4. His bearing the death penalty is the highest fruit of it.
5. His intercession for sinners proves its continuance.
This is a wide subject. In every act of his grace the Lord of love manifests tender pity to men.
II. The special instances recorded by the evangelists.
1. In Matthew 15:32, we see a fainting crowd, hungry, etc.
A crowd is a sad sight: a crowd, when faint, is far more so.
Such crowds are perishing in our cities today.
2. In Matthew 14:14, the sick are most prominent in the throng.
Jesus lived in a vast hospital, himself suffering, as well as healing, the diseases of men.
None can tell how deep is his pity for suffering humanity.
3. In the case mentioned in the text he saw an ignorant, neglected, perishing crowd.
The sorrows, dangers, and sins of spiritual ignorance are great.
The Lord Jesus is the Shepherd of the unshepherded.
4. In Matthew 20:34, we see the blind. Jesus pities spiritual blindness.
Dwell upon the interesting details of the two blind men.
5. In Mark 1:41, we see the leper. Christ pities sin-polluted men.
Jesus compassionated the man who said "If you will, you can."
6. In Mark 5:19, we have the demoniac. Jesus pities tempted souls.
The man out of whom he cast a legion of devils was to be dreaded, but the Lord gave him nothing but compassion.
He pities rather than blames those sore vexed by the devil.
7. In Luke 7:13, we meet with the widow of Nain. The bereaved, the widow and fatherless are specially near to the heart of Jesus.
These instances should encourage similar cases to hope in our Lord.
III. The foresights of compassion.
Knowing our ignorance, needs, sorrows, the Lord Jesus has provided beforehand for our wants—
1. The Bible for our guidance and comfort.
2. The minister to speak as man to man, tenderly, experimentally.
3. The Holy Spirit to comfort us, and help our infirmity, in prayer, etc.
4. The mercy-seat as our constant resort.
5. The promises to be our perpetual food.
6. The ordinances to help our memories, and make truth vivid to us.
The whole system reveals a most compassionate Savior.
IV. Our personal recollections prove this compassion.
Let us remember how tenderly he dealt with us.
1. He tempered our convictions with intervals of hope.
2. He ended them before they drove us to despair.
3. He has moderated our afflictions, and sustained us under them.
4. He has taught us, as we have been able to bear it. "I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now."
5. He has put us to graduated tasks.
6. He has returned to us in love after our backslidings.
Let us trust in this divine mercifulness for ourselves.
Let us commend it to those around us.
Let us imitate it in dealing compassionately with our fellows.
Touches for the portrait
The literal translation is—"All his affections were agitated, and trembled with sympathy and compassion." The ancients believed the affections to be the seat of sympathy, or mercy. The Greek word used here to denote compassion is the most expressive that human language is capable of employing, insomuch that our version utterly fails to convey the vastness and fullness of the meaning of the original. Dr. Cumming.
Compare the impression produced upon Xerxes by the sight of his enormous army. "His heart swelled within him at the sight of such a vast assemblage of human beings; but his feelings of pride and pleasure soon gave way to sadness, and he burst into tears at the reflection that in a hundred years not one of them would be alive."
How a tender-hearted mother would plead with a judge for her child ready to be condemned! Oh, how would her affections work; how would her tears trickle down; what weeping rhetoric would she use to the judge for mercy! Thus the Lord Jesus is full of sympathy and tenderness (Hebrews 2:17), that he might be a merciful High Priest. Though he has left his passion, yet not his compassion. An ordinary lawyer is not affected with the cause he pleads, nor does he care which way it goes; profit makes him plead, not affection. But Christ intercedes feelingly; and that which makes him intercede with affection is, it is his own cause which he pleads in the cause of his people. Thomas Watson.
"Five hundred millions of souls," exclaimed a missionary (many years ago), "are represented as being unenlightened! I cannot, if I would, give up the idea of being a missionary, while I reflect upon this vast number of my fellow-sinners, who are perishing for lack of knowledge. 'Five hundred millions' intrudes itself upon my mind wherever I go, and however I am employed. When I go to bed, it is the last thing that recurs to my memory; if I awake in the night, it is to meditate on it alone; and in the morning it is generally the first thing that occupies my thoughts."
We may suppose that there was nothing in the external appearance of these multitudes which, to the common eye, would indicate their sad condition. We may suppose that they were "well-fed and well-clad", and that their hearts, under the influence of numbers, as is generally the case, were buoyant with pleasurable excitement; that good humor sunned their countenances, and enlivened their talk, and that—both to themselves, and to the ordinary spectator—they were a happy folk. But he, who sees not as man sees, looked down through the superficial stream of pleasurable excitement which now flowed and sparkled, and saw—What? Intellect enslaved, reason blinded, moral faculties benumbed, souls "faint" and lost, "scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd."—David Thomas.
136
Matthew 10:27—"What I tell you in darkness, that speak you in light: and what you hear in the ear, that preach you upon the housetops."
Usefulness is the great desire of our souls if we are disciples of Jesus.
We believe that it will most surely be attained by our making known the gospel. We have full faith in "the foolishness of preaching."
We feel that we have need to receive that gospel personally from the Lord himself, or we shall not know it so as to use it aright.
We must not run until we are prepared. This verse describes, and by implication promises, the needful preparation of heart. Our Lord will speak in our ear: he will commune with us in solitude.
I. An invaluable privilege. The disciple is associated very nearly with his Lord, and received into closest fellowship with him.
We see before us three important matters.
1. We are permitted to realize our Lord's presence with us personally.
He is still on speaking terms with us: still is he our Companion in the night, our Friend in solitude.
2. We are enabled to feel his word as spoken to us.
Immediately: "I tell you." Personal contact.
Forcefully: "in the ear." Not as thundered from Sinai, but as whispered by "a still, small voice." Still, very effectually.
3. We are privileged to receive such communications again and again: "I tell you. you hear."
We need precept upon precept, line upon line.
Our Lord is willing to manifest himself to his own day by day.
We shall be wise to make occasions for hearing his voice in solitude, meditation, prayer, communion, etc.
We shall do well to use occasions of the Lord's own making such as the Sabbath, sickness, the night-watches, etc.
We need for a thousand reasons this private tuition, this personal communication with our Commander-in-chief.
II. A preparatory process. We do not rightly perceive what we have to make known until Jesus personally imparts his holy teaching to our inmost hearts.
We see by reason of personal contact with our Lord—
1. Truth in its personality; living, acting, feeling; for he is "the way, the truth, and the life." Truth is no theory or phantom in Christ. Substantial truth is spoken by him.
2. Truth in its purity is found in him, in his written teaching, and in that which he speaks to the heart. Truth from man is mixed and adulterated; from Jesus it is unalloyed.
3. Truth in its proportions; he teaches all truth, in its true relations. Christ is no caricaturist, partisan, or politician.
4. Truth in its power. It comes strikingly, persuasively, convincingly, omnipotently from him. It quickens, and sustains.
5. Truth in its spirit. His words are spirit, life, love.
6. Truth in its certainty. "Truly, truly," is his motto.
7. Truth in its joyfulness. He speaks delight unto the soul. The truth in Jesus is glad tidings.
See the advantage of studying in Christ's College.
III. The consequent proclamation. What Jesus has told us alone in the dark we are to tell out openly in the light.
Courting publicity, we are to preach "upon the housetops."
What is this message which we have heard in the ear?
We bear our willing witness that—
1. There is peace in the blood of Jesus.
2. There is sanctifying power in his Holy Spirit.
3. There is rest in faith in our Lord and God.
4. There is safety in conformity to our great Exemplar.
5. There is joy in nearness to Jesus our Lord.
As we hear more we will tell more.
Oh, that men would receive our earnest testimony!
Will not you receive it who hear us at this present hour?
Private Pencilings
Claus Hames, one of the most useful preachers in Germany, once met a friend to whom he told how many times daily he was obliged to speak. His friend presently asked, "But, Friend Hames, if you have so much to say, when are you still? And when does the Spirit of God speak to you?" That simple question so impressed Hames that he resolved from that time to devote a portion of each day to retirement and silent study.
"How is it?" said a Christian man to his companion, as they were both returning from hearing the saintly Bramwell, "How is it that Brother Bramwell always tells us so much that is new?" The companion answered, "Brother Bramwell lives so near the gates of Heaven that he hears a great many things which the rest of us do not get near enough to hear."—J. H. Hitchens.
Of a certain preacher it was said: "He preaches as if Jesus Christ were at his side. Don't you see how every now and then he turns around as if he were saying: 'Lord Jesus, what shall I say next?' "
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from you.
F. R. Havergal.
Then sorrow touched by you grows light,
With more than rapture's ray;
As darkness shows us worlds of light
We never saw by day.
Thomas Moore.
Men learn in suffering what they teach in song.
Possessors of divine truth are eager to spread it. "For," as Carlyle says, "if new-got gold is said to burn the pockets until it be cast forth into circulation; much more may new-found truth."
A servant was desired by his master to carry a present of fish to a friend, and to do it as quickly as possible. In all haste the man seized a basket, and set out; but when he reached his journey's end he became a laughing-stock, for he had forgotten the fish: his basket was empty Teacher! Preacher! let not the like happen to you.
Often in the South of France have I needed to have a fire lighted; but I have found little or no comfort from it when my wish has been granted. The dwellers in that mild region build their fire-places so badly that all the heat goes up the chimney. No matter how big the blaze, the hearth only seems to warm itself. Thus many professors of our holy faith would seem to get grace, and light, and pious feeling for themselves only: their heat goes up their own chimney. What is told them in the dark they keep in the dark, and that which is spoken in their ear never blesses any other ear. C. H. S.
137
Matthew 10:30—"But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."
How considerate of our fears is the Lord Jesus! He knew that his people would be persecuted, and he sought to cheer them.
In how sweet and homely a way he puts things! He deigns to speak about the hairs of our head. Here is a proverb, simple in words, but sublime in sense.
We think we see four things in this sentence.
I. Fore-ordination. The text may be read, "have all been numbered." It is of the past as well as of the present.
1. Its extent. Predestination extends to everything.
All the man; his being as a whole is foreknown. "In your book all my members were written": Psalm 139:16.
All that concerns him is foreknown; even to his hair, which may be shorn from him without damage to life or health.
All that he does; even the least and most casual thought, or act.
All that he undergoes. This may affect his hair so as to change its color; but every hair blanched with sorrow is numbered.
2. Its source. The counting is done by the Lord.
3. Its lessons. Jesus mentions this fore-ordination for a purpose.
To make us brave under trial.
To teach us to be submissive.
To help us to be hopeful.
To induce us to be joyful.
4. Its influence. It ennobles us to be thus minutely predestined.
If God arranges even our hairs, we are honored indeed.
To be the subject of a divine purpose of grace is glorious.
II. Knowledge. We are known so well as to have our hairs counted.
Concerning this divine knowledge let us note—
1. Its character.
Minute. "The very hairs of your head."
Complete. The whole man, spirit, soul, and body, is thus most assuredly well known to the Omniscient Lord.
Pre-eminent. God knows us better than we know ourselves, or than others know us; for neither we nor they have numbered the hairs of our head.
Tender. Thus a mother values each hair of her darling's head.
Sympathetic. God enters into those trials, those years, and those sicknesses which are registered in a man's hair.
Constant. Not a hair falls from our head without God.
2. Its lessons.
Concerning consecration, we are taught that our least precious parts are the Lord's, and are included in the royal inventory. Let us not use even our hair for vanity.
Concerning prayer. Our heavenly Father knows what things we have need of. We do not pray to inform him of our case.
Concerning our circumstances. These are before the divine mind, be they little or great. Since trifling matters like out hairs are catalogued by Providence, we are assured that greater concerns are before the Father's eye.
III. Valuation. The hairs of our head are counted because valued.
These were poor saints who were thus highly esteemed.
The numbering mentioned in the text suggests several questions.
If each hair is valued, what must their heads be worth?
What must their bodies be worth?
What must their souls be worth?
What must they have cost the Lord, their Redeemer?
How can it be thought that he will lose one of them?
Ought we not greatly to esteem them?
Is it not our duty, our honor, our joy to seek after such of them as are not yet called by grace?
IV. Preservation. The hairs of their head are all numbered, because they are to be preserved from all evil.
1. From the smallest real loss we are secured by promise. "There shall not a hair of your head perish": Luke 21:18.
2. From persecution we shall be rescued. "Fear not them": Matthew 10:28.
3. From accident. Nothing can harm us unless the Lord permits.
4. From necessity. You shall not die of hunger, or thirst, or nakedness. God will keep each hair of your head.
5. From sickness. It shall sanctify rather than injure you.
6. From death. In death we are not losers, but infinite gainers.
Resurrection will restore the whole man.
Let us for ourselves trust, and not be afraid.
Let us set a high value upon souls, and feel an earnest love for them.
"Hairs"—of which you yourselves are heedless. Who cares for the hairs once dragged out by a comb? A hair is a proverbial expression for an utter trifle. John Albert Bengel.
If God numbers their hairs, much more does he number their heads, and take care of their lives, their comforts, their souls. This intimates that God takes more care of them than they do of themselves. They who are solicitous to number their money, and goods, and cattle, yet were never careful to number their hairs, which fall, and are lost, and they never miss them: but God numbers the hairs of his people, and not a hair of their head shall perish: Luke 21:18. Not the least hurt shall be done them, but upon a valuable consideration: so precious to God are his saints, and their lives and deaths!—Matthew Henry.
There are who sigh that no fond heart is theirs,
None loves them best—Oh! vain and selfish sigh!
Out of the bosom of His love He spares—
The Father spares the Son, for you to die:
For you He died—for you He lives again:
O'er you He watches in His boundless reign.
You are as much His care, as if beside
Nor man nor angel lived in Heaven or earth:
Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide
To light up worlds, or wake an insect's mirth:
They shine and shine with unexhausted store—
You are your Savior's darling—seek no more.
John Keble.
An Italian martyr, in the sixteenth century, was most cruelly treated in the prisons of the Inquisition. His brother, who with great difficulty obtained an interview with him, was deeply affected by the sight of his sufferings. "My brother," said the prisoner, "if you are a Christian, why do you distress yourself thus? Do you not know that a leaf cannot fall to the ground without the will of God? Comfort yourself in Christ Jesus, for the present troubles are not to be compared with the glory to come."
If pestilence stalk through the land, you say "This is God's doing";
Is it not also his doing when an aphis creeps on a rosebud?—
It an avalanche roll from its Alp, you tremble at the will of Providence;
Is not that will concerned when the sear leaves fall from the poplar?
Martin F. Tupper.
133
Matthew 10:38—"He who takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me."
Before his crucifixion, our Lord has a foresight of it, and does not hesitate to realize himself as bearing his cross.
With equal prescience he foresees each true disciple receiving and taking up his own personal cross. He sees none exempted.
Picture to the mind's eye a procession led by the cross-bearing Jesus, and made up of his cross-bearing train. This is not a pageant, but a real march of suffering. It reaches through all time.
The chief requirement of a disciple is to follow Jesus in all things, in cross-bearing as in all else.
Cross-bearing is trying, laborious, sorrowful, humiliating.
Cross-bearing is inevitable to the follower of Jesus. We are bound to take up our cross or give up all idea of being Christians.
Let us obediently inquire—
I. What is my peculiar cross? "He who takes not his cross."
1. It may be the giving up of certain pleasures or indulgences.
2. It may be the endurance of reproach and unkindness, or remaining in poverty and obscurity for the good of others.
3. It may be the suffering of losses and persecutions, for Christ's sake.
4. It certainly means the consecrating of all to Jesus: the bowing of my whole self beneath the blessed burden of service with which he honors me.
5. It also includes the endurance of my heavenly Father's will with patience, acquiescence, and thanksgiving.
My cross is well, wisely, kindly, and surely chosen for me by my Lord.
It is only meet that I should be made like my Lord in bearing it.
II. What am I to do with it? "Takes … follows after me."
1. I am deliberately to take it up.
Not to choose a cross, or pine after another form of trial.
Not to make a cross, by petulance and obstinacy.
Not to murmur at the cross appointed me.
Not to despise it, by callous stoicism, or willful neglect of duty.
Not to faint under it, fall beneath it, or run from it.
2. I am boldly to face it. It is only a wooden cross after all.
3. I am patiently to endure it, for I have only to carry it a little way.
4. I am cheerfully to resign myself to it, for my Lord appoints it.
5. I am obediently to follow Christ with it. What an honor and a comfort to be treading in his steps! This is the essential point.
It is not enough to bear a cross, we must bear it after Jesus.
I ought to be thankful that I have only to bear it, and that it does not bear me. It is a royal burden, a sanctified burden, a sanctifying burden, a burden which gives communion with Christ.
III. What should encourage me?
1. Necessity: I cannot be a disciple without cross-bearing.
2. Society: better men than I have carried it.
3. Love: Jesus bore a far heavier cross than mine.
4. Faith: grace will be given equal to the weight of the cross.
5. Hope: good to myself will result from my bearing this load.
6. Zeal: Jesus will be honored by my patient endurance.
7. Experience: I shall yet find pleasure in it, for it will produce in me much blessing. The cross is a fruitful tree.
8. Expectation: glory will be the reward of it. No cross, no crown.
Let not the ungodly fancy that theirs is a better lot: the Psalmist says, "many sorrows shall be to the wicked."
Let not the righteous dread the cross, for it will not crush them: it may be painted with iron colors by our fears, but it is not made of that heavy metal; we can bear it, and we will bear it right joyously.
Nails
When Alexander the Great marched through Persia, his way was stopped with ice and snow, insomuch that his soldiers, being tired out with hard marches, were discouraged, and would have gone no further, which he perceiving, dismounted his horse, and went on foot through the midst of them all, making himself a way with a pickaxe; whereat they all being ashamed, first his friends, then the captains of his army, and, last of all, the common soldiers, followed him. So should all men follow Christ their Savior, by that rough and unpleasant way of the cross that he has traversed before them. He having drunk unto them in the cup of his passion, they are to pledge him when occasion is offered; he having left them an example of his suffering, they are to follow him in the selfsame steps of sorrow. John Spencer.
The cross is easier to him who takes it up than to him who drags it along. J. E. Vaux.
We are bid to take, not to make our cross. God in his providence will provide one for us. And we are bid to take it up; we hear nothing of laying it down. Our troubles and our lives live and die together.
W. Gurnall.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the church go free?
No, there's a cross for every one,
And there's a cross for me.
"No man," said Flavel, "has a velvet cross."
As an old Yorkshire working-man, a friend of mine, said, "Ah! it is blessed work cross-bearing when it's tied on with love."—Newman Hall.
Welcome the cross of Christ, and bear it triumphantly; but see that it be indeed Christ's cross, and not your own. Wilcox.
Christ's cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bore; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbor. Samuel Rutherford.
Whatever the path is, Christ is there, and to be with him is joy enough for any creature, whether man or angel. He does not send us to walk in a dreary, desolate road. He does not say, "Go you," pointing to a lonely way in which he is not to be found; he says, "Come after me," so that we need not take a single step where his footprints cannot be seen, and where his presence may not still be found. If the sharp flints cut our feet, they have wounded his before. If the darkness gathers thickly here and there, it was a denser gloom that surrounded him. If often we must stand and fight, it was through fiercer conflicts that he passed. If the cross is heavy to our shoulder, it is light when compared with the one he bore. "Christ leads me," said Baxter, "through no darker room than he went through before." If the road were a thousand times rougher than it is, it would be well worth while to walk in it for the sake of walking with Christ there. Following Jesus means fellowship with Jesus, and the joy of that fellowship cannot be told. P.
139
Matthew 11:28–30—"Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Jesus had first taught the solemn truth of human responsibility (verses 20–24), and afterwards he had joyfully proclaimed in prayer the doctrine of election: now he turns to give a free and full invitation to those who are needing rest. These three things are quite consistent, and should be found in all Christian preaching.
Remember who he is who thus invites men to come to him.
The Son of the Highest, the revealer of God then and now; he bids men draw near to himself without fear, and rest in such nearness.
The Savior ever living, having once died, is waiting to receive and save all who will come to him; and such he will bless with rest.
In our Lord's gracious invitation you note—
I. A character which describes you.
1. Laboring, "all you that labor," in whatever form.
In the service of formal religion, in the attempt to keep the law, or in any other way of self-justification.
In the service of self to get gain, honor, ease, etc.
In the service of the world to discover, invent, legislate, etc.
In the service of Satan, lust, drink, infidelity, etc.
2. Laden. All who are "heavy laden" are called.
Laden heavily because weary, vexed, disappointed, despairing.
Laden with sin, guilt, dread, remorse, fear of death.
Laden with care, anxiety, greed, ambition, etc.
Laden with sorrow, poverty, oppression, slander, etc.
Laden with doubt, temptation, conflict, inner faintness, etc.
II. A blessing which invites you.
1. Rest to be given. "I will give you rest."
To the conscience, by atonement and pardon.
To the mind, by infallible instruction and establishment.
To the heart a rest for love. Jesus fills and contents the heart.
To the energies, by giving an object worth attaining.
To the apprehensions, assuring that all things work for good.
2. Rest to be found. "You shall find rest unto your souls."
This is rest upon rest, deepening, settling.
This is rest which comes of conquered passion, desire, etc.
This is rest which comes of being fully consecrated to the Lord.
How such rest would cheer you, strengthen you, save you!
How it would counteract the labors and the loads!
III. A direction to guide you.
1. "Come unto me."
Come to a person, to Jesus, the living Savior and Example.
Come at once, Jesus is ready now. Are you?
Come all who labor and are loaded. None will be refused.
Come laden, with your burdens on your hearts, and "I will give you rest." Come as you are. Come by faith.
2. "Take my yoke upon you."
Be obedient to my command.
Be willing to be conformed to me in service and burden-bearing.
Be submissive to the afflictions which I may lay upon you.
3. "Learn of me."
You do not know; but must be content to learn.
You must not cavil; but have a mind to learn.
You must learn by heart, and copy my meekness and lowliness.
IV. An argument to persuade you.
You wish to be like your Lord in restfulness and service; then come and learn of him, and remember that he is—
1. A lowly Teacher: bearing with failure, repeating his lessons, assisting the disciple, restoring the fallen.
2. Laying no heavy burden. "My yoke is easy," etc.
3. Giving rest by the burden which he causes you to bear: "Take my yoke … and you shall find rest."
Magnets
The immediate occasion of the invitation, with its deep earnestness of pity and sympathy, was found, I doubt not, in the outward appearance of the crowd actually surrounding Jesus. Probably by this time it was about sunset. After a day of exhausting toil for our Savior himself; the workman from the field, the busy trader, the fisher with his nets, the slave with his burden, the rich man with his heavier burden of care, the grey-haired sinner stooping under the weight of years, and only burdened with remorse and fear;—these, and such as these, met the Savior's eye, which read their hearts; but in them he saw represented our toiling, suffering world, and uttered a voice of invitation meant to reach, and destined yet to reach, all mankind. "I will give you rest." Rest for the burdened conscience, in pardon; for the unquiet intellect, in truth; for the aching thirsty heart, in divine love; for the care-fretted spirit, in God's providence and promises; for the weary with sorrow and suffering, in the present foretaste, and shortly in the actual enjoyment of "his rest."—E. R. Conder.
"Come," says Christ, "and I will give you rest," I will not show you rest, nor barely tell you of rest, but I will give you rest. I am faithfulness itself, and cannot lie, I will give you rest. I that have the greatest power to give it, the greatest will to give it, the greatest right to give it, come, laden sinners, and I will give you rest. Rest is the most desirable good, the most suitable good, and to you the greatest good. Come, says Christ, that is, believe in me, and I will give you rest; I will give you peace with God, and peace with conscience: I will turn your storm into an everlasting calm; I will give you such rest, that the world can neither give to you nor take from you. Thomas Brooks.
Lord, you made us for yourself, and we can find no rest until we find rest in thee!—Augustine.
A poor English girl, in Miss Leigh's home in Paris, ill in body and hopeless in spirit, was greatly affected by hearing some children singing "I heard the voice of Jesus say." When they came to the words, "weary, and worn, and sad," she moaned, "That's me! That's me! What did he do? Fill it up, fill it up!" She never rested until she had heard the whole of the hymn which tells how Jesus gives rest to such. By-and-by she asked, "Is that true?" On being answered, "Yes," she asked, "Have you come to Jesus? Has he given you rest?" "He has." Raising herself, she asked, "Do you mind my coming very close to you? May be it would be easier to go to Jesus with one who has been before than to go to him alone." So saying, she nestled her head on the shoulder of her who watched, and clutching her as one in the agony of death, she murmured, "Now, try and take me with you to Jesus."—The Sunday at Home.
There are many heads resting on Christ's bosom, but there's room for yours there. Samuel Rutherford.
For variety we add another outline on a portion of the same text
CXL
Matthew 11:28—"Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
This text is often preached from, but never too often, since the sorrows with which it deals always abound, and the remedy is always effective.
This time we purpose to view it from our Lord's side.
He entreats the weary to come to him. He beseeches them to learn of him. He not only receives those who come, but begs them to come.
What is this desire which burns in his bosom? And whence comes it?
Let us carefully consider—
I. Who is he?
1. One who has been rejected, yet he cries "Come unto me."
2. One whose rejection involves us in fearful guilt, yet he is ready to forgive, and to bestow rest upon us if we come.
3. One who knows his Father's purpose, but fears not to give a pressing invitation to all who labor and are heavy laden.
4. One who has all power to receive such as come, and to give rest to them all. This is no vain invitation saying more than it means.
5. One who as the Son of God is infinitely blessed, and yet finds new joy in giving rest to poor restless men.
II. Whom does he call, and why?
1. Laborers, with more than they can do: disquieted, unhappy.
These he calls to himself that he may give them rest, and cause them to find rest.
2. Heavy laden ones, with more than they can bear: oppressed, sorrowful, ready to die.
3. The poor and illiterate who need to be taught.
4. The spiritually burdened, who much need a helping hand, and can only find it in him.
III. What causes his desire for them?
Not his own need of them.
Not their personal worthiness.
Nor anything that they are or can ever be. But,—
1. He has a love to our race. "My delights were with the sons of men": Proverbs 8:31. He would have these resting with himself.
2. He is himself a man, and knows the needs of men.
3. He has done so much to buy us rest that he would gladly give it to us.
4. He delights to do more and more for us: it is his joy to give good things to men.
5. He knows what our ruin will be unless we find rest in him.
6. He knows what our bliss will be if we come unto him.
IV. How then shall we treat this call?
1. It is very earnest, let us heed it.
2. It is very simple, let the poorest seize upon it.
3. It exactly suits us. Does it not suit you?
4. It is very gracious, let us accept it.
Echoes
The most condescending affections that ever he discovered, the most gracious invitations that ever he made, were at those times when he had a sense of his glory in a particular manner, to show his intention in his possessing it. When he spoke of all things delivered to him by his Father, an invitation to men to come unto him is the use he makes of it: Matthew 11:27, 28. If this be the use he makes of his glory, to invite us, it should be the use we should make of the thoughts of it, to accept his offer. A nation should run to him because he is glorified.
Stephen Charnock.
"Come unto me," is the invitation of this Blessed One, so intensely human, though so gloriously divine, "Unto me," in whose arms little children were embraced, on whose bosom a frail mortal lay: "unto me," who hungered, thirsted, fainted, sorrowed, wept, and yet whose love, and grief, and pains, and tears, wore the expression of emotions felt in the mighty heart of God. Caird.
Lord, I have invited all,
And I shall
Still invite, still call to you:
For it seems but just and right
In my sight,
Where is all, there all should be.
George Herbert.
It runs thus—you to me, and I to you. Here is a double communion get up. This is all to our advantage, and to the display of our Lord's great graciousness. We come, and therein he obtains the company of a beggar, a leper, a patient, a repulsive rebel: this is no gain to anything in him except his pity. But surely he expects something of us to reward him for receiving us? By no means. We are to come to him, not that we may give him something, but that he may give everything to us. What a Lord is this!
141
Matthew 14:31—"And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt?"
Our Lord did not question the doubter until he had saved the sinker.
His rebukes are always timely.
The question was not only well deserved as a rebuke, but it was specially instructive, and no doubt it proved useful in after years.
When the grace of faith is really present, doubt has to answer for itself, and to die if it cannot defend itself.
Oh, that it may die in us at once!
We will put the question of our text to the two great classes of men.
I. Wherefore do you doubt, o Christian?
1. Let us mention some supposably valid reasons.
Can you quote past experience of broken promises?
Is the present evil beyond the power of Omnipotence?
Are the promises abolished? Are the purposes of grace annulled?
Has God himself changed? Is his mercy clean gone for ever?
None of these supposable reasons have any existence.
2. Let us hear your actual reasons; if you dare state them.
My sense of guilt is peculiarly deep and clear.
My inbred sin has risen upon me with terrible fury.
My failures justify despair when viewed by the side of other men's attainments, and my own obligations.
My trials are so peculiar, so fierce, so long, so varied.
My heart fails me. I can bear up no longer.
My fears predict greater evils still, and threaten ultimate ruin.
Many such insufficient reasonings becloud the mind; and it may be wisdom to look them in the face, and so dissipate them.
3. Let us view these reasonings from other standpoints.
How would you have viewed them when first you believed?
How did you view former trials when they came in your way; and how do you view them now that you have overcome them?
What do you think of your trials when you are lying in Jesus bosom—assured of his love?
How do you speak of them when you are instructing others?
How will they appear to you when you get to Heaven?
Jesus is now near you. How can you take such gloomy views of things in his presence?
4. Shall we hint at the true reasons of your doubting?
You were self-confident, and that confidence has failed you.
You looked too much to things seen by the light of sense; and now that it is dark, you are in consequence troubled.
You took your eye off from your Lord.
Perhaps you neglected prayer, watching, repentance, etc.
When you find out the real reason of your doubt, cry for pardon, and seek to the Holy Spirit to restore faith, and set you right.
II. Wherefore do you doubt, o sinner?
The Lord's hand is stretched out to save sinking sinners.
Do not distrust the power of Jesus to save you from sinking.
1. Let us suppose good reasons for your doubting.
Have others believed and perished?
Have you yourself tried faith in Jesus, and found it vain?
Has the blood of Jesus lost its power?
Has the Holy Spirit ceased to comfort, enlighten, renew?
Is the gospel abrogated? Is God's mercy clean gone for ever?
None of these can be answered in the affirmative.
2. Let us hear your apparent reasons.
Your sins are great, numerous, aggravated, and singular.
You cannot think that salvation is for you.
You have refused the gospel call so long.
Your heart is so dreadfully hard and unfeeling.
None of these are sufficient reasons for doubting Almighty love.
3. Let us learn the way to deal with such unreasonable doubting.
Repent of it, for it dishonors the power and promise of the Father, the blood of Jesus, and the grace of the Holy Spirit.
End it, by simply believing what is so surely true.
Run as far as possible the other way. Believe up to the hilt.
In every case, let us be sure that to believe God is sanctified commonsense, and to doubt him is an extravagance of folly.
Modern Instances
Mr. Haslam has reported a conversation between two poor aged Christians to the following effect: "Oh!" said the husband, who was evidently the weaker vessel, "I've got so little faith, I do get these 'before doubts so much." "Yes," added the wife, "and you keeps them, Peter, and brings them to me."
Though the providence of God may be exceedingly dark, the language of faith is, "The Lord is ready to save." If you look into your past experience, you will find that God has done great things for you. Is it not true that nine-tenths of all the difficulty you have anticipated have never come to pass at all? I have great sympathy with Billy Bray, whose wife said to him, when he came home, having given all his money away, "I never saw such a man in my life. Thee'lt go and look after other people's wives and children, and help them, and you own wife and children may starve." Billy, with great force, said, "Well, woman, thee'st never starved yet;" and that was the fact, for there she stood, a living witness to his word. Henry Varley.
Good old Mr. Crisp, who had been President of the Baptist College at Bristol for fifty years, was towards the end of his life fearful that his faith would fail. Being reminded of the passage, "He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" he said, after repeating and dwelling on the last words, "No, it would be wrong to doubt; I cannot, I dare not, I will not doubt!"—S. A. Swaine, in "Faithful Men."
When darkness long has veiled my mind,
And smiling day once more appears,
Then, my Redeemer! then I find
The folly of my doubts and fears.
I chide my unbelieving heart;
And blush that I should ever be
Thus prone to act so base a part,
Or harbor one hard thought of you.
Cowper.
Certain persons think that doubting is a needful part of Christian experience, but it is by no means the case. A child may have a deep experience of its father's love, and yet it may never have known a doubt of him. All the experience of a Christian is not Christian experience. If many Christians are despondent, it is no reason why I must be: it is rather a reason why I should watch against it. What if many sheep suffer from the fly; am I to be anxious to have my fleece fly-blown in order to be like them? Never doubt the Lord until you have cause for it; and then you will never doubt him as long as you live.
142
Matthew 20:3, 4—"And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place,
"And said unto them; Go you also into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. And they went their way."
The reason for employing these people must have been gracious.
Surely the good man could have waited until the next morning; but he charitably chose to employ the needy ones at once. He did not need laborers, but the poor men needed their pennies.
Certainly it is sovereign grace alone which leads the Lord God to engage such sorry laborers as we are.
Let us inquire—
I. How may the Lord be said to go out?
1. Inasmuch as the impulse of grace comes first in every case, and none go into the vineyard until he calls them.
2. Inasmuch as there are times of revival, when the Lord goes forth by the power of his Spirit, and many are brought in.
3. Inasmuch as there are times of personal visitation with most men when they are specially moved to holy things.
II. What is the hour here mentioned?
It represents the period between 25 and 35 years of age, or thereabouts.
1. The dew of youth's earliest and best morning hour is gone.
2. Habits of idleness have been formed by standing in the market-place so long. It is harder to begin at the third hour than at the first. Loiterers are usually spoiled by their loafing ways.
3. Satan is ready with temptation to lure them to his service.
4. Their sun may go down suddenly, for life is uncertain. Many a day of life has closed at its third hour.
5. Fair opportunity for work yet remains; but it will speedily pass away as the hours steal round.
6. As yet the noblest of all work has not been commenced; for only by working for our Lord can life be made sublime.
III. What were they doing to whom he spoke? "Standing idle in the market-place."
1. Many are altogether idling in a literal sense. They are mere loafers and dilettanti, with nothing to do.
2. Many are idle with laborious business—industrious triflers, wearied with toils which accomplish nothing of real worth.
3. Many are idle because of their constant indecision. Unstable as water they do not excel. James 1:6.
4. Many are idle though full of sanguine intentions; but as yet their resolves are not carried out.
IV. What work would the Lord have them do?
He would have them work by day in his vineyard.
1. The work is such as many of the best of men enjoy.
2. The work is proper and fit for you.
3. For that work the Lord will find you tools and strength.
4. You shall work with your Lord, and so be ennobled.
5. Your work shall be growingly pleasant to you.
6. Your work shall be graciously rewarded at the last.
V. What did they do in answer to his call? "They went their way."
May you, who are in a similar time of the day, imitate them!
1. They went at once. The parable indicates immediate service.
2. They worked with a will.
3. They never left the service, but remained until night.
4. They received the full reward at the day's end.
Let us pray the Lord to go out among our young men and women.
Let us expect to see such come into the church, and let us guide them in their work, for they come into the vineyard to labor.
Let us inquire if some will come now.
Spades
Have you never thought with extreme sadness of the many men and women upon our earth whose lives are useless? Have you never reflected upon the millions of people who waste in nothingness their thoughts, their affections, their energies, all their powers, which frivolity dissipates as the sand of the desert absorbs the water which is sent upon it from the sky? These beings pass onward, without even asking themselves toward what end they journey, or for what reason they were placed here below. Eugène Bersier.
All activity out of Christ, all labor that is not labor in his church, is in his sight a "standing idle."—Archbishop Trench.
A good minister, now in Heaven, once preached to his congregation a powerful sermon, founded upon the words of Christ, "Why stand you here all the day idle?" The sermon did good to many, among whom was a lady who went to the minister the next day, and said, "Doctor, I want a spade." We should be happy to put spades into the hands of all our idle friends. There are Sunday-school spades, Mission-room spades, Tract-distribution spades, Sick-visitation spades, &c., etc. Who will apply for them?—Home Evangel.
What can I do the cause of God to aid?
Can powers so weak as mine
Forward the great design?
Not by young hands are mighty efforts made.
Not mighty efforts, but a willing mind,
Not strong, but ready hands
The vineyard's Lord demands;
For every age fit labor he will find.
Come, then, in childhood, to the vineyard's gate;
E'en you can dress the roots,
And train the tender shoots—
Then why in sloth and sin contented wait?
To move the hardened soil, to bend and lift
The fallen branch, to tread
The winepress full and red,
These need a stronger arm, a nobler gift;
But all can aid the work. The little child
May gather up some weed,
Or drop some fertile seed,
Or strew with flowers the path which else were dark and wild.
J. H. Clinch.
"Are you not wearying for the heavenly rest?" said Whitefield to an old minister. "No, certainly not!" he replied. "Why not?" was the surprised rejoinder. "Why, my good brother," said the aged saint, "If you were to send your servant into the fields, to do a certain portion of work for you, and promised to give him rest and refreshment in the evening, what would you say if you found him languid and discontented in the middle of the day, and murmuring, 'Would to God it were evening'? Would you not bid him be up and doing, and finish his work, and then go home, and enjoy the promised rest? Just so does God require of you and me that, instead of looking for Saturday night, we do our day's work in the day."
143
Matthew 22:8–10—"Then says he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
"Go you therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage.
"So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests."
The grand design of God is to make a marriage for his Son.
Our Lord Jesus has espoused his Church, and there must be a feast at the wedding. Is it not meet that it should be so?
A feast would be a failure if none came to it, and therefore the present need is that the wedding be "furnished with guests."
I. The first invitation was a failure.
This is seen in Jewish history.
Among Gentiles, those to whom the gospel invitation specially comes are, as a rule, unwilling to accept it.
Up to this hour, children of godly parents, and hearers of the word, many of them refuse the invitation for reasons of their own.
The invitation was refused—
1. Not because it involved suffering, for it was a wedding-feast to which they were bidden.
2. Nor because there were no adequate preparations, "The wedding is ready."
3. Nor because the invitations were not delivered, or were misunderstood,—they "were bidden."
4. But because they were not fit for the high joy.
They were not loyal to their King.
They were not attached to his royal Son.
They were not pleased with his noble marriage.
They were enrapt up in self-interest.
They were cruel to well-intentioned messengers.
5. Therefore they were punished with fire and sword.
But this destruction was no wedding-feast for the King's Son
This punishment was no joy to the King.
Love must reign: mercy must be glorious; Christ must reveal his grace; otherwise he has no joy of his union with mankind.
Therefore—
II. The commission was enlarged.
1. Disappointment must arouse activity and enterprise, "Go you."
2. Disappointment suggests change of sphere, "into the highways."
3. A wide invitation is to be tried, "as many as you shall find, bid."
4. A keen outlook is to be kept, "as many as you shall find."
5. Publicity is to be courted, "went out into the highways."
6. Small numbers,—ones and twos, are to be pressed in.
This is said to have been the result of the anger of the King.
So good is the Lord that his wrath to despisers works good for others.
III. The new mission was fulfilled.
The particulars of it will be suggestive for ourselves at this present era.
1. The former servants, who had escaped death, went out again.
2. Other servants, who had not gone at first, entered zealously into the joyful but needful service.
3. They went in many directions, "into the highways."
4. They went out at once. Not an hour could be left unused.
5. They pointed all they met to one center.
6. They welcomed all sorts of characters, "as many as they found."
7. They found them willing to come. He who sent the messengers inclined the guests: none seem to have refused.
This blessed service is being carried on at this very hour.
IV. The great design was accomplished.
1. The King's bounty was displayed before the world.
2. His provision was used. Think of grace and pardon unused!
3. The happiness of men was promoted: they feasted to the full.
4. Their grateful praise was evoked. All the guests were joyful in their King as they feasted at his table.
5. The marriage was graced.
6. The slight put upon the King's Son, by the churls who refused to come, was more than removed.
7. The quality of the guests most fully displayed the wisdom, grace, and condescension of the Host.
The whole business worked for the highest glory of the King and his Son.
Amen! So let it be among us!
Wedding-cards
The wicked, for the slight breakfast of this world, lose the Lamb's supper of glory (Rev. 19:9); where these four things concur, that make a perfect feast:—A good time, eternity; a good place, Heaven; a good company, the saints; good cheer, glory. Thomas Adams.
The devil does not like field-preaching; neither do I. I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome pulpit; but where is my zeal if I do not trample all these under foot in order to save one more soul?—John Wesley.
"Call them in"—the Jew, the Gentile;
Bid the stranger to the feast;
"Call them in"—the rich, the noble,
From the highest to the least:
Forth the Father runs to meet them,
He has all their sorrows seen;
Robe, and ring, and royal sandals,
Wait the lost ones: "Call them in."
Sacred Songs and Solos.
From hedges and lanes of conscious nakedness and need, the marriage-festival is furnished with guests. To the poor the gospel is preached, and the poor in spirit gladly listen, whether they are clothed in purple or in rags. William Arnot.
We might do better if we went further afield. Our invitations to Christ, which fall so feebly on the ears of those who regularly hear us, would be welcomed by those to whom we never deliver them. We are fools to waste time in the shallows of our churches and chapels when the deep outside teems with waiting fishes. We need fresh hearers: the newer the news to any man, the more likely is he to regard it as good news. Music-hall work, out-door preaching, and house-to-house visitation have virgin soil to deal with, and there is none like it. Invite the oft-invited—certainly; but do not forget that those who have never been invited as yet cannot have been hardened by refusals. Beggars in the highways had never been bidden to a marriage-feast before; and so, when they were surprised with an invitation, they raised no questions, but gladly hastened to the banquet.
144
Matthew 25:10—"They that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut."
During the waiting period, the virgins seemed much alike, even as at this day one can hardly discern the false professor from the true.
When the midnight cry was heard the difference began to appear, as it will do when the Second Advent approaches.
When the Bridegroom was actually come, they were finally divided.
Let us prayerfully consider—
I. The ready, and their entrance.
1. What is this readiness? "They that were ready."
It is not a fruit of nature. None are ready to enter the marriage-feast of glory while they are in an unregenerate condition.
It must be a work of grace; since we are unable to make ourselves fit for the vision of God, and the glory of Christ is too bright for us to be naturally fit to share in it.
It should be our daily concern. He who is ready for the marriage feast is ready to live, and ready to die—ready for anything.
It mainly consists in a secret work wrought in us.
In being reconciled to God by the death of his Son.
In being regenerated, and so made meet for glory.
In being anointed with the Spirit, and fitted for holy service.
In being quickened into a high and holy fellowship with God.
In being delighted with God, and so being ready to enjoy him.
It should be our present inquiry whether we are now "ready."
Some make no profession, never pray, nor praise.
Others make profession, but neither love, nor trust; they have lamps, but no oil with which to keep them burning.
2. What is this entrance? A going in unto glory to be forever with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
Immediate. "They that were ready went in." No sooner was the Bridegroom come, than they went in. Love brooks no delays.
Intimate. They "went in with him." This is the glory of Heaven, and the crown of its joys, that we go into them with Jesus, who remains our constant companion therein.
Joyous. "They went in with him to the marriage."
Personal. "They went in": each one entered for herself.
Eternal. "The door was shut"—to shut them in forever. "He shuts, and no man opens." Rev. 3:7.
Actual. In all the marriage-festival each one of the wise virgins had a share: indeed, they enjoyed more than appears in the parable, for they were brides, as well as maids of honor.
What a world of meaning lies in that abundant entrance which will be ministered to all the faithful! 2 Peter 1:11.
II. The unready, and their exclusion.
1. What is this unreadiness?
It was the absence of a secret essential; but that absence was consistent with much apparent preparation.
These persons had the name and character of virgins.
They had the lamps or torches of true bridesmaids.
They were companions of the true virgins.
They acted like the true; in their virtues and in their faults.
They awakened as the true did, startled by the same cry.
They prayed also, after a fashion, "give us of your oil."
Yet were they never ready to enter in with the King.
They had no heart-care to be found ready, hence flaming external lamps, but no hidden internal oil.
They had no faith-foresight; they had not provided for the probable waiting, and the late coming.
They played the fool with Christ's wedding-feast, not thinking it worth the purchase of a little oil, but going to it with torches which would inevitably go out in smoke.
They put off until night what should have been done at once.
2. What is this exclusion?
It was universal to all who were not ready.
It was complete: "the door was shut,"—shut for those without quite as surely as for those within.
It was just; for they were not ready, and so slighted the King.
It was final. Since the fatal news that the door was shut, no news has come that it has been opened, or that it ever will be.
What if the cry were heard at this moment, "Behold he comes"?
As yet the door is not shut. Be ready before it closes.
Flashes from the lamps
"Uncle Ned," a colored Baptist of the South, was talking with his former master's son. "Child," said the old man solemnly, "your talk is too highfalutin' for me; but de Bible is plain as A B C, whar it says your got ter 'pent and be baptizen, or your will be damned. Ise erfeared, fact I knows, your's not dun nuther. 'Member, honey, ther Scripture says,—'keep your lamp trum an' er burning, an' your ile-can full to pour in it.' " "Now, Uncle Ned," was the evasive reply, "I hope you don't think my lamp is without oil, do you?" "Child, 'tain't even got no wick in it. Fac' is, Ise erfeared yer ain't even got a lamp," muttered the old negro, as he mournfully shambled off.
The poet Cowper tells us that, when under conviction of sin, he dreamed that he was walking in Westminster Abbey, waiting for prayers to begin. "Presently I heard the minister's voice, and hastened towards the choir. Just as I was upon the point of entering, the iron gate under the organ was flung in my face, with a jar that made the Abbey ring. The noise awakened me; and a sentence of excommunication from all the churches upon earth could not have been so dreadful to me as the interpretation which I could not avoid putting upon this dream."
Have you not felt a fainting of heart, and a bitterness of spirit, when, after much preparation for an important journey, you have arrived at the appointed place, and found that the ship or train, by which you intended to travel, had gone with all who were ready at the appointed time, and left you behind? Can you multiply finitude by infinitude? Can you conceive the dismay which will fill your soul if you come too late to the closed door of Heaven, and begin the hopeless cry, "Lord, Lord, open to us"?—William Arnot.
A lady, who heard Whitefield, in Scotland, preach upon the words, "And the door was shut," being placed near two dashing young men, but at a considerable distance from the pulpit, witnessed their mirth; and overheard one say, in a low tone, to the other, "Well, what if the door be shut? Another will open." Thus they turned off the solemnity of the text. Mr. Whitefield had not proceeded far when he said, "It is possible there may be some careless, trifling person here today, who may ward off the force of this impressive subject by lightly thinking, 'What matter if the door be shut? Another will open.' " The two young men were paralyzed, and looked at each other. Mr. Whitefield proceeded: "Yes; another will open. And I will tell you what door it will be: it will be the door of the bottomless pit!—the door of hell!—the door which conceals from the eyes of angels the horrors of damnation!"
145
Matthew 27:29—"And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!"
The shameful spectacle! What element of scorn is lacking!
Roman soldiers mocking a supposed rival of Caesar are sure to go to the utmost lengths in their derision.
Jesus himself is a victim so novel in his gentle weakness that they set no bounds to their scorn.
The spectacle is as cruel as it is derisive. Thorns and rough blows accentuate mockeries and scoffs.
Roman legionaries were the brutalized instruments of a race noted for its ignorance of all tenderness; they wrought cruelties with a singular zest, being most at home in amusements of the most cruel kind.
Let us go into the Hall of the Praetorian guard, and watch with our Lord in the hour of his mockery.
I. Here learn a lesson for your heart.
In the Lord of glory thus made the center of cruel scorn—
1. See what sin deserved. It is all laid on him.
Ridicule for its folly. It should be despised for its mad rebellion against the omnipotent will of the great King.
Scorn for its pretensions. How dared it propose to usurp dominion over hearts and lives which belonged alone to God?
Shame for its audacity. It dared defy the Eternal to battle. Oh, wretched, braggart sin!
2. See how low your Savior stooped for your sake.
He is made the Substitute for foolish, sinful man; and is treated as such.
He is scoffed at by soldiers of the meanest grade.
He is made a puppet for men who play the fool.
3. See how your Redeemer loved you.
He bears immeasurable contempt, bears in silence, bears to the bitter end; and all for love of his people.
4. See the grand facts behind the scorn.
He is a King in very surety. They said, "Hail, King!" and he is indeed the King whom all shall hail.
He is glorified by conquering earth's sorrow: he is crowned with thorns. What a glorious diadem! No other coronet ever betokened such a conquest.
He rules by weakness: a reed is his scepter. What a glory to be able to reign, not by force of arms, but by patience and gentleness!
He makes men bow the knee: real homage is his; he reigns, whether men will have it so or not.
He is the true Monarch of the Jews. In him the dynasty of David endures forever, and Israel has hope of glory.
5. See that you honor and love him in proportion to this shame and mockery.
Bernard used to say, 'The more vile Christ has made himself for us, the more dear he ought to be to us."
Can you ever reach so great a height?
II. Here learn a lesson for your conscience.
1. Jesus may still be mocked.
By deriding his people. "Saul, Saul, why persecute you me?" Men mock the Master in the servant.
By despising his doctrine. Many do this who affect to admire his character. This is the peculiar sin of the present age.
By resolves never fulfilled. Sinners vow, but never pay; confess faults, and cling to them. This is to insult the Lord.
By beliefs never obeyed. It is common to pretend to a belief which never affects the life, mocking great truths by acting contrary to them.
By professions never justified. May not many a church-member be guilty of putting the Lord to an open shame in this fashion?
2. If guilty of mocking him, what shall you do?
Do not despair, but confess and lament your sin.
Do not give all up for lost. Believe and live.
Do not repeat the sad offence. Repent, and quit the crime.
Do not abide in sullen silence. Honor him whom you once despised.
3. What shall you do in any case?
Crown him with love.
Scepter him with obedience.
Bow the knee of worship.
Proclaim him King by your personal testimony.
You sinners, destroy the sins which grieved your Savior!
You saints, defy all the contempt of the world for his sake!
Laments and honors
Where, O where, do you stoop, O you co-eternal Son of your eternal Father? Where do you abase yourself for me? I have sinned, and you are punished; I have exalted myself, and you are dejected; I have clad myself with shame, and you are stripped; I have made myself naked, and you are clothed with robes of dishonor; my head has devised evil, and your is pierced with thorns; I have smitten you, and you are smitten for me; I have dishonored you, and you, for my sake, are scorned; you are made the sport of men, for me that have deserved to be insulted by devils!—Bishop Hall.
Christ's head has sanctified all thorns; his back, all furrows; his hands, all nails; his side, all spears; his heart, all sorrows that can ever come to any of his children. Samuel Clark, in "The Saint's Nosegay."
Here we see our King receiving the best homage the world would give him. His robe was some old cloak of purple. Behold his crown, platted of thorns! His coronation is performed by a ribald soldiery. His scepter is a reed; his homage is given by the knee of scorn; his proclamation by the mouth of ridicule. How then can we expect honor for ourselves?
Let us never despise the weak, or scoff at brethren who may appear singular, or oppress any man of woman born. Haply we may be following the act of these Prætorians, and may be insulting saints more like to Jesus than we are ourselves. To be ridiculed may give us communion with the Lord Jesus, but to ridicule others will place us in fellowship with his persecutors. C. H. S.
During the last moments of a gracious lady, speech had left her; but she managed to articulate the word "Bring." Her friends, in ignorance of her meaning, offered her food, but she shook her head, and again repeated the word "Bring." They then offered her grapes, which she also declined, and, for the third time uttered the word "Bring." Thinking she desired to see some absent friends, they brought them to her: but again she shook her head; and then, by a great effort, she succeeded in completing the sentence—
"Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all;"
and then passed away to be with Jesus. Newman Hall.
146
Matthew 28:9, 10—"And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshiped him.
"Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me."
All that concerns our Lord after his resurrection is calm and happy. A French writer calls the forty days on earth, "the life of Jesus Christ in glory": truly it was glory as full as earth could then bear.
His tomb was empty, and consequently the disciples' griefs would have been over had they fully understood what that vacant grave meant.
Then was their choicest time for living fellowship with their risen Lord, and he did not fail to grant them the privilege on many memorable occasions.
Since our Lord is risen, we also may have happy communion with him.
These are days in which we may expect him to manifest himself to us spiritually, as he did for forty days to the disciples corporeally.
Let us not be satisfied unless it is often said of us, "Jesus met them."
I. In the way of service Jesus meets us. "As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them."
1. He may come at other times, as he did to those who visited the sepulcher, to those walking out to Emmaus, to others fishing, and to the eleven assembled for mutual consolation.
2. He is likeliest to come when we are doing his work, since—
We are then most awake, and most able to see him.
We are then in special need of him.
We are then most in accord with him.
3. But come when Jesus may, it will be a blessed visitation, worthy to be prefaced by a "Behold!" Oh, that he would come now!
II. When Jesus meets us, he has ever a good word for us.
The fittest motto for resurrection fellowship is "All hail!"
1. A word of salutation. He is not ashamed to call us brethren, and welcome us with "All hail!"
2. A word of blessing. He wishes us well, and expresses his hearty, sacred desire by the words "All hail!"
3. A word of congratulation. He was glad to see these women, he gave them glad tidings, he bade them be glad, he made them glad, he was glad with them, saying, "All hail!"
4. A word of pacification. He afterwards said, "Be not afraid"; but this was virtually contained in his "All hail!" His presence can never mean us harm; it ever works us health.
III. When Jesus meets us, it becomes us to arouse ourselves.
We ought at such times to be like the disciples, who were—
1. All alive with hopeful energy. "They came." In eager haste they drew near to him. What life it would put into preachers and hearers if the Lord Jesus would manifestly appear unto them! Dullness flees when Jesus is seen.
2. All aglow with happy excitement. They "held him by the feet,"—hardly knowing what they did, but enraptured with the sight of him.
3. All ardent with reverent love. They "worshiped him." What heartiness they threw into that lowly adoration!
4. All amazed at his glory. They were prostrate, and began to fear.
5. All afraid lest they should lose their bliss. They grasped him, and held him by the feet.
IV. From such a meeting we should go on a further errand.
1. We must not plead spiritual absorption as an excuse for inactivity, but we must "go" at our Lord's bidding.
2. We must seek the good of others because of their relation to our Lord. He says, "tell my brethren."
3. We must communicate what our Lord has imparted, "go tell."
4. We must encourage our brethren by the assurance that joy similar to ours awaits them, "there shall they see me." Thus shall we best realize and retain the choice benefits of fellowship with the Lord. Not only for ourselves, but mainly for the benefit of others, are we to behold our Lord.
Let us go to holy work hoping to meet Jesus as we go.
Let us go to more holy work when we have met him.
Let us labor to "abide in him", looking, for his promised appearing and exhorting others to do the same.
Illustrative
It is said that a venturesome diplomatist once asked the Emperor Nicholas who was the most distinguished of His Majesty's subjects. According to report, the Czar replied that the most distinguished Russian was he whoever the Emperor honored by speaking to him. Royal vanity dictated that reply, but we speak "words of truth and soberness" when we say that the most distinguished of men is he whom the Lord of hosts honors by admitting to communion with himself. "Speak, Lord; for your servant hears."
In vain you strugglest to get free,
I never will unloose my hold;
Are you the Man that died for me?
The secret of Your love unfold.
Wrestling, I will not let you go,
Until I Your name, Your nature know.
Charles Wesley.
There is a striking legend illustrating the blessedness of performing our duty at whatever cost to our own inclination. A monk had seen a beautiful vision of our Savior, and in silent bliss he was gazing upon it. The hour arrived at which it was his duty to feed the poor at the convent gate. He would gladly have lingered in his cell to enjoy the vision; but, under a sense of duty, he tore himself away from it to perform his humble service. When he returned, he found the blessed vision still waiting for him, and heard a voice, saying, "Had you stayed, I would have gone. As you have gone, I have remained."
It is a blessed thing to go forth with the Master's message after having seen him; it is delightful to meet him on the way when we are going to tell his disciples; and it is inexpressibly pleasant to find him in the assembly bearing witness with us. To go from the Lord, for the Lord, with the Lord, is such an agreeable combination that it cannot be described, but must be personally experienced. The Lord Jesus is by no means niggardly in his converse with his people: he meets us as often as we are fit to be met, and oftener; and he uses such familiarities as could never have been expected had they not been already enjoyed. Who would have dreamed of his saying "All hail!" if he had not himself selected the term?—C. H. S.
A good theme might be found in the words of the message recorded in our text. Jesus prepares his messengers by saying "Be not afraid." Those who bear tidings for him should be calm and happy. He calls his disciples by a sweet name "my brethren"; invites them to meet him; appoints a well-known trysting-place; and promises to be there. Whatever else they had begun to do, they must make this their chief business, to be at Galilee to commune with him, to put themselves at his disposal, and to receive his commission. C. H. S.
147
Mark 4:24—"And he said unto them, Take heed what you hear: with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given."
In these days we have many instructions as to preaching; but our Lord principally gave directions as to hearing. The art of attention is as difficult as that of homiletics.
The text may be viewed as a note of discrimination. Hear the truth, and the truth only. Be not indifferent as to your spiritual meat, but use discernment. 1 John 4:1; Job 12:11.
We shall use it as a note of arousing. When you do hear the truth, give it such attention as it deserves. Give good heed to it.
I. Here is a precept. "Take heed what you hear."
The previous verse is—"If any man have ears to hear, let him hear;" that is—use your ears well, and to the best purpose.
1. Hear with discrimination, shunning false doctrine. John 10:5.
2. Hear with attention; really and earnestly hearing. Matthew 13:23.
3. Hear for yourself, with personal application. 1 Samuel 3:9.
4. Hear retentively, endeavoring to remember the truth.
5. Hear desiringly, praying that the Word may be blessed to you.
6. Hear practically, obeying the exhortation which has come to you.
This hearing is to be given, not to a favorite set of doctrines, but to the whole of the Word of God. Psalm 119:128.
II. Here is a proverb. "With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you."
In proportion as you give yourself to hearing, you shall gain by hearing.
This is practically illustrated in the result of preaching.
1. Those who have no interest in the Word find it uninteresting.
2. Those who desire to find fault find faults enough.
3. Those who seek solid truth learn it from any faithful ministry.
4. Those who hunger find food.
5. Those who bring faith receive assurance.
6. Those who come joyfully are made glad.
But no man finds blessing by hearing error.
Nor by careless, forgetful, caviling hearing of the truth.
III. Here is a promise. "Unto you that hear shall more be given."
You that hear shall have—
1. More desire to hear.
2. More understanding of what you hear.
3. More convincement of the truth of what you hear.
4. More personal possession of the blessings of which you hear.
5. More delight while hearing the glorious gospel.
6. More practical benefit therefrom.
God gives more to those who value what they have.
For practical application let us say—
Hear. It is your wisdom to know what God says.
Hear well. God's teaching deserves the deepest attention.
It will repay the best consideration.
Hear often. Waste no Sabbath, nor any one of its services.
Use week-day lectures and prayer-meetings.
Hear better. You will grow the holier thereby.
You will find heavenly joy by hearing with faith.
Hear! Hear!
What care I to see a man run after a sermon if he cozens and cheats as soon as he comes home?—John Selden.
A heart-memory is better than a mere head-memory. It were better to carry away a little of the life of God in our souls than if we were able to repeat every word of every sermon we ever heard. De Sales.
Ebenezer Blackwell was a rich banker, a zealous Methodist, and a great friend of the Wesleys. "Are you going to hear Mr. Wesley preach?" said one to Mr. Blackwell. "No," he answered, "I am going to hear God; I listen to him, whoever preaches; otherwise I lose all my labor."
Once-a-day-hearers, represented by a Perthshire landlord, were pithily rebuked by Mr. Walker, the minister of Muthill. The landowner, meeting the minister on Monday, explained to him that he had not been hearing him at the second service on the previous day, as he could not digest more than one sermon. "I rather think," said Mr. Walker, "the appetite is at fault rather than the digestion."
Alas, the place of hearing is the place of sleeping with many a fine professor! I have often observed that those that keep shops can briskly attend upon a twopenny customer, but when they come themselves to God's market, they spend their time too much in letting their thoughts wander from God's commandments, or in a nasty, drowsy way. The head, also, and hearts of most hearers, are to the Word as the sieve is to water: they can hold no sermons, remember no texts, bring home no proofs, produce none of the sermon to the edification and profit of others. John Bunyan.
Some can be content to hear all pleasant things, as the promises and mercies of God; but judgments and reproofs, threats and checks, these they cannot brook; like unto those who, in medicine, care only for a pleasant smell or appearance in the remedy, as pills rolled in gold, but have no regard for the efficacy of the physic. Some can willingly hear that which concerns other men and their sins, their lives and manners, but nothing touching themselves or their own sins; as men can willingly abide to hear of other men's deaths, but cannot abide to think of their own. Richard Stock.
If verse 23 exhorts us to hear, verse 24 exhorts us to look to that which we do hear, and use it rightly. "Take heed what you hear," means "Look after it as you would look after money that you have received." Learning a truth is not the end, but the beginning. After it is learned, it is to be applied, kept, obeyed. And it would appear from the next sentence that, unless it is shared with others, we can neither get it nor keep it for ourselves. "With what measure you mete, [understand, 'mete out your light,'] it shall be measured unto you: and more shall be given unto you." (Revised Version.) To learn the truth of God you need to listen, but you need to tell it to another as well. The meaning of this passage is brought out in the words of the old Rabbi: "Much have I learned from my tutors; more from my companions; but most of all from my pupils." The more light you give another, the more you get yourself. You get a better grip of truth by pondering it with the wish to impart it. The love, which imparts what you have, opens your heart to receive something still higher. It is true, not only in regard to money, but to knowledge, and all power of help, that, "There is that scatters, and yet increases; and there is that withholds more than is meet, but it tends to poverty." He is a dull teacher that does not learn by all he teaches. Rejoice in your work; it is worth doing well, for it is the best way of learning. Richard Glover.
148
Mark 5:6—"But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him."
Luke 15:20—"But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."
These two texts have a measure of apparent likeness: the man runs to Jesus from afar, and the Father runs to the prodigal from afar.
They do, however, as much illustrate the difference as the likeness of our action towards the Lord, and the Lord's action towards us.
From the two together a blended lesson may be learned.
I. The sinner's place. "Afar off." Jesus is afar off in the sinner's apprehension, and the sinner is in very deed far off from God.
1. As to character. What a difference between the demoniac and the Lord Jesus: between the prodigal son and the great Father!
2. As to knowledge. The demoniac knew Jesus, but knew little of his love. The prodigal knew little of his Father's great heart.
3. As to hope. The man possessed of a devil had no hope of recovery, or but a faint one, and that hope the demons tried to extinguish. The prodigal only hoped to be received as a hired servant: he felt that his sins had put him far away from the true position of a son.
4. As to possession. The demoniac had no hold upon the Savior; on the contrary, he cried, "What have I to do with you?" The prodigal thought he had lost all claim to his Father, and therefore said, "I am no more worthy to be called your son."
Immeasurable is the distance between God and a sinner: it is wide as the gulf between sin and holiness, death and life, Hell and Heaven.
II. The sinner's privilege. "He saw Jesus."
This much you, who are most under Satan's influence, are able to see concerning Jesus: you know that—
1. There is such a Person. He is God and man, the Savior.
2. He has done great things.
3. He is able to cast out the powers of evil.
4. He may cast them out from you, and deliver you.
III. The sinner's wisest course. "He ran and worshiped him."
The demoniac was all in confusion, for he was under contending influences: his own spirit and the evil spirit strove together.
He ran towards Jesus, and worshiped him; and yet in the same breath he cried, "What have I to do with you?" Thus are sinners tossed about.
But it is the sinner's wisest course to run to Jesus, for—
1. He is the Son of the Most High God. John 1:34.
2. He is the great enemy of our enemy, the devil. Hebrews 2:14.
3. He is abundantly able to drive out a legion of devils.
4. He can cause us to be clothed, and in our right mind.
5. He permits us even now to draw near and worship him.
It was the prodigal's wisdom to hasten to his Father.
Like arguments may be easily found in his case.
IV. The secret of hope for sinners. "His Father saw him"
1. The returning sinner was seen from afar by omniscience.
2. He was recognized as a son is known by his Father.
3. He was understood, beloved, and accepted by his Father.
This is the basis of hope for lost ones: not so much what they can see, as the fact that the Lord of love and grace sees them in all their sin and misery.
V. The action of the sinner's Father. He "ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."
1. Here was great tenderness, "his Father saw him, and had compassion."
2. Here was great swiftness, "and ran."
3. Here was great condescension,—he "ran, and fell on his neck."
4. Here were great love and mercy, "and kissed him."
The Father's running made an end of the son's fears, and brought swift realization of joyful acceptance.
Let us run to our Savior, and our Father.
Let us rejoice that our Savior and our Father run to meet us.
Running Comments
A needle will move towards a magnet when once a magnet has moved near to it. Our heart manifests a sweet willingness towards salvation and holiness when the great and glorious good-will of the Lord operates upon it. It is ours to run to Jesus as if all the running were ours; but the secret truth is that the Lord runs towards us, and this is the very heart of the business. C. H. S.
The mother, as she sits in her house, hears a little one shriek, and knows the voice, and cries out, "Oh! 'tis my child!" Away she throws all she has in her hands, and runs to her babe. Thus God takes the alarm of his children's cry. "I heard Ephraim bemoaning himself," says the Lord; his cry pierced God's ear, and his ear affected his affections, and his affections called up his power to the rescue of him. William Gurnall.
God will pardon a repentant sinner more quickly than a mother would snatch her child out of the fire. Vianney.
When either God or man is strongly moved, the pace is running. A soul in distress runs to Jesus: God in compassion runs to meet returning wanderers. A slow pace evidences an unwilling heart; hence delay to repent is a deadly sign. With sin within you, Christ before you, time pressing you, eternity awaiting you, Hell beneath you, Heaven above you; O sinner, you may well run! It is the pace of one hunting after the game he desires, one anxious to win a prize, one escaping the avenger of blood. He that would have Heaven must run for it. C. H. S.
A father, whose affluence was considerable, mourned over a reckless son, whose misconduct brought shame upon himself and his family. From home the prodigal went into another country, and for years he was lost to his relatives. A chance occurring, the sorrowing parent sent by a friend this message, should he meet his boy, "Your father loves you still." The bearer long sought him in vain. At last he saw him enter a house of vice, and called him; and there, at a late hour of evening, he delivered this message. The dissolute gambler's heart was touched. The thought that his father still loved him, and wished to forgive him, broke the spell of Satan. He abandoned his profligacy, and returned to his father. Oh, the power of such a message of inalienable love from God!—The Preacher's Commentary.
CXLIX
Mark 5:7—"And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God, that you torment me not."
The coming of Jesus into a place puts all into commotion.
The gospel is a great disturber of sinful peace.
Like the sun among wild beasts, owls, and bats, it creates a stir. In this case, a legion of devils began to move.
I. The devil cries out against the intrusion of Christ. "What have I to do with you?"
1. Christ's nature is so contrary to that of the devil that war is inevitable as soon as Jesus comes upon the scene.
2. There are no designs of grace for Satan, and, therefore, as he has nothing to hope for from Jesus, he dreads his coming.
3. He wishes to be let alone; for thoughtlessness, stagnation, and despair suit his plans.
4. He knows his powerlessness against the Son of the Most High God, and has no wish to try a fall with him.
5. He dreads his doom: for Jesus will not hesitate to torment him by the sight of good done, and evil overcome.
II. Men under the devil's influence cry out against the incoming of Christ by the gospel.
1. Conscience is feared by them: they do not wish to have it disturbed, instructed, and placed in power.
2. Change is dreaded by them; for they love sin, and its gains, and pleasures, and know that Jesus wars with these things.
3. They claim a right to be let alone: this is their idea of religious liberty. They would not be questioned either by God or man.
4. They argue that the gospel cannot bless them.
They expect nothing from it, for they do not know its rich blessings, or the power of sovereign, almighty grace.
They think themselves too poor, too ignorant, too busy, too sinful, too weak, too involved, and perhaps too aged, to receive any good from the gospel.
5. They view Jesus as a tormentor, who will rob them of pleasure, sting their consciences, and drive them to obnoxious duties.
Therefore they cry out, "What have we to do with you?"
III. Sober men can answer these outcries.
They endeavor to answer the question, "What have I to do with you?" They remember a fact, and make an inquiry.
1. I have to do with him inevitably.
He has come to save, and I am responsible for accepting or refusing his grace.
I am his creature, as he is the Son of God, and he has power over me, and a right to my obedience.
I am under his rule, and he will judge me at the last day.
2. Has he to do with me graciously?
He has to do with me by the gospel which he has sent me.
He has abundantly much to do with me if he has wrought in me repentance, faith, prayer, etc.
He has everything to do with me if he has bestowed on me pardon, peace, sanctification, etc.
IV. Men saved from Satan raise an opposite cry.
According to the instance before us in the narrative—
1. They beg to sit at Jesus' feet, clothed, and in their right mind.
2. They ask to be with him always, and never to cease from personal attendance upon him.
3. They go at his bidding, and publish abroad what great things Jesus has done for them.
4. Henceforth they have nothing to do but to live for Jesus, and for him alone.
Come, you despisers, and see yourselves as in a looking-glass!
Look until you see yourselves transformed.
Cases in point
Conversion is feared as a great danger by natural men, lest the promises put them on the pain and labor of godliness; for men do flee nothing but that which they apprehend as evil, dangerous, and so the true object of fear. Now, when Felix and Agrippa were both upon the wheel of the great Potter, I cannot say that conversion formally was begun, yet materially it was. The one trembled, and so was afraid and fled, and did put Paul away until another time. He saw the danger of grace (Acts 24:25, 26), and fled from it. The other said that he was half a Christian (but it was the poorer half), and "he arose, and went aside." (Acts 26:28, 30, 31.) "Their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." (Matthew 13:15.) In which words it is evident that conversion is feared as an evil.
A wretch once jested that he was once in danger to be caught, when a Puritan preacher, as he said, "was preaching with divine power, and evidence of the Spirit of God."—Samuel Rutherford.
It is said that Voltaire, being pressed in his last moments to acknowledge the Divinity of Christ, turned away, and said feebly, "For the love of God don't mention that Man—allow me to die in peace!"
A number of young men were sitting together in a country store one evening, telling what they did not believe, and what they were not afraid to do. Finally, the leader in the group remarked that, so far as he was concerned, he would be willing at any time to sign away all his interest in Christ for a five-dollar bill. "What did I understand you to say?" asked an old farmer, who happened to be in the store, and who had overheard the remark. "I said that for five dollars I would sign away all my interest in Christ, and so I will." The old farmer, who had learned to know the human heart pretty well, drew out his leathern wallet, took therefrom a five-dollar bill, and put it in the storekeeper's hand. Then calling for ink and paper, he said: "My young friend, if you will just step to the desk now, and write as I direct, the money is yours." The young man took the pen, and began: "In the presence of these witnesses, I, A——— B———, for the sum of five dollars received, do now, once for all, and for ever, sign away all my interest"—then he dropped the pen, and with a forced smile, said: "I take it back, I was only fooling." That young man did not dare to sign that paper. Why? He had an accusing conscience. He knew that there was a God. He believed in religion. He meant to be a Christian some time. And so do you, reader. Notwithstanding your apparent indifference, your trifling conduct, your boasting speech, you would not today for ten thousand dollars sign away, if such a thing were possible, your interest in Jesus Christ. You do not desire or expect to lose heaven. The Congregationalist (American).
CL
Mark 8:22–25—"And he comes to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
"And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
"And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
"After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly."
Men arrive at Christ by different processes: one is found by Christ himself, another comes to him, another is borne of four, and this blind man is led. This matters little, so long as we do come to him.
The act of bringing men to Jesus is most commendable.
It proves kindly feeling.
It shows practical faith in the power of Jesus.
It is thus an act of true wisdom.
It is exceedingly acceptable to the Lord; and is sure to prove effectual when the person himself willingly comes.
In this case there was something faulty in the bringing, since there was a measure of dictation as to the method in which the Lord should operate.
I. It is a common weakness of faith to expect the blessing in a certain fixed way. "They besought him to touch him."
The Lord has his usual ways, but he is not bound to them.
Yet too often we think and act as if he were so.
1. We dream that deliverance from trouble must come in one way.
2. We look for sanctification either by afflictions or by ecstasies.
3. We hope for salvation only by one form of experience.
4. We look to see others converted in one fashion of feeling only, or by someone favorite ministry.
5. We expect a revival to take the stereotyped shape.
II. While our Lord honors faith, he does not defer to its weakness.
He did not consent to work in the prescribed manner.
He touched, but no healing came; and thus he proved that the miracle was not attached to that special form of operation.
He did nothing to the blind man before their eyes; but led him out of the town. He would not indulge their observation, or curiosity.
He did not heal him instantly, as they expected.
He used a means never suggested by them—"spit on his eyes," etc.
When he did put his hands on him, he did it twice, so that, even in compliance with their wish, he vindicated his own freedom.
1. Thus he refused to foster the superstition which limited his power.
2. Thus he used a method more suited to the case.
3. Thus he gave to the people larger instruction.
4. Thus he displayed to the individual a more personal care.
The like happens in each distinct conversion: its speciality is justified in a multitude of ways.
III. While our Lord rebukes the weakness of faith, he honors faith itself.
1. The blind man had consented to be led to Jesus, and Jesus leads him further. He refuses none because their coming to him has been less their own spontaneous act than yielding to the persuasion of others.
2. His friends had asked for sight, and the Lord gave sight. If we have praying faith, he will keep pace with it.
3. The man and his friends had exhibited confidence in him, and he gave them even more than they expected. If we can confide, we shall receive.
4. The cure was perfect, and the method used displayed the completeness of it. Jesus gives perfect gifts to imperfect faith.
Faith ever honors the Lord, and therefore the Lord honors it.
If faith were not thus rewarded, Jesus himself would suffer dishonor.
He who has faith shall surely see; he who demands signs shall not be satisfied.
Let us forever have done with prescribing methods to our Lord.
Jesus will surely heal those who believe in him; he knows the best method; and he is to be trusted without reserve.
Examples
This case, and that of the deaf and stammering man brought to Christ in Decapolis, have many points of resemblance. In both, those who brought the diseased to Jesus prescribed to him the mode of cure. Was it for the purpose of reproving and counteracting the prejudice which connected the cure with a certain kind of manipulation, on the part of the curer, that Jesus, in both instances, went so far out of his usual course, varying the manner of his action so singularly that, out of all his miracles of healing, these two stand distinguished by the unique mode of their performance? It is certain that, had Jesus observed one uniform method of healing, the spirit of formalism and superstition, which lies so deep in our nature, would have seized upon it, and linked it, inseparably, with the divine virtue that went out of him, confounding the channel with the blessing it conveyed. As we ponder the life of our Redeemer, dwelling particularly on those parts of it—such as his institution of the sacraments—in which food might have been furnished upon which the spirit of formalism might have fed, more and more do we admire the pains evidently taken to give to that strong tendency of our nature as little material as possible to fasten on. Dr. Hanna.
Is the sick man the doctor, that he should choose the remedy?
Madame Swetchine.
John Newton's hymn is a case in point. We quote a verse or two:—
I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.
I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He'd answer my request;
And, by His love's constraining power,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.
Instead of this He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart,
And let the angry powers of Hell
Assault my soul in every part.
Thus did infinite wisdom answer his prayer in a way which he had never dreamed of, and yet it was the right way, as he confessed.
So apt are people, as in the case of Naaman, to settle in their own minds the method of the work of grace, that it is hard to overcome their preconceptions. I met with one young woman, before whom I set the way of salvation by faith alone. She was long in accepting, or even understanding it; and when she did grasp it, and the joy of it filled her heart, she exclaimed, with surprise, "I never thought that people could find peace in this way." "Why not?" I asked her, and she replied very energetically, "I always believed that one must almost go to Hell to get to Heaven. My father was so full of despair that they locked him up in the asylum for six months, and then at last he got religion."—C. H. S.
CLI
Mark 9:24—"And immediately the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help you mine unbelief."
Here was a man fully aroused to anxiety, prayer, and the use of means, and yet his desire was not at once granted to him.
Even so, many are in earnest about their souls, and yet do not immediately find conscious salvation.
This drives them to yet deeper grief.
Perhaps this father's case may help them to understand their own.
His child was not cured, but even appeared to be worse than ever.
Yet the matter came to a happy issue through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us note the case carefully, and observe—
I. The suspected difficulty.
1. The father may have thought it lay with the disciples.
Yet alone they could never have done anything.
Had their Lord been with them, they could have done everything.
The main difficulty was not with the disciples, though it was partly there.
2. He probably thought that the case itself was well-near hopeless.
The disease was—
So fitful and mysterious.
So terribly violent and sudden in its attacks.
So deep-seated, and of such long continuance.
So near to utterly destroying life.
But, after all, it is not our own case, or the case of those for whom we plead, which presents any unusual impediment to divine power. The Lord delights to work impossibilities.
3. He half hinted that the difficulty might lie with the Master. "If you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us."
"If you can." Had he seen the transfiguration, he would have known the power and glory of the Lord.
"Have compassion." Could he have read the Lord's heart, he would have felt sure that the Savior's pity was already aroused.
Rest assured, O anxious heart, that the difficulty of your case lies alone in your want of faith!
II. The tearful discovery. "He said with tears, Lord, I believe; help you mine unbelief."
The Lord Jesus repudiated the insinuation that there was any question as to his power, and cast the "if" back upon the father with "If you can believe." Then—
1. The man's little faith discovered his unbelief.
2. He was distressed and alarmed at the sight of his own unbelief.
3. He turned his thoughts and prayers in that direction. It was now not so much "Help my child," as "Help my unbelief."
4. He became deeply sensible of the sin and danger of unbelief.
Let us look in the same direction personally, and we shall see that unbelief is an alarming and criminal thing; for it doubts—
The power of Omnipotence.
The value of the promise of God.
The efficacy of Christ's blood.
The prevalence of his plea.
The almightiness of the Spirit.
The truth of the gospel.
In fact, unbelief robs God of his glory in every way, and therefore it cannot receive a blessing from the Lord. Hebrews 11:6.
III. The intelligent appeal. "Lord, I believe; help you mine unbelief."
In his great perplexity he cries to Jesus only.
1. On the basis of faith, "Lord, I believe."
2. With confession of sin, "mine unbelief."
3. To One who knows how to help in this matter, "Lord, help."
4. To One who is himself the best remedy for unbelief, "help you."
Unbelief is overcome when we fly to Jesus, and consider—
The majesty of his divine nature.
The tenderness of his humanity.
The graciousness of his offices.
The grandeur of his atonement.
The glorious object of his work.
Come to Jesus with any case, and in every case.
Come with your little faith and with your great unbelief, for in this matter also he can help as none other can.
Helps
There is no sin which may not be traced up to unbelief. Mason.
"Lord, I believe," etc. This act of his, in putting forth his faith to believe as he could, was the way to believe as he would. Trapp.
A young man, in the seventeenth century, being in deep distress of mind, applied to Dr. Goodwin for advice and consolation. After he had laid before him the long and black list of sins that troubled his conscience, the doctor reminded him that there was one blacker still, which he had not named. "What can that be, sir?" he despondingly asked. "The sin," replied the doctor, "I refer to is that of refusing to believe in Christ Jesus as a Savior." The simple word banished the anxious one's guilty fears.
There was once a good woman who was well known among her circle for her simple faith, and her great calmness in the midst of many trials. Another woman, living at a distance, hearing of her, said, "I must go and see that woman, and learn the secret of her holy, happy life." She went; and accosting the woman, said, "Are you the woman with the great faith?" "No," replied she, "I am not the woman with the great faith; but I am the woman with a little faith in the great God."
O help us, through the prayer of faith,
More firmly to believe;
For still the more Your servant has,
The more shall he receive.
Milman.
A friend complained to Gotthold of the weakness of his faith, and the distress this gave him. Gotthold pointed to a vine, which had twined itself around a pole, and was hanging loaded with beautiful clusters, and said, "Frail is that plant; but what harm is done to it by its frailty, especially as the Creator has been pleased to make it what it is? As little will it prejudice your faith that it is weak, provided only it be sincere and unfeigned. Faith is the work of God, and he bestows it in such measure as he wills and judges right. Let the measure of it which he has given you be deemed sufficient by you. Take for pole and prop the cross of the Saviour, and the Word of God; twine around these with all the power which God vouchsafes. A heart sensible of its weakness, and prostrating itself continually at the feet of the divine mercy, is more acceptable than that which presumes upon the strength of its faith, and falls into false security and pride. Can you suppose that the sinful woman, who lay and wept at the Lord's feet, was less approved than the swelling and haughty Pharisee?"—Christian Scriver.
CLII
Mark 10:49, 50—"And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calls you.
"And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus."
This man is a picture of what we would gladly have every seeker of Christ to become.
In his lonely darkness, and deep poverty, he thought and became persuaded that Jesus was the Son of David.
Though he had no sight, he made good use of his hearing. If we have not all gifts, let us use those which we have.
I. He sought the Lord under discouragements.
1. No one prompted his seeking.
2. Many opposed his attempts. "Many charged him that he should hold his peace": verse 48.
3. For a while he was unheeded by the Lord himself.
4. He was but a blind beggar, and this alone might have checked some pleaders.
Let our hearers imitate his dogged resolution.
II. He received encouragement.
This came from our Lord's commanding him to be called.
There are several kinds of calls which come to men at the bidding of our Lord Jesus. There is the—
1. Universal call. Jesus is lifted up that all who look to him may live. John 3:14, 15. The gospel is preached to every creature.
2. Character call. To those who labor, and are heavy-laden. Many are the gospel promises which call the sinful, the mourning, the weary to Jesus. Is. 55:7. Matthew 11:28. Acts 2:38, 39.
3. Ministerial call. Given by the Lord's sent servants, and so backed by his authority. Acts 13:26, 38, 39; 16:31.
4. Effectual call. Sent home by the Holy Spirit. This is the calling of which we read, "whom he called, them he also justified": Romans 8:30.
III. But encouragement did not content him; he still sought Jesus.
To stop short of Jesus and healing would have been folly indeed.
1. He arose. Hopefully, resolutely, he left his begging posture In order to salvation we must be on the alert, and in earnest.
2. He cast away his garment, and every hindrance. Our righteousness, our comfortable sin, our habit,—anything, everything we must quit for Christ.
3. He came to Jesus. In the darkness occasioned by his blindness, he followed the Savior's voice.
4. He stated his case. "Lord, that I might receive my sight!"
5. He received salvation. Jesus said unto him, "Your faith has made you whole." He obtained perfect eyesight; and in all respects he was in complete health.
IV. Having found Jesus, he kept to him.
1. He used his sight to see his Lord.
2. He became his avowed disciple. See verse 52.
3. He went with Jesus on his way to the cross, and to the crown.
4. He remained a well-known disciple, whose father's name is given.
This man came out of cursed Jericho: are there not some to come from our slums and degraded districts?
This man at best was a beggar, but the Lord Jesus did not disdain his company. He was a standing glory to the Lord, for every one would know him as the blind man whose eyes had been opened.
Let seeking souls persevere under all drawbacks. Do not mind those who would keep you back. Let none hinder you from finding Christ and salvation.
Though blind, and poor, and miserable, you shall yet see, and smile, and sing, and follow Jesus.
Encouragements
"And commanded him to be called." By this circumstance he administered reproof and instruction: reproof, by ordering those to help the poor man who had endeavored to check him: instruction, by teaching us that, though he does not stand in need of our help, he will not dispense with our services; that we are to aid each other; that though we cannot recover our fellow-creatures, we may frequently bring them to the place and means of cure. William Jay.
Sad one, in secret, bending low,
A dart in your breast that the world may not know,
Striving the favor of God to win,—
Asking his pardon for days of sin;
Press on, press on, with your earnest cry,
"Jesus of Nazareth passes by."
Mrs. Sigourney.
"And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus." I remember once reading these words on a memorial tablet in a country church. Inscriptions on tombstones are often unsatisfactory, and scriptural quotations upon them most inappropriate; but this one was as suitable as it was singular. The squire of the village, a high-churchman, and an ardent sportsman, had late in life come under the influence of Christian friends, who brought him to a knowledge of the gospel; and to him the words of the Evangelist were applied. They were very suggestive. They told of pride, and worldly pursuits, and self-righteousness, of all to which the man had clung for a life-time, cast away that he might come to the Savior. For a sinner saved in life's last hours a better epitaph could hardly have been chosen. I admired the piety that compared the rich man lying there to the poor blind beggar of the gospel story; the once highly esteemed garment of personal righteousness to the beggar's worthless robe; and that expressed the one hope and refuge of the soul in Christ by the words "he came to Jesus." It reminded me of the lines on William Carey's tomb—
A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On your kind arms I fall;
Be You my strength and righteousness.
My Jesus and my all.
P.
Success in this world comes only to those who exhibit determination. Can we hope for salvation unless our mind is truly set upon it? Grace makes a man to be as resolved to be saved as this beggar was to get to Jesus, and gain his sight. "I must see him," said an applicant at the door of a public person. "You cannot see him," said the servant; but the man waited at the door. A friend went out to him, and said, "You cannot see the master, but I can give you an answer." "No," said the unfortunate pleader, "I will stay all night on the doorstep, but I will see the man himself. He alone will serve my turn." You do not wonder that, after many rebuffs, he ultimately gained his point: it would be an infinitely greater wonder if an importunate sinner did not obtain an audience from the Lord Jesus. If you must have grace, you shall have it. If you will not be put off, you shall not be put off. Whether things look favorable, or unfavorable, press you on until you find Jesus, and you shall find him. C. H. S.
CLIII
Mark 12:34—"And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, You are not far from the kingdom of God."
The kingdom of God is set up among men.
Those who are in it are—
Quickened with divine life. "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living": verse 27.
Received under the reign of grace. Romans 5:21.
Obedient to the law of love. 1 John 4:7.
Favored with divine privileges. Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:32.
Raised to special dignities. Rev. 1:6.
Indulged with peculiar happiness. Matthew 25:34.
Those who are outside of it are in some respects on a level.
But in other regards, some are "far off", and others "not far."
The scribe in the narrative was on the borders of the kingdom.
Of such a character we will now treat.
I. What are its marks?
1. Truthfulness of spirit.
This man was candid as a student of the law.
This man was honest as a teacher of the law.
This man was fair as a controversialist.
A spirit of general uprightness, sincerity, and fairness, is a great moral advantage.
2. Spiritual perception. This scribe must have spoken with great discretion, or the Lord Jesus would not have taken such special notice of his reply. He saw—
More than a Papist, who makes everything of ceremonies.
More than a mere doctrinalist, who puts head-knowledge above heart-experience and holiness.
More than a moralist, who forgets the love of the heart.
3. Acquaintance with the law.
Those who see the unity, and yet the breadth and spirituality of the law's demands are in a hopeful condition.
Still more, those who perceive that their own lives fall short of those demands, and grieve on that account.
4. Teachableness, which this man clearly exhibited, is a good sign: especially if we are willing to learn truth, although its advocate is unpopular.
5. A sense of need of Christ, which did not appear in the case of this scribe, but is seen in many who attend the ministry.
6. A horror of wrong-doing, and of impurity of every kind.
7. A high regard for holy things, and a practical interest in them.
8. A diligent commencement of prayer, Bible-reading, meditation, regular hearing of the word, and other gracious habits.
There are other signs, but time would fail us to mention more.
Many of these appear, like blossoms on a tree, but they disappoint the hopes which they excite.
II. What are its dangers?
No man is safe until he is actually in the kingdom: the border-land is full of peril. There is the danger—
1. Lest you slip back from this hopefulness.
2. Lest you rest content to stop where you are.
3. Lest you grow proud and self-righteous.
4. Lest you proceed from being candid to become indifferent.
5. Lest you die before the decisive step be taken.
III. What are its duties?
Though your condition is not one in which to rest, it is one which involves you in many responsibilities, since it is a condition of singular privilege.
1. Thank God for dealing so mercifully with you.
2. Admit with deep sincerity that you need supernatural help for entrance into the kingdom.
3. Tremble lest that decisive and saving step be never taken.
4. Decide at once through divine grace. Oh, for the Spirit of God to work effectually upon you!
What a pity that any should perish who are so near!
What horror to see such hopeful ones cast away!
How fatal to stop short of saving faith!
Expostulations
Among those who have turned out to be the most determined enemies of the gospel are many, who once were so near to conversion, that it was a wonder that they avoided it. Such persons seem ever after to take vengeance upon the holy influence which had almost proved too much for them. Hence our fear for persons under gracious impressions; for, if they do not now decide for God, they will become the more desperate in sin. That which is set in the sun, if it be not softened, will be hardened. I remember well a man, who, under the influence of an earnest revivalist, was brought to his knees, to cry for mercy, in the presence of his wife and others; but never afterwards would he enter a place of worship, or pay attention to religious conversation. He declared that his escape was so narrow that he would never run the risk again. Alas, that one should graze the gate of Heaven, and yet drive on to hell!—C. H. S.
Some are in the suburbs of the city of refuge. I warn you against staying there. Oh, what pity is it that any should perish at the gates of salvation for want of another step!
He who makes but one step up a stair, though he be not much nearer to the top of the house, yet he has stepped from the ground, and is delivered from the foulness and dampness of that. So, he who takes the first step of prayer by truly crying, "O Lord, be merciful unto me!" though he be not established in Heaven, yet he has stepped from off the world, and the miserable comforts thereof. Dr. Donne.
A Christian minister says, "When, after safely circumnavigating the globe, The Royal Charter went to pieces in Moelfra Bay, on the coast of Wales, it was my melancholy duty to visit and seek to comfort the wife of the first officer, made by that calamity a widow. The ship had been telegraphed from Queenstown, and the lady was sitting in the parlor expecting her husband, with the table spread for his evening meal, when the messenger came to tell her he was drowned. Never can I forget the grief, so stricken and tearless, with which she wrung my hand, as she said, 'So near home, and yet lost!' That seemed to me the most terrible of human sorrow. But, ah! that is nothing to the anguish which must wring the soul which is compelled to say at last, 'Once I was at the very gate of Heaven, and had almost entered in, but now I am in Hell!' "
I remember a man coming to me in great distress of soul, and his case made a deep impression upon my mind. He was a man-of-war's man, with all the frankness of a British tar, but, alas! also, with a sailor's fondness for strong drink. As we talked and prayed together, the tears literally rained down the poor fellow's weather-beaten face, and he trembled violently. "Oh, sir," he exclaimed, "I could fight for it!" Truly, if salvation could have been obtained by some deed of daring, he would have won it. He left me without finding peace, and the next day he went back drunk, to join his ship; and I have never heard of him since. J. W. H.
CLIV
Mark 14:32—"And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane."
Our Lord left the table of happy fellowship, and passed over the brook Kedron, so associated with the sorrows of David. 2 Samuel 15:23.
He then entered into the garden, named Gethsemane, not to hide himself from death, but to prepare for it by a season of special prayer.
Gethsemane was our Lord's place of secret prayer. John 18:1, 2.
If he resorted to his closet in the hour of trial, we need to do so far more.
In his solitary supplication he was oppressed with a great grief, and overwhelmed with a terrible anguish.
It was a killing change from the cheerful communion of the Supper to the lone agony of the garden.
Let us think with great solemnity of the olive garden where the Savior sweat as it were great drops of blood.
I. The choice of the spot—
1. Showed his serenity of mind, and his courage.
He goes to his usual place of secret prayer.
He goes there though Judas knew the place.
2. Manifested his wisdom.
Holy memories there aided his faith.
Deep solitude was suitable for his prayers and cries.
Congenial gloom fitted his exceeding sorrow.
3. Bequeathed us lessons.
In a garden, Paradise was lost and won.
In Gethsemane, the olive-press, our Lord himself was crushed.
In our griefs, let us retreat to our God in secret.
In our special prayers, let us not be ashamed to let them be known to our choicer friends, for Jesus took his disciples with him to his secret devotions in Gethsemane.
II. The exercise upon the spot.
Every item is worthy of attention and imitation.
1. He took all due precautions for others.
He would not have his disciples surprised, and therefore bade them watch. So should we care for others in our own extremity. The intensity of his fellowship with God did not cause him to forget one of his companions.
2. He solicited the sympathy of friends.
We may not despise this; though, like our Lord, we shall prove the feebleness of it, and cry, "Could you not watch with me?"
3. He prayed and wrestled with God.
In lowliest posture and manner. See verse 35.
In piteous repetition of his cry. See verses 36 and 39.
In awful agony of spirit even to a bloody sweat. Luke 22:44.
In full and true submission. Matthew 26:42, 44.
4. He again and again sought human sympathy, but made excuse for his friends when they failed him. See verse 38. We ought not to be soured in spirit even when we are bitterly disappointed.
5. He returned to his God, and poured out his soul in strong crying and tears, until he was heard in that he feared. Hebrews 5:7.
III. The triumph upon the spot.
1. Behold his perfect resignation. He struggles with "if it be possible," but conquers with "not what I will, but what you will." He is our example of patience.
2. Rejoice in his strong resolve. He had undertaken, and would go through with it. Luke 9:51; 12:50.
3. Mark the angelic service rendered. The blood-bestained Sufferer has still all Heaven at his call. Matthew 26:53.
4. Remember his majestic bearing towards his enemies.
He meets them bravely. Matthew 26:55.
He makes them fall. John 18:6.
He yields himself, but not to force. John 18:8.
He goes to the cross, and transforms it to a throne.
We, too, may expect our minor Gethsemane.
We shall not be there without a Friend, for he is with us.
We shall conquer by his might, and in his manner.
In Memoriam
The late Rev. W. H. Krause, of Dublin, was visiting a lady in a depressed state, "weak, oh, so weak!" She told him that she had been very much troubled in mind that day, because in meditation and prayer she had found it impossible to govern her thoughts, and kept merely going over the same things again and again. "Well, my dear friend," was his prompt reply, "there is provision in the gospel for that too. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, three times prayed, and spoke the same words." This seasonable application of Scripture was a source of great comfort to her.
Gethsemane, the olive-press!
(And why so called let Christians guess.)
Fit name, fit place, where vengeance strove,
And griped and grappled hard with love.
Joseph Deer.
"My will, not your, be done," turned Paradise into a desert. "Your will, not mine, be done," turned the desert into Paradise, and made Gethsemane the gate of heaven. E. ae Pressensé.
An inscription in a garden in Wales runs thus:—
"In a garden the first of our race was deceived,
In a garden the promise of grace he received,
In a garden was Jesus betrayed to his doom,
In a garden his body was laid in the tomb."
There will be no Christian but what will have a Gethsemane, but every praying Christian will find that there is no Gethsemane without its angel. Thomas Binney.
The Father heard; and angels, there,
Sustained the Son of God in prayer,
In sad Gethsemane;
He drank the dreadful cup of pain—
Then rose to life and joy again.
When storms of sorrow round us sweep,
And scenes of anguish make us weep;
To sad Gethsemane
We'll look, and see the Savior there,
And humbly bow, like Him, in prayer.
S. F. Smith.
"And there appeared an angel unto him from Heaven, strengthening him."—What! The Son of God receives help from an angel, who is but his creature? Yes. And we learn thereby to expect help and comfort from simple persons and common things, when God pleases. All strength and comfort come from God, but he makes creatures his ministers to bring it. We should thank both them and him. Practical Reflections on every verse of the Holy Gospels, by a Clergyman.
There is something in an olive-garden, on a hill-side, which makes it most suitable for prayer and meditation. The shade is solemn, the terraces divide better than distance, the ground is suitable for kneeling upon, and the surroundings are all in accord with holy thoughts. I can hardly tell why it is, but often as I have sat in an olive-garden, I have never been without the sense that it was the place and the hour of prayer—C. H. S.
CLV
Mark 14:72—"And when he thought thereon, he wept."
Repentance is wrought by the Spirit of God.
But he works it in us by leading us to think upon the evil of sin.
Peter could not help weeping when he remembered his grievous fault.
Let us at this time—
I. Study peter's case, and use it for our own instruction.
1. He considered that he had denied his Lord.
Have we never done the like?
This may be done in many ways.
2. He reflected upon the excellence of the Lord whom he had denied.
3. He remembered the position in which his Lord had placed him,—making him an apostle, and one of the first of them.
Have we not been placed in positions of trust?
4. He bethought him of the special fellowship which he had enjoyed. He and James and John had been most favored. Matthew 17:1–13; 26:36–46; Mark 5:37–43.
Have not we known joyous fellowship with our Lord?
5. He recollected that he had been solemnly forewarned by his Lord.
Have we not sinned against light and knowledge?
6. He recalled his own vows, pledges, and boasts. "Although all shall be offended, yet will not I": verse 29.
Have we not broken very earnest declarations?
7. He thought upon the special circumstances of his Lord when he had so wickedly denied him.
Are there no aggravations in our case?
8. He revolved in his mind his repetitions of the offence, and those repetitions with added aggravations: his lie, his oath, etc.
We ought to dwell on each item of our transgressions, that we may be brought to a more thorough repentance of them.
II. Study our own lives, and use the study for our further humiliation.
1. Think upon our transgressions while unregenerate.
2. Think upon our resistance of light, and conscience, and the Holy Spirit before we were overcome by divine grace.
3. Think upon our small progress in the divine life.
4. Think upon our backslidings and heart-wanderings.
5. Think upon our neglect of the souls of others.
6. Think upon our little communion with our Lord.
7. Think upon the little glory we are bringing to his great name.
8. Think upon our matchless obligations to his infinite love.
Each of these meditations is calculated to make us weep.
III. Study the effect of these thoughts upon our own minds.
1. Can we think of these things without emotion?
This is possible; for many excuse their sin on the ground of their circumstances, their constitution, their company, their trade, their fate: they even lay the blame on Satan, or some other tempter. Certain hard hearts treat the matter with supreme indifference.
This is perilous. It is to be feared that such a man is not Peter, but Judas: not a fallen saint, but a son of perdition.
2. Are we moved by thoughts of these things?
There are other reflections which may move us far more.
Our Lord forgives us, and numbers us with his brethren.
He asks us if we love him, and he bids us feed his sheep.
Surely, when we dwell on these themes, it must be true of each of us—"When he thought thereon, he wept."
Recollections
Peter's recollection of what he had formerly heard was another occasion of his repentance. We do not sufficiently consider how much more we need recollection than information. We know a thousand things, but it is necessary that they should be kept alive in our hearts by a constant and vivid recollection. It is, therefore, extremely absurd and childish for people to say, "You tell me nothing but what I know." I answer, you forget many things; and, therefore, it is necessary that line should be upon line, and precept upon precept. Peter, himself, afterwards said, in his Epistles, "I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them." We are prone to forget what we do know; whereas we should consider that, whatever good thing we know is only so far good to us as it is remembered to purpose. Richard Cecil.
Peter falls dreadfully, but by repentance rises sweetly; a look of love from Christ melts him into tears. He knew that repentance was the key to the kingdom of grace. At once his faith was so great that he leaped, as it were, into a sea of waters to come to Christ; so now his repentance was so great that he leaped, as it were, into a sea of tears, for that he had gone from Christ. Some say that, after his sad fall, he was ever and anon weeping, and that his face was even furrowed with continual tears. He had no sooner taken in poison but he vomited it up again, before it got to the vitals; he had no sooner handled this serpent but he turned it into a rod, to scourge his soul with remorse for sinning against such clear light, and strong love, and sweet discoveries of the heart of Christ to him.
Clement notes that Peter so repented that, all his life after, every night when he heard the rooster crow, he would fall upon his knees, and, weeping bitterly, would beg pardon for his sin. Ah! souls, you can easily sin as the saints, but can you repent with the saints? Many can sin with David and Peter, who cannot repent with David and Peter, and so must perish for ever. Thomas Brooks.
Cowper describes the time when he reflected on the necessity of repentance. "I knew that many persons had spoken of shedding tears for sin; but when I asked myself, whether the time would ever come, when I should weep for mine, it seemed to me that a stone might sooner do it.… Not knowing that Christ was exalted to give repentance, I despaired of ever attaining it." A friend came to his bedside, and declared to him the gospel. He insisted on the all-atoning efficacy of the blood of Jesus, and his righteousness for our justification. "While I heard this part of his discourse, and the Scriptures on which he founded it, my heart began to burn within me; my soul was pierced with a sense of my bitter ingratitude to so merciful a Savior; and those tears, which I thought impossible, burst forth freely."—Cowper's "Memoirs of his Early Life."
Nothing will make the faces of God's children more fair than for them to wash themselves every morning in their tears. Samuel Clark.
The old Greeks thought that memory must be a source of torture in the next world, so they interposed between the two worlds the waters of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness; but believers in Christ want no river of oblivion on the borders of Elysium. Calvary is on this side, and that is enough. Alexander Maclaren.
CLVI
Mark 16:10—"And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept."
Mark is graphic: he paints an interior like a Dutch artist.
We see a choice company, "them that had been with him."
We know many of the individuals, and are interested to note what they are doing, and how they bear their bereavement.
We see—
I. A sorrowing assembly. "As they mourned and wept."
What a scene! We behold a common mourning, abundantly expressed by tears and lamentations.
They mourned—
1. Because they had believed in Jesus, and loved him; and therefore they were concerned at what had happened.
2. Because they felt their great loss in losing him.
3. Because they had seen his sufferings and death.
4. Because they remembered their ill-conduct towards him.
5. Because their hopes concerning him were disappointed.
6. Because they were utterly bewildered as to what was now to be done, seeing their Leader was gone.
In considering the death of Jesus, there is just cause for mourning.
Let us intelligently mourn for him, since our sins occasioned his woes and death.
II. A consoling messenger. Mary Magdalene came and told them that Jesus had risen, and had appeared unto her.
Concerning this ministry, we note—
1. She was one of themselves. The witnesses to our Lord's resurrection were such as his disciples, and, indeed, all the world, might safely trust. They were not strangers, but individuals well known to those who heard them.
2. She came with the best of news. She declared that Jesus was indeed risen. The resurrection of our divine Lord—
Removes the cause of our sorrow.
Assures us of the help of a living Redeemer. John 14:19.
Secures our own personal resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:23.
Brings us personal justification. Romans 4:25.
3. She was not believed.
Unbelief is apt to become chronic: they had not believed the Lord when he foretold his own resurrection, and so they do not believe an eye-witness who reported it.
Unbelief is cruelly unjust: they made Mary Magdalene a liar, and yet all of them esteemed her.
III. A reassuring reflection.
1. We are not the only persons who have mourned an absent Lord.
2. We are not the only messengers who have been rejected.
3. We are sure beyond all doubt of the resurrection of Christ.
The evidence is more abundant than that which testifies to any other great historical event.
The apostles so believed it as to die as witnesses of it.
They were very slow to be convinced, and therefore that which forced them to believe should have the like effect upon the most careful of us.
4. We have thus the most ample reason for joy concerning our Lord.
Let us not think too mournfully of our Lord's passion.
Let us not be too mournful about anything, now that we know that we have a living Savior for our Friend.
Memoranda
In the famous picture-gallery of Bologna, there is a striking picture by Domenichino, representing an angel standing beside the empty cross, from which the body of Christ has just been removed. He holds in his hand the crown of thorns, that had just fallen from the august Sufferer's brow; and the expression that passes over his face, as he feels with his finger the sharpness of one of the protruding thorns, is full of meaning. It is a look of wonder and surprise. To the pure, unstained, immortal nature of the angel, all that suffering is a profound mystery. The death of Christ was equally a mystery to his disciples. Hugh Macmillan.
A sorrow is none the less sharp because it is founded upon a mistake. Jacob mourned very bitterly for Joseph, though his darling was not torn in pieces, but on the way to be lord over all Egypt. Yet while there is of necessity so much well-founded sorrow in the world, it is a pity that one unnecessary pang should be endured, and endured by those who have the best possible grounds for joy. The case in the text before us is a typical one. Thousands are at this day mourning and weeping who ought to be rejoicing. Oh, the mass of needless grief! Unbelief works for the father of lies in this matter, and works misery out of falsehood among those who are not in truth children of sadness, but heirs of light and joy. Rise, faith, and with your light chase away this darkness! And if even you must have your lamp trimmed by a humble Mary, do not despise her kindly aid.
CLVII
Luke 5:26—"We have seen strange things today."
The world is aweary, and longs for something novel.
The greatest stranger in the world is Jesus; and, alas, he is the least seen, and the least spoken of by the most of men!
If men would come and watch him, they would see strange things.
His person, his life, his death, his teaching, are full of strange things.
What he is now doing has as much as ever the element of strangeness and wonder about it.
I. Mark the strange things of that particular day.
1. Power present to heal doctors! Verse 17.
2. Faith reaching down to the Lord from above! Verse 19.
3. Jesus pardoning sin with a word. Verse 20.
4. Jesus practicing thought-reading. Verse 22.
5. Jesus making a man carry the bed which had carried him. Verse 25.
II. Mark the strange things of Christ's day.
1. The Maker of men born among men. The Infinite an infant.
2. The Lord of all serving all.
3. The Just One accused, condemned, and sacrificed for sin.
4. The Crucified rising from the dead.
5. Death slain by the dying of the Lord.
These are but incidents in a life which is all strange and marvelous.
III. Mark the strange things seen by believers in their day within themselves and others.
1. A self-condemned sinner justified by faith.
2. A natural heart renewed by grace.
3. A soul preserved in spiritual life amid killing evils, like the bush which burned with fire and was not consumed.
4. Evil made to work for good by providential wisdom.
5. Strength made perfect in weakness.
6. The Holy Spirit dwelling in a believer.
7. Heaven enjoyed on earth.
These are a small number out of a host of strange things.
Life never grows stale to a companion of Jesus.
Do you find it becoming so, and are you a believer?
Seek the conversion of your family, and your neighborhood.
Seek to know more of Jesus at work among men.
This will cause you to see stranger and stranger things, until you see the strangest of all with Christ in glory.
Wonders
Wonder at the work of God is natural, justifiable, commendable. He is a God of wonders. It is right to say of the Lord's doing, "It is marvelous in our eyes." We are to talk of all his wondrous works; but this must be in the spirit of devout admiration, not in the spirit of suspicion and doubt. A holy, grateful wonder should be indulged to the full; but a cold, skeptical wonder should be resisted as a suggestion from Satan. Faith accounts all things possible with God; it is unbelief that incredulously marvels at the work of his hand.
Guthrie, of Fenwick, a Scotch minister, once visited a dying woman. He found her anxious about her state, but very ignorant. His explanation of the gospel was joyfully received by her, and soon after she died. On his return home, Guthrie said, "I have seen a strange thing to-day—a woman whom I found in a state of nature, I saw in a state of grace, and left in a state of glory."
In a manuscript by an old Scotch minister, in the early part of the last century, there is a remarkable account of the conversion of Lord Jeddart, who had been famous for his recklessness in sin, and of the astonishment it caused among Christian people. A little after his conversion, and before the thing was known, he came to the Lord's table. He sat next a lady who had her hands over her face, and did not see him until he delivered the cup out of his hand. When she saw that it was Lord Jeddart, who had been so renowned for sin, she fell a-trembling terribly for very amazement that such a man should be there. He noticed it, and said, "Madam, be not troubled: the grace of God is free!" This calmed the lady; but when we consider what sort of man Lord Jeddart had been, we can account for her surprise.
When I get to Heaven, I shall see three wonders there:—the first wonder will be to see many people there whom I did not expect to see; the second wonder will be to miss many people whom I did expect to see; and the third and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there. John Newton.
Wonders of grace to God belong,
Repeat His mercies in your song.
Dr. Watts.
CLVIII
Luke 7:38—"At his feet."
Orientals are demonstrative, and in their devotions they pay greater attention to bodily posture than we do. Let us be the more careful of the posture of our souls.
It is interesting to consider our posture towards our Lord.
He bears us on his heart (Solomon's Song 8:6), in his bosom (Is. 40:11), in his hand (Is. 49:2, 51:16), on his shoulders (Luke 15:5).
But yet "at his feet" is our most usual place.
I. It is a becoming posture.
The posture is admirable for many reasons.
1. As he is divine, let us pay him lowliest reverence.
2. As we are sinful, let us make humble confession.
3. As he is Lord, let us make full submission.
4. As he is All in All, let us manifest immovable dependence.
5. As he is infinitely wise, let us wait his appointed time.
The best are at his feet joyfully, bowing before him.
The worst must come there, whether they will or no.
II. It is a helpful posture.
1. For a weeping penitent (Luke 7:38).
Our humility will help penitence.
Our lowly submission will bring assurance.
Our full obeisance will prepare for service.
2. For a resting convert (Luke 8:35).
In such a position devils are driven out, and no longer rule us.
In such a position they are kept off, and cannot return.
In such a position we give the best proof of being in our right mind.
3. For a pleading intercessor (Luke 8:41).
We plead best when we are lowliest.
We may be rulers of the synagogue, but when our heart is breaking we find most hope "at his feet."
4. For a willing learner (Luke 10:39). Mary "at his feet" showed—
A lowly sense of personal ignorance.
A believing acceptance of the Lord's teaching.
A hopeful uplooking to him.
5. For a grateful worshiper (Luke 17:16).
So the healed leper expressed his thanks.
So angels adore, giving him thanks, while bending low.
So would our hearts bow in unutterable gratitude.
6. For a saint beholding his Lord's glory (Rev. 1:17).
Overwhelmed, humbled, overjoyed, exhausted with excess of ecstasy.
Come, then, and submit to Jesus, and bow at his feet.
He is so worthy: pay him all reverence.
He has received from you so much despite: kiss his feet.
He will so freely forgive: this may well cause you to bow in the dust before him.
He will give you such joy: in fact, no joy excels that of full submission to his blessed sway.
III. It is a safe posture.
1. Jesus will not refuse us that position, for it is one which we ought to occupy.
2. Jesus will not spurn the humbly submissive, who in self-despair cast themselves before him.
3. Jesus will not suffer any to harm those who seek refuge at his feet.
4. Jesus will not deny us the eternal privilege of abiding there.
Let this be our continual posture—"at his feet."
Sorrowing or rejoicing; hoping or fearing;
Suffering or working; teaching or learning;
In secret or in public; in life and in death.
"Oh, that I might forever sit
With Mary at the Master's feet."
Clippings
In order that the mats or carpets, which are hallowed by domestic prayer, may not be rendered unclean by any pollution of the streets, each guest, as he enters a house in Syria or Palestine, takes off his sandals, and leaves them at the door. He then proceeds to his place at the table. In ancient times, as we find throughout the Old Testament, it was the custom of the Jews to eat their meals sitting cross legged—as is still common throughout the East—in front of a tray placed on a low stool, on which is set the dish containing the heap of food, from which all help themselves in common. But this custom, though it has been resumed for centuries, appears to have been abandoned by the Jews in the period succeeding the captivity. Whether they had borrowed the recumbent posture at meals from the Persians, or not, it is certain, from the expressions employed, that, in the time of our Lord, the Jews, like the Greeks and Romans, reclined at banquets, upon couches placed round tables of much the same height as those now in use. We shall see, hereafter, that even the Passover was eaten in this attitude. The beautiful, and profoundly moving incident, which occurred in Simon's house, can only be understood by remembering that, as the guests lay on the couches which surrounded the tables, their feet would be turned towards any spectators who were standing outside the circle of bidden guests. Archdeacon Farrar.
Artabanus, one of the military officers of the Athenians, was applied to by a certain great man, who told him that he desired an audience of the king. He was answered that, before it was granted, he must prostrate himself before him, for it was a custom of the country for the king to admit no one to his presence who would not worship him. That which was an arrogant assumption in an earthly king is a proper condition of our approach to the King of kings. Humility is the foundation of our fellowship with him. We must bow before his throne. No sinner who is too proud to yield obedience to this law may expect any favors from his hands. Handbook of Illustration.
When the Danish missionaries, stationed at Malabar, set some of their converts to translate a catechism, in which it was asserted that believers become the sons of God, one of the translators was so startled that he suddenly laid down his pen, and exclaimed, "It is too much. Let me rather render it, 'They shall be permitted to kiss his feet.' "—G. S. Bowes.
The Rev. Mr. Young was, one stormy day, visiting one of his people, an old man, who lived in great poverty, in a lonely cottage, a few miles from Jedburgh. He found him sitting with the Bible open on his knees, but in outward circumstances of great discomfort, the snow drifting through the roof, and under the door, and scarcely any fire on the hearth. "What are you about today, John?" was Mr. Young's question on entering. "Ah! sir," said the happy saint, "I'm sitting under his shadow, wi' great delight."—The Christian Treasury.
The end of all Christian preaching is to cast the sinner trembling at the feet of mercy. Vinet.
Low at Your feet my soul would lie.
Here safety dwells, and peace divine;
Still let me live beneath Your eye,
For life, eternal life, is Your.
Anne Steels.
CLIX
Luke 7:42—"Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?"
It is right for us to desire to be among the most loving servants of the Lord Jesus. It would be an interesting question concerning a company just joining the church, "Which of them will love him most?"
How can we reach this point? How can we love him most?
We would love him as did the penitent who washed his feet with tears: whence shall come such eminence of love?
The passage before us may help us to a conclusion on that point.
I. We must first be saved in the same manner as others.
The road to eminence in love is just the plain way of salvation, which all who are in Christ must travel. There is no new gospel of the higher life, and there need be no singularity of dress, abode, of vow, in order to attain the greatest heights of love.
1. All are in debt; we must heartily own this to be our own case.
2. None have anything to pay; we must confess this, without reserve, as being our own personal condition.
3. The loving Lord forgives in each case: personally we have exceeding great need of such remission. We must feel this.
4. In each case he forgives frankly, or without any consideration or compensation: it must be so with us. We must accept free grace and undeserved favor.
5. Out of this arises love. By a sense of free grace we begin to love our Lord; and in the same way we go on to love him more.
The more clear our sense of sinnership, and the more conscious our obligation to free grace, the more likely are we to love much.
II. We must aim at a deep sense of sin.
1. It was the consciousness of great indebtedness which created the great love in the penitent woman. Not her sin, but the consciousness of it, was the basis of her loving character.
2. Where sin has been open and loud, there ought to be this specially humbling consciousness; for it would be an evidence of untruthfulness if it were not manifest. 1 Corinthians 15:9.
3. Yet is it frequently found in the most moral, and it abounds in saints of high degree. In fact, these are the persons who are most capable of feeling the evil of sin, and the greatness of the love which pardons it. 1 John 1:8.
4. It is to be cultivated. The more we bewail sin the better, and we must aim at great tenderness of heart in reference to it.
In order to cultivate it we must seek to get—
A clearer view of the law's requirements. Luke 10:26, 27.
A fuller idea of God's excellencies, especially of his holiness. Job 42:5, 6.
A sharper sense of sin's tendencies in ourselves, towards God, and towards men; and also a more overwhelming conviction of its dreadful punishment. Romans 7:13; Psalm 51:3, 4; John 5:28, 29.
A deeper consciousness of the love of God to us. 1 John 3:1, 2.
A keener valuation of the cost of redemption. 1 Peter 1:18, 19.
A surer persuasion of the perfection of our pardon will also help to show the baseness of our sin. Ezekiel 16:62, 63.
By these means, and all others, we must endeavor to keep our conscience active, that our heart may be sensitive.
III. This will lead to a highly loving carriage towards our Lord.
We shall so love him as to behave like the penitent in the narrative.
1. We shall desire to be near him, even at his feet.
2. We shall make bold confession, and shall do this at all risks; honoring him before gainsayers, and doing so though it may cause others to make unkind remarks.
3. We shall show deep humility, delighting even to wash his feet.
4. We shall exhibit thorough contrition, beholding him with tears.
5. We shall render earnest service; doing all that lies in our power for Jesus, even as this woman did.
6. We shall make total consecration of all that we have: our tears, our eyes, our choicest gifts, our hearts, ourselves, etc.
Thus shall we reach the goal we desire.
A company of those who "love him most", dwelling in any place, would give a tone to the society around them.
We have enough of head-workers; now for heart-lovers.
Why should we not aim to be among the closest followers of our Lord, loving most, and living specially consecrated lives?
Experimental Remarks
A spiritual experience which is thoroughly flavored with a deep and bitter sense of sin is of great value to him that has had it. It is terrible in the drinking, but it is most wholesome in the affections, and in the whole of the after-life. Possibly much of the flimsy piety of the day arises from the ease with which men reach to peace and joy in these evangelistic days. We would not judge modern converts, but we certainly prefer that form of spiritual exercise which leads the soul by the way of Weeping cross, and makes it see its blackness before it assures it that it is "clean every whit." Too many think lightly of sin, and therefore lightly of a Savior. He who has stood before his God, convicted, and condemned, with the rope about his neck, is the man to weep for joy when he is pardoned, to hate the evil which has been forgiven him, and to live to the honor of the Redeemer by whose blood he has been cleansed.
Many of the most eminent of the saints were, before Conversion, ringleaders in sin: instances will suggest themselves to all readers of church history. We naturally expect that a remarkable conversion should show itself by special fruits; we very properly doubt it if it does not. A virulent rebel, when he returns to his Lord, is bound to be valiant as well as loyal; for he remembers that he not only owes fealty to his Lord by nature, but he owes that life a second time to his Prince's clemency. Those who were once far gone in sin ought always to be found in the thick of the battle against sin. Bold blasphemers ought to be enthusiasts for the honor of their Lord when they are washed from their iniquities. As they say reclaimed poachers make the best game-keepers, so should the greatest sinners be the raw material out of which the Lord's transforming grace shall create great saints.
The Christian mentions a reminiscence of that saintly man, Mr. Penne-father. One day a member of his household knocked at the door of his study, and when at length it was opened, the good man was in tears. Being anxiously asked the cause, he replied, "My sins! my sins!" The sensitiveness of that holy soul, its quickened estimate of sin, its reverent conception of God's righteousness, which the tearful exclamation manifested, commend his memory to our love and veneration. All who knew him loved him as a living manifestation of the seven beatitudes.
I have heard say that the depth of a Scotch loch corresponds with the height of the surrounding mountains. So deep your sense of obligation for pardoned sin, so high your love to him who has forgiven thee. C.H.S.
Love to the Savior rises in the heart of a saved man in proportion to the sense which he entertains of his own sinfulness on the one hand, and of the mercy of God on the other. Thus the height of a saint's love to the Lord is as the depths of his own humility: as this root strikes down unseen into the ground, that blossoming branch rises higher in the sky. William Arnot.
CLX
Luke 8:40—"And it came to pass, that, when Jesus was returned, the people gladly received him: for they were all waiting for him."
Jesus went to those who refused him in the land of Gadara; and there he saved one, to show the freeness and sovereignty of his grace.
He then left the inhospitable country, to show that he forces himself on none. Wisdom abandons those who refuse her counsels. Proverbs 1:24. Those whom the Lord has chosen shall be willing in the day of his power. Psalm 110:3.
In the Revised Version we read, "The multitude welcomed him."
When Jesus is waited for and welcomed, he delights to come.
He is not waited for by all in our congregations; so that we may ask the question of our present hearers—Do you welcome Christ? Let it be answered by each one this day.
I. A beautiful sight. "They were all waiting for him."
This waiting may be seen in several different forms.
1. A gathered congregation, waiting in the place where prayer is accustomed to be made. Want of punctuality, and irregular attendance, often show that Jesus is not waited for.
2. A praying company, an earnest church, looking for revival, and prepared to co-operate in labor for it. Some churches do not wait for the Lord's presence, and would not be ready for him if he were to come.
3. A seeking sinner, sighing for mercy, searching the Scriptures, hearing the Word, inquiring of Christians, constantly praying, and thus "waiting for him."
4. A departing saint, longing for home: saying, like Jacob, "I have waited for your salvation, O Lord": Genesis 49:18.
5. An instructed church, looking for the Second Advent. Rev. 22:17.
It is good for the eyes to behold such sights.
II. A sure arrival. "Jesus was returned."
We are quite sure that our Lord will graciously appear to those who are "all waiting for him", since—
1. His Spirit is there already, making them wait. Romans 8:23.
2. His heart is there, in sympathy with them, longing to bless them.
3. His work is there. He has brought them into that waiting condition, and now he has found a sphere wherein to display his grace to saints and sinners.
4. His promise is there, "Lo, I am with you always": Matthew 28:20.
5. His custom is to be there. His delights are still with the sons of men. Proverbs 8:31.
What countless blessings his coming will bring!
III. A hearty welcome. "The people gladly received him."
1. Their fears made him welcome.
They feared lest he might have gone forever from them. Psalm 77:7.
2. Their hopes made him welcome.
They trusted that now their sick would be cured, and their dead would be raised.
3. Their prayers made him welcome.
Those who pray that Jesus may come are glad when he comes.
4. Their faith made him welcome.
Jairus now looked to have his child healed. See verse 41.
5. Their love made him welcome.
When our heart is with him, we rejoice in his appearing.
6. Their care for others made him welcome.
Jesus never disappoints those who wait for him.
Jesus never refuses those who welcome him.
Jesus is near us now: will you not open the doors of your hearts to receive him? Rev. 3:20.
Hearty Welcome
A congregation cannot be said to welcome the Lord Jesus unless they are all there, which requires punctuality; unless they have come with design to meet him, which implies prayerful expectancy; unless they are ready to hear from him, which involves attention; and unless they are resolved to accept his teaching, which demands obedience.
When the inhabitants of Mentone desired a visit from the Prince of Savoy, they made a way for him over the mountains. Hills were tunnelled, and valleys bridged, that the beloved sovereign might receive the welcome of his subjects. If we would really welcome the Lord Jesus, we must make a road for him by abasing our pride, elevating our thoughts, removing our evil habits, and preparing our hearts. Never did a soul cast up a highway for the Lord, and then fail to enjoy his company. C.H.S.
CLXI
Luke 10:39—"And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word."
The family at Bethany was highly favored by being permitted to entertain our Lord so often.
They all appreciated the privilege, but Mary made the wisest use of it.
Martha sought to serve the Lord with her very best.
Mary was full of love to Jesus, as we know by her anointing him, and therefore she also would serve him with her very best.
She did so by attending to his words.
She was a wise and saintly woman, and our Lord commended her chosen method of service.
It will be safe, therefore, for us to follow her example.
Let us learn from the woman who sat as a learner at the feet of our Lord, and thus taught us to choose the good part.
Here we see—
I. Love at leisure. "Which also sat at Jesus' feet."
When the evening comes on, and all the members of the family are around the fireside, then love rests and communes, forgetting all care, happily at home, oblivious of the outside world, and of time itself.
Like Mary—
We would feel ourselves quite at home with Jesus our Lord.
We would be free from worldly care—leaving all with Jesus.
We would even be free from the care of his service, the battle for his Kingdom, and the burden of the souls committed to our charge.
We would sweetly enjoy the happy leisure which he provides for us, as we muse upon the rest-giving themes which he reveals so clearly, and makes so true to us—
His work for us, finished, accepted, abidingly effectual, and perpetually overflowing with priceless blessings.
His great gifts received, which are greater than those to come.
All other needful and promised blessings of grace, sure to come in due season. Romans 8:32.
All our future, for time and for eternity, safe in his dear hands.
Let us, without fear, enjoy leisure with Jesus—leisure, but not laziness:—leisure to love, to learn, to commune, to copy.
Leisure in a home where others are cumbered. See verses 40–42.
Leisure to sit, and to sit in the most delightful of all places.
II. Love in lowliness. "At Jesus' feet."
In this lowliness let each one personally copy Mary.
Say unto yourself, "I choose the feet of Jesus to be my place."
Let me be—
Not a busy housewife and manager, which any one may be, and yet be graceless; but—
1. A penitent, which is an acknowledgment of my unworthiness.
2. A disciple, which is a confession of my ignorance.
3. A receiver, which is an admission of my emptiness.
This posture befits me when I think of what I was, what I am, what I must be, what my Lord is, and what he is to me.
Let me bless his condescending love, which permits me this bliss.
III. Love listening. "And heard his word."
She could not have heard if she had not been at leisure to sit, nor if she had not been lowly, and chosen to sit at his feet.
Be it ours to hear that love-word which says, "Hearken, O daughter, and consider": Psalm 45:10.
Listening to what Jesus says in his Word, in his creation, in his providence, and by his Spirit in our soul.
Listening to the tones and accents with which he emphasizes and sweetens all that he says.
Listening to himself. Studying him, reading his very heart.
Listening, and not obtruding our own self-formed thoughts, notions, reasonings, questionings, desires, and prejudices.
Listening, and forgetting the observations and unbeliefs of others.
Listening, and bidding all cares lie still, that they may no more disturb the reverent silence of the heart.
How sweet! How instructive! How truly "the good part"!
IV. Love in possession.
She had obtained her Lord, his love, his presence, his word, his fellowship, and she sat there in full enjoyment to delight her soul with that which she had so joyfully lighted upon.
She had in this one thing supplied her soul's necessity, and so she sat down in perfect satisfaction.
She had her Lord's promise that she should not be robbed of it, and she sat down in full assurance, to be happy in her possession
Her Lord's promise assured her that she should not lose the good part, which she had chosen,—
By a cold word from her Lord.
By the angry expostulation of her sister.
By any future affliction, or temptation, or occupation.
Nor even by death itself.
Now, then, she rests in resolute constancy: she has reached her ultimatum: she will go no further than her Lord and his word.
Oh, to be more with Jesus! This is true life.
Oh, to hear Jesus more! This is true service.
Oh, to love Jesus more! This is true treasure.
Oh, to abide with Jesus, and never dream of going beyond him! This is true wisdom.
Quiet Morsels
Behold Mary, all reverence, all attention, all composure, feeding on the doctrine of eternal life—she "sat at Jesus feet." She wisely and zealously improved the opportunity given her for the good of her soul. "This is my summer, my harvest: let me redeem the time."—Jay.
Mary sits to hear the word, as Christ used to sit when he preached the word (Matthew 5, Luke 14, John 8); to show that the word is to be preached and heard with a quiet mind. In a still night, every voice is heard, and when the body is quiet, the mind most commonly is quiet also.… When our minds are quiet, we are fit to deal with heavenly matters; therefore the doctors conferred sitting in the temple, and God delights to deal with us when we are most in private; he appeared to Abraham sitting in the door of his tent. (Genesis 18) The Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles, and filled all the house where they were sitting. (Acts 2) The eunuch, sitting in his chariot, was called and converted by Philip's preaching. (Acts 8)—Henry Smith.
Whether shall we praise more, Mary's humility, or her docility? I do not see her take a stool and sit by him, or a chair and sit above him; but, as desiring to show her heart was as low as her knees, she sits at his feet. She was lowly set, and richly warmed with his heavenly beams. The greater submission, the more grace. If there be one hollow in the valley lower than another, thither the waters gather. Bishop Hall.
Dr. Chalmers' complained: "I am hustled out of my spirituality."
At the feet of Jesus, listening to His word;
Learning wisdom's lesson from her loving Lord;
Mary, led by heavenly grace,
Chose the meek disciple's place.
At the feet of Jesus is the place for me;
There a humble learner would I choose to be,
Sacred Songs and Solos.
CLXII
Luke 15:4–6—"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
"And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
"And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost."
The love of Jesus is not mere sentiment; it is active and energetic.
It is prevenient love, going after sheep that have no notion of returning to the fold from which they have wandered.
It is engrossing, making him leave all else: making one lost one to be of more present importance than ninety and nine.
It sets him upon resolute, determined, persevering search.
Let us behold our great Shepherd—
I. In the search. "Until he find it."
Mark him well, as, with his eyes, and heart, and all his faculties, he goes "after that which is lost."
1. No rejoicing is on his countenance. He is anxious for the lost.
2. No hesitation is in his mind. Despite the roughness of the way, or the length of the time, or the darkness of the night, he still pursues his lost one.
3. No anger is in his heart. The many wanderings of the sheep cost him dear, but he counts them as nothing, so that he may but find it.
4. No pausing because of weariness. Love makes him forget himself, and causes him to renew his strength.
5. No giving up the search. His varied non-successes do not compel him to return defeated.
Such must our searches after others be.
We must labor after each soul until we find it.
II. At the capture. "When he has found it."
Mark the Shepherd when the sheep is at last within reach.
1. Wanderer held. How firm the grip! How hearty! How entire;
2. Weight borne. No chiding, smiting, driving; but a lift, a self-loading, an easing of the wanderer.
3. Distance traveled. Every step is for the Shepherd.
He must tread painfully all that length of road over which the sheep had wandered so wantonly.
The sheep is carried back with no suffering on its own part.
4. Shepherd rejoicing to bear the burden.
The sheep is so dear that its weight is a load of love.
The Shepherd is so good that he finds joy in his own toil.
5. Sheep rejoicing, too. Surely it is glad to be found of the Shepherd, and so to have its wanderings ended, its weariness rested, its distance removed, its perfect restoration secured.
III. In the home-bringing. "When he comes home."
Mark well the end of the Shepherd's toil and care: he does not end his care until he has brought the stray one "home."
1. Heaven is home to Christ.
2. Jesus must carry us all the way there.
3. The Shepherd's mission for lost souls is known in glory, and watched with holy sympathy: in this all heavenly ones are "his friends and neighbors."
4. Jesus loves others to rejoice with him over the accomplishment of his design. "He calls together his friends." See how they crowd around him! What a meeting!
5. Repentance is also regarded as our being brought home. See verse 7. "I have found" refers to the repenting sinner, and it is a finding which secures salvation, or angels would not rejoice over it.
6. One sinner can make all Heaven glad. See verses 7 and 10.
Let us learn a lesson from each of the three pictures which we have looked upon—
Of perseverance until souls are saved.
Of patience with souls who are newly found.
Of encouragement in expectation of the gathering into glory of those for whom we labor on behalf of Jesus.
Sheep-tracks
One evening in 1861, as General Garibaldi was going home, he met a Sardinian shepherd lamenting the loss of a lamb out of his flock. Garibaldi at once turned to his staff, and announced his intention of scouring the mountain in search of the lamb. A grand expedition was organized. Lanterns were brought, and old officers of many a campaign started off, full of zeal, to hunt the fugitive. But no lamb was found, and the soldiers were ordered to their beds. The next morning, Garibaldi's attendant found him in bed, fast asleep. He was surprised at this, for the General was always up before anybody else. The attendant went off softly, and returned in half-an-hour. Garibaldi still slept. After another delay, the attendant awoke him. The General rubbed his eyes, and so did his attendant, when he saw the old warrior take from under the covering the lost lamb, and bid him convey it to the shepherd. The General had kept up the search through the night, until he had found it. Even so does the Good Shepherd go in search of his lost sheep until he finds them. The Preachers' Monthly.
Christ a Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd that laid down his life for the sheep (John 10:11); the Great Shepherd that was brought again from the dead (Hebrews 13:20); the Chief Shepherd who shall appear again (1 Peter 5:4); the Shepherd and Bishop of souls (1 Peter 2:25); he is the Shepherd of the sheep, who gathers the lambs with his arm, and carries them in his bosom (John 10., Isaiah 40:11); the Shepherd of Israel (Ezekiel 34:23); Jehovah's Shepherd (Zechariah 13:7). John Bate.
Why does he not drive the sheep before him, especially seeing it was lively enough to lose itself? First, because, though it had wildness more than enough to go astray, it had not wisdom enough to go right. Secondly, because probably the silly sheep had tired itself with wandering. "The people shall weary themselves for very vanity" (Habakkuk 2:13). Therefore the kind Shepherd brings it home on his own shoulders. Thomas Fuller.
Yam Sing, on his examination for membership on experience before the Baptist Church, San Francisco, in response to the question, "How did you find Jesus?" answered, "I no find Jesus at all; he find me." He passed.
A little boy, in a Chinese Christian family at Amoy, wishing to make a profession of religion, was told that he was too young to be received into the church. He replied, "Jesus has promised to carry the lambs in his bosom. I am only a little boy; it will be easier for Jesus to carry me."—The Sunday-School Teacher.
CLXIII
Luke 19:5—"And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at your house."
Our Savior for the first time invited himself to a man's house.
Thus he proved the freeness and authority of his grace. "I am found of them that sought me not": Isaiah 65:1.
We ought rather to invite him to our houses.
We should at least cheerfully accept his offer to come to us.
Perhaps at this hour he presses himself upon us.
Yet we may feel ourselves quite as unlikely to entertain our Lord as Zacchæus seemed to be. He was a man—
In a despised calling—a publican, or tax-collector.
In bad odour with respectable folk.
Rich, with the suspicion of getting his wealth wrongly.
Eccentric, for else he had hardly climbed a tree.
Excommunicated because of his becoming a Roman tax-gatherer.
Not at all the choice of society in any respect.
To such a man Jesus came; and he may come to us even if we are similarly tabooed by our neighbors, and are therefore disposed to fear that he will pass us by.
I. Let us consider the necessity which pressed upon the Savior to abide in the house of Zaccheus.
He felt an urgent need of—
1. A sinner who needed and would accept his mercy.
2. A person who would illustrate the sovereignty of his choice.
3. A character whose renewal would magnify his grace.
4. A host who would entertain him with hearty hospitality.
5. A case which would advertise his gospel. Verses 9 and 10.
There was a necessity of predestination which rendered it true, "Today I must abide at your house."
There was a necessity of love in the Redeemer's gracious heart.
There was also a necessity in order to the blessing of others through Zaccheus.
II. Let us inquire whether such a necessity exists in reference to ourselves.
We can ascertain this by answering the following questions, which are suggested by the behavior of Zaccheus to our Lord:—
1. Will we receive him this day? "He made haste."
2. Will we receive him heartily? "Received him joyfully."
3. Will we receive him whatever others say? "They all murmured."
4. Will we receive him as Lord? "He said, Behold, Lord."
5. Will we receive him so as to place our substance under the control of his laws? Verse 8.
If these things be so, Jesus must abide with us.
He cannot fail to come where he will have such a welcome.
III. Let us fully understand what that necessity involves.
If the Lord Jesus comes to abide in our house—
1. We must be ready to face objections at home.
2. We must get rid of all in our house which would be objectionable to him. Perhaps there is much there which he would never tolerate.
3. We must admit none who would grieve our heavenly Guest. His friendship must end our friendship with the world.
4. We must let him rule the house and ourselves, without rival or reserve, henceforth and forever.
5. We must let him use us and ours as instruments for the further spread of his kingdom.
Why should we not today receive our Lord?
There is no reason why we must not.
There are many reasons why we must do so at once.
Lord, issue your own mandate, and say, "I must."
Noteworthy Passages
Had our Savior said no more but "Zaccheus, come down," the poor man would have thought himself taxed for his boldness and curiosity: it were better to be unknown than noted for misbehavior. But how the next words comfort him: "For today I must abide at your house"! What a sweet familiarity was here! as if Christ had been many years acquainted with Zaccheus, whom he now first saw. Contrary to custom the host is invited by the guest, and called to an unexpected entertainment. Well did our Savior hear Zaccheus' heart inviting him, though his mouth did not: desires are the language of the spirit, and are heard by him that is the God of spirits. Bishop Hall.
Now, Christ begins to call Zaccheus from the tree to be converted, as God called Adam from among the trees of the garden to be judged: Genesis 3:8, 9. Before, Zaccheus was too low, and therefore was gladly to climb; but now he is too high, and therefore he must come down—Henry Smith.
CLXIV
Luke 22:19, 20—"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you."
Here we have full directions for observing the Lord's Supper.
You see what it was, and how it was done.
The directions are plain, clear, definite.
It will not be right to do something else; we must "this do."
Nor this for another purpose; but "this do in remembrance of me."
This command raises a previous question:—Do you know him? He who does not know him cannot remember him.
This being premised, let us observe that—
I. The main object of the supper is a personal memorial.
"In remembrance of me." We are to remember not so much his doctrines, or precepts, as his person.
Remember the Lord Jesus at this Supper—
1. As the trust of your hearts.
2. As the object of your gratitude.
3. As the Lord of your conduct.
4. As the joy of your lives.
5. As the Representative of your persons.
6. As the Rewarder of your hopes.
Remember what he was, what he is, what he will be.
Remember him with heartiness, concentration of thought, realizing vividness, and deep emotion.
II. The memorial itself is striking.
1. Simple, and therefore like himself, who is transparent and unpretentious truth. Only bread broken, and wine poured out.
2. Frequent, "as oft as you drink it," and so pointing to our constant need. He intended the Supper to be often enjoyed.
3. Universal, and so showing the need of all. "Drink you all of it." In every land, all his people are to eat and drink at this table.
4. His death is the best memory of himself, and it is by showing forth his death that we remember him.
5. His covenant relation is a great aid to memory; hence he speaks of—"The new covenant in my blood." We do not forget Adam, our first covenant-head; nor can we forget our second Adam.
6. Our receiving him is the best method of keeping him in memory; therefore we eat and drink in this ordinance.
No better memorial could have been ordained.
III. The object aimed at is itself inviting.
Since we are invited to come to the holy Supper that we may remember our Lord, we may safely infer that—
1. We may come to it, though we have forgotten him often and sadly. In fact, this will be a reason for coming.
2. We may come, though others may be forgetful of him. We come not to judge them, but to remember him ourselves.
3. We may come, though weak for anything else but the memory of his goodness.
4. It will be sweet, cheering, sanctifying, quickening, to remember him; therefore let us not fail to come.
Let us at the sacred table quit all other themes.
Let us not burden ourselves with regrets, resolves, etc.
Let us muse wholly and alone on him whose flesh is meat indeed, whose blood is drink indeed: John 6:55.
Testimonies
Our Lord Jesus has his own memorials of us, even as he has given us a memorial of himself. The prints of the nails constitute forget-me-nots of a peculiarly personal and abiding kind: "Behold, I have graven you upon the palms of my hands": Isaiah 49:16. By these marks he sees what he has already suffered, and he pledges himself to do nothing apart from those sufferings, for his hands, with which he works, are pierced. Since he thus bears in his hands the marks of his passion, let us bear them on our hearts.
Frequently to me the Supper has been much better than a sermon. It has the same teaching-power, but it is more vivid. The Lord is known of us in the breaking of bread, though our eyes have been held during his discourse. I can see a good meaning in the saying of Henry III., of France, when he preferred the Sacrament to a sermon: "I had rather see my Friend than hear him talked about." I love to hear my Lord talked about, for so I often see him, and I see him in no other way in the Supper than in a sermon; but sometimes, when my eye is weak with weeping, or dim with dust, that double glass of the bread and wine suits me best. C. H. S.
"This do in remembrance of me."—1. This command implies a knowledge of himself. To remember, we must first know. It is no use saying to a man born blind, "Remember the sunshine." 2. It reveals the love of Christ. Why should he care about our remembering him? Dying voices have said to some of us, "Think of me sometimes; don't forget me." It is the very nature of love to want to be remembered. 3. It implies a tendency to forget. God never founds a needless institution. It is a sin that we do not remember Christ more. We should thankfully use every help to memory. Outline of an Address by Dr. Stanford.
At school we used certain books called "Aids to Memory." I am sure they rather perplexed than assisted me. Their utility was equivalent to that of a bundle of staves under a traveler's arm: true, he might use them one by one to walk with, but in the meantime he carried a host of others which he would never need. But our Savior was wiser than all our teachers, and his remembrancers are true and real aids to memory. His love-tokens have an unmistakable language, and they sweetly win our attention. C. H. S.
If a friend gives us a ring at his death, we wear it to keep up the memory of our friend; much more, then, ought we to keep up the memorial of Christ's death in the sacrament. Thomas Watson.
In memory of Your cross and shame, (1 Corinthians 11:23–26,)
I take this Supper in Your name;
This juice of grape, and flour of wheat,
My outward man does drink and eat.
Oh, may my inward man be fed
With better wine and better bread!
May Your rich flesh and precious blood
Supply my spirit's daily food! (John 6:54.)
I thank You, Lord, You diedst for me:
Oh, may I live and die to You! (Romans 14:7–10.)
A. A. Rees.
CLXV
Luke 22:27—"I am among you as he who serves."
Singular fact with regard to the apostles. They were at the same time troubled with two questions: "Which of them should be accounted the greatest?" and "Which of them should betray his Master?"
Where humility should have abounded ambition intruded.
Of the evil of self-seeking our Lord would cure the apostles.
The remedy which he used was his own conduct. John 13:12–17.
If he made himself least, they must not strive to be greatest.
May this example be blessed to us also!
Let us attentively note—
I. Our Lord's position. "I am among you as he that serveth."
1. In the world our Lord was not one of the cultured few on whom others wait. He was a working-man, and in spirit he was servus servorum, servant of servants. Mark 10:45.
2. In the circle of his own disciples he was one that served. Where he was most Master he was most servant.
He was like a shepherd, servant to the sheep.
He was like a nurse, servant to a child.
3. In the celebration of the Supper, our Lord was specially among them "as he who serves," for he washed his disciples' feet.
4. In the whole course of his life, Jesus on earth ever took the place of the servant, or slave.
His ear was bored by his entering into covenant. "Mine ears have you dug, or pierced": Psalm 40:6 (Margin); Exodus 21:6.
His office was announced at his coming, "Lo, I come to do your will!" Psalm 40:7; Hebrews 10:5–9.
His nature was fitted for service: he "took upon him the form of a servant": Philippians 2:7.
He assumed the lowest place among men. Psalm 22:6; Is. 53:3.
He cared for others, and not for himself. "The Son of man came not to be served but to serve": Mark 10:45.
He laid aside his own will. John 4:34; 6:38.
He bore patiently all manner of hardness. 1 Peter 2:23.
II. The wonder of it—That he should be a servant among his own servants.
The marvel of it was rendered the greater—
1. As he was Lord of all by nature and essence. Colossians 1:15–19.
2. As he was superior in wisdom, holiness, power, and in every other way, to the very best of them. Matthew 8:26, 27; John 14:9.
3. As he was so greatly their Benefactor. John 15:16.
4. As they were such poor creatures, and so unworthy to be served.
How could it be that they suffered themselves to be served of him?
How could it be that he endured to serve them?
III. The explanation of it.
We must look for this to his own nature.
1. He is so infinitely great. Hebrews 1:2–4,
2. He is so immeasurably full of love. John 15:9; 1 John 3:16.
Because of these two things he condescended so marvelously.
IV. The imitation of it.
Let us copy our Lord—
1. In cheerfully choosing to fulfill the most lowly offices.
2. In manifesting great lowliness of spirit, and humility of bearing. Ephesians 4:1–3; Philippians 2:3; 1 Peter 5:5.
3. In laying ourselves out for the good of others. Let self-sacrifice be the rule of our existence. 2 Corinthians 12:15.
4. In gladly bearing injustice rather than break the peace, avenge ourselves, or grieve others. 1 Peter 2:19, 20; 3:14.
5. In selecting that place in which we receive least, and give most;—choosing to wait at table rather than to sit at meat.
Does not the text rebuke our pride?
Does it not arouse our adoring love?
Does it not lead us to gird up our loins to serve the brethren?
Concerning Service
When the son of Gamaliel was married, Rabbis Eliezer, Joshuah, and Zadig were invited to the marriage-feast. Gamaliel, though one of the most distinguished men among the Israelites, himself waited on his guests, and pouring out a cup of wine, handed it to Eliezer, who politely refused it. Gamaliel then handed it to Joshuah. The latter accepted it. "How is this, friend Joshuah?" said Eliezer, "shall we sit and permit so great a man to wait on us?" "Why not?" replied Joshuah, "a man even greater than he did so long before him. Was not our father Abraham a very great man? Yet even he waited upon his guests, as it is written, 'and he (Abraham) stood by them while they were eating.' Perhaps you may think he did so because he knew them to be angels; no such thing. He supposed them to be Arabian travelers, else he would neither have offered them water to wash their feet, nor viands to allay their hunger. Why, then, shall we prevent our kind host from imitating so excellent an example?" "I know," exclaimed Rabbi Zadig, "a Being still greater than Abraham, who does the same. "Indeed," continued he, "how long shall we be engaged in reciting the praises of created beings, and neglect the glory of the Creator? Even he, blessed be his name, causes the winds to blow, the clouds to accumulate, and the rain to descend! He fertilizes the earth, and daily prepares a magnificent table for his creatures. Why, then, shall we hinder our kind host, Gamaliel, from following so glorious an example?"—Hebrew Tales.
An old woman in Glencroe, visited by William McGavin, was found seated in bed, which, contrary to usual experience in the district, was scrupulously clean.
"You are an old servant of Christ, I understand," said he.
"Servant of Christ!" she responded, "Na, na; I'm naething pit a puir sinner. It's nine-and-forty years syne he pegan tae serve me."
"Serve you; how?"
"Dae you no ken that?" she replied. "In the hoose o' Christ the Maister serves a' the guests. Did he no' himsel' say, 'I'm amang you as ane that serves'? When he brocht me hame tae himsel' he then pegan tae serve me, an' he ha' served me before syne. Nane before compleened o' Christ pein' a pad servant!"
"Well, but I hope you are a servant for all that. In the state of glory his servants serve him; and what is perfected there must begin here."
"That's a' fery true. I ken that I'm under his authority, pit somehoo I dinna like tae think much aboot servin' Christ. It gi'es me nae comfort."—The Sword and the Trowel.
Why is it that so many professed Christians "feel above" undertaking humble work for God and humanity? We have heard of a minister of Christ complaining that his station was "beneath his talents"! As if the soul of a beggar were beneath the genius of a Paul! Some are unwilling to enter a mission-school, or to distribute tracts through a poor district, strangely forgetting that their divine Master was himself a missionary. Have such never learned that the towel with which Jesus wiped his disciples' feet outshone the purple that wrapped Caesar's limbs? Do they not know that the post of honor is the post of service? "My seat in the Sunday-school is higher than my seat in the Senate," said an eminent Christian statesman. Dr. Cuyler.
CLXVI
Luke 23:34—"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Let us go to Calvary to learn how we may be forgiven;
And then let us linger there to learn how we may forgive.
There shall we see what sin is, as it murders the Lord of love;
And see also how almighty mercy prevailed against it.
As we behold our Lord nailed to the cross, and hear his first words upon the tree, let us watch, and learn, and love.
I. We see the love of Jesus enduring—
To the closing act of human malice.
To the utmost endurance of shame. Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 12:2.
To the extreme limit of personal suffering. Psalm 22:1–18.
We see not alone patience that bears without complaint, but love that labors to bestow benefits upon its enemies.
II. We see that love revealing itself.
Love can use no better instrument than prayer.
Love, when in a death-agony, still prays.
Love thus brings Heaven to the support of those for whom it cares.
Love thus, to the highest, blesses its object.
To this present our Lord Jesus continues to bless the people of his choice by continually interceding for them. Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25. This is his daily prayer for us.
III. We see for what that love prays.
Forgiveness is the first, chief, and basis blessing.
Forgiveness from the Father can even go so far as to pardon the murder of his Son.
Forgiveness is the great petition of our Lord's sacrifice.
Love admits that pardon is needed, and it shudders at the thought of what must come to the guilty if pardon be not given.
IV. We see how the loving Jesus prays.
For his wanton murderers in the very act.
For their full and immediate forgiveness.
For no other reason except their ignorance; and this plea grace alone could suggest or accept.
Are there any so guilty that Jesus would refuse to intercede for them?
V. We see how his prayer both warns and woos.
It warns, for it suggests that there is a limit to the possibility of pardon. Men may so sin that there shall remain no plea of ignorance; nay, no plea whatever.
It woos, for it proves that if there be a plea, Jesus will find it.
Come and trust your case in his hands; he will draw out his own brief, and invent his own arguments of love.
VI. We see how he instructs from the cross.
He teaches us to put the best construction on the deeds of our fellow-men, and to discover mitigating circumstances when they work us grievous ill.
He teaches us to forgive the utmost wrong. Mark 11:25.
He teaches us to pray for others to our last breath. Acts 7:59, 60.
That glorious appeal to the divine Fatherhood, once made by the Lord Jesus, still prevails for us.
Let the chief of sinners come unto God with the music of "Father, forgive them," sounding in their ears.
Commendations and Recommendations
It is well to suppose ignorance when we suffer wrong. A cruel letter came to me in my illness, but I hoped the writer did not know how depressed I was; a gossip repeated a silly slander, but I always believed that she thought it was the truth; an individual intentionally grossly insulted me, but I mistook it for a rough jest. In every case I have found it to my own comfort to believe that there must have been a mistake; besides, it makes it much easier to remove any unpleasant feeling if all along you have treated it as an error of judgment, or a blunder, occasioned by want of better information. C. H. S.
There is something in this plea that at first confounds me, and that makes me ask with reverence in what sense Christ used it. Surely ignorance is not the gospel plea. Ignorance gives no man a claim on God … We are not to say, "Being justified by ignorance, we have peace with God." … Ignorance is not innocence, it is often a sin; and one sin is no salvation from another.
The ignorance of Christ's enemies of what is involved in their capital crime brings them within the pale of mercy, and allows their pardon to be a possibility—a possibility on the ground which his cross supplies. Perhaps no mere men really know what they do in repudiating Christ. Satan knew what he did, and nothing has been said in our hearing of any gospel for him; but human sinners cannot fully know; and their ignorance, though it does not make sin sinless, leaves it pardonable. Charles Stanford.
O Savior, you could not but be heard! Those, who out of ignorance and simplicity thus persecuted you, find the happy issue of your intercession. Now I see whence it was that three thousand souls were converted soon after, at one sermon. It was not Peter's speech, it was your prayer, that was thus effectual. Now they have grace to know and confess whence they have both forgiveness and salvation, and can recompense their blasphemies with thanksgiving. What sin is there, Lord, whereof I can despair of the remission? Or what offence can I be unwilling to remit, when you pray for the forgiveness of your murderers and blasphemers?—Bishop Hall.
To do him any wrong was to beget
A kindness from him; for his heart was rich,
Of such fine mold, that if you sow'd therein
The seed of Hate, it blossomed Charity.
It was a mark of true moral grandeur in the character of Phocion, that, as he was about to be put to death, when one asked him whether he had any commands to leave for his son, he exclaimed, "Yes, by all means, tell him from me to forget the ill-treatment I have received from the Athenians." Such a spirit of forgiveness, if it became a heathen, will much more become a disciple of the gentle and loving Christ, who, in his dying hour, prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." No one has a right to claim the Christian spirit who refuses to forgive a foe, and even cement his forgiveness by some act of self-denying love.
A great boy in a school was so abusive to the younger ones, that the teacher took the vote of the school whether he should be expelled. All the small boys voted to expel him except one, who was scarcely five years old. Yet he knew very well that the bad boy would continue to abuse him. "Why, then, did you vote for him to stay?" said the teacher. "Because, if he is expelled, perhaps he will not learn any more about God, and so he will become still more wicked." "Do you forgive him, then?" said the teacher. "Yes," said he, "father and mother forgive me when I do wrong; God forgives me too; and I must do the same."—The Biblical Treasury.
CLXVII
Luke 24:36—"And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and says unto them, Peace be unto you."
From what a man has been it is usually safe to infer what he is.
This is eminently the case with our Lord Jesus, since he is unchangeable. What he was to his disciples in the days of his flesh, he will be to his followers at this present hour.
We gather that he loves to reveal himself to his saints when they are assembled on the Sabbath-day, for he did so when on earth.
Let us consider the visit described in the text.
Uninvited, unexpected, undeserved, but most welcome was that visit.
Jesus stood in the center to be near to them all, and that he might assume the place which a leader should take among his followers.
I. When he appeared.
1. When they had been acting unworthily by fleeing from him at his betrayal, and deserting him at his trial.
2. When they were unprepared, and unbelieving, doubting his express promise, and refusing the testimony of his messengers.
3. When they greatly needed his presence, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.
4. When they were exercising the little life they had by coming together in loving assembly. So far they were doing well, and acting in a way which was likely to bring blessing.
5. When they were lamenting his absence, and thus proving their desire after him. This is an admirable means of gaining his presence.
6. When certain among them were testifying concerning him.
Are not we in a similar condition?
May we not hopefully look for our Lord's manifestation of himself?
II. What he said. "Peace be unto you."
1. It was a blessing: he wished them peace.
2. It was a declaration: they were at peace with God.
3. It was a fiat: he inspired them with peace.
4. It was an absolution: he blotted out all offences which might have spoiled their peace.
The Lord by his Holy Spirit can calm our perturbed minds, relieve of all care, discharge from all sin, deliver from all spiritual conflict, and give to each one of us immediate and perfect peace.
III. What came of his appearing.
1. He banished their doubts. Even Thomas had to shake off his obstinate unbelief.
2. He revealed and sealed his love upon their hearts by showing them his hands and his feet.
3. He refreshed their memories. "These are the words which I spoke unto you": verse 44.
4. He opened their understandings: verse 45.
5. He showed them their position. "You are witnesses of these things": verse 48.
6. He filled them with joy. John 20:20.
Has the Lord come into our midst during this service?
Has he breathed into our souls a special peace?
If so, let us wait a while, and further enjoy his company, and praise his condescending love.
If we do not feel that we have been thus favored, let us tarry behind, and further seek his face.
A special meeting for praise and prayer will be held during the next half-hour. O Lord Jesus, abide with us!
Ripples
The Master's greeting to the first company had been in the word "Rejoice!" (Matthew 28:9, 10.) His greeting to the second was in the phrase, "Peace be unto you!" And this he said twice over. (John 20:19, 21.) We should keep in mind the difference between the first company and the second. The first was a small detachment of the general society, and consisted of women only. The second was the general society itself, including all the men; and all the men had in one moment of panic forsaken their Master. In that shameful moment even John had not been an exception. The women, when Christ met them, had been true, and were only conscious of grief; the men had not been true; and, besides their grief, were conscious of deep agitation and burning shame. He knew their thoughts. Like the young Hebrew in their national story, who, years after his brethren had cast him into a pit, then sold him for a slave, met them face to face again, he as their lord, they as his supplicants, but who, that they might not fall back blasted, gently discovered himself to them in the words, "I am Joseph, your brother," to the mention of his name eagerly adding the mention of his relation; so the Celestial Joseph, in discovering himself to those whom he had so grandly loved, but by whom he had been so basely forsaken, first sent forward by Mary the message, "Go tell my brethren," then followed up the message by personally appearing with these words on his lips—"Peace to you!"—words meant to dispel their fear, to kindle their tenderness, and to still the tempest within them. Brothers in Christ, this message was meant for our one whole family. Charles Stanford.
There are depths in the ocean, I am told, which no tempest ever stirs; they are beyond the reach of all storms, which sweep and agitate the surface of the sea. And there are heights in the blue sky above to which no cloud ever ascends, where no tempest ever rages, where all is perpetual sunshine, and nothing exists to disturb the deep serene. Each of these is an emblem of the soul which Jesus visits; to whom he speaks peace, whose fear he dispels, and whose lamp of hope he trims. Tweedie.
In the life of Dr. John Duncan there is a touching passage, which relates how much he suffered from religious melancholy. His mental struggles were often very distressing, casting a shadow over his whole life and work. On one occasion, he went to his college-class in a state of extreme dejection. During the opening prayer, however, the cloud passed away. His eye brightened, his features relaxed, and before beginning his lecture he said, with pathetic sympathy, "Dear young gentlemen, I have just got a glimpse of Jesus."
We are the soldiers of Jesus Christ. Now, that which nerves the soldier's arm, and strengthens his heart, as he goes forth to battle, is not so much the multitude of the army of which he forms a part, as the character of the chief whom he is following. It is related that, in one of the Duke of Wellington's battles, a portion of the army was giving way, under the charge of the enemy, when he rode into the midst of them. A soldier called out in ecstasy, "There's the Duke—God bless him! I'd rather see his face than a whole brigade;" and these words, turning all eyes to their chief, so reassured his comrades that they repulsed the foe; they felt, he is beside us who was never defeated yet, and who will not be defeated now. A military friend, with whom I conversed on this subject, said that, though he had never heard the anecdote, he could well conceive it to be true: the presence of the distinguisned General, he added, was at any time worth five thousand men. Tait on the Hebrews.
CLXVIII
Luke 24:50—"And he led them cut as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them."
Jesus having spoiled the grave, and sanctified the earth, now purified the air as he passed through it on his way to Heaven.
He arose to Heaven in a manner worthy of special note.
We will review a few points connected with his ascension.
1. The time he sojourned on earth after his resurrection, namely, forty days, sufficed to prove his identity, to remove doubts, to instruct his disciples, and to give them their commission.
2. The place from which he rose was a mountain, a mount where he aforetime had communed with them. This mount looked down on Bethany, his dearest earthly rest; and was near to Gethsemane, the place of his supreme agony.
3. The witnesses were enough in number to convince the candid, persons who had long been familiar with him, who could not be deceived as to his identity.
They were persons of character, of simplicity of nature, of ripe years, and of singularly cool temperament.
4. The scene itself was very remarkable.
So unlike what superstition would have devised.
So quiet—no chariot of fire and horses of fire.
So majestic—no angels, nor other agents to lend imaginary splendor; but the Lord's own power and Godhead in sublime simplicity working all.
Our chosen theme at this time shall be the last posture in which our ascending Lord was seen.
I. His hands were uplifted to bless.
1. This blessing was no unusual thing. To stretch out his hands in blessing was his customary attitude. In that attitude he departed, with a blessing still proceeding from his lips.
2. This blessing was with authority. He blessed them while his Father acknowledged him by receiving him to Heaven.
3. This blessing was so full that, as it were, he emptied his hands. They saw those dear hands thus unladen of their blessings.
4. The blessing was for those beneath him, and beyond the sound of his voice: he scattered blessings upon them all.
5. The blessing was the fit finis of his sojourn here: nothing fitter, nothing better, could have been thought of.
II. Those hands were pierced.
This could be seen by them all as they gazed upward.
1. Thus they knew that they were Christ's hands.
2. Thus they saw the price of the blessing. His crucifixion has purchased continual blessing for all his redeemed.
3. Thus they saw the way of the blessing: it comes from those human hands, through those sacrificial wounds.
4. A sight of those hands is in itself a blessing. By that sight we see pardon and eternal life.
5. The entire action is an epitome of the gospel. This is the substance of the matter, "hands pierced distribute blessings." Jesus, through suffering and death, has power to bless us out of the highest Heaven.
This is the last that was seen of our Lord.
He has not changed his attitude of blessing.
He will not change it until he shall descend in his glory.
III. Those hands sway the scepter.
His hands are omnipotent. Those very hands, which blessed his disciples, now hold, on their behalf, the scepter—
1. Of providence: both in small affairs and greater matters.
2. Of the spiritual kingdom: the church and all its work.
3. Of the future judgment, and the eternal reign.
Let us worship him, for he has ascended on high.
Let us rejoice in all the fruit of his ascension, to him, and to us.
Let us continue praising him, and proclaiming his glory.
Glimpses
What spot did Jesus select as the place of his ascension? He selected, not Bethlehem, where angel-hosts had chanted his praises; nor Tabor, where celestial beings had hovered around him in homage; nor Calvary, where riven rocks and bursting graves had proclaimed his Deity; nor the Temple-court, in all its sumptuous glory, where, for ages, his own Shekinah had blazed in mystic splendor: but he hallows afresh the name of a lowly village, Bethany; he consecrates a Home of Love. Dr. Macduff's "Memories of Bethany."
The manner of Christ's ascension into heaven may be said to have been an instance of divine simplicity and sublimity combined, which scarcely has a parallel. While in the act of blessing his disciples, he was parted from them, and was carried up, and disappeared behind a cloud. There was no pomp; nothing could have been more simple. How can the followers of this Lord and Master rely on pomp and ceremony to spread his religion, when he, its Founder, gave no countenance to such appeals to the senses of men? Had some good men been consulted about the manner of the ascension, we can imagine the result. N. Adams.
This is no death-bed scene. "Nothing is here for tears." We are not at the close, but at the beginning of a life. There is no sign of mourning that a great career is over, that the lips of a great Teacher are forever dumb; no ground for that melancholy question that twice rang in the ears of Elisha, "Know you that the Lord will take away your master from your head to day? And he said, Yes, I know it; hold you your peace." No; the scene before us is one of calm victory—
"All the toil, the sorrow, done;
All the battle fought and won."
The earthly work of the Redeemer is over; the work which that short sojourn on earth was designed to inaugurate is now to begin. We are in the presence of One who said, "All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth"; and again, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."—Dr. Butler, Head Master of Harrow.
That wonderful hand of Christ! It was that same hand which had been so quickly stretched out to rescue Peter when sinking in Galilee's waves. It was that same hand which had been held in the sight of the questioning disciples on the third evening after they had seen it laid lifeless in the tomb. It was that same hand which incredulous Thomas must see before he would believe its risen power; it was that same hand which was extended to him not only to see, but to touch the nail-prints in its palm. It was that same hand which the disciples last saw uplifted in a parting blessing when the cloud parted him from them. It was only after ten days that they realized the fullness of blessing which came from that extended, pierced hand of Christ. Peter at Pentecost must have preached with that last sight of it fresh in his memory, when he said, "God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." That hand, with its nail-prints, knocks at the heart's door for entrance. That hand, with its deep marks of love, beckons on the weary runner in the heavenly way. F. B. Pullan.
CLXIX
John 1:29—"The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world."
Places and times become memorable when linked with our Lord; hence we are told what was done at Bethabara on such a day, and what happened on "the next day."
Let us treasure holy memories with great care—especially memories of Jesus,—times when we saw the Lord.
In the case before us the preacher was a notable man, and his theme more notable still. John the Baptist preaches Jesus.
We have here a model for every minister of Christ.
I. The true messenger.
1. He is one who sees Jesus for himself. There was a time when John did not know the Christ, but in due time the Holy Spirit pointed him out. Verse 33.
The true herald of Jesus is like John—
He is on the look-out for his Lord's appearing.
He rejoices to preach Jesus as one whom he has himself seen and known, and still hopes to see.
He preaches him as come, and as coming.
2. He calls upon men to see Jesus. "Behold the Lamb of God."
This he does plainly and confidently.
This he does continually: it is his one message. John preached the same sermon "again the next day after": verse 35.
This he does earnestly and emphatically. "Behold!"
3. He leads his own followers to Jesus. John's disciples heard John speak, and followed Jesus: verse 37.
He had enough force to induce men to be his followers.
He had enough humility to induce his followers to leave him for Jesus. This is the glory of John the Baptist.
He had enough grace to make him rejoice that it was so.
Our speech should make men go beyond ourselves to Christ. "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord": 2 Corinthians 4:5.
4. He loses himself in Jesus.
He sees the necessity of this. "He must increase, but I must decrease": John 3:30.
He sees the propriety of this: he knows himself to be only the Bridegroom's friend, and not the Bridegroom. John 3:29.
Blessed is that minister of whom all these point can be asserted.
II. The true message.
John's word was brief, but emphatic.
1. He declared Jesus to be sent and ordained "of God."
2. He declared him to be the one real, divinely-appointed sacrifice for sin, "the Lamb of God."
3. He declared him to be the only remover of human guilt, "which takes away the sin of the world."
4. He declared him to be set forth as the object of faith, "Behold the Lamb." He exhorted his hearers to look at him with that look which saves.
The end of all ministries and ordinances is to bring men to look to Jesus. Both John, who ran before, and we, who run after, must point in the same direction.
III. The true reception of that message.
The conduct of John's disciples shows that our true wisdom concerning gospel testimony is—
1. To believe it, and so to acknowledge Jesus as our sin-removing sacrifice.
2. To follow Jesus. See verse 37.
3. To follow Jesus, even if we be alone. These were the vanguard of the vast hosts who have since followed Jesus. They knew not what suffering it might involve, but went first and foremost.
4. To abide with Jesus. See verse 39.
5. To go forth and tell others of Jesus. See verses 40 and 41.
Here, then, is a lesson for those who preach. John's sermon was short, but full of Jesus, and effectual for soul-winning. Imitate him.
Here also is an example for those who have believed.
Here is a gospel for those who hitherto have not known the Savior.
Specialities
In 1857, a day or two before preaching at the Crystal Palace, I went to decide where the platform should be fixed; and, in order to test the acoustic properties of the building, cried in a loud voice, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world." In one of the galleries, a workman, who knew nothing of what was being done, heard the words, and they came like a message from Heaven to his soul. He was smitten with conviction on account of sin, put down his tools, went home, and there, after a season of spiritual struggling, found peace and life by beholding the Lamb of God. Years after, he told this story to one who visited him on his death-bed. C. H. S.
Notice, how simple the means, how grand the result! John simply declared, "Behold the Lamb of God." Here is no vehement appeal, no angry rebuke, no feverish, would-be impressive urging; it is a simple, earnest declaration of God's truth. What else have Christ's servants to do but to set forth the truth, the gospel, the will of God, as revealed in the person and work of Christ? How much more important to give all our energy and strength to this, than to the attempt of enforcing and applying, threatening and inviting, urging and pressing, in perorations thundering or melting! The truth itself thunders and melts, rouses and whispers, bruises and comforts; entering into the soul, it brings with it light and power. How calm and objective do Christ's sermons, and those of the apostles, appear! How powerful by the consciousness which pervades them: this is the truth of God, light from Heaven, power from above! "Behold the Lamb of God."—Adolph Saphir.
It is related of John Wesley that, preaching to an audience of courtiers and noblemen, he used the "generation of vipers" text, and flung denunciation right and left. "That sermon should have been preached at Newgate," said a displeased courtier to Wesley on passing out. "No," said the fearless apostle, "my text there would have been, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.' "
Roger Clark, one of the English martyrs, when at the stake, cried out to the people, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world." How suitable such a cry from a saint about to seal his testimony with his blood!
No herald could live long in the wilderness on locusts and wild honey, if he had not to tell of a man or an era nobler than himself, and brighter than his own twilight-hour. John lived more truly on the prophecy he proclaimed than on the honey and locusts. Dr. Parker.
A young telegraph operator was anxious about his soul. After a sleepless night, he went to his duties; while restless and absorbed in the thought of his being a sinner, he heard the click of his instrument, and, with great astonishment and emotion, spelt out this message:—
"From
To
H——,
J—— B——,
Windermere.
Warkworth.
'Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world; in whom we have redemption, through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.' "
This was sent as an answer to a letter from a young man, who also was seeking peace. It acted as a double blessing, showing to both operator and receiver the way of salvation.
CLXX
John 1:47—"Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!"
This is a chapter of "beholds." We are first to "Behold the Lamb of God," and then to behold a man of God.
Nathanael was simple, straightforward, honest, "an Israelite indeed."
In this he was not like his great progenitor, Jacob, who was a supplanter, and not a prince with God, until that memorable night when the angel wrestled with him, and withered his carnal strength. Then, in the weakness of that simplicity which laid hold upon the mighty One, Jacob became Israel. Genesis 27:36; 32:28.
A sincere and simple character was not common in our Lord's day.
It is despised by many at this day.
It was greatly appreciated by our Lord, who has the same character in perfection, and is truly called "the holy child Jesus."
This characteristic of guilelessness is—
I. A happy sign in a seeker.
We will illustrate this by Nathanael's procedure.
1. He is the sort of man to whom disciples like to speak. "Philip finds Nathanael": verse 45.
2. He is outspoken with his difficulties, and therefore his friends see how to meet them. "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" verse 46.
3. He is ready to apply the proper tests. "Come and see": verse 46.
4. He is honest in his use of those tests. Our Lord saw that Nathanael was no captious critic, nor idly-curious observer: verse 47.
5. He is open to conviction if fair evidence be supplied. As soon as our Lord proved his omniscience Nathanael believed: verse 48.
6. He is ready to make confession: verse 49.
7. He is prepared to proceed far in the school of Christ. The Lord promised him the sight of greater things because he was prepared to see them: verses 50 and 51.
An Israelite is the man to know "the King of Israel": verse 49.
An Israelite is the man to understand the famous dream of the father of all Israelites: verse 51. Genesis 28:12.
II. A vital point in a believer.
The truly upright man, and he only, can be a Christian.
1. A sense of pardon removes the temptation to deceit: we cease to excuse ourselves when pardon is received. See Psalm 51
2. A reception of Christ as "the truth" causes deceit to be hated.
3. A truthful assurance of the gospel prevents a hypocritical faith.
4. A complete consecration to the Lord puts an end to a double-minded life, and to all false aims and maxims.
5. A sense of the presence of God makes deceit appear absurd.
6. A brave faith in God causes it to appear mean and cowardly.
III. A sure producer of other qualities.
1. It makes a man love his Bible. Nathanael was familiar with the law and the prophets.
2. It makes him pray. He is an Israelite. Genesis 32:28.
3. It leads him to be much alone. "Under the fig-tree": verse 48.
4. It makes him wear his heart in his countenance. "Behold an Israelite indeed."
5. It prepares him to behold the pure and true glories of Heaven.
Who among us is renowned for cleverness, craft, shrewdness, and the critical faculty in general?
Let him be afraid of the much-admired quality of cleverness.
The absence of simplicity is by no means a healthy sign.
Let us be true in any case, and may the Lord teach us his truth!
Mosaic
'Twas well Christ spoke among plain men. Had the Scribes and the Pharisees heard him, had some men of these times heard him, they would have said that Christ purposed to define a fool. Who is not now a fool that is not false? He is rated as having but small wit that is not of great subtlety and great wiliness? Plainness is weakness, and solid sincerity stolid simplicity. No man is honest but for want of sense. Conscience comes only from a crazed brain. He has no reach that does not overreach. Only to disguise is to be wise; and he is the profoundest that is the grandest counterfeit. Christ will have a serpent and a dove coupled together—wisdom and simplicity; and he bids, what God has joined, that man should not sever. But the world dares uncouple them. Uncouple them? That's little; dares divorce them. In these days doves may not consort with serpents, nor singleness and sapience harbor in one heart. Certainly plain-dealing is a jewel; but the world dubs him a fool that uses it.
Hence it is that, nowadays, men dare not deal uprightly, lest their wit be called in question; they are afraid of honest plainness lest they be held for idiocy. Term one an honest man, you do discredit him. The name of fool is so disgraceful, one will rather be a villain than be called a fool. But here, God's Word, God's Wisdom, defines a true Israelite, by truth and plainness; he is one that has no guile. Richard Clerke.
"Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile."—The expression would appear to be so distinct an allusion to the thirty-second Psalm as to amount to a quotation, and to imply that this guilelessness of spirit was not mere amiability, but was the fruit of forgiven sin. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered (or atoned). Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." Nathanael, if we may follow this clue, was no stranger to the spiritual meaning of atonement; no stranger, therefore, to the consciousness of sin which made its necessity felt. Pressed on the one hand by the sense of guilt, allured on the other by the provision of atonement in the temple sacrifices, he had been forced to earn his first title by wrestling in prayer with God for pardon; and, having prevailed, there had sprung up within the forgiven man the guileless spirit of childlike trustfulness in God, who had thus stooped to his prayer, and granted the benison he sighed for. He is in the happiest state of preparation for the personal knowledge of Christ, and we shall see with what fullness of faith he honors his Master at the first interview, uttering on the threshold of discipleship a confession more advanced than was made at the same point by any other of the twelve. C. A. Davis.
Nathanael was one of these true Israelites; he was in reality, as well as by profession, one of the people of God; and the evidence he gave of this was his freedom from deceit. But our Savior does not say he has no guilt. A man may be freckled, or have spots, and not be painted. A Christian is not sinlessly pure—he has many unallowed and bewailed infirmities, but deceit he has not: he is no hypocrite. He does not in religion ascend a stage, to assume a character which does not belong to him. He is what he appears to be. There is a correspondence between his professions and actions, his meanings and his words. He is upright in his dealings with himself, in his dealings with his fellow-creatures, and in his dealings with his God. He is all of a piece. He is the same alone as in company; the same in his own house as in the house of God; the same in prosperity as in adversity. William Jay.
The clearer the diamond, the more it sparkles; the plainer the heart is, the more it sparkles in God's eye. What a commendation did Christ give Nathanael—"Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile"!—Thomas Watson.
CLXXI
John 4:6—"Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour."
Many things may well remind us of our Lord.
Chiefly may we think of him when we see a well, or a weary peasant resting at noon.
How truly human was Jesus! To him a long walk brought weariness; his weariness needed rest; to rest he "sat thus on the well."
How worn was his humanity! He was more weary than the disciples.
He had a greater mental strain than they.
He had a weariness that they knew not of.
His self-denials were even then remarkable.
He would in all points be made like unto his brethren.
He would not exempt himself from fatigue.
He would not work a miracle for his own refreshment.
He would not refuse to bear heat, thirst, exhaustion.
He has thus made himself able to sympathize with—
The traveler who rests by the roadside.
The laborer who is worn-out with toil.
The sufferer who feels pain in bone and flesh.
The poor man who must rest on a cold stone, and look for refreshment to the public fountain.
The weary mind, oppressed by life's long way, which has no luxurious comfort prepared for it, but finds a measure of repose in the simple arrangements of nature.
Reading this text, let it set a picture before you, and—
I. Let your conscience draw a spiritual picture of your wearied Savior.
1. He is wearied with our sins. Is. 43:24.
2. He is wearied with our formal worship. Is. 1:14.
3. He is wearied with our errings through unbelief. Psalm 95:10.
4. He is wearied with our resistance of his Spirit. Is. 63:10.
5. He is wearied with our cavilings and rebellions. Malachi 2:17.
Perhaps we have specially wearied the Lord, as we read in Amos 2:13, where singular provocations are mentioned.
That is a grave question asked by the prophet Isaiah, "Will you weary my God also?" Is. 7:13.
II. Let your conscience draw a spiritual picture of your waiting Savior.
1. He waits for comers to the well: he seizes on all occasions to bless, such as affliction, the hearing of the Word, the recurrence of a birthday, or even the simplest event of life. Men have other errands; they come to the well only to draw water, but the Lord meets them with his greater errand.
2. He waits for the most sinful; she that had had five husbands.
3. He waits to enlighten, convince, convert.
4. He waits to accept, and to commission.
5. He waits to begin by one convert the ingathering of a great harvest of souls, as in the case of the Samaritans.
How long he has waited for some of you!
At how many points has he been on the outlook for you!
Is he not waiting for you at this very hour?
Will you not yield to his patient love?
III. Let your penitence draw another picture.
Alter the position of the character.
1. Be yourself weary of your sinful way.
2. Sit down on the well of your Lord's gracious ordinances.
3. Wait and watch until your Savior comes.
4. Ask him to give you to drink, and, in so doing, give him to drink for this is his best refreshment.
5. Drink yourselves of the living water, and then run to tell others.
Will you not do this at once?
May his Holy Spirit so direct you!
Musings
It was the hour of noon, and weary as he was with the long journey, possibly also with the extreme heat, our Lord sat "thus on the well." The expression in the original is most pathetically picturesque. It implies that the Wayfarer was quite tired out, and in his exhaustion flung his limbs wearily on the seat, anxious, if possible, for complete repose. Archdeacon Farrar.
When hard-working people sit down at mid-day for their few minutes of rest and refreshment, let them recall their Master's noon-day rest at the well. He was tired, like we are, yet his rest was short, and his work scarcely broken. He was tired with seeking for us. Our stubborn hearts brought him all this way from Heaven. He has long sought for our love, and hardly finds it. Think on this verse. With whom did Jesus find his portion in this life? Not with the great and luxurious, but with the common people, sharing their toils. Practical Reflections on the Gospels. By a Clergyman.
While we sympathize with the bodily weariness of our Lord, it will be well to remember the soul-weariness which sin must have occasioned him. He hungered to bless men, and they refused the bread of life. He would have gathered them, but they would not be gathered. He must have been specially wearied with the ostentatious hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and the silly legalisms of the Scribes with their tithing of mint and anise. He was often wearied with the dogged unbelief of the Jews, and the provoking want of faith among his own disciples. The sin, the caviling, the slander, the selfishness, the hardness of heart of those about him, must have worn down his holy soul, and made him every day a Man of sorrows. Yet he never left the well, never refused to give the living water to a thirsting soul, never ceased to entreat men to come to him and drink. C. H. S.
"Jesus, therefore, being wearied."—And in that he himself had suffered, he was the more able and apt to help this poor Samaritan. So the apostle bids us pity those in adversity, as being ourselves in the body, that is, the body of flesh and frailty, subject to like misery. Trapp.
When wearied, let us still be on the watch to do good. Wearied, and sitting on the well, our Lord is still in the attitude of observation. "I am never too tired to pray," said a minister, who, after a hard day's toil, found his host ready to excuse him from conducting family prayer. When God is blessing the Word, true ministers forget their fatigue, and hold on long into the night with enquirers. Alas! when the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with a man's heart, the man excuses himself from "making overtime", as I once heard a professor call it, when he left the room the instant the service was over. Another, in describing a minister, said, "Oh, he is so cold! He is one who thinks it is wrong to be too religious. He cannot endure zeal." Be it ours to show a more excellent way. Holy Brainerd, when he could not preach, because he was on his dying bed, called to him a little Indian boy, and tried to teach him his letters. Let us live soul-saving, and so let us die. C.H.S.
CLXXII
John 4:11—"The woman says unto him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then have you that living water?"
Our Lord's object was to bring the woman to seek salvation of him.
Our desire is the immediate conversion of all now present.
The Samaritan woman accepted the Savior upon the first asking.
Many of you have been invited to Jesus many times—will you not at last comply?
Our Lord aimed at her heart by plain teaching and home dealing—we will take the same course with our hearers.
When his interesting emblem failed to reach her, he fell to downright literalism, and unveiled her life. Anything is better than allowing a soul to perish.
I. We will expound the preceding teaching.
The Lord had said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water."
The figure was that of living water in contrast to the water collected in Jacob's well, which was merely the gatherings of the surrounding hills—land-water, not spring-water.
He meant to say that his grace is like water from a springing well.
It is of the best and most refreshing kind.
It is living, and ministers life.
It is powerful, and finds its own way.
It is abiding, and is never dried up.
It is abounding, and free to all comers.
Furthermore, he intimated to the woman that—
1. He had it. There was no need of a bucket to draw with.
2. He had it to give.
3. He would have given it for the asking.
4. He alone could give it. It would be found in no earthly well.
II. We will answer the question of the text.
In ignorance the woman inquired, "Whence then have you that living water?"
We can at this time give a fuller reply than could have been given when our Lord sat on the well.
He has now a boundless power to save, and that power arises—
1. From his divine nature, allied with his perfect humanity.
2. From the purpose and appointment of God.
3. From the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
4. From his redeeming work, which operated for good even before its actual accomplishment, and which is in full operation now.
5. From the power of his intercession at the Father's right hand.
6. From his representative life in glory. Now all power is delivered into his hand. Matthew 28:18.
III. We will draw certain inferences from the answer.
1. Then he is still able to bless. Since he has this living water only from his unchanging self, he therefore has it now as fully as ever.
2. Then he needs nothing from us. He is himself the one sole Fountain, full and all-sufficient forever.
3. Then we need not fear exhausting his fullness.
4. Then at all times we may come to him, and we need never fear that he will deny us.
Drops
When we see a great volume of water issuing from a spring, it is natural that we should enquire,—whence does it come? This is one of the mysteries of nature to most people. Job speaks of "the springs of the sea", and hints that none can find them out. But where are the springs of salvation? Whence comes the river, yes, the boundless ocean of divine grace? All fullness is in Jesus; but how came it there? He gives drink to all who come to him; whence has he this inexhaustible supply? Are not these questions worth asking? Must not the reply be instructive to ourselves, and glorifying to our Lord? Come, then, and let us borrow the language of this Samaritan woman, and talk with our Lord. C. H. S.
When I have ridden through London, I have been overwhelmed with the greatness of the supply which must daily be necessary to feed its millions, and have wondered that a famine has not at once set in. But when I have seen the markets and the store-houses, and have thought of the whole earth as eager to obtain a sale for its produce in our vast metropolis, I have rested in content. I see whence the almost illimitable supplies are drawn, and my wonder henceforth is, not that the millions are fed, but that they should be able to consume such immeasurable quantities of food.
Thus, when I behold man's spiritual need, I marvel that it should ever be met; but when I behold the person and work of the Lord Jesus, my marvel ceases, and a new wonder begins. I wonder rather at the infinity of grace than at the power of sin. C. H. S.
Speaking of Cairo, the author of "Ragged Life in Egypt" says, "Perhaps no cry is more striking, after all, than the short and simple cry of the water-carrier. 'The gift of God' he says, as he goes along with his water-skin on his shoulder. It is impossible to hear this cry without thinking of the Lord's words to the woman of Samaria, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water?' It is very likely that water, so invaluable, and so often scarce in hot countries, was in those days spoken of, as now, as 'the gift of God', to denote its preciousness; if so, the expression would be extremely forcible to the woman, and full of meaning."—The Biblical Treasury.
How ready are men and women to go to this well and that well to drink water for the help and healing of bodily distempers, and to go many miles, and dispense with all other affairs, that they may be recovered of corporeal diseases: but how few inquire after the water of life, or leave all their secular business for the good and health of their immortal souls!—Benjamin Keach.
"The well is deep," the woman said to Jesus; and so it was. It took two-and-a-half seconds from the time that the pebble was dropped, before we heard the splash in the water below.… Turning to the illustration before us, "living water,"—the meaning only dawned upon me when I visited the spot. Jacob's well, deep as it was, and cool as its waters doubtless were, was only an artificial well—a cistern for the collection of rain, and the drainage of the land.… In seasons of drought, this well must have been useless—it was a well, or cistern; not a spring. J. W. Bardsley.
The fountain of living waters is God himself (Jeremiah 2:13). "With you is the fountain of life" (Psalm 36:9). It is not a mere cistern to hold; it is a pouring, running, living stream; nay, rather a fountain that springs up perpetually. We all know that a jet or fountain is produced by a head of water that presses down from a great elevation; and that, the higher the spring, the loftier and more powerful the jet, which, however, never surpasses the height of its source. Our spiritual life, "our well-spring of life", has its source in Heaven: and it is heavenward that it rises, and it is content with no lower level. It came from God, and to God it will return. F. A. Malleson.
CLXXIII
John 5:9—"On the same day was the Sabbath."
Christ healed men on all sorts of days.
But Sabbaths were high days of grace.
Six special cases of cures wrought on the Sabbath are recorded.
1. The evil spirit cast out. Luke 4:31–35.
2. The withered hand restored. Luke 6:6–10.
3. The crooked woman made straight. Luke 13:10–17.
4. The man with the dropsy cured. Luke 14:1–6.
5. The impotent man made whole. John 5:1–9.
6. The blind man's eyes opened. John 9:1–14.
As God rested on the Sabbath, and hallowed it; so as God it was rest to Jesus to heal, and thus he hallowed the day.
As man he also rested his heart, exercised a holy ministry, glorified God, and hallowed the day.
I. These cures meet many cases.
1. Those under Satanic influence. Luke 4:31–35. Many are in this case at this hour.
2. Those conscious of spiritual inability. Luke 6:6–10.
3. Those bowed down with great distress, despondency, despair, etc. Luke 13:10–17. This poor woman had been infirm for eighteen years.
4. Those smitten with mortal disease. Luke 14:1–6. This typifies the deadly character of sin, and represents the case of those upon whom is the dread of the second death.
5. Those altogether paralyzed. John 5:1–9. This man had been impotent for thirty-eight years. Some seem specially unable to feel, or do, or be what they should be. They are weak and irresolute, and though lying at the healing-pool, others step in before them, and they derive no benefit from the means of grace.
6. Those blind from birth. John 9:1–14. Many are in this condition. They see no spiritual truth, but abide in total darkness as to all gospel truth.
II. These cures represent usual processes.
1. A word addressed to the devil. "Hold your peace, and come out of him": Luke 4:35. Satan feels the power of the Word of the Lord; but he cares for nothing else.
2. A word personal to the sufferer. "Stretch forth your hand": Luke 6:10. He was unable, and yet he was commanded; and he obeyed. This is the gospel method.
3. A word accepted as done. "You are loosed from your infirmity": Luke 13:12. Faith turns promise into fact, gospel-teaching into actual salvation.
4. Power without a word. Luke 14:4.
5. A word arousing and commanding. "Rise, take up your bed, and walk": John 5:8. Many are saved by being stirred up from long inactivity and lethargy.
6. A word associated with other means. John 9:6–7. The whole miracle is deeply instructive on this point.
In these varied forms and fashions, Jesus works on the Sabbath.
III. These cures were both in and out of the synagogue.
1. There, and misbehaving. Luke 4:33.
2. There, and singled out from the crowd. Luke 6:8.
3. There, and called to Jesus. Luke 13:12.
4. After the synagogue service. Luke 14:1.
5. Too feeble to get there. John 5:5.
6. Too poor to be there. John 9:8.
IV. These cures were all unsought.
This is one special feature about them all.
1. The possessed man entreated Christ to leave him alone. Luke 4:34.
2. The man with the withered hand did not think of cure. Luke 6:6.
3. The infirm woman did not hope for healing. Luke 13:11.
4. The man with the dropsy did not ask for the blessing. Luke 14:2.
5. The infirm man was too paralyzed to seek Christ. John 5:5.
6. It was an unheard-of thing that the eyes of a man born blind should be opened, and therefore he did not expect it. John 9:32.
This also is the Sabbath; let us look to the Lord of the Sabbath.
Will he not this day bless those who are seekers?
Will he not bless those whom we bring to him?
Will he not bless those for whom we pray?
Sermon Bells
On Sunday Heaven's gate stands ope;
Blessings are plentiful and rife,
More plentiful than hope.
George Herbert.
On his death-bed, Brainerd said: "I was born on a Sabbath-day; I have reason to hope I was new-born on a Sabbath-day; and I hope I shall die on this Sabbath-day."
Was it not meet that the Lord of the Sabbath should specially display his sovereignty upon that day? May we not now expect that, on the Lord's-day, the Lord of the day will magnify his own name, and make the day illustrious by his grace? The first day of the week was signalized by the giving of the light of nature, and it is most delightful that now it should be a chosen day for bestowing the light of grace. It is to us the Sabbath; should not the Lord give rest to wearied hearts upon that day? Men call it Sunday: we are happy when the Sun of righteousness then arises with healing in his wings. Of old the week's work was done, and then the Sabbath dawned; but now rest leads the way: we begin the week's work with the Sabbath rest, because we first find rest in Jesus, and then labor for him. Blessed is the Lord's-day when the Lord himself speaks rest in his own finished work, to those who otherwise would have labored in vain. C. H. S.
Christ came not into the world merely to cast a mantle over us, and hide all our filthy sores from God's avenging eye, with his merits, and righteousness; but he came especially to be a surgeon and physician of souls, to free us from the filth and corruption of them, which are more grievous and burdensome, more noisome to a true Christian, than the guilt of sin itself. Cudworth.
Metaphor: Physicians come not to the sick until they are sent for; and though they come not far, yet expect to be paid for that, besides their physic. Disparity: Christ came to us, who sent not for him, which made him say, "I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not": Isaiah 65:1. The patients seek not first, come not first, to the Physician; but the Physician to the patients. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10); and, besides, he dearly paid all the charge of his long journey. Benjamin Keach.
CLXXIV
John 7:11—"Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?"
Jesus went to the feast in secret, and the Jews sought him.
From differing motives they inquired for him, but they did inquire.
No man, having once heard of Jesus, can any longer remain indifferent to him: he must take some sort of interest in the Lord Jesus.
From many quarters comes the question, "Where is he?"
We will at this time—
I. Consider the ways in which the question has been asked.
1. Hate, ferociously desiring to slay him, and overthrow his cause. Herod was the type of this school.
2. Infidelity, sneeringly denying his existence, taunting his followers because his cause does not make progress: 2 Peter 3:4.
3. Timorous fear, sadly doubting his presence, power, and prevalence "Where is he who trod the sea?" Job 23:8, 9.
4. Penitence, humbly seeking him that she may confess her sin, trust her Lord, and show her gratitude to him. Job 23:3.
5. Love, heartily pining for communion with him, and for an opportunity to serve him. Solomon's Song 3:3.
6. Fear, bitterly lamenting his absence, and craving his return.
7. Desire, ardently aspiring to meet him in his second advent, and to behold his glory. Rev. 22:20.
II. Give the saints' experimental answer.
1. He is at the mercy-seat when we cry in secret.
2. He is in the Word as we search the sacred page.
3. He is in the assemblies of his people, even with two or three.
4. He is at his table, known in the breaking of bread.
5. He is in the field of service, aiding, sympathizing, guiding, and prospering. In all things glorified before the eyes of faith.
6. He is in the furnace of trial, revealing himself, sanctifying the trial, bearing us through.
7. He is near us, yes, with us, and in us.
III. Return the question to you.
1. Is he at the bottom of your trust?
2. Is he at the root of your joys?
3. Is he on the throne of your heart?
4. Is he near you by constant converse?
5. Is his presence manifested in your spirit, your words, your actions?
6. Is he before you, the end of your journey, the terminus towards which you are daily hastening?
IV. Ask it of the angels.
They with one voice reply that the Lord Jesus Christ is—
1. In the bosom of the Father
2. In the center of glory.
3. On the throne of government.
4. In the place of representation.
5. In the almonry of mercy.
6. Within reach of you, and of all needy sinners, who will now seek his face.
O come, let us go and find him!
We will hold no feast until he is among us.
Ana
Many years ago, there was a young man in Birmingham whom dissipation and excess had brought into a condition from which he endeavored to extricate himself by crime. The fear of detection, exposure, and ruin goaded him on to such a pitch of desperation, that he left his father's house resolutely bent on self-destruction. God's good providence led him through Bond Street; and, under some inexplicable impulse, he found himself sitting in the Baptist Chapel almost before he was aware. The minister, a Mr. Edmonds, was reading from the book of Job, occasionally throwing in some shrewd parenthetic remark. Coming to the following passage, the young man's attention was irresistibly arrested: "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand, where he does work, but I cannot behold him: he hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him": Job 23:8, 9. "Job, Job," the preacher cried entreatingly, "why don't you look upward?" These words were as nails fastened in a sure place, and the young man ever thanked God for the belief that he was unconsciously drawn by the Holy Spirit to enter that place, and that the preacher was impelled to the use of those words, to the end that his life might be redeemed from destruction, and crowned with loving-kindness and tender mercy.
"It befell me," says Henry Ward Beecher, "once to visit a friend, and to spend the night with him, in a manufacturing village in New England. I had never been in the place. I supposed that, when I arrived at the station, I should find a hack that could take me directly to the clergyman's residence. But it was an unusual train that I was on, and there were no hacks there; so I had to walk. The distance to the village was three miles; but before I reached it I had walked at least thirteen miles. I got there at a time of night when all sensible people were in bed. I knew nothing about the place, and did not know where to go. I could not see any church, or store, or hotel. I wandered about for nearly half-an-hour, and at the end of that time I knew no better where I was than I did when I began my search. I never felt so helpless as I did then. I realized what it was for a man, in his own country, and speaking his own language, to be utterly lost. I knocked at three or four houses, and received no response. I went to a house where I saw a light, and found the inhabitants quarreling. A minister seemed to be the last thing they knew anything about. I began to think I should be obliged to sleep out of doors. But, as I was shooting down a certain street, almost aimless, I saw a light; and on going to the house from which it proceeded, and ringing the bell, I found that it was the very house which I was seeking. I thought a great many profitable things that night. Among the rest, I thought that I was, for all the world, like men that I had seen trying to go about the streets of Jerusalem at night, with nobody to tell them the way, and with no chart of the city, who would turn first to the right, and then to the left, without seeming to have any object except that of finding a place where their souls could put up and rest. It is pitiful to see a man, whose mind is troubled, whose conscience is against him, and who yearns for spiritual rest, going hither and thither, up and down, saying, 'Have you seen my Lord and Master? Can you tell me where he tarries, whom my soul delights in?' "
Our glorious Master is always at home, but does not always hold his receptions in the same chamber. One while he will see us in his closet, and anon in his great hall. Today he meets us in the porch, and tomorrow in the innermost room. In reading the Bible I meet him in his library, in working for him I commune with him in the garden. When full of hope I walk with him on the housetop, at another time I wait for him in the secret places of the stairs. It is well to be in the parlor where he talks in sermons, or in his drawing-room where he converses in holy fellowship; but the best room of the house is that wherein he spreads his table, and makes himself to be our bread and wine. In any case, the one desire of our heart is to find him, and live upon him.
C. H. S.
CLXXV
John 7:43—"So there was a division among the people because of him."
Even when Jesus preached so sweetly his meek and loving doctrine there was a division among the people.
Even about himself there was a schism.
We may not, therefore, hope to please everybody, however true may be our teaching, or however peaceful may be our spirit.
We may even dread the unity of death more than the stir of life.
To this day the greatest division in the world is "because of him."
I. There was a division among non-disciples.
We may view the parties formed in his day as symbolical of those in our own.
1. Some admitted none of his claims.
2. Others admitted a portion, but denied the rest.
3. Certain admitted his claims, but neglected to follow out the legitimate consequences of them.
4. A few became his sincere hearers, going as far with him as they had yet learned of him.
Let us view persons who have thoughts about Jesus with considerable hope. Though they blunder now, they may yet come right. Let us not frighten away the birds by imprudent haste.
Let us pray for those who deny his claims, and resist his kingdom.
Let us aid those who come a little way towards the truth, and are willing to go all the way if they can but find it.
Let us arouse those who neglect holy subjects altogether.
II. There was a division of believers from non-believers.
This is a great and wide difference, and the more clearly the division is seen the better; for God views it as very deep and all important.
There is a great division at this present hour—
1. In opinion: especially as to the Lord Jesus.
2. In trust: many rely on self; only the godly on Jesus.
3. In love. Differing pleasures and aims prove that hearts go after differing objects.
4. In obedience, character, and language.
5. In development, growth, tendency.
6. In destiny. The directions of the lines of life point at different places as the end of the journey.
This cleavage divides the dearest friends and relatives.
This is the most real and deep difference in the world.
III. Yet when faith comes, unity is produced.
There is unity among the people because of him.
1. Nationalities are blended. Calvary heals Babel.
Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ.
The near and the far-off as to spiritual things are brought near in him, who is the one and only center of grace and truth.
Believers of all nationalities become one church.
2. Personal peculiarities cease to divide.
Workers for Christ are sure to be blended in one body by their common difficulties.
Position, rank, and wealth give way before the uniting influence of grace.
3. Mental specialities feel the touch of unity.
Saints of varying creeds have an essential union in Christ.
Saints of all the changing ages are alike in him.
Saints of all styles of education are one in Jesus.
Saints in Heaven will be many as the waves, but one as the sea.
Ambitions, which else would disintegrate, are overcome, and laid at Jesus' feet.
Let us divide, if there be a division.
Let us closely unite, if there be real union in Christ.
Confirmations
Christ, who is properly the author of peace, is, on account of the wickedness of men, the occasion of discord. John Calvin.
There never lived any one who has so deeply moved the hearts of men as Jesus Christ has done. The greatest monarchs that ever reigned, the greatest warriors that ever fought, the greatest masters in are, or science, or literature, have never affected so many, and that to so great an extent, as Jesus of Nazareth has done. He has changed the course of the world's history, and made its condition almost inconceivably different from what it would have been but for his coming. His teachings are received by the foremost nations of the earth. Millions of men call themselves by his name. He occupies the highest place in the esteem and affection of multitudes. For his sake men have lived as none others were able or willing to live: for his sake they have died as none others could or would have died.
But in proportion to the faith, the veneration, the love with which Christ is regarded by a portion of mankind, are the unbelief, the contempt, and the hatred, which others display towards him. The poles are not more widely sundered than are the sentiments of men respecting Christ. There is nothing about which they are more completely at variance. Do you sing, "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds"? To this day the Jew curses that name, and the infidel brands it as the name of an impostor. Do you regard Christ as worthy of your warmest love? There are those who regard him with a passionate hate. Satan himself cannot be more bitterly hostile to Christ than some men are. P.
The union of saints results from union with Christ, as the loadstone not only attracts the particles of iron to itself by the magnetic virtue, but by this virtue it unites them to one another. Richard Cecil.
I have seen a field here, and another there, stand thick with corn. A hedge or two has parted them. At the proper season the reapers entered. Soon the earth was disburdened, and the grain conveyed to its destined place, where, blended together in the barn or in the stack, it could not be known that a hedge once separated this corn from that. Thus it is with the church. Here it grows, as it were, in different fields; severed, it may be, by various hedges. By-and-by, when the harvest is come, all God's wheat shall be gathered into the garner, without one single mark to distinguish that once they differed in the outward circumstantiality of modes or forms. From "Parable, or Divine Poesy."
Originating among the Jews, the Christian religion was regarded at first by great Rome as a mere Jewish sect, and shared alike in the impunity and the contempt with which that people were ever treated by their imperial masters. What did a Claudius or a Vespasian know, or care to know, of this new sect of Christians or Nazarenes, any more than of those other party names of Pharisee, Sadducee, Essene, Libertine, and the like?… Christ was then only "one Christus," and the controversies between his followers and the Jewish priests only one of those paltry squabbles to which that restless people were chronically subject. By-and-by, as the young church became strong, it began to make its existence and its presence felt in the world, and then it stood in its genuine character and distinctive spirit face to face with Rome. Once met, they instinctively recognized each the other as its natural and irreconcilable enemy, and immediately a war of deadliest hate began between them, which was from the first one of extermination, and could terminate only by the fall of the one or the other. There was no room in the world for Christ and Caesar, so one or the other must die.
Islay Burns.
CLXXVI
John 8:37—"My word has no place in you."
Where the Word of Jesus ought at once to be received, it is often rejected. These Jews were Abraham's seed, but they had not Abraham's faith.
Jesus knows where his Word is received, and where it has no place.
He declares that all else is unavailing: it was in vain that they were of the favored race if they did not admit the Savior's Word into their hearts.
The practical result appeared in their lives: they sought to kill Jesus.
Let us honestly consider—
I. What place the word should have in men's hearts.
The Word comes from Jesus, the appointed Messenger of God; it is true, weighty, saving; and, therefore, it must have a place among those who hear it. It ought to obtain and retain—
1. An inside place: in the thoughts, the memory, the conscience, the affections. "Your Word have I hid in mine heart": Psalm 119:11. See also Jeremiah 15:16; Colossians 3:16.
2. A place of honor: it should receive attention, reverence, faith, obedience. John 8:47; Luke 6:46; Matthew 7:24, 25.
3. A place of trust. We ought in all things to rely upon the sure Word of promise, since God will neither lie, nor err, nor change. Is. 7:9; 1 Samuel 15:29; Titus 1:2.
4. A place of rule. The Word of Jesus is the law of a Christian.
5. A place of love. It should be prized above our daily food, and defended with our lives. Job. 23:12; Jude 3.
6. A permanent place. It must so transform us as to abide in us.
II. Why it has no place in many men.
If any man be unconverted, let us help him to a reason applicable to his case.
1. You are too busy, and so you cannot admit it.
There is no room for Jesus in the inn of your life.
Think of it, "You are too much occupied to be saved"!
2. It does not come as a novelty, and therefore you refuse it.
You are weary of the old, old story.
Are you wearied of bread? of air? of water? of life?
3. Another occupies the place the Word of Jesus should have.
You prefer the word of man, of superstition, of scepticism.
Is this a wise preference?
4. You think Christ's Word too holy, too spiritual.
This fact should startle you, for it condemns you.
5. It is cold comfort to you, and so you give it no place.
This shows that your nature is depraved; for the saints rejoice in it.
6. You are too wise, too cultured, too genteel, to yield yourself to the government of Jesus. John 5:44; Romans 1:22.
7. Is the reason of your rejection of the Word one of these?
That you are not in earnest?
That you are fond of sin?
That you are greedy of evil gain?
That you need a change of heart?
III. What will come of the word of Christ having no place in you?
1. Every past rejection of that Word has involved you in sin.
2. The Word may cease to ask for place in you.
3. You may yourself become hardened, so as to decline even to hear that Word with the outward ear.
4. You may become the violent opponent of that Word, like these Jews.
5. The Word will condemn you at the last great day. John 12:48.
Let us therefore reason with you for a while.
Why do you not give place to it?
All that is asked of you is to give it place. It will bring with it all that you need.
Open wide the door, and bid it enter!
It is the Word of the Lord Jesus, the Savior.
It means your highest good, and will greatly bless you.
Common-places
Readers of this enlightened, gold-nugget generation can form to themselves no conception of the spirit that then possessed the nobler kingly mind. Verbum Dei manet in Æternum was the epigraph and life-motto which John the Steadfast had adopted for himself. The letters, V.D.M.I.Æ., were engraved on all the furniture of his existence, standards, pictures, plate, on the very sleeves of his lackeys, and I can perceive on his own deep heart first of all. Thomas Carlyle.
O Book! Infinite sweetness! Let my heart
Suck every letter, and a honey gain,
Precious for any grief in any part;
To clear the breast, to mollify all pain.
George Herbert.
The only reason why so many are against the Bible, is because they know the Bible is against them. G. S. Bowes.
At one time the Malagasy did not know of any book except the Bible. There was a Creole trader, in Antananarivo, who had greatly offended some of the natives. They mobbed his house, they seized his property, and men were seen rushing in all directions, carrying away whatever they had been able to lay their hands upon. One man had got possession of the trader's ledger; and, holding it up aloft, he shouted at the top of his voice, "We have got the big Bible! We have got the big Bible!" It is to be feared that the trader's ledger is in too many cases his Bible. Mr. Cousins, of Madagascar.
The Bible has been expelled for centuries, by atheistic or sacerdotal hate, from the dwellings of many of the European nations. As a matter of course, the domestic virtues have declined; the conjugal relation is disparaged; deception and intrigue have supplanted mutual confidence; and society has become diseased to its very core. The very best thing we can do—the only thing which will be efficient—to arrest these evils, is to restore to those nations the Word of God; to replace in their houses that Bible of which they have been robbed. Only do for France and Italy, Belgium and Spain, Portugal and Austria, what has been attempted, and to a great extent accomplished, for our country; put a Bible in every family, and a mightier change will pass over Europe than can be effected by all the diplomacy of her statesmen, or all the revolutions projected by her patriots. The Leisure Hour.
The following anecdote, well told by Mr. Aitken, shows that, in some men, the Word has no place, even in their memories:—"Only a short time ago, a friend of mine was preaching in one of our cathedral churches. As he was going to select for his text a prominent passage in one of the portions for the day, he thought it expedient to inquire of the clerk, 'What did the Canon preach from this morning?' The clerk became very pensive, seemed quite disposed to cudgel his brains for the proper answer; but, somehow or other, he really could not think of it just then. All the men of the choir were robing in the adjacent vestry, so he said that he would go and ask them. Accordingly, the question was passed round the choir, and produced the same perplexity. At length the sagacious clerk returned, with the highly-explicit answer, 'It was upon the Christian religion, sir!' I think those good people must have needed a reminder as to how we should hear; don't you?"
CLXXVII
John 9:31—"Now we know that God hears not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and does his will, him he hears."
It is ill to wrench passages of the Bible out of their context, and treat them as infallible Scripture, when they are only the sayings of men.
By acting thus foolishly we could prove that there is no God (Psalm 14:1), that God has forgotten his people (Isaiah 49:14, that Christ was a wine-bibber (Matthew 11:19), and that we ought to worship the devil (Matthew 4:9).
This will never do. We must inquire who uttered the sentence before we begin to preach from it.
Our text is the saying of a shrewd blind man, who was far from being well instructed. It is to be taken for what it is worth; but by no means to be regarded as Christ's teaching.
The Pharisees evidently admitted the force of it, and were puzzled by it. It was good argument as against them.
This remark of the blind man is true or false as we may happen view it.
I. It is not true in some senses.
We could not say absolutely that God hears not sinners, for—
1. God does hear men who sin, or else he would hear no one; for there is not a man upon earth that sins not. 1 Kings 8:46.
Not a saint would be heard; for even saints are sinners.
2. God does sometimes hear and answer unregenerate men.
To show that he is truly God, and make them own it. Psalm 106:44.
To manifest his great compassion, whereby he even hears the ravens' cry. Psalm 147:9.
To lead them to repentance. 1 Kings 21:27.
To leave them without excuse. Exodus 10:16, 17.
To punish them, as when he sent quails to the murmurers (Numbers 11:33), and gave Israel a king (1 Samuel 12:17), in his anger.
3. God does graciously hear sinners when they cry for mercy.
Not to believe this were to render the gospel no gospel.
Not to believe this were to deny facts. David, Manasseh, the dying thief, the publican, the prodigal, confirm this testimony.
Not to believe this were to deny promises. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon": Isaiah 55:7.
II. It is true in other senses.
The Lord does not hear sinners as he hears his own people.
1. He hears no sinner's prayer apart from the mediation of our Lord Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5; Ephesians 2:18.
2. He will not hear a wicked, formal, heartless prayer. Proverbs 15:29.
3. He will not hear the man who willfully continues in sin, and abides in unbelief. Jeremiah 14:12; Is. 1:15.
4. He will not hear the hypocrite's mockery of prayer. Job 27:9.
5. He will not hear the unforgiving. Mark 11:25, 26.
6. He will not hear even his people when sin is willfully indulged, and entertained in their hearts. Psalm 66:18.
7. He will not hear those who refuse to hear his Word, or to regard his ordinances. Proverbs 28:9.
8. He will not hear those who harden their hearts against the monitions of his Spirit, the warnings of his providence, the appeals of his ministers, the strivings of conscience, and so forth.
9. He will not hear those who refuse to be saved by grace, or who trust in their own prayers as the cause of salvation.
10. He will not hear sinners who die impenitent. At the last he will close his ear to them, as to the foolish virgins, who cried, "Lord, Lord, open to us!" Matthew 25:11.
One or two things are very clear and sure.
He cannot hear those who never speak to him.
He has never yet given any one of us a flat refusal.
He permits us at this moment to pray, and it will be well for us to do so, and see if he does not hear us.
Observations
Such is the mercy of our God that he will wink at many infirmities in our devotions, and will not reject the prayer of an honest heart because of some weakness in the petitioner. It must be a greater cause than all this that makes God angry at our prayers. In general it is sin. "We know that God hears not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and does his will, him he hears." "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." It is our sins that block up the passage of our prayers. It is not the vast distance between Heaven and earth, not the thick clouds, not the threefold regions, not the sevenfold orbs, not the firmament of Heaven, but only our sins, that hinder the ascent of our prayers. "When you make many prayers, I will not hear you." Why? "Because your hands are full of blood." God will have none of those petitions that are presented to him with bloody hands. Our prayers are our bills of exchange, and they are allowed in Heaven when they come from pious and humble hearts; but if we be broken in our religion, and bankrupts of grace, God will protest our bills; he will not be won with our prayers. Thomas Adams.
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below:
Words, without thoughts, never to Heaven go.
Shakespeare.
God is "neither hard of hearing, nor hard of giving."
The blood of sheep and the blood of swine are both alike; yet the blood of swine was not to be offered, because it was the blood of swine: so the prayer of an unregenerate man may be as well framed, both for the petitions and for everything that is required immediately to a prayer, and yet not be accepted, because of the heart and person from whom it comes. Samuel Clark.
It is difficult to illustrate this truth, because, in human life, nothing ever takes place corresponding to what occurs when an impenitent sinner presumes to pray to God. To every government many petitions are presented, but never one by any who are in rebellion against its authority. It is universally recognized, that rebellion against any government of itself cuts off all right of petition to it. So that, for an impenitent sinner to pray to God is one of the most unnatural and monstrous things that can be conceived of.
The fact that God is kind, good, bountiful, does not excuse the presumption of any impenitent sinner in praying to him. That only shows how inexcusable is his impenitence. For if God is good, kind, bountiful, why does he continue impenitent and rebellious?
The fact that he is in great need does not excuse the presumption or lessen the folly of an impenitent sinner in praying to God. It may be that his distress is the punishment of his sin; and for him in that case to pray to God for deliverance is as if a convicted thief were to petition Her Majesty's Government to release him, on the ground that he found it inconvenient and painful to work the treadmill. Or, it may be that his distresses are the means which God is employing for the very purpose of breaking down his obstinacy and impenitence: by them God is laying siege to his soul. But what rebellious city, besieged by the forces of the lawful government, would venture to ask aid from the government, on the ground that great distress prevailed in it, while all the time its inhabitants had not the slightest intention of surrendering to the government?—The Preachers' Monthly.
CLXXVIII
John 10:9—"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
Our Lord sets himself forth very condescendingly.
The most sublime and poetical figures are none too glorious to describe him; but he chooses homely ones, which the most prosaic minds can apprehend.
A door is a common object. Jesus would have us often think of him.
A door makes a very simple emblem. Jesus would have the lowliest know him, and use him.
A door to a sheepfold is the poorest form of door. Jesus condescends to be anything, so that he may serve and save his people.
I. The door. In this homely illustration we see—
1. Necessity. Suppose there had been none, we could never have entered in to God, peace, truth, salvation, purity, or Heaven.
2. Singularity. There is only one door; let us not weary ourselves to find another. Salvation is by entrance at that door, and at none other. Acts 4:12.
3. Personality. The Lord Jesus is himself the door. "I am the door," says he; not ceremonies, doctrines, professions, achievements, but the Lord himself, our Sacrifice.
4. Suitability. He is suited to be the communication between man and God, seeing he unites both in his own person, and thus lies open both earthward and heavenward. 1 Timothy 2:5.
5. Perpetuity. His "I am" is for all times and ages. Matthew 28:20. We can still come to the Father by him. John 14:6; Hebrews 7:25.
II. The users of it.
1. They are not mere observers, or knockers at the door, or sitters down before it, or guards marching to and fro in front of it.
But they enter in by faith, love, experience, communion.
2. They are not certain persons who have special qualifications, such as those of race, rank, education, office, or wealth. Not lords and ladies are spoken of; but "any man."
3. They are persons who have the one qualification: they do "enter in." The person is "any man," but the essential distinction is entrance.
This is intended to exclude—
Character previously acquired as a fitness for entrance.
Feeling, either of grief or joy, as a preparation for admission.
Action, otherwise than that of entering in, as a term of reception.
A door may be marked private, and then few will enter.
A door which is conspicuously marked as the door is evidently meant to be used. The remarkable advertisement of "I am the door," and the special promises appended to it, are the most liberal invitation imaginable.
Come then, you who long to enter into life!
III. The privileges of these users.
They belong to all who enter: no exception is made.
1. Salvation. "He shall be saved." At once, forever, altogether.
2. Liberty. He "shall go in and out." This is no prison-door, but a door for a flock whose Shepherd gives freedom.
3. Access. "Shall go in": for pleading, hiding, fellowship, instruction, enjoyment.
4. Egress. "He shall go out": for service, progress, etc.
5. Nourishment. "And find pasture." Our spiritual food is found through Christ, in Christ, and around Christ.
Let us enter: a door is easy of access; we shall not have to climb over some lofty wall.
Let us enter: it is a door for sheep, who have no wisdom.
Let us enter: the door is Jesus; we need not fear to draw near to him, for he is meek and lowly in heart.
Knockers
The work of the Reformation was thus described by Stern, a German statesman: "Thank Heaven, Dr. Luther has made the entrance into Heaven somewhat shorter, by dismissing a crowd of door-keepers, chamberlains, and masters of ceremony."
In olden times, cathedrals were regarded as places of sanctuary, where criminals and others might take refuge. Over the north porch of Durham Cathedral was a room, where two doorkeepers kept watch alternately, to admit any who at any time, either by day or by night, knocked at the gate, and claimed the protection of St. Cuthbert. Whoever comes to the door of our house of refuge, and at whatever time, finds ready admittance.
It is said that the ancient city of Troy had but one way of entrance. In whatever direction the traveler went, he would find no way to go into the city but the one which was legally appointed, and the only one which was used by those who went in and out. There is only one right way to the favor of God, to the family of God, to the presence of God in prayer, and, finally, to the city of God in eternity, and that one way is Christ. "I am the way," he declares, "and no man comes unto the Father but by me."—John Bate.
We cannot go abroad or return home without passing through an emblem of our Lord. So near as he is in the type, so near let him be in reality.
The sheep enters the fold at first by the door, and it remains in the fold because the door shuts it in. When the flock go forward, they proceed by way of the door; and when they return to their united rest, it is by the same passage. Take away the door from the fold, and the enemy would enter, or the flock would stray. A sheep-fold without a door would in effect be no fold at all. C. H. S.
There are not half-a-dozen ways out of our sin and misery—not a choice of ways over the steep hills and desolate waste-places of this mortal life, so that by any of them we may reach Heaven at last, but only one way.
But, if this is the only way, it is likewise a perfectly secure way. Via unica, via certa, is a Latin proverb in which this truth is stated very forcibly. Dean Howson.
Since Jesus glories that he is the door, let us not hesitate to use him in that capacity. Let us hasten to enter in by him into peace, life, rest, holiness. When we see it written up in large characters, THIS IS THE WAY, we do not fear that we shall trespass if we follow it. What is a way for, but to be followed? What is a door for, but to be passed through? Say that a door-way is never passed, and you have said that it is useless. Why not brick it up? It would be no honor to the Lord Jesus for sinners to be so in awe of him as never to come to God by him; but he delights in being evermore our way of access. C. H. S.
CLXXIX
John 10:22, 23—"And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
"And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch."
The presence of Jesus brings into prominence—
The place: "at Jerusalem, in the temple."
The exact part of it: "Solomon's porch."
The time—the season—the exact date: "it was winter."
The proceedings: "it was the feast of the dedication."
The main feature in all history, and in all the events of a private life, is the presence or absence of Jesus.
At the time mentioned, the Lord Jesus walked manifestly among the people.
We greatly desire his spiritual presence now.
I. Will he be here? Will he be in our assembly?
The place may be a very Jerusalem; but will he be there?
Our meeting-place may be a temple; but will he be there?
It may be a high day; but will the Lord be with us?
It may be cold and wintry; but what of that if he be there?
Our one eager inquiry is about his presence, and we feel sure that he will come, for—
1. We have invited him, and he will not refuse his friends.
2. We are prepared for him. We are waiting to welcome him.
3. We have great need of him, and he is full of compassion.
4. We have some of his brethren here among us, and these bring him with them: indeed, he is in them.
5. We have those here whom he is seeking. He seeks lost sheep, and such are here.
6. He has promised to come. Matthew 18:20.
7. Some declare that they have already seen him. Why should not others of us enjoy the same privilege?
II. Will he stay? He will—
1. If we prize his company, and feel that we cannot live without it We must by earnest prayer constrain him to abide with us. Luke 24:29.
2. If we love his truth, and delight to make it known.
3. If we obey his will, and walk in sincerity and holiness.
4. If we are diligent in his service and worship.
5. If we are united in love to him, to one another, and to poor sinners.
6. If we are humbly reverent, and sit at his feet in lowly confession. The proud he will never favor.
7. If we are jealously watchful.
III. What will he do if he comes?
1. He will walk among us, and observe what we are doing, even as he noticed those who went to the temple at Jerusalem.
2. He will grieve over the spiritual condition of many, even as he mourned over the ruin of Jerusalem.
3. He will wait to give audience to any who desire to speak with him.
4. He will teach by his servant; and his Word, whether received or rejected, will be with great authority and power.
5. He will this day explain to us the temple itself, by being himself the Key to it.
Think of Jesus, who is the temple of God (Rev. 21:22), in the temple, and then understand, by the light of his presence,—
The temple. Hebrews 9:11; Rev. 15:5.
The altar. Hebrews 13:10; Rev. 8:3.
The Sacrifice. Hebrews 9:28; 1 Corinthians 5:7.
The showbread. Hebrews 9:2.
The veil. Hebrews 10:20.
The ark and mercy-seat. Hebrews 9:4, 5; Rev. 11:19.
The Priest. Hebrews 10:12.
6. He will to his own people reveal his love, as once the Lord's light shone above the mercy-seat.
7. He will take us where he always walks, but where there is no winter: to the New Jerusalem, to the temple, to a more beautiful building than Solomon's Porch. Rev. 21:10, 11.
Expository
What is here called "Solomon's Porch", was, strictly speaking, not a porch at all in the English sense of the word, but one of the large open colonnades that surrounded the courts.… The whole length of the four sides of the outer court was three quarters of a mile. The eastern side was "Solomon's Porch." It was a vast gallery of columns in double rows. Each column, thirty-five feet high, consisted of one piece of white marble. The roof above was in panels of cedar-wood. The view, through the columns, eastward and outward, ranged across the valley over the Mount of Olives. The inward view was into the court itself, which was planted with trees, and where, at festival times, there were crowds of people.
There is much solemnity in contemplating Jesus as he "walked" among the pillars of this famous colonnade; and it is interesting to compare this passage of the life of Jesus with a much earlier one recorded by the same Evangelist. We read, in the first chapter of John's Gospel, that Jesus was "walking"—in solitude—by the banks of the Jordan, while John the Baptist and two of his disciples looked on. Then, perhaps, the Lord was meditating on his great mission, on the beginning of his work, and on the calling of the first disciples which speedily followed in that place. Now, perhaps, he was meditating on the accomplishment of his work, on the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple, and on the doom of the Jewish people. The impression upon the mind is very serious when we think of Jesus, on either of these occasions, as walking in silence, either by the banks of the famous historical river, or in this colonnade of the temple, which, in another way, is equally famous in the sacred annals. Dean Howson's "Thoughts for Saints' Days."
The Mohammedans have a saying, that, whenever two persons meet, there is always a third. The proverb refers to the presence of God. Professor Hoge.
As the sun is as ready to pour its radiance upon the daisy on a village common as upon the oaks in Windsor Park, so is Christ as willing to visit the heart of the poorest and feeblest as well as the richest and noblest of earth. Handbook of Illustration.
When Christ says, "I will be with you," you may add what you will—to protect you, to direct you, to comfort you, to carry on the work of grace in you, and in the end to crown you with immortality and glory. All this and more is included in this precious promise. John Trapp.
CLXXX
John 14:28—"He heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I."
Jesus' love makes him use the disciples' love to himself as a comfort for themselves when they are distressed about his going away.
He appeals to the warmest feeling in their hearts in order to raise their spirits.
It is well when grace has put within us principles which are springs of consolation.
O blessed Master, you speak ever with a view to our joy!
From our text let us learn—
I. That we should try to see things in Christ's light.
1. He sees the whole of things. He says not only, "I go away," but also, "I come again unto you."
2. He sees through things. He does not say, "I die," but he looks beyond, and says, "I go unto the Father."
3. He sees the true bearing of things. The events which were about to happen were in themselves sad, but they would lead to happy results. "If you loved me, you would rejoice."
To see facts in his light we must dwell with him, live in him, grow like him, and especially love him more and more.
II. That our love should go forth towards his person. "If you loved me." All about him is amiable; but he himself is altogether lovely. Solomon's Song 5:16.
1. He is the source of all the benefits he bestows.
2. Loving him, we have him, and so his benefits.
3. Loving him, we prize his benefits the more.
4. Loving him, we sympathize in all that he does.
5. Loving him, we love his people for his sake.
6. Loving him, our love endures all sorts of rebuffs for his sake.
7. Loving him, the Father loves us. John 14:23.
8. Loving him, we are married to him. Love is the sure and true marriage-bond whereby the soul is united to Christ.
Love to a person is the most real of emotions.
Love to a person is the most influential of motives.
Love to a person is, in this case, the most natural and satisfying of affections.
III. That our sorrow ought not to put our love in question.
Yet, in the case of the disciples, our Lord justly said, "If you loved me."
He might sorrowfully say the same to us—
1. When we lament inordinately the loss of creatures.
2. When we repine at his will, because of our severe afflictions.
3. When we mistrust his wisdom, because we are sore hampered and see no way of escape.
4. When we fear to die, and thus display an unwillingness to be with our Lord. Surely, if we loved him, we should rejoice to be with him.
5. When we complain concerning those who have been taken from us to be with him. Ought we not to rejoice that Jesus in them sees of the travail of his soul, and has his prayer answered, "Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am"? John 17:24.
IV. That our love should make us rejoice at our Lord's exaltation, though it be our personal loss.
1. It was apparently the disciples' loss for their Lord to go to the Father; and we may think certain dispensations to be our loss—
When we are tried by soul-desertion, while Christ is magnified in our esteem.
When we are afflicted, and he is glorified, by our sorrows.
When we are eclipsed, and in the result the gospel is spread.
When we are deprived of privileges for the good of others.
When we sink lower and lower in our own esteem, but the kingdom of God comes with power.
2. It was greatly to our Lord's gain to go to his Father.
Thus he left the field of suffering forever.
Thus he reassumed the glory which he had laid aside.
Thus he received the glory awarded by the Father.
Thus he became enthroned for his church and cause.
It will be well for us to look more to our love than to our joy, and to expect our joy through our love.
It will be well for us to know that smallness of love may dim the understanding, and that growth in it may make us both wiser and happier.
In all things our Lord must be first. Yes, even in those most spiritual delights, about which it may seem allowable to have strong personal desires.
Striking paragraphs
Observe that Christ does not say, "My Father was greater than I," in reference to his pre-existent glory; nor, "My father will be greater than I," in reference to the glory which he was to resume after his exaltation; but he uses a style of expression which shows that he refers to the present time—to the time of his humiliation in the flesh. The apostles had been expressing regret at the announcement of his immediate departure, and this passage contains a soft rebuke of the selfishness of their feelings. We may paraphrase it thus: "If you really loved me on my own account—if the regard and affection you profess to entertain were purely unselfish in its nature—so far from evincing sorrow at the prospect of my departure, you would rejoice that I shall leave this state of temporary degradation; that I shall cease to be the Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief; that I shall resume that original and essential glory which I enjoyed with the Father from eternity. As long as I continue in my present state of humiliation, my Father is greater in glory than I; but when the days of my flesh shall terminate, I shall then be glorified with the Father's own self, with that glory which I had with him before the world was created." This is obviously the correct paraphrase of the passage; no other interpretation of the words, "For my Father is greater than I," could justify, or attach any force to, the interesting appeal which the Savior makes to the love and affection of his disciples. Dean Bagot.
Dr. John Duncan, having heard a sermon on the kingdom of Heaven, in which the blessings of the new covenant were compared to a market, in which a man could buy everything needed for eternal life, met his friend, Dr. Moody Stuart, at the close of the service, and said to him, "Dear friend, when I heard of the good things that were offered in the market, I said to myself, I will marry the merchant, and they will all be mine."—The Christian.
The author of a biographical sketch of the late Rev. W. Robinson, of Cambridge, says, "In one of my last conversations with him, I was referring to the sadness of seeing our good men die; and he turned to me with the well-known blaze in his eye, and emphasis of his voice, saying, 'I think it glorious.' "
A saint cares not how ill it goes with him so it goes well with Jesus Christ; he says, as Mephibosheth to David, "Yes, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house": 2 Samuel 19:30. So it may go well with God's name, Moses cares not though his be blotted out of the book of life; and, said John the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must decrease; this my joy, therefore, is fulfilled."—Ralph Venning.
CLXXXI
John 14:31—"Arise, let us go hence."
We cannot be long in one stay. A voice ever sounds in our ear, "Arise, let us go hence."
Even when we have conversed on the sweetest themes, or have enjoyed the holiest ordinances, we have not yet come to our eternal abode; still are we on the march, and the trumpet sounds. "Arise, let us go hence."
Our Lord was under marching-orders, and he knew it: for him there was no stay upon this earth.
Hear how he calls himself, and all his own, to move on, though bloody sweat and bloody death be in the way.
I. Our Master's watchword. "Arise, let us go hence."
By this stirring word—
1. He expressed his desire to obey the Father. "As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence."
He was not hindered by expected suffering.
He did not start back, though in that suffering there would be the special element of his Father's forsaking him.
He did not hesitate though death was in near prospect.
He was eager to do the will of the Father, and make all Heaven and earth know how entirely he yielded himself to the Father.
2. He indicated his readiness to meet the arch-enemy. "The prince of this world comes. Arise, let us go hence."
He was prepared for the test. He "has nothing in me."
He was eager to overthrow his dominion.
3. He revealed his practical activity. All through the chapter observe our Lord's energy. He is ever on the move. "I go. I will come again. I will do it. I will pray. Arise, let us go hence."
He prefers action to the most sacred rites, and so leaves the Supper-table with this word on his lips.
He prefers action to the sweetest converse. "I will not talk much with you. Arise, let us go hence."
4. He manifested his all-consuming love to us.
He was straitened until he had accomplished our redemption.
He could not rest in the company of his best-beloved until their ransom was paid.
He would not sit at God's right hand until he had felt the shame of the cross, and the bitterness of death. Hebrews 12:2.
II. Our own motto. "Arise, let us go hence."
Ever onward, ever forward, we must go. Exodus 14:15.
1. Out of the world when first called by grace. 2 Corinthians 6:17.
How clear the call! How prompt should be our obedience!
Jesus is without the camp, we go forth unto him. Hebrews 13:13.
We must arouse ourselves to make the separation. "Arise, let us go hence."
2. Out of forbidden associations, if, as believers, we find ourselves like Lot in Sodom. "Escape for your life": Genesis 19:17.
3. Out of present attainments when growing in grace. Philippians 3:13, 14.
4. Out of all rejoicing in self. There we must never stop for a single instant. Self-satisfaction should startle us.
5. To work, anywhere for Jesus. We should go away from Christian company and home comforts, to win souls. Mark 16:15.
6. To defend the faith where it is most assailed. We should be prepared to quit our quiet, to contend with the foe. Jude 3.
7. To suffer when the Lord lays affliction upon us. 2 Corinthians 12:9.
8. To die when the voice from above calls us home. 2 Timothy 4:6.
O sinner, where would you go if suddenly summoned?
O saint, what better could happen to you than to arise and go hence?
trumpet calls
It was well said once by a remarkable man, and the words are worth remembering, "Bear in mind that you are just then beginning to go wrong when you are a little pleased with yourself because you are going right." Let us watch against this as a snare of Satan, and endeavor ever to maintain the apostolic attitude: "In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than himself." And let me caution you not to make the mistake of supposing that this self-delight can be effectually guarded against by a mere use of the recognized theological expressions duly ascribing all the merit and all the praise to God. These are too often merely the garments of spiritual pride, and by no means must they be mistaken for true humility. W. H. M. H. Aitken.
I heard a friend of mine, not long ago, relate an incident, which I will venture to repeat, as well as I remember it. He was having an earnest conversation, upon the necessity of full consecration, with a lady who professed to know Christ as her Savior, but shrank from yielding herself fully to him. At last she said, with more outspoken honesty, I am afraid, than many who mean exactly the same thing display, "I don't want to give myself right over to Christ; for, if I were to do so, who knows what he might do with me? For anything I know, he might send me out to China." Years had passed away when my friend received a most deeply interesting letter from this very lady, telling of how her long conflict with God had come to an end, and what happiness and peace she now felt in the complete surrender of herself to her Lord; and referring to her former conversation she said, "And now I am my own no longer, I have made myself over to God without reserve, and he is sending me to China."—W. H. M. H. Aitken.
Pressed on all sides by the enemy, the Austrian General Melas sent a messenger to Suwarrow, asking where he should "retire." Suwarrow wrote with a pencil, "Forward."
That pencil wrote a word immortal—a word which, in the memory and admiration of mankind, shall outlive a thousand boastful records on stoned marble—a word which no lapse of ages can erase.
The zealous are impatient of any hindrances. As Edmund Burke said to the electors of Bristol, "Applaud us when we run; console us when we fall; cheer us when we recover; but let us pass on—for God's sake, let us pass on!"
History tells us that, when the great Roman Catholic missionary—the apostle of the east—was lying on his dying bed, among the barbarous people whom he loved so well, his passing spirit was busy about his work, and even in the article of death, while the glazing eye saw no more clearly, and the ashen lips had begun to stiffen into eternal silence, visions of further conquests flashed before him, and his last word was "Amplius,"—onward. Brethren, let this be our motto, and our cry, "Onward." Until the last wandering sheep, far out upon the bleak mountain-side, hears Christ's voice, and is gathered into his fold. A. H. Baynes.
We must be careful not to get out of the sound of the Master's voice. It is for us to watch and wait for his orders.
When adjutant of my regiment there were always orderlies on duty at the orderly-room. In a garrison town, such as Dublin, I always had two. Their place was just outside the orderly-room door, within sound of my voice. They were watching and waiting for orders; they took letters, messages, etc. They were not always carrying messages, but they could not go away without my leave, and it was their duty to be always ready. They were doing their duty while watching and waiting, as much as when actually carrying a letter or message. So with the servant of Christ—"Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily … waiting at the posts of my doors."
A lady, who had been maid of honor to the Queen, said that it used to be her great delight to try and place herself near the Queen, that she might have the opportunity of doing any little service for her sovereign. From "Communion and Conflict," by Captain Dawson.
CLXXXII
John 19:14—"He says unto the Jews, Behold your King!"
Pilate spoke far more than he understood, and therefore we shall not confine ourselves to his meaning.
Everything concerning our Lord was more than ever full of meaning just then; the saying of Caiaphas, the fleeing of the disciples, the dividing of his garments, the soldier piercing his side, etc.
It was to the Jews that Jesus was brought forth, and by them he was rejected; yet was he distinctly declared to be their King.
The same is repeated at this day among those favored with special privileges; but whether they accept him or not, he is assuredly in some sense or other their King.
To the summons of the text the answer was mockery.
We would with deepest reverence draw near, and behold our King.
I. Behold him preparing his throne.
1. He lays the foundation of it in his suffering nature.
2. He makes it a throne of grace by his atoning griefs.
3. He prepares access to it through his ability to have compassion on those who come to him, by partaking in all their sorrows.
4. He canopies and glorifies it by the shame to which he willingly and unreservedly yields himself.
Believe in the perpetuity of a throne thus founded.
II. Behold him claiming our homage.
He claims and wins our adoration—
1. By the right of supreme love.
2. By the right of complete purchase.
3. By the right of grateful consecration, which we heartily accord to him under a sense of loving gratitude.
Glory in rendering homage thus made due.
III. Behold him subduing his dominions.
1. Jews and Gentiles are won to obedience by beholding his sufferings for them.
2. This brings in his own elect everywhere.
3. This restores backsliders. They look to him whom they have wounded, and return to their allegiance.
4. This holds all his true servants captive: they glory in yielding their all to him who was thus put to shame for them.
5. This subdues all things unto him. By his cross and passion he reigns in Heaven, earth, and Hell.
Bow low before the scepter of his Cross.
IV. Behold him setting forth the pattern of his kingdom.
He stands there the Prophet and the Type of his own dominion.
1. It is no earthly kingdom: the difference is palpable to all.
2. It is associated with shame and suffering, both on the part of the King and of his loyal subjects.
3. It is based on his love and self-sacrifice: this is his right of sovereignty, this his force of arms, this the source of his revenue.
4. It is made resplendent by his woes: these are the insignia and ornaments of his court; his glory even in Heaven.
Glory only in the cross.
V. Behold him proving the certainty of his kingdom.
1. Is he King there in his shame? Then, assuredly, he is King now that he has risen from the dead, and gone into the glory.
2. Is he King amid shame and pain? Then he is able to help us if we are in like case.
3. Is he King while paying the price of our redemption? Then, certainly, he is King now that it is paid, and he has become the author of eternal salvation.
4. Is he King at Pilate's bar? Then truly he will be so when Pilate stands at his bar to be judged.
Come hither, saints, and pay your accustomed worship!
Come hither, sinners, and adore for the first time!
Glimpses
It is far worse to despise a Savior in his robes than to crucify him in his rags. An affront is more criminal to a prince upon his throne than when he is disguised as a subject, and masked in the clothes of his servant. Christ is entered into glory after his sufferings; all who are his enemies must enter into misery after their prosperity: and whoever will not be ruled by his golden scepter shall be crushed by his rod. Stephen Charnock.
Did Pilate hope to melt the Jewish heart to a sort of scornful pity? Did he think that they would turn away from so wretched an object, and be ashamed of having accused him of treason? Perhaps so. But he failed. The sorrows of Jesus do not of themselves overcome the hate of man; but this fact proves how desperately hardened his heart has become.
Given the Holy Spirit, there is nothing more likely to win men to Jesus than beholding him in his sorrows. Behold, O man, and see what your sin has done, what your Redeemer has borne, and what he claims of you! Behold him not as another's, but as your! Behold him not only as your Friend, your Savior, but your King! Behold him, and at once fall at his feet, and own yourself his loving subject!—C. H. S.
"Behold your King."—This is neither an impossible nor a delusive command. The eye that looks away up to Jesus will behold him now: and what shall we behold? The vision is all of beauty, and glory, and coronation now. The sorrow and the marred visage are past; and even when we behold him as the Lamb of God, it is the Lamb "in the midst of the throne" now.
O daughters of Zion, who gaze by faith upon Jesus our King, what do you see? Oh the music of the answers!—"We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor!" "Fairer than the children of men." "Beautiful and glorious!" "How great is his beauty!" "His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars," and "as the sun shines in his strength!" "Yes, he is altogether lovely!"—Frances Ridley Havergal.
CLXXXIII
John 20:15—"Jesus says unto her, Woman, why weep you? Whom Seek you?"
Woman has had many reasons for weeping since the fall.
Jesus went to his death amid weeping women, and on his rising he met a little company of them.
The first words of a risen Savior are to a weeping woman.
He who was born of woman has come to dry up woman's tears.
Observe the wise method followed by the divine Consoler.
Magdalene is to state the reason of her weeping. "Why weep you?" Often sorrow vanishes when it is defined. It is wise to chase away mystery and understand the real cause of grief.
He helps her also by coming nearer to her grief in the second question: "Whom Seek you?" She was seeking him.
He was himself the answer to his own inquiries.
In all cases Jesus is the most suitable Comforter and comfort.
Let us put this question, "Why weep you?" in two ways.
I. Is it natural sorrow?
1. Are you bereaved? The risen Savior comforts you; for—
He assures you of the resurrection of the departed.
He is with you, your living Helper.
He sympathizes with you, for he once lost his friend Lazarus; yes, he himself has died.
2. Are your beloved ones sick? Sorrow not impatiently; for—
He lives to hear prayer for healing.
He waits to bless them if they are dying.
3. Are you yourself sick? Be not impatient; for—
Jesus lives to moderate your pains.
Jesus lives to sustain your heart under suffering.
Jesus lives to give life to your body, as he has done to your soul.
4. Are you poor? Do not murmur, for—
He lives, and is rich.
He would have you find your all in himself.
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
5. Are you of a sorrowful spirit? Do not despond, but—
See where his sorrows have brought him.
See how he came to the sorrowful, and how he comes still.
See what he does in his consoling ministry, and imitate him by cheering others. Thus you shall yourself be comforted.
II. Is it spiritual sorrow?
1. Distinguish. See whether it be good or ill. "Why weep you?"
Is it selfish sorrow? Be ashamed of it.
Is it rebellious? Repent of it.
Is it ignorant? Learn of Jesus, and so escape it.
Is it hopeless? Believe in God and hope ever.
Is it gracious? Then thank him for it.
2. Declare. Tell Jesus all about it. "Why weep you?"
Is it sorrow for others? He weeps with you.
Are loved ones abiding in sin?
Is the church cold and dead?
Is it the sorrow of a seeking saint? He meets you.
Do you miss his presence?
Have you grieved his Holy Spirit?
Can you not attain to holiness?
Can you not serve him as much as you desire?
Do your prayers appear to fail?
Does your old nature rebel?
Is it the sorrow of one in doubt? He will strengthen you.
Come to Jesus as a sinner.
Is it the sorrow of a seeking sinner? He will receive you.
Do you weep because of past sin?
Do you fear because of your evil nature?
Are you unable to understand the gospel?
Do you weep lest you grow hardened again?
Do you mourn because you can not mourn?
He is before you: believe in him, and weeping will end.
He accepts you: in him you have all you are seeking for.
Consolatory Thoughts
A Hindu woman said to a missionary, "Surely your Bible was written by a woman." "Why?" "Because it says so many kind things for women. Our pundits never refer to us but in reproach."
"Woman, why weep you?" God and his angels take notice of every tear of our devotion. The sudden wonder has not dried her eyes, nor charmed her tongue: she freely confesses the cause of her grief to be the missing of her Savior: "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." Alas! good Mary, how do you lose your tears? Of whom do you complain but of your best Friend? Who has removed your Lord but himself? Who but his own Deity has taken away his human body out of the region of death? Neither is he now laid any more; he stands by you, whose removal you complain of. Thus many a tender and humble soul afflicts itself with the want of that Savior whom it has, and feels not. Bishop Hall.
She turns away from the angels, like a Rachel who will not be comforted. But there is comfort in store for her, sorrow as she may. We have an example given us here of how only the Lord himself can suffice to comfort spirits like that of Mary Magdalene. The Lord sees the heart, and none shall weep for him in vain; but even the angels, gracious though their sympathy be, must leave the task of comforting the deepest sorrow to the Lord. Rudolf Stier.
The first words that ever Christ spoke after his resurrection to them he appeared to, were, "Woman, why weep you?" It is a good question after Christ's resurrection. What cause of weeping remains now that Christ is risen? Our sins are forgiven, because he, our Head and Surety, has suffered death for us; and if Christ be risen again, why weep we? If we be broken-hearted, humbled sinners, that have interest in his death and resurrection, we have no cause to grieve. Richard Sibbes.
"Good men weep easily," says the Greek poet; and the better any are, the more inclined to weeping, especially under affliction. As you may see in David, whose tears, instead of gems, were the ornaments of his bed; in Jonathan, Job, Ezra, Daniel, etc. "How," says one, "shall God wipe away my tears in Heaven if I shed none on earth? And how shall I reap in joy if I sow not in tears? I was born with tears, and I shall die with tears; and why then should I live without them in this valley of tears?"—Thomas Brooks.
Be not troubled, my soul. God has for you something better than your imaginings. It is with you as with the women of Galilee. They sought only a dead form, and they found a living Lord. You also have been too eager for the earthly form of your hope's fulfillment. Has he promised that all things shall work together for your good, and yet denied you the comforts of the world? What then? Is his promise void? May it not be that you have found your promise in the very region where it seems to have failed you, in the privations and sorrows of life? What matter though you have lost the form, if you have found the sepulcher vacant? The loss is a gain, and the vacancy is fullness of joy. There are losses which mean nothing less than resurrection. I rise more by the discovery of my wants than by the discovery of my possessions … O fragrance of the broken ointment box! O light of resurrection! reached from human emptiness, I am enriched by the gain of you.
Dr. George Matheson.
CLXXXIV
John 20:17—"Jesus says unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."
The lesson is to a soul brought into the conscious presence of the Lord.
Oh, to be in that condition!
Mary Magdalene had wept because of her Lord's absence, and longed to find him; and now she has her desire: he stands before her.
Oh, that we knew where we might find him! Job 23:3.
Her conduct in holding him by the feet was natural, and yet it was forbidden by a higher wisdom than that of mortal men.
I. The caution. "Touch me not."
1. We may blunder even in our closest fellowship, and may need a prohibition. We have never greater need of caution than in our nearest approaches to God. Courtiers must be most careful in the throne-room.
2. We may carnalize the spiritual.
This has ever been a tendency with even the best of the saints; and it has misled many in whom affection has been stronger than intellect.
3. We may seek most passionately what is by no means essential.
The assurance of sense, by touch or otherwise: when the assurance of faith is far better, and quite sufficient.
The detaining of one who has no intention of going.
4. We may crave what were better further on.
When we are raised to eternal glory we shall be able to enjoy what now we must not ask.
5. We may be selfish in our enjoyments.
Staying to contemplate alone by ourselves, when we ought rather to bless others by publishing the blessed news. 2 Kings 7:9.
II. The mission. "Go to my brethren."
She would have preferred to stay, but Jesus bids her go.
1. This was better for her. Contemplation alone may degenerate into the sentimental, the sensuous, the impracticable.
2. This was better for them. They heard the best of news from the most trustworthy of informants.
3. This was unquestioningly done by this holy woman.
What she had seen she declared.
What she had heard she told.
Women are said to be communicative; and so there was wisdom in the choice.
Women are affectionate, and so persuasive; and therefore fit to bear such a tender message as we have now to consider.
III. The title. "My brethren."
Our Lord, of design, chose this title to comfort his sorrowing ones. They had so acted as almost to cease to be his followers, disciples, or friends; but brotherhood is an abiding relationship. They were—
1. His brethren, though he was about to ascend to his throne.
He was still a man, though no more to suffer and die.
He still represented them as their risen Head.
He was still one with them in all his objects and prospects.
2. His brethren, though they had forsaken him in his shame.
Relationship abiding, for brotherhood cannot be broken.
Relationship owned more than ever; since their sense of guilt made them afraid. He was a true Joseph to them. Genesis 45:4.
Relationship dwelt upon, that they might be reassured.
Never let us omit the tender sweetnesses of the gospel, its courtesies, blessings, and love-words, such as the "My brethren" of the text before us. If we leave out these precious words we shall mar the Master's message of grace.
IV. The tidings. "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father."
This message was meant to arouse and comfort them.
1. By the news of his departure they are to be aroused.
2. By the news of his ascension they are to be confirmed.
3. By his ascension to the common Father they are to be comforted with the prospect of coming there themselves. He is not going into an unknown country, but to his home and theirs. John 14:2.
4. By his ascent to God they are to be struck with solemn awe, and brought the more reverently to look for his presence among them.
See how practical our Lord is, and how much he values the usefulness of his servants.
Have we not somewhat to tell?
Whether man or woman, tell the Lord's brethren what the Lord has told to you.
Touches
It is this that men will labor after, and have labored for, even from the beginning of the world,—to be too much addicted to the things of sight and sense. They will worship Christ, but they must have a picture before them. They will adore Christ, but they must bring his body down to a piece of bread. They must have a presence, and so, instead or raising their hearts to God and Christ in a heavenly manner, they pull down God and Christ to them. This the pride and base earthliness of man will do. And therefore says Christ, "Touch me not" in that manner; it is not with me now as it was before. We must take heed of mean and base conceits of Christ. What says Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16? "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yes, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." Christ after the flesh was of such a tribe and of such a stature, and had such gifts and qualities. What is that to me? Christ is now Lord of lords and King of kings. He is glorious in Heaven, and so I conceive of him. Richard Sibbes.
"Touch me not."—By which we are to understand, not that the Lord would have objected to this token of her affection, for we find that soon after the Lord made Thomas put his hand into his side (verse 25); but this was not the moment for Mary to be so employed. The Lord had a message to send by her to his disciples. It was time that they, as well as herself, should receive the joyful tidings of his resurrection; therefore he would first send her to them. Dr. Hawker.
To whom then do you send her? "Go to my brethren." Blessed Jesus! who are these? Were they not your followers? Yes, were they not your forsakers? Yet still you stylest them your brethren. O admirable humanity! O infinite mercy! How do you raise their titles with yourself? At first they were your servants, and then your disciples; a little before your death they were your friends; now, after your resurrection, they were your brethren. You that were exalted infinitely higher from mortal to immortal, descendest so much lower to call them brethren who were before friends, disciples, servants. Bishop Hall.
While the going up of Elijah may be compared to the flight of a bird which none can follow, the ascension of Christ is, as it were, a bridge between Heaven and earth, laid down for all who are drawn to him by his earthly existence. Baumgarten.
CLXXXV
John 20:27—"Then says he to Thomas, Reach hither your finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither your hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing."
How struck must Thomas have been when his Lord addressed to him the very words which he had himself used! (See verse 25.) Jesus knows how to send the word home to us.
In the church of today we have many a Thomas,—slow, suspicious, critical, full of doubts, yet true-hearted.
Thomas set his Lord a test, and thus tried his patience.
The Lord accepted the test, and so proved his condescension.
The proof sufficed for Thomas, and thus showed the Lord's wisdom.
Perhaps, certain among us would desire tests of some such sort.
To those we would earnestly say,—
I. Crave no signs.
After the full proofs which Christ gave to his apostles, we need no more, and to look for further signs and evidences would be wrong. Yet some are demanding miracles, faith healings, visions, voices, impressions, transports, depressions, etc.
1. It is dishonoring to your Lord.
2. It is unreasonable, when the truth bears its own evidence.
3. It is presumptuous. How dare we stipulate for proof more than sufficient, or demand evidence of a sort which pleases our prejudices!
4. It is damaging to ourselves. Faith must be weak while we demand for it such proofs; and in this weakness lies incalculable mischief.
5. It is dangerous. We may readily be driven either into infidelity or superstition, if we give way to this craving for signs.
Picture what Thomas could and would have become under the influence of his unbelief, had not his Lord interposed.
II. Yet turn to Christ's wounds. Let these stand to you instead of signs and wonders.
Behold in these wounds—
1. The seals of his death. He did actually and truly die. How could he outlive that wound in his side?
2. The identification of his person as actually risen.
3. The tokens of his love. He has graven us upon the palms of his hands.
4. The ensigns of his conflict, of which he is not ashamed, for he displays them.
5. The memorials of his passion, by which he is manifested in glory as the Lamb that was slain. Rev. 5:6.
This should more than suffice you; but should doubt still linger—
III. Use such evidences as you possess.
1. The sacred narrative of our Lord's life and death, if carefully studied, exhibits a singular self-evidencing power.
2. The regenerating and purifying result of faith in the great Lord is a further piece of evidence. "By their fruits you shall know them": Matthew 7:20.
3. The solace which faith yields in sorrow is good proof.
4. The strength it gives in the hour of temptation is further help.
5. The ardor of mind and elevation of aim, which faith in Jesus creates, are other experimental arguments.
6. The visitations of the Holy Spirit, in quickening the heart, reviving the spirit, and guiding the mind, are additional proofs. Thus the Holy Spirit bears witness to our Lord.
7. The actual enjoyment of fellowship with the Lord Jesus himself is the master-key of the whole controversy. "We have known and believed": 1 John 4:16.
Does this seem an idle tale to you?
Should you not see cause for fear, if it be so?
Seek now to view those wounds believingly, that you may live.
Notes
For all your rankling doubts so sore,
Love you your Savior still
Him for your Lord and God adore.
And ever do his will.
Though vexing thoughts may seem to last,
Let not your soul be quite overcast;
Soon will he show you all his wounds, and say,
"Long have I known your name—know you my face always."
Keble.
We learn here how prone we are to establish improper criteria of truth. How often do we judge of things exclusively by our experience, our reason, our senses! But what can be more foolish than this? To how small a distance do these powers extend? How many things are certainly true, the truth of which falls not within the compass of either! How many things can a man relate, which appear impossible to a child! Tell the inhabitants of the sultry climes, that, at a certain season of the year, water, which he has only seen in a fluid state, becomes solid, and hard enough to walk upon—and it will seem to him an idle tale: he has witnessed no such thing, and reasoning from what he knows, deems it incredible. If Thomas had constantly judged according to the rule he professed, how little could he have believed at all!… To believe no more than we can comprehend, or reduce to some of our modes of knowledge, is not to honor the authority of God at all; yes, it is a reflection upon his wisdom, and upon his veracity: upon his wisdom—as if he could tell us no more than we know; and upon his veracity—as if he were not to be trusted if he could. William Jay.
Skillful swimmers are not afraid to go above their depth, whereas young learners feel for the ground, and are reluctant to go far from the bank-side. Strong faith fears not when God carries the creature beyond the depth of his reason. "We know not what to do," said good Jehoshaphat, "but our eyes are upon you": 2 Chronicles 20. As if he had said, "We are in a sea of trouble beyond our own help, or any thought how we can wind out of these straits, but our eyes are upon you. We dare not give up our case for desperate so long as there is strength in your arm, tenderness in your affections, and truth in your promise." Whereas weak faith, that is groping for some footing for reason to stand on, is taken up with how to reconcile the promise to the creature's understanding. William Gurnall.
CLXXXVI
John 20:29—"Jesus says unto him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
Those who saw and believed not, were far from being blessed.
Those who saw him, and believed, were undoubtedly blessed.
Those who have not seen, and yet have believed, are emphatically blessed.
There remains the superlative degree of blessedness in seeing Jesus face to face without need of believing in the same sense as now.
But for the present this is our blessedness, this is our place in the gospel history,—we have not seen, and yet have believed. What a comfort that so high a degree of blessedness is open to us!
I. Do not let us diminish this blessedness.
1. Let us not diminish it by wishing to see.
By pining for some imaginary voice, or vision, or revelation.
By craving marvelous providences, and singular dispensations.
By hungering for despairs or transports.
By perpetually demanding arguments, and logical demonstrations.
By clamoring for conspicuous success in connection with the preaching of the word, and the missionary operations of the church.
By being anxious to believe with the majority. Truth has usually been with the minority.
2. Let us not diminish it by failing to believe.
Believe practically, so as to act upon our faith.
Believe intensely, so as to laugh at contradictions.
Believe livingly, so as to be simple as a child.
Believe continually, so as to be evenly confident.
Believe personally, so as to be assured alone, even if all others give the lie to the doctrines of the Lord.
Believe thoroughly, so as to find the rest of faith.
II. Do not let us think this blessedness unattainable.
1. This blessedness is linked forever with the faith which our Lord accepts: in fact, it is the appointed reward of it.
2. God deserves such faith of us. He is so true that his unsupported word is quite enough for faith to build upon. Can we only believe him as far as we can see him?
3. Thousands of saints have rendered, and are rendering, such faith, and are enjoying such blessedness at this moment. We are bound to have fellowship with them in like precious faith.
4. Hitherto our own experience has warranted such faith. Has it not?
5. Those of us who are now enjoying the blessed peace of faith can speak with great confidence upon the matter.
Why, then, are so many cast down? Why will they not believe?
III. Do not let any of us miss it.
The faith which our Lord described is exceedingly precious, and we ought to seek after it, for—
1. It is the only true and saving faith. Faith which demands sight is not faith at all, and cannot save the soul.
2. It is in itself most acceptable with God. Nothing is acceptable without it (Hebrews 11:6). It is the evidence of the acceptance of the man and his works.
3. It is a proof of grace within: of a spiritual mind, a renewed nature, a reconciled heart, a new-born spirit.
4. It is the root-principle of a glorious character.
5. It is exceedingly useful to others: in comforting the despondent, in impressing unbelievers, in cheering seekers, etc.
6. It enriches its possessor to the utmost, giving power in prayer, strength of mind, decision of character, firmness under temptation, boldness in enterprise, joy of soul, realization of Heaven, etc.
Know you this faith?
Blessedness lies that way. Seek it!
Contributions
But why specially blessed? Because the Holy Spirit has wrought this faith in their hearts. They are blessed in having a believing heart; they are blessed in the instrument of their belief; blessed in having an evidence that they are passed from death unto life: "whom, having not seen, you love." It is more blessed to believe than to see, because it puts more honor upon God's word. It is more blessed, because it presents us with a more invariable object. He who can trust an unseen Savior may trust him in all circumstances: shut him up in a dungeon, separate from all sight and light, it matters not; for he has always a heart to believe unto righteousness, and his soul rests upon a rock that shall never be moved. The same faith that takes hold of an unseen, risen Savior, takes hold of every other truth in the gospel. Richard Cecil.
"With men," says Bishop Hall, "it is a good rule to try first, and then to trust; with God it is contrary. I will first trust him, as most wise, omnipotent, merciful, and try him afterwards."
By constant sight, the effect of objects seen grows less; by constant faith, the effect of objects believed in grows greater. The probable reason of this is that personal observation does not admit of the influence of the imagination in impressing the fact; while unseen objects, realized by faith, have the auxiliary aid of the imagination, not to exaggerate them, but to clothe them with living colors, and impress them upon the heart. Whether this be the reason or not, the fact is true that, the more frequently we see, the less we feel the power of an object; while the more frequently we dwell upon an object by faith, the more we feel its power. J. B. Walker.
Faith makes invisible things visible, absent things present, things that are very far off to be very near unto the soul. Thomas Brooks.
The region of unbelief is black with God's frown, and filled with plagues and wrath; but the region of faith is as the floor of Heaven for brightness. Christ's righteousness shelters it, the graces of the Spirit beautify it, and the eternal smile of God comforts and glorifies it. Dr. Hoge.
It would grieve an indulgent father to see his own child come into court, and there bear witness against him and charge him of some untruth in his words, more than if a stranger should do it; because the testimony of a child, though, when it is for the vindication of a parent, it may lose some credit in the opinion of those that hear it, upon the suspicion of partiality, yet, when against a parent, it seems to carry some more probability of truth than what another that is a stranger says against him; because the band of natural affection with which the child is bound to his parent is so sacred that it will not be easily suspected. He cannot be supposed to offer violence to it, except upon the more inviolable necessity of bearing witness to the truth.
O think of this, Christian, again and again—by your unbelief you bear false witness against God! And if you, a child of God, speak no better of your heavenly Father, and present him with no fairer character to the world, it will be no wonder if it be confirmed in its hard thoughts of God, even to final impenitency and unbelief, when it shall see how little credit he finds with you, for all your great profession of love towards him and near relationship to him. William Gurnall.
CLXXXVII
Acts 2:24—"Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be held of it."
Our Lord felt the pains of death truly and really.
His body was in very deed dead, yet there was no corruption.
It was not needful: it could have borne no relation to our redemption.
It would not have been seemly.
It was not demanded by the law of nature; for he was sinless, and sin is the worm which causes corruption.
But from the pains of death his body was loosed by resurrection.
I. It was not possible that the bands of death should hold our Lord.
He derived his superiority to the bondage of death—
1. From the command of the Father that he should have power to take his life again: John 10:18.
2. From the dignity of his human person.
As in union with Godhead.
As being in itself absolutely perfect.
3. From the completion of his atoning sacrifice .
The debt was discharged: he must be freed.
4. From the plan and purpose of grace which involved the life of the Head as well as that of the members. John 14:19.
5. From the perpetuity of his offices.
"Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek": Hebrews 6:20.
King—"Your throne, O God, is forever and ever": Psalm 45:6.
Shepherd—"brought again from the dead": Hebrews 13:20.
6. From the nature of things, since without it we should have—
No assurance of our resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:17.
No certainty of justification. Romans 4:25.
No representative possession of Heaven. Hebrews 9:24.
No crowning of man with glory and honor, and exaltation of him over the works of God's hands.
II. It is not possible that any other bands should hold his kingdom.
1. The firm establishment of error shall not prevent the victory of truth. The colossal systems of Greek philosophy and Roman priestcraft have passed away; and so shall other evil powers.
2. The scholarship of his foes shall not resist his wisdom. He baffled the wise in his life on earth; much more will he do it by his Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 1:20.
3. The ignorance of mankind shall not darken his light. "The poor have the gospel preached to them": Matthew 11:5. Degraded races receive the truth. Matthew 4:16.
4. The power, wealth, fashion, and prestige of falsehood shall not crush his kingdom. Acts 4:26.
5. The evil influence of the world upon the church shall not quench the divine flame. John 16:33.
6. The rampant power of unbelief shall not destroy his dominion. Though at this hour it seems to bind the church in the bands of death, those fetters shall melt away. Matthew 16:18.
III. It is not possible to hold in bondage anything that is his.
1. The poor struggling sinner shall escape the bonds of his guilt, his depravity, his doubts, Satan, and the world. Psalm 124:7.
2. The bondaged child of God shall not be held captive by tribulation, temptation, or depression. Psalm 34:19. Psalm 116:7.
3. The bodies of his saints shall not be held in the grave. 1 Corinthians 15:23; 1 Peter 1:3–5.
4. The groaning creation shall yet burst into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8:21.
Here is a true Easter hymn for all who are in Christ.
The Lord is risen indeed, and the happiest consequences must follow.
Let us rise in his rising, and walk at large in his loosing.
Free Thoughts
Christ being imprisoned for our debt, was thrown into the bands of death; but, divine justice being satisfied, it was not possible that he should be detained there, either by right or by force, for he had life in himself and in his own power, and had conquered the prince of death. Matthew Henry.
The Emperor Theodosius, having on a great occasion opened all the prisons, and released his prisoners, is reported to have said, "And now, would to God I could open all the tombs, and give life to the dead!" But there is no limit to the mighty power and royal grace of Jesus. He opens the prisons of justice, and the prisons of death with equal and infinite ease; he redeems not the soul only, but the body. Dr. Stanford.
CLXXXVIII
Acts 2:37—"Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart."
Peter's sermon was not a fine display of eloquence;
Neither was it a very pathetic plea;
Nor a loud but empty cry of "Believe, believe!"
It was simple, a plain statement, and a soberly earnest argument.
Its power lay in the truthfulness of the speaker, his appeal to Scripture, the concurrence of his witnessing brethren, and his own evident faith.
Above all, in the Holy Spirit who accompanied the word.
I. Saving impression is a prick in the heart.
To be cut to the heart is deadly (Acts 5:33): to be pricked in the heart is saving.
1. All true religion must be of the heart.
Without this—
Ceremonies are useless. Is. 1:13.
Orthodoxy of head is in vain. Jeremiah 7:4.
Profession and a constrained morality fail. 2 Timothy 3:5.
Loud zeal, excited and sustained by mere passion, is useless.
2. Impressions which do not prick the heart may even be evil.
They may excite to wrath and opposition.
They may lead to sheer hypocrisy.
They may create and foster a spurious hope.
3. Even when such superficial impressions are good, they are transient; and when they have passed away, they have often hardened those who have felt them for a season.
4. They will certainly be inoperative. As they have not touched the heart, they will not affect the life.
They will not lead to confession and inquiry, nor
to repentance and change of life.
to glad reception of the word, nor
to obedience and steadfastness.
Heart-work is the only real work.
II. What truths produce such a prick?
1. The truth of the gospel has often, by the power of the Holy Spirit, produced an indelible wound in minds skeptical and opposed.
2. A sense of someone specially startling sin has frequently aroused the conscience. 2 Samuel 12:7.
3. Instruction in the nature of the law, and the consequent heinousness of sin, has been blessed to that end. Romans 7:13.
4. The infinite wickedness of sin, as against the very being of God, is also a wounding thought. Psalm 51:4.
5. The exactness, severity, and terror of the judgment, and the consequent punishment of sin, are stirring thoughts. Acts 16:25–30.
6. The great goodness of God has led many to see the cruel wantonness of sin against him. Romans 2:4.
7. The deam of Christ as a Substitute has often been the means of revealing the greatness of the sin which needed such an atonement, and of showing the true tendency of sin in having slain One so good and kind. Zechariah 12:10.
8. The abundant grace and love revealed in the gospel, and received by us are sharp arrows to wound the heart.
III. What hand makes these painful pricks?
1. The same hand which wrote the piercing truths also applies them.
2. He is well acquainted with our hearts, and so can reach them.
3. He is the Quickener, the Comforter, the Spirit helping our infirmities, showing to us the things of Jesus: his fruit is love, joy, peace, etc. We need not utterly despair when wounded by such a tender Friend.
4. He is a Spirit to be sought unto, who acts in answer to his people's prayers. We turn for healing to him who pricks.
IV. How can these pricks be healed?
1. Only One who is divine can heal a wounded heart.
2. The only medicine is the blood of his heart.
3. The only hand to apply it is that which was pierced.
4. The only fee required is gladly to receive him.
Let us ask the question, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
Let us then obey the gospel, and believe in the Lord Jesus.
Pointed Passages
Conversion is a work of argument, for the judgment is gained by the truth. It is a work of conviction, for the awakened are pricked in their hearts. It is a work of inquiry, for they ask, "What must we do to be saved?" And, lastly, it is a work of comfort, for its subjects have received remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Joseph Sutcliffe.
Peter, standing up, said: "We heard from him whom we know that God has raised from the dead the promise of the Holy Spirit. He has shed forth this; therefore let Jerusalem know assuredly that God has made him Lord." I call that Peter's colossal "therefore." It is the strongest word in the first oration delivered in the defense of Christianity. The Holy Spirit was promised; he has been poured out; therefore, let those who receive him know that the power behind natural law—our Lord, who was, and is, and is to come—is now breathing upon the centuries as he breathed upon us symbolically. He has shed forth this; therefore, let all men know assuredly that God has made him Lord. When they who were assembled at Jerusalem at that time heard this "therefore," they were pricked in the heart. Joseph Cook.
Heart-work must be God's work. Only the great heart-Maker can be the great heart-Breaker. Richard Baxter.
The Comforter came to convince the world. The Comforter! Does it seem a strange name to any of you, my brethren, for him who came on such an errand? Does it seem to you that, in convincing you of your sins, instead of comforting you, he must needs cover you with shame and confusion, and make you sink to the ground in unutterable anguish and dismay? No, dear brethren, it is not so. Those among you whom the Spirit has indeed convinced of sin, will avouch that it is not. They will avouch that, in convincing them of sin, he has proved that he is indeed the Comforter. If the conviction and consciousness of sin arises from any other source, then indeed it is enough to crush us with shame, and to harrow us with unimaginable fears. But when it comes from the Spirit of God, it comes with healing and comfort on its wings. Remember what the sin is, of which he convinces us—that we believe not in Christ. All other conviction of sin would be without hope; here the hope accompanies the conviction, and is one with it. If we have a deep and lively feeling of the sin of not believing in Christ, we must feel at the same time that Christ came to take away this along with all other sins. J. C. Have.
When a man is wounded with a barbed arrow, the agonies he suffers will cause him to toss about in pain; but the harder he strives to release the weapon from his flesh, the more does it become entangled in his sinews, the wound becomes enlarged, and the torture is increased. When, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a man is wounded on account of sin, and the arrows of the Most High tear his soul, he frequently tries to pluck them out with his own hand, but finds that the misery becomes worse, and the inflaming wounds at last cause faintness and despair. Only the Good Physician knows how to relieve the pain without tearing und festering the spirit. Handbook of Illustration.
CLXXXIX
Acts 4:14—"And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it."
The rulers and elders were opposed to Peter and John.
It is no new thing for the gospel to be opposed.
Nor a strange thing for the great, the official, the powerful, and the influential to be foremost in such opposition.
The opposition of ungodly men is—
Natural, seeing that the heart of man is depraved.
Endurable, since our Lord and his apostles suffered it.
Harmless, if we commit the case to God.
Overruled for good by divine grace and wise providence.
The best and perhaps the only way to silence opposition is by exhibiting the blessed results which follow from the gospel.
Those who would say anything if they could, can say nothing of what they would, when they see before their eyes the cures wrought by the word of the Lord Jesus. "The man that was healed" is our best apologist. Better than Paley's "Evidences," or Butler's "Analogy," is the proof given by results.
I. The gospel is vindicated by its results.
1. On a broad scale in nations. England, the islands of the Pacific, Jamaica, Madagascar, etc.
2. In individual conversions from open sin. Some of the worst of men have become clear instances of the purifying power of the gospel.
3. In restoring to hope the comfortless and despairing. Very marvelous is its efficacy in the direction of healing mental maladies.
4. In elevating saints above selfish aims and designs, and inducing heroic consecrations. The biographies of gracious men and women are demonstrations of the divine power of the Word.
5. In sustaining character under fierce temptation. Wonderful is the preserving salt of grace amid surrounding putrefaction.
6. In holy and happy death-beds. These are plentiful throughout history, among all ranks; and they never fail to convince the candid.
Many another catalogue of results might be made.
Many a man is unable to be an infidel because of what he has seen in his mother, wife, or child.
II. Gospel-works and workers must look for like vindication.
Nowadays men ask for results: the tree must bear fruit, or the cry is, "Cut it down." We do not shrink from this test.
1. The minister must find in his converts a proof of his call, and a defense of his doctrines, methods, peculiarities, etc.
2. A society, college, or institution must stand or fall by its fruits.
3. The individual professor must abide the same test.
4. The church in any place, and the church on the largest scale, must be tried by similar methods.
5. Even our Lord himself loses or gains honor among men according as his followers behave themselves.
III. The gospel and its workers deserve vindication at our hands. Those who are healed should boldly stand with Peter and John, as witnesses and fellow-workers.
This suggests a series of practical questions:—
1. Has it produced blessed results in us?
2. Have we come forward to stand with the preachers of it in evidence that it has wrought our cure? Are we continually witnessing to the truth and value of the Gospel of Christ?
3. Does the influence of the gospel upon us so continue and increase unto holiness of life as to be a credit to its influence?
4. Are there not points in our character which harm the repute of the gospel? Should not these be amended at once?
5. Could we not henceforth so live as more effectually to silence the opponents of the Word?
Let the Church plainly see that her converts are her best defense: they are, in fact, her reason for existence.
Let converts see the reason why they should come forward and declare their faith, and unite with the people of God.
Cases in point
In the course of one of his journeys, preaching the word, Mr. Wesley went to Epworth. Having offered to assist the curate on the following day (Sunday), and his offer being refused, he took his stand upon his father's tombstone in the evening, and preached to the largest congregation Epworth had ever witnessed. This he did night after night. He preached also during his stay of eight days at several of the surrounding villages, where societies had been formed and a great work wrought among the people, and some of them had suffered for it. "Their angry neighbors," says Wesley, "had carried a whole wagon-load of these new heretics before a magistrate. But when he asked what they had done, there was a deep silence; for it was a point their conductors had forgotten. At length one said, 'They pretended to be better than other people, and prayed from morning to night'; and another said, 'They have convarted my wife. Until she went among them she had such a tongue! and now she is as quiet as a lamb!' 'Take them back, take them back,' replied the justice, and 'let them convert all the scolds in the town.' "—Tyerman's Life of Wesley.
Lord Peterborough, more famed for his wit than for his religion, when he had lodged with Fenelon, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was so charmed with his piety and beautiful character, that he said to him at parting, "If I stay here any longer I shall become a Christian in spite of myself."—G. S. Bowes.
A person who had expressed doubts whether the negroes received any real advantage by hearing the gospel, was asked whether he did not think one, named Jack, was better for the preaching. He replied, "Why, I must confess that he was a drunkard, a liar, and a thief; but certainly now he is a sober boy, and I can trust him with anything; and since he has talked about religion I have tried to make him drunk, but failed in the attempt."—Arvine.
Certain gentlemen waited upon Rev. Matthew Wilks to complain of the eccentricities of his discourses. Wilks heard them through, and then produced a long list of names. "There," said the quaint divine, "all those precious souls profess to have found salvation through what you are pleased to call my whims and oddities. Can you produce a similar list from all the sober brethren you have been so much extolling?" This was conclusive: they withdrew in silence.
The behavior of some professors has often given the wicked an opportunity to reproach religion. Lactantius reports, that the heathen were accustomed to say, "The Master could not be good, when his disciples were so bad." The malice of sinners is such that they will reproach the rectitude of the law, for the obliquity of their lives who swerve from it. Oh that your pure life did but hang a padlock upon their impure lips!—William Secker.
CXC
Acts 7:13—"And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren."
There is a plain parallel between Joseph and Jesus, his brethren and ourselves.
Certain classes of real seekers do not at once find peace: they go to Jesus after a fashion, and return from him as they went.
Our fear is that they may grow indifferent or despairing.
Our hope is that they will go again, and before long discover the great secret, and find food for their souls.
To this end we would follow the track of Joseph's story, and use it as an allegory for the benefit of the seeker.
I. There is a something which you do not know.
The sons of Israel did not know Joseph. Like them—
1. You have no idea of who and what Jesus is. Power and pity blend in him. He is far more than he seems.
2. You view him only as great, lordly, unapproachable; a great and stern governor and tax-master.
3. You do not know that he is your brother, one with you in nature, relationship, and love.
4. You cannot conceive how he loves; he yearns to make himself known; his heart is swollen big with compassion.
5. You cannot guess what he will do for you: all that he is and has shall be at your disposal.
Picture the Israelitish shepherds in the presence of the exalted Egyptian prince, as he stands veiled in mystery, girded with power, and surrounded with honor. Little could they imagine that this was Joseph their brother.
II. There is a reason why at your first going you have not learned this.
Joseph was not made known to his brethren on their first journey: nor have you yet found out Jesus, so as to know his love.
1. You have not looked for him. The sons of Jacob went to Egypt for corn, not for a brother. You are looking for comfort, etc., not for the Savior.
2. You have not yet felt your sin against Jesus, and he would bring you to repentance, even as Joseph brought his brethren to confess their great wrong.
3. You have not yet gone with your whole force. As the brothers left Benjamin at home, so have you left some faculty or capacity dormant, or chill, in your seeking for grace.
4. You will have a larger blessing through the delay; and the Lord Jesus will in the most seasonable hour reveal himself, as Joseph did. Until then he refrains.
III. There is great hope in your going again to him.
Joseph's brethren made a great discovery the second time; you are in similar circumstances to them. Go a second time; for—
1. You must go or perish. There was corn only in Egypt, and there is salvation only in Christ.
2. Others have gone and speeded. All nations went to Egypt, and none were refused. Has Jesus cast out one?
3. You have lingered too long already, even as did Israel's sons.
4. A welcome awaits you. Joseph longed to see his brethren, and Jesus longs to see you.
IV. There are forecasts of what will happen if you go.
The story lends itself to prophecy. As the sons of Israel fared with Joseph, so shall you fare with Jesus.
1. You will tremble in his presence.
2. He will bid you draw near.
3. He will comfort you by revealing himself to you.
4. He will bless and enrich you and send you home rejoicing, to fetch all your family to him.
5. He will rule all the world for your sake, and you shall be with him, and be nourished by him.
Let us hasten to go to our Savior the second time.
Surely this is the season, for the Holy Spirit says "today."
Line upon line
You take it hard, that you are not answered, and that Christ's door is not opened at your first knock. David must knock often: "O my God, I cry by day, and you hear not, and in the night season I am not silent": Psalm 22:2. The Lord's Church must also wait: "And when I cry and shout, he shuts out my prayer": Lamentations 3:8. Sweet Jesus, the heir of all, prayed with tears and strong cries, once, "O my Father"; again, "O my Father"; and the third time, "O my Father", before he was heard. Wait on: die praying: faint not.
It is good to have the heart stored with sweet principles concerning Christ and his love, so as to rest in hope though the Lord hears not at the first. He is Christ, and therefore he will answer a sinner's cry before long. It is but Christ's outside that is unkind. Samuel Rutherford.
A man who had long been seeking religion in a half-hearted way, one day lost his pocket-book. He said to his wife: "I know it is in the barn; I had it after I went there, and before I left it was gone. I am going back to find it; and find it I will, if I have to move every straw." Such seeking soon secured the prize, and enabled his wife so clearly to illustrate the way to seek Jesus, that the man soon found him also, and rejoiced in a full salvation.
The last time I preached upon the matter of decision in religion was in old Farwell Hall. I had been for five nights preaching upon the life of Christ. I took him from the cradle, and followed him up to the judgment hall, and on that occasion I consider I made as great a blunder as ever I made in my life. If I could recall my act I would give this right hand. It was upon that memorable night in October, and the Court House bell was sounding an alarm of fire, but I paid no attention to it. We were accustomed to hear the fire bell often, and it didn't disturb us much when it sounded. I finished the sermon upon "What shall I do with Jesus?" And I said to the audience, "Now, I want you to take the question with you and think over it, and next Sunday I want you to come back and tell me what you are going to do with it." What a mistake! It seems now as if Satan was in my mind when I said this. Since then I have never dared to give an audience a week to think of their salvation. If they were lost they might rise up in judgment against me. "Now is the accepted time." We went down-stairs to the other meeting, and I remember when Mr. Sankey was singing, and how his voice rang when he came to that pleading verse:—
"Today the Savior calls;
For refuge fly.
The storm of justice falls,
And death is near."
After our meeting, on the way home, seeing the glare of flames, I said to my companion, "This means ruin to Chicago." About one o'clock, Farwell Hall went, soon the church in which I had preached went down, and everything was scattered. I never saw that audience again. My friends, we don't know what may happen tomorrow; but there is one thing I do know, and that is, if you take the gift of God, even Christ Jesus, you are saved. What are you going to do with him tonight? Will you decide now?—D. L. Moody.
CXCI
Acts 7:58—"The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul."
The Holy Spirit records Stephen's martyrdom, but does not enter into details of his sufferings and death, as uninspired recorders would have been so apt to do.
The object of the Holy Spirit is not to indulge curiosity nor to harrow the feelings, but to instruct and move to imitation.
He tells us of the martyr's posture, "He kneeled down"; his prayer, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge"; and his composure, "he fell asleep."
Upon each of these points volumes might be written.
Our attention is now called to the incident of Saul's being present.
This supplies us with—
I. A suggested contrast. Stephen and Saul.
These were both highly earnest, fearless men.
Yet at this time they were wide as the poles asunder.
1. Stephen spiritual; giving in his address great prominence to the spiritual nature of religion, and the comparative insignificance of its externals. See verses 48–50.
Saul superstitious, worshiping form and ritual, full of reverence for the temple and the priests, and so forth.
2. Stephen, a humble believer in the Lord Jesus, saved by faith alone.
Saul, a self-righteous Pharisee, as proud as he could live.
3. Stephen, defending and vindicating the gospel of Jesus.
Saul, giving his countenance, his vote, his assistance in the persecution of the servant of the Lord Christ.
Inquire if a Saul is now present. Call him forth by name.
Have you been a consenting party to the persecution of good men?
Have you thus copied this young man Saul?
You do not object to making Christian men the theme of ridicule.
You smile when you hear such ridicule.
By your indecision in religion you aid and abet the adversary.
In these ways the witnesses lay down their clothes at your feet, and you are their accomplice.
Oh, that grace may yet convert you!
II. A singular introduction to true religion.
Many have been brought to God by means somewhat similar.
The young man, whose name was Saul, met with the religion of Jesus in the person of Stephen, and thus he saw it with the following surroundings:—
1. The vision of a shining face.
2. The hearing of a noble discourse.
3. The sight of a triumphant death.
These did not convert Saul, but they made it harder for him to be unconverted, and were, no doubt, in after days thought of by him.
Let us so introduce religion to men, that the memory of its introduction may be worth their retaining.
III. A remarkable instance of the Lord's care for his church.
The apostolical succession was preserved in the church.
1. Stephen's death was a terrible blow to the cause; but at that moment his successor was close at hand.
2. That successor was in the ranks of the enemy.
3. That successor was far greater than the martyr, Stephen, himself.
There is no fear for the church: her greatest champions, though as yet concealed among her enemies, will be called in due time.
The death of her best advocates may assist in the conversion of others.
IV. A gracious memorial of repented sin.
Did not Paul give Luke this information concerning himself? and cause it to be recorded in the Acts of the Apostles?
It was well for Paul to remember his sin before conversion.
It will be well for us to remember ours.
1. To create and renew feelings of humility.
2. To inflame love and zeal.
3. To deepen our love to the doctrines of sovereign grace.
4. To make us hopeful and zealous for others.
Let dying Stephen be cheered by the hope of young Saul's salvation.
Let wicked young Saul repent of his wrong to Stephen.
Observanda
A Spanish painter, in a picture of Stephen conducted to the place of execution, has represented Saul as walking by the martyr's side with melancholy calmness. He consents to his death from a sincere, though mistaken, conviction of duty: and the expression of his countenance is strongly contrasted with the rage of the baffled Jewish doctors and the ferocity of the crowd who flock to the scene of bloodshed. Literally considered, such a representation is scarcely consistent either with Saul's conduct immediately afterwards, or with his own expressions concerning himself at the later periods of his life. But the picture, though historically incorrect, is poetically true. The painter has worked according to the true idea of his are in throwing upon the persecutor's countenance the shadow of his coming repentance. We cannot dissociate the martyrdom of Stephen from the conversion of Paul. The spectacle of so much constancy, so much faith, so much love, could not be lost. It is hardly too much to say with Augustine, that "the church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen."—Chinaberry and Howson.
Here first comes in view an individual destined to be the most extraordinary character in the church of God. Had a prophet stood near on this occasion, and said, "Ah! Saul, you will by-and-by be stoned for the same profession, and die a martyr in the same cause"; he would have been filled with surprise and indignation, and have exclaimed, "What, is your servant a dog, that he should do this thing?"—William Jay.
As soon as Satan heard of the conversion of Saul, he ordered the devils into deep mourning. John Ryland, Senior.
Among the leaders of the great revival of the eighteenth century were Captain Scott and Captain Toriel Joss, the former a captain of dragoons, the latter a sea-captain. Both became famous preachers. Whitefield said of them, "God, who sits upon the flood, can bring a shark from the ocean, and a lion from the forest, to show forth his praise."
The following lines by William Hone, author of the "Every-day Book," were written to describe his own experience—
The proudest heart that ever beat
Has been subdued in me;
The wildest will that ever rose
To scorn your cause, and aid your foes,
Is quelled, my God, by you.
Your will, and not my will, be done;
My heart be ever your;
Confessing you, the mighty Word,
My Savior Christ, my God, my Lord,
Your cross shall be my sign.
Might they not have been written by the young man, "whose name was Saul"?
CXCII
Acts 13:26—"To you is the word of this salvation sent."
Paul and Barnabas first preached the gospel to the seed of Abraham.
These Jews contradicted and blasphemed, and therefore, in verse 46, the servants of the Lord boldly exclaimed, "We turn to the Gentiles." A blessed turning this for you and for me!
Herein is a warning to ourselves, lest we refuse the gospel, and find it taken from us, and sent to others.
At this moment, to our hearers we earnestly say, "To you is the word of this salvation sent."
Let us then consider—
I. What is the word of this salvation?
1. It is the testimony that Jesus is the promised Savior. Verse 23.
2. The word which promises forgiveness to all who exhibit repentance of sin, and faith in the Lord Jesus. Verses 38, 39.
3. In a word, it is the proclamation of perfect salvation, through the risen Savior. Verses 32, 33.
It is comparable to a word for conciseness and simplicity.
It is a word, as being spoken by God, and as being his present utterance even at this moment.
It is a word; for it reveals Him who is truly "the Word."
It is a word of salvation; for it declares, describes, presents, and presses home salvation.
It is a word sent, for the Gospel dispensation is a mission of mercy from God, the Gospel is a message, Jesus is the Messiah, and the Holy Spirit himself is sent to work salvation among men.
II. In what manner is the gospel sent to you?
1. In the general commission, which ordains that it be preached to every creature.
2. In the fact that the gospel is preached in our land, the Bible is in every house, and the word is proclaimed in our streets.
3. In the providence which has brought you this day to hear the word. Very specially may you be sent to the preacher, the preacher sent to you, and the special message be sent through the preacher to you.
4. In the peculiar adaptation of it to your case, character, and necessity. A medicine which suits your disease is evidently meant for you.
5. In the power which has attended it, while you have been hearing it, though you may have resisted that power.
It would be a sad thing if we had to single out even one, and say, "This word is not sent to you"; but we are under no such painful necessity.
III. In what position does it place you?
In a position—
1. Of singular favor. Prophets and kings died without hearing what you hear. Matthew 13:16.
2. Of notable indebtedness to martyrs and men of God, in past ages, and in these days; for these have lived and died to bring you the gospel.
3. Of great hopefulness; for we trust you will accept it and live.
4. Of serious responsibility; for if you neglect it, how will you escape? Hebrews 2:3.
It puts it out of your power to remain unaffected by the gospel.
It must either save you, or increase your condemnation.
IV. In what manner will you treat this word?
1. Will you decidedly and honestly refuse it? This would be a terrible determination; but the very idea of so doing might startle you into a better mind.
2. Will you basely and foolishly delay your reply? This is a very dangerous course, and many perish in it.
3. Will you play the hypocrite, and pretend to receive it, while in your heart you reject it?
4. Will you act the part of the temporary convert?
5. Will you not rather accept the word of salvation with delight?
Suppose the gospel should be taken from you by your removal to a place where it is not preached, or by the death of the minister whom you so greatly esteem. It would be just. It may happen. It has happened to others. Refuse the heavenly message no longer, lest your day of grace should end in an eternity of woe.
Personalities
A minister having to preach in the city jail, was accompanied by a young man of fine mind and cultivated manners, but who was not a Christian. As the minister looked at the audience, he preached to them Jesus with so much earnestness as deeply to impress his companion. On their return home, the young man said, "The men to whom you preached today must have been moved by the utterance of such truth. Such preaching cannot fail to influence." "My dear young friend," answered the minister, "were you influenced? Were you impelled by the words you heard today to choose God as your portion?" "You were not preaching to me, but to your convicts," was quickly answered. "You mistake. I was preaching to you as much as to them. You need the same Savior as they. For all there is but one way of salvation. Just as much for you as for these poor prisoners was the message of this afternoon. Will you heed it?" The word so faithfully spoken was blessed of God.
Jesus said, "Preach the gospel to every creature." I can imagine Peter was asking him: "What, Lord! shall we offer salvation to the men who crucified you?" And I can imagine Jesus answering him: "Yes, Peter, I want you to preach my gospel to everybody, beginning at Jerusalem. Proclaim salvation to the men who crucified me. Peter, I'd like you to find that man who put the crown of thorns on my head. Tell him, if he'll take salvation as a gift he shall have a crown of glory from me, and there shan't be a thorn in it. Look up that Roman soldier who thrust that spear into my side, to my very heart, and tell him that there's a nearer way to my heart than that. My heart is full of love for his soul. Proclaim salvation to him."—D. L. Moody.
To whom is it that the God of salvation sent "the word of salvation"? He sent it to all sinners that hear it. It is a word that suits the case of sinners; and therefore is it sent to them. If it be inquired, for what purpose is it sent to sinners?.… It is sent as a word of pardon to the condemned sinner. Hence may every condemned sinner take hold of it, saying, This word is sent to me. It is sent as a word of peace to the rebellious sinner. It is sent as a word of life to the dead. It is a word of liberty to the captives, of healing for the diseased, of cleansing to the polluted. It is a word of direction to the bewildered, and of refreshment to the weary. It is sent as a comforting word to the disconsolate; and as a drawing word and a strengthening word to the soul destitute of strength. It is sent, in short, as a word of salvation, and all sorts of salvation and redemption to the lost soul, saying, "Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost."—Condensed from Ralph Erskine.
CXCIII
Acts 19:18–20—"And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds.
"Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
"So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed."
This last verse is a despatch from the seat of war announcing a glorious victory for the royal arms.
Past triumphs of the gospel may be used as encouragements.
We, too, shall see the Word of God grow and prevail; for—
The gospel is the same as ever.
The human race is unchanged at heart.
The sins to be overcome are the same.
The Holy Spirit is just as mighty to convince and renew.
The trophies of victory may be expected to be the same.
Men, magic, books, and the love of money shall all be subdued.
Let us turn aside to see—
I. The word of God planted.
Planted it was, or it could not have grown.
The work proceeded in the following fashion—
1. Certain disciples were further enlightened, aroused, and led to seek a higher degree of grace. This was an admirable beginning, and revivals thus commenced are usually lasting.
2. These became obedient to an ordinance which had been overlooked (verse 5), and also received the Holy Spirit, of whom they had heard nothing: two great helps to revival.
3. A bold ministry proclaimed and defended the truth.
4. Opposition was aroused. This is always a needful sign. God is not at work long without the devil working also.
5. Deceitful counterfeiting commenced, and was speedily ended in the most remarkable manner.
6. Paul preached, pleaded, made the gospel to sound forth, and on departing could say, "I am pure from the blood of all men."
Read this and the following chapter, and see how three years were well spent in planting the church at Ephesus.
II. The word of God growing.
"So mightily grew the word of God." The measure of it was seen—
1. In a church formed with many suitable elders.
2. In a neighborhood fully aware of the presence of the gospel among them; for it touched them practically; so much so, that important trades were affected.
3. In a people converted, and openly confessing their conversion.
4. In a general respect paid to the faith. Even those who did not obey it, yet yielded it homage and owned its power.
Here we see Paul's work and God's work. Paul labored diligently in planting, and God made it to grow: yet it was all of God.
Is the word of God growing among us? If not, why not?
It is a living seed, and should grow.
It is a living seed, and will grow unless we hinder it.
III. The word of God prevailing.
Growth arouses opposition; but where the word grows with inward vitality it prevails over outward opposition.
The particular proof of prevalence here given is the burning of magical books.
1. Paul does not appear to have dwelt continually upon the evil habit of using magical arts; but gospel light showed the guilt of witchcraft, and providence cast contempt on it.
2. The sin being exposed, it was confessed by those who had been guilty of it, and by those who had commenced its study.
3. Being confessed, it was renounced altogether, and, though there was no command to that effect, yet in a voluntary zeal of indignation the books were burned. This was right because—
If sold, they would do harm.
They were so detestable that they deserved burning.
Their public burning lighted up a testimony.
4. Their destruction involved expense, which was willingly incurred, and that expense gave weight to the testimony.
No other proof of power in our ministry will equal that which is seen in its practical effect upon our hearers' lives.
Will you who attend our preaching see to it that you purge yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit?
Sparks
It's a blessed time in a soul, it's a blessed time in a family, it's a blessed time in a congregation, it's a blessed time in a country—when the word of God grows mightily and prevails.… It's a blessed time when open sinners are seen leaving their sins and seeking the Savior; when men are seen giving up their unholy gains; when tavern-keepers take down their signs and burn them—when they give up their licenses; and it's a blessed time when card-players throw away their cards and take the Bible instead. It's a blessed time when the lovers of gaudy dress take their gaudy dresses and destroy them. Robert Murray M'Cheyne.
The gospel, like a plant of great vigor, will grow almost among stones. Thus have I seen it to grow among hypocrites, formalists, and worldlings; and I have seen it laying hold of one, and another, and, indeed, of many, however untoward the surrounding soil. "So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed."
When the leaven of the gospel begins to work, there will be no need of a train of arguments to prove how inexpedient, how utterly unworthy it is for a Christian to turn aside after the vain amusements and trifling books used by the world: "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" What have I to do with black arts, or dealing with a lie? Those who first trusted in Christ were willing to forsake all and follow him. The grace of the gospel produces a new taste—it alters everything about us,—our friends, our pursuits, our books, &c. Richard Cecil.
Agesilaus, when he saw the usurer's bonds and bills blazing in the fire, said, "I never saw a better or a brighter fire in all my life!" and it were heartily to be wished that all scandalous, blasphemous, and seditious books and pamphlets were on the fire, too. John Spencer.
Yes, God blessed the self-denial, and gave them compensation—and a compensation, too, remarkably appropriate. They who burned books, obtained books. They burned books for Christ, and they received books from him. Have you never heard of Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians? Do you recollect no such letter as one from the Savior "to the Angel of the church at Ephesus"?—T. R. Stevenson.
The Earl of Rochester, of whom it has been said that he was "a great wit, a great scholar, a great poet, a great sinner, and a great penitent," left a strict charge to the person in whose custody his papers were, to burn all his profane and lewd writings, as being only fit to promote vice and immorality, by which he had so highly offended God, and shamed and blasphemed the holy religion into which he had been baptized.
CXCIV
Acts 26:14—"Saul, Saul, why persecute you me? it is hard for you to kick against the pricks."
Jesus even out of Heaven speaks in parables, according to his accustomed.
To Paul he briefly utters the parable of the rebellious ox.
Note the tenderness of the appeal: it is not, "You are harming me by your persecutions," but, "You are wounding yourself." He says not, "it is hard for me," but "hard for you."
May the Lord thus speak in pity to those who are now resisting his grace, and thus save them from wounding themselves.
Listen attentively to the simple comparison, and observe—
I. The ox. A fallen man deserves no higher type.
1. You are acting like a brute beast, in ignorance and passion. You are unspiritual, thoughtless, unreasonable.
2. Yet God values you more than a man does an ox.
3. Therefore he feeds you, and does not slay you.
4. You are useless without guidance, and yet you are unwilling to submit to your Master's hand.
5. If you were but obedient you might be useful, and might find content in your service.
6. You have no escape from the choice of either to obey or to die, and it is useless to be stubborn.
II. The ox-goad. You have driven the Lord to treat you as the gardener treats a stubborn ox.
1. The Lord has tried you with gentle means, a word, a pull of the rein, etc.: by parental love, by tender admonitions of friends and teachers, and by the gentle promptings of his Spirit.
2. Now he uses the more severe means—
Of solemn threatening by his law.
Of terrors of conscience, and dread of judgment.
Of loss of relatives, children, friends.
Of sickness, and varied afflictions.
Of approaching death, with a dark future beyond it.
3. You are feeling some of these pricks, and cannot deny that they are sharp. Take heed lest worse things come upon you.
III. The kicks against the goad. These are given in various ways by those who are resolved to continue in sin.
1. There are early childish rebellions against restraint.
2. There are sneers at the gospel, at ministers, at holy things.
3. There are willful sins against conscience and light.
4. There are revilings and persecutions against God's people.
5. There are questionings, infidelities, and blasphemies.
IV. The hardness of all this to the ox. It hurts itself against the goad, and suffers far more than the driver designs.
1. In the present. You are unhappy: you are full of unrest and alarm, you are increasing your chastisement, and fretting your heart.
2. In the best possible future. You will feel bitter regrets, have desperate habits to overcome, and much evil to undo. All this if you do at last repent and obey.
3. In the more probable future. You are preparing for yourself increased hardness of heart, despair, and destruction.
Oh, that you would know that no possible good can come of kicking against God, who grieves over your infatuations!
Yield to the discipline of your God.
He pities you now, and begs you to consider your ways.
It is Jesus who speaks; be not so brutish as to refuse him that speaks from Heaven.
You may yet, like Saul of Tarsus, become grandly useful, and plough many a field for the Lord Jesus.
Striking Thoughts
Did not Lord Byron feel the sharpness of the goad when he exclaimed, concerning the gospel, "The worst of it is, I believe it"?
You have heard of the sword-fish. It is a very curious creature, with a long and bony beak, or sword, projecting in front of its head. It is also very fierce, attacking other fishes that come in its way, and trying to pierce them with its sword. The fish has sometimes been known to dart at a ship in full sail, with such violence as to pierce the solid timbers. But what has happened? The silly fish has been killed outright by the force of its own blow. The ship sails on just as before, and the angry sword-fish falls a victim to its own rage. But how shall we describe the folly of those who, like Saul of Tarsus, oppose the cause of Christ? They cannot succeed: like the sword-fish, they only work their own destruction. Illustrative Teaching.
Dr. John Hall, in one of his sermons, compared the attacks of infidelity upon Christianity to a serpent gnawing at a file. As he kept on gnawing, he was greatly encouraged by the sight of the growing pile of chips; until feeling pain, and seeing blood, he found that he had been wearing his own teeth away against the file, but the file was unharmed.
Oh cursèd, cursèd Sin! Traitor to God,
And ruiner of man! Mother of Woe,
And Death, and Hell!
Pollok.
Cowper describes Voltaire as—
"An infidel in health, but what when sick?
Oh—then a text would touch him at the quick."
Men complain of their circumstances, and cry, "This is hard—hard as for the bird of plumage to beat against the wires of its cage." Nay, harder far than that. It is hard for loss of time, for loss of temper, for loss of strength, for loss of trusting, loving obedience; and because no good can come of it, no success can be gained in the vain, Utopian, and worse than foolish struggle. Let every man struggle to improve himself, and he will not fail to improve his lot also. But let him never "kick" against his earthly lot; for so, if hurt at all, he hurts himself the more. He "kicks against the pricks."—Pulpit Commentary.
The Spirit of God can make use of any agency to bring sinners to repentance and faith in the Redeemer. Commenting once upon the words, "The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not consider," the speaker sought to impress upon his people how strangely guilty the human heart is, despising the goodness of God, and forgetting his very existence. Three or four days after, a farmer, who had been present, was giving provender to his cattle, when one of his oxen, evidently grateful for his care, fell to licking his bare arm. Instantly, with this simple incident, the Holy Spirit flashed conviction on the farmer's mind. He burst into tears, and exclaimed, "Yes, it is all true. How wonderful is God's word! This poor dumb brute is really more grateful to me than I am to God, and yet I am in debt to him for everything. What a sinner I am I" The lesson had found its way to his heart, and wrought there effectually to lead him to Christ.
CXCV
Acts 28:2—"And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold."
Here was an early Shipwrecked Mariners' Society.
Among rough people there is much of genuine kindness.
Let not people of a gentler mold, greater education, and larger possessions, come behind them in deeds of kindness.
Their kindness was thoroughly practical. We have too much of "Be you warmed," and too little kindling of fires.
There may be spiritual as well as physical cold, and for this last the kindling of a fire is needed.
This is our present subject.
I. That we are very apt to be cold.
1. The world is a cold country for gracious men.
2. By reason of our inbred sin, we are cold subjects, and far too apt to be lukewarm, or frozen.
3. Cold seasons also come, when all around lies bound in frost. Ministers, churches, saints, are too often cold as ice.
4. Cold corners are here and there, where the sun seldom shines. Some good men live in such cold harbors.
5. Chilling influences are now abroad. Modern thought, worldliness, depression in trade, depreciation of prayer, etc.
If we yield to the power of cold, we become first uncomfortable, next inactive, and then ready to die.
II. That there are means of warmth.
1. The Word of God is as a fire. Heard or read, it tends to warm the heart.
2. Private, social, and family prayer. This is as coals of juniper.
3. Meditation and communion with Jesus. "While I was musing the fire burned": Psalm 39:3. "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way?" Luke 24:32.
4. Fellowship with other Christians. Malachi 3:16.
5. Doing good to others. Job prayed for his friends, and then his captivity was turned. Job. 42:10.
6. Returning to first love and doing first works, would bring back old warmth. Rev. 2:4, 5.
Let us get to these fires ourselves, lest we be frost-bitten and benumbed.
III. That we should kindle fires for others.
We need the fire of revival, seeing so many are washed upon our shores in dying circumstances.
Concerning a true revival, let it be remembered that it both resembles the fire in the text, and differs from it.
1. It must be lighted under difficulties, "because of the present rain." The sticks are wet, the hearth is flooded, the atmosphere is damp. It is not easy to make a fire in such circumstances; and yet it must be done.
2. The fire we need cannot, however, be kindled by barbarians: the flame must come from above.
3. Once get the flame, the fire begins with littles. Small sticks are good for kindling.
4. It is well to nourish the flame by going down on your knees, and breathing upon it by warm and hearty supplications.
5. It must be fed with fuel. Think of the great Paul picking up a bundle of sticks. Let each one bring his share.
6. This fire must be kindled for "every one." We must not be content until all the shivering ones are comforted.
7. The fire will be of great service, and yet it may warm into life more than one viper. Thank God, the fire which revived the creature into venomous life will also destroy it.
What can we each do towards this fire? Can we not each one either kindle or feed the fire? Bring a stick.
Let no one damp the flame.
Let us pray.
Kindling
How to maintain spiritual warmth. Philip Henry's advice to his daughter was: "If you would keep warm in this cold season (January, 1692), take these four directions: 1. Get into the sun. Under his blessed beams there are warmth and comfort. 2. Go near the fire. 'Is not my word like a fire?' How many cheering passages are there! 3. Keep in motion and action—stirring up the grace and gift of God that is in you. 4. Seek Christian communion. 'How can one be warm alone?' "—Feathers for Arrows.
"Ane stick'll never burn! Put more wood on the fire, laddie; ane stick 'll never burn!" my old Scotch grandfather used to say to his boys. Sometimes, when the fire in the heart burns low, and love to the Savior grows faint; it would grow warm and bright again, if it could only touch another stick.… What we need, next to earnest prayer to God and communion with Christ, is communion with each other. "Where two or three are gathered together," the heart burns; love kindles to a fervent heat. Friends, let us frequent the society of those who are fellow-pilgrims with us to Canaan's happy land. "Ane stick'll never burn," as a great generous pile will be sure to. Anon.
I will tell you a story, which I have from very good hands, of two very eminent men, both for learning and piety, in the beginning of the last century, one of them a great prelate (indeed, a primate), and the other a Churchman of great note. These two eminent men often met together to consult upon the interests of learning and the affairs of the church; and when they had despatched that business, they seldom parted from one another without such an encounter as this: "Come, good doctor," says the bishop, "let us talk now a little of Jesus Christ"; or, on the other side, said the doctor, "Come, my Lord, let me hear your Grace talk of the goodness of God with your usual eloquence; let us warm one another's hearts with Heaven, that we may better bear this cold world." Here is now an example of holy conference without a preface and yet without exception; a precedent easy to imitate wherever there is a like spirit of piety. A few such men would put profaneness out of countenance, and turn the tide of conversation. Goodman.
See how great a flame aspires,
Kindled by a spark of grace!
Jesus' love the nations fires,
Sets the kingdoms in a blaze:
To bring fire on earth he came,
Kindled in some hearts it is:
Oh that all might catch the flame,
All partake the glorious bliss!
C. Wesley.
VOLUME 4
Romans To Revelation
CXCVI
Romans 2:4—"Or Despise you the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?"
It is an instance of divine condescension that the Lord reasons with men, and asks this question, and others like it. Is. 1:5, 55:2; Jeremiah 3:4; Ezekiel 33:11.
God not only acts kindly to sinners, but when they misuse his kindness he labors to set them right. Is. 1:18; Hosea 11:8.
It is a sad thing that any who have seen God's judgments on others, and have escaped themselves, should draw from this special mercy a reason for adding sin to sin. Jeremiah 3:8.
From the Lord's earnest question let us learn wisdom.
I. Let us honor the Lord's goodness and forbearance.
A reverent sense of it will be a sure safeguard against despising it.
1. It is manifested to us in a threefold form—
Goodness which has borne with past sin. Psalm 78:38.
Forbearance which bears with us in the present. Psalm 103:10.
Longsuffering which, in the future as in the past and the present, is prepared to bear with the guilty. Luke 13:7–9.
2. It is manifested in great abundance: "riches of his goodness."
Riches of mercies bestowed, temporal and spiritual. Psalm 68:19.
Riches of kindness seen in gracious deliverance, measured by evils averted which might have befallen us, such as sickness, poverty, insanity, death, and Hell. Psalm 86:13.
Riches of grace promised and provided for all needs.
3. It is manifested in its excellence by four considerations—
The person who shows it. It is "the goodness of God" who is omniscient to see sin, just to hate it, powerful to punish it, yet patient towards the sinner. Psalm 145:8.
The being who receives it. It is dealt out to man, a guilty, insignificant, base, provoking, ungrateful being. Genesis 6:6.
The conduct to which it is a reply. It is love's response to sin. Often God forbears, though sins are many, wanton, aggravated, daring, repeated, etc. Malachi 3:6.
The boons which it brings. Life, daily bread, health, gospel, Holy Spirit, new birth, hope of Heaven, etc. Psalm 68:19.
4. It has been in a measure manifested to you. "Despise you?"
II. Let us consider how it may be despised.
1. By allowing it to remain unnoticed: ungratefully passing it over.
2. By claiming it as our due, and talking as if God were bound to bear with us.
3. By opposing its design, and refusing to repent. Proverbs 1:24, 25.
4. By perverting it into a reason for hardness of heart, presumption, infidelity, and further sin. Zephaniah 1:12; Ecclesiastes 8:11.
5. By urging it as an apology for procrastination. 2 Peter 3:3, 4.
III. Let us feel the force of its leadings.
The forbearance of God should lead us to repentance.
For we should argue thus:—
1. He is not hard and unloving, or he would not have spared us.
2. His great patience deserves recognition at our hands. We are bound to respond to it in a generous spirit.
3. To go on to offend would be cruel to him, and disgraceful to ourselves. Nothing can be baser than to make forbearance a reason for provocation.
4. It is evident from his forbearance that he will rejoice to accept us if we will turn to him. He spares that he may save.
5. He has dealt with each one personally, and by this means he is able to put it, as in the text, "God leads you to repentance." He calls us individually to himself. Let each one personally remember his own experience of sparing mercies.
6. The means are so gentle, let us yield to them cheerfully. Those who might refuse to be driven should consent to be drawn.
O sinner, each gift of goodness draws you to Jesus!
Forbearance would gladly weep you to Jesus!
Longsuffering waits and woos you to Jesus!
Will you not turn from sin and return unto your God, or "Despise you the riches of his goodness?"
Arguments
Here is a select variety of admirable words, where the critics tell us that the first word signifies the infinite goodness and generosity of the Divine nature, whereby he is inclined to do good to his creatures, to pity and relieve. The second expresses his offers of mercy upon repentance, and the notices and warnings sinners have to amend. The third is his bearing the manners of bold sinners, waiting long for their reformation, and from year to year deferring to give the final stroke of vengeance. In what an apt opposition do riches of Divine goodness, and treasures of wrath to come, stand to one another!—Anthony Blackwall.
The forbearance and longsuffering of God towards sinners is truly astonishing. He was longer destroying Jericho than in creating the world. Benjamin Beddome.
According to the proverb of the Jews, "Michael flies but with one wing, and Gabriel with two"; God is quick in sending angels of peace, and they fly apace; but the messengers of wrath come slowly: God is more hasty to glorify his servants than to condemn the wicked. Jeremy Taylor.
It is observable that the Roman magistrates, when they gave sentence upon any one to be scourged, a bundle of rods tied hard with many knots was laid before them. The reason was this: that while the beadle, or flagellifer, was untying the knots, which he was to do in a certain order, and not in any other hasty or sudden way, the magistrate might see the deportment and carriage of the delinquent, whether he were sorry for his fault, and showed any hope of amendment, that then he might recall his sentence, or mitigate the punishment; otherwise he was to be corrected the more severely. Thus God in the punishment of sinners, how patient is he! how loath to strike! how slow to anger if there be but any hopes of recovery! How many knots does he untie! How many rubs does he make in his way to justice! He does not try us by martial law, but pleads the case with us, "Why will you die, O house of Israel?" And all this to see whether the poor sinner will throw himself down at his feet, whether he will come in and make his peace, and be saved. Thomas Fuller.
To sin against law is daring, but to sin against love is dastardly. To rebel against justice is inexcusable, but to fight against mercy is abominable. He who can sting the hand which nourishes him is nothing less than a viper. When a dog bites his own master, and bites him when he is feeding him and fondling him, no one will wonder if his owner becomes his executioner.
CXCVII
Romans 4:24—"Jesus our Lord."
It is the part of faith to accept great contrasts, if laid down in the Word, and to make them a part of her daily speech.
This name, Lord, is a great contrast to incarnation and humiliation.
In the manger, in poverty, shame, and death, Jesus was still Lord.
These strange conditions for "our Lord" to be found in are no difficulties to that faith which is the fruit of the Spirit.
For she sees in the death of Jesus a choice reason for his being our Lord. Philippians 2:7–11. "Wherefore God has highly exalted him."
She delights in that Lordship as the fruit of resurrection; but there could have been no resurrection without death. Acts 2:32–36.
She hears the voice of Jehovah behind all the opposition endured by Jesus proclaiming him Lord of all. Psalms 2; 110.
It never happens that our faith in Jesus for salvation makes us less reverently behold in him the Lord of all. He is "Jesus" and also "our Lord." "Born a child, and yet a King." "My Beloved," and yet "My Lord and my God."
Our simple trust in him, our familiar love to him, our bold approaches to him in prayer, our near and dear communion with him, and, most of all, our marriage union with him, still leave him "our Lord."
I. His tender condescensions endear the title. "Jesus our Lord" is a very sweet name to a believer's heart.
1. We claim to render it to him specially as man, "who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification": verse 25. As Jesus of Nazareth he is Lord.
2. We acknowledge him as Lord the more fully and unreservedly, because he loved us, and gave himself for us.
3. In all the privileges accorded to us in him he is Lord:—
In our salvation, we have "received Christ Jesus the Lord" Colossians 2:6.
In entering the church we find him the head of the body, to whom all are subject. Ephesians 5:23.
In our life-work he is Lord. "We live unto the Lord": Romans 14:8. We glorify God in his name. Ephesians 5:20.
In resurrection he is the firstborn from the dead. Colossians 1:18.
At the Advent his appearing will be the chief glory. Titus 2:13.
In eternal glory he is worshiped forever. Rev. 5:12, 13.
4. In our dearest fellowship at the table he is "Jesus our Lord."
It is the Lord's table, the Lord's supper, the cup of the Lord, the body and blood of the Lord; and our object is to show the Lord's death. 1 Corinthians 11:20, 26, 27, 29.
II. Our loving hearts read the title with peculiar emphasis.
1. We yield it to him only. Moses is a servant, but Jesus alone is Lord. "One is your Master": Matthew 23:8, 10.
2. To him most willingly. Ours is delighted homage.
3. To him unreservedly. We wish our obedience to be perfect.
4. To him in all matters of law-making and truth-teaching. He is Master and Lord: his word decides practice and doctrine.
5. To him in all matters of administration in the church, and in providence. "It is the Lord, let him do what seems him good": 1 Samuel 3:18.
6. To him trustfully, feeling that he will act a Lord's part right well. No king can be so wise, good, great as he. Job 1:21.
7. To him forever. He reigns in the church without successor. Now, as in the first days, we call him Master and Lord. Hebrews 7:3.
III. We find much sweetness in the word "our."
1. It makes us remember our personal interest in the Lord.
Each believer uses this title in the singular, and calls him from his heart, "My Lord."
David wrote, "Jehovah said unto my Lord."
Elizabeth spoke of "The mother of my Lord."
Magdalene said, "They have taken away my Lord."
Thomas said, "My Lord and my God."
Paul wrote, "The knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord," etc.
2. It brings a host of brethren before our minds; for it is in union with them that we say "our Lord"; and so it makes us remember each other. Ephesians 3:14, 15.
3. It fosters unity, and creates a holy clanship, as we all rally around our "one Lord." Saints of all ages are one in this.
4. His example as Lord fosters practical love. Remember the foot-washing and his words on that occasion. John 13:14.
5. Our zeal to make him Lord forbids all self-exaltation. "Be not you called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ. Neither be you called masters," etc.: Matthew 23:8, 10.
6. His position as Lord reminds us of the confidence of the church in doing his work. "All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. Go you, therefore, and teach," etc: Matthew 28:18, 19. "The Lord working with them": Mark 16:20.
7. Our common joy in Jesus as our Lord becomes an evidence of grace, and thus of union with each other. 1 Corinthians 12:3.
Let us worship Jesus as our Lord and God.
Let us imitate him, copying our Lord's humility and love.
Let us serve him, obeying his every command.
Gems
It ought to be the great care of every one of us to follow the Lord fully. We must in a course of obedience to God's will, and service to his honor, follow him universally, without dividing; uprightly, without dissembling; cheerfully, without disputing; and constantly, without declining: and this is following him fully. Matthew Henry.
A disciple of Christ is one that gives up himself to be wholly at Christ's disposing; to learn what he teaches, to believe what he reveals, to do what he commands, to avoid what he forbids, to suffer what is inflicted by him or for him, in expectation of that reward which he has promised. Such a one is a disciple of Christ, and he, and none else, is a Christian. David Clarkson.
It was thought a wondrous act of condescension when King George III. visited the tent of the dying gipsy woman in Windsor forest, and entered into religious conversation with her. What shall we think of him, who, though he was the King of glory, came down to us, and took our sins and sorrows upon himself, that he might bring us into fellowship with himself forever?
A little child hearing others speak of the Lord Jesus asked, "Father, was it our Jesus?" In the same sweet simplicity of faith let us speak of "Jesus our Lord."
Some years ago, an aged minister, who had long and lovingly known Christ, was on his death-bed. Memory had gone. In relation to those he loved best it was a perfect blank. But some one whispered in his ear, "Brother, do you know Jesus Christ?" With a voice of rapture he exclaimed,
"Jesus, my Lord! I know his name;
His name is all my trust;
Nor will he put my hope to shame,
Nor let my soul be lost."
CXCVIII
Romans 6:11, 12—"Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof."
How intimately the believer's duties are interwoven with his privileges! Because he is alive unto God he is to renounce sin, since that corrupt thing belongs to his estate of death.
How intimately both his duties and his privileges are bound up with Christ Jesus his Lord!
How thoughtful ought we to be upon these matters; reckoning what is right and fit; and carrying out that reckoning to its practical issues.
We have in our text,—
I. A great fact to be reckoned upon. "Likewise reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
1. We are dead with Christ to sin by having borne the punishment in him. In Christ we have endured the death penalty, and are regarded as dead by the law (verses 6 and 7).
2. We are risen with him into a justified condition, and have reached a new life (verse 8).
3. We can no more come under sin again than he can (verse 9).
4. We are therefore forever dead to its guilt and reigning power:
"Sin shall not have dominion over you" (verses 12–14).
This reckoning is based on truth, or we should not be exhorted to it.
To reckon yourself to be dead to sin, so that you boast that you do not sin at all, would be a reckoning based on falsehood, and would be exceedingly mischievous. "There is no man that sins not." 1 Kings 8:46; 1 John 1:8. None are so provoking to God as sinners who boast their own imagined perfection.
The reckoning that we do not sin must either go upon the Antinomian theory, that sin in the believer is no sin, which is a shocking notion,
Or else our conscience must tell us that we do sin in many ways; in omission or con mission in transgression or short-coming, in temper or in spirit. James 3:2; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23.
To reckon yourself dead to sin in the scriptural sense is full of benefit both to heart and life. Be a ready reckoner in this fashion.
II. A great lesson to be put in practice. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof."
1. Sin has great power; it is in you, and will strive to reign.
It remains as an outlaw, hiding away in your nature.
It remains as a plotter, planning your overthrow.
It remains as an enemy, warring against the law of your mind.
It remains as a tyrant, worrying and oppressing the true life.
2. Its field of battle is the body.
Its wants, hunger, thirst, cold, &c., may become occasions of sin, by leading to murmuring, envy, covetousness, robbery, etc.
Its appetites may crave excessive indulgence, and unless continually curbed, will easily lead to evil.
Its pains and infirmities, through engendering impatience and other faults, may produce sin.
Its pleasures, also, can readily become incitements to sin.
Its influence upon the mind and spirit may drag our noble nature down to the groveling materialism of earth.
3. The body is mortal, and we shall be completely delivered from sin when set free from our present material frame, if indeed grace reigns within. Until then we shall find sin lurking in one member or another of "this vile body."
4. Meanwhile we must not let it reign.
If it reigned over us it would be our God. It would prove us to be under death, and not alive unto God.
It would cause us unbounded pain and injury if it ruled only for a moment.
Sin is within us, aiming at dominion; and this knowledge, together with the fact that we are nevertheless alive unto God, should—
Help our peace; for we perceive that men may be truly the Lord's, even though sin struggles within them.
Aid our caution; for our divine life is well worth preserving, and needs to be guarded with constant care.
Draw us to use the means of grace, since in these the Lord meets with us and refreshes our new life.
Let us come to the table of communion and to all other ordinances, as alive unto God; and in that manner let us feed on Christ.
Instructive Words
In the fourth century, when the Christian faith was preached in its power in Egypt, a young brother sought out the great Macarius. "Father," said he, "what is the meaning of being dead and buried with Christ?"
"My son," answered Macarius, "you remember our dear brother who died, and was buried a short time since? Go now to his grave, and tell him all the unkind things that you ever heard of him, and that we are glad he is dead, and thankful to be rid of him, for he was such a worry to us, and caused so much discomfort in the church. Go, my son, and say that, and hear what he will answer."
The young man was surprised, and doubted whether he really understood; but Macarius only said, "Do as I bid you, my son, and come and tell me what our departed brother says."
The young man did as he was commanded, and returned.
"Well, and what did our brother say?" asked Macarius.
"Say, father!" he exclaimed; "how could he say anything? He is dead."
"Go now again, my son, and repeat every kind and flattering thing you have ever heard of him; tell him how much we miss him; how great a saint he was; what noble work he did; how the whole church depended upon him; and come again and tell me what he says."
The young man began to see the lesson Macarius would teach him. He went again to the grave, and addressed many flattering things to the dead man, and then returned to Macarius.
"He answers nothing, father; he is dead and buried."
"You know now, my son," said the old father, "what it is to be dead with Christ. Praise and blame equally are nothing to him who is really dead and buried with Christ."—Anon.
Though the lowest believer be above the power of sin, yet the highest believer is not above the presence of sin. Sin never ruins but where it reigns. It is not destroying where it is disturbing. The more evil it receives from us, the less evil it does to us. William Secker.
Sin may rebel, but it shall never reign, in a saint. It fares with sin in the regenerate as with those beasts that Daniel speaks of, "that had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time."—Thomas Brooks.
Men must not suffer a single sin to survive. If Saul had destroyed all the Amalekites, no Amalekite would have lived to destroy him.
David Roland.
CXCIX
Romans 8:17—"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."
This chapter is like the garden of Eden, which had in it all manner of delights. If one were shut up to preach only from the eighth of Romans he would have a subject which might last a life-time. Every line of the chapter serves for a text. It is an inexhaustible mine. Paul sets before us a golden ladder, and from every step he climbs to something yet higher: from sonship he rises to heirship, and from heirship to joint-heirship with the Lord Jesus.
I. The ground of heirship. "If children, then heirs."
1. It does not follow from ordinary creation. It is not written—if creatures, then heirs.
2. Neither is it found in natural descent. It is not written—if children of Abraham, then heirs. Romans 9:7–13.
3. Nor can it come by meritorious service. It is not written—if servants, then heirs. Galatians 4:30.
4. Nor by ceremonial observances. It is not written—if circumcised or baptized, then heirs. Romans 4:9–12.
Our being regenerated or born again unto God by his Holy Spirit is our one ground of heirship.
Let us inquire—
Have we been born again? John 3:3.
Have we the spirit of adoption? Galatians 4:6.
Are we fashioned in the likeness of God? Colossians 3:10.
Have we believed on Jesus? John 1:12.
II. The universality of the heirship. "Children, then heirs."
1. The principle of priority as to time cannot enter into this question. The elder and the younger in the divine family are equally heirs.
2. The love of God is the same to them all.
3. They are all blessed under the same promise. Hebrews 6:17.
4. They are all equally related to that great First-born Son through whom their heirship comes to them. He is the first-born among many brethren.
5. The inheritance is large enough for them all.
They are not all prophets, preachers, apostles, or even well-instructed and eminent saints; they are not all rich and influential; they are not all strong and useful; but they are all heirs.
Let us, then, all live as such, and rejoice in our portion.
III. The inheritance which is the subject of heirship. "Heirs of God."
Our inheritance is divinely great. We are—
Heirs of all things. "He who overcomes shall inherit all things:" Rev. 21:7. "All things are yours:" 1 Corinthians 3:21.
Heirs of salvation. Hebrews 1:14.
Heirs of eternal life. Titus 3:7.
Heirs of promise. Hebrews 6:17.
Heirs of the grace of life. 1 Peter 3:7.
Heirs of righteousness. Hebrews 11:7.
Heirs of the kingdom. James 2:5.
Whereas we are said to be "heirs of God," it must mean that we are—
1. Heirs of all that God possesses.
2. Heirs of all that God is. Of his love; for God is love. Hence heirs of all possible good; for God is good.
3. Heirs of God himself. What an infinite portion!
4. Heirs of all that Jesus has and is, as God and man.
IV. The partnership of the claimants to heirship. "And joint-heirs with Christ."
1. This is the test of our heirship. We are not heirs except with Christ, through Christ, and in Christ.
2. This sweetens it all. Fellowship with Jesus is our best portion.
3. This shows the greatness of the inheritance. Worthy of Jesus. Such an inheritance as the Father gives to the Well-beloved.
4. This ensures it to us; for Jesus will not lose it, and his title-deed and ours are one and indivisible.
5. This reveals and endears his love. That he should become a partner with us in all things is love unbounded.
His taking us into union with himself secures our inheritance.
His prayer for us attains it.
His going into Heaven before us prepares it.
His coming again will bring us the full enjoyment of it.
6. This joint heirship binds us faster to Jesus, since we are nothing, and have nothing apart from him.
Let us joyfully accept the present suffering with Christ, for it is part of the heritage.
Let us believe in the glorification which is sure to follow in due time, and let us anticipate it with immediate rejoicing.
Notes
How God treats men. "He pardons them and receives them into his house, he makes them all children, and all his children are his heirs, and all his heirs are princes, and all his princes are crowned."—John Pulsford.
As a dead man cannot inherit an estate, no more can a dead soul inherit the kingdom of God. Salter.
It is not easy to imagine a more cautious, lawyer-like record than the following entry in a MS. book written by the celebrated Lord Eldon: "I was born, I believe, on the 4th June, 1751." We may suppose that this hesitating statement refers to the date, and not to the fact, of his birth. Many, however, are just as uncertain about their spiritual birth. It is a grand thing to be able to say, "We know that we have passed from death unto life," even though we may not be able to put a date to it.
As justification is union and communion with Christ in his righteousness; and sanctification is union and communion with Christ in his holiness, or his holy character and nature; so, by parity of reasoning, adoption must be held to be union and communion with Christ in his Sonship; surely the highest and best union and communion of the three. Dr. Candlish.
Inheritance. What is it? The pay of a soldier is not inheritance; neither are the fees of a lawyer, nor of a physician; nor the gains of trade; nor the wages of labor. The rewards of toil or skill, these are earned by the hands that receive them. What is inherited, on the other hand, may be the property of a new-born babe; and so the coronet, won long ago by the stout arm of valor, and first blazoned on a battered shield, now stands above the cradle of a wailing infant. Dr. Guthrie.
The question lies in that first word "if." Can you cast out all uncertainty from that matter by proving your sonship? "Then"—ah! then, no doubt remains as to your heirship. No man need question that Heaven will be his if he is the Lord's. The inheritance is—to be glorified together with Christ. What more could a child desire than to inherit as much as his eldest brother? If we are as favored as Jesus, what more can we be?
CHRISTIAN
Romans 10:16—"But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report?"
Man is the same disobedient creature under all dispensations. We bemoan his rejection of the gospel, and so did Isaiah, who spoke in the name of the whole company of the prophets.
It is one of the greatest proofs of the depravity of man's heart that he will no more obey the gospel than the law, but disobeys his God, whether he speaks to him in love or in law.
Men will sooner be lost than trust their God.
When any receive the gospel it is a work of grace—"the arm of the Lord is revealed"; but when they refuse it, it is their own sin—"they have not obeyed the gospel."
I. The gospel comes to men with the force of a command.
It is not optional to men to accept or refuse it at pleasure. "God now commands all men everywhere to repent": Acts 17:30. He also commands them to repent and believe the gospel. Mark 1:15.
To refuse to believe is to incur great sin. John 16:8.
There is a death penalty attached to disobedience. Mark 16:16.
It is so put—
1. To secure the honor of God. It is not the offer of an equal to an equal, but of the great God to a condemned sinner.
2. To embolden the proclaimer of it. The minister now speaks boldly with his Master's authority.
3. To remind man of his obligations. Repentance and faith are natural duties from which the gospel does not exonerate a man, although it blesses him by bestowing them upon him.
4. To encourage the humble seeker. He must be at full liberty to believe in Jesus, since he is commanded to do so, and threatened if he does not do so.
5. To suggest to men the urgent duty of seeing to their soul's welfare. Suicide, whether of the body or of the soul, is always a great crime. To neglect the great salvation is a grave offence.
The gospel is set forth as a feast, to which men are bound to come, under penalty of the King's displeasure. Matthew 22:1–7.
The prodigal was right in returning to his father; and if he was right in doing so, so would each one of us be in doing the same.
II. What, then, are the claims of the gospel to obedience?
1. The authority of the sender. Whatever God commands, man is under bonds to do.
2. The motive of the sender. Love shines in the gospel command, and no man should slight infinite love. To refuse to obey the gospel of salvation is an insult to divine love.
3. The great gift of the sender: he has given us his only begotten Son. To refuse Jesus is a high affront to measureless love.
4. The reasonableness of the demand of the sender. Should not men believe their God, and trust their Savior?
5. The earnestness of the sender. His whole heart is in the gospel. Note the high position which the scheme of salvation occupies in the esteem of God. Shall we not obey an appeal put before us with such energy of compassion?
Ask your own consciences whether you do right to refuse or neglect the gospel of the grace of God.
Ask those who are now saved what they think of their long unbelief.
Do not incur a world of regrets in after years by long delays.
Do not jeopardize your souls by refusing the gospel.
III. What is the obedience required by the gospel?
Not mere hearing, crediting, liking, professing, or proclaiming; but a hearty obedience to its command. It claims,
1. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Renunciation of self-righteousness, and confession of guilt.
3. Repentance and practical quittance of sin.
4. Discipleship under the Lord Jesus; and this means obedience both to his teaching and his example.
5. Public confession of his name, in his own way, namely, by baptism.
If you refuse to obey the gospel—
Your hearts will harden to a deeper unbelief.
Others will obtain the blessing which you refuse; and this will deepen your own condemnation. Romans 10:19.
You will die in your sins, with your blood on your own heads.
Enforcements
A powerful argument to prove the enmity of man's heart against God is the unsuccessfulness of the gospel; which can be resolvable into nothing else but such an enmity. The design of the gospel is to bring us into a union with the Son of God, and to believe on him whom the Father has sent. Christ seeks to gather in souls to God, but they will not be gathered. This is matter of fearful consideration, that when God is calling after men by his own Son, there be so few that will come to him. How few there are that say, "Give me Christ, or I am lost! None can reconcile me to God, but Christ"! You are daily besought, in Christ's stead, to be reconciled, but in vain! What does this signify, but obstinate, invincible enmity?—John Howe.
"All God's biddings are enablings," says an old writer.
Obedience is faith incarnate.
To disobey the gospel is far worse than to break the law. For disobedience to the law there is a remedy in the gospel, but for disobedience to the gospel no remedy can be found. "There remains no more sacrifice for sins."
It is reported of the old kings of Peru, that they were accustomed to use a tassel, or fringe, made of red wool, which they wore upon their heads, and when they sent any governor to rule as viceroy in any part of their country, they delivered unto him one of the threads of their tassel, and, for one of those simple threads, he was as much obeyed as if he had been the king himself—yes, it has so happened that the king has sent a governor only with this thread to slay men and women of a whole province, without any further commission; for of such power and authority was the king's tassel with them, that they willingly submitted thereunto, even at the sight of one thread of it. Now, it is to be hoped that, if one thread shall be so forcible to draw heathen obedience, there will be no need of cart-ropes to haul on that which is Christian. Exemplary was that obedience of the Romans which was said to have come abroad to all men. And certainly gospel obedience is a grace of much worth, and of great force upon the whole man; for when it is once wrought in the heart, it works a conformity to all God's will. Be it for life or death, one word from God will command the whole soul as soon as obedience has found admittance into the heart. Spencer; Things New and Old.
CCI
Romans 12:15—"Rejoice with them that do rejoice."
It is supposed that some are rejoicing, and this is a happy supposition: you are invited to sympathize with them, and this is a happy duty.
Sympathy is a duty of our common humanity, but far more of our regenerated manhood. Those who are one in the higher life should show their holy unity by true fellow-feeling.
Joyful sympathy is doubly due when the joy is spiritual and eternal.
I invite you to this joy because of those who have lately been brought to Jesus, and are now to be added to the church. The occasion is joyous; let the joy spread all around.
I. Rejoice with the converts.
1. Some delivered from lives of grievous sin. All saved from that which would have ruined them eternally, but certain of them from faults which injure men in society.
2. Some of them rescued from agonizing fear and deep despair. Could you have seen them under conviction you would indeed rejoice to behold them free and happy.
3. Some of them have been brought into great peace and joy. The blissful experience of their first love should charm us into sympathetic delight.
4. Some of them are aged. These are called at the eleventh hour. Rejoice that they are saved from imminent peril.
5. Some of them are young, with years of happy service before them.
6. Each case is special. In some we think of what they would have been, and in others of what they will be.
There is great gladness in these new-born ones, and shall we be indifferent? Let us welcome them with hearty joy.
II. Rejoice with their friends.
1. Some have prayed long for them, and now their prayers are heard.
2. Some have been very anxious, have seen much to mourn over in the past, and feared much of evil in the future.
3. Some are relatives with a peculiar interest in these saved ones Parents, children, brothers, etc.
4. Some are expecting, and in certain cases already receiving, much comfort from these newly-saved ones. They have already brightened the family circle, and made heavy hearts glad.
Holy parents have no greater joy than to see their children walking in the truth. Do we not share their joy?
III. Rejoice with those who brought them to Jesus.
The spiritual parents of these converts are glad.
The Pastor, Evangelist, Missionary, Author.
The Parent, elder sister, or other loving relation.
The Teacher in the Sabbath School or Bible Class.
The Friend who wrote or spoke to them of Jesus.
What a joy belongs to those who by personal effort win souls!
Endeavor to win the same joy for yourself, and meanwhile be glad that others have it.
IV. Rejoice with the Holy Spirit.
1. He sees his strivings successful.
2. He sees his instructions accepted.
3. He sees his quickening power operating in new life.
4. He sees the renewed mind yielding to his divine guidance.
5. He sees the heart comforted by his grace.
Let us rejoice in the love of the Spirit.
V. Rejoice with the angels.
They have noted the repentance of the returning sinner.
They will henceforth joyfully guard the footsteps of the pilgrim.
They expect his life-long perseverance, or their joy would be premature. He is and will be forever their fellow-servant.
They look one day to bear him home to glory.
The evil angel makes us groan; should not the joy of good angels make us sing in harmony with their delight?
VI. Rejoice with the Lord Jesus.
1. His joy is proportioned to the ruin from which he has saved his redeemed ones.
2. His joy is proportioned to the cost of their redemption.
3. His joy is proportioned to the love which he bears to them.
4. His joy is proportioned to their future happiness, and to the glory which their salvation will bring to him.
Do you find it hard to rejoice with these newly baptized believers? Let me urge you to do so, for—
You have your own sorrows, and this communion of joy will prevent brooding too much over them.
You will renew the love of your espousals by communion with these young ones.
It will comfort you for your own erring ones if you rejoice with the friends of converts.
It will forbid envy if you rejoice with workers who are successful.
It will elevate your spirit if you endeavor to rejoice with the Holy Spirit and the angels.
It will fit you to partake in a like success if you rejoice with Jesus, the Sinner's Friend.
Sympathetics
About three hundred years after the time of the Apostles, Caius Marius Victorious, an old pagan, was converted from his impiety and brought over to the Christian faith; and when the people of God heard this, there was a wonderful rejoicing, and shouting, and leaping for gladness, and psalms were sung in every church, while the people joyously said one to another, "Caius Marius Victorious is become a Christian! Caius Marius Victorious is become a Christian!"
Mr. Haslam, telling the story of his conversion, says: "I do not remember all I said, but I felt a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul. Whether it was something in my words, or my manner, or my look, I know not; but all of a sudden a local preacher, who happened to be in the congregation, stood up, and putting up his arms, shouted out in Cornish manner, 'The parson is converted! the parson is converted! Hallelujah!' And in another moment his voice was lost in the shouts and praises of three or four hundred of the congregation. Instead of rebuking this extraordinary 'brawling,' as I should have done in a former time, I joined in the outburst of praise; and to make it more orderly, I gave out the Doxology—'Praise God from whom all blessings flow'—which the people sung with heart and voice, over and over again."
An ungodly youth accompanied his parents to hear a certain minister. The subject of the discourse was the heavenly state. On returning home, the young man expressed his admiration of the preacher's talents; "But," said he, turning to his mother, "I was surprised that you and my father were in tears." "Ah, my son!" replied the anxious mother, "I did weep, not because I feared my own personal interest in the subject, or that of your father; but I wept for fear that you, my beloved child, would be forever banished from the blessedness of Heaven." "I supposed," said the father, turning to his wife, "that those were your reflections, the same concern for our dear son made me weep also." These tender remarks found their way to the young man's heart, and led him to repentance. Arvine.
CCII
Romans 15:4. "For whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."
This is the text from which old Hugh Latimer was accustomed to preach continually in his latter days. Certainly it gave him plenty of sea room.
The apostle declares that the Old Testament Scriptures are meant to teach New Testament believers.
Things written aforetime were written for our time.
The Old Testament is not outworn; apostles learned from it.
Nor has its authority ceased; it still teaches with certainty.
Nor has its divine power departed; for it works the graces of the Spirit in those who receive it: patience, comfort, hope.
In this verse the Holy Spirit sets his seal upon the Old Testament, and forever enters his protest against all undervaluing of that sacred volume.
The Holy Scriptures produce and ripen the noblest graces.
Let us carefully consider—
I. The patience of the scriptures.
1. Such as they inculcate.
Patience under every appointment of the divine will.
Patience under human persecution and satanic opposition.
Patience under brotherly burdens. Galatians 6:2.
Patience in waiting for divine promises to be fulfilled.
2. Such as they exhibit in examples.
Job under divers afflictions triumphantly patient.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob patiently waiting as sojourners with God, embracing the covenant promise in a strange land.
Joseph patiently forgiving the unkindness of his brethren, and bearing the false accusation of his master.
David in many trials and under many reproaches, patiently waiting for the crown, and refusing to injure his persecutor.
Our Savior patient under all the many forms of trial.
3. Such as they produce by their influence.
By calling us to the holiness which involves trial.
By revealing the design of God in our tribulations, and so sustaining the soul in steadfast resolve.
By declaring to us promises as to the future which make us cheerfully endure present griefs.
II. The comfort of the scriptures.
1. Such as they inculcate.
They bid us rise above fear. Psalm 46:1–3.
They urge us to think little of all transient things.
They command us to find our joy in God.
They stimulate us to rejoice under tribulations, because they make us like the prophets of old.
2. Such as they exhibit.
Enoch walking with God.
Abraham finding God his shield and exceeding great reward.
David strengthening himself in God.
Hezekiah spreading his letter before the Lord.
Many other cases are recorded, and these stimulate our courage.
3. Such as they produce.
The Holy Spirit as the Comforter uses them to that end.
Their own character adapts them to that end.
They comfort us by their gentleness, certainty, fullness, graciousness, adaptation, personality, etc.
Our joyous experience is the best testimony to the consoling power of the Holy Scriptures.
III. The hope of the scriptures.
Scripture is intended to work in us a good hope.
A people with a hope will purify themselves, and will in many other ways rise to a high and noble character.
By the hope of the Scriptures we understand—
1. Such a hope as they hold forth.
The hope of salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5:8.
"The blessed hope, and the appearing of our Lord": Titus 2:13.
The hope of the resurrection of the dead. Acts 23:6.
The hope of glory. Colossians 1:27.
This is a good hope, a lively hope, the hope set before us in the gospel.
2. Such a hope as they exhibit in the lives of saints. A whole martyrology will be found in Hebrews 11.
3. Such a hope as they produce.
We see what God has done for his people, and therefore hope.
We believe the promises through the Word, and therefore hope.
We enjoy present blessing, and therefore hope.
Let us hold constant fellowship with the God of patience and consolation, who is also the God of hope; and let us rise from stage to stage of joy as the order of the words suggests.
Comforts
How much important matter do we find condensed in this single verse! What a light and glory does it throw on the Word of God! It has been well noted, that we have here its authority, as it is a written word; its antiquity, as it was written aforetime; its utility, as it is written for our learning. We may also infer from what immediately follows, its Divine origin; for, if by means of the Holy Scriptures, and the accompanying lively power of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 59:21), God imparts to our soul patience, and comfort, and hope, it is because he is himself, as the apostle here expressly teaches, the God of patience and comfort, and the God of hope (verse 13). He is the fountain of these gifts and graces, which by the channel of his inspired Word flow down into our hearts and lives, to strengthen them for his service. Nor must we fail to notice the gracious method of their communication, their regular development within us, as we find this to be the order of their course—1, patience; 2, comfort; 3, hope. From a calm sense of inward peace and comfort we are led by the same Spirit to feel a blessed, and, it may be, a joyous hope. But, in order to this, there must always be in us the ground-work of patience, in our suffering or doing the will of God.
James Ford.
Oliver Cromwell once read aloud Philippians 4:11–13, and then remarked, "There, in the day when my poor child died, this Scripture did go near to save my life."
When George Peabody was staying at Sir Charles Reed's house, he saw the youngest child bringing to his father a large Bible for family prayers. Mr. Peabody said, "Ah! my boy, you carry the Bible now; but the time is coming when you will find that the Bible must carry you."
"Speak to me now in Scripture language alone," said a dying Christian. "I can trust the words of God; but when they are the words of man, it costs me an effort to think whether I may trust them."—G. S. Bowes.
As an instance of the patience, comfort and hope, which come from the gospel, note the following from Dr. Payson:—Christians might avoid much trouble if they would believe that God is able to make them happy without anything else. God has been depriving me of one blessing after another; but as every one was removed, he has come in and filled up its place; and now, when I am a cripple, and not able to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before, or ever expected to be. If I had believed this twenty years ago, I might have been spared much anxiety.
CCIII
1 Corinthians 6:19, 20—"And you are not your own, for you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
With what ardor does the apostle pursue sin to destroy it!
He is not so prudish as to let sin alone, but cries out, in plainest language, "Flee fornication." The shame is not in the rebuke, but in the sin which calls for it.
He chases this foul wickedness with arguments. See verse 18.
He drags it into the light of the Spirit of God. "What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?" Verse 19.
He slays it at the cross. "You are bought with a price."
Let us consider this last argument, that we may find therein death for our sins.
I. A blessed fact. "You are bought with a price."
"You are bought." This is that idea of Redemption which modern heretics dare to style mercantile. The mercantile redemption is the Scriptural one; for the expression, "bought with a price," is a double declaration of that idea.
Redemption is a greater source of obligation than creation or preservation. Hence it is a well-spring of holiness.
"With a price." This indicates the greatness of the cost. The Father gave the Son. The Son gave himself; his happiness, his glory, his repose, his body, his soul, his life.
Measure the price by the bloody sweat, the desertion, the betrayal, the scourging, the cross, the heart-break.
Our body and spirit are both bought with the body and spirit of Jesus.
1. This is either a fact or not. "You are bought," or you are unredeemed. Terrible alternative.
2. If a fact, it is the fact of your life. A wonder of wonders.
3. It will remain to you eternally the grandest of all facts. If true at all, it will never cease to be true, and it will never be outdone in importance by any other event.
4. It should therefore operate powerfully upon us both now and ever.
II. A plain consequence. "You are not your own."
Negative. It is clear that if bought, you are not your own.
1. This involves privilege.
You are not your own provider: sheep are fed by their shepherd.
You are not your own guide: ships are steered by their pilot.
You are not your own father: children loved by parents.
2. This also involves responsibility.
We are not our own to injure. Neither body nor soul.
Not our own to waste, in idleness, amusement, or speculation.
Not our own to exercise caprice, and follow our own prejudices, depraved affections, wayward wills, or irregular appetites.
Not our own to lend our service to another master.
Not our own to serve self. Self is a dethroned tyrant. Jesus is a blessed husband, and we are his.
Positive. "Your body and your spirit, which are God's."
We are altogether God's. Body and spirit include the whole man.
We are always God's. The price once paid, we are for ever his.
We rejoice that we know we are God's, for thus
We have a beloved owner.
We pursue an honored service.
We fill a blessed position. We are in Christ's keeping.
III. A practical conclusion. "Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
Glorify God in your body
By cleanliness, chastity, temperance, industry, cheerfulness, self-denial, patience, etc.
Glorify God—
In a suffering body by patience unto death.
In a working body by holy diligence.
In a worshiping body by bowing in prayer.
In a well-governed body by self-denial.
In an obedient body by doing the Lord's will with delight.
Glorify God in your spirit
By holiness, faith, zeal, love, heavenliness, cheerfulness, fervor, humility, expectancy, etc.
Remember, O redeemed one, that—
1. You will be closely watched by Christ's enemies.
2. You will be expected to be more gracious than others; and rightly so, since you claim to be Christ's own.
3. If you are not holy, the sacred name of your Redeemer, your Proprietor, and your Indweller will be compromised.
4. But if you live a redeemed life, your God will be honored.
Let the world see what Redemption can do.
Let the world see what sort of men "God's Own" are.
Pieces of Money
But why should so vast a price be required? Is man worth the cost? A man may be bought in parts of the world for the value of an ox. It was not man simply, but man in a certain relation, that had to be redeemed. See one who has been all his days a drunken, idle, worthless fellow. All appropriate to him the epithet "worthless"—worth nothing. But that man commits a crime for which he is sentenced to be hanged, or to be imprisoned for life. Go and try to buy him now. Redeem him and make him your servant. Let the richest man in Cambridge offer every shilling he possesses for that worthless man, and his offer would be wholly vain. Why? Because now there is not only the man to be considered, but the law. It needs a very great price to redeem one man from the curse of the law of England; but Christ came to redeem all men from the curse of the Divine law. William Robinson.
Does not justice demand the dedication of yourself to your Lord? God has not only procured a title for you, but a title to you: and unless you devote yourself to his service, you rob him of his right. What a man has bought, he deems his own; and especially when the purchase has been costly. And has not God bought you with a price of infinite value? And would you rob him of a servant from his family; of a vessel from his sanctuary? To take what belongs to a man is robbery, but to take what belongs to God is sacrilege. William Jay.
The Lord Jesus is everything in redemption, for he is both the Buyer and the price.
A silly child when he plays at selling would like to take the price and keep the article too; but everybody knows that this cannot be. If you keep the goods you cannot have the price, and if you accept the price the goods are no longer yours. You may have either the one or the other, but not both. So you may be your own, if you wish; but then the redemption price is not yours. If you accept the ransom, then the thing redeemed is no longer yours, but belongs to him who bought it. If I am redeemed, I am Christ's. If I am resolved to be my own, I must renounce my Redeemer, and die unransomed.
CCIV
1 Corinthians 11:24—"And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me."
Men have made evil use of this most blessed ordinance.
Yet they have no excuse from any obscurity of Scripture.
Nothing is said of a sacrifice or an altar, but everything is plain.
The Supper, as we find it in Holy Scripture, is a service of remembrance, testimony, and communion, and nothing more.
No pompous ceremony is arranged for. Not even a posture is prescribed; but merely the providing of bread and the juice of the vine; taking, breaking, eating, drinking, and no more.
The spiritual action is specially prescribed; the remembrance of our Lord must be there, or we fail to keep the feast.
I. Other memories will come, but must not crowd out the one memory.
The following remembrances may be natural, allowable, and profitable, but they must be kept in a secondary place:—
1. Of ourselves when we were strangers and foreigners.
2. Of our former onlooking and wishing to be at the table.
3. Of our first time of coming, and the grace received since then.
4. Of the dear departed who once were with us at the table.
5. Of beloved ones who cannot be with us at this time because they are kept at home by sickness.
6. Of many present with us, and what grace has done in their cases We may think of their needs and of their holy lives, etc.
7. Of the apostates who have proved their falseness, like Judas.
However these memories may press upon us, we must mainly remember him for whose honor the feast is ordained.
II. The ordinance is helpful to that one sacred memory.
1. Set forth, the signs display the person of our Lord as really man, substantial flesh and blood.
2. Placed on the table, their presence betokens our Lord's dear familiarity with us, and our nearness to him.
3. Broken and poured forth, they show his sufferings.
4. Separated, bread apart from wine, the flesh divided from the blood, they declare his death for us.
5. Eating, we symbolize the life-sustaining power of Jesus and our reception of him into our innermost selves.
6. Remaining when the Supper is ended, the fragments suggest that there is yet more bread and wine for other feasts; and, even so, our Lord is all-sufficient for all time.
Every particle of the ordinance points at Jesus, and we must therein behold the Lamb of God.
III. That sacred memory is in itself most needful for us.
It is needful to remember our crucified Lord, for—
1. It is the continual sustenance of faith.
2. It is the stimulus of love.
3. It is the fountain of hope.
4. It is a recall, from the world, from self, from controversy, from labor, from our fellows—to our Lord.
5. It is the réveille, the up-and-away. It is the prelude of the marriage supper, and makes us long for "the bridal feast above."
Above all things, it behooves us to keep the name of our Lord engraved on our hearts.
IV. This symbolic festival is highly beneficial in refreshing our memories, and in other ways.
1. We are yet in the body, and materialism is a most real and potent force; we need that there be a set sign and form to incarnate the spiritual and make it vivid to the mind.
Moreover, as the Lord actually took upon him our flesh and blood, and as he means to save even the material part of us, he gives us this link with materialism, lest we spirit things away as well as spiritualize them.
2. Jesus, who knew our forgetfulness, appointed this festival of love; and we may be sure he will bless it to the end designed.
3. Experience has often proved its eminent value.
4. While reviving the memories of the saints, it has also been sealed by the Holy Spirit; for he has very frequently used it to arouse and convince the spectators of our solemn feast.
To observe the Supper is binding on all believers.
It is binding to the extent of "oft."
Only as it assists remembrance can it be useful. Seek grace lovingly to remember your Lord.
Memorials
It is common enough in human history to meet with periodical celebrations, anniversaries of the day of their birth, or of their death, held in honor of those who have greatly distinguished themselves by their virtues, their genius, or their high services to their country or to mankind. But where except here do we read of any one in his own lifetime originating and appointing the method by which he was to be remembered, himself presiding at the first celebration of the rite, and laying an injunction upon all his followers regularly to meet for its observance? Who among all those who have been the greatest ornaments of our race, the greatest benefactors of humanity, would ever have risked his reputation, his prospect of being remembered by the ages that were to come, by exhibiting such an eager and premature desire to preserve and perpetuate the remembrance of his name, his character, his deeds? They have left it to others after them to devise the means for doing so; neither vain enough, nor bold enough, nor foolish enough to be themselves the framers of those means. Who, then, is he who ventures to do what none else ever did? Who is this, who, before he dies, by his own act and deed sets up the memorial institution by which his death is to be shown forth? Surely he must be one who knows and feels that he has claims to be remembered such as none other ever had—claims of such a kind that, in pressing them in such a way upon the notice of his followers, he has no fear whatever of what he does being attributed to any other, any lesser motive than the purest, deepest, most unselfish love! Does not Jesus Christ in the very act of instituting in his own lifetime this memorial rite, step at once above the level of ordinary humanity, and assert for himself a position toward mankind utterly and absolutely unique?—Dr. Hanna.
Miss Edgeworth, in one of her tales, relates an anecdote of a Spanish artist, who was employed to depict the "Last Supper." It was his object to throw all the sublimity of his are into the figure and countenance of the Master; but he put on the table in the foreground some chased cups, the workmanship of which was exceedingly beautiful, and when his friends came to see the picture on the easel, every one said, "What beautiful cups they are!" "Ah!" said he, "I have made a mistake, these cups divert the eyes of the spectator from the Master, to whom I wished to direct the attention of the observer"; and he took his brush and rubbed them from the canvas, that the strength and vigor of the chief object might be seen as it should. G. S. Bowes.
He who remembers not Christ's death, so as to endeavor to be like him, forgets the end of his redemption, and dishonors the cross, on which his satisfaction was wrought. Anthony Horneck.
CCV
1 Corinthians 11:28—"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup."
The Lord's Supper is not for all men, but only for those who are able spiritually to discern the Lord's body.
It is not meant for the conversion of sinners, but for the edification of disciples.
Hence the need of examination, lest we intrude ourselves where we have no right to be.
I. The object of the examination.
1. That the communicant may eat and drink. "Examine, and so let him eat." He is not to examine in order to justify his stopping away.
2. That he may know that the responsibility rests with himself. The examination is not by priest or minister: he examines himself.
3. That he may communicate solemnly, and not come to the table carelessly, and as a matter of course. He is to make heart-searching inquiry, and so approach the table with self-humiliation.
4. That he may come to the table intelligently, knowing to what he comes, and why, and wherefore.
5. That he may do so with appreciative confidence and joy. After examination he will know his right to come, and feel at ease.
Many good results would follow if this examination were universally practiced. "A man" in this text means "any man," and "every man."
The examination should be as frequent as the eating of the bread. No man has reached a point at which he is beyond the need of further self-searching.
II. The matter of the examination.
Points of examination may be suggested by the following thoughts:—
1. It is a feast.
Have I life? The dead sit not at banquets.
Have I appetite? Else how can I eat?
Have I a friendship toward the Lord who is the Host?
Have I put on the wedding garment?
2. Jesus bids us show forth his death.
Have I faith in his death?
Do I live by his death?
3. Jesus bids us do this by eating bread.
Is this eating a symbol of a fact, or is it a mere mockery?
Is Jesus really and truly the food of my soul?
4. Jesus bids each believer do this in union with others.
Am I truly one of his people, and one with them?
Am I dwelling in love with them all?
5. This cup is the New Covenant in Christ's blood.
Am I in covenant with God in Christ Jesus?
Do I rest in that covenant for all my hopes?
6. Jesus calls his people to remember him in this Supper.
Can I remember Christ? Or am I attempting a vain thing?
Do I know him? How else can I remember him?
Are my past dealings with him such as I wish to remember?
Is he so loved by me that I wish to bear him in my memory?
Our profession, experience, conduct, hopes, and designs should all pass the test of this self-examination.
III. The duty after examination.
1. To eat of the bread.
Not to neglect communion, or postpone it, or go away trembling from the table; but to partake reverently.
2. To drink of the cup.
This is specially commanded. Hence we cannot go to Popish mass, where there is no cup.
3. To eat and drink so as to discern the Lord's body. Having the mind awake to see Jesus symbolized in this ordinance.
4. To give thanks unto the Lord for so great a privilege. Twice did our Lord give thanks during the Supper, and at the close he sang. It is not a funeral, but a festival.
You who have come to this table heedlessly, repent of your wicked intrusion, and keep away until you can come aright.
You who have never come at all, remember, if you are not fit for the communion below, you are not fit for Heaven above.
All of you, bethink yourselves of Jesus, and having examined yourselves to your humbling, behold him to your consolation.
Observations
The three questions which Philip Henry advised people to put to themselves in self-examination before the sacrament were, What am I? What have I done? and, What do I want?—John Whitecross.
It is every man's duty solemnly and seriously to examine himself about his interest in Christ, his habitual grace, his actual right and fitness for the Lord's Supper, before his approach to it. It is not said as to the first time of our partaking, but as to every time, "so let him eat." Now, the second and third time, as well as before, we are so to eat. Great preparations are necessary for great duties. The particle so bars men from coming without this previous work of examination. Let a man come only in such a manner; if he neglects this self-examination, let him not venture upon this great mystery. Thus, Psalm 26:6, "I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass your altar, O Lord," alluding to the ancient custom of testifying the purity of their souls by the cleansing of their hands, or to the washings used before sacrifices. If we take the gloss of Ambrose, it will read—I will with a purity of heart embrace the Messiah, signified both by the altar and sacrifice. "So will I compass your altar"; without such an inward purification, I dare not presume upon an approach unto it.
Stephen Charnock.
The duty required for preventing the sin and danger of unworthy communicating is the great and necessary duty of self-examination. It is a metaphor taken from goldsmiths, who try the truth of their gold by the touchstone, the purity of their gold by the fire, and the weight of it by the scale. We have here, 1. The person examining: "Let a man examine." 2. The person examined; it is "himself"; he is to call himself to the bar of conscience, and to put questions to himself. (1) Concerning his state, whether he has a right to come or not. (2) His sins and shortcomings. (3) His wants and necessities. (4) His ends and designs; whether it be to obey the charge of his dying Savior, to show forth his death, renew and seal his covenant with God, get nearness and communion with him, nourishment to his soul, and supply to his wants. And (5) concerning his graces and qualifications, particularly as to knowledge, faith, repentance, fear, love, thankfulness, holy desires, and new obedience. John Willison.
CCVI
1 Corinthians 15:6—"Some are fallen asleep."
Yes, the companions of Jesus died one by one.
Consider the great value of such men and of all good men to the church, and the loss caused by their removal.
Yet no word of lamentation is used. It is not said that they have perished, or passed into the land of shades, but that "they are fallen asleep."
The spirit is with Jesus in glory: the body rests until his appearing.
"Fallen asleep" suggests a very different idea from that which distressed the minds of the heathen when they thought of death.
I. The figure here used.
1. An act of the most natural kind: "fallen asleep."
It is the fit ending of a weary day.
It is not painful, but the end of pain.
It is so desirable that, if denied, we should pray for it.
It is most sweet when the place of our sleep is Jesus.
2. A state of which rest is the main ingredient.
3. A position of safety from a thousand dangers, such as beset the pilgrim, the worker, the warrior.
4. A condition by no means destructive.
Neither sleep nor death destroys existence, nor even injures it.
Neither sleep nor death should be viewed as an evil.
5. A posture full of hope.
We shall awake from this sleep.
We shall awake without difficulty.
We shall arise greatly refreshed.
II. The thoughts aroused by that figure.
1. How did we treat those who are now asleep?
Did we value their living presence, work, and testimony?
Ought we not to be more kind to those who are yet alive?
2. How can we make up for the loss caused by their sleep?
Should we not fill their vacant places?
Should we not profit by their examples?
3. How fit that we also should be prepared to fall asleep!
Is our house in order?
Is our heart in order?
Is our Christian work in order?
4. How much better that the faithful should fall asleep than that the wicked should die in their sins!
5. How patiently should we bear up under the labors and sufferings of the day, since there remains a rest for the people of God!
III. The hopes confirmed by that figure.
1. The sleepers are yet ours, even as those in the house who are asleep are numbered with the rest of the inhabitants.
They have the same life in them which dwells in us.
They are part of the same family. "We are seven."
They make up one church. "One church above, beneath."
2. The sleepers will yet awake.
Their Father's voice will arouse them.
They shall be awake indeed: full of health and energy.
They shall have new clothes to dress in.
They shall not again fall asleep.
3. The sleepers and ourselves will enjoy sweet fellowship.
Sleep does not destroy the love of brothers and sisters now.
We shall arise as one unbroken family, saved in the Lord.
Let us not hopelessly sorrow over those asleep.
Let us not ourselves sleep until bed-time comes.
Let us not fear to sleep in such good company.
Night thoughts
A pious Scotch minister being asked by a friend during his last illness whether he thought himself dying, answered: "Really, friend, I care not whether I am or not; for if I die, I shall be with God; if I live, he will be with me."—Arvine.
God's finger touched him, and he slept. Tennyson.
S. T. Coleridge speaking of a dear friend's death, said, "It is recovery, and not death. Blessed are they that sleep in the Lord; his life is hidden in Christ. In his Redeemer's life it is hidden and in his glory will it be disclosed. Physiologists hold that it is during sleep chiefly that we grow; what may we not hope of such a sleep in such a bosom?"
There must be life in Christ before death can become sleep in him. "Louis, the beloved, sleeps in the Lord," said the priest who announced the death of Louis the Fifteenth. "If," was Thomas Carlyle's stern comment, "if such a mass of laziness and lust sleeps in the Lord, who, think you, sleeps elsewhere?"
CCVII
2 Corinthians 1:3, 4—"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
"Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God."
The apostle began with invoking the blessing of God. Verse 1.
He then went on to bless God.
He was much tried, but he was in a grateful and cheerful humor, for he wrote of most comfortable things.
Here we have—
I. The comfortable occupation. Blessing God. "Blessed be God."
If a man under affliction blesses the Lord—
1. It argues that his heart is not vanquished,
So as to gratify Satan by murmuring, or
So as to kill his own soul with despair.
2. It prophesies that God will send to him speedy deliverances to call forth new praises. It is natural to lend more to a man when the interest on what he has is duly paid.
Never did man bless God but sooner or later God blessed him.
3. It profits the believer above measure.
It takes the mind off from present trouble.
It lifts the heart to heavenly thoughts and considerations.
It gives a taste of Heaven, for Heaven largely consists in adoring and blessing God.
It destroys distress by bringing God upon the scene.
4. It is the Lord's due in whatever state we may be.
II. The comfortable titles.
1. A name of affinity, "The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
2. A name of gratitude, "The Father of mercies."
3. A name of hope, "The God of all comfort."
4. A name of discrimination, "Who comforts us." The Lord has a special care for those who trust in him.
III. The comfortable fact. "The God of all comfort comforts us in all our tribulation."
1. God personally condescends to comfort the saints.
2. God habitually does this. He has always been near to comfort us in all past time, never once leaving us alone.
3. God effectually does this. He has always been able to comfort us in all tribulation. No trial has baffled his skill.
4. God everlastingly does this, he will comfort us to the end, for he is "the God of all comfort," and he cannot change.
Should we not be always happy since God always comforts us?
IV. The comfortable design. "That we may be able to comfort."
1. To make us comforters of others. The Lord aims at this: the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, trains us up to be comforters. There is great need for this holy service in this sin-smitten world.
2. To make us comforters on a large scale. "To comfort them which are in any trouble." We are to be conversant with all kinds of grief, and ready to sympathize with all sufferers.
3. To make us experts in consolation—"able to comfort"; because of our own experience of divine comfort.
4. To make us willing and sympathetic, so that we may through personal experience instinctively care for the state of others.
Let us now unite in special thanksgiving to the God of all comfort.
Let us drink in comfort from the word of the Lord, and be ourselves happy in Christ Jesus.
Let us be on the watch to minister consolation to all tried ones.
Comfortable Words
Music is sweetest near or over rivers, where the echo thereof is best rebounded by the water. Praise for pensiveness, thanks for tears, and blessing God over the floods of affliction, make the most melodious music in the ear of heaven. Thomas Fuller.
Many an Alleluia
That rings through the Father's home,
Sobbed out its first rehearsal
In the shades of a darkened room.
When we try to comfort one another, let it be God's comfort that we give. T. T. Lynch.
We have no more religion than what we have in times of trial.
Andrew Fuller.
Away over in India a poor native woman—like Naomi—"was left of her two sons." She did not, perhaps, know enough to think about God at all in her grief; but she would take no comfort. To everything that could be said she had one answer: "I had but two, and they are both gone."
Day after day she pined and fretted, going listlessly about, her life "empty" of all but a blank despair. One morning, as she wandered here and there among the people of the mission, one of them again remonstrated; but the poor thing gave her old reply: "I had but two, and they are both gone." "Look," said the worker, turning, and pointing towards a group near by, where a white lady of the mission stood directing some dusky natives; "Do you see her?" The woman looked, and saw a sweet, pale face; patient, gentle, glad, as clear as a sky washed blue with storms, but wearing that unmistakable look which tells that storms have been. "Yes," she said, "I see her." "Well," said the other, "she has lost her sons, too!"
The poor native mother gazed for a minute, spell-bound; then she sprang towards her. "Oh, lady"! she cried, "did you have two sons? and are they both gone?"
And now the white mother on her part turned and looked. "Yes," she said, "I had two."
"And are they both gone?"
"Both."
"But they were all I had," cried the other, "and they are both gone!"
"And mine are both gone," said the white lady, clasping the hands of her poor sister in sorrow. "But Jesus took them; and they are with Jesus, and Jesus is with me. And by-and-by I shall have them again."
From that hour the native woman sat at her white sister's feet, followed her about, hung on her words, and from her would take comfort—"the comfort with which she herself was comforted of God."—From "What Ails You?"
He would put off a meditated journey, rather than leave a poor parishioner who required his services; and from his knowledge of human nature, he was able, and in a remarkable manner, to throw himself into the circumstances of those who needed his help. No sympathy was like his. Chambers, on George Crabbe.
CCVIII
2 Corinthians 1:10—"Who delivered us from so great a death, and both deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us."
Grammarians have here a lesson in the tenses; and Christians may profitably join in the exercise.
We may consider the past, present, and future, each one by itself.
We may also view them in their relation to each other.
Our text points out the delivering mercy of God as at all times working out the safety of his people. The case of Paul did not stand alone: hence he uses the plural: "who delivered us"; "we trust."
We shall take the words out of the apostle's mouth and apply them to our own cases.
I. The text suggests three trains of thought.
1. Memory tells of deliverances in the past—
From violent death. In Paul's case, "so great a death" may mean death by fierce mobs, or by the emperor.
From our death in sin: "So great a death" indeed.
From fierce despair when under conviction.
From total overthrow when tempted by Satan.
From faintness under daily tribulation.
From destruction by slander and the like.
The Lord has most graciously delivered us hitherto. Let us express our gratitude.
2. Observation calls attention to present deliverance.
By the good hand of the Lord, we are at this time preserved—
From unseen dangers to life.
From the subtle assaults of Satan.
From the rampant errors of the times.
From inbred sin and natural corruption.
From the sentence of death within, and from the greater danger of self-trust. See the preceding verse.
Our present standing is wholly due to the grace of God, and, trusting in that grace, we may indulge a happy confidence.
3. Expectation looks out of the window upon the future.
Faith rests alone in God, "in whom we trust," and through him she looks for future deliverance—
From all future common trials.
From coming losses and afflictions, and from sicknesses, which may be coming upon us.
From the infirmities and wants of age.
From the peculiar glooms of death.
This expectation makes us march on with cheerfulness.
II. The text supplies three lines of argument.
That the Lord will preserve us to the end is most sure. We can say of him, "In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us."
1. From the Lord's beginning to deliver we argue that he will yet deliver, for
There was no reason in us for his beginning to love us. If his love arises out of his own nature it will continue.
He has obtained no fresh knowledge. He foreknew all our misbehaviors: hence there is no reason for casting us off.
The reason which moved him at first is operating now, and none better can be required.
2. From the Lord's continuing to deliver we argue that he will yet deliver; for
His deliverances have been so many;
They have displayed such wisdom and power;
They have come to us when we have been so unworthy;
They have continued in such an unbroken line;
That we feel sure he will never leave nor forsake us.
3. From the Lord himself—"In whom we trust": we argue that he will yet deliver; for
He is as loving and strong now as aforetime.
He will be the same in the future.
His purpose never changes, and it is to his glory to complete what he has begun. Truly, "he will yet deliver us."
III. The text is open to three inferences.
1. We infer that we shall always be so in danger as to need to be delivered: wherefore we are not high-minded, but fear.
2. We infer our constant need of God's own interposition. He alone has met our case in the past, and he only can meet it in the future: wherefore we would ever abide near our Lord.
3. We infer that our whole life should be filled with the praise of God, who, for past, present, and future, is our Deliverer.
For the Times
First, God has a time, as for all things, so for our deliverance. Secondly, God's time is the best time. He is the best discerner of opportunities. Thirdly, this shall be when he has wrought his work upon our souls, specially when he has made us to trust in him. As here, when Paul had learned to trust in God, then he delivered him.
Richard Sibbes.
The Roman noblemen could give no greater proof of their confidence in their city and army, than when they bought the land on which their Carthaginian enemies were encamped around the city. And we can give no greater proof of our confidence in God, than by trusting him in the land which our enemies, darkness and sickness and trouble, seem to possess, and acting as if God were their master, and mightier than they all. This is but to act upon the truth.
There is an ante-war incident which illustrates the power for despair which lies in forgetfulness of God, and the hope which leaps up when God is fully believed in. A dark cloud hung over the interests of the African race in our land. There seemed no way of deliverance. Frederick Douglas, at a crowded meeting, depicted the terrible condition. Everything was against his people. One political party had gone down on its knees to slavery; the other proposed not to abolish it anywhere, but only to restrict it. The Supreme Court had given judgment against black men as such. He drew a picture of his race writhing under the lash of the overseer, and trampled upon by brutal and lascivious men. As he went on with his despairing words, a great horror of darkness seemed to settle down upon the audience. The orator even uttered the cry for blood. There was no other relief. And then he showed that there was no relief even in that. Everything, every influence, every event was gathering, not for good, but for evil, about the doomed race. It seemed as if they were fated to destruction. Just at the instant when the cloud was most heavy over the audience, there slowly rose, in the front seat, an old black woman. Her name, "Sojourner Truth." She had given it to herself. Far and wide she was known as an African prophetess. Every eye was on her. The orator paused. Reaching out towards him her long bony finger, as every eye followed her pointing, she cried out, "Frederick, is God dead?" It was a lightning-flash upon that darkness. The cloud began to break, and faith and hope and patience returned with the idea of a personal and ever-living God.
Sword and Trowel, 1887.
Who murmurs that in these dark days
His lot is cast?
God's hand within the shadow lays
The stones whereon his gates of praise
Shall rise at last. J. G. Whittier.
CCIX
2 Corinthians 1:20—"For all the promises of God in him are yes, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."
Paul had altered his mind about visiting Corinth.
He had done this from the best of reasons.
The prejudices of certain Corinthians made them misconstrue his conduct, and speak of him as one whose word was not to be relied on.
He asserted that he did not use lightness, and that his mind was not of the "yes and nay" order, even upon so small a matter as a journey to Corinth at a certain date.
This led him to say that his preaching "was not yes and nay."
This further brought out the declaration that the promises of God are not "yes and nay."
Thus a trivial circumstance and an ungenerous remark led to the utterance of a most precious truth. This has often been the case.
From these words let us be led carefully to consider—
I. The dignity of the promises. They are "the promises of God."
1. They were each one made by him according to the purpose of his own will.
2. They are links between his decrees and his acts; being the voice of the decree, and the herald of the act.
3. They display the qualities of him who uttered them. They are true, immutable, powerful, eternal, etc.
4. They remain in union with God. After the lapse of ages, they are still his promises as much as when he first uttered them.
5. They are guaranteed by the character of God who spoke them.
6. They will glorify him as he works out their fulfillment.
II. The range of the promises: "All the promises."
It will be instructive to note the breadth of the promises by observing that—
1. They are found both in the Old and New Testaments; from Genesis to Revelation, running through centuries of time.
2. They are of both sorts—conditional and unconditional: promises to certain works, and promises of an absolute order.
3. They are of all kinds of things—bodily and spiritual, personal and general, eternal and temporal.
4. They contain blessings to varied characters, such as—
The Penitent: Leviticus 26:40–42; Isaiah 55:7, 57:15; Jeremiah 3:12, 13.
The Believing: John 3:16, 18, 6:47; Acts 16:31; 1 Peter 2:6.
The Serving: Psalm 37:3, 9:10; Proverbs 3:9, 10; Acts 10:35.
The Praying: Isaiah 45:11; Lamentations 3:25; Matthew 6:6; Psalm 145:18.
The Obeying: Exodus 19:5; Psalm 119:1–3; Isaiah 1:19.
The Suffering: Matthew 5:10–12; Romans 8:17; 1 Peter 4:12–14.
5. They bring us the richest boons: pardon, justification, sanctification, instruction, preservation, etc.
What a marvelous wealth lies in promises—"all the promises"!
III. The stability of the promises: "All the promises in him are yes, and in him Amen."
A Greek word "Yes," and a Hebrew word "Amen," are used to mark certainty, both to Gentile and Jew.
1. They are established beyond all doubt as being assuredly the mind and purpose of the eternal God.
2. They are confirmed beyond all alteration. The Lord has said "Amen," and so must it be forever.
3. Their stability is in Christ Jesus beyond all hazard; for he is—
The witness of the promise of God,
The surety of the covenant,
The sum and substance of all the promises,
The fulfillment of the promises, by his actual incarnation, his atoning death, his living plea, his ascension power, etc.
The security and guarantee of the promises, since all power is in his hand to fulfill them.
IV. The result of the promises: "The glory of God by us."
By us, his ministers and his believing people, the God of the promises is made glorious.
1. We glorify his condescending love in making the promise.
2. We glorify his power as we see him keeping the promise.
3. We glorify him by our faith, which honors his veracity, by expecting the boons which he has promised.
4. We glorify him in our experience which proves the promise true.
Let us confidently rest in his sure word.
Let us plead the special promise applicable to the hour now passing.
Gatherings
A speaker at the Fulton Street prayer-meeting said, "I count all checks as cash when I am making up my money and striking a balance;" and so, when we feel that we have not much of this world's goods, we can at least take hold of God's promises, for they are just so many drafts at sight upon divine mercy, and we may count them among our possessions. Then we shall feel rich, and the soul is rich who trusts God's word and takes his promises as something for present use.
In the streets of ancient Pompeii there still remain the three stepping-stones, placed here and there, by which men crossed over the street when the water was high. The promises are such stepping-stones on which "the wayfaring man" may place his footstep and be enabled the better to cross some stream of trouble or doubt, or, perhaps, with more ease and safety to escape the mire of some Slough of Despond.
Promises are like the clothes we wear; if there is life in the body they warm us, but not otherwise. When there is living faith the promise will afford warm comfort, but on a dead, unbelieving heart it lies cold and ineffectual. It has no more effect than pouring a cordial down the throat of a corpse. William Gurnall.
If you lean upon the promises of God themselves, and not upon Jesus Christ in them, all will come to nothing.… Whence is it that so many souls bring a promise to the throne of grace, and carry so little away from it? They lean upon the promises without leaning on Christ in the promise. Faithful Teate.
"By us" as ministers—publishing, explaining, applying them. A promise is often like a box of ointment, very precious; but the fragrance does not fill the room until the preacher breaks it. Or it is like the water that was near Hagar, which she saw not, until the angel of the Lord opens our eyes and shows us the well. "By us" as believers realizing the excellency and efficacy of them in our character and conduct. It is when these promises are reduced to experience—when they are seen cleansing us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, making us partakers of the divine nature, leading us to walk worthy of the vocation with which we are called, filling us with kindness and benevolence, supporting us cheerfully under all our trials—it is then they glorify God "by us."
William Jay.
CCX
2 Corinthians 7:1—"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
Kindling with strong emotion, constrained by the love of Christ, and animated by the fellowship of all spiritual blessings, the apostle here strikes out an exhortation, in which he appeals to the noblest passions of the children of God, to their possession of divine lineage, a present endowment, and their expectation of an exalted destiny. These he uses as incentives to holiness of life.
To stir up in us this godly ambition he sets before us the Christian in various lights—
I. As possessed of most glorious privileges. "Having these promises." Not promises in reversion merely, but in actual possession, received, embraced, enjoyed.
The promises referred to are mentioned in the previous chapter.
1. Divine indwelling: "I will dwell in them." (Chapter 6:16.)
2. Divine manifestation: "I will walk in them."
3. Divine covenanting: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
4. Divine acceptance: "I will receive you." (Chapter 6:17.)
5. Divine adoption: "I will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (Chapter 6:18.)
These promises are already fulfilled in our experience.
II. As laboring to be rid of obnoxious evils. "Let us cleanse ourselves." The matter has in it—
1. Personality: "Let us cleanse ourselves."
2. Activity: we must continue vigorously to cleanse both body and mind.
3. Universality: "From all filthiness."
4. Thoroughness: "Of the flesh and spirit."
If God dwells in us, let us make the house clean for so pure a God.
Has the Lord entered into covenant with us that we should be his people? Does not this involve a call upon us to live as becomes godliness?
Are we his children? Let us not grieve our Father, but imitate him as dear children.
III. As aiming at a most exalted position. "Perfecting holiness."
1. We must set before us perfect holiness as a thing to be reached.
2. We must blame ourselves if we fall short of it.
3. We must continue in any degree of holiness which we have reached.
4. We must agonize after the perfecting of our character.
IV. As prompted by the most sacred of motives. "Perfecting holiness in the fear of God."
1. The fear of God casts out the fear of man, and thus saves us from one prolific cause of sin.
2. The fear of God casts out the love of sin, and with the root the fruit is sure to go.
3. The fear of God works in and through love to him, and this is a great factor of holiness.
4. The fear of God is the root of faith, worship, obedience, and so it produces all manner of holy service.
See how promises supply arguments for precepts.
See how precepts naturally grow out of promises.
Outpourings
"Cleanse ourselves." It is the Lord that is the sanctifier of his people, he purges away their dross and tin. He pours clean water, according to his promises, yet does he call us to cleanse ourselves; having such promises, let us cleanse ourselves. He puts a new life into us, and causes us to act, and excites us to excite it, and call it up to act in the progress of sanctification. Men are strangely inclined to a perverse construction of things: tell them that we are to act and work, and give diligence, then they would fancy a doing in their own strength, and be their own saviors. Again, tell them that God works all our works in us, and for us, then they would take the ease of doing nothing: if they cannot have the praise of doing all, they will sit still with folded hands, and use no diligence at all. But this is the corrupt logic of the flesh; its base sophistry. The apostle reasons just contrary, Philippians 2:13: "It is God that works in us both to will and to do." Therefore, would a carnal heart say, we need not work, or at least, may work very carelessly. But he infers, "Therefore let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling," I. e., in the more humble obedience to God, and dependence on him, not obstructing the influences of his grace, and, by sloth and negligence, provoking him to withdraw or abate it. Certainly many in whom there is truth of grace, are kept low in the growth of it by their own slothfulness, sitting still, and not bestirring themselves, and exercising the proper actions of that spiritual life, by which it is entertained and advanced. Archbishop Leighton.
Virtue, forever frail, as fair, below,
Her tender nature suffers in the crowd,
Nor touches on the world without a stain:
The world's infectious; few bring back at eve,
Immaculate, the manners of the morn—
Something we thought, is blotted; we resolved,
Is shaken; we renounc'd, returns again.
Edward Young.
"Let us go on to perfection" (Hebrews 6:1) should rather be rendered, "Let us be carried on.".… If we are unable to go on, we are surely able to be carried on to perfection. Charles Stanford.
The promises, as they have a quickening, so they have a purging power; and that upon sound reasoning. Does God promise that he will be my Father, and I shall be his son? and does he promise me life everlasting? and does that estate require purity? and no unclean thing shall come there? Certainly, these promises being apprehended by faith, as they have a quickening power to comfort, so they purge with holiness. We may not think to carry our filthiness to Heaven. Does the swearer think to carry his blasphemies thither? Filthy persons and liars are banished thence, there is "no unclean thing." He that has these promises purges himself, and "perfects holiness in the fear of God." "He who has this hope purifies himself, as he is pure": 1 John 3:3. Richard Sibbes.
A spiritual mind has something of the nature of the sensitive plant: a holy shrinking from the touch of evil. Richard Cecil.
CCXI
2 Corinthians 7:10—"For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world works death."
Time was when inner experience was considered to be everything, and experimental preaching was the order of the day.
Now it is apt to be too much slighted.
Introspection was formerly pushed to the extreme of morbid self-searching; yet it ought not now to be utterly abandoned.
A correct diagnosis of disease is not everything, but yet it is valuable.
A sense of poverty cannot by itself enrich, but it may stimulate.
Sinners were unwisely influenced by certain ministries to look to their own feelings, many began to seek comfort from their own misery.
Now it is "only believe." And rightly so: but we must discriminate.
There must be sorrow for sin working repentance.
Upon this point we must—
I. Remove certain erroneous ideas with regard to repentance and sorrow for sin.
Among popular delusions we must mention the suppositions—
1. That mere sorrow of mind in reference to sin is repentance.
2. That there can be repentance without sorrow for sin.
3. That we must reach a certain point of wretchedness and horror, of else we are not truly penitent.
4. That repentance happens to us once, and is then over.
5. That repentance is a most unhappy feeling.
6. That repentance must be mixed with unbelief, and embittered by the fear that mercy will be unable to meet our wretched case.
II. Distinguish between the two sorrows mentioned in the text.
1. The godly sorrow which works repentance to salvation is—
Sorrow for sin as committed against God.
Sorrow for sin arising out of an entire change of mind.
Sorrow for sin which joyfully accepts salvation by grace.
Sorrow for sin leading to future obedience.
Sorrow for sin which leads to perpetual perseverance in the ways of God. The ways of sin are forsaken because abhorred.
This kind of repentance is never repented of.
2. The sorrow of the world is
Caused by shame at being found out;
Is attended by hard thoughts of God;
Leads to vexation and sullenness;
Incites to hardening of heart;
Lands the soul in despair.
Works death of the worst kind.
This needs to be repented of, for it is in itself sinful and terribly prolific of more sin.
III. Indulge ourselves in godly sorrow for sin.
Come, let us be filled with a wholesome grief that we
1. Have broken a law, pure and perfect.
2. Have disobeyed a gospel, divine and gracious.
3. Have grieved a God, good and glorious.
4. Have slighted Jesus, whose love is tender and boundless.
5. Have been ungrateful, though loved, elected, redeemed, forgiven, justified, and soon to be glorified.
6. Have been so foolish as to lose the joyous fellowship of the Spirit the raptures of communion with Jesus.
Let us confess all this, lie low at Jesus' feet, wash his feet with tears, and love, yes, love ourselves away.
For Discrimination
A cognate text in Romans 2:2, 4, will help us here. These two allied but distinct intimations may be placed in parallel lines, and treated like an equation; thus—
"The goodness of God leads you to repentance."
"Godly sorrow works repentance."
We learn, as the result of the comparison, that the goodness of God leads to repentance by the way of godly sorrow. The series of cause and effect runs thus: goodness of God; godly sorrow; repentance.
Do not mistake; a fear of Hell is not sorrow for sin: it may be nothing more than a regret that God is holy.
So hard is a heart long accustomed to evil, that nothing can melt it but goodness; and no goodness but God's; and no goodness of his but the greatest. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. "Looking unto Jesus" is the grand specific for producing godly sorrow in a human heart. It was a hard heart that quivered under the beams of his loving eye on the threshold of Pilate's judgment hall. When Jesus looked on Peter, Peter went out and wept. Emmanuel's love has lost none of its melting power; the hardest hearts laid fairly open to it must before long flow down. God's goodness, embodied in Christ crucified, becomes, under the ministry of the Spirit, the cause of godly sorrow in believing men. William Arnot.
The mind that broods o'er guilty woes,
Is like the scorpion girt by fire;
In circle narrowing as it glows,
The flames around their captive close,
Until only searched by thousand throes,
And maddening in her ire,
One sad and sole relief she knows,
The sting she nourished for her foes,
Whose venom never yet was vain,
Gives but one pang and cures all pain,
And darts into her desperate brain;
So do the dark in soul expire,
Or live like scorpion girt by fire.
So writhes the mind Remorse has riven,
Unfit for earth, undoomed for heaven,
Darkness above, despair beneath,
Around it flame, within it Death. Byron.
Once a mother told her pastor that she was troubled about her daughter, who was going to join the church. "She has not conviction enough," was the complaint; "and yet I have talked to her about her sins over and over again, setting them all in order before her until both of us were in tears; oh, what can I do more?" Then he gave her in her own hands a Bible, and he read aloud to her slowly Isaiah 6:1–5. She saw, without any word of his, that the prophet became intelligent as the sight of God flashed upon him, and grew penitent at the moment when the seraphim cried "Holy." Then he turned to Job 42:5, 6. She saw in silence that the patriarch repented, not when his exasperating friends pelted him with accusations, but when his eyes were opened to see God. She went away quietly to talk, with a wondering and awestruck heart, about the holiness of Jehovah; thus her child melted into contrition before the vision, and wept. C. S. Robinson.
Sin, repentance, and pardon are like to the three spring months of the year, March, April, and May. Sin comes in like March, blustering, stormy, and full of bold violence. Repentance succeeds like April, showering, weeping, and full of tears. Pardon follows like May, springing, singing, full of joys and flowers. Our eyes must be full of April, with the sorrow of repentance; and then our hearts shall be full of May, with the true joy of forgiveness. Thomas Adams.
CCXII
Galatians 1:16—"Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood."
The conversion of Paul is a memorable proof of the truth of Christianity. A consideration of it has been the means of the conversion of many thoughtful persons.
His case is a noble instance of the gospel's power over men of mark, men of learning, men of zealous mind, and men of energetic character.
Paul, being converted, took an independent course.
Being taught of God,
He did not consult those who were already believers, lest he should seem to have received his religion at second-hand.
He did not consult his relatives, who would have advised caution.
He did not consult his own interests, which all lay in the opposite direction. These he counted loss for Christ.
He did not consult his own safety, but risked life itself for Jesus.
In this independent course he was justified, and should be imitated.
I. Faith needs no warrant but the will of God.
1. Good men in all ages have acted upon this conviction.
Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samson, David, Elijah, Daniel, the three who were cast into the furnace, etc.
2. To ask more is virtually to renounce the Lord as our Commander and Guide, and to lift man into his place.
3. To hesitate from self-interest is openly to defy the Lord.
4. To submit the claims of duty to the judgment of the flesh is diametrically opposed to the character and claims of the Lord Jesus, who gave himself to us, and expects us to give ourselves to him without question or reserve.
5. To delay duty until we have held such consultation almost always ends in not doing the right thing at all. Too often it is sought after that an excuse may be found for avoiding an unpleasant duty.
II. The principle has a wide range of application.
1. To known duties.
In forsaking sin we are not to consult society.
In upright dealing we are not to consult the custom of trade.
In consecration to Christ we are not to follow the lower standard so common among our fellow Christians.
In service we are not to consult personal liking, ease, honor, prospect of advancement, or remuneration.
2. To needful sacrifices. We are not to shrink from—
Losses of situation through honesty or holiness.
Losses in trade through religion.
Losses of friendships and kindly feeling through faithfulness.
Losses of position and worldly honor through inability to lie, bribe, cringe, flatter, compromise, conceal, or change.
We had better not confer with flesh and blood; for—
Good men may be self-indulgent, and so consult their own flesh.
Bad men may practically be consulted by our fearing that they will ridicule us, and by our acting on that fear.
Our own flesh and blood may be consulted by unduly considering wife, husband, brother, child, friend, etc.
3. To special service. We are not to be held back from this by—
Considerations of personal weakness.
Considerations of want of visible means.
Considerations of how others will interpret our actions.
Consult not even your brethren here; for—
Good men may not have your faith.
They cannot judge your call.
They cannot remove your responsibility.
4. To an open avowal of Christ. We must not be deterred from it by—
The wishes of others, who think themselves involved in our act.
The dread of contempt from those who deride godliness.
The fear of not holding on, and of thus disgracing religion.
Reluctance to give up the world, and a secret clinging to its ways.
This is a very perilous vice. "Remember Lot's wife."
III. The principle commends itself to our best judgment.
It is justified by—
1. The judgment which we exercise upon others.
We blame them if they have no mind of their own.
We applaud them if they are bravely faithful.
2. The judgment of an enlightened conscience.
3. The judgment of a dying bed.
4. The judgment of an eternal world.
Let us be in such communion with God that we need not confer with flesh and blood.
Let us not wait for second thoughts, but at once carry out convictions of duty, and obey calls for help, or impulses of love.
Confirmations
An Indian missionary says that the Hindus do not act on their own convictions, but according to their own phrase, "I do as ten men do." Let the maxim of the Christian be, "I do as my God would have me do."
"Sir," said the Duke of Wellington to an officer of engineers, who urged the impossibility of executing the directions he had received, "I did not ask your opinion, I gave you my orders, and I expect them to be obeyed." Such should be the obedience of every follower of Jesus. The words which he has spoken are our law. We are not permitted to oppose thereto our judgments or fancies. Even if death were in the way, it is—
"Not ours to reason why—
Ours but to dare and die";
and, at our Master's bidding, advance through flood or flame. "Feathers for Arrows."
But this is a hard lesson to learn. I read some time ago of a German captain who found this out. He was drilling a company of volunteers. The parade ground was a field by the seaside. The men were going through their exercises very nicely, but the captain thought he would give them a lesson about obeying orders. They were marching up and down in the line of the water at some distance from it. He concluded to give them an order to march directly towards the water, and see how far they would go. The men are marching along. "Halt, company," says the captain. In a moment they halt. "Right face" is the next word, and instantly they wheel round. "Forwart martch", is then the order. At once they begin to march directly towards the water: on they go, nearer and nearer to it. Soon they reach the edge of the water. Then there is a sudden halt. "Vat for you stop? I no say, Halt," cried the captain. "Why, captain, here is the water," said one of the men. "Vell, vot of it," cried he, greatly excited, "Vater is nothing; fire is nothing; everything is nothing. Ven I say, Forwart martch, then you must forwart martch." The captain was right; the first duty of a soldier is to learn to obey. Dr. Richard Newton.
What God calls a man to do he will carry him through. I would undertake to govern half-a-dozen worlds if God called me to do it; but if he did not call me to do it, I would not undertake to govern half-a-dozen sheep. Dr. Payson.
CCXIII
Gal 3:23—"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed."
Here we have a condensed history of the world before the gospel was fully revealed by the coming of our Lord Jesus.
The history of each saved soul is a miniature likeness of the story of the ages. God acts upon the same principles both with the race and with individuals.
I. The unhappy period: "Before faith came."
1. We had no idea of faith by nature. It would never occur to the human mind that we could be saved by believing in Jesus.
2. When we heard of faith as the way of salvation we did not understand it. We could not persuade ourselves that the words used by the preacher had their common and usual meaning.
3. We saw faith in others, and wondered at its results; but we could not exercise it for ourselves.
4. We could not reach to faith, even when we began to see its necessity, admitted its efficacy, and desired to exercise it.
The reason of this inability was moral, not mental:
We were proud, and did not care to renounce self-righteousness.
We could not grasp the notion of salvation by faith, because it was contrary to the usual run of our opinions.
We were bewildered, because faith is a spiritual act, and we are not spiritual.
5. We were without the Spirit of God, and therefore incapable.
We do not wish to go back to the state in which we were "before faith came," for it was one of darkness, misery, impotence, hopelessness, sinful rebellion, self-conceit, and condemnation.
II. The custody we were in: "Kept under the law, shut up."
1. We were always within the sphere of law. In fact, there is no getting out of it. As all the world was only one prison for a man who offended Caesar, so is the whole universe no better than a prison for a sinner.
2. We were always kicking against the bounds of the law, sinning, and pining because we could not sin more.
3. We dared not overleap it altogether, and defy its power. Thus, in the case of many of us, it checked us, and held us captive with its irksome forbiddings and commandings.
4. We could not find rest. The law awakened conscience, and fear and shame attend such an awakening.
5. We could not discover a hope; for, indeed, there is none to discover while we abide under the law.
6. We could not even fall into the stupor of despair; for the law excited life, though it forbade hope.
Among the considerations which held us in bondage were these:
The spirituality of the law, touching thoughts, motives, desires.
The need of perfect obedience, making one sin fatal to all hope of salvation by works.
The requirement that each act of obedience should be perfect.
The necessity that perfect obedience should be continual throughout the whole of life.
III. The revelation which set us free: "The faith which should afterwards be revealed." The only thing which could bring us out of prison was faith. Faith came, and then we understood—
1. What was to be believed.
Salvation by another.
Salvation of a most blessed sort, gloriously sure, and complete.
Salvation by a most glorious person.
2. What it was to believe.
We saw that it was "trust," implicit and sincere.
We saw that it was ceasing from self, and obeying Christ.
3. Why we believed.
We were shut up to this one way of salvation.
We were shut out of every other.
We were compelled to accept free grace, or perish.
Our duty is to show men how the way of human merit is closed.
We must shut them up to simple faith only, and show them that the way of faith is available.
To arrest attention
The Law and the Gospel are two keys. The law is the key that shuts up all men under condemnation, and the gospel is the key which opens the door and lets them out. William Tyndale.
"Shut up unto the faith." To let you more effectually into the meaning of this expression, it may be right to state that in the preceding clause, "kept under the law," the term, kept, is, in the original Greek, derived from a word which signifies a sentinel. The mode of conception is altogether military. The law is made to act the part of a sentry, guarding every avenue but one, and that one leads those who are compelled to take it to the faith of the gospel. They are shut up to this faith as their only alternative—like an enemy driven by the superior tactics of an opposing general, to take up the only position in which they can maintain themselves, or fly to the only town in which they can find a refuge or a security. This seems to have been a favorite style of argument with Paul, and the way in which he often carried on an intellectual warfare with the enemies of his Master's cause. It forms the basis of that masterly and decisive train of reasoning which we have in his epistle to the Romans. By the operation of skillful tactics, he (if we may be allowed the expression) manœuvred them, and shut them up to the faith of the gospel. It gave prodigious effect to his argument, when he reasoned with them, as he often does, upon their own principles, and turned them into instruments of conviction against themselves. With the Jews he reasoned as a Jew. He made use of the Jewish law as a sentinel to shut them out of every other refuge, and to shut them up to the refuge laid before them in the gospel. He led them to Christ by a schoolmaster whom they could not refuse; and the lesson of this schoolmaster, though a very decisive, was a very short one—"Cursed be he who continues not in all the words of the law to do them." But in point of fact, they had not done them. To them, then, belonged the curse of the violated law. The awful severity of its sanctions was upon them. They found the faith and the free offer of the gospel to be the only avenue open to receive them. They were shut up unto this avenue; and the law, by concluding them all to be under sin, left them no other outlet but the free act of grace and of mercy laid before us in the New Testament. Dr. Chalmers.
The law was meant to prepare men for Christ, by showing them that there is no other way of salvation except through him. It had two especial ends: the first was to bring the people who lived under it into a consciousness of the deadly dominion of sin, to shut them up, as it were, into a prison-house out of which only one door of escape should be visible, namely, the door of faith in Jesus; the second intention was to fence about and guard the chosen race to whom the law was given—to keep them as a peculiar people separate from all the world, so that at the proper time the gospel of Christ might spring forth and go out from them as the joy and comfort of the whole human race. T. G. Rooke.
CCXIV
Galatians 5:7—"You did run well; who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?"
Never censure indiscriminately; admit and praise that which is good, that you may the more effectually rebuke the evil. Paul did not hesitate to praise the Galatians, and say, "You did run well."
It is a source of much pleasure to see saints running well. To do this they must run in the right road, straight forward, perseveringly, at the top of their pace, with their eye on Christ, etc.
It is a great grief when such are hindered, or put off the road.
The way is the truth, and the running is obedience: men are hindered when they cease to obey the truth.
It may be helpful to try and find out who has hindered us in our race.
I. We shall use the text in reference to hindered believers.
1. You are evidently hindered.
You are not so loving and zealous as you were.
You are quitting the old faith for new notions.
You are losing your first joy and peace.
You are not now leaving the world and self behind.
You are not now abiding all the day with your Lord.
2. Who has hindered you?
Did I do it? Pray, then, for your minister.
Did your fellow-members do it? You ought to have been proof against them: they could not have intended it. Pray for them.
Did the world do it? Why so much in it?
Did the devil do it? Resist him.
Did you not do it yourself? This is highly probable.
Did you not overload yourself with worldly care?
Did you not indulge carnal ease?
Did you not by pride become self-satisfied?
Did you not neglect prayer, Bible reading, the public means of grace, the Lord's Table, etc.?
Mend your ways, and do not hinder your own soul.
Did not false teachers do it, as in the case of the Galatians?
If so, quit them at once, and listen only to the gospel of Christ.
3. You must look to it, and mend your pace.
Your loss has been already great. You might by this time have been far on upon the road.
Your natural tendency will be to slacken still more.
Your danger is great of being overtaken by error and sin.
Your death would come of ceasing to obey the truth.
Your wisdom is to cry for help, that you may run aright.
II. We shall use the text in reference to delaying sinners.
1. You have sometimes been set a-running.
God has blessed his word to your arousing.
God has not yet given you up; this is evident.
God's way of salvation still lies open before you.
2. What has hindered you?
Self-righteousness and trust in yourself?
Carelessness, procrastination, and neglect?
Love of self-indulgence, or the secret practice of pleasurable sins?
Frivolous, skeptical, or wicked companions?
Unbelief and mistrust of God's mercy?
3. The worst evils will come of being hindered.
Those who will not obey truth will become the dupes of lies.
Truth not obeyed is disobeyed, and so sin is multiplied.
Truth disregarded becomes an accuser, and its witness secures our condemnation.
God have mercy on hinderers. We must rebuke them.
God have mercy on the hindered. We would arouse them.
Spurs
Cecil says that some adopt the Indian maxim, that it is better to walk than to run, and better to stand than to walk, and better to sit than to stand, and better to lie than to sit. Such is not the teaching of the gospel. It is a good thing to be walking in the ways of God, but it is better to be running—making real and visible progress, day by day advancing in experience and attainments. David likens the sun to a strong man rejoicing to run a race; not dreading it and shrinking back from it, but delighting in the opportunity of putting forth all his powers. Who so runs, runs well. The Christian.
The Christian race is by no means easy. We are sore let and hindered in running "the race that is set before us," because of—(1.) Our sinful nature still remaining in the holiest saints. (2.) Some easily-besetting sin (Hebrews 12:1). (3.) The entanglements of the world, like heavy and close-fitting garments, impeding the racer's speed. (4.) Our weakness and infirmity, soon tired and exhausted, when the race is long, or the road is rough. "In Prospect of Sunday," by G. S. Bowes.
Some are too busy, they run about too much to run well; some run too fast at the outset; they run themselves out of breath. T. T. Lynch.
Henry Ward Beecher, in a sermon on this text, describes one of the hindrances to Christian progress thus: "We have fallen off immensely on the side of religious culture—earnest, prolonged, habitual, domestic, religious culture, conducted by the reading of God's Word, and by prayer, and its family influences. And this tendency is still further augmented by the increase of religious books, of tracts, of biographies and histories, of commentaries, which tend to envelop and hide the Word of God from our minds. In other words, these things, which are called 'helps,' have been increased to such a degree, and have come to occupy so much of our attention, that when we have read our helps, we have no time left to read the things to be helped; and the Bible is covered down and lost under its 'helps.' "
It is possible that fellow-professors may hinder. We are often obliged to accommodate our pace to that of our fellow-travelers. If they are laggards we are very likely to be so too. We are apt to sleep as do others. We are stimulated or depressed, urged on or held back, by those with whom we are associated in Christian fellowship. There is still greater reason to fear that in many cases worldly friends and companions are the hinderers. Indeed, they can be nothing else. None can help us in the race but those who are themselves running it: all others must hinder. Let a Christian form an intimate friendship with an ungodly person, and from that moment all progress is stayed; he must go back; for when his companion is going in the opposite direction, how can he walk with him except by turning his back upon the path which he has formerly trodden?—P.
A sailor remarks—"Sailing from Cuba, we thought we had gained sixty miles one day in our course; but at the next observation we found we had lost more than thirty. It was an under-current. The ship had been going forward by the wind, but going back by the current." So a man's course in religion may often seem to be right and progressive, but the under-current of his besetting sins is driving him the very contrary way to what he thinks. Cheever.
CCXV
Galatians 5:11—"Then is the offence of the cross ceased."
Paul intends here to declare that the offence of the cross never has ceased, and never can cease. To suppose it to have ceased is folly.
The religion of Jesus is most peaceful, mild and benevolent.
Yet its history shows it to have been assailed with bitterest hate all along. It is clearly offensive to the unregenerate mind.
There is no reason to believe that it is one jot more palatable to the world than it used to be. The world and the gospel are both unchanged.
I. Wherein lies the offence of the cross?
1. Its doctrine of atonement offends man's pride.
2. Its simple teaching offends man's wisdom, and artificial taste.
3. Its being a remedy for man's ruin offends his imagined power to save himself.
4. Its addressing all as sinners offends the dignity of Pharisees.
5. Its coming as a revelation offends "modern thought."
6. Its lofty holiness offends man's love of sin.
II. How is this offence shown?
1. Frequently by the actual persecution of believers.
2. More often by slandering believers, and sneering at them as old-fashioned, foolish, weak-minded, morose, self-conceited, etc.
3. Often by omitting to preach the cross. Many nowadays preach a Christless, bloodless gospel.
4. Or by importing new meanings into orthodox terms.
5. Or by mixing the truth of Christ with errors.
6. Or by openly denying the Deity of him who died on the cross, and the substitutionary character of his sufferings.
Indeed, there are a thousand ways of showing that the cross offends us in one respect or another.
III. What then?
1. Herein is folly, that men are offended
With that which God ordains;
With that which must win the day;
With the only thing which can save them;
With that which is full of wisdom and beauty.
2. Herein is grace,
That we who once were offended by the cross, now find it to be
The one hope of our hearts,
The great delight of our souls.
The joyful boast of our tongues.
3. Herein is heart-searching.
Perhaps we are secretly offended at the cross.
Perhaps we give no offence to haters of the cross. Many professed Christians never cause offence to the most godless.
Is this because they bear no testimony to the cross?
Is this because they are not crucified to the world?
Is this because there is no real trust in the cross, and no true knowledge of Christ?
Let us not follow those preachers who are not friends to the cross.
Let us have no fellowship with those who have no fellowship with Christ.
Preachers who have caught the spirit of the age are of the world, and the world loves its own; but we must disown them.
Let us not be distressed by the offence of the cross, even when it comes upon us with bitterest scorn.
Let us look for it and accept it as a token that we are in the right.
Annotations
There is a want in the human mind which nothing but the Atonement can satisfy, though it may be a stumbling-block to the Jew, and foolishness to the Greek. In the words of Henry Rogers: "It is adapted to human nature, as a bitter medicine may be to a patient. Those who have taken it, tried its efficacy, and recovered spiritual health, gladly proclaim its value. But to those who have not, and will not try it, it is an unpalatable potion still."
I open an ancient book, written in opposition to Christianity by Arnobius, and I read: "Our gods are not displeased with you Christians for worshiping the Almighty God; but you maintain the deity of one who was put to death on the cross, you believe him to be yet alive, and you adore him with daily supplications." Men showed me at Rome, in the Kircherian Museum, a square foot of the plaster of a wall of a palace not many years ago uncovered on the Palatine hill. On the poor clay was traced a cross bearing a human figure with a brute's head. The figure was nailed to the cross, and before it a soldier was represented kneeling, and extending his hands in the Greek posture of devotion. Underneath all was scratched in rude lettering in Greek, "Alexamenos adores his God." That representation of the central thought of Christianity was made in a jeering moment by some rude soldier in the days of Caracalla; but it blazes there now in Rome, the most majestic monument of its age in the world. Joseph Cook.
If any part of the truth which I am bound to communicate be concealed, this is sinful artifice. The Jesuits in China, in order to remove the offence of the cross, declared that it was a falsehood invented by the Jews that Christ was crucified; but they were expelled from the empire, and this was designed, perhaps, to be held up as a warning to all missionaries that no good end is to be answered by artifice.
Richard Cecil.
The cross is the strength of a minister. I, for one, would not be without it for the world. I should feel like a soldier without weapons, like an artist without his pencil, like a pilot without his compass, like a laborer without his tools. Let others, if they will, preach the law and morality. Let others hold forth the terrors of Hell and the joys of Heaven. Let others drench their congregations with teachings about the sacraments and the church. Give me the cross of Christ. This is the only lever which has ever turned the world upside down hitherto, and made men forsake their sins. And if this will not do it, nothing will. A man may begin preaching with a perfect knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; but he will do little or no good among his hearers unless he knows something of the cross. Never was there a minister who did much for the conversion of souls who did not dwell much on Christ crucified. Luther, Rutherford, Whitefield, M'Cheyne, were all most eminent preachers of the cross. This is the preaching that the Holy Spirit delights to bless. He loves to honor those who honor the cross. J. C. Ryle.
My thoughts once prompt round hurtful things to twine,
What are they now, when two dread deaths are near?
The one impends, the other shakes his spear.
Painting and sculpture's aid in vain I crave:
My one sole refuge is that love Divine,
Which from the cross stretched forth its arms to save.
Last lines written by Michael Angelo, when over eighty.
CCXVI
Galatians 6:2, 5—"Bear you one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
"For every man shall bear his own burden."
Galatians apparently fond of the law and its burdens: at least, they appeared to be ready to load themselves with ceremonies, and so fulfill the law of Moses.
Paul would have them think of other burdens, by the bearing of which they would fulfill the law of Christ.
We are not under law, but under love.
But love is also law in the best sense. The law of Christ is love.
Love is the fulfilling of the law. "Bear you one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Lest this principle should be presumed upon, he mentions the principle of individual responsibility. "Every man shall bear his own burden."
I. Community. "Bear you one another's burdens."
1. Negatively.
It tacitly forbids certain modes of action.
We are not to burden others. Some take a liberty to do so from this very text, as if it said, "Let others bear your burdens," which is just the reverse of what it urges.
We are not to spy out others' burdens, and report thereon.
We are not to despise them for having such loads to bear.
We are not to act as if all things existed for ourselves, and we were to bend all to our own purposes.
We are not to go through the world oblivious of the sorrows of others. We may not shut our eyes to the woes of mankind.
2. Positively.
We are to share the burdens of others.
By compassion bear with their former sins. Verse 1.
By patience bear with their infirmities, and even with their conceit. Verse 3.
By sympathy bear their sorrows. Verses 2, 3.
By assistance bear their wants. Verses 6, 10.
By communion, in love and comfort, bear their struggles.
By prayer and practical help bear the burden of their labors, and thus lighten it. Verse 6.
3. Specially: We ought to consider—
The erring brother. Referred to in verse 1 as "overtaken in a fault." We must tenderly restore him.
The provoking brother, who thinks himself to be something. See verse 3. Bear with him: his mistake will bring him many a burden before he has done with it.
The brother who is peculiarly trying is to be borne with to seventy times seven, even to the measure of the law of Christ.
The greatly tried is to have our greatest sympathy.
The minister of Christ should be released from temporal burdens, that he may give himself wholly to the burden of the Lord.
II. Immunity. "For every man shall bear his own burden."
We shall not bear all the burdens of others.
We are not so bound to each other that we are partakers in willful transgression, or negligence, or rebellion.
1. Each must bear his own sin if he persists in it.
2. Each must bear his own shame, which results from his sin.
3. Each must bear his own responsibility in his own sphere.
4. Each must bear his own judgment at the last.
III. Personality. "Every man … his own burden."
True godliness is a personal affair, and we cannot cast off our individuality: therefore, let us ask for grace to look well to ourselves in the following matters:—
1. Personal religion. The new birth, repentance, faith, love, holiness, fellowship with God, etc., are all personal.
2. Personal self-examination. We cannot leave the question of our soul's condition to the judgment of others.
3. Personal service. We have to do what no one else can do.
4. Personal responsibility. Obligations cannot be transferred.
5. Personal effort. Nothing can be a substitute for this.
6. Personal sorrow. "The heart knows its own bitterness."
7. Personal comfort. We need the Comforter for ourselves, and we must personally look up to the Lord for his operations.
All this belongs to the Christian, and we may judge ourselves by it.
So bear your own burden as not to forget others.
So live as not to come under the guilt of other men's sins.
So help others as not to destroy their self-reliance.
Pithy Brevities
An old anecdote of the great Napoleon records that, while walking along a country road attended by some of his officers, he encountered a peasant heavily laden with faggots for fuel. The peasant was about to be jostled aside, as a matter of course, by his social superiors, when the Emperor, laying his hand on the arm of the foremost member of his escort, arrested the whole party, and gave the laboring man the use of the road, with the remark, "Messieurs, respect the burden."
Let him who expects one class in society to prosper to the highest degree, while others are in distress, try whether one side of his face can smile while the other is pinched. Thomas Fuller.
There is a proverb, but none of Solomon's, "Every man for himself, and God for us all." But where every man is for himself, the devil will have all. William Secker.
"Every man shall bear his own burden"; this is the law of necessity. "Bear you one another's burdens"; this is the law of Christ. Let a man lighten his own load by sharing his neighbor's burden. T. T. Lynch.
There is a gateway at the entrance of a narrow passage in London, over which is written, "No burdens allowed to pass through." "And yet we do pass constantly with ours," said one friend to another, as they turned up this passage out of a more frequented and broader thoroughfare. They carried no visible burdens, but they were like many who, although they have no outward pack upon their shoulders, often stoop inwardly beneath the pressure of a heavy load upon the heart. The worst burdens are those which never meet the eye.
Bishop Burnet, in his charges to the clergy of his diocese, used to be extremely vehement in his declamations against pluralities. In his first visitation to Salisbury, he urged the authority of St. Bernard, who being consulted by one of his followers, whether he might accept of two benefices, replied, "And how will you be able to serve them both?" "I intend," answered the priest, "to officiate in one of them by a deputy." "Will your deputy suffer eternal punishment for you, too?" asked the saint. "Believe me, you may serve your cure by proxy, but you must suffer the penalty in person." This anecdote made such an impression on Mr. Kelsey, a pious and wealthy clergyman then present, that he immediately resigned the rectory of Bernerton, in Berkshire, worth two hundred a year, which he then held with another of great value. Whitecross.
With many personal service in the cause of humanity is commuted for a money payment. But we are to be soldiers in the campaign against evil, and not merely to pay the war-tax. "Ecce Homo."
CCXVII
Galatians 6:7—"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap."
Both Luther and Calvin confine these words to the support of the ministers of the Word, and certainly therein they have weighty meaning.
Churches that starve ministers will be starved themselves.
But we prefer to take the words as expressing a general principle.
I. God is not to be trifled with.
1. Either by the notion that there will be no rewards and punishments.
2. Or by the idea that a bare profession will suffice to save us.
3. Or by the fancy that we shall escape in the crowd.
4. Or by the superstitious supposition that certain rites will set all straight at last, whatever our lives may be.
5. Or by a reliance upon an orthodox creed, a supposed conversion, a presumptuous faith, and a little almsgiving.
II. The laws of his government cannot be set aside.
1. It is so in nature. Law is inexorable. Gravitation crushes the man who opposes it.
2. It is so in providence. Evil results surely follow social wrong.
3. Conscience tells us it must be so. Sin must be punished.
4. The Word of God is very clear upon this point.
5. To alter laws would disarrange the universe, and remove the foundation of the hopes of the righteous.
III. Evil sowing will bring evil reaping.
1. This is seen in the present result of certain sins.
Sins of lust bring disease into the bodily frame.
Sins of idolatry have led men to cruel and degrading practices.
Sins of temper have caused murders, wars, strifes, and misery.
Sins of appetite, especially drunkenness, cause want, misery, delirium, etc.
2. This is seen in the mind becoming more and more corrupt, and less able to see the evil of sin, or to resist temptation.
3. This is seen when the man becomes evidently obnoxious to God and man, so as to need restraint, and invite punishment.
4. This is seen when the sinner becomes himself disappointed in the result of his conduct. His malice eats his heart; his greed devours his soul; his infidelity destroys his comfort; his raging passions agitate his spirit.
5. This is seen when the impenitent is confirmed in evil, and eternally punished with remorse. Hell will be the harvest of a man's own sin. Conscience is the worm which gnaws him.
IV. Good sowing will bring good reaping.
The rule holds good both ways.
Let us, therefore, inquire as to this good sowing:
1. In what power is it to be done?
2. In what manner and spirit shall we set about it?
3. What are its seeds?
Towards God, we sow in the Spirit, faith, and obedience.
Towards men, love, truth, justice, kindness, forbearance.
Towards self, control of appetite, purity, etc.
4. What is the reaping of the Spirit?
Life everlasting dwelling within us and abiding there for ever.
Let us sow good seed always.
Let us sow it plentifully, that we may reap in proportion.
Let us begin to sow it at once.
Seeds
They that would mock God mock themselves much more. John Trapp.
It is not an open question at all whether I shall sow or not today; the only question to be decided is: Shall I sow good seed or bad? Every man always is sowing for his own harvest in eternity either tares or wheat. According as a man sows, so shall he also reap; he who sows the wind of vanity shall reap the whirlwind of wrath. Suppose a man should collect a quantity of small gravel and dye it carefully, so that it should resemble wheat, and sow it in his fields in spring, expecting that he would reap a crop of wheat like his neighbor's in harvest. The man is mad; he is a fool to think that by his silly trick he can evade the laws of nature, and mock nature's God. Yet equally foolish is the conduct, and far heavier the punishment, of the man who sows wickedness now, and expects to reap safety at last. Sin is not only profitless and disastrous; it is eminently a deceitful work. Men do not of set purpose cast themselves away: sin cheats a sinner out of his soul.
But sowing righteousness is never, and nowhere, lost labor. Every act done by God's grace, and at his bidding, is living and fruitful. It may appear to go out of sight, like seed beneath the furrow; but it will rise again. Sow on, Christians! Sight will not follow the seed far; but when sight fails, sow in faith, and you will reap in joy soon. William Arnot.
"Whatever a man sows that shall he also reap," etc. No blight, nor mildew, nor scorching sun, nor rain deluge, can turn that harvest into failure.
Cast forth your act, your word, into the ever-living, ever-working universe: it is a seed-grain that cannot die: unnoticed today, it will be found flourishing as a Banyan grove (perhaps, alas! as a Hemlock forest) after a thousand years. Thomas Carlyle.
So it is with all temptations and lusts. They are ever scattering seeds—as weeds do. What a power there is in seeds! How long-lived they are!—as we see in the mummies of Egypt, where they may have lain for thousands of years in darkness, but now come forth to grow. What contrivances they have to continue and to propagate themselves. They have wings, and they fly for miles. They may float over wide oceans, and rest themselves in foreign countries. They have hooks and attach themselves to objects. Often they are taken up by birds, which transport them to distant places. As it is with the seeds of weeds, so it is with every evil propensity and habit. It propagates itself and spreads over the whole soul, and goes down from generation to generation.
Dr. James McCosh.
Does any think he shall lose by his charity? No worldling, when he sows his seed, thinks he shall lose his seed; he hopes for increase at harvest. Dare you trust the ground, and not God? Sure, God is a better paymaster than the earth; grace does give a larger recompense than nature. Below, you may receive forty grains for one; but in Heaven (by the promise of Christ) a hundred-fold: a measure heaped up, and shaken, and thrust together, and yet running over. "Blessed is he that considereth the poor"; there is the seeding: "The Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble" (Psalm 41:1); there is the harvest. Is that all? No; Matt. 25:35: "Ye fed me when I was hungry, and gave me drink when thirsty"—comforted me in misery; there is the sowing. Venite, beati. "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you"; there is the harvest. Thomas Adams.
CCXVIII
Gal. 6:14—"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
Paul vigorously rebuked those who went aside from the doctrine of the Cross. Verses 12, 13.
When we rebuke others, we must take care to go right ourselves; hence he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross."
Our own resolute adherence to truth, when practically carried out, is a very powerful argument against opponents.
Paul rises to warmth when he thinks of the opponents of the cross. He no sooner touches the subject than he glows and burns.
Yet he has his reasons, and states them clearly and forcibly in the latter words of the text.
Here are three crucifixions:—
I. Christ crucified: "The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
He mentions the atoning death of Jesus in the plainest and most obnoxious terms. The cross was shameful as the gallows tree.
Yet with the clearest contrast as to the person enduring it; for to him he gives his full honors in the glorious title—"our Lord Jesus Christ."
He refers to the doctrine of free justification and full atonement by the death of Jesus upon the cross.
In this he gloried so as to glory in nothing else, for he viewed it—
1. As a display of the divine character. "God was in Christ": 2 Corinthians 5:19.
2. As the manifestation of the love of the Savior. John 15:13.
3. As the putting away of sin by atonement. Hebrews 9:26.
4. As the breathing of hope, peace, and joy to the desponding soul.
5. As the great means of touching hearts and changing lives.
6. As depriving death of terror, seeing Jesus died.
7. As ensuring Heaven to all believers.
In any one of these points of view the cross is a pillar of light, flaming with unutterable glory.
II. The world crucified: "The world is crucified unto me."
As the result of seeing all things in the light of the Cross, he saw the world to be like a felon executed upon a cross.
1. Its character condemned. John 12:31.
2. Its judgment contemned. Who cares for the opinion of a gibbeted felon?
3. Its teachings despised. What authority can it have?
4. Its pleasures, honors, treasures, rejected.
5. Its pursuits, maxims, and spirit cast out.
6. Its threatenings and blandishments made nothing of.
7. Itself soon to pass away, its glory and its fashion fading.
III. The believer crucified: "And I unto the world."
To the world Paul was no better than a man crucified.
If faithful, a Christian may expect to be treated as only fit to be put to a shameful death.
He will probably find—
1. Himself at first bullied, threatened, and ridiculed.
2. His name and honor held in small repute because of his association with the godly poor.
3. His actions and motives misrepresented.
4. Himself despised as a sort of madman, or of doubtful intellect.
5. His teaching described as exploded, dying out, etc.
6. His ways and habits reckoned to be Puritanic and hypocritical.
7. Himself given up as irreclaimable, and therefore dead to society.
Let us glory in the cross, because it gibbets the world's glory, and honor, and power.
Let us glory in the cross when men take from us all other glory.
Memoranda
It is a subject of rejoicing and glorying that we have such a Savior. The world looked upon him with contempt; and the cross was a stumbling-block to the Jew, and folly to the Greek. But to the Christian that cross is the subject of glorying. It is so because—(1) of the love of him who suffered there; (2) of the purity and holiness of his character, for the innocent died there for the guilty; (3) of the honor there put on the law of God by his dying to maintain it unsullied; (4) of the reconciliation there made for sin, accomplishing what could be done by no other oblation, and by no power of man; (5) of the pardon there procured for the guilty; (6) of the fact that through it we become dead to the world, and are made alive unto God; (7) of the support and consolation which go from that cross to sustain us in trial; and (8) of the fact that it procured for us admission into Heaven, a title to the world of glory. All is glory around the cross. It was a glorious Savior who died; it was glorious love that led him to die; it was a glorious object to redeem a world; and it is unspeakable glory to which he will raise lost and ruined sinners by his death. Oh, who would not glory in such a Savior!—Albert Barnes.
If you have not yet found out that Christ crucified is the foundation of the whole volume, you have hitherto read your Bible to very little profit. Your religion is a Heaven without a sun, an arch without a keystone, a compass without a needle, a clock without spring or weights, a lamp without oil. It will not comfort you; it will not deliver your soul from hell. J. C. Ryle.
Do not be satisfied with so many others only to know the cross in its power to atone. The glory of the cross is, that it was not only to Jesus the path to life, but that each moment it can become to us the power that destroys sin and death, and keeps us in the power of the eternal life. Learn from your Savior the holy are of using it for this. Faith in the power of the cross and its victory will day by day make dead the deeds of the body, the lusts of the flesh. This faith will teach you to count the cross, with its continual death to self, all your glory. Because you regard the cross not as one who is still on the way to crucifixion, with the prospect of a painful death, but as one to whom the crucifixion is past, who already lives in Christ, and now only bears the cross as the blessed instrument through which the body of sin is done away (Romans 6:6, R. V.). The banner under which complete victory over sin and the world is to be won is the cross. Andrew Murray.
When Ignatius, pastor of the church at Antioch, was condemned by the emperor Trajan to suffer death at Rome, he was apprehensive that the Christians there, out of their great affection for him, might endeavor to prevent his martyrdom; and therefore wrote a letter from Smyrna to the Roman Christians, which he sent on before him, wherein he earnestly besought them to take no measures for the continuance of his life; and, among other things, said, "I long for death," adding as a reason why he was desirous of thus testifying his love to Christ, "My love is crucified."
Love makes the cross easy, amiable, admirable, delicious.
Brethren, the cross of Christ is your crown, the reproach of Christ your riches; the shame of Christ your glory. Joseph Alleine, written from "The Common Prison."
CCXIX
Ephesians 1:13, 14—"That holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance."
Heaven is ours by inheritance. It is not purchased by merit, nor won by strength, but obtained by birthright.
Of this inheritance we have a foretaste here below; and that foretaste is of the nature of a pledge or earnest, guaranteeing our coming to full possession.
An earnest is of the same nature as the ultimate blessing of which it is an earnest. A pledge is returned, but an earnest is retained as part of the thing promised.
Great enjoyment attends the possession of the earnest of our inheritance when rightly understood.
I. The Holy Spirit is himself the earnest of the heavenly inheritance.
He is not only the pledge but the foretaste of everlasting bliss.
1. His entrance into the soul brings with it that same life which enters Heaven, namely, the eternal life.
2. His abiding in us consecrates us to the same purpose to which we shall be devoted throughout eternity, namely, the service of the Lord our God.
3. His work in us creates that same holiness which is essential to the enjoyment of Heaven.
4. His influence over us brings us that same communion with God which we shall enjoy forever in Heaven.
5. His being ours is as much as Heaven being ours, if not more; for if we possess the God of Heaven we possess Heaven, and more.
The possession of the Spirit is the dawn of glory.
II. The Holy Spirit brings to us many things which are blessed foretastes of the heavenly inheritance.
1. Rest. This is a leading idea of Heaven, and we have rest at this moment in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:3.
2. Delight in service. We serve the Lord with gladness even now.
3. Joy over repenting sinners. This we can now attain.
4. Communion with saints. How sweet even in this imperfect state!
5. Enlarged knowledge of God and of all divine things. Here also we know in part the same things which are known above.
6. Victory over sin, Satan, and the world.
7. Security in Christ Jesus.
8. Nearness to our Beloved.
By these windows we look into the things which God has prepared for them that love him. "He has revealed them unto us by his Spirit."
III. There is a very dark contrast to this bright theme.
There are "evident tokens of perdition," pledges of woe.
There are also earnests and foretastes of the eternal state of misery.
Ungodly men may pretty clearly guess what sin will bring them to when it has ripened. Let them learn from—
1. The fruit of some sins in this life: shame, rags, disease, etc.
2. Their fear of death, alarm at the thought of it.
3. Their frequent unrest and foreboding. "They flee when no man pursues"; they are "tossed to and fro as the locust."
4. Their disappointments in their companions; their mutual quarrels and hates. What will it be to be shut up with such persons forever?
5. Their distaste for good things, inability to pray, etc., all earnests of the impossibility of their joining saints and angels in Heaven.
Oh to be filled by the Spirit, so as to find Heaven begun below!
Striking Extracts
There is great resemblance between an earnest and the indwelling of the Spirit with the graces which he works in us. 1st. The earnest is part of the whole sum, which is on a certain account to be paid at the time appointed; so the Spirit we have, and his grace, are the beginning of that glorious being which we shall ultimately receive—the same for substance, though differing in degree. 2nd. An earnest is but little in comparison of the whole. Twenty shillings is earnest sufficient to make sure of a hundred pounds; thus, all the grace we have is but a small thing in comparison of the fullness we look for, even as the first-fruits were in comparison of the full harvest. 3rd. An earnest does assure him that receives it of the honest meaning of him with whom he contracts; so the Spirit and grace which we receive from God do assure us of his settled purpose of bringing us to eternal glory. Paul Bayne.
Christians! God is nearer to us than our nearest friend; nearer to us than Christ himself would be, if we only felt the touch of his hand and the sweep of his vesture; for he takes up his abode within us. Plato seemed to have a glimpse of this glorious truth when he said, "God is more inward to us than we are to ourselves." What was to him a beautiful speculation, is to us an inspiring reality; for we are the "temples of the Holy Ghost."—Dr. Charles Stanford.
As soon as we have set out on our journey to go home, our home, by foretastes, comes to meet us. The peace of our home embraces us; the Spirit, like a dove, rests upon our hearts; the glory of our home allures us; and angel-servants from our home bear us company and help us on our road. Oh, what a sweet home ours must be, that can send us such pledges of its sweetness while we are yet a great way off!—John Pulsford.
"The earnest." The Greek word is arrhâbôn. It is Hebrew (at least, Shemitic) by derivation; the identical Hebrew word appearing in Genesis 38. By derivation it has to do with exchange, and so first means a pledge; but usage brought it to the kindred meaning of an earnest. It was used for the bridegroom's betrothal-gifts to the bride, a case exactly in point here. In ecclesiastical Latin it appears usually in the shortened form, arra. It survives in the French arrhes, the money paid to strike a bargain. Arrhâbôn occurs elsewhere in the New Testament: 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5. There, as here, it denotes the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the saints, as the part payment of the coming "weight of glory," the inmost essence of which is the complete attainment (1 John 3:2) of that likeness to the Lord which the Spirit begins and develops here (2 Corinthians 3:18). A kindred expression is, "The first-fruits of the Spirit" (Romans 8:23). "Cambridge Bible for Schools and Families." A work which we commend to all ministers.
CCXX
Ephesians 3:15—"Of whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named."
Many are the weights which drag us toward earth, and the cords which bind us to it.
Among these last our families are not the least.
We need an upward impulse. Oh that we may find it in the text!
There is a blessed connection between saints below and saints above.
Oh to feel that we are one family!
I. Let us understand the language of the text.
1. The keyword is 'family."
A building sets forth the unity of the builder's design.
A flock, unity of the shepherd's possession.
The title of citizen implies unity of privilege.
The idea of an army displays unity of object and pursuit.
Here we have something closer and more instructive still: "family.'
The same Father, and thus unity of relationship.
The same life, and so unity of nature.
The same mutual love growing out of nature and relations.
The same desires, interests, joys, and cares.
The same home for abode, security, and enjoyment.
The same inheritance to be soon possessed.
2. The link-word is "whole." "Whole family in Heaven and earth."
There is but one family, and it is a whole.
On earth we find a portion of the family—
Sinning and repenting: not yet made perfect.
Suffering and despised: strangers and foreigners among men.
Dying and groaning, because yet in the body.
In Heaven we find another part of the family—
Serving and rejoicing. Sinless and free from all infirmity.
Honoring God, and honored by him.
Free from sighing, and engrossed in singing.
The militant and the triumphant are one undivided family.
3. The crowning word is "named."
We are named after the first-born, even Jesus Christ.
Thus are we all acknowledged to be as truly sons as the Lord Jesus; for the same name is named on us.
Thus is he greatly honored among us. His name is glorified by each one who truly bears it.
Thus are we greatly honored in him by bearing so august a name.
Thus are we taught whom to imitate. We must justify the name.
Thus are we forcibly reminded of his great love to us, his great gift to us, his union with us, and his value of us.
II. Let us catch the spirit of the text.
Let us now endeavor to feel and display a family feeling.
1. As members of one family let us enjoy the things we have in common. We all have—
The same occupations. It is our meat and drink to serve she Lord, to bless the brotherhood, and win souls.
The same delights; communion, assurance, expectation, etc.
The same love from the Father.
The same justification and acceptance with our God.
The same rights to the throne of grace, angelic ministration, divine provision, spiritual illumination, etc.
The same anticipations. Growth in grace, perseverance to the end, and glory at the end.
2. As members of one family, let us be familiar with each other.
3. As members of one family, let us practically help each other.
4. As members of one family, let us lay aside all dividing names, aims, feelings, ambitions, and beliefs.
5. As members of one family, let us strive for the honor and kingdom of our Father who is in Heaven.
Let us seek out the lost members of the family.
Let us cherish the forgotten members of the family.
Let us strive for the peace and unity of the family.
Choice Words
The Scripture knows but two places for the receipt of all believers, either Heaven or earth. So when the apostle will tell us where all they were who were gathered under Christ as their Head and Redeemer, he ranges them in these orders, "things in Heaven, and things in earth." (Ephesians 1:10); the apostle forgot limbo there, and purgatory here. As the Scripture does know but two sorts of saints, so but two places, Heaven for the triumphant, earth for the militant. Paul Bayne.
"The whole family in Heaven and earth," not the two families, nor the divided family, but the whole family in Heaven and earth. It appears, at first sight, as if we were very effectually divided by the hand of death. Can it be that we are one family when some of us labor on, and others sleep beneath the greensward? There was a great truth in the sentence which Wordsworth put into the mouth of the little child, when she said, "O master, we are seven."
"But they are dead: those two are dead'
Their spirits are in Heaven!"
'Twas throwing words away; for still
The little maid would have her will,
And said: "Nay, we are seven."
Should we not thus speak of the divine family? for death assuredly has no separating power in the household of God. C. H. S.
"When I was a boy," says one, "I thought of Heaven as a great shining city, with vast walls and domes and spires, and with nobody in it except white tenuous angels, who were strangers to me. By-and-by my little brother died; and I thought of a great city with walls and domes and spires, and a flock of cold unknown angels, and one little fellow that I was acquainted with, he was the only one I knew in that time. Then another brother died, and there were two that I knew. Then my acquaintances began to die, and the flock continually grew. But it was not until I had sent one of my little children to his Grandparent—God—that I began to think I had got a little in myself. A second went, a third went, a fourth went; and by that time I had so many acquaintances in Heaven that I did not see any more walls and domes and spires. I began to think of the residents of the celestial city. And now there have so many of my acquaintance gone there, that it sometimes seems to me that I know more in Heaven than I do on earth."—Handbook of Illustration.
Stein, a great German statesman, head of the Prussian government in 1807, wrote in 1812 to Count Münster:—"I am sorry your excellency suspects a Prussian in me, and betrays a Hanoverian in yourself I have but one Fatherland, and that is Germany; and as under the old constitution I belonged to Germany alone, and not to any part of Germany, so to Germany alone, and not to any part of it, I am devoted with my whole heart."
Thomas Brooks mentions a woman who lived near Lewes, in Sussex, who was ill, and therefore was visited by one of her neighbors, who to cheer her, told her that if she died she would go to Heaven, and be with God, and Jesus Christ, and the saints and angels. To this the sick woman in all simplicity replied, "Ah, mistress, I have no relations there! Nay, not so much as a gossip, or acquaintance; and as I know nobody, I had a great deal sooner stop with you and the other neighbors, than go and live among strangers." It is to be feared that if a good many were to speak their thoughts they would say much the same.
CCXXI
Ephesians 3:16, 17, 18, 19—"That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
"May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breath, and length, and depth, and height;
"And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God."
The ability to comprehend and measure described in our text was the subject of the apostle's prayer, and therefore we may be quite sure that it is a most desirable attainment.
Observe how he prays, and how wisely he arranges his petitions.
He would have us measure the immeasurable, but he would first have us made fit to do so.
We shall make our chief point the fourfold measurement, but we shall note that which comes before, and that which follows after.
I. The previous training required for this measurement.
1. He would have their spiritual faculties vigorous.
"Your inner man": understanding, faith, hope, love, all need power from a divine source.
"Strengthened," made vigorous, active, healthy, capacious.
"With might": no low degree of force will suffice.
"By his Spirit." The power required is spiritual, holy, heavenly, divine, actually imparted by the Holy Spirit.
2. He would have the subject always before them. "That Christ may dwell in your heart by faith."
"In your heart." Love must learn to measure Christ's love. It is revealed to the heart rather than to the head.
"By faith." A carnal man measures by sight, a saint by faith.
"May dwell." He must be ever near, that we may learn to measure him. Communion is the basis of this knowledge.
3. He would have them exercised in the art of measurement. "That you, being rooted and grounded in love," etc.
We must love him ourselves if we would measure Christ's love.
We must, by experience of his love, be confirmed in our own love to him, or we cannot measure his love.
We must also have a vital grip of Christ. We must be rooted as a tree, which takes many a hold upon the soil.
We must settle down on his love as our foundation, on which we are grounded, as a building.
We must also show fixedness, certainty, and perseverance in our character, belief, and aim; for thus only shall we learn.
II. The measurement itself.
This implies a sense of the reality of the matter.
It includes a coming near to the object of our study.
It indicates an intimate study, and a careful survey.
It necessitates a view from all sides of the subject.
The order of the measurement is the usual order of our own growth in grace. Breadth and length before depth and height.
1. The breadth. Immense.
Comprehending all nations. "Preach the gospel to every creature."
Covering hosts of iniquities. "All manner of sin."
Compassing all needs, cares, etc.
Conferring boundless boons for this life and worlds to come.
It were well to sail across this river and survey its broad surface.
2. The length. Eternal.
We wonder that God should love us at all. Let us meditate upon—
Eternal love in the fountain. Election and the covenant.
Ceaseless love in the flow. Redemption, calling, perseverance.
Endless love in endurance. Longsuffering, forgiveness, faithfulness, patience, immutability.
Boundless love, in length exceeding our length of sin, suffering, backsliding, age, or temptation.
3. The depth. Incomprehensible.
Stoop of divine love, condescending to consider us, to commune with us, to receive us in love, to bear with our faults, and to take us up from our low estate.
Stoop of love personified in Christ.
He stoops, and becomes incarnate; endures out sorrows, bears our sins; and suffers our shame and death.
Where is the measure for all this?
Our weakness, baseness, sinfulness, despair, make one factor of the measurement.
His glory, holiness, greatness, Deity, make up the other.
4. The height. Infinite.
As developed in present privilege, as one with Jesus.
As to be revealed in future glory.
As never to be fully comprehended throughout the ages.
III. The practical result of this mensuration. "That you might be filled with all the fullness of God."
Here are words full of mystery, worthy to be pondered.
Be filled. What great things man can hold!
Filled with God. What exaltation!
Filled with the fullness of God. What must this be?
Filled with all the fullness of God. What more can be imagined?
This love and this fullness will lead to the imitation of Christ's love.
Our love to him will be broad, long, deep, high.
Insertions
In the gospel history we find that Christ had a fourfold entertainment among the sons of men; some received him into house, not into heart, as Simon the Pharisee, who gave him no kiss, nor water to his feet; some into heart, but not into house, as Nicodemus, and others; some neither into heart nor house, as the graceless, swinish Gergesenes; some both into house and heart, as Lazarus, Mary, Martha. And thus let all good Christians do; endeavor that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, that their bodies may be fit temples of his Holy Spirit, that now in this life, while Christ stands at the door of their hearts, knocking for admission, they will lift up the latch of their souls, and let him in; for if ever they expect to enter into the gates of the city of God hereafter, they must open their hearts, the gates of their own city, to him here in this world. John Spencer.
Faith makes man's heart,
That dark, low, ruined thing,
By its rare are,
A palace for a king.
Higher than proud Babel's tower by many a story
By faith Christ dwells in us, the hope of glory. F. Tate.
The more we know the more are we conscious of our ignorance of that which is unknown, or, as Dr. Chalmers used to put it in his class—borrowing an illustration from his favorite mathematics—"The wider the diameter of light, the greater is the circumference of darkness." The more a man knows, he comes at more points into contact with the unknown.
'Tis hard to find God; but to comprehend
Him as he is, is labor without end. Robert Herrick.
A gentleman passing a church with Daniel Webster, asked him, "How can you reconcile the doctrine of the Trinity with reason?" The statesman replied by asking, "Do you understand the arithmetic of Heaven?'
CCXXII
Ephesians 4:15, 16—"The head, even Christ:
"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
The words are as "compacted" as the body itself.
We shall not attempt full or even accurate exposition of the original, but dwell on the figure of the English text, undoubtedly a Scriptural one, and full of profitable instruction.
Four subjects are brought before us in the text.
I. Our union to Christ: "The Head, even Christ."
1. Essential to life. Severed from him we are dead.
2. Essential to growth. We grow up into him who is the head.
3. Essential to perfection. What should we be without a head?
4. Essential to every member. The strongest needs union to the head as much as the weakest.
II. Our individuality: "Every joint"; "every part."
Each one must mind his own office.
1. We must each one personally see to his own vital union with the body, and chiefly with the head.
2. We must be careful to find and keep our fit position in the body.
3. We must be careful of our personal health, for the sake of the whole body; for one ailing member injures the whole.
4. We must be careful of our growth, for the sake of the whole body.
The most careful self-watch will not be a selfish measure, but a sanitary duty involved by our relationship to the rest.
III. Our relationship to each other: "Joined together"; "that which every joint supplies."
1. We should in desire and spirit be fitted to work with others. We are to have joints. How could there be a body without them?
2. We should supply the joint-oil of love when so doing; indeed, each one must yield his own peculiar influence to the rest.
3. We should aid the compactness of the whole by our own solidity, and healthy firmness in our place.
4. We should perform our service for all. We should guard, guide, support, nourish, and comfort the rest of the members, as our function may be.
IV. Our compact unity as a church: "The body edifying itself in love."
1. There is but one body of Christ, even as he is the one Head.
2. It is an actual, living union. Not a mere professed unity, but a body quickened by "the effectual working" of God's Spirit in every part.
3. It is a growing corporation. It increases by mutual edification. Not by being puffed up, but by being built up. It grows as the result of its own life, sustained by suitable food.
4. It is an immortal body. Because the Head lives, the body must live also.
Are we in the body of Christ?
Are we not concerned to see it made perfect?
Are we ministering the supply which the body may fairly expect from us as members?
To fit in
There is great fitness in the figure of the head and the members. The head is—(1.) The highest part of the body, the most exalted. (2.) The most sensitive part, the seat of nerve and sensation, of pleasure and pain. (3.) The most honorable part, the glory of man, the part of man's body that receives the blessing, wears the crown, and is anointed with the oil of joy and of consecration. (4.) The most exposed part, especially assailed in battle, and liable to be injured, and where injury would be most dangerous. (5.) The most expressive part, the seat of expression, whether in the smile of approval, the frown of displeasure, the tear of sympathy, the look of love. G. S. Bowes.
Every one knows that it would be far better to lose our feet than our head. Adam had feet to stand with, but we have lost them by his disobedience: yet, glory be to God, we have found a Head, in whom we abide eternally secure, a Head which we shall never lose. "Feathers for Arrows."
The moment I make of myself and Christ two, I am all wrong. But when I see that we are one, all is rest and peace. Luther.
What a happy condition the Church and members of Christ are in! (1.) Interested in the same love as the Head. (2) Under the same decree of election with the Head. (3) Allied to the same relations, interested in the same riches, and assured by membership of the same life and immortality in the world to come: "Because I live, you shall live also."—Benjamin Keach.
Of all the symbols which set forth Christ's church, I prefer this. Bringing out, as well as any other, our relationship to Christ, and better than any other our relationship to each other, it teaches us lessons of love, and charity, and tender sympathy. When bill-hook or pruning-knife lops a branch from the tree, the stem bends; it seems for a while to drop some tears, but they are soon dried up; and the other boughs suffer no pain, show no sympathy—their leaves dancing merrily in the wind over the poor dead branch that lies withering below. But a tender sympathy pervades the body and its members. Touch my finger roughly, and the whole body feels it; wound this foot, and thrilling through my frame, the pang shoots upward to the head; let the heart, or even a tooth, ache, and all the system suffers disorder. With what care is a diseased member touched! What anxious efforts do we make to save a limb! With what slow reluctance does a patient, after long months or years of suffering, consent to the last remedy, the surgeon's knife! Many holy lessons of love, charity, and sympathy, our Lord teaches by this figure. Dr. Guthrie.
We must work in concert. Stress is laid on this in Scripture, as may be seen from such expressions as these:—"If two of you shall agree," "Fellow-helpers to the truth," "With one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." It is as with the human hand. Take one of the fingers, the forefinger, for example; it can do many things by itself separately. I lay it on my pulse, to know how my heart beats; I turn over the leaf of a book with it; I use it to point a stranger the way; I place it on my lips to signify silence; I single out the individual to whom I would say, "You are the man"; I shake it in warning or remonstrance. But the hand can do, not five times as much as a single finger, not fifty times as much, not five hundred times as much, but five thousand times—and more. So with Christian churches; there must not merely be individual effort, but combined and united effort, on the New Testament principle, "As every man has received the gift, even so let him minister."
Dr. Culross.
CCXXIII
Ephesians 4:20, 21—"But you have not so learned Christ,
"If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus."
The distinction between the Christian and others. "But you."
There must be this separation as long as the world is "the world."
The means of this distinction is our discipleship: we have learned Christ, and learned him in a different way from that which satisfies many who profess to know him.
We have not so learned Christ as to be able to profess his name, and yet practice lasciviousness.
We are converted into learners, and are under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit. How we learn is a test question. Some have learned Christ, and yet are not saved, and others have not so learned him, but are truly his disciples.
I. Our lesson. "Learned Christ."
This learning Christ is—
Much more than learning doctrine, precept, or ceremony.
Much more than knowing about Christ, or learning from Christ.
It includes several forms of knowledge.
1. To know him as a personal Christ.
2. To know his nature, and to treat him accordingly.
3. To know his offices, and how to use them.
4. To know his finished work for God and for us.
5. To know his influence over men, and to test it.
6. To know by learning Christ the way to live like him.
II. How we have not learned it.
1. So as to remain as we were before. Unchanged, and yet at peace.
2. So as to excuse sin because of his atonement.
3. So as to feel a freedom to sin because of pardon.
4. So as even to commit sin in Christ's name.
5. So as to reckon that we cannot conquer sin, and so sit down under the dominion of some constitutional temptation.
6. So as to profess reverence for his name and character, and then think little of the truth which he reveals.
III. How we have learned it.
We know the truth, and know it in its best light—
1. As directly taught by his own self, and by his own Spirit.
2. As distinctly embodied in his life and character.
3. As it relates to him and honors him.
4. Consequently as it is in him. Truth is in Jesus, indeed and of a truth, for in him everything is real.
5. Consequently as it works a total change in us, and makes us like to him in whom truth is embodied.
See, then, that we not only learn of Jesus, but we learn Jesus.
It is not enough to hear him and to be taught by him; we want to know himself.
Knowing him, we know the truth; for it is in him.
Thoughts
Instead of "if so be that," many very competent scholars propose to render the original "inasmuch as," or, "since you have heard," etc.; for the apostle is not referring to a supposed case, but stating a fact, as verse 20 proves. W. O'Neill.
He exhorts not to an outward reformation of their converse only, but to that truth and sincerity of sanctification, which the doctrine and power of grace in Christ teaches and works in all true Christians: "If so be," says he, "you have learned the truth as it is in Jesus." Which does not, as other doctrines of philosophers, &c., teach you to put off the evils of your outward converse only, and to put on a new conversation over an old nature, as a sheep-skin over a wolfish nature; he who does no more falls short of that truth of grace which Christ requires; but it teaches principally to put off the old man, as the cause of all the evils in the outward converse; and that is his meaning, when he says, "As concerning the outward converse put off the old man," without which it is impossible to reform the converse. Thomas Goodwin.
An illustration of the foregoing remarks is found in Lord Chesterfield, who trained his only son, not to abandon vice, but to be a gentleman in the practice of it.
Some persons, instead of "putting off the old man," dress him up in a new shape. St. Bernard.
Unsanctified wisdom is the devil's greatest tool.
A handful of good life is worth a bushel of learning.
CCXXIV
Ephesians 5:11—"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."
Directions how to live while here below are very needful.
We constantly come into contact with ungodly men: this is unavoidable; but here we are taught to avoid such communion with them as would make us partakers in their evil deeds.
Three truths are incidentally mentioned: evil works are sterile, they are works of darkness, and they deserve reproof.
We must have no fellowship with them; neither at any time, nor in any manner, nor in any degree.
I. What is forbidden? "Fellowship with works of darkness."
This fellowship may be produced in several ways:
1. By personally committing the sins so described, or by joining with others in bringing them about.
2. By teaching wrong doing, either by plain word or by just inference.
3. By constraining, commanding, or tempting: by threat, request, persuasion, inducement, compulsion, bribery, or influence.
4. By provoking, through exciting anger, emulation, or discouragement.
5. By neglecting to rebuke: especially by parents and masters misusing their office and allowing known evils in the family.
6. By counseling, and advising, or by guiding by example.
7. By consenting, agreeing, and co-operating. By smiling at an evil attempt, and, in the end, partaking in the spoil. Those who join with churches in error come under this head.
8. By conniving at sin: tolerating, concealing, and making light of it.
9. By commending, countenancing, defending, and excusing the wrong already done; and contending against those who would expose, denounce, and punish it.
II. What is commanded? "Reprove them."
"Reprove" in the original is a word of large meaning.
1. Rebuke. Declare the wrong of it, and show your hatred thereof.
2. Convict. As the Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin, so aim at proving the world guilty by your holy life and bold witness.
3. Convert. This is to be your continual aim with those about you. You are so to reprove as to win men from ways of evil.
Oh that we had more of honest and loving reproof of all evil!
III. Why it is commanded to me?
It is specially my duty to be clear of other men's sins.
1. As an imitator of God and a dear child. Verse 1.
2. As one who is an inheritor of the kingdom of God. Verses 5, 6.
3. As one who has come out of darkness into marvelous light in the Lord. Verse 8
4. As one who bears fruit, even the fruit of the Spirit, which is in all goodness, righteousness and truth. Verse 9.
5. As one who would not be associated with that which is either shameful or foolish. Verses 12, 15.
If our fellowship is with God, we must quit the ways of darkness.
IV. What may come of obedience to the command.
Even if we could see no good result, yet our duty would be plain enough; but much benefit may result.
1. We shall be clear of complicity with deeds of darkness.
2. We shall be honored in the consciences of the ungodly.
3. We may thus win them to repentance and eternal life.
4. We shall glorify God by our separated walk and by the godly perseverance with which we adhere to it.
5. We may thus establish others in holy nonconformity to the world.
Let us use the text as a warning to worldly professors.
Let us take it as a directory in our conversation with the ungodly.
Examples
A member of his congregation was in the habit of going to the theater. Mr. Hill went to him and said, "This will never do—a member of my church in the habit of attending the theater!" Mr. So-and-so replied that it surely must be a mistake, as he was not in the habit of going there, although it was true he did go now and then for a treat. "Oh!" said Rowland Hill, "then you are a worse hypocrite than ever, sir. Suppose any one spread the report that I ate carrion, and I answered, 'Well, there is no wrong in that; I don't eat carrion every day in the week, but I have a dish now and then for a treat!' Why, you would say, 'What a nasty, foul, and filthy appetite Rowland Hill has, to have to go to carrion for a treat!' Religion is the Christian's truest treat, Christ is his enjoyment."—Charlesworth's Life of Rowland Hill.
On one occasion, travelling in the Portsmouth mail, Andrew Fuller was much annoyed by the profane conversation of two young men who sat opposite. After a time, one of them, observing his gravity, accosted him with an air of impertinence, inquiring, in rude and indelicate language, whether on his arrival at Portsmouth he should not indulge himself in a manner evidently corresponding with their own intentions. Mr. Fuller, lowering his ample brows, and looking the inquirer full in the face, replied in measured tones: "Sir, I am a man that fears God." Scarcely a word was uttered during the remainder of the journey.
Memoir of Andrew Fuller.
Matthew Wilks once rode by coach with a young nobleman and a female passenger. The nobleman entered upon an improper conversation with the coachman and the woman. At a favorable opportunity Mr. Wilks attracted his attention, and said, "My lord, maintain your rank!" The reproof was felt and acted upon. Let the Christian ever maintain his rank.
A distinguished Christian lady was recently spending a few weeks in a hotel at Long Branch, and an attempt was made to induce her to attend a dance, in order that the affair might have the prestige bestowed by her presence, as she stood high in society. She declined all the importunities of her friends, and finally an honorable senator tried to persuade her to attend, saying, "Miss B., this is quite a harmless affair, and we want to have the exceptional honor of your presence." "Senator," said the lady, "I cannot do it, I am a Christian. I never do anything in my summer vacation, or wherever I go, that will injure the influence I have over the girls of my Sunday-school class." The senator bowed, and said, "I honor you; if there were more Christians like you, more men like myself would become Christians."—Dr. Pentecost.
Rebukes should always be dealt in love: never wash a man's face in vitriol. Some persons would burn a house down to get rid of a mouse: the smallest fault is denounced as a great crime, and a good brother is cut off from fellowship, and bad feeling is raised, when a gentle hint would have done the work much more effectually. C. H. S.
CCXXV
Ephesians 5:25—"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it."
The love of Christ to his church is the pattern for husbands.
It should be a pure, fervent, constant, self-sacrificing love.
The conduct of Jesus was the best proof of his love. "He loved the church, and gave himself for it."
Our conduct should be the genuine outcome of our love.
I. How Christ loved his church.
He loved his own church with—
1. A love of choice, and special regard.
2. A love of unselfishness: he loved not hers, but her.
3. A love of delight. He calls her "Hephzibah, my delight is in her."
4. A love of sympathy. Her interests are his interests.
5. A love of communion. He manifests himself to his chosen bride.
6. A love of unity. A loving, living, lasting union is established.
7. A love of immutable constancy. He loves unto the end.
II. How he proved his love. "Gave himself for it."
1. He gave himself to his church by leaving Heaven and becoming incarnate that he might assume her nature.
2. He gave himself throughout his life on earth by spending all his strength to bless his beloved.
3. He gave himself in death; the ransom for his church.
4. He gave himself in his eternal life; rising, ascending, reigning, pleading; and all for the church of his choice.
5. He gave himself in all that he now is as God and man, exalted to the throne, for the endless benefit of his beloved church.
III. How we should think of it.
It is set before us as a love which should influence our hearts.
We should think of it—
1. In a way of gratitude, wondering more and more at such love.
2. In a way of obedience, as the wife obeys the husband.
3. In a way of reverence. Looking up to love so great, so heavenly, so perfect, so divine.
4. In a way of holiness. Rejoicing to be like our Holy Husband.
5. In a way of love. Yielding our whole heart to him.
6. In a way of imitation. Loving him, and others for his sake.
Let us enter into the love of Jesus, enjoy it in our own hearts, and then imitate it in our families.
Concerning Love
Rowland Hill often felt much grieved at the false reports which were circulated of many of his sayings, especially those respecting his publicly mentioning Mrs. Hill. His attentions to her until the close of life were of the most gentlemanly and affectionate kind. The high view he entertained of her may be seen from the following fact:—A friend having informed Mr. Hill of the sudden death of a lady, the wife of a minister, remarked, "I am afraid our dear minister loved his wife too well, and the Lord in wisdom has removed her." "What, sir?" replied Mr. Hill, with the deepest feeling, "can a man love a good wife too much? Impossible, sir, unless he can love her better than Christ loves the church: 'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.' "
"Let all things be done in love," says the apostle. If all your actions towards others, then, much more all things that concern your wife, should be done in love. Your thoughts should be thoughts of love; your looks should be looks of love; your lips, like the honeycomb, should drop nothing but sweetness and love; your instructions should be edged with love; your reprehensions should be sweetened with love; your carriage and whole conversation towards her should be but the fruit and demonstration of your love. Oh, how did Christ, who is your pattern, love his spouse! His birth, life, and death were but, as it were, a stage whereon the hottest love imaginable, from first to last, acted its part to the life. It was a known, unknown love. Tiberius Gracchus, the Roman, finding two snakes in his bed, and consulting with the soothsayers, was told that one of them must be killed; yet, if he killed the male, he himself would die shortly; if the female, his wife would die. His love to his wife, Cornelia, was so great, that he killed the male, says Plutarch, and died quickly. George Swinnock.
The Spanish poet Calderon, in one of his dramas, describes a beautiful Roman girl, Daria by name, eventually a Christian convert and martyr, who declares, while yet a pagan, that she will never love until she finds someone who has died to prove his love for her. She hears of Christ, and her heart is won.
CCXXVI
Ephesians 6:15—"And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."
Christians are meant to be steadfast, active, moving, progressing, ascending, hence their feet are carefully provided for.
They are feeble in themselves, and need protection: their road also is rough, and hence they need the shoe which grace provides.
I. Let us examine the shoes.
1. They come from a blessed Maker. One who is skillful in all arts, and knows by experience what is wanted, since he has himself journeyed through life's roughest ways.
2. They are made of excellent material: "the preparation of the gospel of peace." Well seasoned, soft in wear, lasting long.
Peace with God as to the past, the future, the present.
Peace of full submission to the divine mind and will.
Peace with the Word and all its teachings.
Peace with one's inner self, conscience, fears, desires, etc.
Peace with brethren in the church and the family.
Peace with all mankind: "as much as lies in you live peaceably with all men": Romans 12:18.
3. They are such as none can make except the Lord, who both sends the gospel, and prepares the peace.
4. They are such shoes as Jesus wore, and all the saints.
5. They are such as will never wear out: they are old, yet ever new; we may wear them at all ages and in all places.
II. Let us try them on.
Observe with delight—
1. Their perfect fitness. They are made to suit each one of us.
2. Their excellent foothold: we can tread with holy boldness upon our high places with these shoes.
3. Their marching powers for daily duty. No one grows weary or footsore when he is thus shod.
4. Their wonderful protection against trials by the way. "You shall tread on the lion and adder": Psalm 91:13.
5. Their pleasantness of wear, giving rest to the whole man.
6. Their adaptation for hard work, climbing, ploughing, etc.
7. Their endurance of fire and water: Isaiah 43:2. By peace of mind we learn to pass through every form of trial.
8. Their fighting qualities. They are really a part of "the whole armor of God." See the chapter in which the text is found.
III. Let us look at the barefooted around us.
The sinner is unshod. Yet he kicks against the pricks. How can he hope to fulfill the heavenly pilgrimage?
The professor is slipshod, or else he wears tight shoes. His fine slippers will soon be worn out. He loves not the gospel, knows not its peace, seeks not its preparation.
The gospel alone supplies a fit shoe for all feet.
To the gospel let us fly at once. Come, poor shoeless beggar!
Fastenings
"Put shoes on his feet" were among the first words of welcome to the returning prodigal. To be shoeless was in Israel a mark of great disgrace, indicating a lost inheritance, a state of misery and poverty. (See Deuteronomy 25:10.)
The Chinese advertise shoes which enable the wearer to walk on the clouds. Compare Isaiah 40:31: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." "Run with patience, looking unto Jesus." (Hebrews 12:1–3.)
"Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." (Ephesians 6:15.) The passage has been paraphrased, "Shod with the firm footing of the solid knowledge of the gospel." The word "preparation" signifies preparedness or readiness. Compare 2 Timothy 4:2: "Instant in season, out of season"; also Romans 1:15: "I am ready to preach the gospel." This preparedness is well-pleasing to God. "How beautiful are your feet with shoes, O prince's daughter!" (Canticles 7:1; Isaiah 52:7.)
Mrs. Gordon.
Christian in the palace Beautiful. "The next day they took him, and had him into the armory, where they showed him all manner of furniture which their Lord had provided for pilgrims, as sword, shield, helmet, breast-plate, all-prayer, and shoes that would not wear out. And there was here enough of this to harness out as many men for the service of their Lord as there be stars in the Heaven for multitude."
Bunyan.
None can make a shoe to the creature's foot, so that he shall go easy on a hard way, but Christ; he can do it to the creature's full content. And how does he do it? Truly, no other way than by underlaying it; or, if you will, lining it with the peace of the gospel. What though the way be set with sharp stones? if this shoe go between the Christian's foot and them, they cannot much be felt.
It is the soldier's shoe that is meant, which, if right, is to be of the strongest make, being not so much intended for finery as for defense.
The gospel shoe will not come on your foot so long as that foot is swelled with any sinful humor (I mean any unrighteous or unholy practice). This evil must be purged out by repentance, or you can not wear the shoe of peace.
The Jews were to eat their Passover with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand, and all in haste. (Exodus 12:11.) When God is feasting the Christian with present comforts, he must have this gospel shoe on; he must not sit down as if he were feasting at home, but stand and eat even as he takes a running meal in an inn on his way, willing to be gone as soon as ever he is a little refreshed for his journey.
The conceited professor, who has a high opinion of himself, is a man shod and prepared, he thinks; but not with the right gospel shoe. He who cannot take the length of his foot, how can he of himself fit a shoe to it?
Is not your shoe, Christian, yet on? are you not yet ready to march? If you have it, what have you to dread? Can fear that any stone can hurt your foot through so thick a sole?—William Gurnall.
Paul was thus shod: Romans 8:38, "I am persuaded, nothing shall separate me from the love of God." "All things, I know, work together for the good of them that are beloved of God." (Romans 8:28.) And this furniture made him go such hard ways cheerfully, in which showers of afflictions did fall as thick as hailstones. This does make God's children, though not in the letter, yet in some sort, tread upon the adder and the basilisk; yes, to defy vipers, and receive no hurt, whereas, if the feet be bared a little with the absence of this peace, anything causes us sore smart. Paul Bayne.
CCXXVII
Philippians 4:4—"Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice."
Joy drives out discord. See how our text follows as a remedy upon a case of disagreement in the church, verses 1 and 2.
Joy helps against the trials of life. Hence it is mentioned as a preparation for the rest of faith which is prescribed in verse 6.
I. The grace commanded. "Rejoice."
1. It is delightful: our soul's jubilee has come when joy enters.
2. It is demonstrative: it is more than peace; it sparkles, shines, sings. Why should it not? Joy is a bird; let it fly in the open heavens, and let its music be heard of all men.
3. It is stimulating, and urges its possessor to brave deeds.
4. It is influential for good. Sinners are attracted to Jesus by the joy of saints. More flies are caught with a spoonful of honey than with a barrel of vinegar.
5. It is contagious. Others are gladdened by our rejoicing.
6. It is commanded. It is not left optional, but made imperative.
We are as much commanded to rejoice as to keep the Sabbath.
It is commanded because joy makes us like God.
It is commanded because it is for our profit.
It is commanded because it is good for others.
II. The joy discriminated. "In the Lord."
1. As to sphere. "In the Lord." This is that sacred circle wherein a Christian's life should be always spent.
2. As to object. "In the Lord."
We should rejoice in the Lord God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
We should rejoice in the Lord Jesus, dead, risen, etc.
Not in temporals, personal, political, or financial.
Nor in special privileges, which involve greater responsibility.
Nor even in religious successes. "In this rejoice not, that the devils are subject unto you through my word, but rather rejoice that your names are written in Heaven": Luke 10:20.
Nor in self and its doings. Philippians 3:3.
III. The time appointed. "Always."
1. When you cannot rejoice in any other, rejoice in God.
2. When you can rejoice in other things, sanctify all with joy in God.
3. When you have not before rejoiced, begin at once.
4. When you have long rejoiced, do not cease for a moment.
5. When others are with you, lead them in this direction.
6. When you are alone, enjoy to the full this rejoicing.
IV. The emphasis laid on the command. "Again I say, Rejoice."
Paul repeats his exhortation,
1. To show his love to them. He is intensely anxious that they should share his joy.
2. To suggest the difficulty of continual joy. He twice commands, because we are slow to obey.
3. To assert the possibility of it. After second thoughts, he feels that he may fitly repeat the exhortation.
4. To impress the importance of the duty. Whatever else you forget, remember this: Be sure to rejoice.
5. To allow of special personal testimony. "Again I say, Rejoice."
Paul rejoiced. He was habitually a happy man.
This epistle to the Philippians is peculiarly joyous.
Let us look it through. The apostle is joyful throughout:
He sweetens prayer with joy: 1:4.
He rejoices that Christ is preached: 1:18.
He wished to live to gladden the church: 1:25.
To see the members like-minded was his joy: 2:2.
It was his joy that he should not run in vain: 2:16.
His farewell to them was, "Rejoice in the Lord": 3:1.
He speaks of those who rejoice in Christ Jesus: 3:3.
He calls his converts his joy and crown: 4:1.
He expresses his joy in their kindness: 4:4, 10, 18.
To all our friends let us use this as a blessing: "Rejoice in the Lord."
This is only a choicer way of saying, Be happy; Fare you well.
"Fare you well, and if forever,
Still forever fare you well."
Joy-bells
It is not an indifferent thing to rejoice, or not to rejoice; but we are commanded to rejoice, to show that we break a commandment if we rejoice not. Oh, what a comfort is this, when the Comforter himself shall command us to rejoice! God was accustomed to say, Repent, and not rejoice, because men rejoice too much; but God here commands to rejoice, as though some men did not rejoice enough: therefore you must understand to whom he speaks. In Psalm 149:5, it is said, "Let the saints be glad"; not, let the wicked be glad. And in Isaiah 40:1, he says, "Comfort my people," not, comfort mine enemies, showing to whom this commandment of Paul is sent, "Rejoice evermore."—Henry Smith.
The thing whereunto he exhorts, as you see, is to rejoice; a thing which the sensual man can quickly lay hold on, who loves to rejoice, and to cheer himself in the days of his flesh; which yet might now seem unreasonable to the Philippians, who lived in the midst of a naughty and crooked nation, by whom they were even hated for the truth's sake which they professed. Mark, therefore, wherein the apostle would they should rejoice, namely, in the Lord; and here the sensual man, that haply would catch hold when it is said, Rejoice, by-and-by when it is added, in the Lord, will let go his hold. But they that, by reason of the billows and waves of the troublesome sea of this world, cannot brook the speech when it is said, Rejoice, are to lay sure holdfast upon it when it is added, Rejoice in the Lord; which holdfast once taken, that they might forever keep it sure, in the third place it is added, Rejoice in the Lord always, to note the constancy that should be in Christian joy.
Henry Airay.
Another note to distinguish this joy in the Lord from all other joys is the fullness and exuberance of it; for it is more joy than if corn and wine and oil increased. Else what needed the apostle, having said, "Rejoice in the Lord always," to add, "and again I say, Rejoice"? What can be more than always, but still adding to the fullness of our joy, until our cup do overflow?
Upon working days rejoice in the Lord, who gives you strength to labor, and feeds you with the labor of your hands. On holidays rejoice in the Lord, who feasts you with the marrow and fatness of his house. In plenty, rejoice again and again, because the Lord gives; in want rejoice, because the Lord takes away, and as it pleases the Lord, so come things to pass. Edward Marbury.
The calendar of the sinner has only a few days in the year marked as festival days; but every day of the Christian's calendar is marked by the hand of God as a day of rejoicing. Anon.
'Tis impious in a good man to be sad.
Edward Young.
Napoleon, when sent to Elba, adopted, in proud defiance of his fate, the motto, "Ubicunque felix." It was not true in his case; but the Christian may be truly "happy everywhere" and always.
CCXXVIII
Colossians 1:16—"For by him were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him."
Any theme which exalts the Savior is precious to the saints.
This is one in which the preacher cannot hope to do more than to show how vastly his theme is above him.
All things were created by God and for him, yet by Jesus and for him, because he is truly God and one with the Father.
I. Consider the statement itself.
1. Heaven itself was created by and for Christ Jesus.
There is such a place, as well as such a state, and of that place Jesus is the center. Enoch and Elijah in their bodies are there, Jesus as man is there, and there all his people will be. God, as a pure Spirit, needed no such place; nor angels, for everywhere they would see God.
It was created for Jesus, and for the people whom he will bring there to be one forever with himself.
It exists by Jesus and for Jesus.
Everything in Heaven prepared by Jesus. He is the designer of it.
Everything in Heaven reflects Jesus. He is the soul of it.
Everything in Heaven praises Jesus. He is the King of it.
2. The angels. All their ranks were made by him and for him.
To worship him, and glorify him with their adoration.
To rejoice with him and in him, as they do when sinners repent.
To guard Christ's people in life, and bring them to him in death.
To carry out his purposes of judgment, as with Pharaoh, etc.
To achieve his purposes of deliverance, as Peter from prison.
3. This world was made by him to be—
A place for him to live and die upon.
A stage for his people to live and act upon.
A province to be fully restored to his dominion.
A new world in the ages to come, to bless other worlds, if such there be; and to display, forever, the glories of Jesus.
4. All the lower creatures are for Jesus. "And that are in earth."
They are needful to man, and so to our Lord's system of grace.
They are illustrations of Christ's wisdom, power, and goodness.
They are to be treated kindly for his sake.
5. Men were created by and for Christ.
That he might display a special phase of power and skill, in creating spiritual beings embodied in material forms.
That he might become himself one of them.
That he might himself be the head of a remarkable order of beings who know both good and evil, are children of God, are bound to God by ties of gratitude, and are one with his Son.
That for these he might die: to save them, and to make them his companions, friends, and worshipers for ever.
That human thrones, even when occupied by wicked men, might be made to subserve his purpose by restraint or by overruling.
II. Review the reflections hence arising.
1. Jesus, then, is God. "By him were all things created."
2. Jesus is the clue of the universe; its center and explanation. All things are to be seen in the light of the cross, and all things reflect light on the cross. For him all things exist.
3. To live to Jesus, then, is to find out the true object of our being, and to be in accord with all creation.
4. Not living to Jesus, we can have no blessing.
5. We can only live for him as we live by him, for so all things do.
6. It is clear that he must triumph. All is going well. If we look at history from his throne, all things are "for him." "He must reign." Let us comfort one another with these words.
What an honor to be the smallest page in the retinue of such a prince!
Words of Homage
When the Christian martyr Pionius was asked by his judges, "What God do you worship?" he replied: "I worship him who made the heavens, and who beautified them with stars, and who has enriched the earth with flowers and trees." "Do you mean," asked the magistrates, "Him who was crucified (illum dicis qui crucifixus est)?" "Certainly," replied Pionius, "Him whom the Father sent for the salvation of the world." As Pionius died, so died Blandina and the whole host of those who, in the first three centuries, without knowing anything of the Nicene creed, held it implicitly, if not explicitly, and proclaimed it in flames and in dungeons, in famine and in nakedness, under the rack and under the sword. Joseph Cook.
In creation God shows us his hand, but in redemption God gives us his heart. Adolphe Monod.
What sublime views does this subject (the creation of angels) furnish us of the greatness of Christ! By him, says the apostle, were all those illustrious beings created, together with all their attributes, importance, and dignity. The character of every workman is seen, of course, in the nature of the work which he has made. If this be insignificant and worthless, it exhibits nothing but the insignificance and worthlessness of the maker. If curious and excellent, if sublime and wonderful, it unfolds strongly and certainly his greatness, wisdom, and glory. Of what faculties are angels the subjects! Of what intelligence, purity, power, loveliness, and elevation of mind! What, then, must be the perfections of him who contrived and formed angels; who with a word called them into being; who preserves, informs, directs, controls, and blesses them forever! Great and excellent as they are, they are exhibited as "unclean in his sight," and as "charged with folly," before him. How amazing, then, must be the perfection of his character! how great, how wise, how good!—Timothy Dwight.
Paul would prevent the shadow of a doubt crossing our minds about our Lord having a right to the divine honors of the Creator. "By him," he says, "all things were created"; and as if an angel, standing at his side when he penned these words, had stooped down to whisper in his ear that men, attempting to rob Jesus of his honor, would rise to throw doubt upon that truth, and explain it away—to make the truth still more plain, he adds, "that are in Heaven, and that are in earth." Not content with that, he uses yet more comprehensive terms; and to embrace all the regions of God's universe above the earth and beyond the starry bounds of Heaven, he adds, "visible and invisible." Nor leaves his task until, sweeping the highest and the lowest things, men and worms, angels and insects, all into Christ's hands, he adds, "whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers."—Dr. Guthrie.
It was well said of a heathen, Si essem luscinia—if I were a nightingale I would sing as a nightingale; si alauda—if I were a lark I would soar as a lark. Since I am a man, what should I do but know, love, and praise God without ceasing, and glorify my Creator? Things are unprofitable or misplaced when they do not seek or serve their end; therefore, for what use are we meet, if we are unfit for our proper end? We are like the wood of the vine, good for nothing, not so much as to make a pin whereon to hang anything (Ezekiel 15:2); good for nothing but to be cast into the fire unless it be fruitful. What are we good for if we be not serviceable to the ends for which we were created?
Thomas Manton.
CCXXIX
Colossians 2:6—"As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him."
There is great safety in going back to first principles.
To make sure of being in the right way, it is good to look back at the entrance gate. Well begun is half done.
The text is addressed, not to the ungodly, nor to strangers, but to those who "have received Christ Jesus the Lord." They have commenced well, let them go on as they have begun.
For the spiritual good and establishment of such in the faith, the apostle longs, and to this end he gives the exhortation.
I. Notice in the text the fact stated. Sincere believers have in very deed "received Christ Jesus the Lord."
This is the old gospel word. Here is no evolution from within, but a gift from without heartily accepted by the soul.
This is free-grace language: "received," not earned or purchased.
It is not said that they received Christ's words, though that is true, for they prize every precept and doctrine; but they received Christ.
Carefully observe:
1. The personality of him whom they received, "Christ Jesus the Lord": his person, his Godhead, his humanity: himself.
Received him into their knowledge.
Received him into their understanding.
Received him into their affections.
Received him into their trust.
Received him as their life at their new birth; for when they received him he gave them power to become the sons of God.
2. The threefold character in which they received him.
The words of the text, "Christ Jesus the Lord," indicate this.
They received him
As Christ, anointed and commissioned of God.
As Jesus, the Savior, to redeem and sanctify them.
As the Lord, to reign and rule over them with undivided sway.
3. The looking away from self in this saving act of reception.
It is not said, as you have fought for Jesus and won him, or, studied the truth and discovered Christ Jesus; but, as you have "received" him. This strips us of everything like boasting, for all we do is to receive.
4. The blessed certainty of the experience of those to whom Paul wrote: "As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord." They had really received Jesus; they had found the blessing to be real: no doubt remained as to their possession of it.
II. Notice, next, the counsel given: "So walk you in him."
There are four things suggested by that word "walk."
1. Life. Vitally enjoy the Lord Jesus.
2. Continuance. Remain in Christ: make him your constant place of daily movement and occupation.
3. Activity. Busy yourselves, but not with a new way of salvation. Work for Jesus, and with him, and in obedience to him.
4. Progress. Advance, but ever let your most advanced thought remain in him.
III. Notice, lastly, the model which is presented to us. We are to walk in Christ Jesus the Lord "as we received him."
And how was that?
1. We received him gratefully. How we blessed his name for regarding our low estate!
2. We received him humbly. We had no claim to his grace, and we confessed this, and were lowly.
3. We received him joyfully. Our first joy was bright as the dew of the morning. Have we lost it?
4. We received him effectually. We brought forth many spiritual fruits, and abounded in life, faith, love, and every grace.
5. We received him unreservedly. We made no conditions with him, and we reserved nothing for the flesh.
Thus we should continue to walk in him, evermore in our daily life excelling in all these points.
Alas, some have never received Jesus!
Our closing words must be addressed to such.
If you will not receive Jesus, you refuse mercy here and Heaven hereafter. What! will you not receive so great a blessing?
Explanatory
Inquirers are not infrequently counseled to give their hearts to Christ, or to consecrate themselves to the Lord. We would not be overcritical with what is well meant; but really this is not the gospel. The good news of grace is, that God has given to us eternal life and redemption through his Son, and that in order to be saved the sinner has nothing to do but to accept it.
But having received the gift of God, and having become partakers of his converting grace, then and therefore the divine obligation for service begins to press upon us. The Lord becomes an asker as soon as we have become recipients. "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him": let consecration crown conversion, let self-devotement to Christ answer to his self-devotement for you.
Dr. A. J. Gordon.
If you would know how faith is to be exercised in thus abiding in Jesus, to be rooted more deeply and firmly in him, you have only to look back to the time when first you received him. You remember well what obstacles at that time there appeared to be in the way of your believing. There was first your vileness and guilt: it appeared impossible that the promise of pardon and love could be for such a sinner. Then there was the sense of weakness and death: you felt not the power for the surrender and the trust to which you were called. And then there was the future: you dared not undertake to be a disciple of Jesus while you felt so sure that you could not remain standing, but would speedily again be unfaithful and fall. These difficulties were as mountains in your way. And how were they removed? Simply by the word of God. That word, as it were, compelled you to believe that, notwithstanding guilt in the past, and weakness in the present, and unfaithfulness in the future, the promise was sure that Jesus would accept and save you. On that word you ventured to come, and were not deceived: you found that Jesus did indeed accept and save you.
Apply this, your experience in coming to Jesus, to the abiding in him. By faith you became partakers of the initial grace; by that same faith you can enjoy the continuous grace of abiding in him.
Andrew Murray.
Since they had received the doctrine of Christ, they could not again part with it without convicting themselves either of imprudence, in having mistaken a false doctrine for a true one; or of instability, in quitting and altering a doctrine which they knew to be good and sufficient when they received it. If your belief be good, why do you change it? If it be otherwise, why did you entertain it? Though it be a heinous sin not to receive the Lord Jesus when he presents himself to us in his gospel, yet it is much more evil to cast him out after having received him; as it is a greater outrage to thrust a man from your house when you have admitted him, than to shut your doors against him at the first.
Jean Daillé.
CCXXX
Colossians 3:11. "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
There are two worlds, the old and the new.
These are peopled by two sorts of manhood, the old man, and the new man, concerning whom see verses 9, 10.
In the first are many things which are not in the second.
In the second are many things which are not in the first.
Our text tells us what there is not, and what there is, in the new man.
Let us begin by asking whether the hearer knows where he is; for the text turns on that word "where."
I. What there is not in the new.
When we come to be renewed after the image of him that created us, we find an obliteration of
1. National distinctions: "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew."
Jesus is a man. In the broadest sense he is neither Jew nor Gentile. We see in him no restrictive nationality: and our own peculiar nationality sinks before union with him.
Jesus is now our nationality, our charter, and our fatherland.
Jesus is our hero, legislator, ancestor, leader, etc.
Jesus gives us laws, customs, history, genealogy, prestige, privilege, reliance, power, heritage, conquest, etc.
Jesus furnishes us with a new patriotism, loyalty, and clanship, which we may safely indulge to the utmost.
2. Ceremonial distinctions: "There is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision." The typical separation is removed.
The separating rite is abolished, and the peculiar privilege of a nation born after the flesh is gone with it.
Those who were reckoned far off are brought near.
Both Jew and Gentile are united in one body by the cross.
3. Social distinctions: "There is neither bond nor free."
We are enabled through divine grace to see that
These distinctions are transient.
These distinctions are superficial.
These distinctions are of small value.
These distinctions are non-existent in the spiritual realm.
What a blessed blending of all men in one body is brought about by our Lord Jesus! Let us all work in the direction of unity.
II. What there is in the new.
"Christ is all and in all;" and that in many senses.
1. Christ is all our culture. In him we emulate and excel the "Greek."
2. Christ is all our revelation. We glory in him even as the "Jew" gloried in receiving the oracles of God.
3. Christ is all our ritual. We have no "circumcision," neither have we seven sacraments, nor a heap of carnal ordinances: he is far more than these. All Scriptural ordinances are of him.
4. Christ is all our simplicity. We place no confidence in the bare Puritanism which may be called "uncircumcision."
5. Christ is all our natural traditions. He is more to us than the freshest ideas which cross the mind of the "Barbarian."
6. Christ is all our unconquerableness and liberty. The "Scythian" had not such boundless independence as we find in him.
7. Christ is all as our Master, if we be "bond." Happy servitude of which he is the head!
8. Christ is our Magna Charta: yes, our liberty itself if we be "free."
In closing we will use the words "Christ is all and in all" as our text for application to ourselves. It furnishes a test question for us.
Is Christ so great with us that he is our all?
Is Christ so broadly and fully with us that he is all in our all?
Is he, then, all in our trust, our hope, our assurance, our joy, our aim, our strength, our wisdom—in a word, "all in all"?
If so, are we living in all for him?
Are we doing all for him, because he is all to us?
Embroideries
What a rich inheritance have all those who are truly interested in Jesus Christ! Christus meus et omnia. They possess him that is all in all, and in possessing him they possess all. "I have all things, my brother," says Jacob to Esau: Genesis 33:11 (Margin). He who has him that is all in all cannot want anything. "All things are yours," says the apostle, "whether things present or things to come, and you are Christ's": 1 Corinthians 3:22, 23. A true believer, let him be never so poor outwardly, is in truth the richest man in all the world; he has all in all, and what can be added to all?—Ralph Robinson.
Christ is not valued at all unless he be valued above all. Augustine.
He is a path, if any be misled;
He is a robe, if any naked be;
If any chance to hunger, he is bread;
If any be a bondman, he is free;
If any be but weak, how strong is he!
To dead men life he is, to sick men health,
To blind men sight, and to the needy wealth;
A pleasure without loss, a treasure without stealth.
Giles Fletcher.
All, then, let him be in all our desires and wishes. Who is that wise merchant that has heart large enough to conceive and believe as to this? Let him go sell all his nothings, that he may compass this pearl, barter his bugles for this diamond. Truly, all the haberdash stuff the whole pack of the world has, is not worthy to be valued with this jewel.
I cannot but reverence the memory of that reverend divine (Mr. Welsh) who, being in a deep muse after some discourse that had passed of Christ, and tears trickling abundantly from his eyes before he was aware, being urged for the cause thereof, he honestly confessed that he wept because he could not draw his dull heart to prize Christ aright. I fear this is a rare mind in Christians, for many think a very little to be quite enough for Jesus, and even too much for him!—Samuel Ward.
"At length, one evening, while engaged in a prayer-meeting, the great deliverance came. I received the full witness of the Spirit that the blood of Jesus had cleansed me from all sin. I felt I was nothing, and Christ was all in all. Him I now cheerfully received in all his offices: my Prophet, to teach me; my Priest, to atone for me; my King, to reign over me. Oh what boundless, boundless happiness there is in Christ, and all for such a poor sinner as I am! This happy change took place in my soul March 13th, 1772."—William Carvosso.
Dannecker, the German sculptor, spent eight years in producing a face of Christ; and at last wrought out one in which the emotions of love and sorrow were so perfectly blended that beholders wept as they looked upon it. Subsequently, being solicited to employ his great talent on a statue of Venus, he replied, "After gazing so long into the face of Christ, think you that I can now turn my attention to a heathen goddess?" Here is the true secret of weanedness from worldly idols, "the expulsive power of a new affection."
"I have heard the voice of Jesus,
Tell me not of anything beside;
I have seen the face of Jesus,
All my soul is satisfied."
Dr. A. J. Gordon.
CCXXXI
1 Thessalonians 2:13, 14—"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.
"For you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews."
Paul unbosoms his heart to the loving church at Thessalonica.
He knew what it was to be worried by the Corinthians and the Galatians, but he found rest when thinking of the Thessalonians.
The most tried ministers have some bright spots.
In setting forth his joyful memories of Thessalonica, Paul gives us a sight of three things.
I. Ministers giving thanks. "We also thank God."
Ministers are not always groaning and weeping, though they often do so. They have their time of thanksgiving, as in Paul's case.
1. This followed upon sore travail. See verse 9. Only as we sow in tears do we reap in joy.
2. This was backed by holy living. Dwell upon each point in verses 10 and 11. Unholy ministers will have scant cause for joy.
3. It prevented all self-laudation. They thanked God, and this is the opposite of glorifying self.
4. It was of a social character. "We thank God": Paul, and Silas, and Timothy. We hold a fraternal meeting of joy when God blesses us among our beloved people.
5. It was of an abiding character, "without ceasing." We can never cease praising the Lord for his goodness in saving souls.
6. It cheered them for further service. They wished, according to verse 17, to visit the friends again, and further benefit them.
What a mercy for us all when God's servants are glad about us!
Their joy is in our salvation.
II. Hearers receiving the word. "You received the word of God,"
Not all receive it. How badly do some treat the gospel!
Not all receive it as did the Thessalonians, for
1. They received the word of God: they heard it calmly, attended to it candidly, considered it carefully.
2. They received the word of God with a hearty welcome. They accepted it by faith, with personal confidence and joy.
3. They did not receive the word of man. It is well to keep the doors locked in that direction. We cannot receive everything; let us reject merely human teaching, and leave the more room in our minds for the Lord's word.
4. They did not receive the gospel as the word of men. Their faith was not based on the clever, eloquent, logical, dogmatic, or affectionate way in which it was preached.
5. They received it as God's revealed word, and therefore received it
With reverence of its divine character.
With assurance of its infallibility.
With obedience to its authority.
With experience of its sacred power.
6. They received it so that it effectually worked in them. It was practical, efficient, and manifestly operative upon their lives and characters.
III. Converts exhibiting the family likeness.
1. They were like Judean Christians, the best of them, In faith; in experience; in afflictions.
2. Yet many of them as heathen began at a great disadvantage.
3. They had never seen the church of God in Judea, and were no copyists, yet they came to be fac-similes of them.
4. This is a singular confirmation of the divine character of the work.
The same Lord works in all believers, and in the main the same experience occurs in all the saints, even though they may never have seen each other.
This similarity of all regenerated men furnishes a valuable set of experimental evidences of the divine origin of conversion.
Let us not be daunted by opposition, for at Thessalonica Paul was persecuted and yet triumphant.
Let us rejoice in the effects of the Word everywhere.
Memoranda
There was a minister of the gospel once, a true preacher, a faithful, loving man, whose ministry was supposed to be exceedingly unsuccessful. After twenty years' labor, he was known to have brought only one soul to Christ. So said his congregation. Poor worker in the trench! his toil was not seen by men, but the eye of God rested upon it. To him, one day, came a deputation from his people, representing to him, respectfully enough, that, inasmuch as God had not seen fit to bless his labors among them, it were better for him to remove to another sphere. They said that he had only been instrumental in the conversion of one sinner. He might do more elsewhere. "What do you say?" said he. "Have I really brought one sinner to Christ?" "Yes," was the reply; "one, but only one." "Thank God," cried he, "for that! Thank God! I have brought one soul to Christ. Now for twenty years' more labor among you! God sparing me, perhaps I may be the honored instrument of bringing two."—Calthrop.
"Whoever made this book," said a Chinese convert, "made me; it tells me the thoughts of my heart."
A celebrated Frenchman said, "I know the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, because it has pierced me through."
Loskiel's "Account of the Moravian Missions among the North American Indians" has taught me two things. I have found in it a striking illustration of the uniformity with which the grace of God operates on men. Crantz, in his "Account of the Missions in Greenland," has shown the grace of God working on a man-fish—on a stupid, sottish, senseless creature, scarcely a remove from the fish on which he lived. Loskiel shows the same grace working on a man-devil—a fierce, bloody, revengeful warrior, dancing his infernal war-dance with the mind of a fury. Divine grace brings these men to the same point; it quickens, stimulates, and elevates the Greenlander—it raises him to a sort of new life—it seems almost to bestow on him new senses—it opens his eye, and bends his ear, and rouses his heart; and what it adds, it sanctifies. The same grace tames the high spirit of the Indian—it reduces him to the meekness, and docility, and simplicity of a child. The evidence arising to Christianity from these facts is perhaps seldom sufficient, by itself, to convince the gainsayer; but, to a man who already believes, it greatly strengthens the reason of his belief. I have seen, also, in these books, that the fish-boat, and the oil, and the tomahawk, and the cap of feathers excepted, a Christian minister has to deal with just the same sort of creatures as the Greenlander and the Indian among civilized nations. Richard Cecil.
The Edition of those living Epistles is the same the world over; the binding only may differ.
CCXXXII
2 Thessalonians 3:13—"But you, brethren, be not weary in well-doing."
Read the two previous verses, and mark the apostle's censure of those who are busy-bodies, "working not at all."
A church should be like a hive of working bees.
There should be order, and there will be order where all are at work.
The apostle condemns disorder in verse 11.
There should be quietness; and work promotes it: verse 12.
There should be honesty; and work fosters it.
The danger is, lest we first tire of work, and then fancy that we have done enough, or are discharged from service by our superior importance, or by our subscribing to pay a substitute. While any strength remains we may not cease from personal work for Jesus.
Moreover, some will come in who are not busy bees, but busy-bodies: they do not work for their own bread, but are surprisingly eager to eat that of others; these soon cause disturbance and desolation, but they know nothing of "well-doing."
The apostle endeavors to cure this disease, and therefore gives—
I. A summary of Christian life. He calls it "well-doing."
1. Religious work is well-doing. Preaching, teaching, writing books and letters, temperance meetings, Bible-classes, tract-distributing, personal conversation, private prayer, praise, etc.
2. Charitable work is "well-doing." The poor, the widow and the fatherless, the ignorant, the sick, the fallen, and the desponding, are to be looked after with tender care.
3. Common labor is "well-doing."
This will be seen to be the point in the text, if we read the previous verses. Well-doing takes many forms: among the rest—
Support of family by the husband.
Management of house by the wife.
Assistance in house-work by daughters.
Diligence in his trade by the young man.
Study of his books by the child at school.
Faithful service by domestics in the home.
Honest toil by the day-laborer.
4. Certain labor is "well-doing" in all these senses, since it is common labor used for charitable and religious ends.
Support of aged persons by those who work for them.
Watching over infirm or sick relatives.
Bringing up children in the fear of the Lord.
Work done in connection with the church of God, to enable others to preach the gospel in comfort.
Everything is "well-doing" which is done from a sense of duty, with dependence upon God, and faith in his word; out of love to Christ, in good-will to other workers, with prayer for direction, acceptance, and blessing.
Common actions become holy, and drudgery grows divine when the motive is pure and high.
We now think it will be wise to gather from the epistle—
II. A warning as to causes of weariness in well-doing.
1. Unworthy receivers of charity weary generous workers: verse 10.
2. Idle examples tempt the industrious to idleness: verse 11.
3. Busy-bodies, and disorderly persons in the church, hinder many from their diligent service: verses 11, 12.
4. Troublers, such as "unreasonable and wicked men," dispirit those who would serve the Lord: verse 2.
5. Our own flesh is apt to crave ease, and shun difficulties.
We can make too much of works, and it is equally easy to have too few of them. Let us watch against weariness.
Let us now conclude with—
III. An argument against weariness in well-doing. "But you, brethren, be not weary in well doing."
1. Lose not what you have already wrought.
2. Consider what self-denials others practice for inferior things: soldiers, wrestlers, rowers in boat-race, etc.
3. Remember that the eye of God is upon you, his hand with you, his smile on you, his command over you.
4. Reflect upon the grandeur of the service in itself as done unto the Lord, and to his glorious cause.
5. Think upon the sublime lives of those who have preceded you in this heavenly service.
6. Fix your eye on Jesus, and what he endured.
7. Behold the recompense of reward: the crown, the palm.
If others tire and faint, be not you weary.
If others meanly loaf upon their fellows, be it yours rather to give than to receive.
If others break the peace of the church, be it yours to maintain it by diligent service, and so to enjoy the blessing of verse 16.
Whetstones
A true Christian must be a worker. Industry, or diligence in business, is a prime element in piety; and the industry God demands is the activity of our whole complex nature. Without this a man may be a dreamer, but not a "doer"; and just so far as any faculty of our nature is left unemployed do we come short of a complete Christian character. I must be doing, I—I, my entire self, my hand, my foot, my eye, my tongue, my understanding, my affections—must be all, not only resolving, purposing, feeling, willing, but actively doing. "Let us be doing."
But more than this. I must be "well-doing." The Greek word expresses beauty, and this enters into the apostolic thought. True piety is lovely. Just so far as it comes short in the beautiful, it becomes monstrous. But, as used by Paul, it goes far beyond this, and signifies all moral excellence. Activity is not enough; for activity the intensest may be evil. Lucifer is as active, as constant, and earnest as Gabriel. But the one is a fiend, and the other a seraph. Any activity that is not good is a curse always and only. Better be dead, inert matter—a stone, a clod—than a stinging reptile, or a destroying demon; and herein lies the great practical change in regeneration. It transforms the mere doer into a well-doer. It is not so much a change in the energy as in the direction. Charles Wadsworth, D.D.
The Hebrews have a saying, that God is more delighted in adverbs than in nouns: 'tis not so much the matter that's done, but the matter how 'tis done, that God minds. Not how much, but how well! 'Tis the well-doing that meets with a well-done. Let us therefore serve God, hot nominally or verbally, but adverbially. Ralph Venning.
Think nothing done while anything remains to do.
Samuel Rogers.
D'Israeli tells the following story of two members of the Port Royal Society. Arnauld wished Nicolle to assist him in a new work, when the latter replied, "We are now old; is it not time to rest?" "Rest!" returned Arnauld, "have we not all eternity to rest in?" So Gerald Massey sings—
"Let me work now, for all Eternity,
With its immortal leisure, waits me."
CCXXXIII
1 Timothy 1:15—"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."
Paul had described his ordination in verse 12.
He then went on to speak of the grace manifested in the call of such a person to the ministry (verse 13), and of the further grace by which he was sustained in that ministry.
Incidentally he was led to mention the message of his ministry.
We may profitably use the text on this occasion.*
I. How we preach the gospel.
1. As a certainty. It is a "faithful saying." We do not doubt the truth of our message, or how could we expect you to believe it? We believe, and are sure, because
It is a revelation of God.
It is attested by miracles.
It bears its witness within itself.
It has proved its power upon our hearts.
2. As an everyday truth. It is to us a "saying" or proverb.
The gospel affects us at home, in business, in sickness, in health, in life, in youth and age, in death, etc.
3. As having a common bearing. Therefore a "saying" to be heard by all kinds of people, especially the most sinful.
All have sinned, and need a Savior.
All who believe in Jesus have a Savior.
All believers show by their lives that Jesus has saved them.
4. As claiming your attention. "Worthy of all acceptance."
You must believe it to be true.
You must appropriate it to yourself.
You ought to do so, for it is worthy of your acceptance.
II. What gospel do we preach?
1. The gospel of a person: "Christ Jesus."
He is the Anointed of God: "Christ."
He is the Savior of men: "Jesus."
He is God and man in one person.
He died, and yet he lives forever.
2. The gospel of divine visitation. Jesus came into the world—
By his birth as a man.
By his mingling with men.
By his bearing our sorrows and our sins for us.
3. The gospel for sinners.
For such Jesus lived and labored.
For such he died and made atonement.
For such he has sent the gospel of pardon.
For such he pleads in Heaven.
4. The gospel of a finished work.
He finished the work of salvation before he left the world.
That work continues complete to this day.
He is ready to apply it to all who come to him.
5. The gospel of effectual deliverance. "To save sinners."
Not to half save them.
Nor to make them salvable.
Nor help them to save themselves.
Nor to save them as righteous.
But to save them wholly and effectually from their sins.
III. Why do we preach it?
1. Because we have been saved by it.
2. Because we are now in sympathy with Jesus, and wish to save sinners, even the chief of them.
3. Because we believe it will be a blessing to all of you who hear it.
If you are saved by it, you will be happy, and so shall we.
4. Because we cannot help it, for an inward impulse compels us to tell of the miracle of mercy wrought upon us.
Will you not believe a saying so sure?
Will you not accept a truth so gladsome?
Will you not come to a Savior so suitable?
Sayings
A visitor to Rome says, "I was struck with the frequency with which the priests, and other exhibitors of church curiosities, use the phrase, "It is said"—on dit—when describing relics and rarities. They do not vouch for their being what they are reputed to be. "It is said." Are they ashamed of their curiosities? Do they thus try to satisfy their consciences? They do not express their personal belief; but—it is said. Not thus do gospel preachers speak. "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you."
There's a nice word in the text—it is the word "acceptance." It's all provided for you. It's very much like a supper. You'll find the table laid, and everything all ready. You're not expected to bring anything at all. I was once invited out to tea by a poor widow, and I took something in my pocket. But I'll never do it again. It was two cakes; and, when I brought them out, and laid them on the table, she picked them up and flung them out into the street, and said, "I asked you to tea; I didn't ask you to provide tea for me." And so with Christ; he asks, he provides, and he wants nothing but ourselves; and if we take anything else, he'll reject it. We can only sup with him when we come as we are. Who will accept salvation? Who'll say,
"I take the blessing from above,
And wonder at your boundless love"?
John Wold Ackrill, in "The Sword and the Trowel."
Mr. Moody said, "I remember preaching on this subject—Christ as a Deliverer—and walking away, I said to a Scotchman, 'I didn't finish the subject.' 'Ah, man! you didn't expect to finish, did you? It'll take all eternity to finish telling what Christ has done for man.' "
Luther says, "Once upon a time the devil said to me, 'Martin Luther, you are a great sinner, and you will be damned!' 'Stop! Stop!' said I; 'one thing at a time; I am a great sinner, it is true, though you have no right to tell me of it. I confess it. What next?' 'Therefore you will be damned.' 'That is not good reasoning. It is true I am a great sinner, but it is written, "Jesus Christ came to save sinners;" therefore I shall be saved! Now go your way.' So I cut the devil off with his own sword, and he went away mourning because he could not cast me down by calling me a sinner."
The Jews have a saying that the manna tasted to each one precisely like that which he liked best. The gospel is suited to every man, whatever his needs or desires may be.
One of William Carey's last visitors was the Rev. Alexander Duff, who talked with him of his past life, and then knelt down and prayed by his bedside. Leaving the room Mr. Duff thought he heard himself recalled. He turned back, and the dying man addressed him in a whisper, "Mr. Duff, you have been talking about Doctor Carey, Doctor Carey; when I am gone, say nothing about Doctor Carey—speak about Doctor Carey's Savior."
CCXXXIV
1 Timothy 1:16—"Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting."
The notion is common that Paul's conversion was something uncommon, and not at all to be expected in the usual order of things.
The text flatly contradicts such a supposition: the very reason for his salvation was that he might be a type of other conversions.
I. In the conversion of Paul the Lord had an eye to others.
The fact of his conversion and the mode of it:
1. Would tend to interest, and convince other Pharisees and Jews.
2. Would be used by himself in his preaching as an argument to convert and encourage others.
3. Would encourage Paul as a preacher to hope for others.
4. Would become a powerful argument with him for seeking others.
5. Would, long after Paul's death, remain on record to be the means of bringing many to Jesus.
We are each one saved with an eye to others.
For whose sake are you saved?
Are you making the fullest use of your conversion to this end?
II. In his entire life Paul speaks to others.
He was foremost in sin and also in grace, and thus his life speaks to the extremes on each side.
1. In sin. His conversion proves that Jesus receives great sinners.
He was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious.
He went as far as he could in hatred to Christ and his people.
Yet the grace of God changed him and forgave him.
2. In grace. He proved the power of God to sanctify and preserve
He was faithful in ministry, clear in knowledge, fervent in spirit patient in suffering, diligent in service.
And all this notwithstanding what he once was.
The foremost in sin may be saved, and so none are snut out.
These should be and may be foremost in faith and love when saved.
III. In his whole case he presents a cartoon of others.
1. As to God's longsuffering to him. In his case—
Longsuffering was carried to its highest pitch.
Longsuffering so great that all the patience of God seemed to be revealed in his one instance.
Longsuffering concentrated: all the longsuffering that has ever been seen, or ever will be seen in others, met in him.
Longsuffering which displayed itself in many ways, so as
To let him live when persecuting saints.
To allow him the possibility of pardon.
To call him effectually by grace.
To give him fullness of personal blessing.
To put him into the ministry and send him to the Gentiles.
To keep and support him even unto the end.
2. As to the mode of his conversion.
He was saved remarkably, but others will be seen to be saved in like manner if we look below the surface of things.
Saved without previous preparation on his own part.
Saved at once out of darkness and death.
Saved by divine power alone.
Saved by faith wrought in him by God's own Spirit.
Saved distinctly, and beyond all doubt.
Are we not also saved in precisely the same way?
It is possible for us to realize in ourselves a full parallel with Paul.
There is a sad resemblance in our sin.
There is a similarity in the divine longsuffering towards us.
There is a likeness in some degree in the revelation, for the Lord Jesus asks us from Heaven, "Why persecute you me?"
Shall there not be a similarity also in the faith?
Will we not ask, "Who are you, Lord?" and "What will you have me to do?"
Proof Impressions
The word "pattern," in the original, is expressive—a pattern from which endless copies may be taken. You have heard of stereotype printing: when the types are set up, they are cast—made a fixed thing, so that from one plate you can strike off hundreds of thousands of pages in succession, without the trouble of setting up the types again. Paul says, "That I might be a plate never worn out—never destroyed; from which proof impressions may be taken to the very end of time." What a splendid thought, that the apostle Paul, having portrayed himself as the chief of sinners, then portrays himself as having received forgiveness for a grand and specific end, that he might be a standing plate, from which impressions might be taken forever, that no man might despair who had read his biography!—Dr. Cumming.
An infidel, during his sickness, became convinced of his wretched condition, and by the assistance of a Sabbath-school teacher was led to the Savior, and found salvation in his blood. After the change which had passed in his heart, he often spoke of the Savior's love, and the Heaven into which he hoped soon to enter. Finding his life drawing rapidly to a close, he urged the teacher to proceed in his glorious work of doing good; then, opening his bedroom window, which overlooked a bustling and crowded thoroughfare, as he gazed upon the human forms beneath, summoning his last remaining strength, he cried at the top of his voice, "There is mercy for all! None need despair, since I, a poor infidel, have obtained mercy." This, his last work, accomplished, exhausted by the effort, he fell back on his bed, and instantly died.
Haughton, in Bate's Cyclopædia.
John Newton, speaking of the sudden death of Robinson, of Cambridge, in the house of Dr. Priestly, said: "I think Dr. Priestly is out of the reach of human conviction; but the Lord can convince him. And who can tell but this unexpected stroke may make some beneficial impression upon his mind? I can set no limits to the mercy or the power of our Lord, and therefore I continue to pray for him. I am persuaded he is not farther from the truth now than I was once." In the same spirit Newton wrote the lines—
"Come, my fellow sinners, try,
Jesus' heart is full of love;
Oh that you, as well as I,
May his wondrous mercy prove!
He has sent me to declare,
All is ready, all is free;
Why should any soul despair,
When he saved a wretch like me."
Every conversion of a great sinner is a new copy of God's love; it is a repeated proclamation of the transcendency of his grace. This was his design in Paul's conversion. He sets up this apostle as a white flag to invite rebels to treat with him, and return to their loyalty. As every great judgment upon a grand sinner is as the hanging a man in chains, to deter others from the like practice, so every conversion is not only an act of God's mercy to the convert, but an invitation to the spectators.
Stephen Charnock.
CCXXXV
2 Timothy 1:12—"For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."
Paul, much buffeted and persecuted, is sustained by faith, and by a sense of personal security in Christ Jesus.
The meaning which may be in the text:—the gospel deposited with Paul the Lord Jesus was able to keep until the judgment. This is well worthy of being explained. The gospel is safe in the care of Jesus.
Paul felt great comfort as the result of committing his soul to Jesus.
Let us consider—
I. What he had done.
Feeling the value of his soul, knowing its danger, conscious of his own weakness, believing in the grace and power of the Lord Jesus, he had placed his soul in his hands.
1. His soul's case was there for Jesus to heal him as a Physician.
2. His soul's calls were there to be supplied by Jesus as a Shepherd.
3. His soul's course was there to be directed by Jesus as a Pilot.
4. His soul's cause was there to be pleaded by Jesus as an Advocate.
5. His soul's care was there to be guarded by Jesus as a Protector.
He had committed his soul to Jesus by an act of faith, which act he persevered in continually.
II. What he knew. "I know whom I have believed."
He speaks not of believing in him, but of believing him,—a personal faith in a personal Savior. This trusted One he knew.
1. He knew the Lord Jesus by his personal meeting with him on the road to Damascus, and at other times.
2. By what he had read and heard concerning him, and made his own by meditation thereon.
3. By communion with him. This way is open to all the saints.
4. By experience, through which he had tried and proved his love and faithfulness. He had received a practical education, by which he was made to know his Lord by entering into the fellowship of his sufferings and death.
Have we this personal acquaintance with the Lord?
If so, we shall gladly commit our all to him.
III. What he was sure of. "That he is able to keep," etc.
His assurance was reasonable and deliberate, hence he says, "I am persuaded."
Our apostle was persuaded of—
1. The ability of Jesus to keep all souls committed to him.
He is divine, and therefore omnipotent to save.
His work is finished, so that he meets all the demands of the law.
His wisdom is perfect, so that he will ward off all dangers.
His plea is constant, and ever prevails to preserve his own
2. The ability of Jesus to keep Paul's own soul.
3. The ability of Jesus to keep his soul under the heavy trials which were then pressing upon him. "I suffer … I am not ashamed, for I am persuaded that he is able to keep."
4. The ability of Jesus to keep his soul even to the close of all things: "against that day."
Of this Paul was persuaded. Be this our persuasion.
Many would persuade us to the contrary; but we know, and are not therefore to be persuaded into a doubt upon the matter.
IV. What, therefore, he was.
1. Very cheerful. He had all the tone and air of a thoroughly happy man.
2. Very confident. Though a prisoner, he says, "I am not ashamed." Neither of his condition, nor of the cause of Christ, nor of the cross, was he ashamed.
3. Very thankful. He gladly praised the Lord in whom he trusted.
The text is a confession of faith, or a form of adoration.
Let us seek more knowledge of our Lord, as the Keeper of our souls.
Let us be of that brave persuasion which trusts and is not afraid.
Instances and Illustrations
When Dr. James W. Alexander was dying, his wife sought to comfort him with precious words, as she quoted them to him: "I know in whom I have believed." Dr. Alexander at once corrected her by saying, "Not in whom I have believed; but, 'I know whom I have believed.' " He would not even suffer a little preposition to be between his soul and his Savior.
"I have lost that weary bondage of doubt, and almost despair, which chained me for so many years. I have the same sins and temptations as before, and I do not strive against them more than before, and it is often just as hard work. But whereas I could not before see why I should be saved, I cannot now see why I should not be saved if Christ died for sinners. On that word I take my stand, and rest there."—F. R. Havergal.
Justyn Martyr was asked ironically by the Roman prefect if he believed that after his decapitation he would ascend to Heaven. He replied: "I am so sure of the grace which Jesus Christ has obtained for me, that not a shadow of doubt can enter my mind."
Donald Cargill, on the scaffold, July 27th, 1681, as he handed his well-used Bible to one of his friends that stood near, gave this testimony: "I bless the Lord that these thirty years and more I have been at peace with God, and was never shaken loose of it. And now I am as sure of my interest in Christ, and peace with God, as all within this Bible and the Spirit of God can make me. And I am no more terrified at death, or afraid of Hell because of sin, than if I had never had sin: for all my sins are freely pardoned and washed thoroughly away through the precious blood and intercession of Jesus Christ."
Faith, Hope, and Love were questioned what they thought
Of future glory, which religion taught:
Now Faith believed it firmly to be true,
And Hope expected so to find it, too:
Love answered, smiling, with a conscious glow,
"Believe? Expect? I know it to be so!"
John Byrom.
A child that has any precious thing given him cannot better secure it than by putting it into his father's hands to keep; so neither can we better provide for our souls' safety than by committing them to God.
John Trapp.
CCXXXVI
2 Timothy 1:18—"The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day."
The best method of showing our gratitude to some men for their kindness would be to pray for them.
Even the best of men will be the better for our prayers.
Paul had already prayed for the household of Onesiphorus, and now he concludes by a specially hearty prayer for the good man himself. The repetition of the word "Lord" makes the prayer peculiarly solemn.
Onesiphorus had remembered Paul in his day of peril, and Paul begs the Lord to give him a gracious return in the day of judgment.
Yet the utmost he can ask even for so excellent a man is mercy. Even the merciful need mercy; and it is their blessing from the Lord himself that "they shall obtain mercy."
Let us consider this prayer under three heads:—
I. "That day."
"That day": it is not specifically described, because well known and much thought of among Christians. Do we sufficiently think of that day? If so, we shall feel our great need to find of the Lord mercy when it comes.
Its date is not given. It would but gratify curiosity.
Its length is not specified. Will it be a common day? It will be long enough for the deliberate judgment of all men.
Its coming will be solemnly proclaimed. We shall know it. Ushered in with pomp of angels, sound of trumpet, &c., none will be ignorant of it.
Its glory, the revelation of Jesus from Heaven upon the throne of judgment. This will make it most memorable.
Its event, the assembly of quick and dead, and the last assize.
Its character, excitement of joy or terror. It will be the day of days, for which all other days were made.
Its personal interest to each one of us will be paramount.
Its revealings of secrets of thought, word, deed, &c., for good or for evil, will be most astounding.
Its decisions will be strictly just, indisputable, unchangeable, etc.
It will be the last day, and henceforth the state of men will be fixed for joy or woe.
How much we shall need mercy in the judgment! Every thought connected with it makes us feel this. Let us pray about it.
II. The mercy.
All will need it. Assuredly we shall need it ourselves.
To arouse us, let us think of those who will find no mercy of the Lord in that day:—
Those who had no mercy on others.
Those who lived and died impenitent.
Those who neglected salvation. How shall they escape?
Those who said they needed no mercy: the self-righteous.
Those who sought no mercy: procrastinators, and the indifferent.
Those who scoffed at Christ, and refused the gospel.
Those who sold their Lord, and apostatized from him.
Those who made a false and hypocritical profession.
III. Today.
Our address at this moment is to those for whom we would specially breathe the prayer of the text.
The prospect of judgment for preacher and hearers leads us at once to pray for you, and at the same time to urge you to seek the Lord while he may be found.
We would not have you despair as to the future, but hope to find mercy in the present, that you may find it in "that day."
Remember that now is the accepted time, for—
You are not yet standing at the judgment bar.
You are yet where prayer is heard.
You are where faith will save all who exercise it towards Christ.
You are where the Spirit strives.
You are where sin may be forgiven, at once, and for ever.
You are where grace reigns, even though sin abounds.
Today is the day of grace; tomorrow may be a day of another sort, for you at least, and possibly for all mankind. The Judge is at the door.
Seek mercy immediately, that mercy may be yours forever.
Trumpet Notes
I would rather have the gift of a brother's faithful prayers than of his plentiful substance. And I feel that when I have given to a brother my faithful prayers I have given him my best and greatest gift. Edward Irving.
There is a machine in the Bank of England which receives sovereigns, as a mill receives grain, for the purpose of determining wholesale whether they are of full weight. As they pass through, the machinery, by unerring laws, throws all that are light to one side, and all that are of full weight to another. That process is a silent but solemn parable for me. Founded as it is upon the laws of nature, it affords the most vivid similitude of the certainty which characterizes the judgment of the great day. There are no mistakes or partialities to which the light may trust; the only hope lies in being of standard weight before they go in.
William Arnot.
An infidel was introduced by a gentleman to a minister with a remark, "He never attends public worship." "Ah!" said the minister, "I hope you are mistaken." "By no means," said the stranger; "I always spend Sunday in settling my accounts." "Then, alas!" was the calm, but solemn reply, "you will find, sir, that the day of judgment will be spent in the same manner."—G. S. Bowes.
When Thomas Hooker was dying, one said to him, "Brother, you are going to receive the reward of your labors." He humbly replied, "Brother, I am going to receive mercy."
By that tremendous phrase, "eternal judgment," consider your ways, and be wise! If its true meaning could lighten upon you at this moment, what consternation would strike upon each spirit! Every man, though serene as death before, would spring to his feet, and cry, Tell me, tell me this moment, what I must do!—Charles Stanford, D.D.
It is a pathetic tale to tell, and I do not vouch for its absolute truth, that once a famous composer wrote a great anthem to be sung at a festival. He sought to picture the scenes of the final judgment, and introduced a strain of music representing the solemn lamentations of the lost. But no singer was found willing to take such a part. So the wailings and woes were omitted; and when the passage was reached, the leader simply beat the time in silence until the awful chasm was passed, and the musicians took up gloriously the strains of celestial unison lying on the other side of it—"the shout of them that triumph, and the song of them who feast."—Dr. C. S. Robinson.
CCXXXVII
2 Timothy 2:9—"Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound."
The Resurrection of Christ was Paul's sheet-anchor. Enlarge upon verse 8, wherein he mentions it as the essence of the gospel.
He himself is suffering and bound, but he is not without comfort.
His great joy is that the Word of God is not bound.
I. In what senses this is true.
The Word of God is not bound—
1. So that it cannot be made known.
The ministers who preach it may be imprisoned, but not the Word.
The Book which contains it may be burned, but the truth abides.
The doctrine may become almost extinct as to open testimony, and yet it will revive.
2. So that it cannot reach the heart.
It will not be hindered of its divine purpose.
Through the obduracy of the sinner, for grace is omnipotent.
Through absence of the means. The Holy Spirit can reach the conscience without the hearing or reading of the Word.
Through actual derision of it. Even the scoffer and skeptic can yet be convinced and converted.
3. So that it cannot comfort the soul.
Conviction of sin will not hinder consolation when faith is given.
Constitutional despondency will give way before the light of the Word.
Confirmed despair shall be overcome, even as Samson snapped the cords with which he had been bound.
4. So that it cannot be fulfilled.
Providence will carry out the promise to the individual.
Providence will perform the threat to the rebellious.
Providence will achieve the prophecies of the millennial future.
5. So that it cannot prevail over error.
Infidelity, Ritualism, Popery, fanaticism, &c., shall not bind the gospel so as to retain their mischievous power over men. The gospel must and will accomplish the purposes of God.
II. For what reasons this is true.
The Word of God cannot be bound, since—
1. It is the voice of the Almighty.
2. It is attended by the energetic working of the Holy Spirit.
3. It is so needful to men. As men will have bread, and you cannot keep it from them, so must they have the truth. The gospel is in such demand that there must be free trade in it.
4. It is in itself a free and unbound thing, the very essence of liberty.
5. It creates such enthusiasm in the hearts wherein it dwells, that men must declare it abroad: it must be free.
III. What other facts are parallel with this?
As the binding of Paul was not the binding of the Word of God, so—
The death of ministers is not the death of the gospel.
The feebleness of workers is not its feebleness.
The bondage of the preacher's mind is not its bondage.
The coldness of men is not its coldness.
The falsehood of hypocrites does not falsify it.
The spiritual ruin of sinners is not the defeat of the gospel.
The rejection of it by unbelievers is not its overthrow.
Rejoice, that the Word of the Lord has free course.
Arouse yourselves to work with it and by it.
Accept its free power and be yourself free at once.
Illustrations
"But the Word of God is not bound." It runs and is glorified (2 Thessalonians 3:1), being free and not fettered. "I preach, though a prisoner," says Paul; so did Bradford and other martyrs. "Within a few days of Queen Mary's reign, almost all the prisons in England were become right Christian schools and churches," says Mr. Fox, "so that there was no greater comfort for Christian hearts than to come to the prisons to behold their virtuous conversation, and to hear their prayers, preachings, etc." The Earl of Derby's accusation in the Parliament House against Mr. Bradford was, that he did more hurt (so he called good evil) by letters and conferences in prison, than ever he did when he was abroad by preaching. John Trapp.
In a portrait of Tyndale, still preserved in this country, beside the heroic man is a device: a burning book is tied to a stake, while a number of similar books are seen flying out of the fire. The meaning is an historic fact. Tonstal, the Bishop of London, had bought up some scores of Tyndale's Testaments, and burned them. The money paid for them enabled Tyndale to bring out a new and more correct edition.
Towards the close of the last century, before the days of the great Bible Societies, there was, for a season, a woeful want of Bibles in America, caused partly by the prevalence of French infidelity, and partly by the general religious apathy which followed the Revolutionary War. In that period a man went into a book-store in Philadelphia and asked to buy a Bible. "I have none," said the bookseller. "There is not a copy for sale in the city: and I can tell you further," said he (for he was of the French way of thinking), "in fifty years there will not be a Bible in the world." The rough answer of the customer was, "There will be plenty of Bibles in the world a thousand years after you are dead and gone to hell."—The Christian Age.
When the daughter of the Mayor of Baune had lost her canary bird, her wise parent gave strict orders that all the gates of the town should be shut, that the creature might not escape. The bird was soon over the hills and far away, despite the locking of the gates. When a truth is once known no human power can prevent its spreading; attempts to hinder its progress will be as ineffectual as the mayor's proclamation. As a bird of the air, truth flies abroad on swift wings; as a ray of light it enters palaces and cottages; as the unfettered wind it laughs at laws and prohibitions. Walls cannot confine it, nor iron bars imprison it; it is free, and makes free. Let every freeman be upon its side, and being so, let him never allow a doubt of its ultimate success to darken his soul.
C. H. S.
The monument in Westminster Abbey to the memory of the two Wesleys bears the sentence, "God buries his workmen, but carries on his work."
Truth is more incompressible than water. If compressed in one way, it will exude through the compressing mass, the more visible through the attempts to compress it. Dr. Pusey.
CCXXXVIII
Titus 2:10—"That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things."
The apostle greatly values the doctrine of the gospel, or he would not care so much to have it adorned.
The apostle highly esteems the practical part of religion, hence he regards it as the beauty and ornament of the gospel.
What a wide range of practical instruction we find in this short letter!
With what holy ingenuity is this interwoven with the doctrine!
We are bidden to obey the precept, that we may adorn the doctrine.
We have in our text—
I. A name of adornment for the gospel. "The doctrine of God our Savior."
1. It sets forth its greatness: "doctrine of God."
Our fall, ruin, sin, and punishment were great.
Our salvation and redemption are great.
Our safety, happiness, and hopes are great.
2. It sets forth its certainty. It is "of God."
It comes by revelation of God.
It is guaranteed by the fidelity of God.
It is as immutable as God himself.
3. It sets forth its relation to Christ Jesus: "of God our Savior."
He is the author of it.
He is the substance of it.
He is the proclaimer of it.
He is the object of it. The gospel glorifies Jesus.
4. It sets forth its authority.
The whole system of revealed truth is of God.
The Savior himself is God, and hence he must be accepted.
The gospel itself is divine. God's mind is embodied in the doctrine of the Lord Jesus, and to reject it is to reject God.
Let us believe, honor, defend, and propagate this "doctrine of God our Savior." What else is so worthy of our love and zeal?
II. A method of adornment for the gospel.
This is a remarkable verse. Observe
1. The persons who are to adorn the gospel.
In Paul's day, bond-servants or slaves.
In our day, poor servants of the humblest order.
Strange that these should be set to such a task!
Yet the women slaves adorned their mistresses, and both men and women of the poorest class were quite ready to adorn themselves.
From none does the gospel receive more honor than from the poor.
2. The way in which these persons could specially adorn the gospel.
By obedience to their masters. Verse 9.
By endeavors to please them: "please them well."
By restraining their tongues: "not answering again."
By scrupulous honesty: "not purloining," verse 10.
By trustworthy character: "showing all good fidelity."
All this would make their masters admire the religion of Jesus.
3. The way of adornment of the doctrine in general.
Negatively: it is found
Not in the decoration of the building, the priest, the choir, or the worshipers.
Nor in the attraction of peculiar garb and speech.
Nor in the finery of philosophical thought.
Nor in the tawdriness of rhetorical speech.
Positively: it lies in another direction.
We must adorn it by our godly lives.
Adornment, if really so, is suitable to beauty. Holiness, mercifulness, cheerfulness, etc., are congruous with the gospel.
Adornment is often a tribute to beauty. Such is a godly conversation: it honors the gospel.
Adornment is an advertisement of beauty. Holiness calls attention to the natural beauty of the gospel.
Adornment is an enhancement of beauty. Godliness gives emphasis to the excellence of doctrine.
Let us all endeavor to adorn the gospel, by
Strict integrity in business.
Constant courtesy of behavior.
Unselfish love to all around us.
Quick forgiveness of injuries.
Abundant patience under trials.
Holy calm and self-possession at all times.
Gems
Yes, and mark you, this is to be done not as the prerogative of a few grandly gifted spirits, and on some occasion which may lift them proudly up to the gaze of the universe. As found in the text, it was of the power of the poor Cretan slaves the apostle was writing; of their power, too, not in some tremendous trial, as of torture or martyrdom, to which the cruelty of their masters sometimes subjected their faith, but of their power to do it "in all things"—in the daily, lowly, degrading service of a menial—in the small things as well as the great, in the squalid stall and fold as well as in the splendor of the palace; absolutely, in "all things" to adorn the glorious gospel of God. O blessed bondsmen of Crete! going forth under the lash and the chain, yet with hearts of faith under their burdens, and smiles of love amid their tears, doing work for God impossible to an angel!—Charles Wadsworth, D.D.
We have all heard the story of the girl who said she had been converted, for she now "swept under the mats." Koba, an Indian warrior, recently gave evidence of his conversion by saying, "I pray every day, and hoe onions." An Indian could not give a much better evidence of his sincerity than that. Manual labor is not the chief joy or pride of an Indian warrior.
Fox says, "When people came to have experience of Friends' honesty and faithfulness, and found that their yes was yes, and their nay was nay; and that they kept to a word in their dealings, and that they could not cozen and cheat them; but that if they sent a child to their shops for anything they were as well used as if they had come themselves, the lives and conversations of Friends did preach. All the inquiry was, Where was a draper, or shopkeeper, or tailor, or shoemaker, or any other tradesman that was a Quaker?"
A Brahmin wrote to a missionary: "We are finding you out. You are not as good as your Book. If your people were only as good as your Book, you would conquer India for Christ in five years."
Light conceits and flowers of rhetoric wrong the Word more than they can please the hearers; the weeds among the corn make it look mirthful, but it were all the better they were not among it. Leighton.
All may of you partake:
Nothing can be so mean,
Which with this tincture (for your sake)
Will not grow bright and clean.
A servant with this clause
Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room, as for your laws,
Makes that and th' action fine.
George Herbert.
CCXXXIX
Hebrews 4:12—"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
The Word of God is a name for Christ as well as for the Scriptures.
The Scriptures are meant in this place, but the Lord Jesus is never dissevered therefrom: indeed, he is the substance of the written Word.
Scripture is what it is because the Lord Jesus embodies himself in it.
Let us consider from this text—
I. The qualities of the Word.
1. It is divine. It is the word of God.
2. It is living. "The word of God is quick."
In contrast to our words, which pass away, God's word lives on.
It has life in itself. It is "the living and incorruptible seed."
It creates life where it comes.
It can never be destroyed and exterminated
3. It is effectual. "Quick, and powerful."
It carries conviction and conversion.
It works comfort and confirmation.
It has power to raise us to great heights of holiness and happiness.
4. It is cutting. "Sharper than any two-edged sword."
It cuts all over. It is all edge. It is sharpness itself.
It wounds more or less all who touch it.
It kills self-righteousness, sin, unbelief, etc.
5. It is piercing. "Even to the dividing asunder."
It forces its way into the hard heart.
It penetrates the smallest opening, like the arrow which entered between the joints of the harness.
6. It is discriminating. "To the dividing asunder of soul and spirit."
It separates things much alike: natural and spiritual religion.
It divides the outer from the inner: external and internal religion, "joints and marrow."
It does this by its own penetrating and discerning qualities.
7. It is revealing. "A discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
It cleaves the man as the butcher cleaves a carcass, and opens up the secret faculties and tendencies of the soul.
Laying bare thoughts, and intents, and inner workings.
Criticizing them, and putting a right estimate on them.
Tracing their windings, and showing their dubious character.
Approving that which is good, and condemning the evil.
All this we have seen in the preaching of the Word of God.
Have you not felt it to be so?
II. The lessons which we should learn therefrom.
That we do greatly reverence the Word, as truly spoken of God.
That we come to it for quickening for our own souls.
That we come to it for power when fighting the battles of truth.
That we come to it for cutting force to kill our own sins and to help us in destroying the evils of the day.
That we come to it for piercing force when men's consciences and hearts are hard to reach.
That we use it to the most obstinate, to arouse their consciences and convict them of sin.
That we discriminate by its means between truth and falsehood.
That we let it criticize us, and our opinions, and projects, and acts, and all about us.
Let us keep to this Sword of the Lord, for none other is living and powerful as this is.
Let us grasp its hilt with firmer grip than ever.
Sharpeners
All the great conquests which Christ and his saints achieve in this world are got with this sword; when Christ comes forth against his enemies this sword is girded on his thigh (Psalm 45:3): "Gird your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty"; and his victory over them is ascribed to it (verse 4), "And in your majesty ride prosperously because of truth"; that is, the word of truth.
We read of Apollos (Acts 18:28), that he "mightily convinced the Jews"; he did, as it were, knock them down with the weight of his reasoning. And out of what armory fetched he the sword with which he so prevailed? See the same verse, "Showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ"; and he therefore is said to be "mighty in the Scriptures" (verse 24).
Bless God for the efficacy of the word upon your soul. Did ever its point prick your heart, its edge fetch blood of your lusts? Bless God for it; you would do as much to a surgeon for lancing a sore, and severing a putrefied part from your body, though he put you to exquisite torture in the doing of it. And I hope you think God has done you a greater kindness.… There is not another sword like this in all the world, that can cure with cutting; not another arm could use this sword, to have done thus with it, besides the Spirit of God. None could do such feats with Scanderberg's as himself.
The word of God is too sacred a thing, and preaching too solemn a work, to be toyed and played with, as is the usage of some, who make a sermon but matter of wit and fine oratory. If we mean to do good, we must come unto men's hearts, not in word only, but with power. Satan moves not for a thousand squibs and wit-cracks of rhetoric. Draw, therefore, this sword out of your scabbard, and strike with its naked edge; this you will find the only way to pierce your people's consciences, and fetch blood of their sins. William Gurnall.
When the heathen saw the converts reading the book which had produced the change, they inquired if they talked to it. "No," they answered, "it talks to us; for it is the Word of God." "What then!" replied the strangers, "does it speak?" "Yes," rejoined the Christians, "it speaks to the heart."—Life of Moffat.
Miss Whateley says, "To rouse the torpid and unexercised mind of a Moslem woman is wonderful, for they are sunk in ignorance and degradation; but while I was reading to one of them a few weeks ago, she exclaimed, 'Why, it is just as if I were out in the dark, and you held a lamp to me, that I might see my way.' "
The Rev. James Wall, of Rome, relates the following instances of conversion through the reading of the Scriptures:—One of the converts, when first presented with a New Testament, said, "Very well; it is the very size for me to make my cigarettes," and so he began to smoke it away. He smoked away all the Evangelists, until he was at the Tenth Chapter of John, when it struck him that he must read a bit of it, for if he didn't, there would soon be no more left to read. The first word struck home, and the man read himself into Christ.
A secret society of political conspirators, who sought to achieve their purposes by assassination, were in the habit of placing a Bible (as a blind) on the table of the room where they met for deliberation; and one night, when there happened to be little business to transact, and they were all rather sleepy, a member of the society opened the Bible, and saw a verse that went right to his heart. He soon returned to the book, and read more of it; and now he was a very earnest follower of the Lord Jesus. Missionary Herald.
CCXL
Hebrews 4:16—"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
Prayer occupies a most important place in the life of the Christian.
His vigor, happiness, growth, and usefulness depend thereon.
In Scripture the utmost encouragements are held out to prayer.
This verse is one of the sweetest of invitations to prayer.
I. Here is our great resort described:—"The throne of grace."
Once it was called "the mercy-seat," but now "the throne."
In drawing near to God in prayer, we come—
1. To God as a King, with reverence, confidence, and submission.
2. To one who gives as a King: therefore we ask largely and expectantly. He has riches of grace and power.
3. To one who sits upon a throne "of grace," on purpose to dispense grace. It is his design, his object in displaying himself as King.
4. To one who in hearing prayer is enthroned and glorified. Grace is at its utmost when believers pray: it is grace on the throne.
5. To one who even in hearing prayer acts as a sovereign, but whose sovereignty is all of grace.
To the throne of the great God poor sinners are invited to come. Oh, the privilege of having audience with the King of Grace!
II. Here is a loving exhortation:—"Let us come."
It is the voice of one who goes with us. It is an invitation—
1. From Paul, a man like ourselves, but an experienced believer who had much tried the power of prayer.
2. From the whole church speaking in him.
3. From the Holy Spirit; for the apostle spoke by inspiration. The Spirit, making intercession in us, says, "Let us come."
Let us not be indifferent to this sympathetic call. At once let us draw near to God.
III. Here is a qualifying adverb:—"Let us come boldly."
Not proudly, presumptuously, nor with the tone of demand, for it is the throne; yet "boldly," for it is the throne of grace.
By this adverb, "boldly," is meant—
1. We may come constantly, at all times.
2. We may come unreservedly, with all sorts of petitions.
3. We may come freely, with simple words.
4. We may come hopefully, with full confidence of being heard.
5. We may come fervently, with importunity of pleading.
IV. Here is a reason given for boldness:—"Let us therefore come."
1. "That we may obtain mercy, and find grace:" not that we may utter good words; but may actually obtain blessings.
We may come when we need great mercy, because of our sin.
We may come when we have little grace.
We may come when we are in great need of more grace.
2. There are many other reasons for coming at once, and boldly.
Our character may urge us. We are invited to come for "mercy," and therefore undeserving sinners may come.
The character of God encourages us to be bold.
Our relation to him as children gives us great freedom.
The Holy Spirit's guidance draws us near the throne.
The promises invite us by their greatness, freeness, sureness, etc.
Christ is already given to us, and therefore God will deny us nothing.
Our former successes at the throne give us solid confidence.
3. The great reason of all for bold approach is in Jesus.
He once was slain, and the mercy-seat is sprinkled with his blood.
He is risen and has justified us by his righteousness.
He has ascended and taken possession of all covenant blessings on our behalf. Let us ask for that which is our own.
He is sympathetic, tender, and careful for us; we must be heard.
Let us come to the throne, when we are sinful, to find mercy.
Let us come to the throne, when we are weak, to find help.
Let us come to the throne, when we are tempted, to find grace.
Expositions
When God enacts laws, he is on a throne of legislation: when he administers these laws he is on a throne of government: when he tries his creatures by these laws, he is on a throne of judgment: but when he receives petitions, and dispenses favors, he is on a throne of grace.
The idea of a throne inspires awe, bordering upon terror. It repels rather than invites. Few of us could approach it without trembling. But what is the throne of the greatest earthly monarch that ever swayed a scepter? The God we address is the King of kings. In his eye an Alexander is a worm; yes, all nations before him are less than nothing and vanity. How can we approach his infinite majesty? Blessed be his name, he is on a throne of grace; and we are allowed, and even commanded, to come to it boldly. William Jay.
It is styled a throne of grace, because God's gracious and free favor does there accompany his glorious majesty. Majesty and mercy do there meet together. This was, under the law, typified by the ark. At each end thereof was an angel, to set forth God's glorious majesty. The cover of it is styled a "mercy-seat": Exodus 25:17, 18.
William Gouge.
A holy boldness, a chastened familiarity, is the true spirit of right prayer. It was said of Luther that, when he prayed, it was with as much reverence as if he were praying to an infinite God, and with as much familiarity as if he were speaking to his nearest friend.
G. S. Bowes.
This word boldly signifies liberty without restraint. You may be free, for you are welcome. You may use freedom of speech. The word is so used, Acts 2:29, and 4:13. You have liberty to speak your minds freely; to speak all your heart, your ails, and wants, and fears, and grievances. As others may not fetter you in speaking to God by prescribing what words you should use; so you need not restrain yourselves, but freely speak all that your condition requires. David Clarkson.
A petitioner once approached Augustus with so much fear and trembling that the emperor cried, "What, man! do you think you are giving a sop to an elephant?" He did not care to be thought a hard and cruel ruler. When men pray with a slavish bondage upon them, with cold, set phrases, and a crouching solemnity, the free Spirit of the Lord may well rebuke them. Are you coming to a tyrant? Holy boldness, or at least a childlike hope, is most becoming in a Christian.
Obtaining mercy comes first; then finding grace to help in time of need. You cannot reverse God's order. You will not find grace to help in time of need until you have sought and found mercy to save. You have no right to reckon on God's help and protection and guidance, and all the other splendid privileges which he promises to "the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ," until you have this first blessing, the mercy of God in Christ Jesus; for it is "in" Jesus Christ that all the promises of God are yes and Amen. F. R. Havergal.
CCXLI
Hebrews 5:2—"Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way."
Men who are ignorant should not be met with scorn, nor fault-finding, nor neglect, for they need compassion.
We should lay ourselves out to bear with such for their good.
A disciple who has been taught all that he knows by a gracious Savior should have compassion on "the ignorant."
A wanderer who has been restored should have compassion on "them that are out of the way."
A priest should have compassion on the people with whom he is one flesh and blood, and assuredly our Lord, who is our great High Priest, has abundant compassion upon the ignorant.
Let us think of his great pity towards them.
I. What is this ignorance?
It is moral and spiritual, and deals with eternal things.
1. It is fearfully common among all ranks.
2. It leaves them strangers to themselves.
They know not their own ignorance.
They are unaware of the heart's depravity.
They are unconscious of the heinousness of their actual sin.
They dream not of their present and eternal danger.
They have not discovered their inability for all that is good.
3. It leaves them unacquainted with the way of salvation.
They choose other ways.
They have a mixed and injurious notion of the one way.
They often question and cavil at this one and only way.
4. It leaves them without the knowledge of Jesus.
They know not his person, his offices, his work, his character his ability, his readiness to save them.
5. It leaves them strangers to the Holy Spirit.
They perceive not his inward strivings.
They are ignorant of regeneration.
They cannot comprehend the truth which he teaches.
They cannot receive his sanctification.
6. It is most ruinous in its consequences.
It keeps men out of Christ.
It does not excuse them when it is willful, as it usually is.
II. What is there in this ignorance which is liable to provoke us, and therefore demands compassion?
1. Its folly. Wisdom is worried with the absurdities of ignorance.
2. Its pride. Anger is excited by the vanity of self-conceit.
3. Its prejudice. It will not hear nor learn; and this is vexatious.
4. Its obstinacy. It refuses reason; and this is very exasperating.
5. Its opposition. It contends against plain truth, and this is trying.
6. Its density. It cannot be enlightened: it is profoundly foolish.
7. Its unbelief. Witnesses to divine truth are denied credence.
8. Its wilfulness. It chooses not to know. It is hard teaching such.
9. Its relapses. It returns to folly, forgets and refuses wisdom, and this is a sore affliction to true love.
III. How our Lord's compassion towards the ignorant is shown. "He can have compassion on the ignorant."
This he clearly shows—
1. By offering to teach them.
2. By actually receiving them as disciples.
3. By instructing them little by little, most condescendingly.
4. By teaching them the same things over again, patiently.
5. By never despising them notwithstanding their dullness.
6. By never casting them off through weariness of their stupidity.
To such a compassionate Lord let us come, ignorant as we are.
For such a compassionate Lord let us labor among the most ignorant, and never cease to pity them.
Notes
It is a sad thing for the blind man who has to read the raised type when the tips of his fingers harden, for then he cannot read the thoughts of men which stand out upon the page; but it is far worse to lose sensibility of soul, for then you cannot peruse the book of human nature, but must remain untaught in the sacred literature of the heart. You have heard of the "iron duke," but an iron Christian would be a very terrible person: a heart of flesh is the gift of divine grace, and one of its sure results is the power to be very pitiful, tender, and full of compassion. C. H. S.
Ignorance is the devil's college. Christmas Evans.
What the Papists cry up as the mother of devotion, we cry down as the father of superstition. William Secker.
That there should one man die ignorant who had capacity for knowledge, this I call a tragedy. Were it to happen more than twenty times in the minute, as by some computations it does, what a line of tragedies!
The miserable fraction of science which our united mankind, in a wide Universe of nescience, has acquired, why is not this, with all diligence, imparted to all?—Thomas Carlyle.
Utter ignorance is a most effectual fortification to a bad state of the mind. Prejudice may perhaps be removed; unbelief may be reasoned with; even demoniacs have been compelled to bear witness to the truth; but the stupidity of confirmed ignorance not only defeats the ultimate efficacy of the means for making men wiser and better, but stands in preliminary defiance to the very act of their application. It reminds us of an account, in one of the relations of the French Egyptian Campaigns, of the attempt to reduce a garrison posted in a bulky fort of mud. Had the defences been of timber, the besiegers might have set fire to and burnt them; had they been of stone, they might have shaken and ultimately breached them by the battery of their cannon, or they might have undermined and blown them up. But the huge mound of mud had nothing susceptible of fire or any other force; the missiles from the artillery were discharged but to be buried in the dull mass; and all the means of demolition were baffled. John Foster.
In Eyesight, Good and Bad, by Dr. R. B. Carter, the writer says "Nothing is more common than for defective sight to be punished as obstinacy or stupidity. For my own part, I have long learned to look upon obstinate and stupid children as mainly artificial productions, and shall not readily forget the pleasure with which I heard from the master of the great elementary school at Edinburgh, where twelve hundred children attend daily, that his fundamental principle of management was that there were no naughty boys and no boobies."
I used to reproach myself for religious stupidity when I was not well; but I see now that God is my kind Father, not my hard taskmaster expecting me to be full of life and zeal when physically exhausted. It takes long to learn such lessons. One has to penetrate deeply into the heart of Christ to begin to know its tenderness and sympathy and forbearance.
The love of Jesus—what it is
Only His sufferers know.
Elizabeth Prentiss.
CCXLII
Hebrews 5:8—"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."
It is always consoling to us to behold the footsteps of our Lord.
When we see him tried, we cheerfully submit to the like trial.
When we perceive that in his case an exception to the rule of chastening might have been expected, and yet none was made, we are encouraged to bear our sufferings patiently.
When we see the great Elder Brother put to more rather than less of trial, we are fully drawn to obey the will of God by submission.
I. Sonship does not exempt from suffering.
1. Not even Jesus, as a Son, escaped suffering.
He was the Son, peculiarly, and above all others.
He was the honored and beloved first-born.
He was the faithful and sinless Son.
He was soon to be the glorified Son in an eminent sense.
2. No honor put upon sons of God will exempt them from suffering.
3. No holiness of character, nor completeness of obedience, can exempt the children of God from the school of suffering.
4. No prayer of God's sons, however earnest, will remove every thorn in the flesh from them.
5. No love in God's child, however fervent, will prevent his being tried.
The love and wisdom of God ensure the discipline of the house for all the heirs of Heaven without a single exception.
II. Suffering does not mar sonship.
The case of our Lord is set forth as a model for all the sons of God.
1. His poverty did not disprove his Sonship. Luke 2:12.
2. His temptations did not shake his Sonship. Matthew 4:3.
3. His endurance of slander did not jeopardize it. John 10:36.
4. His fear and sorrow did not put it in dispute. Matthew 26:39.
5. His desertion by men did not invalidate it. John 16:32.
6. His being forsaken of God did not alter it. Luke 23:46.
7. His death cast no doubt thereon. Mark 15:39. He rose again, and thus proved his Father's pleasure in him. John 20:17.
Never was there a truer, or lovelier, or more beloved Son than the sufferers. "A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief."
III. Obedience has to be learned even by sons.
Even he in whom there was no natural depravity, but perfect, inherent purity, had to learn obedience.
1. It must be learned experimentally.
What is to be done and suffered can only be learned in the actual exercise of obedience.
How it is done must be discovered by practice.
The actual doing of it is only possible in trial.
2. It must be learned by suffering.
Not by words from the most instructive of teachers.
Nor by observation of the lives of others.
Nor even by perpetual activity on our own part. This might make us fussy rather than obedient: we must suffer.
3. It must be learned for use in earth and in Heaven.
On earth by sympathy with others.
In Heaven by perfect praise to God growing out of experience.
IV. Suffering has a peculiar power to teach true sons.
It is a better tutor than all else, because—
1. It touches the man's self; his bone, his flesh, his heart.
2. It tests his graces, and sweeps away those shams which are not proofs of obedience, but pretenses of self-will.
3. It goes to the root, and tests the truth of our new nature. It shows whether repentance, faith, prayer, etc., are mere importations, or home-grown fruits.
4. It tests our endurance, and makes us see how far we are established in the obedience which we think we possess. Can we say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him"?
The anxious question—Am I a son?
The aspiring desire—Let me learn obedience.
The accepted discipline—I submit to suffer.
Blossomings of the Rod
Corrections are pledges of our adoption, and badges of our sonship. One Son God has without sin, but none without sorrow. As God corrects none but his own, so all that are his shall be sure to have it; and they shall take it for a favor too. 1 Corinthians 11:32. John Trapp.
I bear my willing witness that I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord's workshop. I sometimes question whether I have ever learned anything except through the rod. When my school-room is darkened, I see most. C. H. S.
If anything can teach us anything, Affliction's looks,
Making us look unto ourselves so near,
Teach us to know ourselves beyond all books,
Or all the learned schools that ever were.
This mistress lately plucked me by the ear,
And many a golden lesson has me taught;
Has made my senses quick, and reason clear,
Reform'd my will, and rectified my thought.
Sir John Davies.
"I never," said Luther, "knew the meaning of God's word, until I came into affliction. I have always found it one of my best school-masters." On another occasion, referring to some spiritual temptation on the morning of the preceding day, he said to a friend (Justin Jonah), "Doctor, I must mark the day; I was yesterday at school." In one of his works, he most accurately calls affliction "the theology of Christians"—"Theologium Christianorum." "I have learned more divinity," said Dr. Rivet, confessing to God of his last days of affliction—"in these ten days that you are come to visit me, than I did in fifty years before. You teach me after a better manner than all those doctors, in reading whom I spent so much time."—Charles Bridges.
A minister was recovering from a dangerous illness, when one of his friends addressed him thus, "Sir, though God seems to be bringing you up from the gates of death, yet it will be a long time before you will sufficiently retrieve your strength, and regain vigor enough of mind to preach as usual." The good man answered: "You are mistaken, my friend: for this six weeks' illness has taught me more divinity than all my past studies and all my ten years' ministry put together."
New Cyclopædia of Anecdote.
Not to be unhappy is unhappiness,
And misery not to have known misery;
For the best way unto discretion is
The way that leads us by adversity;
And men are better showed what is amiss
By the expert finger of calamity
Than they can be with all that fortune brings,
Who never shows them the true face of things.
Samuel Daniel.
CCXLIII
Hebrews 10:9—"He takes away the first, that he may establish the second."
The way of God is to go from good to better.
This excites growing wonder and gratitude.
This makes men desire, and pray, and believe, and expect.
This aids man in his capacity to receive the best things.
The first good thing is removed, that the second may the more fitly come.
Upon this last fact we will meditate, noticing—
I. The grand instance. First came the Jewish sacrifices, and then came Jesus to do the will of God.
1. The removal of instructive and consoling ordinances.
While they lasted they were of great value, and they were removed because, when Jesus came—
They were needless as types.
They would have proved burdensome as services.
They might have been dangerous as temptations to formalism.
They would have taken off the mind from the substance which they had formerly shadowed forth.
2. The establishment of the real, perfect, everlasting atonement.
This is a blessed advance; for
No one who sees Jesus regrets Aaron.
No one who knows the simplicity of the gospel wishes to be brought under the perplexities of the ceremonial law.
No one who feels the liberty of Zion desires to return to the bondage of Sinai.
Beware of setting up any other ordinances; for this would be to build again what God has cast down; if not to do even worse.
Beware of imagining that the second can fail as the first did. The one was "taken away"; but the other is established by God himself.
II. Instances in history. These are many. Here are a few—
1. The earthly paradise has been taken away by sin; but the Lord has given us salvation in Christ, and Heaven.
2. The first man has failed; behold the Second Adam.
3. The first covenant is broken, and the second gloriously takes its place.
4. The first temple, with its transient glories, has melted away; but the second and spiritual house rises beneath the eye and hand of the Great Architect.
III. Instances in experience.
1. Our first righteousness is taken away by conviction of sin; but the righteousness of Christ is established.
2. Our first peace has been blown down as a tottering fence; but we shelter in the Rock of Ages.
3. Our first strength has proved worse than weakness; but the Lord is our strength and our song, he also has become our salvation.
4. Our first guidance led us into darkness; now we give up self, superstition, and philosophy, and trust in the Spirit of our God.
5. Our first joy died out like thorns which crackle tinder a pot; but now we joy in God.
IV. Instances to be expected.
1. Our body decaying shall be renewed in the image of our risen Lord.
2. Our earth passing away, and its elements being dissolved, there shall be new heavens and a new earth.
3. Our family removed one by one, we shall be charmed by the grand reunion in the Father's house above.
4. Our all being taken away, we find more than all in God
5. Our life ebbing out, the eternal life comes rolling up in a full tide of glory.
Let us not grieve at the taking away of the first.
Let us expect the establishment of the second.
Meliora
The Law is a Gospel pre-figured, and the Gospel a Law consummated.
Bishop Hall.
The sin-destroyer being come, we are no longer under the sin-revealer.
Martin Boos.
No need of prophets to inquire:
The Sun is risen—the stars retire:
The Comforter is come, and sheds
His holy unction on our heads.
Josiah Conder.
When Alexander went upon a hopeful expedition, he gave away his gold; and when he was asked what he kept for himself, he answered, "Spem majorum et meliorum"—the hope of greater and better things.… A Christian's motto always is, or always should be, Spero meliora—I hope for better things. Thomas Brooks, in "The Best Things reserved until Last."
On a cold, windy March day, a gentleman stopped at an apple-stand, whose proprietor was a rough-looking Italian. He alluded to the severe weather, when, with a cheerful smile and tone, the Italian replied: "Yes, pritty cold; but by-and-by—tink of dat!" In other words, the time of warm skies, flowers, and songs, was near, and was to be thought of. The humble vendor little thought of the impression made by his few words. "By-and-by—think of that!"
The Jewish Rabbis report (how truly is uncertain) that when Joseph, in the times of plenty, had gathered much corn in Egypt, he threw the chaff into the river Nile, that so, flowing to the neighboring cities and nations more remote, they might know what abundance was laid up, not for themselves alone, but for others also. So God, in his abundant goodness, to make us know what glory there is in Heaven, has thrown some husks to us here in this world, that so, tasting the sweetness thereof, we might aspire to his bounty that is above, and draw out this happy conclusion to the great comfort of our precious souls—that if a little earthly glory do so much amaze us, what will the heavenly do? If there be such glory in God's footstool, what is there in his throne? If he give us so much in the land of our pilgrimage, what will he not give us in our own country? If he bestows so much on his enemies, what will he not give to his friends?—John Spencer.
There are certain words which, occurring frequently, are like a bunch of keys, and enable us to unlock the treasures in this epistle. Such a key is "better"; and we find the Lord Jesus described as being better than angels (1:4; illustrated in John 5:4–6), better than Moses (3), Joshua (4), and Aaron (7); his blood speaking better things than that of Abel (12:24); himself the Surety of a better testament, established upon better promises (7:22; 8:6). The old covenant based upon man's promise (Exodus 19:8; 24:7, 8) was broken in forty days; but the performance by the Son of God was the foundation of the better covenant. "The two tables of the testimony were in the hand of Moses" (Exodus 32:15; Galatians 3:19), but God's law is within the heart of our Surety (Psalm 40:8; compare Deuteronomy 10:1, 2). That word was spoken by angels Hebrews 2:2; Acts 7:53); but this by him who is "so much better than angels."—E. A. H. (Mrs. Gordon).
CCXLIV
Hebrews 12:13. "And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed."
We sometimes meet with those who are fleet of foot and joyous of spirit. Would to God that all were so! But as they are not, the lame must be considered.
The road should be cleared for tottering steps.
Our desire is that the whole band may reach the journey's end in safety.
I. In all flocks there are lame sheep.
1. Some are so from their very nature and birth.
Ready to despond and doubt.
Ready to disbelieve and fall into error.
Ready to yield to temptation, and so to prove unstable.
Unready and feeble in all practical duties.
2. Some have been ill-fed. This brings on a foot-rot and lameness.
Many are taught false doctrine.
Many more receive indefinite, hazy doctrine.
Many others hear light, unsubstantial, chaffy doctrine.
3. Some have been worried, and so driven to lameness.
By Satan, with his insinuations and temptations.
By persecutors, with their slander, taunting, ridicule, etc.
By proud professors, unkindly pious, severely critical, etc.
By a morbid conscience, seeing evil where there is none.
4. Some have grown weary through the roughness of the road.
Exceeding much ignorance has enfeebled them.
Exceeding much worldly trouble has depressed them.
Exceeding much inward conflict has grieved them.
Exceeding much controversy has worried them.
5. Some have gradually become weak.
Backsliding by neglect of the means of grace.
Backsliding through the evil influence of others.
Backsliding through pride of heart and self-satisfaction.
Backsliding through general coldness of heart.
6. Some have had a terrible fall.
This has broken their bones so as to prevent progress.
This has snapped the sinew of their usefulness.
This has crippled them as to holy joy.
II. The rest of the flock must seek their healing.
1. By seeking their company, and not leaving them to perish by the way through neglect, contempt, and despair.
2. By endeavoring to comfort them and to restore them. This can be done by the more experienced among us; and those who are unfit for such difficult work can try the next plan, which is so plainly mentioned in our text.
3. By making straight paths for our own feet.
By unquestionable holiness of life.
By plain gospel teaching in our own simple way.
By manifest joy in the Lord.
By avoiding all crooked customs which might perplex them.
By thus showing them that Jesus is to us "The way, the truth, and the life." No path can be more straight than that of simple faith in Jesus.
III. The Shepherd of the flock cares for such.
1. Their fears: they conclude that he will leave them.
2. The reason: to do so would be by far the easier plan for him.
3. Their dread: if he did so, they must inevitably perish.
4. Their comfort: he has provided all the means of healing the lame.
5. Their hope: he is very gentle and tender, and wills not that any one of them should wander and perish.
6. Their confidence: healing will win him much honor and grateful affection; wherefore we conclude that he will keep them.
Let us be careful to cause no offence or injury to the weakest.
Let us endeavor to restore such as are out of the way, and comfort those who are sorely afflicted.
Sheep-Lore
Sheep are liable to many diseases, many of them are weak and feeble; these a good shepherd takes pity of, and endeavors to heal and strengthen. So the saints of God are subject to manifold weaknesses, temptations, and afflictions, which moved the Almighty to great compassion, and sorely to rebuke the shepherds of Israel for their cruelty and great remissness towards his flock: "The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick," etc. And therefore he says he would himself take the work into his own hands; "I will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick," etc. Benjamin Keach.
Many preachers in our days are like Heraclitus, who was called "the dark doctor." They affect sublime notions, obscure expressions, uncouth phrases, making plain truths difficult, and easy truths hard. "They darken counsel with words without knowledge": Job 38:2. Studied expressions and high notions in a sermon, are like Asahel's carcass in the way, that did only stop men and make them gaze, but did no ways profit them or better them. It is better to present Truth in her native plainness than to hang her ears with counterfeit pearls. Thomas Brooks.
Now Mr. Feeble-mind, when they were going out at the door, made as if he intended to linger: the which, when Mr. Great-heart espied, he said, "Come, Mr. Feeble-mind, pray do you go along with us; I will be your conductor, and you shall fare as the rest."
Feeble-mind: "Alas! I want a suitable companion: you are all lusty and strong; but I, as you see, am weak: I choose, therefore, rather to come behind, lest, by reason of my many infirmities, I should be both a burden to myself and to you. I am, as I said, a man of a weak and feeble mind, and shall be offended and made weak at that which others can bear. I shall like no laughing: I shall like no mirthful attire: I shall like no unprofitable questions. Nay, I am so weak a man as to be offended with that which others have a liberty to do. I do not know all the truth: I am a very ignorant Christian man. Sometimes, if I hear any rejoice in the Lord, it troubles me because I cannot do so too. It is with me as it is with a weak man among the strong, or as with a sick man among the healthy, or as 'a lamp despised'; so that I know not what to do. 'He who is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease': Job 12:5."
"But, brother," said Mr. Great-heart, "I have it in commission to 'comfort the feeble-minded,' and 'to support the weak.' You must needs go along with us: we will wait for you; we will lend you our help; we will deny ourselves of some things, both opinionate and practical, for your sake; we will not enter into 'doubtful disputations' before you; we will be 'made all things' to you, rather than you shall be left behind."—John Bunyan.
It should be between a strong saint and a weak as it is between two lute strings that are tuned one to another; no sooner one is struck but the other trembles; no sooner should a weak saint be struck, but the strong should tremble. "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them": Hebrews 13:3. Thomas Brooks.
CCXLV
Hebrews 12:25—"See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from Heaven."
Jesus still speaks to us in the gospel.
What a privilege to hear such a voice, with such a message!
What cruel sin to refuse Jesus a hearing!
Here is a most urgent exhortation to yield him reverent attention.
I. There is need of this exhortation from many considerations.
1. The excellence of the word. It claims obedient attention.
2. The readiness of Satan to prevent our receiving the divine word.
3. Our own indisposition to receive the holy, heavenly message.
4. We have rejected too long already. It is to be feared that we may continue to do so; but our right course is to hearken at once.
5. The word comes in love to our souls; let us therefore heed it, and render love for love.
II. There are many ways of refusing him that speaks.
1. Not hearing. Absence from public worship, neglect of Bible-reading. "Turn away from him."
2. Hearing listlessly, as if half asleep, and unconcerned.
3. Refusing to believe. Intellectually believing, but not with the heart.
4. Raising quibbles. Hunting up difficulties, favoring unbelief.
5. Being offended. Angry with the gospel, indignant at plain speech, opposing honest personal rebuke.
6. Perverting his words. Twisting and wresting Scripture.
7. Bidding him depart. Steeling the conscience, trifling with conviction, resorting to frivolous company for relief.
8. Reviling him. Denying his Deity, hating his gospel, and his holy way.
9. Persecuting him. Turning upon his people as a whole, or assailing them as individuals.
III. There are many causes of this refusing.
1. Stolid indifference, which causes a contempt of all good things.
2. Self-righteousness, which makes self an idol, and therefore rejects the living Savior.
3. Self-reliant wisdom, which is too proud to hear the voice of God.
4. Hatred of holiness, which prefers the willful to the obedient, the lustful to the pure, the selfish to the divine.
5. Fear of the world, which listens to threats, or bribes, or flatteries, and dares not act aright.
6. Procrastination, which cries "tomorrow," but means "never."
7. Despair and unbelief, which declare the gospel to be powerless to save, and unavailable as a consolation.
IV. Refusing to hear Christ, the highest authority is despised. "Him that speaks from Heaven."
1. He is of heavenly nature, and reveals to us what he has known of God and Heaven.
2. He came from Heaven, armed with heavenly authority.
3. He speaks from Heaven at this moment by his eternal Spirit in Holy Scripture, the ordinances and the preaching of the gospel.
4. He will speak from Heaven at the judgment.
He is himself God, and therefore all that he says has divinity within it.
V. The doom to be feared if we refuse Christ.
Those to whom Moses spoke on earth, who refused him, escaped not.
1. Let us think of their doom, and learn that equally sure destruction will happen to all who refuse Christ.
Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
The murmurers dying in the wilderness.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
2. Let us see how some have perished in the church.
Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, etc.
3. Let us see how others perish who remain in the world, and refuse to quit it for the fold of Christ.
They shall not escape by Annihilation, nor by Purgatory, nor by Universal Restitutions.
They shall not escape by infidelity, hardness of heart, cunning, or hypocrisy. They have refused the only way of escape, and therefore they must perish for ever.
Instead of refusing, listen, learn, obey.
Instead of the curse, you shall gain a blessing.
Warning Words
Our blessed Lord is represented as "now speaking from Heaven" to Christians generally; and even if we were, contrary to all just reason, to confine the reference to the persons to whom the Epistle was immediately written, he is said to speak to multitudes who never saw or heard him in the days of his flesh. This could be only by the agency of inspired men, whose commission to teach and command "in the name of Christ" was proved by miracles. Those miracles they attributed to him, as is plain from many passages in the Acts and the Epistles. Thus Christ stands in the very position of power, authority, and action, continually ascribed to Jehovah in the Old Testament, speaking by his prophets. "This," observes Michaelis, "is saying of Christ the greatest thing that can be said."—Dr. J. Pye Smith.
We seem to have done with the Word as it has passed through our ears; but the Word, be it remembered, will never have done with us, until it has judged us at the last day. Judge Hale.
A nobleman, skilled in music, who had often observed the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Cadogan's inattention to his performance, said to him one day, 'Come, I am determined to make you feel the force of music; pay particular attention to this piece." It was accordingly played. "Well, what do you say now?" "Why, just what I said before." "What! can you hear this and not be charmed? Well, I am quite surprised at your insensibility. Where are your ears?" "Bear with me, my lord," replied Mr. Cadogan, "since I, too, have had my surprise. I have often, from the pulpit, set before you the most striking and affecting truths; I have sounded notes that might have raised the dead; I have said, 'Surely he will feel now,' but you never seemed to be charmed with my music, though infinitely more interesting than yours. I, too, have been ready to say, with astonishment, 'Where are his ears?' "
One of the modern thinkers had been upholding the doctrine of universal salvation at a certain house with much zeal. A child who had listened to his pestilent talk was heard to say to his companion, "We can now steal, and lie, and do wicked things, for there is no Hell when we die." If such preachers gain much power in this country we shall not need to raise the question of a Hell hereafter, for we shall have one here. C. H. S.
CCXLVI
Hebrews 13:5—"He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
Here is a divine word, directly from God's own mouth: "For himself has said." (See Revised Version.)
Here is a promise which has been frequently made "He has said": This promise occurs again and again.
Here are some of the fat things full of marrow. The sentence is as full of meaning as it is free from verbiage.
Here is the essence of meat, the quintessence of medicine.
May the Holy Spirit show us the treasure hid in this matchless sentence!
I. View the words as a quotation.
The Holy Spirit led Paul to quote from the Scriptures, though he could have spoken fresh words.
Thus he put honor on the Old Testament.
Thus he taught that words spoken to ancient saints belong to us.
Our apostle quotes the sense, not the exact words, and thus he teaches us that the spirit of a text is the main thing.
We find the words which Paul has quoted—
In Genesis 28:15, "I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken to you of." Spoken to Jacob when quitting home, and thus to young saints setting out in life.
In Deuteronomy 31:8, "He will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you." To Joshua, and so to those who have lost a leader, and are about to take the lead themselves, and to enter upon great wars and fightings, in which courage will be tried.
In 1 Chronicles 28:20, "He will not fail you, nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work." To Solomon, and thus to those who have a weighty charge upon them, requiring much wisdom. We build a spiritual temple.
In Isaiah 41:10, 'Fear you not; for I am with you." To Israel, and so to the Lord's tried and afflicted people.
II. View them as a household word from God.
1. They are peculiarly a saying of God: "He has said." This has been said, not so much by inspiration as by God himself.
2. They are remarkably forcible from having five negatives in them in the Greek.
3. They relate to God himself and his people. "I" … "you."
4. They ensure his presence and his help. He would not be with us, and be inactive.
5. They guarantee the greatest good. God with us means all good.
6. They avert a dreadful evil which we deserve and might justly fear; namely, to be deserted of God.
7. They are such as he only could utter and make true. Nobody else can be with us effectually in agony, in death, in judgment.
8. They provide for all troubles, losses, desertions, weaknesses, difficulties, places, seasons, dangers, etc., in time and eternity.
9. They are substantiated by the divine love, immutability, and faithfulness.
10. They are further confirmed by our observation of the divine proceeding to others and to ourselves.
III. View them as a motive for contentment. "Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have."
These most gracious words—
Lead us to live above visible things when we have stores in hand.
Lead us to present satisfaction however low our stores may be.
Lead us to see provision for all future emergencies.
Lead us into a security more satisfactory, sure, ennobling, and divine, than all the wealth of the Indies could bestow.
Lead us to reckon discontent a kind of blasphemy of God.
Since God is always with us, what can we want besides?
IV. View them as a reason for courage. "So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."
1. Our Helper is greater than our foes. "Jehovah is my helper."
2. Our foes are entirely in his hand. "I will not fear what man shall do."
3. If permitted to afflict us, God will sustain us under their malice.
What a blessed deliverance from fretting and from fearing have we in these few words!
Let us not be slow to follow the line of things which the Spirit evidently points out to us.
Notes on "Nots"
Lord, the apostle dissuades the Hebrews from covetousness with this argument, because God said, "I will not leave you, nor forsake you." Yet I find not that God ever gave this promise to all the Jews; but he spoke it only to Joshua, when first made commander against the Canaanites: yet this (without violence to the analogy of faith) the apostle applies to all good men in general. Is it so, that we are heirs apparent to all promises made to your servants in Scripture? Are the charters of grace granted to them good to me also? Then will I say with Jacob, "I have enough." But because I cannot entitle myself to your promises to them except I imitate their piety to you, grant I may take as much care in following the one as comfort in the other. Thomas Fuller.
Our friend, Dr. William Graham, of Bonn, has lately departed this life, and we are told that on his death bed one said to him, "He has said, 'I will never leave you, nor forsake you,' " to which the good man replied, with his dying breath, "Not a doubt of it! Not a doubt of it!"—C. H. S., in the Sword and the Trowel, 1884.
It is right to be contented with what we have, never with what we are. Mackintosh.
I have read, says Brooks, of a company of poor Christians who were banished into some remote part; and one standing by, seeing them pass along, said that it was a very sad condition these poor people were in, to be thus hurried from the society of men, and made companions with the beasts of the field. "True," said another, "it were a sad condition indeed if they were carried to a place where they should not find their God. But let them be of good cheer, God goes along with them, and will exhibit the comforts of his presence wherever they go."
A heathen sage said to one of his friends, "Do not complain of your misfortunes, as long as Caesar is your friend!" What shall we say to those whom the Prince of the kings of the earth calls his sons and his brethren? "I will never leave you, nor forsake you!" Ought not these words to cast all fear and care forever to the ground? He who possesses him, to whom all things belong, possesses all things.
F. W. Krummacher.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
That soul though all Hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, no never forsake.
George Keith.
CCXLVII
James 1:12—"Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him."
To be blessed is to be happy, favored, prosperous, etc.
But it has a secret, sacred emphasis all its own; for the favor and prosperity are such as only God himself can bestow.
Who would not desire to be blessed of God?
Most men mistake the whereabouts of blessedness.
It is not bound up with wealth, rank, power, talent, admiration, friendship, health, pleasure, or even with a combination of all these.
It is often found where least expected: amid trials, temptations, etc.
I. The blessed in this life.
1. Blessedness is not in our text connected with ease, freedom from trial, or absence of temptation.
Untested treasures may be worthless; not so those which have endured the fire. No man may reckon himself blessed if he has to fear that a trial would wither all his excellence.
2. Blessedness belongs to those who endure tests.
These have faith, or it would not be tried; and faith is blessed.
These have life which bears trials; and the spiritual life is blessed.
These possess uprightness, purity, truth, patience; and all these are blessed things.
3. Blessedness belongs to those who endure trials out of love to God. The text speaks of "them that love him."
He who has love to God finds joy in that love.
He also finds blessedness in suffering for that love.
4. Blessedness belongs to those who are proved true by trial.
After the test comes approval. "When he has been approved" is the rendering of the Revised Version.
After the test comes assurance of our being right. Certainty is a most precious commodity.
5. Blessedness comes out of patient experience.
Blessedness of thankfulness for being sustained.
Blessedness of holy dependence under conscious weakness.
Blessedness of peace and submission under God's hand.
Blessedness of fearlessness as to result of further trial.
Blessedness of familiarity with God enjoyed in the affliction.
Blessedness of growth in grace through the trial.
He who, being tested, is supported in the ordeal, and comes out of the trial approved, is the blessed man.
II. The blessed in the life to come.
Those who have endured trial inherit the peculiar blessedness—
1. Of being crowned. How crowned if never in the wars?
Crowned because victorious over enemies.
Crowned because appreciated by their God.
Crowned because honored of their fellows.
Crowned because they have kept the conditions of the award.
2. Of attaining the glory and "crown of life" by enduring trial, thus only can life be developed until its flower and crown appear.
By trial brought to purest health of mind.
By trial trained to utmost vigor of grace.
By trial developed in every part of their nature.
By trial made capable of the highest glory in eternity.
3. Of possessing a living crown of endless joy. "Crown of life" or living crown: amaranthine, unfading.
If such fierce trials do not kill them, nothing will.
If they have spiritual bliss, it can never die.
If they have heavenly life, it will always be at its crowning point.
4. Of receiving this life-crown from God.
His own promise reveals and displays it.
His peculiar regard to those who love him doubly ensures it.
His own hand shall give it.
Let us encounter trial cheerfully.
Let us wait for the time of approval patiently.
Let us expect the crown of life most joyfully, and gather courage from the assurance of it.
Extracts
"Blessed"; that is, already blessed. They are not miserable as the world judges them. It is a Christian paradox, wherein there is an allusion to what is said (Job 5:17). "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects"; it is a wonder, and therefore he calls the world to see it. Behold! So the apostle, in an opposition to the judgment of the world, says, Blessed.
Afflictions do not make the people of God miserable. There is a great deal of difference between a Christian and a man of the world: his best estate is vanity (Psalm 39:5); and a Christian's worst is happiness. He who loves God is like a die; cast him high or low, he is still upon a square: he may be sometimes afflicted, but he is always happy. Thomas Manton.
Times of affliction often prove times of great temptations, and therefore afflictions are called temptations. Thomas Brooks.
The most durable and precious metal in the ancient arts was the Corinthian bronze, which was said to have first been caused by the fusing of all the precious metals when Corinth was burned. The most precious products of experience are got in the fire of trial. John Legge.
An old sailor was asked for what purpose shoals and rocks were created, and the reply was, "That sailors may avoid them." A Christian philosopher, using that axiom, upon being asked for what purpose trials and temptations are sent, answered, "That we may overcome and use them." The true dignity of life is not found in escaping difficulties, but in mastering them for Christ's sake and in Christ's strength.
Dean Stanley.
Many were the sorts of crowns which were in use among the Roman victors; as first, corona civica, a crown made of oaken boughs, which was given by the Romans to him that saved the life of any citizen in battle against his enemies. 2. Obsidionalis, which was of grass, given to him that delivered a town or city from siege. 3. Muralis, which was of gold, given to him that first scaled the wall of any town or castle. 4. Castralis, which was likewise of gold, given to him that first entered the camp of the enemy. 5. Navalis, and that also of gold, given to him that first boarded the ship of an enemy. 6. Ovalis (and that of myrtle), which was given to those captains that subdued any town or city, or that won any field easily, without blood. 7. Triumphalis, which was of laurel, given to the chief general or consul who, after some signal victory, came home triumphing. These, with many others, as imperial, regal, and princely crowns (rather garlands or coronets than crowns), are not to be compared to the crown of glory which God has prepared for those that love him. Who is able to express the glory of it; or to what glorious thing shall it be likened? If I had the tongue of men and angels, I should be unable to decipher it as it worthily deserves. It is not only a crown of glory, but has divers other titles of pre-eminency given unto it, of which all shall be true partakers that are godly; a crown of righteousness, by the imputation of Christ's righteousness; a crown of life, because those that have it shall be made capable of life eternal; a crown of stars, because they that receive it shall shine as stars forever and ever. John Spencer.
The same who crowns the conqueror, will be
A coadjutor in the agony.
Robert Herrick.
CCXLVIII
James 4:6—"But he gives more grace."
Practical as is the Epistle of James, the apostle does not neglect to extol the grace of God, as unevangelical preachers do in these times.
We err if we commend the fruits regardless of the root from which they spring. Every virtue should be traced to grace.
We must clearly point out the fountain of inward grace as well as the stream of manifest service which flows from it.
The principle of grace produces the practice of goodness, and none can create or preserve that principle but the God of all grace.
If we fail anywhere, it will be our wisdom to get more grace.
See the bounty of God—ever giving, and ever ready to give more!
I. Observe the text in its connection.
1. It presents a contrast. "But he gives more grace."
Two potent motives are confronted. "The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy"; on God's part this is met by "but he gives more grace."
2. It suggests a note of admiration.
What a wonder that when sin abounds, grace still more abounds!
When we discover more of our weakness, God gives more grace.
3. It hints at a direction for spiritual conflict.
We learn where to obtain the weapons of our warfare: we must look to him who gives grace.
We learn the nature of those weapons: they are not legal, nor fanciful, nor ascetical, but gracious—"he gives more grace."
We learn that lusting after evil must be met by the fulfillment of spiritual desires and obtaining more grace.
4. It encourages us in continuing the conflict.
As long as there is one passion in the believing soul that dares to rise, God will give grace to struggle with it.
The more painfully we mourn the power of sin, the more certainly will grace increase if we believe in Jesus for salvation.
5. It plainly indicates a victory.
"He gives more grace" is a plain promise that—
God will not give us up; but that he will more and more augment the force of grace, so that sin must and shall ultimately yield to its sanctifying dominion.
Glory be to God, who, having given grace, still goes on to give more and more grace until we enter into glory! There is no stint or limit to the Lord's increasing gifts of grace.
II. Observe the general truth of the text.
God is ever on the giving hand. The text speaks of it as the Lord's way and habit: "He gives more grace."
1. He gives new supplies of grace.
2. He gives larger supplies of grace.
3. He gives higher orders of grace.
4. He gives more largely as the old nature works more powerfully.
This should be—
1. A truth of daily use for ourselves.
2. A promise daily pleaded for others.
3. A stimulus in the contemplation of higher or sterner duties, and an encouragement to enter on wider fields.
4. A solace under forebodings of deeper trouble in common life.
5. An assurance in prospect of the severe tests of sickness and death.
Seeing it is the nature of God to give more and more grace, let us have growing confidence in him.
III. Bring it home by special appropriation.
1. My spiritual poverty, then, is my own fault, for the Lord gives more grace to all who believe for it.
2. My spiritual growth will be to his glory, for I can only grow because he gives more grace. Oh, to grow constantly!
3. What a good God I have to go to! Let me rejoice in the present and hope for the future. Since the further I go the more grace shall I know, let me proceed with dauntless courage.
Brethren, let us trust the liberality of God, try it by prayer, prove it by faith, bear witness to it with zeal, and praise it with grateful joy.
Encouragements
When Lord North, during the American war, sent to the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Madeley (who had written on that unfortunate war, in a manner that had pleased the minister), to know what he wanted, he sent him word, that he wanted but one thing, which it was not in his lordship's power to give him, and that was more grace. John Whitecross.
When a man gives a flower, it is a perfect gift; but the gift of grace is rather the gift of a flower seed.
When Matthew Henry was a child he received much impression from a sermon on the parable of the "mustard-seed." On returning home, he said to his child sister, "I think I have received a grain of grace." It was the seed of the Commentary "cast upon the waters."
Charles Stanford.
I have grace every day! every hour! When the rebel is brought, nine times a-day, twenty times a-day, for the space of forty years, by his prince's grace, from under the axe, how fair and sweet are the multiplied pardons and reprievals of grace to him! In my case here are multitudes of multiplied redemptions! Here is plenteous redemption! I defile every hour, Christ washes; I fall, grace raises me; I come this day, this morning, under the rebuke of justice, but grace pardons me; and so it is all along, until grace puts me into heaven. Samuel Rutherford.
Were you to rest satisfied with any present attainments to which you have reached, it would be an abuse of encouragement. It would be an evidence that you know nothing of the power of divine grace in reality, for
"Whoever says, I want no more,
Confesses he has none."
Those who have seen their Lord, will always pray, "I beseech you, show me your glory." Those that have once tasted that the Lord is gracious, will always cry, "Evermore give us this bread to eat."
William Jay.
A little grace will bring us to Heaven hereafter, but great grace will bring Heaven to us now. An old Divine.
Oh, what a sad thing it is when Christians are what they always were! You should have more grace; your word should be, ego non sum ego—I am not the same I, or, nunc oblita mihi—now my old courses are forgotten; or, as the apostle, 1 Peter 4:3, "The time past may suffice to have walked in the lusts of the flesh."—Thomas Manton.
"Have you on the Lord believed?
Still there's more to follow;
Of his grace have you received?
Still there's more to follow;
Oh, the grace the Father shows!
Still there's more to follow!
Freely he his grace bestows;
Still there's more to follow!"
CCXLIX
1 Peter 1:9—Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
The greater benefits of salvation are usually classed among things to come, but indeed a large portion of them may be received here and now.
I. What of salvation is received here?
1. The whole of it by the grip of faith, and the grace of hope.
2. The absolute and final pardon of sin is ours at this moment.
3. Deliverance from slavish bondage, and from a sense of awful distance from God is a present relief.
Peace, reconciliation, contentment, fellowship with God, and delight in God, we enjoy at this hour.
4. Rescue from the condemning power of sin is now complete.
5. Release from its dominion is ours. It can no longer command us at its will, nor lull us to sleep by its soothing strains.
6. Conquest over evil is given to us in great measure at once.
Sins are conquerable. No one should imagine that he must necessarily sin because of his constitution or surroundings.
Holy living is possible. Some have reached a high degree of it. Why not others?
7. Joy may become permanent in the midst of sorrow.
The immediate heritage of believers is exceedingly great.
Salvation is ours at this day, and with it "all things."
II. How is it received?
1. Entirely from Jesus, as a gift of divine grace.
2. By faith, not by sight or feeling. We believe to see, and this is good. To require to see in order to believe is vicious.
3. By fervent love to God. This excites to revenge against sin, and so gives present purification. This also nerves us for consecrated living, and thus produces holiness.
4. By joy in the Lord. This causes us to receive peace unspeakable, not to be exaggerated, nor even uttered. Too great, too deep to be understood, even by those who enjoy it.
Much of Heaven may be enjoyed before we reach it.
III. Have you received it, and how much?
1. You have heard of salvation, but hearing will not do.
2. You profess to know it, but mere profession will not do.
3. Have you received pardon? Are you sure of it?
4. Have you been made holy? Are you daily cleansed in your walk?
5. Have you obtained rest by faith and hope and love?
Make these inquiries as in God's sight.
If the result is unsatisfactory, begin at once to seek the Lord.
Look for the appearing of the Lord as the time for receiving in a fuller sense "the end of your faith."
Breviates
An evangelist said in my hearing: "He who believes has everlasting life. H A T H—that spells 'got it.' " It is an odd way of spelling, but it is sound divinity. C. H. S.
This is the certainty of their hope, that it is as if they had already received it. If the promise of God and the merit of Christ hold good, then they who believe in him, and love him, are made sure of salvation. The promises of God in Christ "are not yes and nay; but they are in him yes, and in him amen." Sooner may the rivers run backward, and the course of the heavens change, and the frame of nature be dissolved, than any one soul that is united to Jesus Christ by faith and love can be severed from him, and so fall short of the salvation hoped for in him; and this is the matter of their rejoicing. Archbishop Leighton.
To fall into sin is a serious thing even though the guilt of it be forgiven. A boy who had often been disobedient was made by his father to drive a nail into a post for each offence. When he was well-behaved for a day he was allowed to draw out one of the nails. He fought against his temper bravely, and at last all the nails were gone from the post, and his father praised him. "Alas, father," said the lad, "the nails are all gone, but the holes are left!" Even after forgiveness it will require a miracle of grace to recover us from the ill effects of sin.
In St. Peter's, at Rome, I saw monuments to James III., Charles III., and Henry IX., kings of England. These potentates were quite unknown to me. They had evidently a name to reign, but reign they did not: they never received the end of their faith. Are not many professed Christians in the same condition?—C. H. S.
CCL
1 Peter 4:18. "If the righteous be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
"Scarcely saved" points out the difficulty of salvation.
Some think it easy to begin by believing; but the prophet cries, "Who has believed?" and Jesus asks, "When the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?"
Some may also think it easy to persevere to the end, but the godly are hard put to it to keep their faces Zionward.
It is no light thing to be saved: omnipotent grace is needed.
It is no trifling thing to be lost, but it can be done by neglect.
I. The fact: "The righteous scarcely are saved."
1. From the connection we conclude that the righteous are saved with difficulty because of the strictness of divine rule. "The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God."
There is equity and fitness in this speciality of examination.
These tests are many, varied, repeated, applied by God himself.
Good corn endures the sickle, the flail, the fan, the sieve, the mill, the oven.
The great test of all is the omniscient judgment of the jealous God. What grace will be needed to pass that ordeal!
2. From the experience of saints we come to the same conclusion.
They find many saving acts to be hard, as for instance—
To lay hold on Christ simply, and as sinners.
To overcome the flesh from day to day.
To resist the world with its blandishments, threats, and customs.
To vanquish Satan and his horrible temptations.
To perform needful duties in a humble and holy spirit.
To reach to gracious attainments and to continue in them.
To pass the tribunal of their own awakened and purified conscience, and to receive a verdict of acquittal there.
3. From the testimony of those who are safely landed.
"These are they which came out of great tribulation."
II. The inference from the fact: "Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
1. If even the true coin is so severely tested, what will become of "reprobate silver"?
2. If saints scarcely reach Heaven, what of the ungodly?
What can they do who have no God?
What can they do who have no Savior?
What can they do who are without the Spirit of God?
What without prayer, the Word, the promise of God, etc.?
What without diligence? When the tradesman, though careful, is losing all his capital, what of the spendthrift?
What without truth? When the fire consumes houses strongly built, what must become of wood, hay, stubble?
3. If saints are so sorely chastened, what will justice mete out to the openly defiant sinner?
III. Another inference. Where will the mere professor appear?
If the truly godly have a hard fight for it—
The formalist will find ceremonies a poor solace.
The false professor will be ruined by his hypocrisy.
The presumptuous will find his daring pride a poor help.
He who trusted to mere orthodoxy of creed will come to a fall.
Height of office will do no more than increase responsibility.
IV. Another inference. Then the tempted soul may be saved.
It seems that even those who are truly saints are saved with difficulty: then we may be saved, though we have a hard struggle for it.
Uprising corruption makes us stagger.
A persecuting world tries us sorely.
Fierce temptations from without cause us perplexity.
Loss of inward joys brings us to a stand.
Failure in holy efforts tests our faith.
But in all this we have fellowship with the righteous of all ages.
They are saved, and so shall we be.
V. Another inference. How sweet will Heaven be!
There the difficulties will be ended forever.
There the former trials will contribute to the eternal bliss.
Enforcements
When the apostle uses the phrase—"If the righteous scarcely be saved," he does not, assuredly, mean that there is any doubt about the absolute and infinite sufficiency of the ground of their salvation; or that there is any uncertainty in the result; or that there is any stintedness or imperfection in the final enjoyment; or that, when believers come to stand before the judgment-seat at last, it will go hard with them, so that they may barely come off with acquittal, the poised balance vibrating in long uncertainty, and barely turning on the favorable side, the justifying righteousness of their Lord forming no more than a counterpoise, and hardly that, to their demerits. He means none of these things. His language refers to the difficulty of bringing them through to their final salvation; to the necessity of employing the rod and furnace; the process, in many instances severe, of correction and purification; of bringing them "to the wealthy place through the fire and the water"; of their "entering the kingdom through much tribulation"; of their being "chastened of the Lord, that they might not be condemned with the world." If "fiery trial" be required, and his hatred of sin and his love to his children will not allow him to withhold it, to purge out the remaining alloy of their holiness, what must his enemies have to look for from his abhorrence of evil, in whom sin is not the mere alloy of a better material, but all is sin together?
Dr. Wardlaw.
There is much ado to get Lot out of Sodom, to get Israel out of Egypt. It is no easy matter to get a man out of the state of corruption. Richard Sibbes.
Of this I am assured, that no less devotion than that which carried the martyrs through the flames, will carry us unpolluted through this present world. Mrs. Palmer.
Do you grieve and murmur that you must be saved with difficulty? Ungrateful creatures! you had deserved certain damnation. The vengeance of God might have appeared armed for your destruction; and he might long ago have sworn in his wrath that you should never enter into his rest. And will you complain of the Lord's leadings because he does not always strew your path with roses?
Dr. Doddridge.
"Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Surely nowhere. Not before saints and angels, for holiness is their trade. Not before God, for he is of "more pure eyes than to behold them." Not before Christ, for he shall come in flaming fire rendering vengeance. Not in Heaven, for it is an undefiled inheritance. John Trapp.
Where shall he appear, when to the end that he might not appear, he would be glad to be smothered under the weight of the hills and mountains, if they could shelter him from appearing?—Archbishop Leighton.
CCLI
1 Peter 5:1—"The elders which are among you J exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed."
The apostle's care. He was anxious that the elders should tend the flock of God, and make themselves examples to it.
The apostle's gentleness. "I exhort": not command, etc.
The apostle's humility—"also an elder." He does not insist upon his apostleship, though this was much the greater office.
The apostle's wisdom—"also an elder." In this capacity he would have most weight with them in his exhortation.
Besides this, he mentioned two other characters, and calls himself "a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed."
I. A witness of the sufferings of Christ.
So far as possible, let us be witnesses with Peter.
1. An eye-witness of those sufferings. Apostles must have seen Jesus.
He had seen the passion and death of our Lord.
In this we cannot participate, nor need we desire to do so.
2. A faith-witness of those sufferings.
He had personally believed on Jesus at the first.
He had further believed through after-communion with him.
3. A testifying witness of those sufferings.
He bore witness to their bitterness when borne by Jesus.
He bore witness to their importance as an atonement.
He bore witness to their completeness as a satisfaction.
He bore witness to their effect in perfect salvation.
4. A partaking witness of those sufferings.
In defense of truth he suffered from opposers.
In winning others he suffered in the anguish of his heart.
In serving his Lord he suffered exile, persecution, death.
What he witnessed in all these ways became a motive and a stimulus for his whole life.
II. A partaker of the glory to be revealed.
It is important to partake in all that we preach, or else we preach without vividness and assurance.
1. Peter had enjoyed a literal foretaste of the glory on the holy mount.
We, too, have our earnests of eternal joy.
2. Peter had not yet seen the glory which shall be revealed, and yet he had partaken of it in a spiritual sense: our participation must also be spiritual. Peter had been a spiritual partaker in the following ways—
By faith in the certainty of the glory.
By anticipation of the joy of the glory.
By sympathy with our Lord, who has entered into glory.
3. Peter had felt the result of faith in that glory—
In the comfort which it yielded him.
In the heavenliness which it wrought in him.
In the courage with which it endowed him.
These two things, his witnessing and his partaking, made our apostle intense in his zeal for the glory of God. Because he had seen and tasted of the good word, he preached it with living power and vivid speech. All preachers need to be witnesses and partakers.
These made him urgent with others to "feed the flock of God." Such a man could not endure triflers.
These are the essentials for all eminently useful and acceptable service. The Lord will only bless witnesses and partakers.
Hints
I remember a story which runs thus:—To a saint who was praying the evil spirit showed himself radiant with royal robes, and crowned with a jeweled diadem, and said, "I am Christ—I am descending on the earth—and I desire first to manifest myself to you." The saint kept silence, and looked on the apparition; and then said, "I will not believe that Christ is come to me save in that state and form in which he suffered: he must wear the marks of the wounds and the cross." The false apparition vanished. The application is this: Christ comes not in pride of intellect or reputation for ability. These are the glittering robes in which Satan is now arraying himself. Many false spirits are abroad, more are issuing from the pit: the credentials which they display are the precious gifts of mind, beauty, richness, depth, originality. Christian, with the saint, look hard at them in silence, and ask them for the print of the nails. Dr. J. S. Howson.
'Tis a very sad thing when preachers are like printers, who compose and print off many things, which they neither understand, nor love, nor experience; all they aim at is money for printing, which is their trade. It is also sad when ministers are like gentlemen ushers, who bring ladies to their pews, but go not in themselves—bring others to Heaven, and themselves stay without. Ralph Venning.
CCLII
2 Peter 2:9—"The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."
"The Lord knows." Our faith in the superior knowledge of God is a great source of comfort to us—
In reference to perplexing doctrines.
In reference to puzzling prophecies.
In reference to amazing promises.
In reference to distressing providences.
In reference to grievous temptations.
In our entrance upon an unknown world in the last solemn article in death.
The government of this world and the next is in the hands of the all-knowing One, who cannot be mistaken, nor taken at unawares.
I. The Lord's knowledge in reference to character.
1. He knows the godly—
Under trial, when they are not known to others.
Under temptation, when scarcely known to themselves.
2. He knows the unjust—
Though they may make loud professions of piety.
Though they may be honored for their great possessions.
No error either as to partiality or severity is made by God.
II. The Lord's knowledge in reference to the godly.
A people knowing, fearing, trusting, loving God.
He knows how to let them suffer, and yet to deliver them in the most complete and glorious manner.
1. His knowledge answers better than theirs would do.
2. His knowledge of their case is perfect. Before, in, and after temptation he knows their sorrows.
3. He knows in every case how to deliver them.
4. In every case there must therefore be a way of escape.
5. He knows the most profitable way of deliverance for themselves.
6. He knows the way which will be most glorifying to himself.
7. His knowledge should cause them to trust in him with holy confidence, and never to sin in order to escape.
III. The Lord's knowledge in reference to the unjust.
They are unjust in all senses, for they are—
Not legally just by keeping the law;
Nor evangelically just through faith in Jesus;
Nor practically just in their daily lives.
The Lord knows best—
1. How to deal with them from day to day.
2. How to reserve them under restraints. He makes it possible to reprieve them, and yet to maintain law and order.
3. How to punish them with unrest and fears even now.
4. How and when to strike them down when their iniquities are full.
5. How to deal with them in judgment, and throughout the future state. The mysteries of eternal doom are safe in his hand.
Two fine illustrations of the Lord's dealings with the righteous and the wicked may be found in Acts 12, in connection with Peter's life.
Peter in prison was unexpectedly set free.
Herod on the throne was eaten of worms.
Brevia
On the headstone of a little grave containing a little child which was washed ashore during the gales, without any clue to birth, name, or parentage, was placed the epitaph: "God knows."—Leisure Hour.
"The Lord knows how." It is set down indefinitely: no man, no apostle, no angel, can know all the means of God's delivering his: it is enough that he himself knows. This gives a check to all saucy inquirers that will not believe help from the Lord, unless he tells them how … Deliverance we look for: how or when the Lord will deliver you or me, that is in his own bosom, and in the breast of his Privy Counselor, Jesus Christ. Thomas Adams.
In the Life and Letters of G. Ticknor, a remark is made to the effect, that when in Brussels, and conversing with some of the élite of society there, he could not avoid constantly remembering that two of the high-minded intellectual persons with whom he was sitting were under sentence of death if found within the grasp of Austria. We cannot forget that many around us are now "under condemnation," and are "reserved until the day of judgment."
CCLIII
1 John 3:2—"It does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."
The present condition of the believer, notwithstanding its imperfection, is a state of much joy and honor. Looked at in the light of faith it is sublime, for "now are we the sons of God."
We are near to God's heart as his children.
We nestle under the wings of God for protection.
We abide in his pavilion for communion.
We are fed in his pasture for provision.
For all this, our earthly existence is not a life which we would desire to be perpetual. It is as a traveler's pilgrimage, a sailor's voyage, a soldier's warfare; and we look forward to its end with joyful expectation.
We will let the text divide itself verbally.
I. "It does not yet appear what we shall be."
At present we are veiled, and travel through the world incognito.
1. Our Master was not made manifest here below.
His glory was veiled in flesh.
His Deity was concealed in infirmity.
His power was hidden under sorrow and weakness.
His riches were buried under poverty and shame.
The world knew him not, for he was made flesh.
2. We are not fit to appear in full figure as yet.
The son is treated as a servant while under age.
The heir is kept a pensioner until his majority.
The prince serves as a soldier before he reaches the throne.
We must needs have an evening before our morning, a schooling before our college, a tuning before the music is ready.
3. This is not the world to appear in.
There are none to appreciate us, and it would be as though kings showed their royalty at a wake, or wise men discoursed philosophy before fools.
A warring and waiting condition like the present would not be a fit opportunity for unveiling.
4. This is not the time in which to appear in our glory.
The winter prepares flowers, but does not call them forth.
The ebb-tide reveals the secrets of the sea, but many of our rivers no gallant ship can then sail.
To everything there is a season, and this is not the time of glory.
II. "But we know that when he shall appear."
1. We speak of our Lord's manifestation without doubt. "We know."
2. Our faith is so assured that it becomes knowledge.
He will be manifest upon this earth in person.
He will be manifest in perfect happiness.
He will be manifest in highest glory.
He will appear surely, and so we speak of it as a date for our own manifesting—"when he shall appear."
Oh the hope, the glory, the bliss, the fullness of delight which cluster around this great appearing!
III. "We shall be like him."
We shall then be as manifested, and as clearly seen, as he will be.
The time of our open presentation at court will have come.
1. Having a body like his body.
Sinless, incorruptible, painless, spiritual, clothed with beauty and power, and yet most real and true.
2. Having a soul like his soul.
Perfect, holy, instructed, developed, strengthened, active, delivered from temptation, conflict, and suffering.
3. Having such dignities and glories as he wears.
Kings, priests, conquerors, judges, sons of God.
We must be made in a measure like him now, or else we shall not be found so at his appearing.
IV. "We shall see him as he is."
1. This glorious sight will perfect our likeness.
2. This will be the result of our being like him.
3. This will be evidence of our being like him, since none but the pure in heart can see God.
The sight will be ravishing.
The sight will be transforming and transfiguring.
The sight will be abiding, and a source of bliss forever.
Behold what glories come out of our being the sons of God!
Let us not rest until by faith in Jesus we receive power to become sons of God, and then let us go on to enjoy the privileges of sonship.
Lights
God showed power in making us creatures, but love in making us sons. Plato gave God thanks that he had made him a man, and not a beast; but what cause have they to adore God's love, who has made them children! The apostle puts an ecce to it, Behold!—Thomas Watson.
And here, reader, wonder not if I be at a loss; and if my apprehensions receive but little of that which is in my expressions. If to the beloved disciple that dared speak and inquire into Christ's secrets, and was filled with his revelations, and saw the New Jerusalem in her glory, and had seen Christ, Moses, and Elijah in part of theirs; if it did not appear to him what we shall be, but only in general, that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, no wonder if I know little. Richard Baxter, in "The Saint's Everlasting Rest."
Such divine, God-given glimpses into the future reveal to us more than all our thinking. What intense truth, what divine meaning there is in God's creative word: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness"! To show forth the likeness of the Invisible, to be partaker of the divine nature, to share with God his rule of the universe, is man's destiny. His place is indeed one of unspeakable glory. Standing between two eternities, the eternal purpose in which we were predestined to be conformed to the image of the first-born Son, and the eternal realization of that purpose when we shall be like him in his glory. We hear the voice from every side: O you image-bearers of God! on the way to share the glory of God and of Christ, live a Godlike, live a Christlike life!—Andrew Murray.
A converted blind man once said, "Jesus Christ will be the first person I shall ever see, for my eyes will be opened in Heaven."
Then shall we see You as You are,
Forever fixed in no unfruitful gaze,
But such as lifts the new-created heart,
Age after age, in worthier love and praise.
John Keble.
"You are going to be with Jesus, and to see him as he is," said a friend to Rowland Hill on his deathbed. "Yes," replied Mr. Hill with emphasis, "and I shall be like him; that is the crowning point."
To see him as he is, and in himself, is reserved until we shall have better eyes: these eyes we have are carnal and corruptible, and cannot see God until they have put on incorruption. Sir Richard Baker.
One view of Jesus as he is
Will strike all sin forever dead.
W. Cowper.
CCLIV
1 John 3:3—"And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure."
The Christian is a man whose main possessions lie in reversion.
Most men have a hope, but his is a peculiar one; and its effect is special, for it causes him to purify himself.
I. The believer's hope. "Everyone that has this hope in him."
1. It is the hope of being like Jesus.
Perfect, Glorious, Conqueror over sin, death and Hell.
2. It is based upon divine love. See verse 1.
3. It arises out of sonship. "Called the sons of God."
4. It rests upon our union to Jesus. "When he shall appear."
5. It is distinctly hope in Him. "We shall be like him," etc.
6. It is the hope of his second Advent.
II. The operation of that hope. "Purifies."
It does not puff up, like the conceit of Pharisees.
It does not lead to loose living, like the presumption of Antinomians.
It shows us what course is grateful, is congruous to grace, is according to the new nature, and is preparatory to the perfect future.
1. The believer purifies himself from—
His grosser sins. From evil company, etc.
His secret sins, neglects, imaginings, desires, murmurings, etc.
His besetting sins of heart, temper, body, relationship, etc.
His relative sins in the family, the shop, the church, etc.
His sins arising out of his nationality, education, profession, etc.
His sins of word, thought, action, and omission.
2. He does this in a perfectly natural way.
By getting a clear notion of what purity really is.
By keeping a tender conscience, and bewailing his faults.
By having an eye to God and his continual presence.
By making others his beacons or examples.
By hearing rebukes for himself, and laying them to heart.
By asking the Lord to search him, and practicing self-examination.
By distinctly and vigorously fighting with every known sin.
3. He sets before him Jesus as his model. "He purifies himself, even as HE is pure."
Hence he does not cultivate one grace only.
Hence he is never afraid of being too precise.
Hence he is simple, natural, and unconstrained.
Hence he is evermore aspiring after more and more holiness.
III. The test of that hope. "He purifies himself."
Actively, personally, prayerfully, intensely, continually, he aims at the purification of himself, looking to God for aid.
Some defile themselves willfully.
Some take things as they are.
Some believe that they need do purifying.
Some talk about purity, but never strive after it.
Some glory in that which is a mere counterfeit of it.
The genuine Hoper does not belong to any of these classes: he really and successfully purifies himself.
What must it be to be without a good hope?
How can there be hope where there is no faith?
Grace adopts us; adoption gives us hope; hope purifies us, until we are like the Firstborn.
Animating Words
1. First, The Workman. "Every one that has this hope in him," every one that looks to be like the Lord Jesus in the Kingdom of Glory is the man that must set about this task. 2. Secondly, The work is a work to be wrought by himself. He is a part of the Lord's husbandry, and he must take pains as it were to plough his own ground, to weed his own corn, he must purify himself; this is his present and personal work. 3. Thirdly, the pattern by which he must be directed is the Lord Jesus: his purity. Take him for a pattern and instance; look unto him that is the author and finisher of our faith; as you have seen him do, so do you; as he is pure, so labor you to express in your lives the virtue of him who has redeemed you. Richard Sibbes.
Then you comport with your hopes of salvation when you labor to be as holy in your conversation as you are high in your expectation This the apostle urges from the evident fitness of the thing, 2 Peter 3:11: "What manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God?" Certainly, it becomes such to be holy, even to admiration, who look for such a blessed day: we hope then to be like the angels in glory, and therefore should, if possible, live now like angels in holiness. Every believing soul is Christ's spouse. The day of conversion is the day of espousals, wherein she is betrothed by faith to Christ, and, as such, lives in hopes for the marriage-day, when he shall come and fetch her home to his father's house, as Isaac did Rebekah to his mother's tent, there to dwell with him, and live in his sweet embraces of love, world without end. Now, would the bride have the bridegroom find her in sluttery and vile clothing? No, surely: "Can a bride forget her attire?" Jeremiah 2:32. Was it ever known that a bride forgot to have her wedding clothes made against the marriage-day, or to put them on when she looks for her bridegroom's coming? Holiness is the clothing of needlework in which, Christian, you are to be brought to your King and husband: Psalm 45:14. Wherefore is the wedding-day put off so long, but because this garment is so long a-making? When this is once wrought, and you are ready dressed, then that joyful day comes. Remember how the Holy Spirit words it in the Book of Revelation, "the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready:" Rev. 19:7. William Gurnall.
A good hope, through grace, animates and gives life to action, and purifies as it goes; like the Highland stream that dashes from the rock, and purifies itself as it pursues its course to the ocean. H. G. Salter.
The Christian needs Christ in his redemption as the object of Faith, for salvation; Christ himself the object of Love, for devotion and service; and Christ in his coming glory, the object of Hope, for separation from the world. W. Haslam.
The biographer of Hewitson says of him: "He not only believed in the speedy appearing, but loved it, waited for it, watched for it. So mighty a motive power did it become, that he ever used to speak of it afterwards as bringing with it a kind of second conversion."
A. J. Gordon, D.D.
CCLV
1 John 3:14—"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."
The spiritual things which we speak of are matters of knowledge.
John, in almost every verse of this epistle, uses the words "we know."
The philosophical distinction between believing and knowing is mere theory. "We know and have believed."
I. We know that we were dead.
1. We were without feeling when law and gospel were addressing us.
2. Without hunger and thirst after righteousness.
3. Without power of movement towards God in repentance.
4. Without the breath of prayer, or pulse of desire.
5. With signs of corruption; some of them most offensive.
II. We know that we have undergone a singular change.
1. The reverse of the natural change from life to death.
2. No more easy to describe than the death change would be.
3. This change varies in each case as to its outward phenomena, but it is essentially the same in all.
4. As a general rule its course is as follows—
It commences with painful sensations.
It leads to a sad discovery of our natural weakness.
It is made manifest by personal faith in Jesus.
It operates on the man by repentance and purification.
It is continued by perseverance in sanctification.
It is completed in joy, infinite, eternal.
5. The period of this change is an era to be looked back upon in time and through eternity with grateful praise.
III. We know that we live.
1. We know that we are not under condemnation.
2. We know that faith has given us new senses, grasping a new world, enjoying a realm of spiritual things.
3. We know that we have new hopes, fears, desires, delights, etc.
4. We know that we have been introduced into new surroundings and a new spiritual society: God, saints, angels, etc.
5. We know that we have new needs; such as heavenly breath, food, instruction, correction, etc.
6. We know that this life guarantees eternal bliss.
IV. We know that we live, because we love. "We love the brethren."
1. We love them for Christ's sake.
2. We love them for the truth's sake.
3. We love them for their own sake.
4. We love them when the world hates them.
5. We love their company, their example, their exhortations.
6. We love them despite the drawbacks of infirmity, inferiority, etc.
Let us prove our love by our generosity.
Thus shall we supply ourselves with growing evidences of grace.
Love-lines
Just as in his gospel he rescues the word logos from anti-christian uses, so in this Epistle he rescues the word "know," and aims at making his "little children" Gnostics in the divine sense. Knowledge is excellent, but the path to it is not through intellectual speculation, however keen and subtle, but through faith in Jesus Christ and subjection to him, according to those most Johannine words in the Gospel of Matthew: "Neither knows any man the Father save the Son, and he to whoever the Son will reveal him."—Dr. Culross.
The Christian apologist never further misses the mark than when he refuses the testimony of the Agnostic to himself. When the Agnostic tells me he is blind and deaf, dumb, torpid, and dead to the spiritual world, I must believe him. Jesus tells me that. Paul tells me that. Science tells me that. He knows nothing of this outermost circle; and we are compelled to trust his sincerity as readily when he deplores it as if, being a man without an ear, he professed to know nothing of a musical world, or being without taste, of a world of are. The nescience of the Agnostic philosophy is the proof from experience that to be carnally minded is death. Professor Henry Drummond.
The world always loves to believe that it is impossible to know that we are converted. If you ask them, they will say, "I am not sure; I cannot tell"; but the whole Bible declares we may receive, and know that we have received, the forgiveness of sins. R. M. McCheyne.
In the writings of Paul, "Faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints," constitute a well-understood and oft-recurring sequence. It is a straitening about that upper spring of faith that makes the streams of love fail in their channels. W. Arnot.
No outward mark have we to know
Who your, O Christ, may be,
Until a Christian love does show
Who appertains to you:
For knowledge may be reached unto,
And formal justice gained,
But until each other love we doe,
Both faith and works are feigned.
George Wither, 1588–1667.
Yes, brethren in Christ have all one common Father, one common likeness, one object of faith, love, and adoration; one blessed hope, one present employment; alike in trials, alike in prayer. They lean upon the same hand, appear daily before the same mercy-seat, feed at the same table. How much all these things link them together, not in profession only, but in heart! Hence this is a decisive test: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."
D. Katterns.
In the early days of Christianity, when it triumphed over the old heathenism of the Roman world, it founded a new society bound together by this holy mutual love. The catacombs of Rome bear remarkable testimony to this gracious brotherhood. There were laid the bodies of members of the highest Roman aristocracy, some even of the family of the Caesars, side by side with the remains of obscure slaves and laborers. And in the case of the earliest graves the inscriptions are without a single allusion to the position in society of him who was buried there: they did not trouble themselves whether he had been a consul or a slave, a tribune of the legion or a common soldier, a patrician or an artisan. It sufficed that they knew him to have been a believer in Christ, a man who feared God. They cared not to perpetuate in death the vain distinctions of the world; they had mastered the glorious teaching of the Lord, "One is your master, even Christ, and all you are brethren."—E. De Pressensé.
CCLVI
1 John 3:20, 21—"For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
"Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."
The fault of many is that they will not lay spiritual things to heart at all, but treat them in a superficial manner. This is foolish, sinful, deadly. We ought to put our case upon serious trial in the court of our own conscience.
Certain of a better class are satisfied with the verdict of their hearts, and do not remember the higher courts; and therefore either become presumptuous, or are needlessly distressed. We are about to consider the judgments of this lower court. Here we may have—
I. A correct verdict against ourselves.
Let us sum up the process.
1. The court sits under the King's arms, to judge by royal authority. The charge against the prisoner is read. Conscience accuses, and quotes the law as applicable to the points alleged.
2. Memory gives evidence. As to the fact of sin in years past, and of sin more lately committed. Items mentioned. Sabbath sins. Transgressions of each one of the ten commandments. Rejection of the gospel. Omissions in a thousand ways. Failure in motive, spirit, temper, etc.
3. Knowledge gives evidence that the present state of mind and heart and will is not according to the Word.
4. Self-love and pride urge good intents and pious acts in stay of proceedings. Hear the defense! But alas! it is not worth hearing. The defense is but one of "the refuges of lies."
5. The heart, judging by the law, condemns. Henceforth the man lives as in a condemned cell under fear of death and Hell.
If even our partial, half-enlightened heart condemns, we may well tremble at the thought of appearing before the Lord God.
The higher court is more strictly just, better informed, more authoritative, and more able to punish. God knows all. Forgotten sin, sins of ignorance, sins half seen are all before the Lord.
What a terrible case is this! Condemned in the, lower court, and sure to be condemned in the higher!
II. An incorrect verdict against ourselves.
The case as before. The sentence apparently most clear.
But when revised by the higher court it is reversed, for good reasons.
1. The debt has been discharged by the man's glorious Surety.
2. The man is not the same man; though he sinned he has died to sin, and he now lives as one born from above.
3. The evidences in his favor, such as the atonement and the new birth, were forgotten, undervalued, or misjudged in the lower court; hence he was condemned. Sentence of condemnation does not stand when these matters are duly noted.
4. The evidence looked for by a sickly conscience was what it could not find, for it did not exist, namely, natural goodness, perfection, unbroken joy, etc. The judge was ignorant, and legally inclined. The verdict was therefore a mistaken one. An appeal clears the case: "God is greater than our heart, and knows all things."
III. A correct verdict of acquittal.
Our heart sometimes justly "condemns us not."
The argument for non-condemnation is good: the following are the chief items of evidence in proof of our being gracious—
1. We are sincere in our profession of love to God.
2. We are filled with love to the brethren.
3. We are resting upon Christ, and on him alone.
4. We are longing after holiness.
The result of this happy verdict of the heart is that we have—
Confidence towards God that we are really his.
Confidence as to our reconciliation with God by Jesus Christ.
Confidence that he will not harm us, but will bless us.
Confidence in prayer that he will accept and answer.
Confidence as to future judgment that we shall receive the gracious reward at the last great day.
IV. An incorrect verdict of acquittal.
1. A deceived heart may refuse to condemn, but God will judge us all the same. He will not allow self-conceit to stand.
2. A false heart may acquit, but this gives no confidence Godward.
3. A deceitful heart pretends to acquit while in its center it condemns.
If we shrink now, what shall we do in judgment?
What a waking, to find ourselves condemned at the last!
Quotations
When Sir Walter Raleigh had laid his head upon the block, says an eloquent divine, he was asked by the executioner whether it lay aright. Whereupon, with the calmness of a hero and the faith of a Christian, he returned an answer, the power of which we all shall feel when our head is tossing and turning on death's uneasy pillow—"It matters little, my friend, how the head lies, providing the heart be right."—Steele.
As Luther says: "Though conscience weigh us down, and tell us God is angry, yet God is greater than our heart. The conscience is but one drop; the reconciled God is an ocean of consolation."
Critical English Testament.
A seared conscience thinks better of itself, a wounded worse than it ought: the former may account all sin a sport, the latter all sport a sin; melancholy men, when sick, are ready to conceive any cold to be the cough of the lungs, and an ordinary pustule to be no less than a plague-sore. So wounded consciences conceive sins of infirmity to be sins of presumption, sins of ignorance to be sins of knowledge, apprehending their case to be far more dangerous than it is indeed. Thomas Fuller.
Conscience works after the manner so beautifully set forth in the ring that a great magician, according to an Eastern tale, presented to his prince. The gift was of inestimable value, not for the diamonds and rubies and pearls that gemmed it, but for a rare and mystic property in the metal. It sat easily enough on the finger in ordinary circumstances, but as soon as its wearer formed a bad thought, designed or committed a bad action, the ring became a monitor. Suddenly contracting, it pressed painfully on his finger, warning him of sin. Such a ring, thank God, is not the peculiar property of kings; the poorest of us, those that wear none other, may possess and wear this inestimable jewel; for the ring of the fable is just that conscience which is the voice of God within us, which is his law, engraved by the finger of God, not on Sinai's granite tables, but on the fleshy tablets of the heart, which, enthroned as a sovereign in every bosom, commends us when we do right, and condemns us when we do wrong. Dr. Guthrie.
The spirit of man, that candle of the Lord, often gives but a faint and glimmering light; but the Spirit of God snuffs it, that it may burn brighter. Benjamin Beddome.
CCLVII
1 John 5:4—"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith."
What is meant by this world?
The power of sin all around us: the influence which operates towards evil, and makes the commandments and purposes of God grievous to society. The Prince of this world has much to do with this evil power.
This world is our foe, and we must fight with it.
We must contend until we overcome the world, or it will overcome us.
I. The conquest itself: "overcomes the world."
We are not to be litigious, eager to contradict everybody.
We are not, however, to be cowardly, and anxious to flee the fight.
We mingle among men of the world, but it must be as warriors who are ever on the watch, and are aiming at victory. Therefore—
1. We break loose from the world's customs.
2. We maintain our freedom to obey a higher Master in all things.
We are not enslaved by dread of poverty, greed of riches, official command, personal ambition, love of honor, fear of shame, or force of numbers.
3. We are raised above circumstances, and find our happiness in invisible things: thus we overcome the world.
4. We are above the world's authority. Its ancient customs or novel edicts are for its own children: we do not own it as a ruler, or as a judge.
5. We are above its example, influence, and spirit. We are crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to us.
6. We are above its religion. We gather our religion from God and his Word, not from human sources.
As one in whom this conquest was seen, read the story of Abraham. Think of him in connection with his quitting home, his lonely wanderings, his conduct towards Lot, Sodom and her king, Isaac, etc.
II. The conquering nature. "Whatever is born of God."
1. This nature alone will undertake the contest with the world.
2. This nature alone can continue it. All else wearies in the fray.
3. This nature is born to conquer. God is the Lord, and that which is born of him is royal and ruling.
It is not an amendment of the former creation.
It is not even a new creation without relationship to its Creator; but it is a birth from God, with eminence of descent, infusing similarity of nature, and conferring rights of heirship.
The Creator cannot be overcome, nor those born of him.
Jesus, the firstborn, never was defeated, nor will those conformed to him fail of ultimate triumph.
The Holy Spirit in us must be victorious, for how should he be vanquished? The idea would be blasphemous.
III. The conquering weapon: "even our faith."
We are enabled to be conquerors through regarding—
1. The unseen reward which awaits us.
2. The unseen presence which surrounds us. God and a cloud of witnesses hold us in full survey.
3. The mystic union to Christ which grace has wrought in us. Resting in Jesus we overcome the world.
4. The sanctifying communion which we enjoy with the unseen God.
In these ways faith operates towards overcoming sin.
IV. The speciality of it—"This is the victory."
1. For salvation, finding the rest of faith.
2. For imitation, finding the wisdom of Jesus, the Son of God.
3. For consolation, seeing victory secured to us in Jesus.
Behold your conflict—born to battle.
Behold your triumph—bound to conquer.
War-cries
When a traveler was asked whether he did not admire the admirable structure of some stately building, "No," said he, "for I have been at Rome, where better are to be seen every day." O believer, if the world tempt you with its rare sights and curious prospects, you may well scorn them, having been, by contemplation, in Heaven, and being able, by faith, to see infinitely better delights every hour of the day! "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith."
Feathers for Arrows.
The danger to which Christians are exposed from the influence of the visible course of things, or the world (as it is called in Scripture), is a principal subject of St. John's General Epistle. He seems to speak of the world as some False Prophet, promising what it cannot fulfill, and gaining credit by its confident tone. Viewing it as resisting Christianity, he calls it the "Spirit of Antichrist," the parent of a numerous progeny of evil, false spirits like itself, the teachers of all lying doctrines, by which the multitude of men are led captive. The antagonist of this great tempter is the Spirit of Truth, which is "greater than he who is in the world"; its victorious antagonist, because gifted with those piercing Eyes of Faith which are able to scan the world's shallowness, and to see through the mists of error into the glorious kingdom of God beyond them. "This is the victory that overcomes the world," says the text, "even our faith."—J. H. Newman.
The believer not only overcomes the world in its deformities, but in its seeming excellencies. Not in the way that Alexander and other conquerors overcame it, but in a much nobler way; for they, so far from overcoming the world, were slaves to the world. The man who puts ten thousand other men to death does not overcome the world. The true conqueror is he who can say with Paul, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," and, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? etc." "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us." Such an one has recourse, by faith, to an infallible standard—the Word of God: indeed, there is no other. He detects the world, and will not be imposed upon by it. When he is tempted to take the world's good things as his portion, he rejects them; because he has something better in hand. Thus, faith in Christ overcomes the corrupt influence, the inordinate love, the slavish fear, the idolatry, the friendship, the false wisdom, and the maxims of the world: it overcomes not only the folly, but the very religion of the world, as far as it is a false religion. The Christian has hold of a superior influence, and engages superior strength. Doubtless, says he, I have great enemies to attack but greater is he who is with me than he who is in the world.
Richard Cecil.
It is asserted of this elegant creature (the Bird of Paradise) that it always flies against the wind; as, otherwise, its beautiful but delicate plumage would be ruffled and spoiled. Those only are Birds of Paradise, in a spiritual sense, who make good their way against the wind of worldliness; a wind always blowing in an opposite direction to that of heaven. J. D. Hull.
Believers, forget it not! you are the soldiers of the Overcomer.
J. H. Evans.
CCLVIII
3 John 2—"Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers."
The gospel made a marvelous change in John. Once he could call fire from Heaven on opposers; now, having received the Holy Spirit, he is full of love and kind desires.
The gospel makes the morose, cheerful; the mirthful, serious; the revengeful, loving. Coming to such an one as John, it made him the mirror of love.
A man's private letters often let you into the secrets of his heart.
Instance Rutherford, Kirke White, Cowper, and John Newton.
In this letter, John gratefully wishes Gaius every blessing, and above all things better health.
Health is an invaluable mercy; it is never properly valued until lost.
But John puts soul-prosperity side by side with it.
Man has two parts; the one corporeal and earthy, the other immaterial and spiritual. How foolish is the man who thinks of his body, and forgets his soul; neglects the tenant, and repairs the house; prizes the earthern vessel, and despises the treasure!
I. We will examine the words of the text.
1. "I wish"; more correctly, as in the margin, "I pray." Prayer is a wish sanctified. Turn your wishes into prayers.
2. "That you may prosper." We may ask for prosperity for our friends; especially if, like Gaius, they serve God and his cause with their substance.
3. "And be in health." This is necessary to the enjoyment of prosperity. What would all else be without it?
4. "Even as your soul prospers." We are startled at this wish: the spiritual health of Gaius is made the standard of his outward prosperity! Dare we pray thus for many of our friends?
Dare we pray thus for ourselves? What would be the result if such a prayer were answered? Picture our bodies made like our souls.
Some would have fever, others paralysis, others ague, etc.
Let us bless God that the body is not the invariable index of the soul.
Few would care to have their spiritual condition expressed in their external condition.
II. We will mention the symptoms of ill-health.
1. A low temperature.
Lukewarmness is an ill sign. In business, such a man will make but little way; in religion, none at all.
This is terrible in the case of a minister.
This is dangerous in the case of a hearer.
2. A contracted heart.
While some are latitudinarian, others are intolerant, and cut off all who do not utter their Shibboleth.
If we do not love the brethren, there is something wrong with us.
3. A failing appetite as to spiritual food.
4. A difficulty in breathing.
When prayer is an irksome duty, everything is wrong with us.
5. A general lethargy: unwillingness for holy service, want of heart, etc.
6. An ungovernable craving for unhealthy things. Some poor creatures will eat dirt, ashes, etc. Some professors are ill in a like way, for they seek groveling amusements and pursuits.
III. We will suggest means of recovery.
We will not here dwell upon the means God uses, though he is the great Physician; but we will think of the regimen we must use for ourselves.
1. Seek good food. Hear a gospel preacher. Study the Word.
2. Breathe freely. Do not restrain prayer.
3. Exercise yourself unto godliness. Labor for God.
4. Return to your native air: breathe the atmosphere of Calvary.
5. Live by the sea. Dwell near to God's all-sufficiency.
6. If these things fail, here is an old prescription: "Carnis et Sanguinis Christi." This taken several times a day, in a draught of the tears of repentance, is a sure cure.
God help you to practice the rules of the heavenly Physician!
IV. We will conclude with an exhortation.
Brother Christian, is it a small matter to be weak and feeble? You need all your vigor. Go to Calvary, and recruit yourself.
Sinner, you are dead, but life and health are in Christ!
Nota Medica
An ancient Roman wished that he had a window in his breast that all might see his heart, but a sage suggested that in such a case he would have urgent need of shutters, and would keep them closed. We could not afford to wear the signs of our spiritual condition where all could see. We should then need all our blood for blushing. C.H.S.
Sin is called in Scripture by the names of diseases. It is called the plague of the heart: 1 Kings 8:38. There are as many diseases of the soul as there are of the body. Drunkenness is a spiritual dropsy; security is a spiritual lethargy; envy is a spiritual canker; lust is a spiritual fever: Hosea 7:4. Apostasy or backsliding is the spiritual falling sickness; hardness of heart is the spiritual stone; searedness of conscience is a spiritual apoplexy; unsettledness of judgment is a spiritual palsy; pride a spiritual tumor; vainglory a spiritual itch. There is not any sickness of the body but there is some distemper of the soul that might be paralleled with it, and bear the name of it. Ralph Robinson.
The fact of the Scriptures furnishing nutriment and upbuilding to the soul is the most real experience of which we have knowledge. None of us, "by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature." But how many, by taking in God's great thoughts, feeding on them, and inwardly digesting them, have added vastly to their spiritual stature!
A. J. Gordon, D.D.
If a portrait were taken of a person in strong, vigorous health, and another was taken of the same man after a severe illness, or when he had been almost starved to death, or weakened by confinement, we should scarcely recognize them as the likeness of the same man, the dear old friend we loved! Still greater would be the change could we draw the spiritual portrait of many a once hearty, vigorous saint of God, whose soul has been starved for want of the proper spiritual nourishment, or by feeding upon "ashes" instead of bread. G. S. Bowes.
Oh, that our friends were well in soul! We are not sufficiently concerned about this best of health! When they are well in soul we are grieved to see them ailing in body; and yet this is often the case. The soul is healed, and the body is still suffering! Well, it is by far the smaller evil of the two! If I must be sick, Lord, let the mischief light on my coarser nature, and not on my higher and diviner part!—C.H.S.
CCLIX
Jude 24, 25—"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
"To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."
We will joyfully praise the Lord with Jude's doxology.
It is well to be called full often to adoring praise, and the specific statement of the reason for praise is helpful to fervor of gratitude.
Our great danger is falling and faultiness.
Our great safety is divine ability and faithfulness, by which we are kept from stumbling so as to dishonor our Lord.
I. Let us adore him who can keep us from falling.
1. We need keeping from falling, in the sense of preservation from—
Error of doctrine; which is rife enough in this age.
Error of spirit: such as want of love, or want of discernment, or unbelief, or credulity, or fanaticism, or conceit.
Outward sin. Alas, how low may the best fall!
Neglect of duty: ignorance, idleness, want of thought.
Backsliding. Into this state we may insensibly descend.
2. None but the Lord can keep us from falling.
We cannot keep ourselves without him.
No place guarantees security: the church, the closet, the communion-table—all are invaded by temptation.
No rules and regulations will secure us from stumbling. Stereotyped habits may only conceal deadly sins.
No experience can eradicate evil, or protect us from it.
3. The Lord can do it. He is "able to keep," and he is "the only wise God, our Savior." His wisdom is part of his ability.
By teaching us so that we fall not into sins by ignorance.
By warning us: this may be done by our noting the falls of others, or by inward monitions, or by the Word.
By providence, affliction, etc., which remove occasions of sinning.
By a bitter sense of sin, which makes us dread it as a burnt child dreads the fire.
By his Holy Spirit, renewing in us desires after holiness.
4. The Lord will do it. According to the Revised Version he is "The only God our Savior." He will assuredly save.
From final falls, and even from stumblings (see R. V.), his divine power can and will keep us.
II. Let us adore him who will present us in his courts faultless.
1. None can stand in those courts who are covered with fault.
2. None can deliver us from former guilt, or keep us from daily faultiness in the future, but the Savior himself.
3. He can do it as our Savior. He is divinely wise to sanctify.
4. He will do it. We should not be exhorted to praise him for an ability which he would not use.
5. He will do it "with exceeding joy," both to himself and to us.
III. Let us adore him with highest ascriptions of praise.
1. Presenting our praise through Jesus, who is himself our Lord. (R. V.)
2. Wishing him glory, majesty, dominion and power.
3. Ascribing these to him as to the past, for he is "before all time." (R. V.)
4. Ascribing them to him "now."
5. Ascribing them to him "forever."
6. Adding to this adoration, and to the adoration of all his saints, our own fervent "Amen." Heartily consenting to all his praise.
Come let us praise our Guardian now, in memory of past upholdings.
Let us praise him in foretaste of what he will do for us.
Let us praise him with "exceeding joy."
A Statement and an Instance
We cannot stand a moment longer than God upholds us; we are as a staff in the hand of a man; take away the hand, and the staff falls to the ground: or rather, as a little infant in the nurse's hand (Hosea 11:3); if we are left to our own feet, we shall soon fall. Created grace will never hold out against so many difficulties. One of the fathers brings in the flesh, saying, Ego deficiam, I shall fail; the world, Ego decipiam. I will deceive them; the devil, Ego eripiam, I will sweep them away; but God says, Ego custodiam, I will keep them, I will never fail them, nor forsake them. There lies our safety. Thomas Manton.
Philip Dickerson, an aged Baptist minister, who died October 22nd, 1882, just before his death, said, "Seventy years ago the Lord took me into his service without a character. He gave me a good character, and by his grace I have kept it."
CCLX
Rev. 1:7—"Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so Amen."
The doxology which precedes our text is most glorious.
It runs well in the Revised Version: "To him that loved us and loosed us."
Keeping to our Authorized Version, we can get the alliteration by reading "loved us and laved us."
To him who has made us kings, is himself a King, and is coming into his kingdom: to him be glory.
Our adoration is increased by our expectation. "He comes."
Our solemnity in praise is deepened by the hope that our expectation will be speedily realized. The coming is in the present tense.
John, who once heard the voice, "Behold the Lamb of God!" now utters the voice, "Behold, he comes!"
I. Our Lord Jesus comes.
1. This fact is worthy of a note of admiration—"Behold!"
2. It should be vividly realized until we cry, "Behold, he comes!"
3. It should be zealously proclaimed. We should use the herald's cry, "Behold!"
4. It is to be unquestioningly asserted as true. Assuredly he comes.
It has been long foretold. Enoch. Jude 14.
He has himself warned us of it. "Behold, I come quickly!"
He has made the sacred supper a token of it. "Until he come."
What is to hinder his coming? Are there not many reasons for it?
5. It is to be viewed with immediate interest.
"Behold!" for this is the grandest of all events.
"He comes," the event is at the door.
"He," who is your Lord and Bridegroom, comes.
He is coming even now, for he is preparing all things for his advent, and thus may be said to be on the road.
6. It is to be attended with a peculiar sign—"with clouds."
The clouds are the distinctive tokens of his Second Advent.
The tokens of the divine presence. "The dust of his feet."
The pillar of cloud was such in the wilderness.
The emblems of his majesty.
The ensigns of his power.
The warnings of his judgment. Charged with darkness and tempest are these gathered clouds.
II. Our Lord's coming will be seen of all.
1. It will be a literal appearance. Not merely every mind shall think of him, but "Every eye shall see him."
2. It will be beheld by all sorts and kinds of living men.
3. It will be seen by those long dead.
4. It will be seen by his actual murderers, and others like them.
5. It will be manifest to those who desire not to see the Lord.
6. It will be a sight in which you will have a share.
Since you must see him, why not at once look to him and live?
III. His coming will cause sorrow. "All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him."
1. The sorrow will be very general. "All kindreds of the earth."
2. The sorrow will be very bitter. "Wail."
3. The sorrow proves that men will not be universally converted.
4. The sorrow also shows that men will not expect from Christ's coming a great deliverance.
They will not look to escape from punishment.
They will not look for Annihilation.
They will not look for Restoration.
If they did so, his coming would not cause them to wail.
5. The sorrow will in a measure arise out of his glory, seeing they rejected and resisted him. That glory will be against them.
6. The sorrow will be justified by the dread result. Their fears of punishment will be well grounded. Their horror at the sight of the great Judge will be no idle fright.
To his Lord's coming the believer gives his sincere assent, whatever the consequences.
Can you say, "Even so, Amen"?
Advent thoughts
Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly! In the meanwhile, it is not Heaven that can keep you from me: it is not earth that can keep me from you: raise you up my soul to a life of faith with you: let me even enjoy your conversation, while I expect your return. Bishop Hall.
"Every eye shall see him." Every eye; the eye of every living man, whoever he is. None will be able to prevent it. The voice of the trumpet, the brightness of the flame, shall direct all eyes to him, shall fix all eyes upon him. Be it ever so busy an eye, or ever so vain an eye, whatever employment, whatever amusement it had the moment before, will then no longer be able to employ it, or to amuse it. The eye will be lifted up to Christ, and will no more look down upon money, upon books, upon land, upon houses, upon gardens. Alas! these things will then all pass away in a moment; and not the eyes of the living alone, but also all the eyes that have ever beheld the sun, though but for a moment: the eyes of all the sleeping dead will be awakened and opened. The eyes of saints and sinners of former generations. The eyes of Job, according to those rapturous words of his, which had so deep and so sublime a sense, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand in the last day on the earth: in my flesh I shall see God, whom my eyes shall behold, and not another." The eyes of Balaam, of which he seems to have had an awful foreknowledge when he said, "I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not near" Your eyes and mine. O awful thought! Blessed Jesus! May we not see you as through tears; may we not then tremble at the sight!—Dr. Doddridge.
"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.… And Peter went out and wept bitterly." So shall it be, but in a different sense, with sinners at the day of judgment. The eye of Jesus as their judge shall be fixed upon them, and the look shall awake their sleeping memories, and reveal their burdens of sin and shame—countless and cursed crimes, denials worse than Peter's, since life-long and unrepented of, scoffings at love that wooed them, and despisings of mercy that called them—all these shall pierce their hearts as they behold the look of Jesus. And they shall go out and flee from the presence of the Lord—go out never to return, flee even into the outer darkness, if so be they may hide them from that terrible gaze. And they shall weep bitterly—weep as they never wept before, burning, scalding tears, such as earth's sorrow never drew—weep never to be comforted, tears never to be wiped away. Their eyes shall be fountains of tears, not penitential and healing, but bitter and remorseful—tears of blood—tears that shall rend the heart in twain, and deluge the soul in fathomless woe. Anon.
CCLXI
Rev. 11:19—"And the temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."
It may not be easy to work out the connection of the text; but taken by itself it is eminently instructive.
Much that is of God we fail to see: to us the temple of God in Heaven is still in a measure closed.
There is need that it be opened to us by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus has rent the veil, and so laid open, not only the holy place, but the Holy of holies; and yet by reason of our blindness it still needs laying open, so that its treasures may be seen.
There are minds that even now see the secret of the Lord. We all shall do so above; and we may do so in a measure while below.
Among the chief objects which are to be seen in the heavenly temple is the ark of the covenant of God. This means that the covenant is always in the mind of God, and that his most holy and most secret purposes have a reference to that covenant.
It is "covenant," not testament (see the Revised Version, which is the better translation in this place).
I. The covenant is always near to God. "There was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant."
Whatever happens, the covenant stands secure.
Whether we see it or not, the covenant is in its place, near to God.
The covenant of grace is forever the same, for—
1. The God who made it changes not.
2. The Christ who is its Surety and Substance changes not.
3. The love which suggested it changes not.
4. The principles on which it is settled change not.
5. The promises contained in it change not; and, best of all,
6. The force and binding power of the covenant change not.
It is, it must be, forever where God at first placed it.
II. The covenant is seen of saints. "There was seen in his temple."
We see in part, and blessed are we when we see the covenant.
We see it when—
1. By faith we believe in Jesus as our Covenant-head.
2. By instruction we understand the system and plan of grace.
3. By confidence we depend upon the Lord's faithfulness, and the promises which he has made in the covenant.
4. By prayer we plead the ovenant.
5. By experience we come to perceive covenant-love running as a silver thread through all the dispensations of providence.
6. By a wonderful retrospect we look back when we arrive in Heaven, and see all the dealings of our faithful covenant God.
III. The covenant contains much that is worth seeing.
The ark of the covenant may serve us as a symbol.
In it typically, and in the covenant actually, we see—
1. God dwelling among men: as the ark in the tabernacle, in the center of the camp.
2. God reconciled, and communing with men upon the mercy-seat.
3. The law fulfilled in Christ: the two tables in the ark.
4. The kingdom established and flourishing in him: Aaron's rod.
5. The provision made for the wilderness: for in the ark was laid up the golden pot which had manna.
6. The universe united in carrying out covenant purposes, as typified by the cherubim on the mercy-seat.
IV. The covenant has solemn surroundings. "There were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings," etc.
It is attended by—
1. The sanctions of divine power—confirming.
2. The supports of eternal might—accomplishing.
3. The movements of spiritual energy—applying its grace.
4. The terrors of eternal law—overthrowing its adversaries.
Study the covenant of grace.
Fly to Jesus, who is the Surety of it.
Remarks of sound Divines
The great glory of the covenant is the certainty of the covenant; and this is the top of God's glory, and of a Christian's comfort, that all the mercies that are in the covenant of grace are "the sure mercies of David," and that all the grace that is in the covenant is sure grace, and that all the glory that is in the covenant is sure glory, and that all the external, internal, and eternal blessings of the covenant are sure blessings.
Thomas Brooks.
The covenant stands unchangeable. Mutable creatures break their leagues and covenants, and when they are not accommodated to their interests, snap them asunder, like Samson's cords. But an unchangeable God keeps his: "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, nor shall the covenant of my peace be removed" (Isaiah 54:10). Stephen Charnock.
The ark was an especial type of Christ, and it is a very fit one; for in a chest or coffer men put their jewels, plate, coin, treasure, and whatsoever is precious, and whereof they make high account. Such a coffer men use to have in the house, where they dwell continually, in the chamber where they lie, even by their bedside: because his treasure is in his coffer, his heart is there also. Thus in Christ "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). He is "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). "It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell" (Colossians 1:19). Hereupon Christ is "the Son of God's love" (Colossians 1:13); "his elect in whom his soul delights" (Isaiah 42:1); and he is "ever at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). William Gouge.
A friend calling on the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, during his last illness, said to him, "Sir, you have given us many good advices; pray, what are you now doing with your own soul?" "I am doing with it," said he, "what I did forty years ago; I am resting on that word, 'I am the Lord your God'; and on this I mean to die." To another he said, "The covenant is my charter, and if it had not been for that blessed word, 'I am the Lord your God,' my hope and strength had perished from the Lord."—Whitecross.
The rainbow of the covenant glitters above, lightnings of wrath issue from below. This is the fire that breaks forth from the sanctuary to consume those who profane its laws. It is the wrath of the Lamb that bursts from the altar upon those who trample under foot his blood. It is the savour of death unto death to those who have rejected the gospel as a savour of life unto life. It is the reply of Christ to those who command him upon their own authority to come down from his lofty elevation, and commit himself into their hands. "If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you." Humiliation brings Christ himself from heaven to earth; imperiousness brings down consuming fire. From the same temple, in which some behold the ark of the covenant, lightnings, voices, thunderings, earthquake, and great hail, descend upon those who have profaned its courts with their abominations. George Rogers.
CCLXII
Rev. 16:8, 9—"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
"And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory."
What forces God has at his disposal, since all angels serve him! These bring forth the vials of his wrath.
What power these beings have over nature; for on the sun the angel empties his bowl, and men are scorched with fire!
No men are beyond the power of the judgments of God. He can reach them by any medium. He can make ill effects flow from our best blessings: in this case burning heat poured from the sun.
The judgments of God do not of themselves produce true repentance; for these men "repented not to give him glory."
I. They may produce a repentance.
1. A carnal repentance caused by fear of punishment. Cain.
2. A transient repentance which subsides with the judgment. Pharaoh.
3. A superficial repentance which retains the sin. Herod.
4. A despairing repentance which ends in death. Judas.
There is nothing about any of these which gives glory to God.
II. They do not produce the repentance which gives God glory.
True repentance glorifies God—
1. By acknowledging his omniscience, and the wisdom of his warnings, when we confess the fact and folly of sin.
2. By admitting the righteousness of his law, and the evil of sin.
3. By confessing the justice of the Lord's threatenings, and bowing before his throne in reverent submission.
4. By owning that it lies with the sovereign mercy of God further to punish us, or graciously to forgive us.
5. By accepting the grace of God as presented in the Lord Jesus.
6. By seeking sanctification so as to live in holy gratitude, in accordance with favour received.
In the case before us in the chapter, the men under the plague went from bad to worse, from impenitence to blasphemy; but where there is godly sorrow sin is forsaken.
III. They involve men in greater sin when they do not soften.
1. Their sin becomes more a sin of knowledge.
2. Their sin becomes more a sin of defiance.
3. Their sin becomes a sin of falsehood before God. Vows broken, resolutions forgotten: all this is lying unto the Holy Ghost.
4. Their sin becomes a sin of hate towards God. They even sacrifice themselves to spite their God.
5. Their sin becomes more and more deliberate, costly, and stubborn.
6. Their sin is thus proven to be engrained in their nature.
IV. They are to be looked upon with discretion.
Hasty generalization will lead us into great errors in reference to divine judgments.
1. Used by the grace of God, they tend to arouse, impress, subdue, humble, and lead to repentance.
2. They may not be regarded as of themselves beneficial.
Satan is not bettered by his misery.
The lost in hell grow more obdurate through their pains.
Many wicked men are the worse for their poverty.
Many sick are not really penitent, but are hypocritical.
3. When we are not under judgment and terror, we should repent.
Because of God's long-suffering and goodness.
Because we are not now distracted by pain.
Because now we can think of the sin apart from the judgment, and are more likely to be honest in repentance.
Because we shall find it sweeter and nobler to be drawn than to be like "dumb driven cattle."
Be it our one aim "to give him glory."
Begin with this object in repentance, continue in it by faith, rise-nearer to it in hope, abide in it by zeal and love.
From great authors
Trees may blossom fairly in the spring, on which no fruit is to be found in the harvest; and some have sharp soul exercises which are nothing but foretastes of hell. Boston.
Richard Sibbes says, "We see, by many that have recovered again, that have promised great matters in their sickness, that it is hypocritical repentance, for they have been worse after than they were before." Dr. Grosart adds, by way of illustration, the testimony of a prison chaplain, to the effect that of "reprieved" criminals who, in the shadow of the gallows, had manifested every token of apparent penitence and heart-change, the number whose subsequent career gave evidence of reality is as 1 to 500, perhaps as awful a fact as recent criminal statistics reveal.
I believe it will be found that the repentance of most men is not so much sorrow for sin as sin, or real hatred of it, as sullen sorrow that they are not allowed to sin. Adam's Private Thoughts.
There is no repentance in Hell. They are scorched with heat, and blaspheme God's name, but repent not to give him glory. They curse him for their pains and sores, but repent not of their deeds. True repentance arises from faith and hope; but there can be no faith of releasement where is certain knowledge of eternal punishment: knowledge and sense exclude faith. There can be no hope of termination where be chains of desperation. There shall be a desperate sorrow for pain, no penitent sorrow for sin. None are now saved but by the blood of the Lamb; but when the world is ended, that fountain is dried up. The worm of conscience shall gnaw them with this remorse, bringing to their minds the cause of their present calamities: how often they have been invited to Heaven, how easily they might have escaped Hell. They shall weep for the loss of the one and gain of the other, not for the cause of either, which were repentance.… They suffer, and they blaspheme. Thomas Adams.
How awful to read, "men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail"! How true it is that affliction makes good men better, and bad men worse! Wrath converts no man. It is grace that saves. The chastisement that does not soften hardens. Judgments lead men to blaspheme; and the greater the plague, the more they blaspheme. What a solemn, but truthful, representation of the consequence of oft-neglected warnings! See the employment of man in the future state—in Heaven, to praise; in Hell, to blaspheme. George Rogers.
CCLXIII
Rev. 19:9—"And he says unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb."
Amazed by what he saw and heard, John might have failed to write but he was warned to do so on this occasion, because of—
The value of the statements herein recorded.
Their absolute certainty, as sure promises and true sayings of God.
The necessity of keeping such facts in remembrance throughout all time for the comfort of all those who look for the Lord's appearing.
This fact, that men shall partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb, might seem too good to be true if it were not specially certified by order of the Lord, under the hand and seal of the Spirit of God.
In the historical order, the false harlot-church is to be judged (see previous chapter), and then the true bride of Christ is to be acknowledged and honored.
In meditating upon this august marriage festival, we shall note—
I. The description of the Bridegroom.
The inspired apostle speaks of him as "the Lamb."
This is John's special name for his Lord. Perhaps he learned it from hearing the Baptist cry, by the Jordan, "Behold the Lamb."
What we learn early abides with us late.
John uses this name continually in this Book of the Revelation.
The last book of the Bible still reveals Jesus in this character as the Lamb of God.
In this passage the marriage of the Lamb may even seem incongruous as a figure: but John looks at the sense, and not at the language.
He wishes us above all things to remember that as the sacrifice for sin our Lord appears in his glory; and that as a Lamb he will manifest himself in the consummation of all things when his church is perfected.
1. As the Lamb he is the one everlasting sacrifice for sin: he will not be other than this in his glory.
2. As the Lamb, suffering for sin, he is specially glorious in the eyes of the angels and all other holy intelligences; and so in his joyous day he wears that character.
3. As the Lamb he most fully displayed his love to his church; and so he appears in this form on the day of his love's triumph.
4. As the Lamb he is best loved of our souls. Behold, how he loved us even to the death!
Ever as a victim for sin he rejoices to display himself to the universe.
II. The meaning of the marriage supper.
In the evening of time, in the end of the gospel day, there shall be—
1. The completion and perfection of the church. "His bride has made herself ready."
2. The rising of the church into the nearest and happiest communion with Christ in his glory. "The marriage of the Lamb is come." The espousals lead up to this.
3. The fulfillment of the long expectations of both.
4. The open publication of the great fact of mutual love and union.
5. The overflowing of mutual delight and joy. "Be glad and rejoice."
6. The grandest display of magnificent munificence in a banquet.
7. The commencement of an eternally unbroken rest. "He shall rest in his love." The church, like Ruth, shall find rest in the house of her husband.
III. The persons who are called to it.
Not those who have the common call and reject it, but—
1. Those who are so called as to accept the invitation.
2. Those who now possess the faith which is the token of admission.
3. Those who love Bridegroom and bride.
4. Those who have on the wedding garment of sanctification.
5. Those who watch with lamps burning.
These are they which are called to the marriage supper.
IV. The blessedness which is ascribed to them.
1. They have a prospect which blesses them even now.
2. They have great honor in being called to such a future.
3. They will be blessed indeed when at that feast, for—
Those who are called will be admitted.
Those who are admitted will be married.
Those who are married to Jesus will be endlessly happy. How many a marriage leads to misery! but it is not so in this case.
Alas, some are not thus blessed!
To be unblest is to be accursed.
Marriage Music
As they that have invited a company of strangers to a feast do stay until the last be come, so there will not be a glorious coming of Christ until all the elect be gathered into one body. And then shall be the coming of all comings, which is the glorious coming of Christ, to take us to himself. Richard Sibbes.
How blessed it will be to those "called" ones, to "sit down" at "the marriage supper of the Lamb!" Then will "the King sit indeed at his table," and "the spikenard will send forth the smell thereof."
He who once hung so sad upon the cross for every one, will look around that bright company, and in every white robe, and in every lighted countenance, he will behold the fruit of his sufferings. He will "see of the travail of his soul, and will be satisfied." It will be the eternal union of God fulfilled in its deepest counsel—a people given to Christ from before all worlds; and that they are, that day, all chosen—all gathered—all washed—all saved—and not one of them is lost!
James Vaughan.
We dare not say that our Lord will love us more than he loves us now, but he will indulge his love for us more; he will manifest it more, we shall see more of it, we shall understand it better; it will appear to us as though he loved us more. He will lay open his whole heart and soul to us, with all its feelings, and secrets, and purposes, and allow us to know them, as far at least as we can understand them, and it will conduce to our happiness to know them. The love of this hour will be the perfection of love. This marriage-feast will be the feast, the triumph, of love—the exalted Savior showing to the whole universe that he loves us to the utmost bound love can go, and we loving him with a fervor, a gratitude, an adoration, a delight, that are new even in Heaven.
The provisions made by him for our enjoyment will astonish us. Conceive of a beggar taken for the first time to a splendid monarch's table, and this at a season of unusual splendor and rejoicing. How would he wonder at the magnificence he would see around him, and the profusion of things prepared for his gratification; some altogether new to him, and others in an abundance and an excellence he had never thought of! So will it be with us in Heaven. We shall find it a feast and a monarch's feast. It will have delights for us, of which we have no conception; and the pleasures we anticipate in it will be far higher and more abundant than our highest expectations have ever gone. We shall have a provision made for us, which will befit, not our rank and condition, but the rank and condition, the greatness, the magnificence, of a glorious God. Charles Bradley.
CCLXIV
Rev. 19:9—"And he says unto me, These are the true sayings of God."
These words relate to that which immediately precedes them.
The judgment of the harlot church. Verse 2.
The glorious and universal reign of Christ. Verse 6.
The sure reward and glory of Christ with his saved ones in the glorious period at the last. Verses 7, 8.
The existence, beauty, purity, simplicity, and glory of the church.
The union of Christ and the church in love, joy, glory.
The blessedness of all who have to do with this union.
The subjects thus referred to make up a summary of what the Lord has said upon future human history.
The words before us we shall use as expressing—
I. A right estimate of Holy Scripture.
1. These words which we find in the Old and New Testaments are true. Free from error, certain, enduring, infallible.
2. These are divine words. Infallibly inspired, so as to be, in very truth "the sayings of God."
3. These words are thus true and divine in opposition to Words of man. These may or may not be true.
Pretended words of God. False prophets and men with addled intellects profess to speak in the name of God; but they lie.
4. These words are all of them truly divine. "These are the true sayings of God."
Neither too severe to be true, nor too terrible to be uttered by a God of love, as some dare to say.
Nor too good to be true, as tremblers fear.
Nor too old to be true, as novelty-hunters affirm.
Nor too simple to be truly divine, as the worldly-wise insinuate.
5. These words are a blessing to us for that reason.
What else can guide us if we have no sure revelation from God?
How can we understand the revelation if it is not all true? How could we discriminate between the truth and the error on subjects so much beyond us?
II. The result of forming such an estimate.
If you believe that "these are the true sayings of God,"
1. You will listen to them with attention, and judge what you hear from preachers by this infallible standard.
2. You will receive these words with assurance.
This will produce confidence of understanding.
This will produce rest of heart.
3. You will submit with reverence to these words, obey their precepts, believe their teachings, and value their prophecies.
4. You will expect fulfillment of divine promises under difficulties.
5. You will cling to revealed truth with pertinacity.
6. You will proclaim it with boldness.
III. Our justification for forming such an estimate.
In these days we may be accused of bibliolatry, and other new crimes; but we shall hold to our belief in inspiration, for—
1. The Scriptures are what they profess to be—the word of God.
2. There is a singular majesty and power in them; and we see this when the truth of God is preached.
3. There is a marvellous omniscience in Scripture, which is perceived by us when it unveils our inmost souls.
4. They have proven themselves true to us.
They warned us of the bitter fruit of sin, and we have tasted it.
They told us of the evil of the heart, and we have seen it.
They told us of the peace-giving power of the blood, and we have proved it by faith in Jesus.
They told us of the purifying energy of divine grace: we are already instances of it, and desire to be more so.
They assured us of the efficacy of prayer, and it is true.
They assured us of the upholding power of faith in God, and by faith we have been upheld in trial.
They assured us of the faithfulness of God to his people as shown in providence, and we have experienced it. All things have worked together for our good hitherto.
5. The witness of the Holy Spirit in our hearts confirms our faith in Holy Scripture. We believe, and are saved from sin by believing. Those words must be truly divine which have wrought in us such gracious results.
What follows upon this? We believe all the Scripture.
We now accept as true sayings of God—
The proclamation that our Lord is coming.
The doctrine that the dead will be raised at his call.
The fact that there will be a judgment of the quick and dead.
The truth that saints will enjoy eternal life, and that
Sinners will go away into everlasting punishment.
Worth Quoting
Whence but from heaven could men unskill'd in arts,
In several ages born, in several parts,
Weave such agreeing truths? or how, or why
Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie?
Unask'd their pains, ungrateful their advice,
Starving their gain, and martyrdom their price.
Dryden.
Of most things it may be said, "Vanity of vanity, all is vanity"; but of the Bible it may be truly said, "Verity of verity, all is verity."
Arrowsmith.
The True is the one asbestos which survives all fire, and comes out purified. Thomas Carlyle.
A young man had fallen into loose habits, and was living a wild, fast life. Late hours were frequent with him, and he would pay no regard to the remonstrances of a Christian father. At last it came to a point. The father told his son that he must either leave his home or conform to rules. He followed his old ways, went into lodgings, and was rather pleased to be free from the restraint he felt at home. After a while he picked up some young companions who professed infidel opinions, and soon, like them, he even scoffed at religion, and made light of all his parents had taught him. But the prayers of his father and mother followed him, and in a remarkable way were abundantly answered. One night the young fellow lay awake and began to think. "I tell people," said he to himself, "that there is no truth in the Bible, but there must be truth somewhere, and if not there, where is it? I wonder what the Bible says about truth."
In this way he was led to go to the Scriptures, and read every passage where truth is spoken of. The Bible became its own witness. It so took hold of him that he was persuaded that it was the very Word of the Living God. He was convinced of the evil of his past life, and was led to see Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. His whole future was the reverse of his former course. George Everard.