1-2 Corinthians (Sections 203-211)
Section 203
"And ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify
God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's"—1 Corinthians 6:19-20 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 ye that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?" Verse 19.
He slays it at the cross. "Ye are bought with a price."
Let us consider this last argument, that we may find therein death for our sins.
I. A blessed fact.
"Ye are bought with a price."
"Ye 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 heartbreak. Our body and spirit are both bought with the body and spirit of Jesus.
1. This is either a fact or not. "Ye are bought," or ye 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 greatest 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.
"Ye are not your own."
Negative. It is clear that if bought, ye 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 tor 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 worshipping 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 you 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.
Section 204
"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."—1 Corinthians 11:24 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 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 reveille, 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 engraven 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 ofttimes 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 anyone 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, ere 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 art 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, everyone 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 that 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.
Section 205
"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that Cup."—1 Corinthians 11:28 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. l. 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 enquiry, 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.
Ye who have come to this table heedlessly, repent of your wicked intrusion, and keep away till ye can come aright.
Ye 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 Psalms 26:6, "I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass thy 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 thy 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 Saviour, 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.
Section 206 "Some are fallen asleep."—1 Corinthians 15:6 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 till 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 remaineth 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 till bedtime 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?"
Section 207
"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of Mercies, and the God of all comfort; "Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,
that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble,
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."—2 Corinthians 1:3-4 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 whatsoever 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 comforteth us." The Lord has a special care for those who trust in him.
III. The comfortable fact.
"The God of all comforteth 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 Ghost, 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, spellbound, then she sprang towards her. "Oh, lady," she cried, "did you have two sons? 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 wherein she herself was comforted of God."—From "What Aileth Thee?"
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.
Section 208
"Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver:
in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us."—2 Corinthians 1:10 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 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. Verily, "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 hath 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 hath wrought his work upon our souls, specially when he hath 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 them 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 instance 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.
Section 209
"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in
him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."—2 Corinthians 1:20 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 "yea 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 yea and nay." This further brought out the declaration that the promises of God are not "yea 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 fulfilment.
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; Isaiah 57:15; Jeremiah 3:12-13. The Believing: John 3:16; John 3:18; John 6:47; Acts 16:31; 1 Peter 2:6. The Serving: Psalms 37:3, Psalms 9:40; Proverbs 3:9-10; Acts 10:35. The Praying: Isaiah 45:11; Lamentations 3:25; Matthew 6:6; Psalms 145:18. The Obeying: Exodus 19:5; Psalms 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 yea, and in him Amen." A Greek word "Yea" and a Hebrew word "Amen," are used to mark certainty, both to Gentile and Jew.
1. They are established beyond all doubts as being assuredly the mind and purpose of the eternal God.
2. They are confirmed beyond all alteration. The Lord hath said "Amen," and so must it be for ever.
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 fulfilment 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 fulfil 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 cheques 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 Gurnell.
If thou 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 till the preacher breaks it. Or it is like the water that was near Hagar, which she saw not till 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 wherewith 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.
Section 210
"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."—2 Corinthians 7:1
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." (Chap. 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." (Chap. 6:17.)
5. Divine adoption: "I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (Chap. 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 becometh 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 sin. He pours clean water, according to his promises, yet doth 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 saviours. 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, Php 2:13 : "It is God that worketh 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, for ever 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. Doth God promise that he will be my Father, and I shall be his son? and doth he promise me life everlasting? and doth 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. Doth the swearer think to carry his blasphemies thither? Filthy persons and liars are banished thence, there is "no unclean thing." He that hath these promises purgeth himself, and "perfecteth holiness in the fear of God." "He that hath this hope purifieth 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.
Section 211
"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented
of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death."—2 Corinthians 7:10 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, or 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 worketh 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, yea, love ourselves away. For Discrimination A cognate text in Romans 2:2; Romans 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 leadeth thee to repentance."
"Godly sorrow worketh 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 ere 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, Till inly 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 till 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 awe-struck 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 vernal 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 true joy of forgiveness.—Thomas Adams.