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  HOLINESS: ITS NATURE, HINDRANCES, DIFFICULTIES AND ROOTS
  by J.C. Ryle
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Ryle's classic work on the doctrine of holiness, defining sin comprehensively as
any departure from God's perfect will including sins of thought, omission, and
ignorance. He examines the nature of true holiness, the hindrances that impede
it, and the roots from which genuine sanctification grows.

  Chapters: 21

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    0. Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots
    1. Chapter 1
    2. Chapter 2
    3. Chapter 3
    4. Chapter 4
    5. Chapter 5
    6. Chapter 6
    7. Chapter 7
    8. Chapter 8
    9. Chapter 9
   10. Chapter 10
   11. Chapter 11
   12. Chapter 12
   13. Chapter 13
   14. Chapter 14
   15. Chapter 15
   16. Chapter 16
   17. Chapter 17
   18. Chapter 18
   19. Chapter 19
   20. Chapter 20

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  CHAPTER 0: HOLINESS: ITS NATURE, HINDRANCES, DIFFICULTIES AND ROOTS
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  CHAPTER 1: CHAPTER 1
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Holiness, Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots by J.C. Ryle The
Foreword One of the most encouraging and hopeful signs I have observed for many
a long day in evangelical circles has been a renewed and increasing interest in
the writings of Bishop J.C. Ryle. In his day he was famous, outstanding, and
beloved as a champion and exponent of the evangelical and reformed faith. For
some reason or other, however, his name and his works are not familiar to modern
evangelicals.

His books are, I believe, all out of print in this country and very difficult to
obtain second-hand. The differing fates suffered in this respect by Bishop Ryle
and his near contemporary, Bishop Mowell, have always been to me a matter of
great interest. But Bishop Ryle is being rediscovered and there is a new call
for the republication of his works.

All who have ever read him will be grateful for this new edition of his great
book, Unholiness. I shall never forget the satisfaction, spiritual and mental,
with which I read it some twenty years ago after having stumbled across it in a
second-hand bookshop. It really needs no preface or word of introduction.

All I will do is to urge all readers to read the Bishop's own introduction. It
is invaluable as it provides the setting in which he felt compelled to write the
book. The characteristics of Bishop Ryle's method and style are obvious.

He is preeminently and always scriptural and expository. He never starts with a
theory into which he tries to fit various scriptures. He always starts with the
word and expounds it.

It is exposition at its very best and highest. It is always clear and logical
and invariably leads to a clear enunciation of doctrine. It is strong and virile
and entirely free from the sentimentality that is often described as devotional.

The Bishop had drunk deeply from the wells of the great classical Puritan
writers of the 17th century. Indeed, it would be but accurate to say that his
books are a distillation of true Puritan theology, presented in a highly
readable and modern form. Ryle, like his great masters, has no easy way to
holiness to offer us and no patent method by which it can be attained.

But he invariably produces that hunger and thirst after righteousness, which is
the only indispensable condition to being filled. May this book be widely read,
that God's name be increasingly honored and glorified. Written by Dr. Martin
Lloyd-Jones.

The Introduction The twenty papers contained in this volume are a humble
contribution to a cause which is exciting much interest in the present day. I
mean the cause of spiritual holiness. It is a cause which everyone who loves
Christ and desires to advance his kingdom in the world should endeavor to help
forward.

Everyone can do something, and I wish to add my might. The reader will find
little that is directly controversial in these papers. I have carefully
abstained from naming modern teachers and modern books.

I have been content to give the result of my own study of the Bible, my own
private meditations, my own prayers for light, and my own reading of Old
Divines. If in anything I am still in error, I hope I shall be shown it before I
leave the world. We all see in part and have a treasure in earthen vessels.

I trust I am willing to learn. I have had a deep conviction for many years that
practical holiness and entire self-consecration to God are not sufficiently
attended to by modern Christians in this country. Politics or controversy or
party spirit or worldliness have eaten out the heart of lively piety in too many
of us.

The subject of personal godliness has fallen sadly into the background. The
sense of living has become painfully low in many quarters. The immense
importance of adorning the doctrine of God our Savior, Titus 2.10, and making it
lovely and beautiful by our daily habits and tempers has been far too much
overlooked.

Worldly people sometimes complain with reason that religious persons, so-called,
are not so amiable and unselfish and good-natured as others who make no
profession of religion. Yet sanctification in its place and proportion is quite
as important as justification. Sound Protestant and Evangelical doctrine is
useless if it is not accompanied by a holy life.

It is worse than useless. It does positive harm. It is despised by keen-sighted
and shrewd men of the world as an unreal and hollow thing and brings religion
into contempt.

It is my firm impression that we want a thorough revival about scriptural
holiness and I am deeply thankful that attention is being directed to the point.
It is, however, of great importance that the whole subject should be placed on
right foundations and that the movement about it should not be damaged by crude,
disproportionate and one-sided statements. If such statements abound, we must
not be surprised.

Satan knows well the power of true holiness and the immense injury which
increased attention to it will do to his kingdom. It is his interest, therefore,
to promote strife and controversy about this part of God's truth. Just as in
time past he has succeeded in mystifying and confusing men's minds about
justification, so he is laboring in the present day to make men darken counsel
by words without knowledge about sanctification.

May the Lord rebuke him. I cannot, however, give up the hope that good will be
brought out of evil, that discussion will elicit truth, and that variety of
opinion will lead us all to search the scriptures more, to pray more, and to
become more diligent in trying to find out what is the mind of the Spirit. I now
feel it a duty in sending forth this volume to offer a few introductory hints to
those whose attention is specially directed to the subject of sanctification in
the present day.

I know that I do so at the risk of seeming presumptuous and possibly of giving
offense, but something must be ventured in the interests of God's truth. I shall
therefore put my hints into the form of questions, and I shall request my
readers to take them as cautions for the time on the subject of holiness. Number
one.

I ask in the first place whether it is wise to speak of faith as the one thing
needful and the only thing required, as many seem to do nowadays in handling the
doctrine of sanctification. Is it wise to proclaim in so bald, naked, and
unqualified a way, as many do, that the holiness of converted people is by faith
only, and not at all by personal exertion? Is it according to the proportion of
God's word? I doubt it. That faith in Christ is the root of all holiness, that
the first step towards a holy life is to believe on Christ, that until we
believe we have not a jot of holiness, that union with Christ by faith is the
secret of both beginning to be holy and continuing holy, that the life that we
live in the flesh we must live by the faith of the Son of God, that faith
purifies the heart, that faith is the victory which overcomes the world, that by
faith the elders obtained a good report, all these are truths which no
well-instructed Christian will ever think of denying.

But surely the scriptures teach us that in following holiness, the true
Christian needs personal exertion and work as well as faith. The very same
apostle who says in one place, the life that I live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, says in another place, I fight, I run, I keep under my
body, and in other places, let us cleanse ourselves, let us labor, let us lay
aside every weight. Galatians 2 verse 20, 1 Corinthians 9 verse 26, 2
Corinthians 7 verse 1, Hebrews 4 verse 11, and Hebrews 12 verse 1. Moreover, the
scriptures nowhere teach us that faith sanctifies us in the same sense and in
the same manner that faith justifies us.

Justifying faith is a grace that worketh not, but simply trusts, rests, and
leans on Christ. Romans 4 verse 5, Sanctifying faith is a grace of which the
very life is action, it worketh by love, and like a mainspring moves the whole
inward man. Galatians 5 verse 6. After all, the precise phrase, sanctified by
faith, is only found once in the New Testament.

The Lord Jesus said to Saul, I send thee that they may receive forgiveness of
sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Yet
even there I agree with Alford that by faith belongs to the whole sentence and
must not be tied to the word sanctified. The true sense is that by faith in me
they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them that are
sanctified.

Compare Acts 26.18 with Acts 20 verse 32. As to the phrase holiness by faith, I
find it nowhere in the New Testament. Without controversy, in the matter of our
justification before God, faith in Christ is the one thing needful.

All that simply believe are justified. Righteousness is imputed to him that
worketh not, but believeth. Romans 4 verse 5. It is thoroughly scriptural and
right to say, faith alone justifies.

But it is not equally scriptural and right to say, faith alone sanctifies. The
saying requires very large qualification. Let one fact suffice.

We are frequently told that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the
law. By Saint Paul. But not once are we told that we are sanctified by faith
without the deeds of the law.

On the contrary, we are expressly told by Saint James that the faith whereby we
are visibly and demonstratively justified before man is a faith which, if it
hath not works, is dead, being alone. Footnote. There is a double justification
by God, the one authoritative, the other declarative or demonstrative.

The first is Saint Paul's scope when he speaks of justification by faith without
the deeds of the law. The second is Saint James' scope when he speaks of
justification by works. T. Goodwin on Gospel Holiness.

Works, Volume 7, page 181. The end of the footnote. I may be told, in reply,
that no one, of course, means to disparage works as an essential part of a holy
life.

It would be well, however, to make this more plain than many seem to make it in
these last days. Number 2. I ask in the second place whether it is wise to make
so little as some appear to do, comparatively, of the many practical
exhortations to holiness in daily life which are to be found in the Sermon on
the Mount and in the latter part of most of Saint Paul's epistles. Is it
according to the proportion of God's Word? I doubt it.

That a life of daily self-consecration and daily communion with God should be
aimed at by everyone who professes to be a believer. That we should strive to
attain the habit of going to the Lord Jesus Christ with everything we find a
burden, whether great or small, and casting it upon Him. All this, I repeat, no
well-taught child of God will dream of disputing.

But surely the New Testament teaches us that we want something more than
generalities about holy living which often prick no conscience and give no
offense. The details and particular ingredients of which holiness is composed in
daily life ought to be fully set forth and pressed on believers by all who
profess to handle the subject. True holiness does not consist merely of
believing and feeling, but of doing and bearing, and a practical exhibition of
active and passive grace.

Our tongues, our tempers, our natural passions and inclinations, our conduct as
parents and children, masters and servants, husbands and wives, rulers and
subjects, our dress, our employment of time, our behavior in business, our
demeanor in sickness and health, in riches and in poverty. All, all these things
are matters which are fully treated by inspired writers. They are not content
with a general statement of what we should believe and feel, and how we are to
have the roots of holiness planted in our hearts.

They dig down lower. They go into particulars. They specify minutely what a holy
man ought to do and be in his own family, and by his own fireside, if he abides
in Christ.

I doubt whether this sort of teaching is sufficiently attended to in the
movement of the present day. When people talk of having received such a
blessing, and of having found the higher life, after hearing some earnest
advocate of holiness by faith and self-consecration, while their families and
friends see no improvement and no increased sanctity in their daily tempers and
behavior, immense harm is done to the cause of Christ. True holiness, we surely
ought to remember, does not consist merely of inward sensations and impressions.

It is much more than tears and sighs and bodily excitement, and a quickened
pulse and a passionate feeling of attachment to our own favorite preachers and
our own religious party, and a readiness to quarrel with everyone who does not
agree with us. It is something of the image of Christ, which can be seen and
observed by others in our private life and habits and character and doings.
Romans 8 verse 29 Number 3 I ask in the third place whether it is wise to use
vague language about perfection and to press on Christians a standard of
holiness as attainable in this world for which there is no warrant to be shown
either in Scripture or experience.

I doubt it. That believers are exhorted to perfect holiness in the fear of God
or go on to perfection, to be perfect, no careful reader of his Bible will ever
think of denying. 2 Corinthians 7 verse 1 Hebrews 6 verse 1 and 2 Corinthians 13
verse 11 But I have yet to learn that there is a single passage in Scripture
which teaches that a literal perfection, a complete and entire freedom from sin
in thought or word or deed is attainable or ever has been attained by any child
of Adam in this world.

A comparative perfection, a perfection in knowledge, an all-around consistency
in every relation of life, a thorough songness in every point of doctrine, this
may be seen occasionally in some of God's believing people. But as to an
absolute literal perfection, the most eminent saints of God in every age have
always been the very last to lay claim to it. On the contrary, they have always
had the deepest sense of their own utter unworthiness and imperfection.

The more spiritual life they have enjoyed, the more they have seen their own
countless defects and shortcomings. The more grace they have had, the more they
have been clothed with humility. 1 Peter 5.5 What saint can be named in God's
Word of whose life many details are recorded, who is literally and absolutely
perfect? Which of them all, when writing about himself, ever talks of feeling
free from imperfection? On the contrary, men like David and St. Paul and St.
John declare in the strongest language that they feel in their own hearts
weakness and sin.

The holiest men of modern times have always been remarkable for deep humility.
Have we ever seen holier men than the martyred John Bradford, or Hooker, or
Usher, or Baxter, or Rutherford, or Machine? Yet no one can read the writings
and letters of these men without seeing that they felt themselves debtors to
mercy and grace every day, and the very last thing they ever laid claim to was
perfection. In face of such facts as these, I must protest against the language
used in many quarters in these last days about perfection.

I must think that those who use it either know very little of the nature of sin,
or of the attributes of God, or of their own hearts, or of the Bible, or of the
meanings of words. When a professing Christian coolly tells me that he has got
beyond such hymns as Just As I Am, and that they are below his present
experience, though they suited him when he first took up religion, I must think
his soul is in a very unhealthy state. When a man can talk coolly of the
possibility of living without sin while in the body, and can actually say that
he has never had an evil thought for three months, I can only say that in my
opinion he is a very ignorant Christian.

I protest against such teaching as this. It not only does no good, but does
immense harm. It disgusts and alienates from religion far-seeing men of the
world who know it is incorrect and untrue.

It depresses some of the best of God's children who feel they can never attain
to perfection of this kind. It puffs up many weak brethren who fancy they are
something when they are nothing. In short, it is a dangerous delusion.

Number four. In the fourth place, is it wise to assert so positively and
violently as many do that the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans does
not describe the experience of the advanced saint, but the experience of the
unregenerate man, or of the weak and unestablished believer? I doubt it. I admit
fully that the point has been a disputed one for eighteen centuries, in fact
ever since the days of St. Paul.

I admit fully that eminent Christians like John and Charles Wesley and Fletcher
a hundred years ago, to say nothing of some able writers of our own time,
maintain firmly that St. Paul was not describing his own present experience when
he wrote this seventh chapter. I admit fully that many cannot see what I and
many others do see, that is, that Paul says nothing in this chapter which does
not precisely tally with the recorded experience of the most eminent saints in
every age, and that he does say several things which no unregenerate man or weak
believer would ever think of saying and cannot say. So at any rate, it appears
to me, I will not enter into any detailed discussion of the chapter.

Footnote. Those who care to go on into the subject will find it fully discussed
in the commentaries of Willett, Elton, Chalmers, and Haldane, and in Owen on
Indwelling Sin, and in the work of Stafford on the Seventh of Romans. End of the
footnote.

What I do lay stress upon is the broad fact that the best commentators in every
era of the Church have almost invariably applied the seventh chapter of Romans
to advanced believers. The commentators who do not take this view have been,
with a few bright exceptions, the Romanists, the Sassians, and the Armenians.
Against them is arrayed the judgment of almost all the Reformers, almost all the
Puritans, and the best modern evangelical divines.

I shall be told, of course, that no man is infallible, that the Reformers,
Puritans, and modern divines I refer to may have been entirely mistaken, and
that the Romanists, Sassians, and Armenians may have been quite right. Our Lord
has taught us, no doubt, to call no man master. But while I ask no man to call
the Reformers and Puritans masters, I do ask people to read what they say on
this subject and answer their arguments if they can.

This has not been done yet. To say, as some do, that they do not want human
dogmas and doctrines is no reply at all. The whole point at issue is what is the
meaning of a passage of Scripture? How is the seventh chapter of the epistle to
the Romans to be interpreted? What is the true sense of its words? At any rate,
let us remember that there is a great fact which cannot be got over.

On one side stand the opinions and interpretation of Reformers and Puritans, and
on the other the opinions and interpretations of Romanists, Sassians, and
Armenians. Let that be distinctly understood. In the face of such a fact as
this, I must enter my protest against the sneering, taunting, contemptuous
language which has been frequently used of late by some of the advocates of what
I must call the Armenian view of the seventh of Romans in speaking of the
opinions of their opponents.

To say the least, such language is unseemly and only defeats its own end. A
cause which is defended by such language is deservedly suspicious. Truth needs
no such weapons.

If we cannot agree with men, we need not speak of their views with discourtesy
and contempt. An opinion which is backed and supported by such men as the best
Reformers and Puritans may not carry conviction to all minds in the nineteenth
century, but at any rate it would be well to speak of it with respect. Number
five.

In the fifth place, is it wise to use the language which is often used in the
present day about the doctrine of Christ in us? I doubt it. Is not this doctrine
often exalted to a position which it does not occupy in Scripture? I am afraid
that it is. That the true believer is one with Christ and Christ in him, no
careful reader of the New Testament will think of denying for a moment.

There is, no doubt, a mystical union between Christ and the believer. With him
we died, with him we are buried, with him we rose again, with him we sat in
heavenly places. We have five plain texts where we are distinctly taught that
Christ is in us.

Romans 8 verse 10, Galatians 2 verse 20, Galatians 4 verse 19, Ephesians 3 verse
17, and Colossians 3 verse 11. But we must be careful that we understand what we
mean by the expression that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith and carries on
his inward work by his Holy Spirit is clear and plain. But if we mean to say
that beside and over and above this there is some mysterious indwelling of
Christ in a believer, we must be careful what we are about.

Unless we take care we shall find ourselves ignoring the work of the Holy Ghost.
We shall be forgetting that in the divine economy of man's salvation, election
is the special work of God the Father, atonement, meditation, and intercession,
the special work of God the Son, and sanctification, the special work of God the
Holy Ghost. We shall be forgetting that our Lord said when he went away that he
would send us another Comforter who should abide with us forever and as it were
take his place.

John 14 verse 16, In short, under the idea that we are honoring Christ we shall
find that we are dishonoring his special and peculiar gift the Holy Ghost.
Christ no doubt as God is everywhere in our hearts, in heaven, in the place
where two or three are met together in his name. But we really must remember
that Christ as our risen Head and High Priest is specially at God's right hand
interceding for us until he comes the second time.

And that Christ carries on his work in the hearts of his people by the special
work of his Spirit whom he promised to send when he left the world. John 15
verse 26, A comparison of the ninth and tenth verses of the eighth chapter of
Romans seems to me to show this plainly. It convinces me that Christ in us means
Christ in us by his Spirit.

Above all the words of St. John are most distinct and express. Hereby we know
that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us. 1 John 3 verse 24,
In saying all this I hope no one will misunderstand me.

I do not say that the expression Christ in us is unscriptural. But I do say that
I see great danger in giving an extravagant and unscriptural importance to the
idea contained in the expression. And I do fear that many use it nowadays
without exactly knowing what they mean and unwittingly perhaps dishonor the
mighty work of the Holy Ghost.

If any readers think that I am needlessly scrupulous about the point I recommend
to their notice a curious book by Samuel Rutherford author of the well-known
letters called The Spiritual Antichrist. They will there see that two centuries
ago the wildest heresies arose out of an extravagant teaching of this very
doctrine of the indwelling of Christ in believers. They will find that Salt
Marsh and Dell and Town and other false teachers against whom good Samuel
Rutherford contended began with strange notions of Christ in us and then
proceeded to build on the doctrine antinomianism and fanaticism of the worst
description and vilest tendency.

They maintain that the separate personal life of the believer was so completely
gone that it was Christ living in him who repented and believed and acted. The
root of this huge error was a forced and unscriptural interpretation of such
texts as I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me. Galatians 2.20 And the
natural result of it was that many of the unhappy followers of this school came
to the comfortable conclusion that believers were not responsible whatever they
might do.

Believers forsooth were dead and buried and only Christ lived in them and
undertook everything for them. The ultimate consequence was that some thought
they might sit still in a carnal security their personal accountableness being
entirely gone and might commit any kind of sin without fear. Let us never forget
that truth distorted and exaggerated can become the mother of the most dangerous
heresies.

When we speak of Christ being in us let us take care to explain what we mean. I
fear some neglect this in the present day. Number 6 In the sixth place is it
wise to draw such a deep wide and distinct line of separation between conversion
and consecration or the higher life so called as many do draw in the present
day.

Is this according to the proportion of God's word? I doubt it. There is
unquestionably nothing new in this teaching. It is well known that Romish
writers often maintain that the church is divided into three classes sinners
penitents and saints.

The modern teachers of this day who tell us that professing Christians are of
three sorts the unconverted the converted and the partakers of the higher life
of complete consecration appear to me to occupy very much the same ground. But
whether the idea be old or new Romish or English I am utterly unable to see that
it has any warrant of scripture. The word of God always speaks of two great
divisions of mankind and two only.

It speaks of the living and the dead in sin the believer and the unbeliever the
converted and the unconverted the travelers in the narrow way and the travelers
in the broad the wise and the foolish the children of God and the children of
the devil. Within each of these two great classes there are doubtless various
measures of sin and of grace but it is only the difference between the higher
and lower end of an inclined plane. Between these two great classes there is an
enormous gulf.

They are as distinct as life and death light and darkness heaven and hell. But
of a division into three classes the word of God says nothing at all. I question
the wisdom of making newfangled divisions which the Bible has not made and I
thoroughly dislike the notion of a second conversion.

That there is a vast difference between one degree of grace and another that
spiritual life admits of growth and that believers should be continually urged
on every account to grow in grace all this I fully concede. But the theory of a
sudden mysterious transition of a believer into a state of blessedness and
entire consecration at one mighty bound I cannot receive. It appears to me to be
a man-made invention and I do not see a single plain text to prove it in
scripture.

Gradual growth in grace growth in knowledge growth in faith growth in love
growth in holiness growth in humility growth in spiritual mindedness all this I
see clearly taught and urged in scripture and clearly exemplified in the lives
of many of God's saints. But sudden instantaneous leaps from conversion to
consecration I fail to see in the Bible. I doubt indeed whether we have any
warrant for saying that a man can possibly be converted without being
consecrated to God.

More consecrated he doubtless can be and will be as his grace increases. But if
he was not consecrated to God in the very day that he was converted and born
again I do not know what conversion means. Are not men in danger of undervaluing
and underrating the immense blessedness of conversion? Are they not when they
urge on believers the higher life as the second conversion underrating the
length and breadth and depth and height of that great first change which
scripture calls the new birth the new creation the spiritual resurrection? I may
be mistaken but I have sometimes thought while reading the strong language used
by many about consecration in the last few years that those who use it must have
had previously a singularly low and inadequate view of conversion if indeed they
knew anything about conversion at all.

In short I have almost suspected that when they were consecrated they were in
reality converted for the first time. I frankly confess I prefer the old paths.
I think it wiser and safer to press on all converted people the possibility of
continual growth in grace and the absolute necessity of going forward increasing
more and more and every year dedicating and consecrating themselves more in
spirit soul and body to Christ.

By all means let us teach that there is more holiness to be attained and more of
heaven to be enjoyed upon earth than most believers now experience. But I
decline to tell any converted man that he needs a second conversion and that he
may someday or other pass by one enormous step into a state of entire
consecration. I decline to teach it because I cannot see any warrant for such
teaching in scripture.

I decline to teach it because I think the tendency of the doctrine is thoroughly
mischievous depressing the humble-minded and meek and puffing up the shallow the
ignorant and the self-conceited to a most dangerous extent. Number seven In the
seventh and last place is it wise to teach believers that they ought not to
think so much of fighting and struggling against sin but ought rather to yield
themselves to God and be passive in the hands of Christ? Is this according to
the proportion of God's word? I doubt it. It is a simple fact that the
expression yield yourselves is only to be found in one place in the New
Testament as a duty urged upon believers.

That place is in the sixth chapter of Romans and there was within six verses the
expression occurs five times. See Romans 6 verses 13 through 19 But even there
the word will not bear the sense of placing ourselves passively in the hands of
another. Any Greek student can tell us that the sense is rather that of actively
presenting ourselves for use employment and service.

See Romans 12 verse 1 The expression therefore stands alone but on the other
hand it would not be difficult to point out at least 25 or 30 distinct passages
in the epistles where believers are plainly taught to use active personal
exertion and are addressed as responsible for doing energetically what Christ
would have them do and are not told to yield themselves up as passive agents and
sit still but to arise and work. A holy violence a conflict a warfare a fight a
soldier's life a wrestling are spoken of as characteristic of the true
Christian. The account of the armor of God in the 6th chapter of Ephesians one
might think settles the question.

Footnote Old Sib's sermon on victorious violence deserves the attention of all
who have his works. See volume 7 page 30 End of footnote. Again it would be easy
to show that the doctrine of sanctification without personal exertion by simply
yielding ourselves to God is precisely the doctrine of the antinomian fanatics
in the 17th century to whom I have referred already described in Rutherford's
Spiritual Antichrist and that the tendency of it is evil in the extreme.

Again it would be easy to show that the doctrine is utterly subversive of the
whole teaching of such tried and approved books as Pilgrim's Progress and that
if we receive it we cannot do better than put Bunyan's old book in the fire. If
Christian in Pilgrim's Progress simply yielded himself to God and never fought
or struggled or wrestled I have read the famous allegory in vain. But the plain
truth is that men will persist in confounding two things that differ that is
justification and sanctification.

In justification the word to be addressed to man is believe only believe. In
sanctification the word must be watch pray and fight. What God has divided let
us not mingle and confuse.

I leave the subject of my introduction here and hasten to a conclusion. I
confess that I lay down my pen with feelings of sorrow and anxiety. There is
much in the attitude of professing Christians in this day which fills me with
concern and makes me full of fear for the future.

There is an amazing ignorance of scripture among many and a consequent want of
established solid religion. In no other way can I account for the ease with
which people are like children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind
of doctrine. Ephesians 4 verse 14 There is an Athenian love of novelty abroad
and a morbid distaste for anything old and regular and in the beaten path of our
forefathers.

Thousands will crowd to hear a new voice and a new doctrine without considering
for a moment whether what they hear is true. There is an incessant craving after
any teaching which is sensational and exciting and rousing to the feelings.
There is an unhealthy appetite for a sort of spasmodic and hysterical
Christianity.

The religious life of many is little better than spiritual dream drinking and
the meek and quiet spirit which St. Peter commends is clean forgotten. 1 Peter 3
verse 4 Crowds and crying and hot rooms and high-flown singing and an incessant
rousing of the emotions are the only things which many care for. Inability to
distinguish differences in doctrine is spreading far and wide and so long as the
preacher is clever and earnest hundreds seem to think that it must be all right
and call you dreadfully narrow and uncharitable if you hint that he is unsound.

Moody and Hayweath Dean Stanley and Cannon Libbon McConaughey Pearsall Smith all
seem to be alike in the eyes of such people. All this is sad, very sad. But if
in addition to this the true-hearted advocates of increased holiness are going
to fall out by the way and misunderstand one another, it will be sadder still.

We shall indeed be in evil plight. For myself I am aware that I am no longer a
young minister. My mind perhaps stiffens and I cannot easily receive any new
doctrine.

The old is better. I suppose I belong to the old school of evangelical theology
and I am therefore content with such teaching about sanctification as I find in
the life of faith of Sibbes and of Manton and in the life, walk and triumph of
faith of William Romaine. But I must express the hope that my younger brethren
who have taken up new views of holiness will beware of multiplying causeless
divisions.

Do they think that a higher standard of Christian living is needed in the
present day? So do I. Do they think that clearer, stronger, fuller teaching
about holiness is needed? So do I. Do they think that Christ ought to be more
exalted as the root and author of sanctification as well as justification? So do
I. Do they think that believers should be urged more and more to live by faith?
So do I. Do they think that a very close walk with God should be more pressed on
believers as the secret of happiness and usefulness? So do I. In all these
things we agree. But if they want to go further, then I ask them to take care of
where they tread and to explain very clearly and clearly. Finally I must
appreciate, and I do it in love, the use of uncouth and newfangled terms and
phrases in teaching sanctification.

I plead that a movement in favor of holiness cannot be advanced by new-coined
phraseology, or by disproportioned and one-sided statements, or by overstraining
and isolating particular texts, or by exalting one truth at the expense of
another, or by allegorizing and accommodating texts and squeezing out of them
meanings which the Holy Ghost never put in them, or by speaking contemptuously
and bitterly of those who do not entirely see things with our eyes and do not
work exactly in our ways. These things do not make for peace. They rather repel
many and keep them at a distance.

The cause of true sanctification is not helped, but hindered, by such weapons as
these. A movement in aid of holiness which produces strife and dispute among
God's children is somewhat suspicious. For Christ's sake, and in the name of
truth and charity, let us endeavor to follow after peace as well as holiness.

What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. It is my heart's desire
and prayer to God daily that personal holiness may increase greatly among
professing Christians in England. But I trust that all who endeavor to promote
it will adhere closely to the proportion of Scripture, will carefully
distinguish things that differ, and will separate the differences between And
who endeavor to promote holiness will adhere to the Scripture, will carefully
and the of between Christians in I make no apology for beginning this volume of
papers about holiness by making some plain statements about sin.

The plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all
salvation. The truth of holiness lies at of all The truth of lies at the root of
all salvation. The truth of lies at the root of all salvation.

The truth of of all salvation. and false doctrines of the present day. If a man
does not realize the dangerous nature of his soul's disease, you cannot wonder
if he is content with false or imperfect remedies.

I believe that one of the chief wants of the church in the 19th century has
been, and is, clearer, fuller teaching about sin. Number one, I shall begin the
subject by supplying some definition of sin. We are all of course familiar with
the terms sin and sinners.

We talk frequently of sin being in the world, and of men committing sins. But
what do we mean by these terms and phrases? Do you really know? I fear there is
much mental confusion and haziness on this point. Let me try as briefly as
possible to supply an answer.

This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's revival books. SWRB
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780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, T6L 3T5.

You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in
defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is
sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God,
which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on
Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making
evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them
whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn
superstitions than that they are not commanded by God.

For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and
attend not to his commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle
was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in which they
absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible
thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by
performing their own superstitions.

There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly
appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God
except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of
error. The Prophet's words then are very important, when he says that God had
commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind.

As though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he
never required, nay, what he never knew.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 2: CHAPTER 2
========================================================================

I fear there is much mental confusion and haziness on this point. Let me try as
briefly as possible to supply an answer. I say then that sin, speaking
generally, is, as the ninth article of our church declares, the fault and
corruption of the nature of every man that is naturally engendered of the
offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and
is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always against
the spirit, and therefore, in every person born into the world, it deserveth
God's wrath and damnation.

Sin, in short, is that vast moral disease which affects the whole human race of
every rank and class and name and nation and people and tongue, a disease from
which there never was but one born of woman that was free. Need I say that one
was Christ Jesus the Lord. I say, furthermore, that a sin, to speak more
particularly, consists in doing, saying, thinking, or imagining anything that is
not in perfect conformity with the mind and law of God.

Sin, in short, as the scripture saith, is the transgression of the law. 1 John
3.4 The slightest outward or inward departure from absolute mathematical
parallelism with God's revealed will and character constitutes a sin, and at
once makes us guilty in God's sight. Of course, I need not tell anyone who reads
his Bible with attention that a man may break God's law in heart and thought
when there is no overt invisible act of wickedness.

Our Lord has settled that point beyond dispute in the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew 5, verses 21-28. Even a poet of our own has truly said, A man may smile
and smile and be a villain. Again, I need not tell a careful student of the New
Testament that there are sins of omission as well as commission, and that we
sin, as our prayer book justly reminds us, by leaving undone the things we ought
to do, as really as by doing the things we ought not to do.

The solemn words of our Master in the Gospel of St. Matthew place this point
also beyond dispute. It is there written, Depart ye, cursed, into everlasting
fire, for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave
me no drink.

Matthew 25, verses 41-42 It was a deep and thoughtful saying of Holy Archbishop
Usher just before he died, Lord, forgive me all my sins, and specially my sins
of omission. But I do think it necessary in these times to remind my readers
that a man may commit sin and yet be ignorant of it, and fancy himself innocent
when he is guilty. I fail to see any scriptural warrant for the modern assertion
that sin is not sin to us unless we discern it and are conscious of it.

On the contrary, in the fourth and fifth chapters of that unduly neglected book,
Leviticus, and in the fifteenth of Numbers, I find Israel distinctly taught that
there were sins of ignorance which rendered people unclean and needed atonement.
Leviticus chapter 4, verses 1-35 chapter 5, verses 14-19 and Numbers chapter 15,
verses 25-29 And I find our Lord expressly teaching that the servant who knew
not his master's will and did it not was not excused on account of his
ignorance, but was beaten or punished. Luke 12, verse 48 We shall do well to
remember that when we make our own miserably imperfect knowledge and
consciousness the measure of our sinfulness, we are on very dangerous ground.

A deeper study of Leviticus might do us much good. Number 2 Concerning the
origin and source of this vast moral disease called sin, I must say something. I
fear the views of many professing Christians on this point are sadly defective
and unsound.

I dare not pass by it. Let us then have it fixed down in our minds that the
sinfulness of man does not begin from without, but from within. It is not the
result of bad training in early years.

It is not picked up from bad companions and bad examples as some weak Christians
are too fond of saying. No, it is a family disease which we all inherit from our
first parents, Adam and Eve, and with which we are born. Created in the image of
God, innocent and righteous at first, our parents fell from original
righteousness and became sinful and corrupt.

And from that day to this all men and women are born in the image of fallen Adam
and Eve, and inherit a heart and nature inclined to evil. By one man sin entered
into the world. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.

We are by nature children of wrath. The carnal mind is enmity against God. Out
of the heart, naturally as out of a fountain, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
and the like.

John 3.6, Ephesians 2.3, Romans 8.7, and Mark 7.21 The first babe that has
entered life this year and became the sunbeam of a family is not, as its mother
perhaps fondly calls it, a little angel or a little innocent, but a little
sinner. Alas, as it lies smiling and cooing in its cradle, that little creature
carries in its heart the seeds of every kind of wickedness. Only watch it
carefully as it grows in stature and its mind develops, and you will soon detect
in it an incessant tendency to that which is bad and a backwardness to that
which is good.

You will see in it the buds and germs of deceit, evil temper, selfishness,
self-will, obstinacy, greediness, envy, jealousy, passion, which, if indulged
and let alone, will shoot up with painful rapidity. Who taught the child these
things? Where did he learn them? The Bible alone can answer these questions. Of
all the foolish things that parents say about their children, there is none
worse than the common saying, My son has a good heart at the bottom.

He is not what he ought to be, but he has fallen into bad hands. Public schools
are bad places. The tutors neglect the boys.

Yet he has a good heart at the bottom. The truth, unhappily, is diametrically
the other way. The first cause of all sin lies in the natural corruption of the
boy's own heart and not in the school.

3. Concerning the extent of this vast moral disease of man called sin, let us
beware that we make no mistake. The only safe ground is that which is laid for
us in Scripture. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is by nature
evil and that continually.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Genesis 6.5 and
Jeremiah 17.9 Sin is a disease which pervades and runs through every part of our
moral constitution and every faculty of our minds. The understanding, the
affections, the reasoning powers, the will, all are more or less affected.

Even the conscious is so blinded that it cannot be depended on as a sure guide
and is as likely to lead men wrong as right unless it is enlightened by the Holy
Ghost. In short, from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no
soundness about us. Isaiah 1.6 The disease may be veiled under a thin covering
of courtesy, politeness, good manners, and outward decorum, but it lies deep
down in the constitution.

I admit fully that man has many grand and noble faculties left about him and
that in arts and sciences and literature he shows immense capacity. But the fact
still remains that in spiritual things he is utterly dead and has no natural
knowledge or love or fear of God. His best things are so interwoven and
intermingled with corruption that the contrast only brings out into sharper
relief the truth and extent of the false.

That one and the same creature should be in some things so high and in other
things so low, so great and yet so little, so noble and yet so mean, so grand in
his conception and execution of material things, and yet so grovelling and
debased in his affections, that he should be able to plan and erect buildings
like those of Karnak and Lukor in Egypt and the Parthenon at Athens, and yet
worship vile gods and goddesses and birds and beasts and creeping things, that
he should be able to produce tragedies like those of Aeschylus and Sophocles and
histories like that of Thucydides and yet be a slave to abominable vices like
those described in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. All this is a
sore puzzle to those who sneer at God's word written and scoff at us as
bibliolators. But it is a knot that we can untie with the Bible in our hands.

We can acknowledge that man has all the marks of a majestic temple about him, a
temple in which God once dwelt, but a temple which is now in utter ruins, a
temple in which a shattered window here and a doorway there and a column there
still give some faint idea of the magnificence of the original design, but a
temple which from end to end has lost its glory and fallen from its highest
state. And we say that nothing solves the complicated problem of man's condition
but the doctrine of original or birthed sin and the crushing effects of the
fall. Let us remember, besides this, that every part of the world bears
testimony to the fact that sin is the universal disease of all mankind.

Search the globe from east to west and from pole to pole Search every nation of
every clime in the four quarters of the earth Search every rank and class in our
own country from the highest to the lowest and under every circumstance and
condition the report will always be the same. The remotest islands in the
Pacific Ocean, completely separate from Europe, Asia, Africa and America, beyond
the reach alike of oriental luxury and western arts and literature, islands
inhabited by people ignorant of books, money, steam and gunpowder,
uncontaminated by the vices of modern civilization, these very islands have
always been found, when first discovered, the abode of the vilest forms of lust,
cruelty, deceit and superstition. If the inhabitants have known nothing else,
they have always known how to sin.

Everywhere the human heart is naturally deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. For my part, I know no stronger proof of the inspiration of
Genesis and the mosaic account of the origin of man than the power, extent and
universality of sin. Grant that mankind have all sprung from one pear, and that
this pear fell, as Genesis 3 tells us, and the state of human nature everywhere
is easily accounted for.

Deny it, as many do, and you are at once involved in inexplicable difficulties.
In a word, the uniformity and universality of human corruption supply one of the
most unanswerable instances of the enormous difficulties of infidelity. After
all, I am convinced that the greatest proof of the extent and power of sin is
the pertinacity with which it cleaves to man even after he is converted and has
become the subject of the Holy Ghost's operations.

To use the language of the ninth article, this infection of nature doth remain,
yea, even in them that are regenerate. So deeply planted are the roots of human
corruption that even after we are born again, renewed, washed, sanctified,
justified and made living members of Christ, these roots remain alive in the
bottom of our hearts. And like the leprosy in the walls of the house, we never
get rid of them until the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved.

Sin, no doubt in the believer's heart, has no longer dominion. It is checked,
controlled, mortified and crucified by the expulsive power of the new principle
of grace. The life of a believer is a life of victory and not of failure.

But the very struggles which go on within his bosom, the fight that he finds it
needful to fight daily, the watchful jealousy which he is obliged to exercise
over his inner man, the contest between the flesh and the spirit, the inward
groanings which no one knows but he who has experienced them, all, all testify
to the same great truth, all show the enormous power and vitality of sin. Mighty
indeed must that foe be who even when crucified is still alive. Happy is that
believer who understands it, and while he rejoices in Christ Jesus has no
confidence in the flesh, and while he says thanks be unto God who giveth us the
victory, never forget to watch and pray lest he fall into temptation.

Concerning the guilt, vileness and offensiveness of sin in the sight of God, my
words shall be few. I say few advisedly. I do not think in the nature of things
that mortal man can at all realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the sight
of that holy and perfect one with whom we have to do.

On the one hand, God is that eternal being who charges his angels with folly,
and in whose sight the very heavens are not clean. He is one who reads thoughts
and motives as well as actions and requires truth in the inward parts. We, on
the other hand, poor blind creatures, here today and gone tomorrow, born in sin,
surrounded by sinners, living in a constant atmosphere of weakness, infirmity
and imperfection, can form none but the most inadequate conceptions of the
hideousness of evil.

We have no line to fathom it and no measure by which to gauge it. The blind man
can see no difference between a masterpiece of Titan and Raphael and the queen's
head on a village signboard. The deaf man cannot distinguish between a penny
whistle and a cathedral organ.

The very animals whose smell is most offensive to us have no idea that they are
offensive and are not offensive to one another. And man, fallen man, I believe,
can have no just idea what a vile thing sin is in the sight of that God whose
handiwork is absolutely perfect, perfect whether we look through telescope or
microscope, perfect in the formation of a mighty planet like Jupiter with his
satellites, keeping time to a second as he rolls around the sun, perfect in the
formation of the smallest insect that crawls over a foot of ground. But let us
nevertheless settle it firmly in our minds that sin is the abominable thing that
God hateth, that God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and cannot look
upon that which is evil, that the least transgression of God's law makes us
guilty of all, that the soul that sinneth shall die, that the wages of sin is
death, that God shall judge the secrets of men, that there is a worm that never
dies and a fire that is not quenched, that the wicked shall be turned into hell
and shall go away into everlasting punishment, and that nothing that defiles
shall in any wise enter heaven.

Psalm 9, verse 17, Matthew 25, verse 46, and Revelation 21, 27. These are indeed
tremendous words when we consider that they are written in the book of a most
merciful God. No proof of the fullness of sin, after all, is so overwhelming and
unanswerable as the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the whole
doctrine of his substitution and atonement.

Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of
God can make satisfaction. Heavy must that weight of human sin be which made
Jesus groan and sweat drops of blood in agony at Gethsemane and cry at Golgotha,
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Matthew 27, verse 46, Nothing, I am
convinced, will astonish us so much when we awake in the resurrection day as the
view we shall have of sin and the retrospect we shall take of our own countless
shortcomings and defects. Never till the hour when Christ comes the second time
shall we fully realize the sinfulness of sin.

Well, might George Whitefield say, the anthem in heaven will be, What hath God
wrought? Number five, One point only remains to be considered on the subject of
sin which I dare not pass over. That point is its deceitfulness. It is a point
of most serious importance and I venture to think it does not receive the
attention which it deserves.

You may see this deceitfulness in the wonderful proneness of men to regard sin
as less sinful and dangerous than it is in the sight of God and in their
readiness to extenuate it, make excuses for it, and minimize its guilt. It is
but a little one. God is merciful.

God is not extreme to mark what is done amiss. We mean well. One cannot be so
particular.

Where is the mighty harm? We only do as others. Who is not familiar with this
kind of language? You may see it in the long string of smooth words and phrases
which men have coined in order to designate things which God calls downright
wicked and ruinous to the soul. What do such expressions as fast, gay, wild,
unsteady, thoughtless, and loose mean? They show that men try to cheat
themselves into the belief that sin is not quite so sinful as God says it is and
that they are not so bad as they really are.

You may see it in the tendency even of believers to indulge their children in
questionable practices and to bind their own eyes to the inevitable result of
the love of money, of tampering with temptation, and sanctioning a low standard
of family religion. I fear we do not sufficiently realize the extreme subtlety
of our soul's disease. We are too apt to forget that temptation to sin will
rarely present itself to us in its true colors saying, I am your deadly enemy
and I want to ruin you forever in hell.

Oh no, sin comes to us like Judas with a kiss and like Joab with an outstretched
hand and flattering words. The forbidden fruit seemed good and desirable to Eve
yet it cast her out of Eden. The walking idly on his palace roof seemed harmless
enough to David yet it ended in adultery and murder.

Sin rarely seems sin at first beginnings. Let us then watch and pray lest we
fall into temptation. We may give wickedness smooth names but we cannot alter
its nature and character in the sight of God.

Let us remember St. Paul's words, exhort one another daily lest any be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3.13 It is a wise prayer in our litany
from the deceits of the world the flesh and the devil good Lord, deliver us. And
now before I go further let me briefly mention two thoughts which appear to me
to rise with irresistible force out of the subject.

On the one hand I ask my readers to observe what deep reasons we all have for
humiliation and self-abasement. Let us sit down before the picture of sin
displayed to us in the Bible and consider what guilty, vile, corrupt creatures
we all are in the sight of God. What need we all have of that entire change of
heart called regeneration, new birth or conversion.

What a mass of infirmity and imperfection cleaves to the very best of us at our
very best. What a solemn thought it is that without holiness no man shall see
the Lord. Hebrews 12.14 What cause we have to cry with the publican every night
in our lives when we think of our sins of omission as well as commission.

God be merciful to me a sinner. Luke 18.13 How admirably suited are the general
and communion confessions of the prayer book to the actual condition of all
professing Christians. How well that language suits God's children which the
prayer book puts in the mouth of every church man before he goes to the
communion table.

The remembrance of our misdoings is grievous to us. The burden is intolerable.
Have mercy upon us.

Have mercy upon us. Most merciful Father for thy son our Lord Jesus Christ's
sake forgive us all that is past. How true it is that the holiest saint is in
himself a miserable sinner and a debtor to mercy and grace to the last moment of
his existence.

With my whole heart I subscribe to that passage in Hooker's Sermon on
Justification which begins Let the holiest and best things we do be considered.
We are never better affected unto God than when we pray. Yet when we pray how
are our affections many times distracted? How little reverence do we show unto
the grand majesty of God unto whom we speak? How little remorse of our own
miseries? How little taste of the sweet influence of his tender mercies do we
feel? Are we not as unwilling many times to begin and as glad to make an end as
if in saying call upon me he has set us a very burdensome task.

It may seem somewhat extreme which I will speak. Therefore let everyone judge of
it even as his own heart shall tell him and not otherwise. I will but only make
a demand.

If God should yield unto us not as unto Abraham if fifty forty thirty twenty yea
or even ten good persons could be found in the city for their sakes this city
should not be destroyed. But and if he should make us an offer thus large search
all the generations of men since the fall of our father Adam. Find one man that
hath done one action which hath passed from him pure without any stain or
blemish at all.

And for that one man's only action neither man nor angel should feel the
torments which are prepared for both. Do you think that this ransom to deliver
men and angels could be found to be among the sons of men? The best things which
we do have somewhat in them to be pardoned. A quote from Hooker's book Learned
Discourse of Justification That witness is true.

For my part I am persuaded the more light we have the more we see our own
sinfulness. The nearer we get to heaven the more we are clothed with humility.
In every age of the church you will find it true if you will study biographies
that the most eminent saints men like Bradford Rutherford and Machine have
always been the humblest men.

On the other hand I ask my readers to observe how deeply thankful we ought to be
for the glorious gospel of the grace of God. There is a remedy revealed for
man's need as wide and broad and deep as man's disease. We need not be afraid to
look at sin and study its nature, origin, power, extent and vileness if we only
look at the same time at the almighty medicine provided for us in the salvation
that is in Jesus Christ.

Though sin has abounded grace has much more abounded. Yes, in the everlasting
covenant of redemption to which Father, Son and Holy Ghost are parties. In the
mediator of that covenant Jesus Christ the righteous perfect God and perfect man
in one person.

In the work that he did by dying for our sins and rising again for our
justification. In the offices that he fills as our priest, substitute, physician
shepherd and advocate. In the precious blood he shed which can cleanse from all
sin.

In the everlasting righteousness that he brought in. In the perpetual
intercession that he carries on as our representative at God's right hand. In
his power to save to the uttermost the chief of sinners.

His willingness to receive and pardon the vilest. His readiness to bear with the
weakest. In the grace of the Holy Spirit which he plants in the hearts of all
his people removing, sanctifying and causing old things to pass away and all
things to become new.

In all this and oh what a brief sketch it is in all this I say there is a full,
perfect and complete medicine for the hideous disease of sin. Awful and
tremendous as the right view of sin undoubtedly is no one need faint and despair
if he will take a right view of Jesus Christ at the same time. No wonder that
old Sable ends many a chapter of his admirable fountain of life with the
touching words Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.

In bringing this mighty subject to a close I feel that I have only touched the
surface of it. It is one which cannot be thoroughly handled in a paper like
this. He that would see it treated fully and exhaustively must turn to such
masters of experimental theology as Owen and Burgess and Manton and Charnock and
the other giants of the Puritan school.

On subjects like this there are no writers to be compared to the Puritans. It
only remains for me to point out some practical uses to which the whole doctrine
of sin may be profitably turned in the present day. A. I see then in the first
place that a scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to that vague,
dim, misty hazy kind of theology which is so painfully current in this present
age.

It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a vast quantity of
so-called Christianity nowadays which you cannot declare positively unsound but
which nevertheless is not full measure, good weight and sixteen ounces to the
pound. It is a Christianity in which there is undeniably something about Christ
and something about grace and something about faith and something about
repentance and something about holiness. But it is not the real thing as it is
in the Bible.

Things are out of place and out of proportion. As old Latimer would have said
it, it is a kind of mingle mangle and does no good. It neither exercises
influence on daily conduct nor comforts in life nor gives peace in death and
those who hold it often await too late to find that they have got nothing solid
under their feet.

Now I believe the likeliest way to cure and mend this defective kind of religion
is to bring forward more prominently the old scriptural truth about the
sinfulness of sin. People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven
and live like pilgrims until they really feel that they are in danger of hell.
Let us all try to revive the old teaching about sin in nurseries, in schools, in
training colleges, in universities.

Let us not forget that the law is good if we use it lawfully and that by the law
is the knowledge of sin. 1 Timothy 1.8 Romans 3.20 and 7.7 Let us bring the law
to the front and press it on men's attention. Let us expound and beat out the
ten commandments and show the length and breadth and depth and height of their
requirements.

This is the way of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot do better than
follow His plan. We may depend upon it.

Men will never come to Jesus and stay with Jesus and live for Jesus unless they
really know why they are to come and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit
draws to Jesus are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough
conviction of sin men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season but
they will soon fall away and return to the world.

b. In the next place a scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to
the extravagantly broad and liberal theology which is so much in vogue at the
present time. The tendency of modern thought is to reject dogmas, creeds and
every kind of bounds in religion. It is thought grand and wise to condemn no
opinion whatsoever and to pronounce all earnest and clever teachers to be
trustworthy.

However heterogeneous and mutually destructive their opinions may be. Everything
forsooth is true and nothing is false. Everybody is right and nobody is wrong.

Everybody is likely to be saved and nobody is to be lost. The atonement and
substitution of Christ the personality of the devil the miraculous element in
Scripture the reality and eternity of future punishment all these mighty
foundation stones are coolly tossed overboard like lumber in order to lighten
the ship of Christianity and enable it to keep pace with modern science. Stand
up for these great verities and you are called narrow illiberal old-fashioned
and a theological fossil.

Quote a text and you are told that all truth is not confined to the pages of an
ancient Jewish book and that free inquiry has found out many things since the
book was completed. Now I know nothing so likely to counteract this modern
plague as constant clear statements about the nature reality vileness power and
guilt of sin. We must charge home into the consciences of these men of broad
views and demand a plain answer to some plain questions.

We must ask them to lay their hands on their hearts and tell us whether their
favorite opinions comfort them in the day of sickness in the hour of death by
the bedside of dying parents by the grave of beloved wife or child. We must ask
them whether a vague earnestness without definite doctrine gives them peace at
seasons like this. We must challenge them to tell us whether they do not
sometimes feel a gnawing something within which all the free inquiry and
philosophy and science in the world cannot satisfy and then we must tell them
that this gnawing something is the sense of sin guilt and corruption which they
are leaving out in their calculations and above all we must tell them that
nothing will ever make them feel rest but submission to the old doctrines of
man's ruin and Christ's redemption and simple childlike faith in Jesus.

C. In the next place a right view of sin is the best antidote to that sensuous
ceremonial formal kind of Christianity which has swept over England like a flood
in the last 25 years and carried away so many before it. I can well believe that
there is much that is attractive in this system of religion to a certain order
of minds so long as the conscience is not fully enlightened but when that
wonderful part of our constitution called conscience is really awake and alive I
find it hard to believe that a sensuous ceremonial Christianity will thoroughly
satisfy us. A little child is easily quieted and amused with gaudy toys and
dolls and rattles so long as it is not hungry but once let it feel the cravings
of nature within and we know that nothing will satisfy it but food just so it is
with man in the matter of his soul.

Music and flowers and candles and incense and banners and processions and
beautiful vestments and confessionals and man-made ceremonies of a semi-Roman
character may do well enough for him under certain conditions but once let him
awake and rise from the dead and he will no longer be content with these things
they will seem to him mere solemn triflings and a waste of time once let him see
his sin and he must see his savior he feels stricken with a deadly disease and
nothing will satisfy him but the great physician he hungers and thirsts and he
must have nothing less than the bread of life I may seem bold in what I am about
to say but I fearlessly venture the assertion that four-fifths of the
semi-Romish of the last quarter of a century would never have existed if English
people had been taught more fully and clearly the nature, vileness and
sinfulness of sin D. In the next place a right view of sin is one of the best
antidotes to the overstrained theories of perfection of which we hear so much in
these times I shall say but little about this and in saying it I trust I shall
not give offense if those who press on us perfection mean nothing more than an
all-around consistency and a careful attention to all the graces which make up
the Christian character reason would that we should not only bear with them but
agree with them entirely by all means let us aim high but is man really mean to
tell us that here in this world a believer can attain to entire freedom from sin
live for years in unbroken and uninterrupted communion with God and feel for
months together not so much as one evil thought I must honestly say that such an
opinion appears to me to be very unscriptural I go even further I say that the
opinion is very dangerous to him that holds it and very likely to depress
discourage and keep back inquirers after salvation I cannot find the slightest
warrant in God's word for expecting such perfection as this while we are in the
body I believe the words of our 15th article are strictly true that Christ alone
is without sin and that all we the rest though baptized and born again in Christ
offend in many things and if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and
the truth is not in us to use the language of our first homily there be
imperfections in our best works we do not love God so much as we are bound to do
with all our hearts mind and power we do not fear God so much as we ought to do
we do not pray to God but with many and great imperfections we give forgive
believe live and hope imperfectly we speak think and do imperfectly we fight
against the devil the world and the flesh imperfectly let us therefore not be
ashamed to confess plainly our state of imperfections once more I repeat what I
have said the best preservative against this temporary delusion about perfection
which clouds some minds for such I hope I may call it is a clear full distinct
understanding of the nature sinfulness and deceitfulness of sin E in the last
place a scriptural view of sin will prove an admirable antidote to the low views
of personal holiness which are so painfully prevalent in these last days of the
church this is a very painful and delicate subject I know but I dare not turn
away from it it has long been my sorrowful conviction that the standard of daily
life among professing Christians in this country has been gradually falling I am
afraid that Christ-like charity kindness good temper unselfishness meekness
gentleness good nature self-denial zeal to do good and separation from the world
are far less appreciated than they ought to be and than they used to be in the
days of our fathers into the causes of this state of things I cannot pretend to
enter fully and can only suggest conjectures for consideration it may be that a
certain profession of religion has become so fashionable and comparatively easy
in the present age that the streams which were once narrow and deep have become
wide and shallow and what we have gained in outward show we have lost in quality
it may be that the vast increase of wealth in the last 25 years has insensibly
introduced the plague of worldliness and self-indulgence and love of ease into
social life what were once called luxuries are now comforts and necessaries and
self-denial and enduring hardness are consequently little known it may be that
the enormous amount of controversy which marks this age has insensibly dried up
our spiritual life we have too often been content with zeal for orthodoxy and
have neglected the sober realities of daily practical godliness be the causes
what they may I must declare my own belief that the result remains there has
been of late years a lower standard of personal holiness among believers than
there used to be in the days of our fathers the whole result is that the spirit
is grieved and the matter calls for much humiliation and searching of heart as
to the best remedy for the state of things I have mentioned I shall venture to
give an opinion other schools of thought in the churches must judge for
themselves the cure for evangelical churchmen I am convinced is to be found in a
clearer apprehension of the nature and sinfulness of sin we need not go back to
Egypt and borrow semi-Romish practices in order to revive our spiritual life we
need not restore the confessional or return to monasticism or asceticism nothing
of the kind we must simply repent and do our first works we must return to the
first principle we must go back to the old path we must sit down humbly in the
presence of God look the whole subject in the face examine clearly what the Lord
Jesus calls sin and what the Lord Jesus calls doing his will we must then try to
realize that it is terribly possible to live a careless easy going half worldly
life and yet at the same time to maintain evangelical principles and call
ourselves evangelical people once let us see that sin is far viler and far
nearer to us and sticks more closely to us than we supposed and we shall be led
I trust and believe to get nearer to Christ once drawn nearer to Christ we shall
drink more deeply out of his fullness and learn more thoroughly to live the life
of faith in him as Saint Paul did once taught to live the life of faith in Jesus
and abiding in him we shall bear more fruit and shall find ourselves more strong
for duty more patient in trial more watchful over our poor weak hearts and more
like our master in all our little daily ways just in proportion as we realize
how much Christ has done for us shall we labor to do much for Christ much
forgiven we shall love much in short as the apostle says with us in faith
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image
even as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Corinthians 3.18 whatever some may please to
think or say there can be no doubt that an increased feeling about holiness is
one of the signs of the times conferences for the promotion of spiritual life
are becoming common in the present day the subject of spiritual life finds a
place on congress platforms almost every year it has awakened an amount of
interest and general attention throughout the land for which we ought to be
thankful any movement based on sound principles which helps to deepen our
spiritual life and increase our personal holiness will be a real blessing
through the church of England it will do much to draw us together and heal our
unhappy divisions it will bring down some fresh outpouring of the grace of the
spirit and be life from the dead in these latter times but sure I am as I said
in the beginning of this paper we must begin low if we would build high I am
convinced that the first step towards attaining a higher standard of holiness is
to realize more fully the amazing sinfulness of sin chapter 2 beginning on page
15 sanctification sanctify them through thy truth John 17 17 this reformation
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may also request a free printed catalog and remember that John Kelvin in
defending the reformation's regulative principle of worship or what is sometimes
called the scriptural law of worship commenting on the words of God which I
commanded them not neither came into my heart from his commentary on Jeremiah
731 writes God here cuts off from men


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  CHAPTER 3: CHAPTER 3
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Chapter 2. Sanctification. Sanctify them through thy truth. John 17, 17.

This is the will of God, even your sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 4, 3. The
subject of sanctification is one which many, I fear, dislike exceedingly. Some
even turn from it with scorn and disdain.

The very last thing they would like is to be a saint or a sanctified man. Yet
the subject does not deserve to be treated in this way. It is not an enemy, but
a friend.

It is the subject of the utmost importance to our souls. If the Bible be true,
it is certain that unless we are sanctified, we shall not be saved. There are
three things which, according to the Bible, are absolutely necessary to the
salvation of every man and woman in Christendom.

These three are justification, regeneration, and sanctification. All three meet
in every child of God. He is both born again, and justified, and sanctified.

He that lacks any one of these three things is not a true Christian in the sight
of God, and dying in that condition will not be found in heaven and glorified in
the last day. It is the subject which is peculiarly seasonable in the present
day. Strange doctrines have risen up of late upon the whole subject of
sanctification.

Some appear to confound it with justification. Others fritter it away to
nothing, under the pretense of zeal for free grace, and practically neglect it
altogether. Others are so much afraid of works being made a part of
justification that they can hardly find any place at all for works in their
religion.

Others set up a wrong standard of sanctification before their eyes, and failing
to attain it, waste their lives in repeated successions from church to church,
chapel to chapel, and sect to sect, in the vain hope that they will find what
they want. In a day like this, a calm examination of the subject as a great
leading doctrine of the gospel may be of great use to our souls. 1. Let us
consider, firstly, the true nature of sanctification.

2. Let us consider, secondly, the visible marks of sanctification. 3. Let us
consider, lastly, wherein justification and sanctification agree and are like
one another, and wherein they differ and are unlike. If unhappily the reader of
these pages is one of those who care for nothing but this world and make no
profession of religion, I cannot expect him to take much interest in what I am
writing.

You will probably think it an affair of words and names and nice questions,
about which it matters nothing what you hold and believe. But if you are a
thoughtful, reasonable, sensible Christian, I venture to say that you will find
it worthwhile to have some clear ideas about sanctification. 1. In the first
place, we have to consider the nature of sanctification.

What does the Bible mean when it speaks of a sanctified man? Sanctification is
that inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the
Holy Ghost when he calls him to be a true believer. He not only washes him from
his sins in his own blood, but he also separates him from his natural love of
sin and the world, puts a new principle in his heart, and makes him practically
godly in life. The instrument by which the Spirit effects this work is generally
the word of God, though he sometimes uses afflictions and providential
visitations without the word.

1 Peter 3.1 The subject of this work of Christ by his Spirit is called in
Scripture a sanctified man. Footnote There is mention in the Scripture of a
twofold sanctification, and consequently in a twofold holiness. The first is
common unto persons and things, consisting of the peculiar dedication,
consecration, or separation of them unto the service of God by his own
appointment, whereby they become holy.

Thus the priests and Levites of old, the ark, the altar, the tabernacle, and the
temple, were sanctified and made holy. And indeed, in all holiness whatever,
there is a peculiar dedication and separation unto God. But in the sense
mentioned, this was solitary and alone.

No more belonged unto it but this sacred separation, nor was there any other
effect of this sanctification. But secondly, there is another kind of
sanctification and holiness, wherein this separation to God is not the first
thing done or intended, but a consequent and effect thereof. This is real and
internal, by the communicating of a principle of holiness unto our natures,
attended with its exercise in acts and duties of holy obedience unto God.

This is that which we inquire after. A quote from John Owen on the Holy Spirit,
Volume 3, page 370, from his works, Gould's edition. The end of the footnote.

He who supposes that Jesus Christ only lived and died and rose again, in order
to provide justification and forgiveness of sins for his people, has yet much to
learn. Whether he knows it or not, he is dishonoring our blessed Lord, and
making him only half a savior. The Lord Jesus has undertaken everything that his
people's souls require, not only to deliver them from the guilt of their sins by
his atoning death, but from the dominion of their sins by placing in their
hearts the Holy Spirit, not only to justify them, but also to sanctify them.

He is thus not only their righteousness, but their sanctification. 1 Corinthians
1.30 Let us hear what the Bible says. For their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also might be sanctified.

Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and
cleanse it. Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins
should live unto righteousness.

Christ hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death, to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. John 17.19, Ephesians
5.25, Titus 2.14, 1 Peter 2.24, Colossians 1.22 Let the meaning of these five
texts be carefully considered. If words mean anything, they teach that Christ
undertakes the sanctification no less than the justification of his believing
people.

Both are alike provided for in that everlasting covenant ordered in all things
and sure, of which the mediator is Christ. In fact, Christ in one place is
called, He that sanctifyeth, and his people, they who are sanctified. Hebrews
2.11 The subject before us is of such deep and vast importance that it requires
fencing, guarding, clearing up, and marking out on every side.

A doctrine which is needful to salvation can never be too sharply developed or
brought too fully into light. To clear away the confusion between doctrines and
doctrines, which is so unhappily common among Christians, and to map out the
precise relation between truths and truths in religion, is one way to attain
accuracy in our theology. I shall therefore not hesitate to lay before my
readers a series of connected propositions or statements drawn from scripture,
which I think will be found useful in defining the exact nature of
sanctification.

1. Sanctification then is the invariable result of that vital union with Christ
which true faith gives to a Christian. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit. John 15.5 The branch which bears no fruit is no
living branch of the vine.

The union with Christ which produces no effect on heart and life is a mere
formal union which is worthless before God. The faith which has not a
sanctifying influence on the character is no better than the faith of devils. It
is a dead faith because it is alone.

It is not the gift of God. It is not the faith of God the left. In short, where
there is no sanctification of life, there is no real faith in Christ.

True faith worketh by love. It constrains a man to live unto the Lord from a
deep sense of gratitude for redemption. It makes him feel that he can never do
too much for him that died for him.

Being much forgiven, he loves much. He whom the blood cleanses walks in the
light. He who has real lively hope in Christ purifies himself even as he is
pure.

James 2.17-20 Titus 1.1 Galatians 5.6 1 John 1.7 3.3 2. Sanctification again is
the outcome and inseparable consequence of regeneration. He that is born again
and made a new creature receives a new nature and a new principle and always
lives a new life. A regeneration which a man can have and yet live carelessly in
sin or worldliness is a regeneration invented by uninspired theologians but
never mentioned in Scripture.

On the contrary, St. John expressly says that he that is born of God does not
commit sin, doeth righteousness, loveth the brethren, keepeth himself, and
overcometh the world. 1 John 2.29 3.9-14 5.4-18 In a word where there is no
sanctification there is no regeneration and where there is no holy life there is
no new birth. This is no doubt a hard saying to many minds but hard or not it is
simple Bible truth.

It is written plainly that he who is born of God is one whose seed remaineth in
him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. 1 John 3.9 3. Sanctification
again is the only certain evidence of that indwelling of the Holy Spirit which
is essential to salvation. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none
of his.

Romans 8.9 The Spirit never lies dormant and idle within the soul. He always
makes his presence known by the fruit he causes to be born in heart, character,
and life. The fruit of the Spirit, says St. Paul, is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, and such like.

Galatians 5.22 Where these things are to be found there is the Spirit. Where
these things are wanting men are dead before God. The Spirit is compared to the
wind and like the wind he cannot be seen by our bodily eyes.

But just as we know there is a wind by the effect it produces on waves and trees
and smoke, so we may know the Spirit is in a man by the effects he produces in
the man's conduct. It is nonsense to suppose that we have the Spirit if we do
not also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5.25 We may depend on it as a positive
certainty that where there is no holy living there is no holy ghost.

The seal that the Spirit stamps on Christ's people is sanctification. As many as
are actually led by the Spirit of God they, and they only, are the sons of God.
Romans 8.14 Number 4 Sanctification again is the only sure mark of God's
election.

The names and number of the elect are a secret thing no doubt which God has
wisely kept in his own power and not revealed to man. It is not given to us in
this world to study the pages of the book of life and see if our names are
there. But if there is one thing clearly and plainly laid down about election it
is this, that elect men and women may be known and distinguished by holy lives.

It is expressly written that they are elect through sanctification chosen unto
salvation through sanctification predestinated to be conformed to the image of
God's Son and chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that they
should be holy. Hence when St. Paul saw the working faith and laboring love and
patient hope of the Thessalonian believers he says I know your election of God.
1 Peter 1.2 2 Thessalonians 2.13 Romans 8.29 Ephesians 1.4 and 1 Thessalonians
1.3-4 He that boasts of being one of God's elect while he is willfully and
habitually living in sin is only deceiving himself and talking wicked blasphemy.

Of course it is hard to know what people really are and many who make a fair
show outwardly in religion may turn out at last to be rotten hearted hypocrites.
But where there is not at least some appearance of sanctification we may be
quite certain there is no election. The church catechism correctly and wisely
teaches that the Holy Ghost sanctifies all the elect people of God.

Number 5 Sanctification again is a thing that will always be seen. Like the
great head of the church from which it springs it cannot be hid. Every tree is
known by his own fruit.

Luke 6.44 A truly sanctified person may be so clothed with humility that he can
see in himself nothing but infirmity and defects. Like Moses when he came down
from the mount he may not be conscious that his face shines. Like the righteous
in the mighty parable of the sheep and the goats he may not see that he has done
anything worthy of his master's notice and commendation.

When saw we thee and hungered and fed thee. Matthew 25.37 But whether he sees it
himself or not others will always see in him a tone and taste in character and
habit of life unlike that of other men. The very idea of a man being sanctified
while no holiness can be seen in his life is flat nonsense and a misuse of
words.

Light may be very dim but if there is only a spark in a dark room it will be
seen. Life may be very feeble but if the pulse only beats a little it will be
felt. It is just the same with the sanctified man.

His sanctification will be something felt and seen though he himself may not
understand it. A saint in whom nothing can be seen but worldliness or sin is a
kind of monster not recognized in the Bible. Sanctification again is the thing
for which every believer is responsible.

In saying this I would not be mistaken. I hold as strongly as anyone that every
man on earth is accountable to God and that all the lost will be speechless and
without excuse at the last day. Every man has power to lose his own soul.

Matthew 16 verse 26 But while I hold this I maintain that believers are
eminently and peculiarly responsible and under a special obligation to live holy
lives. They are not as others dead and blind and unrenewed. They are alive unto
God and have light and knowledge and a new principle within them.

Whose fault is it if they are not holy but their own? On whom can they throw the
blame if they are not sanctified but themselves? God has given them grace and a
new heart and a new nature. Has deprived them of all excuse if they do not live
for his praise. This is a point which is far too much forgotten.

A man who professes to be a true Christian while he still sits content with a
very low degree of sanctification if indeed he has any at all and coolly tells
you that he can do nothing is a very pitiable sight and a very ignorant man.
Against this delusion let us watch and be on our guard. The word of God always
addresses its precepts to believers as accountable and responsible beings.

If the savior of sinners gives us renewing grace and calls us by his spirit we
may be sure that he expects us to use our grace and not to go to sleep. It is
forgetfulness of this which causes many believers to grieve the Holy Spirit and
makes them very useless and uncomfortable Christians. Number 7 Sanctification
again is a thing which admits of growth and degrees.

A man may climb from one step to another in holiness and be far more sanctified
at one period of his life than another. More pardoned and more justified than he
is when he first believes he cannot be though he may feel it more. More
sanctified he certainly may be because every grace in his new character may be
strengthened, enlarged and deepened.

This is the evident meaning of our Lord's last prayer for his disciples when he
used the words sanctify them and of St. Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians the
very God of peace sanctify you. John 17, verse 17 and 1 Thessalonians 4, 3 In
both cases the expression plainly implies the possibility of increased
sanctification while such an expression as justify them is never once in
Scripture applied to a believer because he cannot be justified more than he is.
I can find no warrant in Scripture for the doctrine of imputed sanctification.

It is a doctrine which seems to me to confuse things that differ and to lead to
very evil consequences. Not least it is a doctrine which is flatly contradicted
by the experience of all the most eminent Christians. If there is any point on
which God's holiest saints agree it is this that they see more and know more and
feel more and do more and repent more and believe more as they get on in
spiritual life and in proportion to the closeness of their walk with God.

In short they grow in grace as Saint Peter exhorts believers to do and abound
more and more according to the words of Saint Paul 2 Peter 3.18 and 1
Thessalonians 4.1 Number 8 Sanctification again is a thing which depends greatly
on a diligent use of scriptural means. When I speak of means I have in view
Bible reading private prayer regular attendance on public worship regular
hearing of God's word and regular reception of the Lord's Supper. I lay it down
as a simple matter of fact that no one who is careless about such things must
ever expect to make much progress in sanctification.

I can find no record of any eminent saint who ever neglected them. They are
appointed channels through which the Holy Spirit conveys fresh supplies of grace
to the soul and strengthens the work which He has begun in the inward man. Let
men call this legal doctrine if they please but I will never shrink from
declaring my belief that there are no spiritual gains without pains.

I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself
with sowing his fields and never looking at them till harvest as expect a
believer to attain much holiness who is not diligent about his Bible reading his
prayers and the use of his Sundays. Our God is a God who works by means and He
will never bless the soul of that man who pretends to be so high in spiritual
that He can get on without them. Number 9 Sanctification again is a thing which
does not prevent a man having a great deal of inward spiritual conflict.

By conflict I mean a struggle within the heart between the old nature and the
new the flesh and the spirit which are to be found together in every believer.
Galatians 5 17 A deep sense of that struggle and a vast amount of mental
discomfort from it are no proof that a man is not sanctified. Nay rather I
believe they are healthy symptoms of our condition and prove that we are not
dead but alive.

A true Christian is one who has not only peace of conscience but war within. He
may be known by his warfare as well as by his peace. In saying this I do not
forget that I am contradicting the views of some well-meaning Christians who
hold a doctrine called sinless perfection.

I cannot help that. I believe that what I say is confirmed by the language of
Saint Paul in the 7th chapter of Romans. That chapter I commend to the careful
study of all my readers.

I am quite satisfied that it does not describe the experience of an unconverted
man or of a young and unestablished Christian but of an old experienced saint in
close communion with God. None but such a man could say I delight in the law of
God after the inward man. Romans 7.22 I believe furthermore that what I say is
proved by the experience of all the most eminent servants of Christ that have
ever lived.

The full proof is to be seen in their journals their autobiographies and their
lives. Believing all this I shall never hesitate to tell people that inward
conflict is no proof that a man is not holy and that they must not think they
are not sanctified because they do not feel entirely free from inward struggle.
Such freedom we shall doubtless have in heaven but we shall never enjoy it in
this world.

The heart of the best Christian even at his best is a field occupied by two
rival camps and the company of two armies. Canticles 6.13 Let the words of the
thirteenth and fifteenth articles be well considered by all churchmen. The
infection of nature doth remain in them that are regenerated.

Although baptized and born again in Christ we offend in many things and if we
say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Footnote The devil's war is better than the devil's peace. Suspect dumb
holiness.

When the dog is kept out of doors he howls to be let in again. Contraries
meeting such as fire and water conflict with one another. When Satan findeth a
sanctified heart he tempteth with much importunity.

Where there is much of God and of Christ there are strong injections and
firebrands casting at the windows so that some of much faith have been tempted
to doubt. A quote from Rutherford's Trial of Faith page 403 End of footnote.
Number 10 Sanctification again is a thing which cannot justify a man and yet it
pleases God.

This may seem wonderful and yet it is true. The holiest actions of the holiest
saint that ever lived are all more or less full of defects and imperfections.
They are either wrong in their motive or defective in their performance and in
themselves are nothing better than splendid sins deserving God's wrath and
condemnation.

To suppose that such actions can stand the severity of God's judgment atone for
sin and merit heaven is simply absurd. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be
justified. We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the
law.

Romans 3 verses 20-28 The only righteousness in which we can appear before God
is the righteousness of another even the perfect righteousness of our substitute
and representative Jesus Christ the Lord. His work and not our work is our only
title to heaven. This is the truth which we should be ready to die to maintain.

For all this however the Bible distinctly teaches that the holy actions of a
sanctified man although imperfect are pleasing in the sight of God. With such
sacrifices God is well pleased. Hebrews 13 verse 16 Obey your parents for this
is well pleasing to the Lord.

Galatians 3 verse 20 We do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 1 John 3
verse 22 Let this never be forgotten for it is a very comfortable doctrine. Just
as a parent is pleased with the efforts of his little child to please him though
it be only by picking a daisy or walking across the room so is our Father in
heaven pleased with the poor performances of his believing children.

He looks at the motive principle and intention of their actions and not merely
at their quantity and quality. He regards them as members of his own dear son
and for his sake wherever there is a single eye he is well pleased. Those
churchmen who dispute this would do well to study the twelfth article of the
Church of England.

Number 11 Sanctification again is a thing which will be found absolutely
necessary as a witness to our character in the great day of judgment. It will be
utterly useless to plead that we believed in Christ unless our faith has had
some sanctifying effect and been seen in our lives. Evidence, they got there.

Heaven is essentially a holy place, its inhabitants are all holy, its
occupations are all holy. To be really happy in heaven it is clear and plain
that we must be somewhat trained and made ready for heaven while we are on
earth. The notion of a purgatory after death which shall turn sinners into
saints is a lying invention of man and is nowhere taught in the Bible.

We must be saints before we die if we are to be saints afterwards in glory. The
favorite idea of many that dying men need nothing except absolution and
forgiveness of sins to fit them for their great change is a profound delusion.
We need the work of the Holy Spirit as well as the work of Christ.

We need renewal of the heart as well as the atoning blood. We need to be
sanctified as well as to be justified. It is common to hear people saying on
their deathbeds, I only want the Lord to forgive me my sins and take me to rest.

But those who say such things forget that the rest of heaven would be utterly
useless if we had no heart to enjoy it. What could an unsanctified man do in
heaven if by any chance he got there? Let that question be fairly looked in the
face and fairly answered. No man can possibly be happy in a place where he is
not in his element and where all around him is not congenial to his tastes,
habits, and character.

When an eagle is happy in an iron cage, when a sheep is happy in the water, when
an owl is happy in the blaze of noonday sun, when a fish is happy on dry land,
then and not till then will I admit that the unsanctified man could be happy in
heaven. Footnote. There is no imagination wherewith man is besotted, more
foolish, none so pernicious as this, that persons not sanctified, not purified,
not made holy in their life should afterwards be taken into that state of
blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God.

Neither can such persons enjoy God, nor would God be a reward to them. Holiness
indeed is perfected in heaven, but the beginning of it is invariably confined to
this world. John Owen, On the Holy Spirit, page 575, Gould's edition.

End of the footnote. I lay down these twelve propositions about sanctification
with a firm persuasion that they are true, and I ask all who read these pages to
ponder them well. Each of them would admit of being expanded and handled more
fully, and all of them deserve private thought and consideration.

Some of them may be disputed and contradicted, but I doubt whether any of them
can be overthrown or proved untrue. I only ask for them a fair and impartial
hearing. I believe in my conscience that they are likely to assist man in
attaining clear views of sanctification.

Number two. I now proceed to take up the second point which I propose to
consider. That point is the visible evidence of sanctification.

In a word, what are the visible marks of a sanctified man? What may we expect to
see in him? This is a very wide and difficult department of our subject. It is
wide because it necessitates the mention of many details which cannot be handled
fully in the limits of a paper like this. It is difficult because it cannot
possibly be treated without giving offense, but at any risk, truth ought to be
spoken, and there is some kind of truth which especially requires to be spoken
in the present day.

Number one. True sanctification then does not consist in talk about religion.
This is a point which ought never to be forgotten.

The vast increase of education and preaching in these latter days makes it
absolutely necessary to raise a warning voice. People hear so much of gospel
truth that they contract an unholy familiarity with its words and phrases, and
sometimes talk so fluently about its doctrines that you might think them true
Christians. In fact, it is sickening and disgusting to hear the cruel and
flippant language which may pour out about conversion, the Savior, the gospel,
finding peace, free grace, and the like while they are notoriously serving sin
or living for the world.

Can we doubt that such talk is abominable in God's sight, and is little better
than cursing, swearing, and taking God's name in vain? The tongue is not the
only member that Christ bids us give to his service. God does not want his
people to be mere empty tubs, sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals. We must be
sanctified not only in word and in tongue, but indeed in truth.

1 John 3.18. 2. True sanctification does not consist in temporary religious
feelings. This again is a point about which a warning is greatly needed. Mission
services and revival meetings are attracting great attention in every part of
the land, and producing a great sensation.

The Church of England seems to have taken a new lease of life and exhibits a new
activity, and we ought to thank God for it. But these things have their
attendant dangers as well as their advantages. Wherever wheat is sown, the devil
is sure to sow tares.

Many, it may be feared, appear moved and touched and roused under the preaching
of the gospel, while in reality their hearts are not changed at all. A kind of
animal excitement from the contagion of seeing others weeping, rejoicing, or
affected is the true account of their case. Their wounds are only skin deep, and
the peace they profess to feel is skin deep also.

Like the stony ground hearers, they receive the word with joy. Matthew 13.20.
But after a little they fall away, go back to the world, and are harder and
worse than before. Like Jonah's gourd, they come up suddenly in the night and
perish in the night.

Let these things not be forgotten. Let us beware in this day of healing wounds
slightly and crying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Let us urge on
everyone who exhibits new interest in religion to be content with nothing short
of the deep, solid, sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost.

Reaction after false religious excitement is a most deadly disease of the soul.
When the devil is only temporarily cast out of a man in the heat of a revival,
and by and by returns to his house, the last date becomes worse than the first.
Better a thousand times begin more slowly, and then continue in the word
steadfastly, than begin in a hurry without counting the cost, and by and by look
back with Lot's wife and return to the world.

I declare I know no state of soul more dangerous than to imagine we are born
again and sanctified by the Holy Ghost because we have picked up a few religious
feelings. Number three. True sanctification does not consist in outward
formalism and external devoutness.

This is an enormous delusion, but unhappily a very common one. Thousands appear
to imagine that true holiness is to be seen in an excessive quantity of bodily
religion, in constant attendance on church services, reception of the Lord's
Supper, and observance of fasts and saints days, in multiplied bowings and
turnings and gestures and postures during public worship, in self-imposed
austerities and petty self-denials, in wearing peculiar dresses and the use of
pictures and crosses. I freely admit that some people take up these things from
conscientious motives and actually believe that they help their souls, but I am
afraid that in many cases this external religiousness is made a substitute for
inward holiness, and I am quite certain that it falls utterly short of
sanctification of heart.

Above all, when I see that many followers of this outward sensuous and formal
style of Christianity are absorbed in worldliness and plunge headlong into its
pumps and vanities without shame, I feel that there is need of very plain
speaking on the subject. There may be an immense amount of bodily service, while
there is not a jot of real sanctification. Number four.

Sanctification does not consist in retirement from our place in life and the
renunciation of our social duties. In every age it has been a snare with many to
take up this line in the pursuit of holiness. Hundreds of hermits have buried
themselves in some wilderness, and thousands of men and women have shut
themselves up within the walls of monasteries and convents under the vain idea
that by so doing they would escape sin and become eminently holy.

They have forgotten that no bolts and bars can keep out the devil, and that
wherever we go we carry that root of all evil, our own hearts. To become a monk
or a nun or to join a house of mercy is not the high road to sanctification.
True holiness does not make a Christian evade difficulties, but faith and
overcome them.

Christ would have his people show that his grace is not a mere hothouse plant,
which can only thrive under shelter, but a strong hearty thing which can
flourish in every relation of life. It is doing our duty in that state to which
God has called us, like salt in the midst of corruption and light in the midst
of darkness, which is the primary element in sanctification. It is not the man
who hides himself in a cave, but the man who glorifies God as master or servant,
parent or child, in the family and in the street, in business and in trade, who
is the scriptural type of a sanctified man.

Our Master himself said in his last prayer, I pray not that thou shouldest take
them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. John 17
verse 15. Number 5. Sanctification does not consist in the occasional
performance of right actions.

It is the habitual working of a new heavenly principle within, which runs
through all a man's daily conduct, both in great things and in small. Its seat
is in the heart, and like the heart in the body, it has a regular influence on
every part of the character. It is not like a pump which only sends forth water
when worked upon from without, but like a perpetual fountain from which a stream
is ever flowing spontaneously and naturally.

Even Herod, when he heard John the Baptist, did many things while his heart was
utterly wrong in the sight of God. Mark 6 20. Just so there are scores of people
in the present day who seem to have spasmodical fits of goodness, as it is
called, and do many right things under the influence of sickness, affliction,
death in the family, public calamities, or a sudden qualm of conscience.

Yet all the time any intelligent observer can see plainly that they are not
converted and that they know nothing of sanctification. A true saint like
Hezekiah will be wholehearted. He will count God's commandments concerning all
things to be right and hate every false way.

2 Chronicles 31 21 and Psalm 119 verse 104. Number 6. Genuine sanctification
will show itself in habitual respect to God's law and habitual effort to live in
obedience to it as the rule of life. There is no greater mistake than to suppose
that a Christian has nothing to do with the law and the Ten Commandments because
he cannot be justified by keeping them.

The same Holy Ghost who convinces the believer of sin by the law and leads him
to Christ for justification will always lead him to a spiritual use of the law
as a friendly guide in the pursuit of sanctification. Our Lord Jesus Christ
never made light of the Ten Commandments. On the contrary, in his first public
discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, he expounded them and showed the searching
nature of their requirements.

St. Paul never made light of the law. On the contrary, he says, the law is good
if a man use it lawfully. I delight in the law of God after the inward man.

1st Timothy 1 8 and Romans 7 22. He that pretends to be a saint while he sneers
at the Ten Commandments and thinks nothing of lying, hypocrisy, swindling,
ill-temper, slander, drunkenness, and breach of the seventh commandment is under
a fearful delusion. He will find it hard to prove that he is a saint in the last
day.

7. Genuine sanctification will show itself in a habitual endeavor to do Christ's
will and to live by his practical precepts. These precepts are to be found
scattered everywhere throughout the four Gospels and especially in the Sermon on
the Mount. He that supposes they were spoken without the intention of promoting
holiness and that a Christian need not attend to them in his daily life is
really little better than a lunatic and at any rate is a grossly ignorant
person.

To hear some men talk and read some men's writings, one might imagine that our
blessed Lord when he was on earth never taught anything but doctrine and left
practical duties to be taught by others. The slightest knowledge of the four
Gospels ought to tell us that this is a complete mistake. What his disciples
ought to be and to do is continually brought forward in our Lord's teaching.

A truly sanctified man will never forget this. He serves a master who said, ye
are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. John 15 verse 14.

Number 8. Genuine sanctification will show itself in a habitual desire to live
up to the standard which St. Paul sets before the churches in his writings. That
standard is to be found in the closing chapters of nearly all his epistles. This
Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books.

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Or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton Alberta Canada T6L3T5. You may also request a
free printed catalog. And remember that John Kelvin in defending the
Reformation's regulative principle of worship or what is sometimes called the
scriptural law of worship commenting on the words of God which I commanded them
not neither came into my heart from his commentary on Jeremiah 731 writes God
here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions since he condemns by
this one phrase I have not commanded them whatever the Jews devised there is
then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions and that they are not
commanded by God for when men allow themselves to worship God according to their
own fancies and attend not to his commands they pervert through religion and if
this principle was adopted by the papists all those fictitious modes of worship
in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground it is indeed
a horrible thing for the papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God
by performing their own superstitions there is an immense number of them as it
is well known and as it manifestly appears were they to admit this principle
that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word they would be
delivered from their deep abyss of air the prophets words then are very
important when he says that God had commanded no such thing and that it never
came to his mind as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they
devise what he never required nay what he never knew


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  CHAPTER 4: CHAPTER 4
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That standard is to be found in the closing chapters of nearly all his epistles.
The common idea of many persons that St. Paul's writings are full of nothing but
doctrinal statements and controversial subjects, justification, election,
predestination, prophecy and the like, is an entire delusion and a melancholy
proof of the ignorance of Scripture which prevails in these latter days. I defy
anyone to read St. Paul's writings carefully without finding in them a large
quantity of plain, practical directions about the Christian's duty in every
relation of life and about our daily habits, temper and behavior to one another.

These directions were written down by inspiration of God for the perpetual
guidance of professing Christians. He who does not attend to them may possibly
pass muster as a member of a church or a chapel, but he certainly is not what
the Bible calls a sanctified man. Number 9 Genuine sanctification will show
itself in habitual attention to the active graces which our Lord so beautifully
exemplified and especially to the grace of charity.

A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another, as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13 verses 34 and 35 A sanctified
man will try to do good in the world and to lessen the sorrow and increase the
happiness of all around him.

He will aim to be like his master, full of kindness and love to everyone, and
this not in word only, by calling people dear, but by deeds and actions in
self-denying work, according as he has opportunity. The selfish Christian
professor who wraps himself up in his own conceit of superior knowledge and
seems to care nothing whether others think or swim, go to heaven or hell, so
long as he walks to church or chapel in his Sunday best and is called a sound
member, such a man knows nothing of sanctification. He may think himself a saint
on earth, but he will not be a saint in heaven.

Christ will never be found the savior of those who know nothing of following his
example. Saving faith and real converting grace will always produce some
conformity to the image of Jesus. Colossians 3.10 Footnote Christ in the gospel
is proposed to us as our pattern and example of holiness, and as it is accursed
imagination that this was the whole end of his life and death, namely to
exemplify and confirm the doctrine of holiness which he taught, so to neglect
his being our example in considering him by faith to that end and laboring after
conformity to him is evil and pernicious.

Wherefore let us be much in the contemplation of what he was and what he did,
and how in all duties and trials he carried himself, until an image or idea of
his perfect holiness is implanted in our minds, and we are made like unto him
thereby. A quote from Owen on the Holy Ghost, page 513, rules edition. End of
footnote.

Number 10 Genuine sanctification in the last place will show itself in habitual
attention to the passive graces of Christianity. When I speak of passive graces,
I mean those graces which are especially shown in submission to the will of God,
and in bearing and forbearing towards one another. Few people perhaps, unless
they have examined the point, have an idea how much is said about these graces
in the New Testament, and how important a place they seem to fill.

This is the special point which St. Peter draws upon in commending our Lord
Jesus Christ's example to our notice. Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that we should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he
suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth
righteously.

1 Peter 2, verses 21-23 This is the one piece of profession which the Lord's
prayer requires us to make. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that
trespass against us. And the one point that is commented upon at the end of the
prayer.

This is the point which occupies one third of the list of the fruits of the
Spirit supplied by St. Paul. Nine are named, and three of these, long-suffering,
gentleness, and meekness, are unquestionably passive graces. Galatians 5, verses
22-23 I must plainly say that I do not think this subject is sufficiently
considered by Christians.

The passive graces are no doubt harder to attain than the active ones, but they
are precisely the graces which have the greatest influence on the world. Of one
thing I feel very sure, it is nonsense to pretend to sanctification unless we
follow after the meekness, gentleness, long-suffering, and forgiveness of which
the Bible makes so much. People who are habitually giving way to peevish and
cross-tempers in daily life, and are constantly sharp with their tongues and
disagreeable to all around them, spiteful people, vindictive people, revengeful
people, malicious people, of whom, alas, the world is only too full, all such
know little, as they should know, about sanctification.

Such are the visible marks of a sanctified man. I do not say that they are all
to be seen equally in all God's people. I freely admit that in the best they are
not fully and perfectly exhibited.

But I do say confidently that the things of which I have been speaking are the
scriptural marks of sanctification, and that they who know nothing of them may
well doubt whether they have any grace at all. Whatever others may please to
say, I will never shrink from saying that genuine sanctification is a thing that
can be seen, and that the marks I have endeavored to sketch out are more or less
the marks of a sanctified man. Number three.

I now propose to consider in the last place the distinction between
justification and sanctification. Wherein do they agree, and wherein do they
differ? This branch of our subject is one of great importance, though I fear it
will not seem so to all my readers. I shall handle it briefly, but I dare not
pass it over altogether.

Too many are apt to look at nothing but the surface of things in religion, and
regard nice distinctions in theology as questions of words and names which are
of little real value. But I warn all who are in earnest about their souls that
the discomfort which arises from not distinguishing things that differ in
Christian doctrine is very great indeed. And I especially advise them, if they
love peace, to seek clearer views about the matter before us.

Justification and sanctification are two distinct things we must always
remember. Yet there are points in which they agree, and points in which they
differ. Let us try to find out what they are.

In what then are justification and sanctification alike? A. Both proceed
originally from the free grace of God. It is of His gift alone that believers
are justified or sanctified at all. B. Both are part of that great work of
salvation which Christ, in the eternal covenant, has undertaken on behalf of His
people.

Christ is the fountain of life, from which pardon and holiness both flow. The
root of each is Christ. C. Both are to be found in the same persons.

Those who are justified are always sanctified, and those who are sanctified are
always justified. God has joined them together, and they cannot be put asunder.
D. Both begin at the same time.

The moment a person begins to be a justified person, he also begins to be a
sanctified person. He may not feel it, but it is a fact. E. Both are alike
necessary to salvation.

No one ever reached heaven without a renewed heart as well as forgiveness,
without the Spirit's grace as well as the blood of Christ, without a meekness
for eternal glory as well as a title. The one is just as necessary as the other.
Such are the points on which justification and sanctification agree.

Let us now reverse the picture and see wherein they differ. A. Justification is
the reckoning and counting a man to be righteous for the sake of another, even
Jesus Christ the Lord. Sanctification is the actual making a man inwardly
righteous, though it may be in a very feeble degree.

B. The righteousness we have by our justification is not our own, but the
everlasting perfect righteousness of our great Mediator Christ, imputed to us
and made our own by faith. The righteousness we have by sanctification is our
own righteousness, imparted, inherent, and wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, but
mingled with much infirmity and imperfection. C. In justification our own works
have no place at all and simple faith in Christ is the one thing needful.

In sanctification our own works are of vast importance and God bids us fight and
watch and pray and strive and take pains and labor. D. Justification is a
finished and complete work and a man is perfectly justified the moment he
believes. Sanctification is an imperfect work, comparatively, and will never be
perfected until we reach heaven.

E. Justification admits of no growth or increase. A man is as much justified the
hour he first comes to Christ by faith as he will be to all eternity.
Sanctification is eminently a progressive work and admits of continual growth
and enlargement so long as a man lives.

F. Justification has special reference to our persons, our standing in God's
sight, and our deliverance from guilt. Sanctification has special reference to
our natures and the moral renewal of our hearts. G. Justification gives us our
title to heaven and boldness to enter in.

Sanctification gives us our meekness for heaven and prepares us to enjoy it when
we dwell there. H. Justification is the act of God about us and is not easily
discerned by others. Sanctification is the work of God within us and cannot be
hid in its outward manifestation from the eyes of men.

I commend these distinctions to the attention of all my readers and I ask them
to ponder them well. I am persuaded that one great cause of the darkness and
uncomfortable feelings of many well-meaning people in the matter of religion is
their habit of confounding and not distinguishing justification and
sanctification. It can never be too strongly impressed on our minds that they
are two separate things.

No doubt they cannot be divided and everyone that is a partaker of either is a
partaker of both. But never, never ought they to be confounded and never ought
the distinction between them to be forgotten. It only remains for me now to
bring this subject to a conclusion by a few plain words of application.

The nature and visible marks of sanctification have been brought before us. What
practical reflections ought the whole matter to raise to our minds? 1. For one
thing, let us all awake to a sense of the perilous state of many professing
Christians. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.

Without sanctification there is no salvation. Hebrews 12.14 Then what an
enormous amount of so-called religion there is which is perfectly useless. What
an immense proportion of church-goers and chapel-goers are in the broad road
that leadeth to destruction.

The thought is awful, crushing, and overwhelming. O that preachers and teachers
would open their eyes and realize the condition of souls around them. O that men
could be persuaded to flee from the wrath to come.

If unsanctified souls can be saved and go to heaven, the Bible is not true. Yet
the Bible is true and cannot lie. What must the end be? 2. For another thing,
let us make sure work of our own condition and never rest till we feel and know
that we are sanctified ourselves.

What are our tastes and choices and likings and inclinations? This is the great
testing question. It matters little what we wish and what we hope and what we
desire to be before we die. Where are we now? What are we doing? Are we
sanctified or not? If not, the fault is all our own.

3. For another thing, if we would be sanctified, our course is clear and plain.
4. For another thing, we must begin with Christ. We must go to Him as sinners
with no plea but that of utter need and cast our souls on Him by faith for peace
and reconciliation with God.

We must place ourselves in His hands as in the hands of a good physician and cry
to Him for mercy and grace. We must wait for nothing to bring with us as a
recommendation. The very first step toward sanctification, no less than
justification, is to come with faith to Christ.

We must first live and then work. 4. For another thing, if we would grow in
holiness and become more sanctified, we must continually go on as we began and
be ever making fresh applications to Christ. He is the head from which every
member must be supplied.

Ephesians 4.16 To live the life of daily faith in the Son of God and to be daily
drawn out of His fullness the promised grace and strength which He has laid up
for His people, this is the grand secret of progressive sanctification.
Believers who seem at a standstill are generally neglecting close communion with
Jesus and so grieving the Spirit. He that prayed, sanctify them the last night
before His crucifixion is infinitely willing to help everyone who by faith
applies to Him for help and desires to be made more holy.

5. For another thing, let us not expect too much from our own hearts here below.
At our best we shall find in ourselves daily cause for humiliation and discover
that we are needy debtors to mercy and grace every hour. The more light we have,
the more we shall see our own imperfection.

Sinners we were when we began, sinners we shall find ourselves as we go on.
Renewed, pardoned, justified, yet sinners to the very last. Our absolute
perfection is yet to come and the expectation of it is one reason why we should
long for heaven.

6. Finally, let us never be ashamed of making much of sanctification and
contending for a high standard of holiness. While some are satisfied with a
miserably low degree of attainment and others are not ashamed to live on without
any holiness at all. Content with a mere round of church going and chapel going
but never getting on like a horse in a mill.

Let us stand fast in the old paths, follow after eminent holiness ourselves and
recommend it boldly to others. This is the only way to be really happy. 7. Let
us feel convinced whatever others may say that holiness is happiness and that
the man who gets through life most comfortably is the sanctified man.

No doubt there are some true Christians who from ill health or family trials or
other secret causes enjoy little sensible comfort and go mourning all their days
on the way to heaven. But these are exceptional cases. As a general rule in the
long run of life it will be found true that sanctified people are the happiest
people on earth.

They have solid comforts which the world can neither give nor take away. The
ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness. Great peace have they that love thy
law.

It was said by one who cannot lie My yoke is easy and my burden is light but it
is also written There is no peace unto the wicked. Proverbs 3.17 Psalm 119.165
Matthew 11.30 Isaiah 48.22 PS at the end of the chapter The subject of
sanctification is of such deep importance and the mistakes made about it so many
and great that I make no apology for strongly recommending Owen on the Holy
Spirit to all who want to study more thoroughly the whole doctrine of
sanctification. No single paper like this can embrace it all.

I am quite aware that Owen's writings are not fashionable in the present day and
that many think fit to neglect and sneer at him as a Puritan. Yet the great
divine who in commonwealth times was dean of Christ's church, Oxford does not
deserve to be treated in this way. He had more learning and sound knowledge of
the scripture in his little finger than many who depreciate him have in their
whole bodies.

I assert unhesitatingly that the man who wants to study experimental theology
will find no books equal to those of Owen and some of his contemporaries for
complete, scriptural, and exhaustive treatment of the subjects they handle. New
Chapter Chapter 3 beginning on page 34 Holiness Holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12 verse 14 The text which heads this page opens up
a subject of deep importance.

That subject is practical holiness. It suggests a question which demands the
attention of all professing Christians. Are we holy? Shall we see the Lord? The
question can never be out of season.

The wise man tells us there is a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to keep
silence and a time to speak. Ecclesiastes 3 verses 4 and 7 But there is no time,
no, not a day in which a man ought not to be holy. Are we? That question
concerns all ranks and conditions of men.

Some are rich and some are poor some learned and some unlearned some masters and
some servants. But there is no rank or condition in life in which a man ought
not to be holy. Are we? I ask to be heard today about this question.

How stands the account between our souls and God? In this hurrying, bustling
world let us stand still for a few minutes and consider the matter of holiness.
I believe I might have chosen a subject more popular and pleasant. I am sure I
might have found one more easy to handle.

But I feel deeply I could not have chosen one more seasonable and more
profitable to our souls. It is a solemn thing to hear the word of God saying
Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12.14 I shall endeavor by
God's help to examine what true holiness is and the reason why it is so needful.

In conclusion I shall try to point out the only way in which holiness can be
attained. I have already, in the second paper of this volume approached this
subject from a doctrinal side. Let me now try to present it to my readers in a
more plain and practical point of view.

Number 1 First then, let me try to show what true practical holiness is. What
sort of persons are those whom God calls holy? A man may go great lengths and
yet never reach true holiness. It is not knowledge, Balaam had that.

Not great profession, Judas Iscariot had that. Nor doing many things, Herod had
that. Nor zeal for certain matters of religion, Jehu had that.

Nor morality and outward respectability of conduct, the young ruler had that.
Nor taking pleasure in hearing preachers, the Jews in Ezekiel's time had that.
Nor keeping company with godly people, Joab and Gehazi and Demas had that.

Yet none of these was holy. These things alone are not holiness. A man may have
any one of them and yet never see the Lord.

What then is true practical holiness? It is a hard question to answer. I do not
mean that there is any want of scriptural matter on the subject, but I fear lest
I should give a defective view of holiness and not say all that ought to be
said. Or lest I should say things about it that ought not to be said and so do
harm.

Let me, however, try to draw a picture of holiness that we may see it clearly
before the eyes of our minds. Only let it never be forgotten, when I have said
all, that my account is but a poor imperfect outline at the best. A. Holiness is
the habit of being of one mind with God according as we find His mind described
in Scripture.

It is the habit of agreeing in God's judgment, hating what He hates, loving what
He loves, and measuring everything in this world by the standard of His word. He
who most entirely agrees with God, He is the most holy man. B. A holy man will
endeavor to shun every known sin and to keep every known commandment.

He will have a decided bent of mind toward God, a hearty desire to do His will,
a greater fear of displeasing Him than of displeasing the world, and a love to
all His ways. He will feel what Paul felt when he said, I delight in the law of
God after the inward man. Romans 7 verse 22 And what David felt when he said, I
esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every
false way.

Psalm 119, 128 C. A holy man will strive to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. He
will not only live the life of faith in Him and draw from Him all His daily
peace and strength, but he will also labor to have the mind that was in Him and
to be conformed to His image. Romans 8 verse 29 It will be his aim to bear with
and forgive others, even as Christ forgave us, to be unselfish, even as Christ
pleased not Himself, to walk in love, even as Christ loved us, to be lowly,
humble-minded, even as Christ made Himself of no reputation and humbled Himself.

He will remember that Christ was a faithful witness for the truth, that He came
not to do His own will, that it was His meat and drink to do His Father's will,
that He would continually deny Himself in order to minister to others, that He
was meek and patient under undeserved insults, that He thought more of godly
poor men than of kings, that He was full of love and compassion to sinners, that
He was bold and uncompromising in denouncing sin, that He sought not the praise
of men when He might have had it, that He went about doing good, that He was
separate from worldly people, that He continued instant in prayer, that He would
not let even His nearest relations stand in His way when God's work was to be
done. These things a holy man will try to remember. By them he will endeavor to
shape his course in life.

He will lay to heart the saying of John, He that saith he abideth in Christ
ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. And the saying of Peter, that
Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. 1
Peter 2.21 Happy is he who has learned to make Christ his all, both for
salvation and example.

Much time would be saved and much sin prevented if men would oftener ask
themselves the question, What would Christ have said and done if He were in my
place? D. A holy man will follow after meekness, longsuffering, gentleness,
patience, kind tempers, government of his tongue. He will bear much, forbear
much, overlook much, and be slow to talk of standing on his rights. He will see
a bright example of this in the behavior of David when Shimei cursed him, and of
Moses when Aaron and Miriam spake against him.

2 Samuel 16.10 Numbers 12.3 E. A holy man will follow after temperance and
self-denial. He will labor to mortify the desires of his body, to crucify his
flesh with his affections and lusts, to curb his passions, to restrain his
carnal inclinations, lest at any time they break loose. O what a word is that of
the Lord Jesus to the apostles! Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life.

Luke 21.34 And that of the apostle Paul I keep under my body and bring it into
subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others I myself
should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9.27 F. A holy man will follow after charity
and brotherly kindness. He will endeavor to observe the golden rule of doing as
he would have men do to him, and speaking as he would have men to speak to him.

He will be full of affection towards his brethren, towards their bodies, their
property, their characters, their feelings, their souls. He that loveth another,
says Paul, hath fulfilled the law. Romans 13.8 He will abhor all lying,
slandering, backbiting, cheating, dishonesty, and unfair dealing, even in the
least thing.

The shekel and cubit of the sanctuary were larger than those in common use. He
will strive to adorn his religion by all his outward demeanor, and to make it
lovely and beautiful in the eyes of all around him. Alas, what condemning words
are the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians and the Sermon on the Mount, when
laid alongside the conduct of many professing Christians.

G. A holy man will follow after a spirit of mercy and benevolence toward others.
He will not stand all the day idle. He will not be content with doing no harm.

He will try to do good. He will strive to be useful in his day and generation,
and to lessen the spiritual wants and misery around him as far as he can. Such
was Dorcas, full of good works and alms deeds, which she did, not merely
purposed and talked about, but did.

Such in one was Paul. I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, he says,
though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Acts 9.36 and 2
Corinthians 12.15 H. A holy man will follow after purity of heart.

He will dread all filthiness and uncleanness of spirit and seek to avoid all
things that might draw him into it. He knows his own heart is like tinder and
will diligently keep clear of the sparks of temptation. We shall dare to talk of
strength when David can fall.

There is many a hint to be gleaned from the ceremonial law. Under it the man who
only touched a bone or a dead body or a grave or a diseased person became at
once unclean in the sight of God. And these things were emblems and figures.

Few Christians are ever too watchful and too particular about this point. I. A
holy man will follow after the fear of God. I do not mean the fear of a slave
who only works because he is afraid of punishment and would be idle if he did
not dread discovery.

I mean rather the fear of a child who wishes to live and move as if he was
always before his father's face because he loves him. What a noble example
Nehemiah gives us of this. When he became governor at Jerusalem he might have
been chargeable to the Jews and required of them money for his support.

The former governors had done so. There was none to blame him if he did. But he
says, So did not I because of the fear of God.

Nehemiah 5.15 J. A holy man will follow after humility. He will desire in
lowliness of mind to esteem all others better than himself. He will see more
evil in his own heart than in any other in the world.

He will understand something of Abraham's feelings when he says, I am dust and
ashes. And Jacob's when he says, I am less than the least of all thy mercies.
And Job's when he says, I am vile.

And Paul's when he says, I am the chief of sinners. Holy Bradford, that faithful
martyr of Christ, would sometimes finish his letters with these words, A most
miserable sinner, John Bradford. Good old Mr. Grimshaw's last words when he lay
on his deathbed were these, Here goes an unprofitable servant.

K. A holy man will follow after faithfulness in all the duties and relations in
life. He will try not merely to fill his place as well as others who take no
thought for their souls, but even better, because he has higher motives and more
help than they. Those words of Paul should never be forgotten, Whatever ye do,
do it heartily as unto the Lord.

Not swathful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Colossians 3.23
and Romans 12.11 Holy persons should aim at doing everything well, and should be
ashamed of allowing themselves to do anything ill if they can help it. Like
Daniel, they should seek to give no occasion against themselves except
concerning the law of their God.

Daniel 6.5 They should strive to be good husbands and good wives, good parents
and good children, good masters and good servants, good neighbors, good friends,
good subjects, good in private and good in public, good in the place of
business, and good by their firesides. Holiness is worth little indeed if it
does not bear this kind of fruit. The Lord Jesus puts a searching question to
his people when he says, What do ye more than others? Matthew 5.47 L. Last but
not least, a holy man will follow after spiritual mindedness.

He will endeavor to set his affections entirely on things above and to hold
things on earth with a very loose hand. He will not neglect the business of the
life that now is, but the first place in his mind and thoughts will be given to
the life to come. He will aim to live like one whose treasure is in heaven and
to pass through this world like a stranger in pilgrim traveling to his home.

To commune with God in prayer, in the Bible, and in the assembly of his people,
these things will be the holy man's chiefest enjoyments. He will value
everything and place and company just in proportion as it draws him nearer to
God. He will enter into something of David's feelings when he says, My soul
followeth hard after thee, thou art my portion.

Psalm 113.8 and 119.57 Such is the outline of holiness which I venture to sketch
out. Such is the character which those who are called holy follow after. Such
are the main features of a holy man.

But here let me say, I trust no man will misunderstand me. I am not without fear
that my meaning will be mistaken and the description I have given of holiness
will discourage some tender conscience. I would not willingly make one righteous
heart sad or throw a stumbling block in any believer's way.

I do not say for a moment that holiness shuts out the presence of indwelling
sin. No, far from it. It is the greatest misery of a holy man that he carries
about with him a body of death.

That often when he would do good, evil is present with him. That the old man is
clogging all his movements and as it were trying to draw him back at every step
he takes. Romans 7 verse 21 But it is the excellence of a holy man that he is
not at peace with indwelling sin as others are.

He hates it, mourns over it and longs to be free from its company. The work of
sanctification within him is like the wall of Jerusalem. The building goes
forward even in troubled times.

Daniel 9 verse 25 Neither do I say that holiness comes to rightness and
perfection all at once and that these graces I have touched on must be found in
full bloom and vigor before you can be called a holy man. No, far from it.
Sanctification is always a progressive work.

Some men's graces are in the blade, some in the ear and some are like full corn
in the ear. All must have a beginning. We must never despise the day of small
things and sanctification in the very best is an imperfect work.

The history of the brightest saints that ever lived will contain many a but and
how be it and notwithstanding before you reach the end. The gold will never be
without some dross. The light will never shine without some clouds until we
reach the heavenly Jerusalem.

The sun himself has spots on his face. The holiest men have many a blemish and
defect when weighed in the balance of the sanctuary. Their life is a continual
warfare with sin, the world and the devil and sometimes you will see them not
overcoming but overcome.

The flesh is everlasting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and
in many things they offend all. Galatians 5.17 and James 3.2 But still for all
this I am sure that to have such a character as I have faintly drawn is the
heart's desire and prayer of all true Christians. They press towards it if they
do not reach it.

They may not attain it but they always aim at it. It is what they strive and
labor to be if it is not what they are. And this I do boldly and confidently say
that true holiness is a great reality.

It is something in a man that can be seen and known and marked and felt by all
around him. It is light. If it exists it will show itself.

It is salt. If it exists its savor will be perceived. It is a precious ointment.

If it exists its presence cannot be hid. I am sure that we should all be ready
to make allowance for much backsliding for much occasional deadness in
professing Christians. I know a road may lead from one point to another and yet
have many a winding and turning and a man may be truly holy and yet be drawn
aside by many an infirmity.

Gold is not the less gold because mingled with alloy nor light the less light
because faint and dim nor grace the less grace because young and weak. But after
every allowance I cannot see how any man deserves to be called holy who
willfully allows himself in sins and is not humbled and ashamed because of them.
I dare not call anyone holy who makes a habit of willfully neglecting known
duties and willfully doing what he knows God has commanded him not to do.

Well, says Owen, I do not understand how a man can be a true believer unto whom
sin is not the greatest burden, sorrow, and trouble. Such are the leading
characteristics of practical holiness. Let us examine ourselves and see whether
we are acquainted with it.

Let us prove our own selves. Part 2 Let me try in the next place to show some
reasons why practical holiness is so important. Can holiness save us? Can
holiness put away sin, cover iniquities, make satisfaction for transgressions,
pay our debt to God? No, not a whit.

God forbid that I should ever say so. Holiness can do none of these things. The
brightest saints are all unprofitable servants.

Our purest works are no better than filthy rags when tried by the light of God's
holy law. The white robe which Jesus offers and faith puts on must be our only
righteousness, the name of Christ our only confidence, the Lamb's book of life
our only title to heaven. With all our holiness we are no better than sinners.

Our best things are tainted and stained with imperfection. They are all more or
less incomplete, wrong in the motive or defective in the performance. By the
deeds of the law shall no child of Adam ever be justified.

By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 Why then
is holiness so important? Why does the apostle say, without it no man shall see
the Lord? Let me set out in order a few reasons. A. For one thing we must be
holy because the voice of God in Scripture plainly commands it.

The Lord Jesus says to his people, Except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5, 20 Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in
heaven is perfect. Matthew 5, 48 Paul tells the Thessalonians, This is the will
of God, even your sanctification.

1 Thessalonians 4, 3 And Peter says, As he which hath called you is holy, so be
ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I
am holy. 1 Peter 1, 15 and 16 In this says Latan, Law and gospel agree. B. We
must be holy because this is one grand end and purpose for which Christ came
into the world.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, He died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose
again. 2 Corinthians 5, 15 And to the Ephesians, Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it. Ephesians 5, 25, 26
And to Titus, He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Titus 2, 14 In short, to talk of men being saved from the guilt of sin, without
being at the same time saved from its dominion in their hearts, is to contradict
the witness of all Scripture. Are believers said to be elect? It is through
sanctification of the Spirit. Are they predestinated? It is to be conformed to
the image of God's Son.

Are they chosen? It is that they may be holy. Are they called? It is with a holy
calling. Are they afflicted? It is that they may be partakers of holiness.

Jesus is a complete Savior. He does not merely take away the guilt of a
believer's sin. He does more.

He breaks its power. 1 Peter 1, 2 Romans 8, 29 Ephesians 1, 4 Hebrews 12, 10
See, we must be holy because this is the only sound evidence that we have a
saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The twelfth article of our church says
truly that although good works cannot put away our sins and endure the severity
of God's judgment, yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ and do
spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith insomuch that by them a lively
faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by its fruits.

James warns us, There is such a thing as a dead faith, a faith which goes no
further than the profession of the lips and has no influence on a man's
character. James 2, 17 True saving faith is a very different kind of thing. True
faith will always show itself by its fruits.

It will sanctify. It will work by love. It will overcome the world.

It will purify the heart. I know that people are fond of talking about deathbed
evidences. They will rest on words spoken in the hours of fear and pain and
weakness as if they might take comfort in them about the friends they lose.

This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB
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You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Kelvin, in
defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is
sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God,
which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on
Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making
evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them,
whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn
superstitions than that they are not commanded by God.

For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and
attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle
was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they
absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible
thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by
performing their own superstitions.

There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly
appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God
except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of
error. The prophet's words then are very important, when he says that God had
commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind.

As though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he
never required, nay, what he never knew.


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  CHAPTER 5: CHAPTER 5
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But I am afraid in 99 cases out of 100, such evidences are not to be depended
upon. I suspect that with rare exceptions men die just as they have lived. The
only safe evidence that we are one with Christ and Christ in us is holy life.

They that live unto the Lord are generally the only people who die in the Lord.
If we would die the death of the righteous, let us not rest in slothful desires
only. Let us seek to live His life.

It is a true saying of Trails, that man's state is not, and his faith unsound,
that find not his hopes of glory purifying his heart and life. D. We must be
holy because this is the only proof that we love the Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity. This is the point on which He has spoken most plainly in the 14th and
15th chapters of John.

If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth
them, he it is that loveth me. If a man love me, he will keep my words.

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. John 14 verses 15 and 21
and 23 and chapter 15 verse 14. Plainer words than these it would be difficult
to find, and woe to those who neglect them.

Surely that man must be in an unhealthy state of soul, who can think of all that
Jesus suffered, and yet cling to those sins for which that suffering was
undergone. It was sin that wove the crown of thorns. It was sin that pierced our
Lord's hands and feet and side.

It was sin that brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to the cross and to the
grave. Cold must our hearts be, if we do not hate sin and labor to get rid of
it, though we may have to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye in
doing it. E. We must be holy because this is the only sound evidence that we are
true children of God.

Children in this world are generally like their parents. Some doubtless are more
so and some less, but it is seldom indeed that you cannot trace a kind of family
likeness. And it is much the same with the children of God.

The Lord Jesus says, If ye are Abraham's children, ye would do the works of
Abraham. If God were your Father, ye would love me. John 8, verses 39 and 42 If
men have no likeness to the Father in heaven, it is vain to talk of there being
His sons.

If we know nothing of holiness, we may flatter ourselves as we please, but we
have not got the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. We are dead and must be brought to
life again. We are lost and must be found.

As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they, and they only, are the sons of
God. Romans 8, verse 14 We must show by our lives the family we belong to. We
must let men see by our good conversation that we are indeed the children of the
Holy One, or our sonship is but an empty name.

Say not, says Gernal, that thou hast royal blood in thy veins, and art born of
God, except thou canst prove thy pedigree by daring to be holy. F. We must be
holy because this is the most likely way to do good to others. We cannot live to
ourselves only in this world.

Our lives will always be doing either good or harm to those who see them. They
are a silent sermon which all can read. It is sad indeed when they are a sermon
for the devil's cause and not for God's.

I believe that far more is done for Christ's kingdom by the holy living of
believers than we are all aware of. There is a reality about such living which
makes men feel and obliges them to think. It carries a weight and influence with
it which nothing else can give.

It makes religion beautiful and draws men to consider it like a lighthouse seen
afar off. The day of judgment will prove that many besides husbands have been
won without the word by a holy life. F. Peter 3.1 You may talk to persons about
the doctrines of the Gospels, and few will listen, and still fewer understand.

But your life is an argument that none can escape. There is a meaning about
holiness which not even the most unlearned can help taking in. They may not
understand justification, but they can understand charity.

I believe there is far more harm done by unholy and inconsistent Christians than
we are aware of. Such men are among Satan's best allies. They pull down by their
lives what ministers build with their lips.

They cause the chariot wheels of the Gospel to drive heavily. They supply the
children of this world with a never-ending excuse for remaining as they are. I
cannot see the use of so much religion, said any religious tradesman not long
ago.

I observe that some of my customers are always talking about the Gospel and the
faith and election and the blessed promises and so forth, and yet these very
people think nothing of cheating me of pence and half-pence when they have an
opportunity. Now if religious persons can do such things, I do not see what good
there is in religion. I grieve to be obliged to write such things, but I fear
that Christ's name is too often blasphemed because of the lives of Christians.

Let us take heed lest the blood of souls should be required at our hands. From
the murder of souls by inconsistency and loose walking, good Lord, deliver us.
Oh, for the sake of others, if for no other reason, let us strive to be holy.

G. We must be holy because our present comfort depends much upon it. We cannot
be too often reminded of this. We are sadly apt to forget that there is a close
connection between sin and sorrow, holiness and happiness, sanctification and
consolation.

God has so wisely ordered it that our well-being and our well-doing are linked
together. He has mercifully provided that even in this world it shall be man's
interest to be holy. Our justification is not by works.

Our calling and election are not according to our works. But it is vain for
anyone to suppose that he will have a lively sense of his justification or an
assurance of his calling so long as he neglects good works or does not strive to
live a holy life. Hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his
commandments.

Hereby we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts. A believer
may as soon expect to feel the sun's rays upon a dark and cloudy day as to feel
strong consolation in Christ while he does not follow him fully. When the
disciples forsook the Lord and fled, they escaped danger, but they were
miserable and sad.

When shortly after they confessed him boldly before men, they were cast into
prison and beaten, but we are told they rejoiced that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name. O for our sakes, if there were no other reason,
let us strive to be holy. He that follows Jesus most fully will always follow
him most comfortably.

Lastly, we must be holy, because without holiness on earth we shall never be
prepared to enjoy heaven. Heaven is a holy place. The Lord of heaven is a holy
being.

The angels are holy creatures. Holiness is written on everything in heaven. The
book of Revelation says expressly, I appeal solemnly to everyone who reads these
pages.

How shall we ever be at home and happy in heaven if we die unholy? Death works
no changes. The grave makes no alteration. Each will rise again with the same
character in which he breathed his last.

Where will our place be if we are strangers to holiness now? Suppose for a
moment that you were allowed to enter heaven without holiness. What would you
do? What possible enjoyment could you feel there? To which of all the saints
would you join yourself, and by whose side would you sit down? Their pleasures
are not your pleasures. Their tastes are not your tastes.

Their character not your character. How could you possibly be happy if you had
not been holy on earth? Now perhaps you love the company of the light and the
careless, the worldly-minded and the covetous, the reveller and the
pleasure-seeker, the ungodly and the profane. There will be none such in heaven.

Now perhaps you think the saints of God too strict and particular and serious.
You rather avoid them. You have no delight in their society.

There will be no other company in heaven. Now perhaps you think praying and
scripture reading and hymn singing dull and melancholy and stupid work, a thing
to be tolerated now and then, but not enjoyed. You reckon the Sabbath a burden
and a weariness.

You could not possibly spend more than a small part of it in worshipping God.
But remember, heaven is a never-ending Sabbath. The inhabitants thereof rest not
night or day saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, and singing the praise
of the Lamb.

How could an unholy man find pleasure in occupations such as this? Think you
that such an one would delight to meet David and Paul and John after a life
spent in doing the very things they spoke against? Would he take sweet counsel
with them and find that he and they had much in common? Think you above all that
he would rejoice to meet Jesus, the crucified one face to face, after cleaving
to the sins for which he died, after loving his enemies and despising his
friends? Would he stand before Him with confidence and join in the cry, This is
our God, we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation?
Isaiah 25.9 Think you not rather that the tongue of an unholy man would cleave
to the roof of his mouth with shame, and his only desire would be to be cast
out? He would feel a stranger in a land he knew not, a black sheep amidst
Christ's holy flock, the voice of cherubim and seraphim, the song of angels and
archangels, and all the company of heaven would be a language he could not
understand. The very air would seem an air he could not breathe. I know not what
others may think, but to me it does seem clear that heaven would be a miserable
place to an unholy man.

It cannot be otherwise. People may say in a vague way they hope to go to heaven,
but they do not consider what they say. There must be a certain meekness for the
inheritance of the saints in light.

Our hearts must be somewhat in tune. To reach the holiday of glory, we must pass
through the training school of grace. We must be heavenly minded and have
heavenly tastes in the life that now is, or else we shall never find ourselves
in heaven in the life to come.

And now, before I go any further, let me say a few words by way of application.
For one thing, let me ask everyone who may read these pages, are you holy?
Listen, I pray you, to the question I put to you this day. Do you know anything
of the holiness of which I have been speaking? I do not ask whether you attend
your church regularly, whether you have been baptized and received the Lord's
Supper, whether you have the name of Christian.

I ask something more than all this. Are you holy or are you not? I do not ask
whether you approve of holiness in others, whether you like to read the lives of
holy people and to talk of holy things and to have on your table holy books,
whether you mean to be holy and hope you will be holy someday. I ask something
further.

Are you yourself holy this day or are you not? And why do I ask so straightly
and press the question so strongly? I do it because the Scripture says, without
holiness no man shall see the Lord. It is written, it is not my fancy, it is the
Bible, not my private opinion. It is the word of God, not of man.

Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12, 14 Alas, what searching,
sifting words are these? What thoughts came across my mind as I write them down?
I look at the world and see the greater part of it lying in wickedness. I look
at professing Christians and see the vast majority have nothing of Christianity
but the name.

I turn to the Bible and I hear the Spirit saying, without holiness no man shall
see the Lord. Surely it is a text that ought to make us consider our ways and
search our hearts. Surely it should rise within us solemn thoughts and send us
to prayer.

You may try to put me off by saying you feel much and think much about these
things, far more than many suppose. I answer, this is not the point. The poor
lost souls in hell do as much as this.

The great question is not what you think and what you feel, but what you do. You
may say, it was never meant that all Christians should be holy and that
holiness, such as I have described, is only for great saints and people of
uncommon gifts. I answer, I cannot see that in Scripture.

I read that every man who hath hope in Christ purifies himself. 1 John 3.3
Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. You may say, it is impossible to be
so holy and to do our duty in this life at the same time.

The thing cannot be done. I answer, you are mistaken. It can be done.

With Christ on your side nothing is impossible. It has been done by many, David
and Obadiah and Daniel and the servants of Nero's household are all examples
that go to prove it. You may say, if I were so holy I would be unlike other
people.

I answer, I know it well. It is just what you ought to be. Christ's true
servants always were unlike the world around them, a separate nation, a peculiar
people, and you must be so too if you would be saved.

You may say, at this rate very few will be saved. I answer, I know it. It is
precisely what we are told in the Sermon on the Mount.

The Lord Jesus said so 1,900 years ago, straight is the gate and narrow is the
way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. Matthew 7, 14 Few will
be saved because few will take the trouble to seek salvation. Men will not deny
themselves the pleasures of sin in their own way for a little season.

They turn their backs on an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that
fadeth not away. Ye will not come unto me, says Jesus, that ye might have life.
John 5, verse 40 You may say, these are hard sayings, the way is very narrow.

I answer, I know it. So says the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord Jesus said so
1,900 years ago.

He always said that men must take up the cross daily and that they must be ready
to cut off hand or foot if they would be his disciples. It is in religion as it
is in other things. There are no gains without pains.

That which costs nothing is worth nothing. Whatever we may think fit to say, we
must be holy if we would see the Lord. Where is our Christianity if we are not?
We must not merely have a Christian name and Christian knowledge.

We must have a Christian character also. We must be saints on earth if ever we
mean to be saints in heaven. God has said it and he will not go back.

Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The Pope's calendar, says Jenkin,
only makes saints of the dead, but Scripture requires sanctity in the living.
Let not men deceive themselves, says Owen.

Sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary unto those who will be
under the conduct of the Lord Christ unto salvation. He leads none to heaven,
but whom he sanctifies on the earth. This living head will not admit of dead
members.

Surely we need not wonder that Scripture says, Ye must be born again, John 3, 7.
Surely it is clear as noonday that many professing Christians need a complete
change, new hearts, new natures, if ever they are to be saved. Old things must
pass away. They must become new creatures.

Without holiness no man, be he who he may, shall see the Lord. Number two. Let
me for another thing speak a little to believers.

I ask you this question. Do you think you feel the importance of holiness as
much as you should? I own, I fear the temper of the times about this subject. I
doubt exceedingly whether it holds that place which it deserves in the thoughts
and attention of some of the Lord's people.

I would humbly suggest that we are apt to overlook the doctrine of growth in
grace and that we do not sufficiently consider how very far a person may go in a
profession of religion and yet have no grace and be dead in God's sight after
all. I believe that Judas Iscariot seemed very like the other apostles. When the
Lord warned them that one would betray him no one said, Is it Judas? We had
better think more about the churches of Sardis and Laodicea than we do.

I have no desire to make an idol of holiness. I do not wish to dethrone Christ
and put holiness in his place. But I must candidly say I wish sanctification was
more thought of in this day than it seems to be and I therefore take occasion to
press the subject on all believers into whose hands these pages may fall.

I fear it is sometimes forgotten that God has married together justification and
sanctification. They are distinct and different things beyond question but one
is never found without the other. All justified people are sanctified and all
sanctified are justified.

What God has joined together let no man dare to put asunder. Tell me not of your
justification unless you also have some marks of sanctification. Boast not of
Christ's work for you unless you can show us the Spirit's work in you.

Think not that Christ and the Spirit can ever be divided. I doubt not that many
believers know these things but I think it good for us to be put in remembrance
of them. Let us prove that we know them by our lives.

Let us try to keep in view this text more continually. Follow holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. I must frankly say I wish there was not such an
excessive sensitiveness on the subject of holiness as I sometimes perceive in
the minds of believers.

A man might really think it was a dangerous subject to handle so cautiously is
it touched. Yet surely when we have exalted Christ as the way the truth and the
life we cannot earn speaking strongly about what should be the character of his
people. Well, Paul says Rutherford the way that Christ down duties and
sanctification is not the way of grace.

Believing and doing are blood friends. I would say it with all reverence but say
it I must. I sometimes fear if Christ were now on earth there are not a few who
would think his preaching legal and if Paul were writing his epistles there are
those who would think he had better not write the latter part of most of them as
he did.

But let us remember that the Lord Jesus did speak the sermon on the mount and
that the epistle to the Ephesians contained six chapters and not four. I grieve
to feel obliged to speak in this way but I am sure there is a cause. That great
divine John Owen the dean of Christ church used to say more than two hundred
years ago that there were people whose whole religion seemed to consist in going
about complaining of their own corruptions and telling everyone that they could
do nothing of themselves.

I am afraid that after two centuries the same thing might be said with truth of
some of Christ professing people in this day. I know there are texts in
scripture which warrant such complaints. I do not object to them when they come
from men who walk in the steps of the apostle Paul and fight a good fight as he
did against sin, the devil and the world.

But I never like such complaints when I see ground for suspecting, as I often
do, that they are only a cloak to cover spiritual laziness and an excuse for
spiritual sloth. If we say with Paul, O wretched man that I am, let us also be
able to say with him, I press toward the mark. Let us not quote his example in
one thing while we do not follow him in another.

Romans 7 verse 24 and Philippians 3 14 I do not set up myself to be better than
other people, and if anyone asks, what are you that you write in this way, I
answer, I am a very poor creature indeed. But I say that I cannot read the Bible
without desiring to see many believers more spiritual, more holy, more
single-eyed, more heavenly-minded, more whole-hearted than they are in the
nineteenth century. I want to see among believers more of a pilgrim spirit, a
more decided separation from the world, a conversation more evidently in heaven,
a closer walk with God, and therefore I have written as I have.

Is it not true that we need a higher standard of personal holiness in this day?
Where is our patience? Where is our zeal? Where is our love? Where are our
works? Where is the power of religion to be seen as it was in times gone by?
Where is that unmistakable tone which used to distinguish the saints of old and
shape the world? Verily our silver has become dross, our wine mixed with water,
and our salt has very little savor. We are all more than half asleep. The night
is far spent, and the day is at hand.

Let us awake and sleep no more. Let us open our eyes more widely than we have
done hitherto. Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily
beset us.

Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect
holiness in the fear of God. Hebrews 12.1 2 Corinthians 7.1 Did Christ die, says
Owen, and shall sin live? Was he crucified in the world, and shall our
affections to the world be quick and lively? Or where is the spirit of him who
by the cross of Christ was crucified to the world, and the world to him? 3. Let
me in the last place offer a word of advice to all who desire to be holy. Would
you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then you must begin with Christ.

You will do just nothing at all, and make no progress, till you feel your sin
and weakness, and flee to him. He is the root and beginning of all holiness, and
the way to be holy is to come to him by faith and be joined to him. Christ is
not wisdom and righteousness only to his people, but sanctification also.

Men sometimes try to make themselves holy first of all, and sad work they make
of it. They toil and labor, and turn over new leaves and make many changes, and
yet like the woman with the issue of blood before she came to Christ, they feel
nothing bettered, but rather worse. They run in vain and labor in vain, and
little wonder, for they are beginning at the wrong end.

They are building up a wall of sand. Their work runs down as fast as they throw
it up. They are bailing water out of a leaky vessel.

The leak gains on them, not they on the leak. Other foundation of holiness can
no man lay than that which Paul laid, even Christ Jesus. Without Christ we can
do nothing.

John 15, 5 It is a strong but true saying of trails. Wisdom out of Christ is
damning folly. Righteousness out of Christ is guilt and condemnation.

Sanctification out of Christ is filth and sin. Redemption out of Christ is
bondage and slavery. Do you want to attain holiness? Do you feel this day a real
hearty desire to be holy? Would you be a partaker of the divine nature? Then go
to Christ.

Wait for nothing. Wait for nobody. Linger not.

Think not to make yourself ready. Go and say to him in the words of that
beautiful hymn, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my
hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring,
my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing
in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in
my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my
hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I
bring, Nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I Nothing in Nothing in my hand I
Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring,
Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring,
Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I
Nothing in my hand I Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my
hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my
hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my
hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my
hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in
my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I my hand I
Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring,
Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I
bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in
my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my
hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in
my hand I Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my
hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I
Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I
bring, Nothing in bring, bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I
Nothing in my hand I my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in bring,
Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I Nothing in my hand I Nothing in
my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in bring, Nothing in my
hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in my hand I bring, Nothing in
my hand I bring, my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I
nothing in my hand I nothing in nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I bring,
nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I
nothing in nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I nothing in my hand I bring,
my hand I nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my hand I bring, nothing in my
hand I nothing in bring, He must fight the devil. That old enemy of mankind is
not dead.

Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, he has been going to and fro in the earth,
and walking up and down in it, and striving to compass one great end, the ruin
of man's soul. Never slumbering and never sleeping, he is always going about as
a lion seeking whom he may devour. An unseen enemy he is always near us, about
our path and about our bed, and spying on all our ways.

A murderer and a liar from the beginning, he labors night and day to cast us
down to hell. Sometimes by leading into superstition, sometimes by suggesting
infidelity, sometimes by one kind of tactics and sometimes by another, he is
always carrying on a campaign against our souls. Satan hath desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat.

This mighty adversary must be daily resisted if we wish to be saved. But this
kind goeth not out, but by watching and praying and fighting and putting on the
whole armor of God. The strong man armed will never be kept out of our hearts
without a daily battle.

Some men may think these statements too strong. You fancy that I am going too
far and laying on the colors too thickly. You are secretly saying to yourself
that men and women in England may surely get to heaven without all this trouble
and warfare and fighting.

Listen to me for a few minutes and I will show you that I have something to say
on God's behalf. Remember the maxim of the wisest general that ever lived in
England? In time of war, it is the worst mistake to underrate your enemy and try
to make a little war. This Christian warfare is no light matter.

Give me your attention and consider what I say. What saith the scripture? Fight
the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life.

Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Put on the whole armor of God
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
ruler of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.

Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day and having done all, to stand. Strive to enter in at the
straight gate. Labor for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life.

Think not that I came to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.

Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. Quit you.

Like men, be strong. War a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. 1
Timothy 6.12 2 Timothy 2.3 Ephesians 6.11-13 Luke 13.24 John 6.27 Matthew 10.34
Luke 22.36 1 Corinthians 16.13 1 Timothy 1.18-19 Words such as these appear to
me clear, plain, and unmistakable.

They all teach one and the same great lesson, if we are willing to receive it.
That lesson is, that true Christianity is a struggle, a fight, and a warfare. He
that pretends to condemn fighting and teaches that we ought to sit still and
yield ourselves to God appears to me to misunderstand his Bible and to make a
great mistake.

What says the baptismal service of the Church of England? No doubt that service
is uninspired, and like every uninspired composition, it has its defects. But to
the millions of people all over the globe who profess and call themselves
English churchmen, its voice ought to speak with some weight. And what does it
say? It tells us that over every new member who is admitted into the Church of
England, the following words are used.

I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I sign
this child with the sign of the cross in token that hereafter he shall not be
ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under
his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's
faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. Of course, we all know that in
myriads of cases baptism is a mere form, and that parents bring their children
to the font without faith or prayer or thought, and consequently receive no
blessing.

The man who supposes that baptism in such cases acts mechanically, like a
medicine, and that godly and ungodly, praying and prayerless parents all alike
get the same benefit for their children, must be in a strange state of mind. But
one thing, at any rate, is very certain. Every baptized churchman is, by his
profession, a soldier of Jesus Christ, and is pledged to fight under his banner
against sin, the world, and the devil.

He that doubted had better take up his prayer book and read, mark, and learn its
contents. The worst thing about many zealous churchmen is their total ignorance
of what their own prayer book contains. This Reformation audio track is a
production of Stillwater's Revival Books.

SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for
sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as
our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and
contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes, and videos at great discounts, is
on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb.com, by
phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog.

And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative
principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship,
commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my
heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men
every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have
not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument
needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God.

For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and
attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle
was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in which they
absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible
thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by
performing their own superstitions.

There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly
appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God
except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of
error. The prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had
commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind.

As though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he
never required, nay, what he never knew.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 6: CHAPTER 6
========================================================================

The worst thing about many zealous churchmen is their total ignorance of what
their own prayer book contains. Whether we are churchmen or not, one thing is
certain. This Christian warfare is a great reality and a subject of vast
importance.

It is not a matter like church government and ceremonial, about which men may
differ and yet reach heaven at last. Necessity is laid upon us. We must fight.

There are no promises in the Lord Jesus Christ's epistles to the seven churches,
except to those who overcome. Where there is grace, there will be conflict. The
believer is a soldier.

There is no holiness without a warfare. Saved souls will always be found who
have fought a fight. It is a fight of absolute necessity.

Let us not think that in this war we can remain neutral and sit still. Such a
line of action may be possible in the strife of nations, but it is utterly
impossible in that conflict which concerns the soul. The boasted policy of
non-interference, the masterly inactivity which pleases so many statesmen, the
plan of keeping quiet and letting things alone, all this will never do in the
Christian warfare.

Here at any rate no one can escape serving under the plea that he is a man of
peace. To be at peace with the world, the flesh and the devil, is to be at
enmity with God and in the broad way that lead us to destruction. We have no
choice or option.

We must either fight or be lost. It is a fight of universal necessity. No rank
or class or age can plead exemption or escape the battle.

Ministers and people, preachers and hearers, old and young, high and low, rich
and poor, gentle and simple, kings and subjects, landlords and tenants, learned
and unlearned, all alike must carry arms and go to war. All have by nature a
heart full of pride, unbelief, sloth, worldliness, and sin. All are living in a
world beset with snares, traps, and pitfalls for the soul.

All have near them a busy, restless, malicious devil. All from the queen in her
palace down to the pauper in the workhouse, all must fight if they would be
saved. It is a fight of perpetual necessity.

It admits of no breathing time, no armistice, no truce. On weekdays as well as
on Sundays, in private as well as in public, at home by the family fireside as
well as abroad, in little things like management of tongue and temper as well as
in great ones like the government of kingdoms, the Christian's warfare must
unceasingly go on. The foe we have to do with keeps no holidays, never slumbers,
and never sleeps.

So long as we have breath in our bodies, we must keep on our armor and remember
that we are on an enemy's ground. Even on the brink of Jordan, said a dying
saint, I find Satan nibbling at my heels. We must fight till we die.

Let us consider well these propositions. Let us take care that our own personal
religion is real, genuine, and true. The saddest symptom about so many so-called
Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight in their
Christianity.

They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get
money, they spend money, they go through a scanty round of formal religious
services once or twice a week. But the great spiritual warfare, its watchings
and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests, of all
this they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not
our own.

The worst state of soul is when the strong man armed keepeth the house and his
goods are at peace, when he leads men and women captive at his will and they
make no resistance. The worst chains are those which are never felt nor seen by
the prisoner. We may take comfort about our souls if we know anything of an
inward fight and conflict.

It is the invariable companion of genuine Christian holiness. It is not
everything, I am well aware, but it is something. Do we find in our hearts of
heart a spiritual struggle? Do we find anything of the flesh lusting against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that we cannot do the things we
would? Galatians 5.17 Are we conscious of two principles within us contending
for the mastery? Do we feel anything of war in our inward man? Well, let us
thank God for it.

It is a good sign. It is strongly probable evidence of the great work of
sanctification. All true saints are soldiers.

Anything is better than apathy, stagnation, deadness and indifference. We are in
a better state than many. The most part of so-called Christians have no feeling
at all.

We are evidently no friends of Satan. Like the kings of this world, he wars not
against his own subjects. The very fact that he assaults us should fill our
minds with hope.

I say again, let us take comfort. The child of God has two great marks about
him, and of these two we have one. He may be known by his inward warfare as well
as by his inward peace.

I pass on to the second thing which I have to say in handling my subject. True
Christianity is the fight of faith. In this respect, the Christian warfare is
utterly unlike the conflicts of this world.

It does not depend on the strong arm, the quick eye or the swift foot. It is not
waged with carnal weapons but with spiritual. Faith is the hinge on which
victory turns.

Success depends entirely on believing. A general faith in the truth of God's
written word is the primary foundation of the Christian soldier's character. He
is what he is, does what he does, thinks as he thinks, acts as he acts, hopes as
he hopes, behaves as he behaves for one simple reason.

He believes certain propositions revealed and laid down in the Holy Scripture.
He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. A religion without doctrine or dogma is a thing which
many are fond of talking of in the present day.

It sounds very fine at first, it looks very pretty at a distance. But the moment
we sit down to examine and consider it, we shall find it a simple impossibility.
We might as well talk of a body without bones and sinews.

No man will ever be anything or do anything in religion unless he believes
something. Even those who profess to hold the miserable and uncomfortable views
of the deists are obliged to confess that they believe something. With all their
bitter sneers against dogmatic theology and Christian credulity, as they call
it, they themselves have a kind of faith.

As for true Christians, faith is the very backbone of their spiritual existence.
No one ever fights earnestly against the world, the flesh, and the devil, unless
he has engraven on his heart certain great principles which he believes. What
they are he may hardly know, and may certainly not be able to define or write
down.

But there they are, and consciously or unconsciously, they form the roots of his
religion. Wherever you see a man, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned,
wrestling manfully with sin and trying to overcome it, you may be sure there are
certain great principles which that man believes. The poet who wrote the famous
lines, For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, He can't be wrong whose
life is in the right, Was a clever man, but a poor divine.

There is no such thing as right living without faith and believing. A special
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, person, work, and office, is the life, heart,
and mainspring of the Christian soldier's character. He sees by faith an unseen
Savior, who loved him, gave himself for him, paid his debts for him, bore his
sins, carried his transgressions, rose again for him, and appears in heaven for
him as his advocate at the right hand of God.

He sees Jesus and clings to him. Seeing his Savior and trusting in him, he feels
peace and hope, and willingly does battle against the foes of his soul. He sees
his own many sins, his weak heart, a tempting world, a busy devil, and if he
looked only at them he might well despair.

But he sees also a mighty Savior, an interceding Savior, a sympathizing Savior,
his blood, his righteousness, his everlasting priesthood, and he believes that
all this is his own. He sees Jesus and casts his whole weight on him. Seeing him
he cheerfully fights on, with a full confidence that he will prove more than
conqueror through him that loved him.

Romans 8 verse 37 Habitual lively faith in Christ's presence and readiness to
help is the secret of the Christian soldier fighting successfully. It must never
be forgotten that faith admits of degrees. All men do not believe alike, and
even the same person has his ebbs and flows of faith, and believes more heartily
at one time than another.

According to the degree of his faith, the Christian fights well or ill, wins
victories, or suffers occasional repulses, comes off triumphant, or loses a
battle. He that has most faith will always be the happiest and most comfortable
soldier. Nothing makes the anxieties of warfare sit so lightly on a man as the
assurance of Christ's love and continual protection.

Nothing enables him to bear the fatigue of watching, struggling, and wrestling
against sin, like the indwelling confidence that Christ is on his side and
success is sure. It is the shield of faith which quenches all the fiery darts of
the wicked ones. It is the man who can say, I know whom I have believed, who can
say in time of suffering, I am not ashamed.

He who wrote those glowing words, we faint not. Our light affliction, which
endureth but for a moment, worketh in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory, was the man who wrote with the same pen. We look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen
are eternal. It is the man who wrote, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
said in the same epistle, the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
It is the man who said to me to live as Christ, who said in the same epistle, I
have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.

I can do all things through Christ. The more faith, the more victory. The more
faith, the more inward peace.

I think it impossible to overrate the value and importance of faith. Well, may
the Apostle Peter call it precious. 2 Peter 1.1 Time would fail me if I tried to
recount a hundredth part of the victories which by faith Christian soldiers have
obtained.

Let us take down our Bibles and read with attention the eleventh chapter of the
epistle to the Hebrews. Let us mark the long list of worthies whose names are
thus recorded, from Abel down to Moses, even before Christ was born of the
Virgin Mary, and brought life and immortality into full light by the gospel. Let
us note well what battles they won against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

And then let us remember that believing did it all. These men looked forward to
the promised Messiah. They saw him that is invisible.

By faith the elders obtained a good report. Hebrews 11 verses 2 through 27 Let
us turn to the pages of early church history. Let us see how the primitive
Christians held fast their religion even unto death, and were not shaken by the
fiercest persecutions of heathen emperors.

For centuries there were never wanting men like Polycarp and Ignatius who were
ready to die rather than deny Christ. Fines and prisons and torture and fire and
sword were power of imperial Rome. The mistress of the world proved unable to
stamp off the religion which began with a few fishermen and publicans in
Palestine.

And then let us remember that believing in an unseen Jesus was the church's
strength. They won their victory by faith. Let us examine the story of the
Protestant Reformation.

Let us study the lives of its leading champions, Wycliffe and Huss and Luther
and Ridley and Latimer and Hooper. Let us mark how these gallant soldiers of
Christ stood firm against a host of adversaries, and were ready to die for their
principles. What battles they fought, what controversies they maintained, what
contradiction they endured, what tenacity of purpose they exhibited against a
world in arms.

And then let us remember that believing in an unseen Jesus was the secret of
their strength. They overcame by faith. Let us consider the men who have made
the greatest marks in church history in the last hundred years.

Let us observe how men like Wesley and Whitfield and Venn and Romaine stood
alone in their day and generation and revived English religion in the face of
opposition from men in high office and in the face of slander, ridicule, and
persecution from nine-tenths of professing Christians in our land. Let us
observe how men like William Wilberforce and Havelock and Hedley Vickers have
witnessed for Christ in the most difficult positions and displayed a banner for
Christ even at the regimental mess table or on the floor of the House of
Commons. Let us mark how these noble witnesses never flinched to the end and won
the respect even of their worst adversaries.

And then let us remember that believing in an unseen Christ is the key to all
their characters. By faith they lived and walked and stood and overcame. Would
anyone live the life of a Christian soldier? Let him pray for faith.

It is the gift of God and a gift which those who ask shall never ask in vain.
You must believe before you do. If men do nothing in religion, it is because
they do not believe.

Faith is the first step toward heaven. Would anyone fight the fight of a
Christian soldier successfully and prosperously? Let him pray for a continual
increase of faith. Let him abide in Christ, get closer to Christ, tighten his
hold on Christ every day that he lives.

Let his daily prayer be that of the disciples, Lord increase our faith. Luke 17
verse 5 Watch jealously over your faith if you have any. It is the citadel of
the Christian character on which the safety of the whole fortress depends.

It is the point which Satan loves to assail. All lies at his mercy if faith is
overthrown. Here, if we love life, we must especially stand on our guard.

Number 3 The last thing I have to say is this. True Christianity is a good
fight. Good is a curious word to apply to any warfare.

All worldly war is more or less evil. No doubt it is an absolute necessity in
many cases to procure the liberty of nations, to prevent the weak from being
trampled down by the strong, but still it is an evil. It entails an awful amount
of bloodshed and suffering.

It hurries into eternity myriads who are completely unprepared for their change.
It calls forth the worst passions of men. It causes enormous waste and
destruction of property.

It fills peaceful homes with mourning widows and orphans. It spreads far and
wide poverty, taxation, and national distress. It disarranges all the order of
society.

It interrupts the work of the gospel and the growth of Christian missions. In
short, war is an immense and incalculable evil and every praying man should cry
night and day, give peace in our time. And yet there is one warfare which is
emphatically good and one fight in which there is no evil.

That warfare is the Christian warfare. That fight is the fight of the soul. Now
what are the reasons why the Christian fight is a good fight? What are the
points in which his warfare is superior to the warfare of this world? Let me
examine this matter and open it out in order.

I dare not pass the subject and leave it unnoticed. I want no one to begin the
life of a Christian soldier without counting the cost. I would not keep back
from anyone that if he would be holy and see the Lord, he must fight and that
the Christian fight, though spiritual, is real and severe.

It needs courage, boldness, and perseverance. But I want my readers to know that
there is abundant encouragement if they will only begin the battle. The
scripture does not call the Christian fight a good fight without reason and
cause.

Let me try to show what I mean. A. The Christian fight is good because fought
under the best of generals. The leader and commander of all believers is our
divine Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, a Savior of perfect wisdom, infinite love,
and almighty power.

The captain of our salvation never fails to lead his soldiers to victory. He
never makes any useless movement, never errs in judgment, never commits any
mistake. His eye is on all his followers, from the greatest of them even to the
least.

The humblest servant in his army is not forgotten. The weakest and most sickly
is cared for, remembered, and kept unto salvation. The souls whom he has
purchased and redeemed with his own blood are far too precious to be wasted and
thrown away.

Surely, this is good. B. The Christian fight is good because fought with the
best of helps. Weak as each believer is in himself, the Holy Spirit dwells in
him, and his body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Chosen by God the Father, washed in the blood of the Son, renewed by the Spirit,
he does not go to warfare at his own charges, and is never alone. God the Holy
Ghost daily teaches, leads, guides, and directs him. God the Father guards him
by his almighty power.

God the Son intercedes for him every moment, like Moses on the mount, while he
is fighting in the valley below. A threefold cord like this can never be broken.
His daily provisions and supplies never fail.

His commissariat is never defective. His bread and his water are sure. Weak as
he seems in himself like a worm, he is strong in the Lord to do great exploits.

Surely, this is good. C. The Christian fight is a good fight because fought with
the best of promises. To every believer belong exceeding great and precious
promises, all yea and amen in Christ.

Promises sure to be fulfilled, because made by one who cannot lie, and has power
as well as will to keep his word. Sin shall not have dominion over you. The God
of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.

He that has begun a good work will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the
floods they shall not overflow thee. My sheep shall never perish, neither shall
anyone pluck them out of my hand.

Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. I will never leave thee nor
forsake thee. I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor things present nor
things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus.

Words like these are worth their weight in gold. Who does not know that promises
of coming aid have cheered the defenders of besieged cities, like Lucknow, and
raised them above their natural strength? Have we never heard that the promise
of help before night had much to say to the mighty victory of Waterloo? Yet all
such promises are as nothing compared to the rich treasure of believers, the
eternal promises of God. Surely this is good.

D. The Christian fight is a good fight because fought with the best of issues
and results. No doubt it is a war in which there are tremendous struggles,
agonizing conflicts, wounds, bruises, watchings, fastings, and fatigue. But
still every believer, without exception, is more than conqueror through him that
loved him.

Romans 8.37 No soldiers of Christ are ever lost, missing, or left dead on the
battlefield. No mourning will ever need to be put on, and no tears to be shed
for either private or officer in the army of Christ. The muster roll, when the
last evening comes, will be found precisely the same that it was in the morning.

The English guards marched out of London to the Crimean campaign, a magnificent
body of men. But many of the gallant fellows laid their bones in a foreign grave
and never saw London again. Far different shall be the arrival of the Christian
army in the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11.10 Not one shall be found lacking. The words of our great captain
shall be found true. Of them which thou hast given me I have lost none.

John 18.9 Surely this is good. E. The Christian's fight is good because it does
good to the soul of him that fights it. All other wars have a bad, lowering, and
demoralizing tendency.

They call forth the worst passions of the human mind. They harden the conscience
and sap the foundations of religion and morality. The Christian warfare alone
tends to call forth the best things that are left in man.

It promotes humility and charity. It lessens selfishness and worldliness. It
induces men to set their affections on things above.

The old, the sick, the dying are never known to repent of fighting Christ's
battles against sin, the world, and the devil. Their only regret is that they
did not begin to serve Christ long before. The experience of that eminent saint,
Philip Henry, does not stand alone.

In his last days he said to his family, I take you all to record that a life
spent in the service of Christ is the happiest life that a man can spend upon
earth. Surely this is good. F. The Christian's fight is a good fight because it
does good to the world.

All other wars have a devastating, ravaging, and injurious effect. The march of
an army through a land is an awful scourge to the inhabitants. Wherever it goes,
it impoverishes, wastes, and does harm.

Injury to persons, property, feelings, and morals invariably accompanies it. Far
different are the effects produced by Christian soldiers. Wherever they live,
they are a blessing.

They raise the standard of religion and morality. They invariably check the
progress of drunkenness, Sabbath breaking, profligacy, and dishonesty. Even
their enemies are obliged to respect them.

Go where you please. You will rarely find that barracks and garrisons do good to
the neighborhood. But go where you please.

You will find that the presence of a few true Christians is a blessing. Surely
this is good. G. Finally, the Christian's fight is good because it ends in a
glorious reward for all who fight it.

Who can tell the wages that Christ will pay to all his faithful people? Who can
estimate the good things that our divine Captain has laid up for those who
confess him before men? A grateful country will give to her successful warriors
medals, Victoria Crosses, pensions, peerages, honors, and titles. But it can
give nothing that will last and endure forever, nothing that can be carried
beyond the grave. Palaces like Blauheim and Stockford, say, can only be enjoyed
for a few years.

The bravest generals and soldiers must go down one day before the King of
Terrors. Better, far better, is the position of him who fights under Christ's
banner against sin, the world, and the devil. He may get little praise of man
while he lives, and go down to the grave with little honor.

But he shall have that which is far better, because far more enduring. He shall
have a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 1 Peter 5.4 Surely this is good.

Let us settle it in our minds that the Christian fight is a good fight, really
good, truly good, emphatically good. We see only part of it as yet. We see the
struggle, but not the end.

We see the campaign, and not the reward. We see the cross, but not the crown. We
see a few humble, broken-hearted, penitent, praying people, enduring hardships
and despised by the world.

But we see not the hand of God over them, the face of God smiling on them, the
kingdom of glory prepared for them. These things are yet to be revealed. Let us
not judge by appearances.

There are more good things about the Christian warfare than we see. And now let
me conclude my whole subject with a few words of practical application. Our lot
is cast in times when the world seems thinking of little else but battles and
fighting.

The iron is entering into the soul of more than one nation, and the mirth of
many a fair district is clean gone. Surely in times like these, a minister may
fairly call on men to remember their spiritual warfare. Let me say a few parting
words about the great fight of the soul.

Number one. It may be you are struggling hard for the rewards of this world.
Perhaps you are straining every nerve to obtain money or place or power or
pleasure.

If that be your case, take care. Your sowing will lead to a crop of bitter
disappointment. Unless you mind what you are about, your latter end will be to
lie down in sorrow.

Thousands have trodden the path you are pursuing, and have awoke too late to
find it end in misery and eternal ruin. They have fought hard for wealth and
honor and office and promotion, and turned their backs on God and Christ in
heaven and the world to come. And what has been their end? Often, far too often,
they have found out that their whole life has been a grand mistake.

They have tasted by bitter experience the feelings of the dying statesman who
cried aloud in his last hours. The battle is fought. The battle is fought, but
the victory is not won.

For your own happiness' sake, resolve this day to join the Lord's side. Shake
off your past carelessness and unbelief. Come out from the ways of a
thoughtless, unreasoning world.

Take up the cross and become a good soldier of Christ. Fight the good fight of
faith, that you may be happy as well as safe. Think what the children of this
world will often do for liberty without any religious principle.

Remember how Greeks and Romans and Swiss and Tyrolese have endured the loss of
all things, and even life itself, rather than bend their necks to a foreign
yoke. Let their example provoke you to emulation. If men can do so much for a
corruptible crown, how much more should you do for one which is incorruptible?
Awake to a sense of the misery of being a slave.

For life and happiness and liberty arise and fight. Fear not to begin and enlist
under Christ's banner. The great captain of your salvation rejects none that
come to him.

Like David in the cave of Adullam, he is ready to receive all who apply to him,
however unworthy they may feel themselves. None who repent and believe are too
bad to be enrolled in the ranks of Christ's army. All who come to him by faith
are admitted, clothed, armed, trained, and finally led on to complete victory.

Fear not to begin this very day. There is yet room for you. Fear not to go on
fighting if you once enlist.

The more thorough and wholehearted you are as a soldier, the more comfortable
will you find your warfare. No doubt you will often meet with trouble, fatigue,
and hard fighting before your warfare is accomplished, but let none of these
things move you. Greater is he that is for you than all they that be against
you.

Everlasting liberty or everlasting captivity are the alternatives before you.
Choose liberty and fight to the last. 2. It may be you know something of the
Christian warfare and are a tried and proved soldier already.

If that be your case, accept a parting word of advice and encouragement from a
fellow soldier. Let me speak to myself as well as to you. Let us stir up our
minds by way of remembrance.

There are some things which we cannot remember too well. Let us remember that if
we would fight successfully, we must put on the whole armor of God and never lay
it aside till we die. Not a single piece of the armor can be dispensed with.

The girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the
sword of the Spirit, the helmet of hope, each and all are needful. Not a single
day can we dispense with any part of this armor. Well says an old veteran in
Christ's army who died 200 years ago, In heaven we shall appear, not in armor,
but in robes of glory.

But here our arms are to be worn night and day. We must walk, work, sleep in
them, or else we cannot be true soldiers of Christ. Vernal's Christian Armor Let
us remember the solemn words of an inspired warrior who went to his rest 1800
years ago.

No man that wore us entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may
please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 2 Timothy 2.4 May we never
forget that saying. Let us remember that some have seemed good soldiers for a
little season and talked loudly of what they would do and yet turned back
disgracefully in the day of battle.

Let us never forget Balaam and Judas and Demas and Lot's wife. Whatever we are
and however weak, let us be real, genuine, true, and sincere. Let us remember
that the eye of our loving Savior is upon us morning, noon, and night.

He will never suffice us to be tempted above that we are able to bear. He can be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities, for he suffered himself being
tempted. He knows what battles and conflicts are, for he himself was assaulted
by the prince of this world.

Having such a high priest, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession. Hebrews 4.14 Let us remember that thousands of soldiers before us
have fought the same battle that we are fighting and come off more than
conquerors through him that loved them. They overcame by the blood of the Lamb,
and so also may we.

Christ's arm is quite as strong as ever, and Christ's heart is just as loving as
ever. He that saved men and women before us is one who never changes. He is able
to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him.

Then let us cast doubts and fears away. Let us follow them who through faith and
patience inherit the promises and are waiting for us to join them. Hebrews 7.25
Chapter 6.12 Finally, let us remember that the time is short, and the coming of
the Lord draweth nigh.

A few more battles, and the last trumpet shall sound, and the Prince of Peace
shall come to reign on the renewed earth. A few more struggles and conflicts,
and then we shall bid an eternal goodbye to warfare, and to sin, to sorrow, and
to death. Then let us fight unto the last and never surrender.

Thus saith the Captain of our salvation, He that overcometh shall inherit all
things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. Revelation 21.7 Let me
conclude all with the words of John Bunyan in one of the most beautiful parts of
Pilgrim's Progress. He is describing the end of one of his best and holiest
pilgrims.

After this it was noised abroad that Mr. Valiant-for-Truth was sent for by a
summons by the same party as the others. And he had this word for a token that
the summons was true. The pitcher was broken at the fountain.

Ecclesiastes 12.6 When he understood it, he called for his friends and told them
of it. Then said he, Many accompanied him to the riverside, into which as he
went down he said, O death, where is thy sting? And as he went down deeper he
cried, O grave, where is thy victory? So he passed over, and all the trumpet
sounded for him on the other side. May our end be like this.

May we never forget that without fighting there can be no holiness while we
live, and no crown of glory when we die. Chapter 5, starting on page 68. The
Cost Which of you, intending to build a house, didst not down first and counteth
the cost? Luke 14.28 The text which heads this passage is one of great
importance.

Few are the people who are not often obliged to ask themselves, What does it
cost? In buying property, in building homes, in furnishing rooms, in forming
plans, in changing dwellings, in educating children, it is wise and prudent to
look forward and consider. Many would save themselves much sorrow and trouble if
they would only remember the question, What does it cost? But there is one
subject on which it is especially important to count the cost. That subject is
the salvation of our souls.

What does it cost to be a true Christian? What does it cost to be a real holy
man? This, after all, is the grand question. For want of thought about this,
thousands, after seeming to begin well, turn away from the road to heaven and
are lost forever in hell. Let me try to say a few words which may throw light on
the subject.

1. I will show firstly what it costs to be a true Christian. 2. I will explain
secondly why it is of such great importance to count the cost. 3. I will give,
in the last place, some hints which may help men to count the cost rightly.

We are living in strange times. Events are hurrying on with singular rapidity.
We never know what a day may bring forth.

How much less do we know what may happen in a year. We live in a day of great
religious profession. Scores of professing Christians in every part of the land
are expressing a desire for more holiness and a higher degree of spiritual life.

Yet nothing is more common than to see people receiving the word with joy and
then after two or three years falling away and going back to their sins. They
have not considered what it costs to be a really consistent believer and holy
Christian. Surely these are times when we ought often to sit down and count the
cost and to consider the state of our souls.

We must mind what we are about. If we desire to be truly holy, it is a good
sign. We may thank God for putting the desire into our hearts but still the cost
ought to be counted.

No doubt Christ's way to eternal life is a way of pleasantness but it is folly
to shut our eyes to the fact that His way is narrow and the cross comes before
the crown. Let there be no mistake about my meaning. I am not examining what it
costs to save a Christian's soul.

I know well that it costs nothing less than the blood of the Son of God to
provide an atonement and to redeem man from hell. The price paid for our
redemption was nothing less than the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary. We are
bought with a price.

Christ gave Himself a ransom for all. 1 Corinthians 6.20 and 1 Timothy 2.6 But
all this is wide of the question. The point I want to consider is another one
altogether.

It is what a man must be ready to give up if he wishes to be saved. It is the
amount of sacrifice a man must submit to if he intends to serve Christ. It is in
this sense that I raise the question, what does it cost? And I believe firmly
that it is a most important one.

I grant freely that it costs little to be a mere outward Christian. A man has
only got to attend a place of worship twice on Sunday and to be tolerably moral
during the week and he has gone as far as thousands around him ever go in
religion. All this is cheap and easy work.

It entails no self-denial or self-sacrifice. If this is saving Christianity and
will take us to heaven when we die, we must alter the description of the way of
life and right. Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to heaven.

But it does cost something to be a real Christian according to the standard of
the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to
be made, and Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to
be carried, a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a man in an armchair and
taking him easily to heaven.

It is the beginning of a mighty conflict in which it costs much to win the
victory. Hence arises the unspeakable importance of counting the cost. Let me
try to show precisely and particularly what it costs to be a true Christian.

Let us suppose that a man is disposed to take service with Christ and feels
drawn and inclined to follow Him. Let us suppose that some affliction or some
sudden death or an awakening sermon has stirred his conscience and made him feel
the value of his soul and desire to be a true Christian. No doubt there is
everything to encourage him.

His sins may be freely forgiven, however great and many. His heart may be
completely changed, however cold and hard. Christ and the Holy Spirit, mercy and
grace, are all ready for him.

But still he should count the cost. Let us see particularly, one by one, the
things that his religion will cost him. 1. For one thing it will cost him his
self-righteousness.

2. He must cast away all pride and high thoughts and conceit of his own
goodness. 3. He must be content to go to heaven as a poor sinner saved only by
free grace and owing all to the merit and righteousness of another. 4. He must
really feel as well as say the prayer book words that he has erred and gone
astray like a lost sheep, that he has left undone the things he ought to have
done and done the things he ought not to have done, and that there is no health
in him.

5. He must be willing to give up all trust in his own morality, respectability,
praying, Bible reading, church going, and sacrament receiving, and to trust in
nothing but Jesus Christ. Now this sounds hard to some. I do not wonder.

Sure said a godly plowman to the well-known James Hervey of Weston Saville, It
is harder to deny proud self than sinful self. This Reformation audio track is a
production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic
Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed
formats.

Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, contain
thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes, and
videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached
by email at swrb at swrb dot com, by phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at
780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6L 3T5. You may
also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending
the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called
the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded
them not, neither came into my heart.

From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every
occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not
commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument
needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For
when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and
attend not to his commands, they pervert true religion.

And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of
worship, in which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground.
It is indeed a horrible thing for the papists to seek to discharge their duties
towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of
them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears.

Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by
obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The
prophet's words then are very important, when he says that God had commanded no
such thing, and that it never came to his mind. As though he had said that men
assume too much wisdom, when they devise what he never required, nay, what he
never knew.


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  CHAPTER 7: CHAPTER 7
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I do not wonder, sir, said a goodly plowman to the well-known James Hervey of
Weston Fable, it is harder to deny proud self than sinful self, but it is
absolutely necessary. Let us set down this item first and foremost in our
account. To be a true Christian, it will cost a man his self-righteousness.

Number two, for another thing, it will cost a man his sins. He must be willing
to give up every habit and practice which is wrong in God's sight. He must set
his face against it, quarrel with it, break off from it, fight with it, crucify
it, and labor to keep it under, whatever the world around him may say or think.

He must do this honestly and fairly. There must be no separate truths with any
special sin which he loves. He must count all sins as his deadly enemies and
hate every false way.

Whether little or great, whether open or secret, all his sins must be thoroughly
renounced. They may struggle hard with him every day and sometimes almost get
the mastery over him, but he must never give way to them. He must keep up a
perpetual war against his sins.

It is written, cast away from you all your transgressions, break off thy sins
and iniquities, cease to do evil. Ezekiel 18.31, Daniel 4.27, and Isaiah 1.16
This also sounds hard, I do not wonder. Our sins are often as dear to us as our
children.

We love them, hug them, grieve to them, and delight in them. To part with them
is as hard as cutting off a right hand or plucking out a right eye. But it must
be done, the parting must come.

Though wickedness be sweet in the sinner's mouth, though he hide it under his
tongue, though he spear it and forsake it not, yet it must be given up if he
wishes to be saved. Job 10.12-13 He and sin must quarrel if he and God are to be
friends. Christ is willing to receive any sinners, but he will not receive them
if they will stick to their sins.

Let us set down that item second in our account. To be a Christian it will cost
a man his sins. 3. For another thing it will cost a man his love of ease.

He must take pains and trouble if he means to run a successful race towards
heaven. He must daily watch and stand on his guard like a soldier on enemy's
ground. He must take heed to his behavior every hour of the day, in every
company, and in every place, in public as well as in private, among strangers as
well as at home.

He must be careful over his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his
imagination, his motives, his conduct in every relation of life. He must be
diligent about his prayers, his Bible reading, his use of Sundays with all their
means of grace. In attending to these things he may come far short of
perfection, but there is none of them that he can safely neglect.

The soul of the slugger desireth and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent
shall be made fat. Proverbs 13 verse 4 This also sounds hard. There is nothing
we naturally dislike so much as trouble about our religion.

We hate trouble. We secretly wish we could have a vicarious Christianity, and
could be good by proxy, and have everything done for us. Anything that requires
exertion and labor is entirely against the grain of our hearts, but the soul can
have no gains without pains.

Let us set down that item third in our account. To be a Christian it will cost a
man his love of ease. Number 4 In the last place it will cost a man the favor of
the world.

He must be content to be thought ill of by man if he pleases God. He must count
it no strange thing to be mocked, ridiculed, slandered, persecuted, and even
hated. He must not be surprised to find his opinions and practices in religion
despised and held up to scorn.

He must submit to be thought by many a fool, an enthusiast, and a fanatic, to
have his words perverted and his actions misrepresented. In fact, he must not
marvel if some call him mad. The Master says, Remember the word that I said unto
you, The servant is not greater than his lord.

If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my
saying, they will also keep yours. John 15 verse 20 I dare say this also sounds
hard.

We naturally dislike unjust dealing and false charges, and think it very hard to
be accused without cause. We should not be flesh and blood if we did not wish to
have the good opinion of our neighbors. It is always unpleasant to be spoken
against and forsaken and lied about and to stand alone, but there is no help for
it.

The cup which our Master drank must be drunk by his disciples. They must be
despised and rejected of men. Isaiah 53 verse 3 Let us set down that item last
in our account.

To be a Christian, it will cost a man the favor of the world. Such is the
account of what it costs to be a true Christian. I grant the list is a heavy
one, but where is the item that could be removed? Bold indeed must that man be
who would dare to say that we may keep our self-righteousness, our sins, our
laziness, and our love of the world, and yet be saved.

I grant it costs much to be a true Christian, but who in his sound senses can
doubt that it is worth any cost to have the soul saved. When the ship is in
danger of sinking, the crew think nothing of casting overboard the precious
cargo. When a limb is mortified, a man will submit to any severe operation and
even to amputation to save life.

Surely a Christian should be willing to give up anything which stands between
him and heaven. A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing. A cheap
Christianity without a cross will prove in the end a useless Christianity
without a crown.

Number 2 I have now in the second place to explain why counting the cost is of
such great importance to man's soul. I might easily settle this question by
laying down the principle that no duty enjoined by Christ can ever be neglected
without damage. I might show how many shut their eyes throughout life to the
nature of saving religion and refuse to consider what it really costs to be a
Christian.

I might describe how at last when life is ebbing away, they wake up and make a
few spasmodic efforts to turn to God. I might tell you how they find to their
amazement that repentance and conversion are no such easy matters as they have
supposed and that it costs a great sum to be a true Christian. They discover
that habits of pride and sinful indulgence and love of ease and worldliness are
not so easily laid aside as they had dreamed.

And so after a faint struggle they give up in despair and leave the world
hopeless, graceless and unfit to meet God. They had flattered themselves all
their days that religion would be easy work when they once took it up seriously.
But they open their eyes too late and discover for the first time that they are
ruined because they never counted the cost.

But there is one class of persons to whom especially I wish to address myself in
handling this part of my subject. It is a large class, an increasing class and a
class which in these days is in peculiar danger. Let me in a few plain words try
to describe this class.

It deserves our best attention. The persons I speak of are not thoughtless about
religion. They think a good deal about it.

They are not ignorant about religion. They know the outlines of it pretty well.
But their great defect is that they are not rooted and grounded in their faith.

Too often they have picked up their knowledge second hand from being in
religious families or from being trained in religious ways but have never worked
it out by their own inward experience. Too often they have hastily taken up a
profession of religion under the pressure of circumstances, from sentimental
feelings, from animal excitement or from a vague desire to do like others around
them but without any solid work of grace in their hearts. Persons like these are
in a position of immense danger.

They are precisely those, if Bible examples are worth anything, who need to be
exhorted to count the cost. For want of counting the cost, myriads of the
children of Israel perished miserably in the wilderness between Egypt and
Canaan. They left Egypt full of zeal and fervor, as if nothing could stop them.

But when they found dangers and difficulties in the way, their courage soon
cooled down. They had never reckoned on trouble. They had thought the promised
land would be all before them in a few days.

And so when enemies, privations, hunger and thirst began to try them, they
murmured against Moses and God and would fain have gone back to Egypt. In a
word, they had not counted the cost and so lost everything and died in their
sins. For want of counting the cost, many of our Lord Jesus Christ's hearers
went back after a time and walked no more with Him.

John 6, 66 When they first saw His miracles and heard His preaching, they
thought, the kingdom of God would immediately appear. They cast in their lot
with His apostles and followed Him without thinking of the consequences. But
when they found that there were hard doctrines to be believed and hard work to
be done and hard treatment to be borne, their fate gave way entirely and proved
to be nothing at all.

In a word, they had not counted the cost and so made shipwreck of their
profession. For want of counting the cost, King Herod returned to his old sins
and destroyed his soul. He liked to hear John the Baptist preach.

He observed and honored him as a just and holy man. He even did many things
which were right and good. But when he found that he must give up his darling
Herodias, his religion entirely broke down.

He had not reckoned on this. He had not counted the cost. Mark 6, verse 30 For
want of counting the cost, Demas forsook the company of St. Paul, forsook the
gospel, forsook Christ, forsook heaven.

For a long time he journeyed with the great apostle of the Gentiles and was
actually a fellow-neighbor. But when he found he could not have the friendship
of this world as well as the friendship of God, he gave up his Christianity and
claimed to the world. Demas hath forsaken me, says St. Paul, having loved this
present world.

2 Timothy 4.10 He had not counted the cost. For want of counting the cost, the
hearers of powerful evangelical preachers often come to miserable ends. They are
stirred and excited into professing what they have not really experienced.

They receive the word with a joy so extravagant that it almost startles old
Christians. They run for a time with such zeal and fervor that they seem likely
to outstrip all others. They talk and work for spiritual objects with such
enthusiasm that they make older believers feel ashamed.

But when the novelty and freshness of their feelings is gone, a change comes
over them. They prove to have been nothing more than stony ground hearers. The
description the great master gives in the parable of the sower is exactly
exemplified.

Temptation or persecution arises because of the word and they are offended.
Matthew 13.21 Little by little their zeal melts away and their love becomes
cold. By and by their seats are empty in the assembly of God's people and they
are heard of no more among Christians.

And why? They had never counted the cost. For want of counting the cost,
hundreds of professed converts under religious revivals go back to the world
after a time and bring disgrace on religion. They begin with a sadly mistaken
notion of what is true Christianity.

They fancy it consists in nothing more than a so-called coming to Christ and
having strong inward feelings of joy and peace. And so when they find after a
time that there is a cross to be carried, that our hearts are deceitful and that
there is a busy devil always near them, they cool down in disgust and return to
their old sins. And why? Because they had really never known what Bible
Christianity is.

They had never learned that we must count the cost. Footnote I should be very
sorry indeed if the language I have used above about revivals was misunderstood.
To prevent this, I will offer a few remarks by way of explanation.

For true revivals of religion, no one can be more deeply thankful than I am.
Wherever they may take place and by whatever agents they may be affected, I
desire to bless God for them with all my heart. If Christ is preached, I
rejoice, whoever may be the preacher.

If souls are saved, I rejoice by whatever section of the church the word of life
has been ministered. But it is a melancholy fact that, in a world like this, you
cannot have good without evil. I have no hesitation in saying that one
consequence of the revival movement has been the rise of a theological system
which I feel obliged to call defective and mischievous in the extreme.

The leading feature of this theological system I refer to is this, an
extravagant and disproportionate magnifying of three points in religion, that
is, instantaneous conversion, the invitation of unconverted sinners to come to
Christ, and the possession of inward joy and peace as a test of conversion. I
repeat that these three grand truths, for truths they are, are so incessantly
and exclusively brought forward in some quarters that great harm is done.
Instantaneous conversion no doubt ought to be pressed on people, but surely they
ought not to be led to suppose that there is no other sort of conversion, and
that unless they are suddenly and powerfully converted to God, they are not
converted at all.

The duty of coming to Christ at once, just as we are, should be pressed on all
hearers. It is the very cornerstone of gospel preaching. But surely men ought to
be told to repent as well as to believe.

They should be told why they are to come to Christ, and what they are to come
for, and whence their need arises. The nearness of peace and comfort in Christ
should be proclaimed to men, but surely they should be taught that the
possession of strong inward joys and high frames of mind is not essential to
justification, and that there may be true faith and true peace without such
triumphant feelings. Joy alone is no certain evidence of grace.

The defects of the theological system I have in view appear to me to be these.
1. The work of the Holy Ghost in converting sinners is far too much narrowed and
confined to a single way. Not all true converts are converted instantaneously,
like Saul and the Philippian jailer.

2. Sinners are not sufficiently instructed about the holiness of God's law, the
depth of their sinfulness, and the real guilt of sin. To be incessantly telling
a sinner to come to Christ is of little use, unless you tell him why he needs to
come and show him fully his sins. 3. Faith is not properly explained.

In some cases people are taught that mere feeling is faith. In others they are
taught that if they believe that Christ died for sinners, they have faith. At
this rate, the very devils are believers.

4. The possession of inward joy and assurance is made essential to believing.
Yet assurance is certainly not of the essence of saving faith. There may be
faith when there is no assurance.

To insist on all believers at once rejoicing as soon as they believe is most
unsafe. Some, I am quite sure, will rejoice without believing, while others will
believe who cannot at once rejoice. 5. Last but not least, the sovereignty of
God in saving sinners and the absolute necessity of preventing grace are far too
much overlooked.

Many talk as if conversions could be manufactured at man's pleasure, and as if
there were no such tax as this. It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. 6. The mischief done by the theological
system I refer to is, I am persuaded, very great.

On the one hand, many humble-minded Christians are totally discouraged and
daunted. They fancy they have no grace because they cannot reach up to the high
frames and feelings which are pressed on their attention. On the other side,
many graceless people are deluded into thinking they are converted because,
under the pressure of animal excitement and temporary feelings, they are led to
profess themselves Christians.

And all this time the thoughtless and ungodly look on with contempt and find
fresh reasons for neglecting religion altogether. 7. The antidotes to the state
of things I deplore are plain and few. 1. Let all the counsel of God be taught
in scriptural proportion, and let not two or three precious doctrines of the
gospel be allowed to overshadow all other truths.

2. Let repentance be taught fully as well as faith, and not thrust completely
into the background. Our Lord Jesus Christ and St. Paul always taught both. 3.
Let the variety of the Holy Ghost's work be honestly stated and admitted, and
while instantaneous conversion is pressed on men, let it not be taught as a
necessity.

4. Let those who profess to have found immediate sensible peace be plainly
warned to try themselves well, and to remember that feeling is not faith, and
that patient continuance in well-doing is the great proof that faith is true.
John 8, verse 31 5. Let the great duty of counting the cost be constantly urged
on all who are disposed to make a religious profession, and let them be honestly
and fairly told that there is a warfare as well as peace, a cross as well as a
crown, in Christ's service. I am sure that unhealthy excitement is above all
things to be dreaded in religion, because it often ends in fatal, soul-ruining
reaction and utter deadness.

And when multitudes are suddenly brought under the power of religious
impressions, unhealthy excitement is almost sure to follow. I have not much
faith in the soundness of conversions when they are said to take place in masses
and wholesale. It does not seem to me in harmony with God's general dealings in
this dispensation.

To my eyes it appears that God's ordinary plan is to call in individuals one by
one. Therefore, when I hear of large numbers being suddenly converted all at
once, I hear of it with less hope than some. The healthiest and most enduring
success in mission fields is certainly not where natives have come over to
Christianity in a mass.

The most satisfactory and firmest work at home does not always appear to me to
be done in the work of revivals. There are two passages in Scripture which I
should like to have frequently and fully expounded in the present day by all who
preach the Gospel and especially by those who have anything to do with revivals.
One passage is the parable of the sower.

That parable is not recorded three times over without good reason and a deep
meaning. The other passage is our Lord's teaching about counting the cost and
the words which He spoke to the great multitudes whom He saw following Him. It
is very noteworthy that He did not on that occasion say anything to flatter
these volunteers or encourage them to follow Him.

No, He saw what their case needed. He told them to stand still and count the
cost. Luke 14, 25, etc.

I am not sure that some modern preachers would have adopted this course of
treatment. End of footnote. For want of counting the cost, the children of
religious parents often turn out ill and bring disgrace on Christianity.

Familiar from their earliest years with the form and theory of the Gospel,
taught even from infancy to repeat great leading texts, accustomed every week to
be instructed in the Gospel or to instruct others in Sunday schools, they often
go out professing a religion without knowing why or without ever having thought
seriously about it. And then when the realities of grown-up life begin to press
upon them, they often astound everyone by dropping all their religion and
plunging right into the world. And why? They had never thoroughly understood the
sacrifices which Christianity entails.

They had never been taught to count the cost. These are solemn and painful
truths, but they are truths. They all help to show the immense importance of the
subject I am now considering.

They all point out the absolute necessity of pressing the subject of this paper
on all who profess a desire for holiness and of crying aloud in all the
churches, count the cost. I am bold to say that it would be well if the duty of
counting the cost were more frequently taught than it is. Impatient hurry is the
order of the day with many religionists.

Instantaneous conversions and immediate sensible peace are the only results they
seem to care for from the gospel. Compared with these all, other things are
thrown into the shade. To produce them is the grand end and object, apparently,
of all their labors.

I say without hesitation that such a naked, one-sided mode of teaching
Christianity is mischievous in the extreme. Let no one mistake my meaning. I
thoroughly approve of offering men a full, free, present, immediate salvation in
Christ Jesus.

I thoroughly approve of urging on man the possibility and the duty of immediate,
instantaneous conversion. In these matters I give place to no one. But I do say
that these truths ought not to be set before men nakedly, singly, and alone.

They ought to be told honestly what it is they are taking up if they profess a
desire to come out from the world and serve Christ. They ought not to be pressed
into the ranks of Christ's army without being told what the warfare entails. In
a word, they should be told honestly to count the cost.

Does anyone ask what our Lord Jesus Christ's practice was in this matter? Let
him read what St. Luke records. He tells us that on a certain occasion there
were great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any come to
me and hate not his father and his mother and wife and children and brethren and
sisters, yea, in his life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not
bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14, verses 25-27 I must plainly say that I cannot reconcile this passage
with the proceedings of many modern religious teachers. And yet to my mind the
doctrine of it is as clear as the sun at noonday. It shows us that we ought not
to hurry men into professing discipleship without warning them plainly to count
the cost.

Does anyone ask what the practice of the eminent and best preachers of the
gospel has been in days gone by? I am bold to say that they have all with one
mouth borne testimony to the wisdom of our Lord's dealings with the multitudes
to which I have just referred. Luther and Latimer and Baxter and Wesley and
Whitfield and Burridge and Roland Hill were all keenly alive to the
deceitfulness of man's heart. They knew full well that all is not gold that
glitters, that conviction is not conversion, that feeling is not faith, that
sentiment is not grace, that all blossoms do not come to fruit.

Be not deceived was their constant cry. Consider well what you do. Do not run
before you are called.

Count the cost. If we desire to do good, let us never be ashamed of walking in
the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ. Work hard if you will and have the
opportunity for the souls of others.

Press them to consider their ways. Compel them with holy violence to come in, to
lay down their arms and to yield themselves to God. Offer them salvation, ready,
full, free, immediate salvation.

Press Christ and all his benefits on their acceptance. But in all your work tell
the truth and the whole truth. Be ashamed to use the vulgar arts of a recruiting
sergeant.

Do not speak only of the uniform, the pay and the glory. Speak also of the
enemies, the battle, the armor, the watching, the marching and the drill. Do not
present only one side of Christianity.

Do not keep back the cross of self-denial that must be carried. When you speak
of the cross on which Christ died for our redemption, explain fully what
Christianity entails. Entreat men to repent and come to Christ.

But bid them at the same time to count the cost. The third and last thing which
I propose to do is to give some hints which may help men to count the cost
rightly. Sorry indeed should I be if I did not say something on this branch of
my subject.

I have no wish to discourage anyone or to keep back anyone from Christ's
service. It is my heart's desire to encourage everyone to go forward and take up
the cross. Let us count the cost by all means and count it carefully.

But let us remember that if we count rightly and look on all sides, there is
nothing that need make us afraid. Let us mention some things which should always
enter into our calculations in counting the cost of true Christianity. Set down
honestly and fairly what you will have to give up and go through if you become
Christ's disciple.

Leave nothing out. Put it all down. But then set down side by side the following
sums which I am going to give to you.

Do this fairly and correctly and I am not afraid for the result. A. Count up and
compare for one thing the profit and the loss if you are a true hearted and holy
Christian. You may possibly lose something in this world but you will gain the
salvation of your immortal soul.

It is written what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and
lose his own soul. Mark 8.36 B. Count up and compare for another thing the
praise and the blame if you are a true hearted and holy Christian. You may
possibly be blamed by man but you will have praise of God the Father, God the
Son and God the Holy Ghost.

Your blame will come from the lips of a few erring, blind, fallible men and
women. Your praise will come from the king of kings and judge of all the earth.
It is only those whom he blesses who are really blessed.

It is written blessed are ye when men shall revile and persecute you and say all
manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad
for great is your reward in heaven. Matthew 5.11-12 C. Count up and compare for
another thing the friends and the enemies if you are a true hearted and holy
Christian.

On the one side of you is the enmity of the devil and the wicked. On the other
you have the favor and friendship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Your enemies at most
can only bruise your heel.

They may rage loudly and compass thee in land to work your ruin but they cannot
destroy you. Your friend is able to save to the uttermost all them that come
unto God by him. None shall ever pluck his sheep out of his hand.

It is written be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no
more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him
which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell.

Yea, I say unto you fear him. Luke 12 verse 5 D. Count up and compare for
another thing the life that now is and the life to come if you are a truehearted
and holy Christian. The time present no doubt is not a time of ease.

It is a time of watching and praying, fighting and struggling, believing and
working. But it is only for a few years. The time future is the season of rest
and refreshing.

Sin shall be cast out Satan shall be bound. And best of all it shall be a rest
forever. It is written Our light affliction which is but for a moment wortheth
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not
seen. For the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not
seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4 verses 17 and 18 e. Count up and compare for
another thing the pleasures of sin and the happiness of God's service if you are
a truehearted and holy Christian.

The pleasures that the worldly man gets by his ways are hollow unreal and
unsatisfying. They are like the fire of thorns flashing and crackling for a few
minutes and then quenched forever. The happiness that Christ gives to his people
is something solid lasting and substantial.

It is not dependent on health or circumstances. It never leaves a man even in
death. It ends in a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

It is written the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. As the crackling of
thorns under a pot so is the laughter of the fool. Job 10 verse 5 and
Ecclesiastes 7 verse 6 But it is also written Peace I leave with you my peace
give I unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you.

Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid. John 14 verse 27 F.
Count up and compare for another thing the trouble that true Christianity
entails and the troubles that are in store for the wicked beyond the grave.
Grant for a moment that Bible reading and praying and repenting and believing
and holy living require pains and self-denial.

It is all nothing compared to that wrath to come which is stored up for the
impenitent and unbelieving. A single day in hell will be worse than a whole life
spent in carrying the cross. The worm that never dies and the fire that is never
quenched are things which it passes man's power to conceive fully or describe.

It is written Son remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things
and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented.
Luke 16 verse 25 G. Count up and compare in the last place the number of those
who turn from sin and the world and serve Christ and the number of those who
forsake Christ and return to the world. On the one side you will find thousands
on the other you will find none.

Multitudes are every year turning out of the broad way and entering into the
narrow. None who really enter the narrow way grow tired of it and return to the
broad. The footsteps in the downward road are often to be seen turning out of
it.

The footsteps in the road to heaven are all one way. It is written the way of
the wicked is darkness. The way of transgressors is hard.

Proverbs 4 verse 19 and chapter 13 verse 15 But it is also written the path of
the just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect
day. Proverbs 4 verse 8 Such sums as these no doubt are often not done
correctly. Not a few I am well aware are ever halting between two opinions.

They cannot make up their minds that it is worthwhile to serve Christ. The
losses and gains the advantages and disadvantages the sorrows and the joys the
health and the hindrances appear to them so nearly balanced that they cannot
decide for God. They cannot do this great sum correctly.

They cannot make the result so clear as it ought to be. They do not count right.
But what is the secret of their mistakes? It is want of faith.

To come to a right conclusion about our souls we must have some of that mighty
principle which St. Paul describes in the eleventh chapter of his epistle to the
Hebrews. Let me try to show how that principle operates in the great business of
counting the cost. How was it that Noah persevered in building the ark? He stood
alone amidst a world of sinners and unbelievers.

He had to endure scorn ridicule and mockery. What was it that nerved his arm and
made him patiently work on and face it all? It was faith. He believed in a wrath
to come.

He believed that there was no safety excepting in the ark that he was preparing.
Believing, he held the world's opinion very cheap. He counted the cost by faith
and had no doubt that to build the ark was gain.

How was it that Moses forsook the pleasures of Pharaoh's house and refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter? How was it that he cast in his lot with
the despised people like the Hebrews and risked everything in this world in
carrying out the great work of their deliverance from bondage? To the eye of
sense he was losing everything and gaining nothing. What was it that moved him?
It was faith. He believed that there was one far above Pharaoh who would carry
him safe through all his undertaking.

He believed that the recompense of reward was far better than all the honors of
Egypt. He counted the cost by faith as seeing him that is invisible and was
persuaded that to forsake Egypt and go forth into the wilderness was gain. How
was it that Saul the Pharisee could ever make up his mind to become a Christian?
The cost and sacrifices of the change were fearfully great.

He gave up all his brilliant prospects among his own people. He brought on
himself instead of man's favor, man's hatred, man's enmity, and man's
persecution even unto death. What was it that enabled him to face it all? It was
faith.

He believed that Jesus who met him on the way to Damascus could give him a
hundredfold more than he gave up and in the world to come everlasting life. By
faith he counted the cost and saw clearly on which side the balance lay. He
believed firmly that to carry the cross of Christ was gain.

Let us mark well these things. That faith which made Noah, Moses, and St. Paul
do what they did. That faith is the great secret of coming to a right conclusion
about our souls.

That same faith must be our helper and ready reckoner when we sit down to count
the cost of being a true Christian. That same faith is to be had for the asking
He give us more grace. James 4 verse 6 Armed with that faith we shall set things
down at their true value.

Filled with that faith we shall neither add to the cross nor subtract from the
crown. Our conclusions will all be correct. Our sum total will be without error.

Number 1 In conclusion let every reader of this paper think seriously whether
his religion cost him anything at present. Very likely it cost you nothing. Very
probably it neither cost you trouble nor time nor thought nor care nor pains nor
reading nor praying nor self-denial nor conflict nor working nor labor of any
kind.

Now mark what I say. Such a religion as this will never save your soul. It will
never give you peace while you live nor hope while you die.

It will not support you in the day of affliction nor cure you in the hour of
death. A religion which cost nothing is worth nothing. Awake before it is too
late Awake and repent Awake and be converted Awake and believe Awake and pray
Rest not till you can give a satisfactory answer to my question What does it
cost? Number 2 Think if you want stirring motives for serving God what it costs
to provide a salvation for your soul.

Think how the Son of God left heaven and became man suffered on the cross and
lay in the grave to pay your debt to God and work out for you a complete
redemption. Think of all this and learn that it is no light matter to possess an
immortal soul. It is worthwhile to take some trouble about one's soul.

Ah lazy man or woman is it really come to this that you will miss heaven for
lack of trouble? Are you really determined to make shipwreck forever from mere
dislike to exertion? Away with the cowardly unworthy thought. Arise and play the
man. Say to yourself whatever it may cost I will at any rate strive to enter in
at the straight gate.

Look at the cross of Christ and take fresh courage. Look forward to death
judgment and eternity and be in earnest. It may cost much to be a Christian but
you may be sure it pays.

Number 3 If any reader of this paper really feels that he has counted the cost
and taken up the cross I bid him persevere and press on. I dare say you often
feel your heart faint and are sorely tempted to give up in despair. Your enemy
seems so many your besetting sin so strong your friends so few the way so steep
and narrow you hardly know what to do.

But still I say persevere and press on the time is very short a few more years
of watching and praying a few more tossings on the sea of this world a few more
deaths and changes a few more winters and summers and all will be over. We shall
have fought our last battle and shall need to fight no more. The presence and
company of Christ will make amends for all we suffer here below.

When we see as we have been seen and look back on the journey of life we shall
wonder at our own faintness of heart. We shall marvel that we made so much of
our cross and thought so little of our crown. We shall marvel that in counting
the cost we could ever doubt on which side the balance of profit lay.

Let us take courage. We are not far from home. It may cost much to be a true
Christian and a consistent believer but it pays.

Chapter 6 Starting on page 83 Growth Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3.18 The subject of the text which heads
this page is one which I dare not omit in this volume about holiness. It is one
that ought to be deeply interesting to every true Christian.

It naturally raises the questions Do we grow in grace? Do we get on in our
religion? Do we make progress? To a mere formal Christian I cannot expect the
inquiry to seem worth attention. The man who has nothing more than a kind of
Sunday religion whose Christianity is like his Sunday clothes put on once a week
and then laid aside. Such a man cannot of course be expected to care about
growth in grace.

He knows nothing about such matters. They are foolishness to him. 1 Corinthians
2.14 But to everyone who is in downright earnest about his soul and hungers and
thirsts after spiritual life the question ought to come home with searching
power.

Do we make progress in our religion? Do we grow? The question is one that is
always useful but especially so at certain seasons. A Saturday night a communion
Sunday the return of a birthday the end of a year. All these are seasons that
ought to set us thinking and make us look within.

Time is fast flying. Life is fast ebbing away. The hour is daily drawing nearer
when the reality of our Christianity will be tested and it will be seen whether
we have built on the rock or on the sand.

Surely it becomes us from time to time to examine ourselves and take account of
our souls. Do we get on in spiritual things? Do we grow? The question is one
that is of special importance in the present day. Crude and strange opinions are
floating in men's minds on some points of doctrine and among others on the point
of growth in grace as an essential part of true holiness.

This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB
makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available free and for sale in
audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources as well as our
complete mail order catalog containing thousands of classic and contemporary
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at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A, Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada, T6L3T5.

You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Kelvin, in
defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is
sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God,
which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on
Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making
evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them,
whatever the Jews devised.

There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they
are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according
to their own fancies, and attend not to his commands, they pervert true
religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious
modes of worship, in which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the
ground.

It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties
towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of
them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this
principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word, they
would be delivered from their deep abyss of error.

The prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had
commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind. As though he had
said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required,
nay, what he never knew.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 8: CHAPTER 8
========================================================================

Crude and strange opinions are floating in men's minds on some points of
doctrine and among others on the point of growth in grace as an essential part
of true holiness. By some, it is totally denied. By others, it is explained away
and pared down to nothing.

By thousands, it is misunderstood and consequently neglected. In a day like
this, it is useful to look fairly in the face the whole subject of Christian
growth. In considering this subject, there are three things which I wish to
bring forward and establish.

1. The reality of religious growth. There is such a thing as growth in grace. 2.
The marks of religious growth.

There are marks by which growth in grace may be known. 3. The means of religious
growth. There are means that must be used by those who desire growth in grace.

I know not who you are into whose hands this paper may have fallen, but I am not
ashamed to ask your best attention to its contents. Believe me, the subject is
no mere matter of speculation and controversy. It is an eminently practical
subject, if any, is in religion.

It is intimately and inseparably connected with the whole question of
sanctification. It is a leading mark of true saints that they grow. The
spiritual health and prosperity, the spiritual happiness and comfort of every
true-hearted and holy Christian are intimately connected with the subject of
spiritual growth.

1. The first point I propose to establish is this. There is such a thing as
growth in grace. That any Christian should deny this proposition is at first
sight a strange and melancholy thing, but it is fair to remember that man's
understanding is fallen no less than his will.

Disagreements about doctrines are often nothing more than disagreements about
the meaning of words. I try to hope that it is so in the present case. I try to
believe that when I speak of growth in grace and maintain it, I mean one thing,
while my brethren who deny it mean quite another.

Let me therefore clear the way by explaining what I mean. When I speak of growth
in grace, I do not for a moment mean that a believer's interest in Christ can
grow. I do not mean that he can grow in safety, acceptance with God, or
security.

I do not mean that he can ever be more justified, more pardoned, more forgiven,
more at peace with God than he is the first moment that he believes. I hold
firmly that the justification of a believer is a finished, perfect, and complete
work, and that the weakest saint, though he may not know and feel it, is as
completely justified as the strongest. I hold firmly that our election, calling,
and standing in Christ admit of no degrees, increase, or diminishing.

If anyone dreams that by growth in grace I mean growth in justification, he is
utterly wide of the mark and utterly mistaken about the whole point I am
considering. I would go to the stake, God helping me, for the glorious truth
that in the matter of justification before God every believer is complete in
Christ, Colossians 2.10. Nothing can be added to his justification from the
moment he believes, and nothing taken away. When I speak of growth in grace, I
only mean increase in the degree, size, strength, vigor, and power of the graces
which the Holy Spirit plants in the believer's heart.

I hold that every one of those graces admits of growth, progress, and increase.
I hold that repentance, faith, hope, love, humility, zeal, courage, and the like
may be little or great, strong or weak, vigorous or feeble, and may vary greatly
in the same man at different periods of his life. When I speak of a man growing
in grace, I mean simply this, that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his
faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual
mindedness more marked.

He feels more of the power of godliness in his own heart. He manifests more of
it in his life. He is going on from strength to strength, from faith to faith,
and from grace to grace.

I leave it to others to describe such a man's condition by any words they
please. For myself, I think the truest and best account of him is this. He is
growing in grace.

One principal ground on which I build this doctrine of growth in grace is the
plain language of scripture. If words in the Bible mean anything, there is such
a thing as growth, and believers ought to be exhorted to grow. What says St.
Paul? Your faith groweth exceedingly.

2 Thessalonians 1 3 We beseech you that ye increase more and more. 1
Thessalonians 4 10 Increasing in the knowledge of God. Colossians 1 10 Having
hope when your faith is increased.

2 Corinthians 10 15 The Lord make you to increase in love. 1 Thessalonians 3 12
That ye may grow up into him in all things. Ephesians 4 15 I pray that your love
may abound more and more.

Philippians 1 9 We beseech you, as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk
and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 1 Thessalonians 4 1 What
says St. Peter? Desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. 1
Peter 2 2 Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.

2 Peter 3 18 I know not what others think of these texts. To me they seem to
establish the doctrine for which I contend, and to be incapable of any other
explanation. Growth in grace is taught in the Bible.

I might stop here and say no more. The other ground, however, on which I build
the doctrine of growth in grace is the ground of fact and experience. I ask any
honest reader of the New Testament whether he cannot see degrees of grace in the
New Testament saints whose histories are recorded as plainly as the sun at
noonday.

I ask him whether he cannot see in the very same persons as great a difference
between their faith and knowledge at one time and at another as between the same
man's strength when he is an infant and when he is a grown-up man. I ask him
whether the Scripture does not distinctly recognize this in the language it uses
when it speaks of weak faith and strong faith and of Christians as newborn
babes, little children, young men, and fathers. 1 Peter 2 verse 2 and 1 John 2
verses 12 through 14 I ask him above all whether his own observation of
believers nowadays does not bring him to the same conclusion.

What true Christian would not confess that there is as much difference between
the degree of his own faith and knowledge when he was first converted and his
present attainments as there is between a sapling and a full-grown tree. His
graces are the same in principle, but they have grown. I know not how these
facts strike others.

To my eyes they seem to prove most unanswerably that growth in grace is a real
thing. I feel almost ashamed to dwell so long upon this part of my subject. In
fact, if any man means to say that the faith and hope and knowledge and holiness
of a newly converted person are as strong as those of an old established
believer and need no increase, it is a waste of time to argue further.

No doubt they are as real, but not so strong, as true, but not so vigorous, as
much seeds of the spirit planting, but not yet so fruitful. And if anyone asks
how they are to become stronger, I say it must be by the same process by which
all things having life increase. They must grow.

And this is what I mean by growth in grace. Footnote. True grace is progressive,
of a spreading, growing nature.

It is with grace as it is with light. First there is the daybreak. Then it
shines brighter to the full noon day.

The saints are not only compared to stars for their light, but to trees for
their growth. See Isaiah 61 verse 3 and Hosea 14 verse 5. A good Christian is
not like Hezekiah's son that went backwards, nor Joshua's son that stood still,
but is always advancing in holiness and increasing with the increase of God. A
quote from Thomas Watson, minister of St. Stephen's Walbrook, 1660, from the
Body of Divinity.

The end of the footnote. Let us turn away from the things I have been discussing
to a more practical view of the great subject before us. I want men to look at
growth in grace as a thing of infinite importance to the soul.

I believe, whatever others may think, that our best interests are concerned in
the right view of the question, do we grow? A. Let us know then that growth in
grace is the best evidence of spiritual health and prosperity. In a child, or a
flower, or a tree, we are all aware that when there is no growth, there is
something wrong. Healthy life in an animal or vegetable will always show itself
by progress and increase.

It is just the same with our souls. If they are progressing and doing well, they
will grow. Footnote.

The growth of grace is the best evidence of the truth of grace. Things that have
not life will not grow. A picture will not grow.

A stake in a hedge will not grow. But a plant that has vegetative life will
grow. The growing of grace shows it to be alive in the soul.

Thomas Watson, 1660. End of the footnote. B. Let us know furthermore that growth
in grace is one way to be happy in our religion.

God has wisely linked together our comfort and our increase in holiness. He has
graciously made it our interest to press on and aim high in our Christianity.
There is a vast difference between the amount of sensible enjoyment which one
believer has in his religion compared to another.

But you may be sure that ordinarily the man who feels the most joy and peace in
believing and has the clearest witness of the Spirit in his heart is the man who
grows. C. Let us know furthermore that growth in grace is one secret of
usefulness to others. Our influence on others for good depends greatly on what
they see in us.

The children of the world measure Christianity quite as much by their eyes as by
their ears. The Christian who is always at a standstill to all appearances the
same man with the same little faults and weaknesses and besetting sins and petty
infirmities is seldom the Christian who does much good. The man who shakes and
stirs minds and sets the world thinking is the believer who is continually
improving and going forward.

Men think there is life in reality when they see growth. Another footnote.
Christian, as ever you would stir up others to exalt the God of grace look to
the exercise and improvement of your own graces.

When poor servants live in a family and see the faith and love and wisdom and
patience and humility of a master shining like the stars in heaven it draws
forth their hearts to bless the Lord that ever they came into such a family.
When men's graces shine as Moses' face did when their life as one speaketh of
Joseph's life is a very heaven sparkling with virtues as so many bright stars
how much others are stirred up to glorify God and cry these are Christians
indeed. These are an honor to their God a crown to their Christ and a credit to
their gospel.

Oh, if they were all such we would be Christians too. Thomas Brooks, 1661 from
the book Unsearchable Riches End of the footnote. D. Let us know furthermore
that growth in grace pleases God.

It may seem a wonderful thing, no doubt that anything done by such creatures as
we are can give pleasure to the Most High God but so it is. The Scripture speaks
of walking so as to please God. The Scripture says there are sacrifices with
which God is pleased.

1 Thessalonians 4.1 Hebrews 13.16 The husbandman loves to see the plants on
which he has bestowed labor flourishing and bearing fruit. It cannot but
disappoint and grieve him to see them stunted and standing still. Now what does
our Lord himself say? I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.

Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit so shall ye be my
disciples. John 15 verses 1 and 8 The Lord takes pleasure in all his people but
specially in those that grow. E. Let us know above all that growth in grace is
not only a thing possible but a thing for which believers are accountable.

To tell an unconverted man dead in sins to grow in grace would doubtless be
absurd. To tell a believer who is quickened and alive to God to grow is only
summoning him to a plain scriptural duty. He has a new principle within him and
it is a solemn duty not to quench it.

The breadth of growth robs him of privileges grieves the spirit and makes the
chariot wheels of his soul move heavily. Whose fault is it I should like to know
if a believer does not grow in grace? The fault I am sure cannot be laid on God.
He delights to give more grace.

He hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servants. James 4 verse 6 and Psalm 35
verse 27 The fault no doubt is our own. We ourselves are to blame and none else
if we do not grow.

Number 2 The second point I propose to establish is this There are marks by
which growth in grace may be known. Let me take it for granted that we do not
question the reality of growth in grace and its vast importance. So far so good.

But you now want to know how anyone may find out whether he is growing in grace
or not. I answer that question in the first place by observing that we are very
poor judges of our own condition and that bystanders often know us better than
we know ourselves. But I answer further that there are undoubtedly certain great
marks and signs of growth in grace and that wherever you see these marks you see
a growing soul.

I will now proceed to place some of these marks before you in order. A. One mark
of growth in grace is increased humility. The man whose soul is growing feels
his own sinfulness and unworthiness more every year.

He is ready to say with Job I am vile and with Abraham I am dust and ashes and
with Jacob I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies and with David I am a
worm and with Isaiah I am a man of unclean lips and with Peter I am a sinful man
O Lord The nearer he draws to God and the more he sees of God's holiness and
perfection the more thoroughly is he sensible of his own countless
imperfections. The further he journeys in the way to heaven the more he
understands what St. Paul means when he says I am not already perfect I am not
meet to be called an apostle I am less than the least of all saints I am chief
of sinners Philippians 3.12 1 Corinthians 15.9 Ephesians 3.8 1 Timothy 1.15 The
riper he is for glory the more, like the ripe corn he hangs down his head The
brighter and clearer is his light the more he sees of the shortcomings and the
infirmities of his own heart When first converted he would tell you he saw but
little of them compared to what he sees now Would anyone know whether he is
growing in grace Be sure that you look within for increased humility Footnote
The right manner of growth is to grow less in one's own eyes I am a worm and no
man Psalm 22.6 The sight of corruption and ignorance makes a Christian grow into
a dislike of himself He doth vanish in his own eyes Job abhorred himself in the
dust Job 42.6 This is good to grow out of conceit with oneself Thomas Watson
1660 End of the footnote Another mark of growth in grace is increased faith and
love towards our Lord Jesus Christ The man whose soul is growing finds more in
Christ to rest upon every year and rejoices more that he has such a Savior No
doubt he saw much in him when he first believed His faith laid hold on the
atonement of Christ and gave him hope But as he grows in grace he sees a
thousand things in Christ of which at first he never dreamed His love and power
His heart and his intentions His offices as substitute intercessor, priest,
advocate physician, shepherd, and friend unfold themselves to a growing soul in
an unspeakable manner In short, he discovers a suitableness in Christ to the
wants of his soul of which the half was once not known to him Would anyone know
if he is growing in grace? Then let him look within for increased knowledge of
Christ C Another mark of growth in grace is increased holiness of life and
conversation The man whose soul is growing gets more dominion over sin, the
world, and the devil every year He becomes more careful about his temper his
words and his actions He is more watchful over his conduct in every relation of
life He strives more to be conformed to the image of Christ in all things and to
follow him as his example as well as to trust in him as his savior He is not
content with old attainments and former grace He forgets the things that are
behind and reaches forth unto those things which are before making higher,
upward, forward, onward His continual motto Philippians 3, 13 On earth he
thirsts and longs to have a will more entirely in unison with God's will In
heaven the chief thing that he looks for next to the presence of Christ is
complete separation from all sin Would anyone know if he is growing in grace?
Then let him look within for increased holiness Footnote It is a sign of not
growing in grace when we are less troubled about sin Time was when the least sin
did grieve us as the least hair makes the eye weep But now we can digest sin
without remorse Time was when a Christian was troubled if he neglected closet
prayer Now he can omit family prayer Time was when vain thoughts did not trouble
him Now he is not troubled for loose practices There is a sad declension in
religion and grace is so far from growing that we can hardly perceive its faults
to beat Thomas Watson, 1660 End of footnote D Another mark of growth in grace is
increased spirituality of taste and mind The man whose soul is growing takes
more interest in spiritual things every year He does not neglect his duty in the
world He discharges faithfully, diligently and conscientiously every relation of
life whether at home or abroad But the things he loves best are spiritual things
The ways and fashions and amusements and recreations of the world have a
continually decreasing place in his heart He does not condemn them as downright
sinful nor say that those who have anything to do with them are going to hell He
only feels that they have a constantly diminishing hold on his own affections
and gradually seem smaller and more trifling in his eyes Spiritual companions
spiritual occupations spiritual conversations appear of ever increasing value to
him Would anyone know if he is growing in grace? Then let him look within for
increasing spirituality of taste Footnote If now you would be rich in graces
look to your walking It is not the knowing soul nor the talking soul but the
close walking soul the obedient soul that is rich Others may be rich in notions
but none so rich in spiritual experience and in all holy and heavenly graces as
close walking Christians Thomas Brooks, 1661 End of the footnote E Another mark
of growth in grace is increase of charity The man whose soul is growing is more
full of love every year of love to all men but especially of love towards the
brethren His love will show itself actively in a growing disposition to do
kindnesses to take troubles for others to be good natured to everybody to be
generous, sympathizing thoughtful, tender hearted and considerate It will show
itself passively in a growing disposition to be meek and patient toward all men
to put up with provocation and not stand upon rights to bear and forbear much
rather than quarrel A growing soul will try to put the best construction on
other people's conduct and to believe all things and hope all things even to the
end There is no surer mark of backsliding and falling off in grace than an
increasing disposition to find fault pick holes and see weak points in others
Would anyone know if he is growing in grace? Then let him look within for
increasing charity One more mark of growth in grace is increased zeal and
diligence in trying to do good to souls The man who is really growing will take
greater interest in the salvation of sinners every year missions at home and
abroad efforts to increase religious light and diminish religious darkness All
these things will every year have a greater place in his attention He will not
become weary in well-doing because he does not see every effort succeed He will
not care less for the progress of Christ's cause on earth as he grows older
though he will learn to expect less He will just work on whatever the result may
be giving, praying, preaching speaking, visiting according to his position and
count his work its own reward One of the surest marks of spiritual decline is a
decreased interest about the souls of others and the growth of Christ's kingdom
Would anyone know whether he is growing in grace? Then let him look within for
increased concern about the salvation of souls Such are the most trustworthy
marks of growth in grace Let us examine them carefully and consider what we know
about them I can well believe that they will not please some professing
Christians in the present day Those high-flying religionists whose only notion
of Christianity is that of a state of perpetual joy and ecstasy who tell you
that they have got far beyond the region of conflict and soul humiliation Such
persons no doubt will regard the marks I have laid down as legal carnal and
gendering to bondage I cannot help that I call no man master in these things I
only wish my statements to be tried in the balance of scripture And I firmly
believe that what I have said is not only scriptural but agreeable to the
experience of the most eminent saints in every age Show me a man in whom the six
marks I have mentioned can be found He is the man who can give a satisfactory
answer to the question Do we grow? Number three The third and last thing I
propose to consider is this The means that must be used by those who desire to
grow in grace The words of St. James must never be forgotten Every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights James
1 17 This is no doubt as true of growth in grace as it is of everything else It
is the gift of God But still it must always be kept in mind that God is pleased
to work by means God has ordained means as well as ends He that would grow in
grace must use the means of growth Footnote Experience will tell every Christian
that the more strictly and closely and constantly he walketh with God the
stronger he groweth in duty Infused habits are advantaged by exercised As the
fire that kindled the wood for sacrifices upon the altar first came down from
heaven but then was to be kept alive by the care and labor of the priests So the
habits of spiritual grace are indeed infused from God and must be maintained by
daily influences from God yet with a concurrence also of our own labors in
waiting upon God and exercising ourselves with godliness And the more a
Christian doth so exercise himself the more strong he shall grow Callings on
Providence 1678 End of the footnote This is a point I fear which is too much
overlooked by believers Many admire growth in grace in others and wish that they
themselves were like them but they seem to suppose that those who grow are what
they are by some special gift or grant from God and that as this gift is not
bestowed on themselves they must be content to sit still This is a grievous
delusion and one against which I desire to testify with all my might I wish it
to be distinctly understood that growth in grace is bound up with the use of
means within the reach of all believers and that as a general rule growing souls
are what they are because they use these means Let me ask the special attention
of my readers while I try to set forth in order the means of growth Cast away
forever the vain thought that if a believer does not grow in grace it is not his
fault Settle it in your mind that a believer, a man quickened by the Spirit, is
not a mere dead creature, but a being of mighty capacities and responsibilities
Let the words of Solomon sink down into your heart The soul of the diligent
shall be made fat Proverbs 13 verse 4 A One thing essential to growth in grace
is diligence in the use of private means of grace By these I understand such
means as a man must use by himself alone and no one can use for him I include
under this head private prayer private reading of the scriptures and private
meditation and self-examination The man who does not take pains about these
three things must never expect to grow Here are the roots of true Christianity
Wrong here a man is wrong all the way through Here is the whole reason why many
professing Christians never seem to get on They are careless and slovenly about
their private prayers They read their Bibles but little and with very little
heartiness of spirit They give themselves no time for self-inquiry and quiet
thought about the state of their souls It is useless to conceal from ourselves
that the age we live in is full of peculiar dangers It is an age of great
activity and of much hurry, bustle and excitement in religion Many are running
to and fro no doubt and knowledge is increased Daniel 12 verse 4 Thousands are
ready enough for public meetings sermon hearing or anything else in which there
is sensations Few appear to remember the absolute necessity of making time to
commune with our hearts and be still Psalm 4 verse 4 But without this there is
seldom any deep spiritual prosperity I suspect that English Christians two
hundred years ago read their Bibles more and were more frequently alone with God
than they are in the present day Let us remember this point Private religion
must receive our first attention if we wish our souls to grow B. Another thing
which is essential to growth in grace is carefulness in the use of public means
of grace By these I understand public means of grace and such means as a man has
within his reach as a member of Christ's visible church Under this head I
include the ordinances of regular Sunday worship the uniting with God's people
in common prayer and praise the preaching of the word and the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper I firmly believe that the manner in which these public means of
grace are used has much to say to the prosperity of a believer's soul It is easy
to use them in a cold and heartless way The very familiarity of them is apt to
make us careless The regular return of the same voice and the same kind of words
and the same ceremonies is likely to make us sleepy and callous and unfeeling
Here is a snare into which too many professing Christians fall If we would grow
we must be on our guard here Here is a matter in which the spirit is often
grieved and saints take great damage Let us strive to use the old prayers and
sing the old hymns and kneel at the old communion rail and hear the old truths
preached with as much freshness and appetite as in the year we first believed It
is a sign of bad health when a person loses relish for his food It is a sign of
spiritual decline when we lose our appetite for means of grace Whatever we do
about public means Let us always do it with our might Ecclesiastes 9.10 This is
the way to grow C Another thing essential to growth in grace is watchfulness
over our conduct in the very little matters of everyday life Our tempers Our
tongues The discharge of our several relations of life Our employment of time
Each and all must be vigilantly attended to if we wish our souls to prosper Life
is made up of days and days of hours and the little things of every hour are
never so little as to be beneath the care of a Christian When a tree begins to
decay at root or heart the mischief is first seen at the extreme end of the
little branches He that despises little things says an uninspired writer shall
fall by little and little That witness is true Let others despise us if they
like and call us precise and over careful Let us patiently hold on our way
remembering that we serve a precise God that our Lord's example is to be copied
in the least things as well as the greatest and that we must take up our cross
daily and hourly rather than sin We must aim to have a Christianity which, like
the sap of a tree runs through every twig and leaf of our character and
sanctifies all This is one way to grow Another thing which is essential to
growth in grace is caution about the company we keep and the friendships we form
Nothing perhaps affects a man's character more than the company he keeps We
catch the ways and tone of those we live and talk with and unhappily get harmed
far more easily than good Disease is infectious but health is not Now if a
professing Christian deliberately chooses to be intimate with those who are not
friends of God and who cling to the world his soul is sure to take harm It is
hard enough to serve Christ under any circumstances in such a world as this but
it is doubly hard to do it if we are friends of the thoughtless and ungodly
Mistakes in friendship or marriage engagements are the whole reason why some
have entirely ceased to grow Evil communications corrupt good manners The
friendship of the world is enmity with God 1 Corinthians 15.33 and James 4.4 Let
us seek friends that will stir us up about our prayers, our Bible reading and
our employment of time about our souls, our salvation and the world to come Who
can tell the good that a friend's word in season may do or the harm that it may
stop This is one way to grow Footnote Let them be thy choicest companions that
have made Christ their chiefest companion Do not so much eye the outsides of men
as their inside Look most to their internal worth Many persons have their eyes
upon the external garb of a professor But give me a Christian that minds the
internal worth of persons that makes such as are most filled with the fullness
of God his choicest and chiefest companions Thomas Brooks 1661 End of the
footnote E. There is one more thing which is absolutely essential to growth in
grace and that is regular and habitual communion with the Lord Jesus In saying
this, let no one suppose for a minute that I am referring to the Lord's Supper I
mean nothing of the kind I mean that daily habit of intercourse between the
believer and his Savior which can only be carried on by faith, prayer and
meditation It is a habit I fear of which many believers know little A man may be
a believer and have his feet on the rock and yet live far below his privileges
It is possible to have union with Christ and yet to have little, if any,
communion with him But for all that there is such a thing The names and offices
of Christ as laid down in scripture appear to me to show unmistakably that this
communion between the saint and his Savior is not a mere fancy, but a real, true
thing Between the bridegroom and his bride, between the head and his members,
between the physician and his patients between the advocate and his clients
between the shepherd and his sheep, between the master and his scholars, there
is evidently implied a habit of familiar intercourse, of daily application for
things needed of daily pouring out and unburdening our hearts and minds Such a
habit of dealing with Christ is clearly something more than a vague, general
trust in the work that Christ did for sinners It is getting close to him and
laying hold on him with confidence as a loving, personal friend This is what I
mean by communion Now I believe that no man will ever grow in grace who does not
know something experimentally of the habit of communion We must not be content
with a general orthodox knowledge that justification is by faith and not by
works, that we put our trust in Christ We must go further than this We must seek
to have personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus and to deal with him as a man
deals with a loving friend We must realize what it is to turn to him first in
every need to talk to him about every difficulty to consult him about every
step, to spread before him all our sorrows to get him to share in all our joys
to do all as in his sight and to go through every day leaning and looking to him
This is the way that Saint Paul lived The life which I now live in the flesh I
live by the faith of the Son of God To me to live is Christ Galatians 2.20 and
Philippians 1.21 It is ignorance of this way of living that makes so many see no
beauty in the book of canticles But it is the man who lives in this way, who
keeps up constant communion with Christ This is the man I say emphatically whose
soul will grow I leave the subject of growth and grace here. Far more might be
said about it if time permitted But I have said enough I hope to convince my
readers that the subject is one of vast importance Let me wind up with some
practical applications Number one This book may fall into the hands of some who
know nothing whatever about growth and grace They have little or no concern
about religion A little proper Sunday church going or chapel going makes up the
sum and substance of their Christianity They are without spiritual life and of
course they cannot at present grow.

Are you one of these people? If you are you are in a pitiable condition Years
are slipping away and time is flying. Graveyards are filling up and families are
thinning Death and judgment are getting nearer to us all. And yet you live like
one asleep about your soul.

What madness? What folly? What suicide can be worse than this? Awake before it
be too late. Awake and arise from the dead and live to God Turn to him who is
sitting at the right hand of God to be your savior and friend Turn to Christ and
cry mightily to him about your soul. There is yet hope.

He that called Lazarus from the grave is not changed He that commanded the
widow's son at Nain to arise from his bier can do miracles yet for your soul.
Seek him at once. Seek Christ if you would not be lost forever.

Do not stand still talking and meaning and intending and wishing and hoping.
Seek Christ that you may live and that living you may grow. Number two.

This book may fall into the hands of some who ought to know something of growth
in grace but at present know nothing at all They have made little or no progress
since they were first converted. They seem to have settled on their leave.
Zephaniah 1.12 They go on from year to year content with old grace, old
experience, old knowledge old faith, old measure of attainment, old religious
expressions, old set phrases.

Like the Gibeonites their bread is always moldy and their shoes are patched and
clouded They never appear to get on Are you one of these people? If you are, you
are living far below your privileges and responsibilities It is high time to
examine yourself. If you have reason to hope that you are a true believer and
yet do not grow in grace there must be a fault and a serious fault somewhere. It
cannot be the will of God that your soul should stand still.

He giveth more grace. He takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants James
4.6 and Psalm 35.27 It cannot be for your own happiness or usefulness that your
soul should stand still Without growth you will never rejoice in the Lord.
Philippians 4.4. Without growth you will never do good to others Surely this
want of growth is a serious matter.

It should rise in you great searchings of heart. There must be some secret
thing. Job 15.11. There must be some cause Take the advice I give you.

Resolve this very day that you will find out the reason of your stand still
condition Probe with a faithful and firm hand every corner of your soul. Search
from one end of the camp to the other till you find out the Achan who is
weakening your hands. Begin with an application to the Lord Jesus Christ the
great physician of souls and ask him to heal the secret ailment within you
whatever it may be Begin as if you had never applied to him before and ask for
grace to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye.

But never never be content if your soul does not grow. For your peace sake, for
your usefulness sake, for the honor of your maker's cause, resolve to find out
the reason why Number three. This book may fall into the hands of some who are
really growing in grace but are not aware of it and will not allow it.

Their very growth is the reason why they do not see their growth. Their
continual increase in humility prevents them from feeling that they get on
Footnote Christians may be growing when they think they do not grow. There is
that make of himself poor yet he is rich.

Proverbs 13 7. The sight that Christians have of their defects in grace and
their thirst after great measures of grace makes them think they do not grow. He
who covets a great estate because he hath not so much as he desires thinks
himself poor. Thomas Watson 1660 Souls may be rich in grace and yet not know it
nor perceive it.

The child is heir to a crown or a great estate but knows it not. Moses' face did
shine and others saw it but he perceived it not. So many a precious soul is rich
in grace and others see it and know it and bless God for it and yet the poor
soul perceives it not.

Sometimes this arises from the soul's strong desires of spiritual riches. This
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thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books and attend not to
his commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by
the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in which they absurdly
exercise themselves, would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for
the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their
own superstitions.

There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly
appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God
except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of
error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had
commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had
said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required,
nay, what he never knew.


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  CHAPTER 9: CHAPTER 9
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The strength of the soul's desires after spiritual riches doth often take away
the very sense of growing spiritually rich. Many covetous men's desires are so
strongly carried forth after earthly riches that though they do grow rich, yet
they cannot perceive it, they cannot believe it. It is just so with many a
precious Christian.

His desires after spiritual riches are so strong that they take away the sense
of his growing rich in spirituals. Many Christians have much worth within them,
but they see it not. It was a good man that said, The Lord was in this place,
and I knew it not.

Again, this arises sometimes from men neglecting to cast up their accounts. Many
men thrive and grow rich, and yet by neglecting to cast up their accounts, they
cannot tell whether they go forward or backward. It is so with many precious
souls.

Again, this arises sometimes from the soul's too frequent casting up of its
accounts. If a man should cast up his accounts once a week or once a month, he
may not be able to discern that he doth grow rich, and yet he may grow rich. But
let him compare one year with another, and he shall clearly see that he doth
grow rich.

Again, this sometimes arises from the soul's mistakes in casting up its
accounts. The soul many times mistakes. It is in a hurry, and then it puts down
ten for a hundred, and a hundred for a thousand.

Look as hypocrites put down their counters for gold, their pence for pounds, and
always prize themselves above the market. So sincere souls do often put down
their pounds for pence, their thousands for hundreds, and still prize themselves
below the market. Footnote from Thomas Brooks, 1661, in his book Unsearchable
Riches.

The end of the footnote. Like Moses, when he came down from the mount, from
communing with God, their faces shine. And yet, like Moses, they are not aware
of it.

Ecclesiastes 34.29 Such Christians I grant freely are not common, but here and
there such are to be found. Like angels' visits, they are few and far between.
Happy is the neighborhood where such growing Christians live.

To meet them and see them, and be in their company, is like meeting and seeing a
bit of heaven. Now what shall I say to such people? What can I say? What ought I
to say? Shall I bid them awake to a consciousness of their growth and be pleased
with it? I will do nothing of the kind. Shall I tell them to plumb themselves on
their own attainments and look at their own superiority to others? God forbid.

I will do nothing of the kind. To tell them such things would do them no good.
To tell them such things, above all, would be useless waste of time.

If there is any one feature about a growing soul which specially marks him, it
is his deep sense of his own unworthiness. He never sees anything to be praised
in himself. He only feels that he is an unprofitable servant and the chief of
sinners.

It is the righteous in the picture of the judgment day who say, Lord, when saw
we thee and hungered and fed thee? Matthew 25.37 Extremes do indeed meet
strangely sometimes. The conscience-hardened sinner and the eminent saint are in
one respect singularly alike. Neither of them fully realizes his own condition.

The one does not see his own sin, nor the other his own grace. But shall I say
nothing to growing Christians? Is there no word of counsel I can address to
them? The sum and substance of all that I can say is to be found in two
sentences. Go forward.

Go on. We can never have too much humility, too much faith in Christ, too much
holiness, too much spirituality of mind, too much charity, too much zeal in
doing good to others. Then let us be continually forgetting the things behind
and reaching forth unto the things before.

Philippians 3.13 The best of Christians in these matters is infinitely below the
perfect pattern of his Lord. Whatever the world may please to say, we may be
sure there is no danger of any of us becoming too good. Let us cast to the winds
as idle talk the common notion that it is possible to be extreme and go too far
in religion.

This is a favorite lie of the devil and one which he circulates with vast
industry. No doubt there are enthusiasts and fanatics to be found who bring evil
report upon Christianity by their extravagances and follies. But if anyone means
to say that a mortal man can be too humble, too charitable, too holy, or too
diligent in doing good, he must either be an infidel or a fool.

In serving pleasure and money, it is easy to go too far. But in following the
things which make up true religion and in serving Christ, there can be no
extreme. Let us never measure our religion by that of others and think we are
doing enough if we have gone beyond our neighbors.

This is another snare of the devil. Let us mind our own business. What is that
to thee, said our Master on a certain occasion? Follow thou me.

Let us follow on aiming at nothing short of perfection. Let us follow on making
Christ's life and character our only pattern and example. Let us follow on
remembering daily that at our best we are miserable sinners.

Let us follow on and never forget that it signifies nothing whether we are
better than others or not. At our very best we are far worse than we ought to
be. There will always be room for improvement in us.

We shall be debtors to Christ's mercy and grace to the very last. Then let us
leave off looking at others and comparing ourselves with others. We shall find
enough to do if we look at our own hearts.

Last but not least, if we know anything of growth in grace and desire to know
more, let us not be surprised if we have to go through much trial and affliction
in this world. I firmly believe it is the experience of nearly all the most
eminent saints. Like their blessed Master they have been men of sorrows,
acquainted with grief, and perfected through sufferings.

Isaiah 53-3, Hebrews 2-10 It is a striking saying of our Lord, Every branch in
me that beareth fruit, my Father purchased it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. John 15-2 It is a melancholy fact that constant temporal prosperity, as a
general rule, is injurious to a believer's soul. We cannot stand it.

Sickness and losses and crosses and anxieties and disappointments seem
absolutely needful to keep us humble, watchful, and spiritual-minded. They are
as needful as the pruning knife to the vine and the refiner's furnace to the
gold. They are not pleasant to flesh and blood.

We do not like them and often do not see their meaning. No chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Hebrews 12-11 We shall find that all worked for our good when we reach heaven.
Let these thoughts abide in our minds if we love growth in grace. When days of
darkness come upon us, let us not count it a strange thing.

Rather, let us remember that lessons are learned on such days which would never
have been learned in sunshine. Let us say to ourselves, This also is for my
profit, that I may be a partaker of God's holiness. It is sent in love.

I am in God's best school. Correction is instruction. This is meant to make me
grow.

I leave the subject of growth in grace here. I trust I have said enough to set
some readers thinking about it. All things are growing older.

The world is growing old. We ourselves are growing older. A few more summers, a
few more winters, a few more sicknesses, a few more sorrows, a few more
weddings, a few more funerals, a few more meetings, and a few more partings, and
then what? Why, the grass will be growing over our graves.

Now would it not be well to look within and put to our souls a simple question?
In religion, in the things that concern our peace, in the great matter of
personal holiness, are we getting on? Do we grow? Next chapter, chapter 7, on
assurance, page 100. I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure
is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, shall give me at that day. And not to me only, but unto all
them also that love his appearing. 2 Timothy 4, verses 6, 7, and 8. In the words
of Scripture which head this page, we see the Apostle Paul looking three ways,
downward, backward, forward.

Downward to the grave, backward to his own ministry, forward to that great day,
the day of judgment. It will do us good to stand by the Apostle's side a few
minutes and mark the words he uses. Happy is that soul who can look where Paul
looked and then speak as Paul spoke.

A. He looks downward to the grave, and he does it without fear. Hear what he
says. I am ready to be offered.

I am like an animal brought to the place of sacrifice and bound with cords to
the very horns of the altar. The drink offering, which generally accompanies the
oblation, is already being poured out. The last ceremonies have been gone
through.

Every preparation has been made. It only remains to receive the death blow, and
then all is over. The time of my departure is at hand.

I am like a ship about to unmoor and put to sea. All on board is ready. I only
wait to have the moorings cast off that fasten me to the shore, and I shall then
set sail and begin my voyage.

These are remarkable words to come from the lips of a child of Adam like
ourselves. Death is a solemn thing, and never so much so as when we see it close
at hand. The grave is a chilling, heart-sickening place, and it is vain to
pretend it has no terrors.

Yet here is a mortal man who can look calmly into the narrow house appointed for
all living and say, while he stands upon the brink, I see it all, and am not
afraid. B. Let us listen to him again. He looks backward to his ministerial
life, and he does it without shame.

Hear what he says. I have fought a good fight. There he speaks as a soldier.

I have fought that good fight with the world, the flesh, and the devil, from
which so many shrink and draw back. I have finished my course. There he speaks
as one who has run for a prize.

I have run the race marked out for me. I have gone over the ground appointed for
me, however rough and steep. I have not turned aside because of difficulties,
nor been discouraged by the length of the way.

I am at last in sight of the goal. I have kept the faith. There he speaks as a
steward.

I have held fast that glorious gospel which was committed to my trust. I have
not mingled it with man's traditions, nor spoiled its simplicity by adding my
own inventions, nor allowed others to adulterate it without withstanding them to
the faith. As a soldier, a runner, a steward, he seems to say, I am not ashamed.

That Christian is happy who, as he quits the world, can leave such testimony
behind him. A good conscience will save no man, wash away no sin, nor lift us
one hair's breadth toward heaven. Yet a good conscience will be found a pleasant
visitor at our bedside in a dying hour.

There is a fine passage in Pilgrim's Progress which describes old Honest's
passage across the river of death. The river, says Bunyan, at that time
overflowed its banks in some places. But Mr. Honest in his lifetime had spoken
to one good conscience to meet him there, to which he also did, and lent him his
hand, and so helped him over.

We may be sure there is a mine of truth in that passage. See, let us hear the
apostle once more. He looks forward to the great day of reckoning, and he does
it without doubt.

Mark his words. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. A glorious reward, he
seems to say, is ready and laid up in store for me, even that crown which is
only given to the righteous.

In the great day of judgment the Lord shall give this crown to me and to all
beside me who have loved him as an unseen Savior and long to see him face to
face. My work on earth is over. There is one thing now remains for me to look
forward to, and nothing more.

Let us observe that the apostle speaks without any hesitation or distrust. He
regards the crown as a sure thing, as his already. He declares with unfaltering
confidence his firm persuasion that the righteous judge will give it to him.

Paul was no stranger to all the circumstances and accompaniments of that solemn
day to which he referred. The great white throne, the assembled world, the open
books, the revealing of all secrets, the listening angels, the awful sentence,
the eternal separation of the lost and saved, all these were things with which
he was well acquainted. But none of these things moved him.

His strong faith overleaped them all, and he only saw Jesus, his all-prevailing
advocate, and the blood of sprinkling and sin washed away. A crown, he says, is
laid up for me. The Lord himself shall give it to me.

He speaks as if he saw it all with his own eyes. Such are the main things which
these verses contain. Of most of them I shall not speak, because I want to
confine myself to the special subject of this paper.

I shall only try to consider one point in the passage. That point is the strong
assurance of hope with which the apostle looks forward to his own prospects in
the day of judgment. I shall do this the more readily because of the great
importance which attaches to the subject of assurance and the great neglect with
which I humbly conceive it is often treated in this day.

But I shall do it at the same time with fear and trembling. I feel that I am
treading on very difficult ground and that it is easy to speak rashly and
unscripturally in this matter. The road between truth and error is, especially
here, a narrow passage.

And if I shall be enabled to do good to some without doing harm to others, I
shall be very thankful. There are four things I wish to bring forward in
speaking of the subject of assurance, and it may clear our way if I name them at
once. 1. First, then, I will try to show that an assured hope, such as Paul here
expresses, is a true and scriptural thing.

2. Secondly, I will make this broad concession that a man may never arrive at
this assured hope and yet be saved. 3. Thirdly, I will give some reasons why an
assured hope is exceedingly to be desired. 4. Lastly, I will try to point out
some causes why an assured hope is so seldom attained.

I ask special attention of all who take an interest in the great subject of this
volume. If I am not greatly mistaken, there is a very close connection between
true holiness and assurance. Before I close this paper, I hope to show my
readers the nature of that connection.

At present, I content myself with saying that where there is the most holiness,
there is generally the most assurance. 1. First, then, I will try to show that
an assured hope is a true and scriptural thing. Assurance, such as Paul
expresses in the verses which head this paper, is not a mere fancy or feeling.

It is not the result of high animal spirit or the sanguine temperament of body.
It is a positive gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed without reference to man's
bodily frames or constitutions and a gift which every believer in Christ ought
to aim at and seek after. In matters like these, the first question is this,
What saith the Scripture? I answer that question without the least hesitation.

The Word of God appears to me to teach distinctly that a believer may arrive at
an assured confidence with regard to his own salvation. I lay it down fully and
broadly as God's truth that a true Christian, a converted man, may reach such a
comfortable degree of faith in Christ that in general he shall feel entirely
confident as to the pardon and safety of his soul, shall seldom be troubled with
doubts, seldom be distracted with fears, seldom be distressed by anxious
questionings, and in short, though vexed by many an inward conflict with sin,
shall look forward to death without trembling and to judgment without dismay.
Footnote Full assurance that Christ hath delivered Paul from condemnation, yea,
so full and real as produces thanksgiving and triumphing in Christ, may and doth
consist with complaints and outcries of a wretched condition for the indwelling
of the body of sin.

From Rutherford's Triumph of Faith, 1645. End of footnote. This, I say, is the
doctrine of the Bible.

Such is my account of assurance. I will ask my readers to mark it well. I say
neither less nor more than I have here laid down.

Now such a statement as this is often disputed and denied. Many cannot see the
truth of it at all. The Church of Rome denounces assurance in the most
unmeasured terms.

The Council of Trent declares roundly that a believer's assurance of the pardon
of his sins is a vain and ungodly confidence. And Cardinal Bellarmine, the
well-known champion of Romanism, calls it a prime error of heretics. The vast
majority of the worldly and thoughtless Christians among ourselves oppose the
doctrine of assurance.

It offends and annoys them to hear of it. They do not like others to feel
comfortable and sure because they never feel so themselves. Ask them whether
their sins are forgiven and they will probably tell you they do not know.

That they cannot receive the doctrine of assurance is certainly no marvel. But
there are also some true believers who reject assurance and shrink from it as a
doctrine fraught with danger. They consider it borders on presumption.

They seem to think it a proper humility never to feel sure, never to be
confident and to live in a certain degree of doubt and suspense about their
souls. This is to be regretted and does much harm. I frankly allow that there
are some presumptuous persons who profess to feel a confidence for which they
have no scriptural warrant.

There are always some people who think well of themselves when God thinks ill.
Just as there are some who think ill of themselves when God thinks well. There
always will be such.

There never yet was a scriptural truth without abuses and counterfeits. God's
election, man's impotence, salvation by grace all are alike abused. There will
be fanatics and enthusiasts as long as the world stands.

But for all this, assurance is a reality and a true thing and God's children
must not let themselves be driven from the use of a truth merely because it is
abused. Footnote We do not vindicate every vain pretender to the witness of the
Spirit. We are aware that there are those in whose professions of religion we
can see nothing but their forwardness and confidence to recommend them.

But let us not reject any doctrine of revelation through an over-anxious fear of
consequences. Quote from Robinson's Christian System True assurance is built
upon a scripture basis. Presumption has no scripture to show for its warrant.

It is like a will without seal and witnesses which is null and void in the law.
Presumption wants both the witness of the word and the seal of the Spirit.
Assurance always keeps the heart in a lowly posture but presumption is bread of
pride.

Feathers fly up but gold descends. He who hath this golden assurance, his heart
descends in humility. From Watson's Body of Divinity, 1650 Presumption is joined
with looseness of life, persuasion with a tender conscience that dares sin
because it is sure.

This dares not for fear of losing assurance. Persuasion will not sin because it
costs her Savior so dear. Presumption will sin because grace doth abound.

Humility is the way to heaven. They that are proudly secure of their going to
heaven do not so often come thither as they that are afraid of going to hell. A
quote from Adams on 2nd Epistle of Peter, 1633 End of the footnote.

My answer to all who deny the existence of real well-grounded assurance is
simply this, what saith the Scripture? If assurance be not there, I have not
another word to say. But does not Job say, I know that my Redeemer liveth and
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Job 19, 26 Does not
David say, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Psalm 23, 4 Does not Isaiah say, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind
is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26, 3 And again, the work
of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance forever. Isaiah 32, 17 Does not Paul say to the Romans, I am persuaded
that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things
present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8, 38, 39 Does he not say to the Corinthians, we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God and house not
made with hands eternal in the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5, 1 And again, we are
always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent
from the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5, 6 Does he not say to Timothy, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to
him.

2 Timothy 1, 12 And does he not speak to the Colossians of the full assurance of
understanding. Colossians 2, 2 And to the Hebrews of the full assurance of faith
and the full assurance of hope. Hebrews 6, 11 And chapter 10, 22 Does not Peter
say expressly, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.

2 Peter 1, 10 Does not John say, we know that we have passed from death unto
life. 1 John 3, 14 And again, these things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God that ye may know that ye have eternal life. 1 John
5, 13 And again, we know that we are of God.

1 John 5, 19 What shall we say to these things? I desire to speak with all
humility on any controverted point. I feel that I am only a poor fallible child
of Adam himself but I must say that in the passages I have just quoted I see
something far higher than the mere hopes and trusts with which so many believers
appear content in this day. I see the language of persuasion, confidence,
knowledge nay, I may almost say, of certainty.

And I feel for my own part if I may take these scriptures in their plain obvious
meaning the doctrine of assurance is true. But my answer furthermore to all who
dislike the doctrine of assurance as bordering on presumption is this. It can
hardly be presumption to tread in the steps of Peter and Paul of Job and of
John.

They were all eminently humble and lowly-minded men if ever any were. And yet
they all speak of their own state with an assured hope. Surely this should teach
us that deep humility and strong assurance are perfectly compatible and that
there is not any necessary connection between spiritual confidence and pride.

Footnote They are quite mistaken that faith and humility are inconsistent. They
not only agree well together but they cannot be parted. From Trail The end of
the footnote.

My answer furthermore is that many have attained to such an assured hope as our
text expresses, even in modern times. I will not concede for a moment that it
was a peculiar privilege confined to the apostolic day. There have been in our
own land many believers who have appeared to walk in almost uninterrupted
fellowship with the Father and the Son, who have seemed to enjoy an almost
unceasing sense of the light of God's reconciled countenance shining down upon
them and have left their experience on record.

I could mention well-known names if space permitted. The thing has been and is
and that is enough. My answer lastly is it cannot be wrong to feel confidently
in a matter where God speaks unconditionally, to believe decidedly when God
promises decidedly, to have a sure persuasion of pardon and peace when we rest
on the word and oath of Him that never changes.

It is an utter mistake to suppose that the believer who feels assurance is
resting on anything he sees in himself. He simply leans on the mediator of the
new covenant and the scripture of truth. He believes the Lord Jesus means what
He says and takes Him at His word.

Assurance, after all, is no more than a full-grown faith, a masculine faith that
grasps Christ's promise with both hands, a faith that argues like the good
centurion, If the Lord speak the word only, I am healed. Wherefore then should I
doubt? Matthew 8, verse 8 Footnote To be assured of our salvation, Augustine
saith, is no arrogant stoutness. It is our faith.

It is no pride. It is devotion. It is no presumption.

It is God's promise. From Bishop Jewel's Defense of the Apology, 1570 If the
ground of our assurance rested in and on ourselves, it might justly be called
presumption. But the Lord and the power of His might being grounded thereof,
they either know not what is the might of His power, or else too lightly esteem
it, who will count assured confidence thereon, presumption.

From Gouge's Whole Armor of God, 1647 Upon what ground is this certainty built?
Surely not upon anything that is in us. Our assurance of perseverance is
grounded wholly upon God. If we look upon ourselves, we see cause of fear and
doubting.

But if we look up to God, we shall find cause enough for assurance. From
Hildersam, on John, chapter 4, 1632 Our hope is not hung upon such an untwisted
thread as, I imagine so, or it is likely. But the cable, the strong rope of our
fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity.

Our salvation is fastened with God's own hand and Christ's own strength, to the
strong stake of God's unchangeable nature. From Rutherford's Letters, 1637 End
of the footnote. We may be sure that Paul was the last man in the world to build
his assurance on anything of his own.

He who could write himself down chief of sinners, 1 Timothy 1.15, had a deep
sense of his guilt and corruption. But then he had a still deeper sense of the
length and breadth of Christ's righteousness imputed to him. He who would cry, O
wretched man that I am, Romans 7.24, had a clear view of the fountain of evil
within his heart.

But then he had a still clearer view of that other fountain which can remove all
sin and uncleanness. He who thought himself less than the least of all saints,
Ephesians 3.8, had a lively and abiding feeling of his own weakness. But he had
a still livelier feeling that Christ's promise, My sheep shall never perish,
John 10.28, could not be broken.

Paul knew, if ever man did, that he was a poor, frail bark floating on a stormy
ocean. He saw, if any did, the rolling waves and roaring tempest by which he was
surrounded. But then he looked away from self to Jesus and was not afraid.

He remembered that anger was in the veil which is both sure and steadfast.
Hebrews 6.19, he remembered the word and work and constant intercession of him
that loved him and gave himself for him. And this it was, and nothing else, that
enabled him to say so boldly, A crown is laid up for me, and the Lord shall give
it to me.

And to conclude so surely, the Lord will preserve me. I shall never be
confounded. Footnote.

Never did a believer in Jesus Christ die or drown in his voyage to heaven. They
will all be found safe and sound with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Christ loses none
of them, yea, nothing of them.

John 6.39. Not a bone of a believer is to be seen in the field of battle. They
are all more than conquerors through him that loved them. Romans 8.37. From
Traill.

End of the footnote. I may not dwell longer on this part of my subject. I think
it will be allowed I have shown some good ground for the assertion I made that
assurance is a true thing.

Number two. I pass on to the second thing I spoke of. I said a believer may
never arrive at this assured hope which Paul expresses and yet be saved.

I grant this most freely. I do not dispute it for a moment. I would not desire
to make one contrite heart sad that God has not made sad or to discourage one
fainting child of God or to leave the impression that men have no part or lot in
Christ except they feel assurance.

A person may have saving faith in Christ and yet never enjoy an assured hope
such as the apostle Paul enjoyed. To believe and have a glimmering hope of
acceptance is one thing. To have joy and peace in our believing and abound in
hope is quite another.

All God's children have faith. Not all have assurance. I think this ought never
to be forgotten.

I know some good and great men have held a different opinion. I believe that
many excellent ministers of the gospel at whose feet I would gladly sit do not
allow the distinction I have stated but I desire to call no man master. I dread
as much as anyone the idea of healing the wounds of conscience slightly but I
should think any other view than that I have given a most uncomfortable gospel
to preach and one very likely to keep souls back a long time from the gate of
life.

Footnote. The reader who would like to hear more about this point is referred to
a note at the end of this paper in which he will find extracts from several
well-known English divines supporting the view here maintained. The extracts are
too long for insertion in this page.

End of the footnote. I do not shrink from saying that by grace a man may have
sufficient faith to flee to Christ sufficient faith really to lay hold on Him
really to trust in Him really to be a child of God really to be saved and yet to
His last day be never free from much anxiety, doubt and fear. A letter, says an
old writer, may be written which is not sealed so grace may be written in the
heart yet the spirit may not set the seal of assurance to it.

A child may be born heir to a great fortune and yet never be aware of his riches
may live childish, die childish and never know the greatness of his possessions
And so also a man may be a babe in Christ's family think as a babe, speak as a
babe and though saved never enjoy a lively hope or know the real privileges of
his inheritance. Let no man mistake my meaning when I dwell strongly on the
reality privilege and importance of assurance. Do not do me the injustice to say
I teach that none are saved except such as can say with Paul I know and am
persuaded there is a crown laid up for me I do not say so, I teach nothing of
the kind.

Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ a man must have beyond all question if he is to
be saved I know no other way of access to the Father I see no intimation of
mercy excepting through Christ A man must feel his sins and lost estate must
come to Jesus for pardon and salvation must rest his hope on Him and on Him
alone. But if he only has faith to do this however weak and feeble that faith
may be I will engage from Scripture warrants he shall not miss heaven. Never,
never let us curtail the freeness of the glorious gospel or clip its fair
proportions never let us make the gate more straight and the way more narrow
than pride and the love of sin have made it already The Lord Jesus is very
pitiful and of tender mercy He does not regard the quantity of faith but the
quality He does not measure its degree but its truth He will not break any
bruised reed nor quench any smoking flax He will never let it be said that any
perished at the foot of the cross Him that cometh to me, He says, I will in no
wise cast out.

John 6, 37 Footnote He that believeth on Jesus shall never be confounded Never
was any, neither shall you if you believe It was a great word of faith spoken by
a dying man who had been converted in a singular way betwixt his condemnation
and execution His last words were these spoken with a mighty shout Never a man
perished with his faith towards Christ Jesus From Trail End of footnote Yes,
though a man's faith be no bigger than a grain of mustard seed if it only brings
him to Christ and enables him to touch the hem of his garment he shall be saved
Saved as surely as the oldest saint in paradise Saved as completely and
eternally as Peter or John or Paul There are degrees in our sanctification In
our justification there are none What is written is written and shall never fail
Whosoever believeth on him Not whosoever has a strong and mighty faith Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed Romans 10, 11 But all this time be it
remembered The poor believing soul may have no full assurance of his pardon and
acceptance with God He may be troubled with fear upon fear and doubt upon doubt
He may have many an inward question and many an anxiety Many a struggle and many
a misgiving Clouds and darkness, storm and tempest to the very end I will engage
I repeat That bare simple faith in Christ shall save a man Though he may never
attain to assurance But I will not engage it shall bring him to heaven with
strong and abounding consolations I will engage it shall land him safe in the
harbor But I will not engage he shall enter that harbor in full sail Confident
and rejoicing I shall not be surprised if he reaches his desired haven Weather
beaten and tempest tossed Scarcely realizing his own safety Till he opens his
eyes in glory I believe it is of great importance to keep in view this
distinction between faith and assurance It explains things which an inquirer in
religion sometimes finds it hard to understand Faith let us remember is the root
And assurance is the flower Doubtless you can never have the flower without the
root But it is no less certain you may have the root and not the flower Faith is
that poor trembling woman who came behind Jesus in the press And touched the hem
of his garment Mark 5 25 Assurance is Stephen standing calmly in the midst of
his murderers And saying I see the heavens opened And the son of man standing on
the right hand of God Acts 7 56 Faith is the penitent thief crying Lord remember
me Luke 23 42 Assurance is Job sitting in the dust covered with sores saying I
know that my redeemer liveth Job 19 25 Though he slay me yet will I trust him
Job 13 15 Faith is Peter's drowning cry as he began to sink Lord save me Matthew
14 30 Assurance is that same Peter declaring before the council in after times
This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders Which is become the
head of the corner Neither is there salvation in any other For there is none
other name under heaven given among men Whereby we must be saved Acts 4 11 12
Faith is the anxious trembling voice Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Mark 9
24 Assurance is the confident challenge Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect Who is he that condemneth Romans 8 33 34 Faith is Saul praying in
the house of Judas at Damascus Sorrowful blind and alone Acts 9 11 Assurance is
Paul the aged prisoner looking calmly into the grave and saying I know whom I
have believed There is a crown laid up for me 2 Timothy 1 12 4 8 Faith is life
How great the blessing Who can describe or realize the gulf between life and
death A living dog is better than a dead lion Ecclesiastes 9 4 And yet life may
be weak, sickly, unhealthy, painful, trying, anxious, weary, burdensome,
joyless, smileless to the very end Assurance is more than life It is health,
strength, power, vigor, activity, energy, manliness, beauty It is not a question
of saved or not saved that lies before us But of privilege or no privilege It is
not a question of peace or no peace But of great peace or little peace It is not
a question between the wanderers of this world and the school of Christ It is
one that belongs only to the school It is between the first form and the last He
that has faith does well Happy should I be if I thought all readers of this
paper had it Blessed, thrice blessed are they that believe They are safe, they
are washed, they are justified, they are beyond the power of hell Satan with all
his malice shall never pluck them out of Christ's hand But he that has assurance
does far better Sees more, feels more, knows more, enjoys more Has more days
like those spoken of in Deuteronomy Even the days of heaven upon the earth
Deuteronomy 11 verse 21 Footnote The greatest thing that we can desire next to
the glory of God is our own salvation And the sweetest thing we can desire is
the assurance of our salvation In this life we cannot get higher than to be
assured of that which is in the next life to be enjoyed All saints shall enjoy a
heaven when they leave this earth Some saints enjoy a heaven while they are here
on earth From Joseph Carroll, 1653 This Reformation audio track is a production
of Stillwater's Revival Books SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation
resources available free and for sale in audio, video, and printed formats Our
many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog containing
thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books tapes and videos
at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com We can also be reached by email
at swrb at swrb.com by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail
at 4710-37A Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6L3T5 You may also request a free printed
catalog And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative
principle of worship or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship
commenting on the words of God which I commanded them not, neither came into my
heart from his commentary on Jeremiah 731 writes God here cuts off from men
every occasion for making evasions since he condemns by this one phrase I have
not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised There is then no other argument
needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God For when
men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies and attend
not to his commands they pervert true religion And if this principle was adopted
by the Papists all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly
exercise themselves would fall to the ground It is indeed a horrible thing for
the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their
own superstitions There is an immense number of them as it is well known and as
it manifestly appears Were they to admit this principle that we cannot rightly
worship God except by obeying his word they would be delivered from their deep
abyss of error The Prophet's words then are very important when he says that God
had commanded no such thing and that it never came to his mind as though he had
said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required
nay, what he never knew


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  CHAPTER 10: CHAPTER 10
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All saints enjoy a heaven when they leave this earth. Some saints enjoy a heaven
while they are here on earth. From Joseph Carroll, 1653.

End of the footnote. Number three. I pass on to the third thing of which I
spoke.

I will give some reasons why an assured hope is exceedingly to be desired. I ask
special attention to this point. I heartily wish that assurance was more sought
after than it is.

Too many among those who believe begin doubting and go on doubting, live
doubting and die doubting, and go to heaven in a kind of mist. It would ill
become me to speak in a sliding way of hopes and trust, but I fear many of us
sit down content with them and go no further. I should like to see fewer pure
adventurers in the Lord's family and more who could say, I know and am
persuaded, or that all believers would covet the best gift and not be content
with less.

Many miss the full tide of blessedness the gospel was meant to convey. Many keep
themselves in a low and starved condition of soul while their Lord is saying,
eat and drink abundantly, O beloved. Ask and receive that your joy may be full.

Canticles 5.1 and John 16.24 1. Let us remember then for one thing that
assurance is to be desired because of the present comfort and peace it affords.
Doubts and fears have power to spoil much of the happiness of a true believer in
Christ. Uncertainty and suspense are bad enough in any condition, in the matter
of our health, our property, our families, our affections, our earthly callings,
but never so bad as in the affairs of our souls.

And so long as a believer cannot get beyond, I hope and I trust, he manifestly
feels a degree of uncertainty about his spiritual state. The very words imply as
much. He says, I hope, because he dares not say, I know.

Now assurance goes far to set a child of God free from this painful kind of
bondage and thus ministers mightily to his comfort. It enables him to feel that
the great business of life is a settled business, the great debt a paid debt,
the great disease a healed disease, and the great works a finished work, and all
other business, diseases, debts, and works are then by comparison small. In this
way assurance makes him patient in tribulation, calm under bereavement, unmoved
in sorrow, not afraid of evil tidings, in every condition content, for it gives
him a fixedness of heart.

It sweetens his bitter cups. It lessens the burden of his crosses. It smooths
the rough places over which he travels.

It lightens the valley of the shadow of death. It makes him always feel that he
has something solid beneath his feet and something firm under his hands, a sure
friend by the way and a sure home at the end. Footnote.

It was a saying of Bishop Latimer to Ridley. When I live in a settled and
steadfast assurance about the state of my soul, methinks then I am as bold as a
lion. I can laugh at all trouble.

No affliction daunts me. But when I am eclipsed in my comfort, I am of so
fearful a spirit that I could run into a very mouse hole. Quoted by Christopher
Love, 1653.

Assurance will assist us in all duties. It will arm us against all temptations.
It will answer all objections.

It will sustain us in all conditions into which the saddest of times can bring
us. If God be for us, who can be against us? Bishop Reynolds on Hosea, chapter
14, 1642. We cannot come amiss to him that hath assurance.

God is his. Hath he lost a friend? His father lives. Hath he lost an only child?
God hath given him his only son.

Hath he scarcity of bread? God hath given him the finest of the wheat, the bread
of life. Are his comforts gone? He hath a comforter. Doth he meet with storms?
He knows where to put in for harbor.

God is his portion, and heaven is his haven. Thomas Watson, 1662. End of the
footnote.

Assurance will help a man to bear poverty and loss. It will teach him to say, I
know that I have in heaven a better and more enduring substance. Silver and gold
have I none, but grace and glory are mine, and these can never make themselves
wings and flee away.

Though the fig tree shall not blossom, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. Habakkuk
3, verses 17 and 18. Assurance will support a child of God under the heaviest
bereavement, and assist him to feel it is well.

An assured soul will say, Though beloved ones are taken from me, yet Jesus is
the same and is alive forevermore. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more. Though my heart be not as flesh and blood could wish, yet I have an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.

2 Kings 4, 26. Hebrews 13, 8. Romans 6, verse 9. And 2 Samuel 23, 5. Assurance
will enable a man to praise God and be thankful even in prison, like Paul and
Silas at Philippi. It can give a believer songs even in the darkest night, and
joy when all things seem going against him.

Job 35, verse 10. And Psalm 42, verse 8. Assurance will enable a man to sleep
with the full prospect of death on the morrow, like Peter in Herod's dungeon. It
will teach him to say, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for thou,
Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety.

Psalm 4, verse 8. Assurance can make a man rejoice to suffer shame for Christ's
sake, as the apostles did when put in prison at Jerusalem. Acts 5, verse 41. It
will remind him that he may rejoice and be exceeding glad.

Matthew 5, 12. And that there is in heaven an exceeding weight of glory that
shall make amends for all. 2 Corinthians 4, 17.

Assurance will enable a believer to meet a violent and painful death without
fear, as Stephen did in the beginning of Christ's church. And as Cranmer,
Ridley, Hooper, Latimer, Rogers, and Taylor did in our own land. It will bring
to his heart the text, Be not afraid of them which kill the body, and after that
have no more that they can do.

Luke 12, 4. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Acts 7, verse 59. These were
Bradford's words in prison shortly before his execution.

I have no request to make. If Queen Mary gives me my life, I will thank her. If
she will banish me, I will thank her.

If she will burn me, I will thank her. If she will condemn me to perpetual
imprisonment, I will thank her. This was Rutherford's experience when banished
to Aberdeen.

How blind are my adversaries who sent me to a banqueting house, and not to a
prison or a place of exile. My prison is a palace to me, and Christ's banqueting
house. From his book on letters.

These were the last words of Hugh McHale on the scaffold at Edinburgh, 1666. Now
I begin my intercourse with God, which shall never be broken off. Farewell,
Father and Mother, friends and relations.

Farewell, the world and all its delights. Farewell, meat and drinks. Farewell,
sun, moon, and stars.

Welcome, God and Father. Welcome, sweet Lord Jesus, the mediator of the new
covenant. Welcome, blessed Spirit of grace, and God of all consolation.

Welcome, glory. Welcome, eternal life. Welcome, death.

O Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit, for thou hast redeemed my soul, O
Lord God of truth. End of footnote. Assurance will support a man in pain and
sickness, make all his bed, and smooth down his dying pillow.

It will enable him to say, If my earthly house fail, I have a building of God. 2
Corinthians 5.1 I desire to depart and be with Christ. Philippians 1.23 My flesh
and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion
forever.

Psalm 73, verse 26 The strong consolation which assurance can give in the hour
of death is a point of great importance. We may depend on it, we shall never
think assurance so precious as when our turn comes to die. In that awful hour
there are few believers who do not find out the value and privilege of an
assured hope, whatever they may have thought about it during their lives.

General hopes and trusts are all very well to live upon while the sun shines and
the body is strong. But when we come to die we shall want to be able to say, I
know and I feel. The river of death is a cold stream and we have to cross it
alone.

No earthly friend can help us. The last enemy, the king of terrors, is a strong
soul. When our souls are departing there is no cordial like the strong wine of
assurance.

There is a very beautiful expression in the prayer book service for the
visitation of the sick. The Almighty Lord, who is the most strong tower to all
them that put their trust in Him, be now and evermore thy defense and make thee
know and feel that there is none other name under heaven through whom thou
mayest receive health and salvation but only the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The compilers of that service showed great wisdom there.

They saw that when the eyes grow dim and the heart grows faint and the spirit is
on the eve of departing there must then be knowing and feeling what Christ has
done for us or else there cannot be perfect peace. These were Rutherford's words
on his deathbed. O that all my brethren did know what a master I have served and
what peace I have this day.

I shall sleep in Christ and when I awake I shall be satisfied with His likeness.
1661 These were Baxter's words on his deathbed. I bless God I have a well
grounded assurance of my eternal happiness and great peace and comfort within.

Towards the close he was asked how he did. The answer was almost well. 1691 The
least degree of faith takes away the sting of death because it takes away guilt
but the full assurance of faith breaks the very teeth and jaws of death by
taking away the fear and dread of it.

Phil Clough's Sermon in the Morning Exercises. Number 2 Let us remember for
another thing that assurance is to be desired because it tends to make a
Christian an active working Christian. None generally speaking do so much for
Christ on earth as those who enjoy the fullest confidence of a free entrance
into heaven and trust not in their own works but in the finished work of Christ.

That sounds wonderful I dare say but it is true. A believer who lacks an assured
hope will spend much of his time in inward searchings of heart after his own
estate. Like a nervous hypochondrical person he will be full of his own ailments
his own doubtings and questionings his own conflicts and corruptions.

In short you will often find he is so taken up with his internal welfare that he
has little leisure for other things and little time to work for God. But a
believer who has like Paul an assured hope is free from these harassing
distractions. He does not vex his soul with doubts about his own pardon and
acceptance.

He looks at the everlasting covenant sealed with blood at the finished work and
never broken word of his Lord and Savior and therefore counts his salvation a
settled thing. And thus he is able to give an undivided attention to the work of
the Lord and so in the long run to do more. Footnote Assurance would make us
active and lively in God's service.

It would excite prayer, quicken obedience. Faith would make us walk but
assurance would make us run. We should think we could never do enough for God.

Assurance would be as wings to the bird as weight to the clock to set all the
wheels of obedience of running. Thomas Watson Assurance will make a man fervent
constant and abundant in the work of the Lord. When the assured Christian has
done one work he is calling out for another.

What is next Lord? says the assured soul. What is next? An assured Christian
will put his hand to any work. He will put his neck in any yoke for Christ.

He never thinks he has done enough. He always thinks he has done too little. And
when he has done all he can he sits down saying I am an unprofitable servant.

Thomas Brooks End of footnote Take for an illustration of this two English
immigrants and suppose them set down side by side in New Zealand or Australia.
Give each of them a piece of land to clear and cultivate. Let the portions
allotted to them be the same both in quality and quantity.

Secure that land to them by every needful legal instrument. Let it be conveyed
as freehold to them and theirs forever. Let the conveyance be publicly
registered and the property be made sure to them by every deed and security that
man's ingenuity can devise.

Suppose then that one of them shall set to work to clear his land and bring it
into cultivation and labour at it day after day without intermission or
cessation. Suppose in the meanwhile that the other shall be continually leaving
his work and going repeatedly to the public registry to ask whether the land
really is his own, whether there is not some mistake, whether after all there is
not some flaw in the legal instruments which conveyed it to him. The one shall
never doubt his title but just work diligently on.

The other shall hardly ever feel sure of his title and spend half his time in
going to Sydney or Melbourne or Auckland with needless inquiries about it. Which
now of these two men will have made most progress in a year's time? Who will
have done the most for his land? Got the greatest breadth of soil under tillage?
Have the best crops to show? Be altogether the most prosperous? Any one of
common sense can answer that question. I need not supply an answer.

There can only be one reply. Undivided attention will always attain the greatest
success. It is much the same in the matter of our title to mansions in the
skies.

None will do so much for the Lord who bought him as the believer who sees his
clear title and is not distracted by unbelieving doubts, questionings and
hesitations. The joy of the Lord will be that man's strength. Restore unto me,
says David, the joy of thy salvation.

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways. Psalm 51 verse 12 Never were there
such working Christians as the apostles. They seemed to live to labor.

Christ's work was truly their meat and drink. They counted not their lives dear
to themselves. They spent and were spent.

They laid down ease, health, worldly comfort at the foot of the cross. And one
grand cause of this, I believe, was their assured hope. They were men who could
say, We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

1 John 5.19 Number 3 Let us remember for another thing that assurance is to be
desired because it tends to make a Christian a decided Christian. Indecision and
doubt about our own state in God's sight is a grievous evil and the mother of
many evils. It often produces a wavering and unstable walk in following the
Lord.

Assurance helps to cut many a knot and to make the path of Christian duty clear
and plain. Many of whom we feel hoped that they are God's children and have true
grace, however weak, are continually perplexed with doubts in points of
practice. Should we do such and such a thing? Shall we give up this family
custom? Ought we to go into that company? How shall we draw the line about
visiting? What is to be the measure of our dressing and our entertainments? Are
we never under any circumstances to dance, never to touch a card, never to
attend parties of pleasure? These are a kind of questions which seem to give
them constant trouble and often, very often, the simple root of their perplexity
is that they do not feel assured that they themselves are children of God.

They have not yet settled the point which side of the gate they are on. They do
not know whether they are inside the ark or not. That a child of God ought to
act in a certain decided way, they quite feel.

But the grand question is, are they the children of God themselves? If they only
felt they were so, they would go straight forward and take a decided line. But
not feeling sure about it, their conscience is forever hesitating and coming to
a deadlock. The devil whispers, perhaps after all you are only a hypocrite.

What right have you to take a decided course? Wait till you are really a
Christian. And this whisper too often turns to scale and leads on to some
miserable compromise or wretched conformity to the world. I believe we have here
one chief reason why so many in this day are inconsistent, trimming,
unsatisfactory and half-hearted in their conduct about the world.

Their faith fails. They feel no assurance that they are Christ and feel a
hesitancy about breaking with the world. They shrink from laying aside all the
ways of the old man because they are not quite confident that they have put on
the new.

In short, I have little doubt that one secret cause of halting between two
opinions is want of assurance. When people can say decidedly, the Lord, He is
the God, their course becomes very clear. 1 Kings 18.39 Let us remember finally
that assurance is to be desired because it tends to make the holiest Christians.

This too sounds wonderful and strange, yet it is true. It is one of the
paradoxes of the gospel, contrary at first sight to reason and common sense, and
yet it is a fact. Cardinal Bellarmine was seldom more wide of the truth than
when he said, Assurance tends to carelessness and sloth.

He that is freely forgiven by Christ will always do much for Christ's glory, and
he that enjoys the fullest assurance of this forgiveness will ordinarily keep up
the closest walk with God. It is a faithful saying and worthy to be remembered
by all believers. He that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is
pure.

1 John 3.3 A hope that does not purify is a mockery, a delusion, a snare.
Footnotes The true assurance of salvation, which the Spirit of God hath wrought
in any heart, hath that force to restrain a man from looseness of life, and to
knit his heart in love and obedience to God, as nothing else hath in all the
world. It is certainly either the want of faith and assurance of God's love, or
a false and carnal assurance of it that is the true cause of all licentiousness
that reigns in the world.

Hildur Sam, on the 51st Psalm None walk so evenly with God as they who are
assured of the love of God. Faith is the mother of obedience, and sureness of
trust makes way for strictness of life. When men are loose from Christ, they are
loose in point of duty, and their floating belief is soon discovered in their
inconsistency and unevenness of walking.

We do not, with alacrity, engage in that of the success of which we are
doubtful, and therefore, when we know not whether God will accept us or not,
when we are off and on in point of trust, we are just so in the course of our
lives, and serve God by fits and starts. It is the slander of the world to think
assurance an idle doctrine. Manton's Exposition of James, 1660 Who is more
obliged, or who feels the obligation to observance more cogently? The son who
knows his new relation, and knows his father loves him, or the servant that hath
great reason to doubt it? Fear is a weak and impotent principle in comparison of
love.

Terrors may awaken, love enlivens. Terrors may almost persuade, love
overpersuades. Sure am I that a believer's knowledge that his beloved is his,
and he is his beloved's.

Canticles 6.3 Is found by experience to lay the most strong and cogent
obligations upon him to loyalty and faithfulness to the Lord Jesus. For as to
him that believes Christ is precious, 1 Peter 2.7 So to him that knows he
believes Christ is so much the more precious, even the chiefest of ten thousand.
Canticles 5.10 Sir Claus Thurman in Morning Exercises 1660 Is it necessary that
men should be kept in continual dread of damnation in order to render them
circumspect and ensure their attention to duty? Will not the well-grounded
expectation of heaven prove far more efficacious? Love is the noblest and
strongest principle of obedience.

Nor can it be but that a sense of God's love to us will increase our desire to
please him. Robinson's Christian System. End of footnote.

None are so likely to maintain a watchful guard over their own hearts and lives
as those who know the comfort of living in close communion with God. They feel
their privilege and will fear losing it. They will dread falling from the high
estate and marring their own comforts by bringing clouds between themselves and
Christ.

He that goes on a journey with little money about him takes little thought of
danger and cares little how late he travels. He on the contrary that carries
gold and jewels will be a cautious traveler. He will look well to his roads, his
lodgings and his company and run no risks.

It is an old saying, however unscientific it may be, that the thick stars are
those which tremble most. The man that most fully enjoys the light of God's
reconciled countenance will be a man tremblingly afraid of losing its blessed
consolations and jealously fearful of doing anything to grieve the Holy Ghost. I
commend these four points to the serious consideration of all professing
Christians.

Would you like to feel the everlasting arms around you and to hear the voice of
Jesus daily drawing nigh to your soul and saying, I am thy salvation? Would you
like to be a useful laborer in the vineyard in your day and generation? Would
you be known of all men as a bold, firm, decided, single-eyed, uncompromising
follower of Christ? Would you be eminently spiritually minded and holy? I doubt
not some readers will say, these are the very things our hearts desire. We long
for them, we pant after them, but they seem far from us. Now has it never struck
you that your neglect of assurance may possibly be the main secret of all your
failures? That the low measure of faith which satisfies you may be the cause of
your low degree of peace? Can you think it a strange thing that your graces are
faint and languishing when faith, the root and mother of them all, is allowed to
remain feeble and weak? Take my advice this day.

Seek an increase of faith. Seek an assured hope of salvation like the Apostle
Paul's. Seek to obtain a simple, childlike confidence in God's promises.

Seek to be able to say with Paul, I know whom I have believed. I am persuaded
that he is mine and I am his. You have very likely tried other ways and methods
and completely failed.

Change your plan. Go upon another tack. Lay aside your doubts.

Lean more entirely on the Lord's arm. Begin with implicit trusting. Cast aside
your faithless backwardness to take the Lord at His word.

Come and roll yourself, your soul, and your sins upon your gracious Savior.
Begin with simple believing and all other things shall soon be added to you.
Footnote.

That which breeds so much perplexity is that we would invert God's order. If I
knew, say some, that the promise belonged to me and Christ was a Savior to me, I
could believe. That is to say I would first see and then believe.

But the true method is just the contrary. I had fainted, says David, unless I
had believed to see the goodness of the Lord. He believed it first and saw it
afterwards.

Archbishop Layton It is a weak and ignorant but common thought of Christians
that they ought not to look for heaven nor trust Christ for eternal glory till
they be well advanced in holiness and meekness for it. But as the first
sanctification of our natures flows from our faith and trust in Christ for
acceptance, so our further sanctification and meekness for glory flows from the
renewed and repeated exercise of faith in Him. From Trail.

End of footnote. 4. I come now to the last thing of which I spoke. I promise to
point out some probable causes why an assured hope is so seldom attained.

I will do it very shortly. This is a very serious question and ought to raise in
all of us great searchings of heart. Few certainly of Christ's people seem to
reach up to this blessed spirit of assurance.

Many comparatively believe but few are persuaded. Many comparatively have saving
faith but few that glorious confidence which shines forth in the language of St.
Paul. That such is the case I think we must all allow.

Now why is this so? Why is a thing which two apostles have strongly enjoined us
to seek after a thing of which few believers have any experimental knowledge in
these latter days? Why is an assured hope so rare? I desire to offer a few
suggestions on this point with all humility. I know that many have never
attained assurance at whose feet I would gladly sit both in earth and heaven.
Perhaps the Lord sees something in the natural temperament of some of his
children which makes assurance not good for them.

Perhaps in order to be kept in spiritual health they need to be kept very low.
God only knows. Still, after every allowance I fear there are many believers
without an assured hope whose case may too often be explained by causes such as
these.

Number one one most common cause I suspect is a defective view of the doctrine
of justification. I am inclined to think that justification and sanctification
are insensibly confused together in the minds of many believers. They receive
the gospel truth that there must be something done in us as well as something
done for us if we are true members in Christ and so far they are right.

But then without being aware of it perhaps they seem to imbibe the idea that
their justification is in some degree affected by something within themselves.
They do not clearly see that Christ's work not their own work either in whole or
in part either directly or indirectly is alone the ground of our acceptance with
God. That justification is a thing entirely without us for which nothing
whatever is needful on our part but simple faith and that the weakest believer
is as fully and completely justified as the strongest.

Footnote. The Westminster Confession of Faith gives an admirable account of
justification. Those whom God affectionately calleth he also freely justifieth.

Not by infusing righteousness into them but by pardoning their sins and by
accounting and accepting their persons as righteous not for anything wrought in
them or done by them but for Christ's sake alone not by imputing faith itself
the act of believing or any other evangelical obedience to them as their
righteousness but by imputing the obedience and righteousness of Christ unto
them they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith. End of
footnote. Many appear to forget that we are saved and justified as sinners and
only sinners and that we never can attain to anything higher if we live to the
age of Methuselah.

Redeemed sinners justified sinners and renewed sinners doubtless we must be but
sinners sinners sinners we shall be always to the very last. They do not seem to
comprehend that there is a wide difference between our justification and our
sanctification. Our justification is a perfect finished work and admits of no
degrees.

Our sanctification is imperfect and incomplete and will be so to the last hour
of our life. They appear to expect that a believer may at some period of his
life be in a measure free from corruption and attain to a kind of inward
perfection. And not finding this angelic state of things in their own heart they
at once conclude there must be something very wrong in their state and so they
go mourning all their days oppressed with fears that they have no part or lot in
Christ and refusing to be comforted.

Let us weigh this point well. If any believing soul desires assurance and has
not got it let him ask himself first of all if he is quite sure he is sound in
the faith if he knows how to distinguish things that differ and if his eyes are
thoroughly clear in the matter of justification. He must know what it is simply
to believe and to be justified by faith before he can expect to feel assured.

In this matter as well as many others the old Galatian heresy is the most brutal
source of error both in doctrine and in practice. People ought to seek clearer
views of Christ and what Christ has done for them. Happy is the man who really
understands justification by faith without the deeds of the law.

Number two another common cause of the absence of assurance is about growth and
grace. I suspect many true believers hold dangerous and unscriptural views on
this point. I do not of course mean intentionally but they do hold them.

Many appear to think that once converted they have little more to attend to and
that a state of salvation is a kind of easy chair in which they may just sit
still, lie back and be happy. They seem to fancy that grace is given them that
they may enjoy it and they forget that it is given like a talent to be used,
employed and improved. Such persons lose sight of the many direct injunctions to
increase to grow, to abound more and more, to add to our faith and the like.

And in this little doing condition this sitting still state of mind I never
marvel that they miss assurance. I believe it ought to be our continual aim and
desire to go forward and our watch word on every returning birthday and at the
beginning of every year should be more and more. 1 Thessalonians 4.1 More
knowledge, more faith, more obedience, more love.

If we have brought forth thirtyfold we should seek to bring forth sixty. If we
have brought forth sixty we should strive to bring forth a hundred. The will of
the Lord is our sanctification and it ought to be our will too.

Matthew 13.23 and 1 Thessalonians 4.3 One thing at all events we may depend upon
there is an inseparable connection between diligence and assurance. Give
diligence says Peter to make your calling and election sure. 2 Peter 1.10 We
desire says Paul that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full
assurance of hope unto the end.

Hebrews 6.11 The soul of the diligent says Solomon shall be made fat. Proverbs
13.4 There is much truth in the old maxim of the Puritans faith of adherence
comes by hearing but faith of assurance comes not without doing. Is any reader
of this paper one of those who desires assurance but has not got it? Mark my
words you will never get it without diligence however much you desire it.

There are no gains without pains in spiritual things any more than in temporal.
The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing. Proverbs 13.4 Footnote Whose
fault is it that thy interest in Christ is not put out of question? Were
Christians more in self-examination more close in walking with God and if they
had more near communion with God and were more in acting of faith this shameful
darkness and doubting would quickly vanish.

Trail A lazy Christian shall always want four things that is comfort content
confidence and assurance. God hath made a separation between joy and idleness
between assurance and laziness and therefore it is impossible for thee to bring
these together that God hath put so far asunder. Thomas Brooks Are you in depths
and doubts staggering and uncertain not knowing what is your condition nor
whether you have any interest in the forgiveness that is of God? Are you tossed
up and down between hopes and fears and want peace, consolation and
establishment? Why lie you upon your faces? Get up, watch, pray fast, meditate
offer violence to your lusts and corruptions.

Fear not startle not at their crying to be spared. Press unto the throne of
grace by prayer, supplications importunities restless requests. This is the way
to take the kingdom of God These things are not peace are not assurance but they
are part of the means God hath appointed for the attainment of them.

Owen 130th Psalm End of footnote Number 3 Another common cause of a want of
assurance is an inconsistent walk in life With grief and sorrow I feel
constrained to say that I fear nothing more frequently prevents men attaining an
assured hope than this The stream of professing Christianity in this day is far
wider than it formerly was and I am afraid we must admit at the same time it is
much less deep Inconsistency of life is utterly destructive of peace of
conscience. The two things are incompatible They cannot and they will not go
together If you have you'll be setting sins and cannot make up your minds to
give them up. If you will shrink from cutting off the right hand and plucking
out the right eye when occasion requires it, I will engage you, you will have no
assurance A vacillating walk A backwardness to take a bold and decided line.

A readiness to conform to the world A hesitating witness for Christ A lingering
tone of religion A flinching from a high standard of holiness and spiritual life
All these make up a pure receipt for bringing a blight upon the garden of your
soul. It is vain to suppose you will feel assured and persuaded of your own
pardon and acceptance with God unless you count all God's commandments
concerning all things to be right and hate every sin whether great or small.
Psalm 119 verse 128 1 Achan allowed in the camp of your heart will weaken your
hands and lay your consolations low in the dust You must be daily sowing to the
Spirit if you are to reap the witness of the Spirit.

You will not find and feel that all the Lord's ways are ways of pleasantness
unless you labor in all your ways to please the Lord. Footnote Lest thou have
thy hope strong then keep thy conscience pure thou canst not defile one without
weakening the other The godly person that is loose and careless in his holy
walking will soon find his hope languishing All sin disposes the soul that
tempers with it to trembling fears and shakings of heart. Gernal One great and
too common cause of distress is the secret maintaining some known sin.

It puts out the eye of the soul or dimmeth it and stupefies it that it can
neither see nor feel its own condition But especially it provokes God to
withdraw himself his comforts and the assistance of his spirit. Baxter Saints
rest The stars which have least circuit are nearest the pole and men whose
earths are least tangled with the world are always nearest to God and to the
assurance of his favor. Worldly Christians remember this You and the world must
part or else assurance and your souls will never meet Thomas Brooke End of the
footnote I bless God that our salvation in no wise depends on our own work.

By grace we are saved, not by works of righteousness, through faith without the
deeds of the law But I never would have any believer for a moment forget that
our sense of salvation depends much on the manner of our living Inconsistency
will dim our eyes and bring clouds between us and the sun. The sun is the same
behind the clouds but you will not be able to see its brightness or enjoy its
warmth and your soul will be gloomy and cold It is in the path of well doing
that the day spring of assurance will visit you and shine down upon your heart
The secret of the Lord says David is with them that fear him and he will show
them his covenant Psalm 25 To him that ordereth his conversation aright will I
show the salvation of God Psalm 100 23 Great peace have they which love thy law
and nothing shall offend them Psalm 119 verse 165 If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another 1 John 1 7 Let us not love
in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth and hereby we know that we
are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him 1 John 3 18-19 Hereby we
do know that we love him if we keep his commandments 1 John 2 3 Paul was a man
who exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and
toward man Acts 24 verse 16 He could say with boldness I have fought the good
fight I have kept the faith I do not therefore wonder that the Lord enabled him
to add with confidence henceforth there is a crown laid up for me and the Lord
shall give it to me at that day If any believer in the Lord Jesus desires
assurance and has not got it, let him think over this point also Let him look at
his own heart look at his own conscience look at his own life look at his own
ways look at his own home and perhaps when he has done that he will be able to
say there is a cause why I have no assured hope I leave the three matters I have
just mentioned to the private consideration of every reader of this paper. I am
sure they are worth examining May we examine them honestly and may the Lord give
us understanding in all things Number one And now in closing this important
inquiry, let me speak first to those readers who have not yet given themselves
to the Lord, who have not yet come out of the world, chosen the good part and
followed Christ I ask you then to learn from this subject the privileges and
comforts of a true Christian I would not have you judge of the Lord Jesus Christ
by his people The best of servants can give you but a faint idea of that
glorious master Neither would I have you judge of the privileges of his kingdom
by the measure of comfort to which many of his people attain.

Alas we are most of us poor creatures This Reformation audio track is a
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We can also be reached by email at swrb by performing their own superstitions.
There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly
appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God
except by obeying His Word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of
error.

The Prophet's words then are very important, when he says that God had commanded
no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that
men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he
never knew.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 11: CHAPTER 11
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We come short, very short, of the blessedness we might enjoy. But depend upon
it, there are glorious things in the city of our God, which they who have an
assured hope taste, even in their lifetime. There are lengths and breadths of
peace and consolation there, which it has not entered into your heart to
conceive.

There is bread enough and to spare in our Father's house, though many of us
certainly eat but little of it, and continue weak. But the fault must not be
laid to our Master's charge, it is all our own. And, after all, the weakest
child of God has a mine of comforts within him, of which you know nothing.

You see the conflicts and tossings of the surface of his heart, but you see not
the pearls of great price which are hidden in the depths below. The feeblest
member of Christ would not change conditions with you. The believer who
possesses the least assurance is far better off than you are.

He has a hope, however faint, but you have none at all. He has a portion that
will never be taken from him, a savior that will never be taken from him, a
savior that will never forsake him, a treasure that fadeth not away, however
little he may realize it all at present. But as for you, if you die as you are,
your expectations will all perish.

O that you were wise! O that you were understanding! O that you would consider
your latter end! I feel deeply for you in these latter days of the world, if I
ever did. I feel deeply for those whose treasure is all on earth, and whose
hopes are all on this side of the grave. Yes, when I see old kingdoms and
dynasties shaking to the very foundation, when I see, as we all saw a few years
ago, kings and princes and rich men and great men fleeing for their lives, and
scarce knowing where to hide their heads, when I see property dependent on
public confidence melting like snow in the spring, and public stocks and funds
losing their value, when I see these things, I feel deeply for those who have no
better portion than this world can give them, and no place in that kingdom which
cannot be removed.

Footnote. They are doubly miserable that have neither heaven nor earth,
temporals nor eternals, made sure to them in changing times. Thomas Brooks.

End of footnote. Take advice of a minister of Christ this very day. Seek durable
riches, a treasure that cannot be taken from you, a city which hath lasting
foundations.

Do as the Apostle Paul did. Give yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, and seek
that incorruptible crown He is ready to bestow. Take His yoke upon you, and
learn of Him.

Come away from a world which will never really satisfy you, and from sin which
will bite like a serpent, if you cleave to it at last. Come to the Lord Jesus as
lowly sinners, and He will receive you, pardon you, give you His renewing
Spirit, fill you with peace. This shall give you more real comfort than the
world has ever done.

There is a gulf in your heart which nothing but the peace of Christ can fill.
Enter in, and share our privileges. Come with us, and sit down by our side.

Number two. Lastly, let me turn to all believers who read these pages, and speak
to them a few words of brotherly counsel. The main thing that I urge upon you is
this.

If you have not got an assured hope of your own acceptance in Christ, resolve
this day to seek it. Labor for it. Strive after it.

Pray for it. Give the Lord no rest, till you know whom you have believed. I feel
indeed that the small amount of assurance in this day, among those who are
reckoned God's children, is a shame and a reproach.

It is a thing to be heavily bewailed, says old Traill, that many Christians have
lived 20 or 40 years since Christ called them by His grace, yet doubting in
their life. Let us call to mind the earnest desire Paul expresses, that every
one of the Hebrews should seek after full assurance. And let us endeavor by
God's blessing to roll this reproach away.

Hebrews 11.11 Believing reader, do you really mean to say that you have no
desire to exchange hope for confidence, trust for persuasion, uncertainty for
knowledge? Because weak faith will save you, will you therefore rest content
with it? Because assurance is not essential to your entrance into heaven, will
you therefore be satisfied without it upon earth? Alas, this is not a healthy
state of soul to be in. This is not the mind of the apostolic day. Arise at once
and go forward.

Stick not at the foundations of religion. Go on to perfection. Be not content
with a day of small things.

Never despise it in others, but never be content with it yourself. Believe me,
assurance is worth the seeking. You forsake your own mercies when you rest
content without it.

The things I speak are for your peace. If it is good to be sure in earthly
things, how much better is it to be sure in heavenly things? Your salvation is a
fixed and certain thing. God knows it.

Why should not you seek to know it too? There is nothing unscriptural in this.
Paul never saw the book of life, and yet Paul says, I know, and am persuaded.
Make it in your daily prayer that you may have an increase of faith.

According to your faith will be your peace. Cultivate that blessed root more,
and sooner or later, by God's blessing, you may hope to have the flower. You may
not perhaps attain to full assurance all at once.

It is good sometimes to be kept waiting. We do not value things which we get
without trouble. But though it tarry, wait for it.

Seek on, and expect to find. There is one thing, however, of which I would not
have you ignorant. You must not be surprised if you have occasional doubts after
you have got assurance.

You must not forget you are on earth and not in heaven. You are still in the
body and have indwelling sin. The flesh will lust against the spirit to the very
end.

The leprosy will never be out of the walls of the old house till death takes it
down. And there is a devil too, and a strong devil. A devil who tempted the Lord
Jesus and gave Peter a fall.

And he will take care you know it. Some doubts there always will be. He that
never doubts has nothing to lose.

He that never fears possesses nothing truly valuable. He that is never jealous
knows little of deep love. Be not discouraged.

You shall be more than conqueror through him that loved you. Footnote. None have
assurance at all times.

As in a walk that is shaded with trees and checkered with light and shadow, some
tracks and paths in it are dark and others are sunshine. Such is usually the
life of the most assured Christian. Bishop Hopkins.

It is very suspicious that that person is a hypocrite that is always in the same
frame. Let him pretend it to be never so good. Trail.

End of footnote. Finally, do not forget that assurance is a thing which may be
lost for a season, even by the brightest Christians unless they take care.
Assurance is a most delicate plant.

It needs daily, hourly watching, watering, tending, cherishing. So watch and
pray the more when you have got it. As Rutherford says, make much of assurance.

Be always upon your guard. When Christians slept in the arbor in pilgrims'
progress, he lost his certificate. Keep that in mind.

David lost assurance for many months by falling into transgression. Peter lost
it when he denied his Lord. Each found it again undoubtedly, but not till after
bitter tears.

Spiritual darkness comes on horseback and goes away on foot. It is upon us
before we know that it is coming. It leaves us slowly, gradually, and not till
after many days.

It is easy to run downhill. It is hard work to climb up. So remember my caution
when you have the joy of the Lord.

Watch and pray. Above all, grieve not the Spirit. Quench not the Spirit.

Vex not the Spirit. Drive him not to a distance by tampering with small bad
habits and little sins. Little jarrings between husbands and wives make unhappy
homes.

And petty inconsistencies, known and allowed, will bring in a strangeness
between you and the Spirit. Hear the conclusion of the whole matter. The man who
walks with God in Christ most closely will generally be kept in the greatest
peace.

The believer who follows the Lord most fully and aims at the highest degree of
holiness will ordinarily enjoy the most assured hope and have the clearest
persuasion of his own salvation. These are extracts from English Divines showing
that there is a difference between faith and assurance, that a believer may be
justified and accepted with God and yet not enjoy a comfortable knowledge and
persuasion of his own safety, and that the weakest faith in Christ, if it be
true, will save a man as surely as the strongest. The mercy of God is greater
than all the sins in the world, but we sometimes are in such a case that we
think we have no faith at all, or, if we have any, it is very feeble and weak.

And therefore these are two things, to have faith and to have the feeling of
faith. For some men would fain have the feeling of faith, but they cannot attain
unto it, and yet they must not despair, but go forward in calling upon God, and
it will come at length. God will open their hearts and let them feel His
goodness.

Number 2 Weak faith may fail in the applying, or in the apprehension and
appropriating of Christ's benefits to a man's own self. This is to be seen in
ordinary experience. For many a man there is of humble and contrite heart, that
serveth God in spirit and truth, yet is not able to say, without great doubtings
and waverings, I know and am fully assured that my sins are pardoned.

Now shall we say that all such are without faith? God forbid! This weak faith
will as truly apprehend God's merciful promises for the pardon of sin as strong
faith, though not so soundly. Even as a man with a palsied hand can stretch it
out as well to receive a gift at the hand of a king, as he that is more sound,
though it may not be so firmly and steadfastly. Number 3 This certainty of our
salvation, spoken of by Paul, rehearsed by Peter and mentioned by David, Psalm
4, verse 7, is that special fruit of faith which breatheth spiritual joy and
inward peace, which passeth all understanding.

True it is, all God's children have it not. One thing is the tree, and another
thing is the fruit of the tree. One thing is faith, and another thing is the
fruit of faith.

And that remnant of God's elect which feel the want of this faith have
notwithstanding faith. Sermons by Richard Greenham, minister and preacher of the
word of God, 1612. Number 4 Some think they have no faith at all, because they
have no full assurance.

Yet the fairest fire that can be will have some smoke. The bruised reed by
Richard Sibbes, master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, and preacher of Graves Inn,
London, 1630. Number 5 The act of faith is to apply Christ to the soul, and this
the weakest faith can do, as well as the strongest, if it be true.

A child can hold a staff as well, though not so strongly as a man. The prisoner
through a hole sees the sun, though not so perfectly as they in the open air.
They that saw the brazen serpent, though a great way off, yet were healed.

The least faith is as precious to the believer's soul as Peter's, or Paul's
faith was to themselves, for it lays hold upon Christ and brings eternal
salvation. An exposition of the second epistle general of Peter by the Reverend
Thomas Adams, rector of St. Gregory's, London, 1633. Number 6 Weak faith is true
faith, as precious, though not so great as strong faith, the same Holy Ghost the
author, the same gospel the instrument.

If it never proves great, yet weak faith shall save, for it interests thus in
Christ, and makes Him and all His benefits ours. For it is not the strength of
our faith that saves, but the truth of our faith, not the weakness of our faith
that condemns, but the want of faith. For the least faith layeth hold on Christ,
and so will save us.

Neither are we saved by the worth or quantity of our faith, but by Christ, who
is laid hold on by a weak faith, as well as a strong. Just as a weak hand that
can put meat into the mouth shall feed and nourish the body, as well as if it
were a strong hand, seeing the body is not nourished by the strength of the
hand, but by the goodness of the meat. The Doctrine of Faith by John Rogers
Preacher of God's Word at Dedham in Essex, 1634 Number 7 It is one thing to have
a thing surely, another thing to know I have it surely.

We seek many things that we have in our hands, and we have many things that we
think we have lost. So a believer, who hath a sure belief, yet doth not always
know that he so believeth, Faith is necessary to salvation, but full assurance
that I do believe is not of like necessity. Wall on Faith, 1637 Number 8 There
is a weak faith, which yet is true, and although it be weak, yet because it is
true, it shall not be rejected of Christ.

Faith is not created perfect at the first, as Adam was, but is like a man in the
ordinary course of nature, who was first an instrument, then a child, then a
youth, then a man. Some utterly reject all weak ones, and tax all weakness in
faith with hypocrisy. Certainly these are either proud or cruel men.

Some comfort and establish those who are weak, saying, Be quiet, thou hast faith
and grace enough, and art good enough, thou needest no more, neither must thou
be too righteous. Ecclesiastes 7.16 These are soft, but not safe, cushions.
These are foaming flatterers, and not faithful friends.

Some comfort and exhort, saying, Be of good cheer, he who hath begun a good work
will also finish it in you. Therefore pray that his grace may abound in you.
Yea, do not sit still, but go forward, and march on in the way of the Lord.

Hebrews 6.1 Now this is the safest and best course. Questions, observations,
etc. upon the Gospel according to St. Matthew by Richard Ward, sometime student
at Cambridge and preacher of the Gospel in London.

1640 Number 9 A man may be in the favor of God, in the state of grace, a
justified man before God, and yet want the sensible assurance of his salvation,
and of the favor of God in Christ. A man may have saving grace in him, and not
perceive it himself. A man may have true justifying faith in him, and not have
the use and operation of it, so far as to work in him a comfortable assurance of
his reconciliation with God.

Nay, I will say more. A man may be in the state of grace, and have true
justifying faith in him, and yet be so far from sensible assurance of it in
himself, as in his own sense and feeling he may seem to be assured of the
contrary. Job was certainly in this case when he cried unto God, Wherefore
hidest thou thy faith, and holdest me for thine enemy? Job 13.24 The weakest
faith will justify.

If thou canst receive Christ and rest upon Him, even with the weakest faith, it
will serve thy turn. Take heed thou think not, it is the strength of thy faith
that justifieth thee. No, no, it is Christ and His perfect righteousness, which
thy faith receiveth, and resteth upon that doth it.

He that hath the feeblest and weakest hand may receive an alms, and apply a
sovereign plaster to his wound, as well as he that hath the strongest, and
receive as much good by it too. Lectures upon the 51st Psalm Preached at Ashby
de la Zuch by Arthur Hildersum Minister of Jesus Christ 1642 10. Though your
grace be never so weak, if ye have truth of grace, you have as great a share in
the righteousness of Christ for your justification, as the strong Christian
hath.

You have as much of Christ imputed to you as any other. Sermons by William
Bridge Formerly Fellow of Emanuel College, Cambridge and Pastor of the Church of
Christ in Great Yarmouth 1648 11. There are some who are true believers and yet
weak in faith.

They do indeed receive Christ in free grace, but it is with a shaking hand. They
have, as divines say, the faith of adherence. They will stick to Christ as
theirs.

But they want the faith of evidence. They cannot see themselves as His. They are
believers, but of little faith.

They hope that Christ will not cast them off, but are not sure that He will take
them up. Sips of Sweetness or Consolation for Weak Believers by John Durant
Preacher in Canterbury Cathedral 1649 12. I know thou sayest that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners, and that whosoever believeth in Him shall
not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3.15 Neither can I know but that in a sense of my own sinful condition I do
cast myself in some measure upon my Saviour, and lay some hold upon His
all-sufficient redemption. But alas, my apprehensions of Him are so feeble, as
that they can afford no sound comfort to my soul. Courage, my son! Were it that
thou lookest to be justified and saved by the power of the very act of thy
faith, thou hadst reason to be disheartened with the conscience of the weakness
thereof.

But now that the virtue and efficacy of this happy work is in the object
apprehended by thee, which is the infinite merits and mercies of thy God and
Saviour, which cannot be abated by thine infirmities, thou hast cause to take
heart to thyself, and cheerfully to expect His salvation. Understand thy case
aright. Here is a double hand that helps us up toward heaven.

Our hand of faith lays hold upon our Saviour. Our Saviour's hand of mercy and
plenteous redemption lays hold on us. Our hold of Him is feeble and easily
loosed.

His hold of us is strong and irresistible. If work were stood upon, a strength
of hand were necessary. But now that only taking and receiving of a precious
gift is required, why may not a weak hand do that as well as a strong? As well,
though, not as forcibly.

Bishop Halls, Balm of Gilead, 1650 Number 13 I find not salvation put upon the
strength of faith, but the truth of faith, not upon the brightest degree, but
upon any degree of faith. It is not said, if you have such a degree of faith,
you shall be justified and saved, but simply believing is required. The lowest
degree of true faith will do it.

As Romans 10, 9 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. The thief upon the cross had not attained to such high degrees of faith.
He by one act, and that of a weak faith, was justified and saved.

Luke 23, 42 Exposition of the Prophet Ezekiel by William Greenhill, Rector of
Stepany, London, and Chaplain to the Dukes of York and Gloucester, 1650 Number
14 A man may have true grace that hath not the assurance of the love and favor
of God, or the remission of his sins and salvation of his soul. A man may be
God's, and yet he not know it. His estate may be good, and yet he not see it.

He may be in a safe condition when he is not in a comfortable position. All may
be well with him in the count of glory when he would give a thousand worlds that
all were but well in the court of conscience. Assurance is requisite to the
well-being of a Christian, but not to the being.

It is requisite to the consolation of a Christian, but not to the salvation of a
Christian. It is requisite to the well-being of grace, but not to the mere being
of grace. Though a man cannot be saved without faith, yet he may be saved
without assurance.

God hath in many places of the Scripture declared that without faith there is no
salvation. But God hath not in any place of the Scripture declared that without
assurance there is no salvation. Heaven on Earth by Thomas Brooks Preacher of
the Gospel at St. Margaret's Fish Street Hill, London, 1654 Number 15 You that
can clear this to your own hearts that you have faith, though it be weak, be not
discouraged, be not troubled.

Consider that the smallest degree of faith is true, is saving faith as well as
the greatest. A spark of fire is as true fire as any is in the element of fire.
A drop of water is as true water as any is in the ocean.

So the least grain of faith is as true faith and as saving as the greatest faith
in the world. The least bud draws sap from the root as well as the greatest
bough. So the weakest measure of faith doth as truly engraft thee into Christ
and by that draw life from Christ as well as the strongest.

The weakest faith hath communion with the merits and blood of Christ as well as
the strongest. The least faith marries the soul to Christ. The weakest faith
hath as equal a share in God's love as the strongest.

We are beloved in Christ and the least measure of faith makes us members of
Christ. The least faith hath equal right to the promises as the strongest. And
therefore let not our souls be discouraged for weakness.

Nature and Royalties of Faith by Samuel Bolton, D.D. of Christ College,
Cambridge, 1657 Number 16 Some are afraid they have no faith at all because they
have not the highest degree of faith which is full assurance or because they
want the comfort which others attain to even joy unspeakable and full of glory.
But for the rolling of this stone out of the way we must remember there are
several degrees of faith. It is possible thou mayest have faith though not the
highest degree of faith and so joy in the spirit.

That is rather a point of faith than faith itself. It is indeed rather a living
by sense than a living by faith when we are cheered up with continual cordials.
A stronger faith is required to live upon God without comfort than when God
shines in on our spirit with abundance of joy.

Matthew Lawrence Preacher at Ipswich on Faith, 1657 Number 17 If any person
abroad have thought that a special and full persuasion of the pardon of their
sin was of the essence of faith let them answer for it. Our divines at home
generally are of another judgment. Bishop Devinant and Bishop Prideaux and
others have shown the great difference between recumbrance and assurance and
they all do account and call assurance a daughter, fruit and consequent of
faith.

And the late learned Aerosmith tells us that God seldom bestows assurance upon
believers till they are grown in grace. For says he there is the same difference
between faith of recumbrance and faith of assurance as is between reason and
learning. Reason is the foundation of learning so as there can be no learning if
reason be wanting as in beasts in like manner there can be no assurance where
there is no faith of adherence.

Again as reason while exercised in the study of arts and sciences arises to
learning so faith being while exercised on its proper object and by its proper
fruits arises to assurance. Further as by negligence non-attendance or some
violent disease learning may be lost while reason does abide so by temptation or
by spiritual sloth assurance may be lost while saving faith may abide. Lastly as
all men have reason but all men are not learned so all regenerate persons have
faith to comply savingly with the gospel method of salvation but all true
believers have not assurance.

Sermon by R. Fairclough Fellow of Emanuel College Cambridge in the morning
exercises preached at Southwark 1660 Number 18 We must distinguish between
weakness of faith and nullity A weak faith is true The bruised reed is but weak
yet it is such as Christ will not break Though thy faith be but weak yet be not
discouraged A weak faith may receive a strong Christ A weak hand can tie the
knot in marriage as well as a strong A weak eye might have seen the brazen
serpent The promise is not made to strong faith but to true The promise doth not
say whosoever hath a great faith that can remove mountains that can stop the
mouths of lions shall be saved but whosoever believes be his faith never so
small You may have the water of the Spirit poured on you in sanctification
though not the oil of gladness in assurance There may be faith of adherence and
not of evidence There may be life in the root where there is no fruit in the
branches and faith in the heart where no fruit of assurance A Body of Divinity
by Thomas Watson Formerly Minister of St. Stephen's Walbrook, London 1660 Number
19 Many of God's dear children for a long time may remain very doubtful as to
their present and eternal condition and know not what to conclude whether they
shall be damned or whether they shall be saved There are believers of several
growths in the Church of God fathers, young men, children and babes and as in
most families there are more babes and children than grown men so in the Church
of God there are more weak doubting Christians than strong ones grown up to a
full assurance A babe may be born and yet not know it so a man may be born again
and yet not be sure of it We make a difference between saving faith as such and
the full persuasion of the heart Some of those that shall be saved may not be
certain that they shall be saved for the promise is made to the grace of faith
and not to the evidence of it to faith as true and not to faith as strong They
may be sure of heaven and yet in their own sense not assured of heaven Sermon by
Rev. Thomas Doolittle of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge and sometime rector at St.
Olphage in London in the morning exercises at Cripplegate 1661 Number 20 Is it
not necessary to justification to be assured that my sins are pardoned and that
I am justified No There is no act of faith as it justifies us but an act and
fruit that follow us after justification It is one thing for a man to have his
salvation certain, another thing to be certain that it is certain Even as a man
has been fallen into a river and like to be drowned as he is carried down with
the flood aspies the bough of a tree hanging over the river which he catches at
and clings unto with all his might to save him and seeing no other way of succor
but that, ventures his life upon it This man, so soon as he has fastened on this
bough is in a safe condition though all troubles, fears and terrors are not
presently out of his mind until he comes to himself and sees himself quite out
of danger Then he is sure he is safe but he was safe before he was sure Even so
it is with a believer Faith is but the aspying of Christ as the only means to
save and the reaching out of the heart to lay hold upon him God hath spoken the
word and made the promise to his son I believe him to be the only Savior and
remit my soul to him to be saved by his mediation So soon as the soul can do
this God imputeth the righteousness of his son unto it and it is actually
justified in the court of heaven though it is not presently quieted and pacified
in the court of conscience That is done afterwards in some sooner in some later
by the fruits and effects of justification Archbishop Usher's Body of Divinity
1670 Number 21 There are those who doubt because they doubt and multiply
distrust upon itself concluding that they have no faith because they find so
much and so frequent doubting within them But this is a great mistake Some
doubtings there may be where there is even much faith and a little faith there
may be where there is much doubting Our Savior requires and delights in a
strong, firm believing on him, though the least and weakest he rejects not
Archbishop Layton's Lectures on the First Nine Chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel
1670 Number 22 Many formerly and those of the highest rank and immanency have
placed true faith in no lower degree than assurance or the secure persuasion of
the pardon of their sins the acceptation of their persons and their future
salvation But this, as it is very sad and uncomfortable for thousands of
doubting and deserted souls, concluding all those to fall short of grace who
fall short of certainty, so hath it given the Papists too great advantage. Faith
is not assurance, but this doth sometimes crown and reward a strong, vigorous,
and heroic faith The Spirit of God breaking in upon the soul with an evidencing
light and scattering all that darkness and those fears and doubts which before
be clouded it. Bishop Hopkins On the Covenants 1680 Number 23 A want of
assurance is not unbelief drooping spirits may be believers.

There is a manifest distinction between faith in Christ and the comfort of that
faith, between believing to eternal life and knowing we have eternal life. There
is a difference between a child having a right to an estate and his full
knowledge of the title. The character of faith may be written in the heart as
letters engraven upon a seal, yet filled with so much dust as not to be
distinguished.

The dust hinders the reading of the letters yet does not raise them out.
Discourses by Stephen Charnock of Emanuel College, Cambridge 1680 Number 24 Some
rob themselves of their own comfort by placing saving faith in full assurance.
Faith and sense of faith are two distinct and separable mercies.

You may have truly received Christ and not received the knowledge or assurance
of it. Some there be that say, Thou art our God, of whom God never said, You are
my people. These have no authority to be called sons of God.

Others there are, of whom God saith, These are my people, yet they dare not call
God their God. These have authority to be called the sons of God, yet know it
not. They have received Christ, that is their safety, but they have not yet
received the knowledge and assurance of it, that is their trouble.

The father owns his child in the cradle, who yet knows him not to be his father.
Method of Grace by John Flavel Minister of the Gospel at Dartmouth Devonshire
1660 Number 25 It is confessed weak faith hath as much peace with God through
Christ as another hath by strong faith, but not so much bosom peace. Weak faith
will I surely land the Christian in heaven as strong faith, for it is impossible
the least dram of true grace should perish, being all incorruptible seed.

But the weak-doubting Christian is not like to have so pleasant a voyage thither
as another with strong faith. Though all in the ship come safe to shore, yet he
that is all the way seasick hath not so comfortable a voyage as he that is
strong and healthful. The Christian Incomplete Armor by William Grinnell,
longtime rector of Leavenham, Suffolk, 1680 Number 26 Be not discouraged if it
doth not yet appear to you that you were given by the Father to the Son.

It may be, though you do not see it. Many of the given do not for a long time
know it. Yea, I see no great danger in saying that not a few of the given to the
Son may be in darkness and doubts, and fears about it, till the last and
brightest day declare it, and till the last sentence proclaims it.

If therefore any of you be in the dark about your own election, be not
discouraged. It may be, though you do not know it. Sermons on the Lord's Prayer
by Robert Trail, minister of the gospel in London, and sometime at Kenbrook,
Kent, 1690 Number 27 Assurance is not essential to the being of faith.

It is a strong faith, but we read likewise of a weak faith, little faith, faith
like a grain of mustard seed. True saving faith in Jesus Christ is only
distinguishable by its different degrees. But in every degree, and in every
subject, it is universally of the same kind.

Sermons by the Reverend John Newton, sometime vicar of Olney, and rector of St.
Mary, Woolnoth in London, 1767 Number 28 There is no reason why weak believers
should conclude against themselves. Weak faith unites as really with Christ as
strong faith, as the least bud in the vine is drawing sap and life from the
root, no less than the strongest branch. Weak believers, therefore, have
abundant cause to be thankful, and while they reach after growth in grace, ought
not to overlook what they already have received.

Letter of Reverend Henry Venn, 1784 Number 29 The faith necessary and sufficient
for our salvation is not assurance. Its tendency, doubtless, is to produce that
lively expectation of the divine favor which will issue in a full confidence.
But the confidence is not itself the faith of which we speak, nor is it
necessarily included in it, nay, it is a totally distinct thing.

Assurance will generally accompany a high degree of faith, but there are sincere
persons who are endued with only small measures of grace, or in whom the
exercise of that grace may be greatly obstructed. When such defects or
hindrances prevail, many fears and distresses may be expected to arise. The
Christian System by the Reverend Thomas Robinson, Vicar of St. Mary's,
Leicester, 1795 Number 30 Salvation and the joy of salvation are not always
contemporaneous.

The latter does not always accompany the former in present experience. A sick
man may be under a process of recovery, and yet be in doubt concerning the
restoration of his health. Pain and weakness may cause him to hesitate.

A child may be heir to his estate or kingdom, and yet derive no joy from the
prospect of his future inheritance. He may be unable to trace his genealogy, or
to read his title deeds and the testament of his father. Or with a capacity of
reading them, he may be unable to understand their import, and his guardian may
for a time deem it right to suffer for him to remain in ignorance.

But his ignorance does not affect the validity of his title. Personal assurance
of salvation is not necessarily connected with faith. They are not essentially
the same.

Every believer might indeed infer from the effect produced in his own heart his
own safety and privileges. But many who truly believe are unskillful in the word
of righteousness, and fail of drawing the conclusion from scriptural premises
which they would be justified in drawing. Lectures on the 51st Psalm by the
Reverend Thomas Bidiful, Minister of St. James, Bristol, 1830.

Chapter 8 Starting on page 135 Moses An Example By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
Hebrews 11 verses 24 through 26 The characters of God's most eminent saints as
drawn and described in the Bible, form a most useful part of Holy Scripture.

Abstract doctrines and principles and precepts are all most valuable in their
way, but after all, nothing is more helpful than a pattern or example. Do we
want to know what practical holiness is? Let us sit down and study the picture
of an eminently holy man. I propose in this paper to set before my readers the
history of a man who lived by faith and left us a pattern of what faith can do
in promoting holiness of character.

To all who want to know what living by faith means, I offer Moses as an example.
The eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews from which my text is taken
is a great chapter. It deserves to be printed in golden letters.

I can well believe it must have been most cheering and encouraging to a
converted Jew. I suppose no members of the early church found so much difficulty
in a profession of Christianity as the Hebrews did. The way was narrow to all,
but preeminently so to them.

The cross was heavy to all, but surely they had to carry double weight. And this
chapter would refresh them like a cordial. It would be as wine to those that be
of heavy hearts.

Its words would be pleasant as the honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to
the bones. Proverbs 31.6 and 16.24 The three verses I am going to explain are
far from being the least interesting in the chapter. Indeed, I think few, if
any, have so strong a claim on our attention.

And I will explain why I say so. It seems to me that the work of faith described
in the story of Moses comes home more especially to our own case. The men of God
who are named in the former part of the chapter are all examples to us beyond
question.

But we cannot literally do what most of them did, however much we may drink into
their spirit. We are not called upon to offer a literal sacrifice like Abel, or
to build a literal ark like Noah, or to leave our country literally and dwell in
tents and offer up our Isaac like Abraham. But the faith of Moses comes nearer
to us.

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And remember that John Calvin in defending the Reformation's regulative
principle of worship or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship
commenting on the words of God which I commanded them not neither came into my
heart from his commentary on Jeremiah 731 writes God here cuts off from men
every occasion for making evasions since he condemns by this one phrase I have
not commanded them whatever the Jews devised there is then no other argument
needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God for when
men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies and attend
not to his commands they pervert true religion and if this principle was adopted
by the papists all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly
exercise themselves would fall to the ground it is indeed a horrible thing for
the papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their
own superstitions there is an immense number of them as it is well known and as
it manifestly appears were they to admit this principle that we cannot rightly
worship God except by obeying his word they would be delivered from their deep
abyss of air the prophets words then are very important when he says that God
had commanded no such thing and that it never came to his mind as though he had
said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required nay
what he never knew


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  CHAPTER 12: CHAPTER 12
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But the faith of Moses comes nearer to us. It seems to operate in a way more
familiar to our own experience. It made him take up a line of conduct such as we
must take up ourselves sometimes in the present day, each in our own walk of
life, if we would be consistent Christians.

And for this reason I think these three verses deserve more than ordinary
consideration. Now I have nothing but the simplest things to say about them. I
shall only try to show the greatness of the things Moses did and the principle
on which he did them.

And then perhaps we shall be better prepared for the practical illustration
which the verses appear to hold out to everyone who will receive it. Number one.
First then I will speak of what Moses gave up and refused.

Moses gave up three things for the sake of his soul. He felt that his soul would
not be saved if he kept them, so he gave them up. And in so doing I say that he
made three of the greatest sacrifices that man's heart can possibly make.

Let us see. Number one. He gave up rank and greatness.

He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. We all know his history.
The daughter of Pharaoh had preserved his life when he was an infant.

She had gone further than that. She had adopted him and educated him as her own
son. If some writers of history may be trusted, she was Pharaoh's only child.

Some go so far as to say that in the common order of things, Moses would one day
have been king of Egypt. Footnote. In eastern countries the liberty to adopt
children who are not blood relatives and to give them the privileges of sons is
notoriously carried out most extensively.

And a footnote. That may be or may not, we cannot tell. It is enough for us to
know that from his connection with Pharaoh's daughter, Moses might have been, if
he had pleased, a very great man.

If he had been content with the position in which he found himself at the
Egyptian court, he might easily have been among the first, if not the very
first, in all the land of Egypt. Let us think for a moment how great this
temptation was. Here were the men of like passions with ourselves.

He might have had as much greatness as earth can well give. Rank, power, place,
honor, titles, dignities, all were before him and within his grasp. These are
the things for which many men are continually struggling.

These are the prizes which there is an incessant race in the world around us to
obtain. To be somebody, to be looked up to, to raise themselves in the scale of
society, to get a handle to their names, these are the very things for which
many sacrifice time and thought and health and life itself. But Moses would not
have them as a gift.

He turned his back upon them. He refused them. He gave them up.

Number two. And more than this, he refused pleasure. Pleasure of every kind, no
doubt, was at his feet, if he had like to take it up.

Sensual pleasure, intellectual pleasure, social pleasure, whatever could strike
his fancy. Egypt was a land of artists, a residence of learned men, a resort of
everyone who had skill or science of any description. There was nothing which
could feed the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life
which one in the place of Moses might not easily have commanded and possessed as
his own.

1 John 2.16 Let us think again how great was this temptation. Pleasure, be it
remembered, is the one thing for which millions live. They differ perhaps in
their views of what makes up real pleasure, but all agree in seeking first and
foremost to obtain it.

Pleasure and enjoyment in the holidays is the grand object to which a schoolboy
looks forward. Pleasure and satisfaction in making himself independent is the
mark on which the young man in business fixes his eye. Pleasure and ease in
retiring from business with a fortune is the aim which the merchant sets before
him.

Pleasure and bodily comfort at his own home is the sum of the poor man's wishes.
Pleasure and fresh excitement in politics, in traveling, in amusement, in
company, in books, this is the goal towards which the rich man is straining.
Pleasure is the shadow which all alike are hunting, high and low, rich and poor,
old and young, one with another, each perhaps pretending to despise his neighbor
for seeking it.

Each in his own way seeking it for himself. Each secretly wondering that he does
not find it. Each firmly persuaded that somewhere or other it is to be found.

This was the cup that Moses had before his lips. He might have drunk as deeply
as he liked of earthly pleasure, but he would not have it. He turned his back
upon it.

He refused it. He gave it up. Number three.

And more than this, he refused riches. The treasures in Egypt is an expression
that seems to tell of boundless wealth which Moses might have enjoyed had he
been content to remain with Pharaoh's daughter. We may well suppose these
treasures would have been a mighty fortune.

Enough is still remaining in Egypt to give us some faint idea of the money at
its king's disposal. The pyramids and obelisks and temples and statues are still
standing there as witnesses. The ruins at Karnak and Luxor and Dehendra and many
other places are still the mightiest buildings in the world.

They testify to this day that the man who gave up Egyptian wealth gave up
something which even our English minds would find it hard to reckon up and
estimate. Let us think once more how great was this temptation. Let us consider
for a moment the power of money, the immense influence that the love of money
obtains over men's minds.

Let us look around us and observe how men covet it and what amazing pains and
trouble they will go through to obtain it. Tell them of an island many thousand
miles away where something may be found which may be profitable, if imported,
and at once a fleet of ships will be sent to get it. Show them a way to make one
percent more of their money and they will reckon you among the wisest of men.

They will almost fall down and worship you. To possess money seems to hide
defects, to cover over faults, to clothe a man with virtues. People can get over
much if you are rich.

But here is a man who might have been rich and would not. He would not have
Egyptian treasures. He turned his back upon them.

He refused them. He gave them up. Such were the things that Moses refused, rank,
pleasure, riches, all three at once.

Add to all this that he did it deliberately. He did not refuse these things in a
hasty fit of youthful excitement. He was forty years old.

He was in the prime of life. He knew what he was about. He was a highly educated
man, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

Acts 7.22 He could weigh both sides of the question. Add to it that he did not
refuse them because he was obliged. He was not like the dying man who tells us,
he craves nothing more in this world.

And why? Because he is leaving the world and cannot keep it. He was not like the
pauper who makes a merit of necessity and says, he does not want riches. And
why? Because he cannot get them.

He was not like the old man who boasts that he has laid aside worldly pleasures.
And why? Because he is worn out and cannot enjoy them. No, Moses refused what he
might have enjoyed.

Rank, pleasure, and riches did not leave him. He left them. And then judge
whether I am not right in saying that his was one of the greatest sacrifices
mortal man ever made.

Others have refused much, but none, I think, so much as Moses. Others have done
well in the way of self-sacrifice and self-denial, but he excels them all.
Number two.

And now let me go on to the second thing I wish to consider. I will speak of
what Moses chose. I think his choices as wonderful as his refusals.

He chose three things for his soul's sake. The road to salvation led through
them and he followed it. And in so doing he chose three of the last things that
man is ever disposed to take up.

Number one. For one thing he chose suffering and affliction. He left the ease
and comfort of Pharaoh's court and openly took part with the children of Israel.

They were an enslaved and persecuted people, an object of distrust, suspicion,
and hatred. And anyone who befriended them was sure to taste something of the
bitter cup they were daily drinking. To the eye of sense there seemed no chance
of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage without a long and doubtful struggle.

A settled home and country for them must have appeared a thing never likely to
be obtained, however much desired. In fact, if every man seemed to be choosing
pain, trials, poverty, want, distress, anxiety, perhaps even death, with his
eyes open, Moses was that man. Let us think how wonderful was this choice.

Flesh and blood naturally shrink from pain. It is in us all to do so. We draw
back by a kind of instinct from suffering and avoid it if we can.

If two forces of action are set before us, which both seem right, we generally
take that which is the least disagreeable to flesh and blood. We spend our days
in fear and anxiety when we think affliction is coming near us and use every
means to escape it. And when it does come, we often fret and murmur under the
burden of it.

And if we can only bear it patiently, we count it a great matter. But look here.
Here is a man of like passions with ourselves and he actually chooses
affliction.

Moses saw the cup of suffering that was before him if he left Pharaoh's court
and he chose it, preferred it, and took it up. Number two. But he did more than
this.

He chose the company of a despised people. He left the society of the great and
wise among whom he had been brought up and joined himself to the children of
Israel. He who had lived from infancy in the midst of rank and riches and luxury
came down from his high estate and cast in his lot with poor men, slaves, serfs,
helots, pharisees, bond servants, oppressed, destitute, afflicted, tormented,
laborers in the brick kiln.

How wonderful once more was this choice. Generally speaking, we think it enough
to carry our own troubles. We may be sorry for others whose lot is to be mean
and despised.

We may even try to help them. We may give money to raise them. We may speak for
them to those on whom they depend.

But here we generally stop. But here is a man who does far more. He not merely
feels for despised Israel but actually goes down to them, adds himself to their
society and lives with them altogether.

You would wonder if some great man in Grosnover or Belgrade Square were to give
up house and fortune and position in society and go to live on a small allowance
in some narrow lane in Bethnal Green for the sake of doing good. Yet this would
convey a very faint and feeble notion of the kind of thing that Moses did. He
saw a despised people and he chose their company in preference to that of the
noblest in the land.

He became one of them, their fellow, their companion in tribulation, their ally,
their associate, and their friend. But he did even more. He chose reproach and
scorn.

Who can conceive the torrent of mockery and ridicule that Moses would have to
stem in turning away from Pharaoh's court to join Israel? Men would tell him he
was mad, foolish, weak, silly, out of his mind. He would lose his influence. He
would forfeit the favor and good opinion of all among whom he had lived.

But none of these things moved him. He left the court and joined the slaves. Let
us think again what a choice this was.

There are few things more powerful than ridicule and scorn. It can do far more
than open enmity and persecution. Many a man who would march up to a cannon's
mouth or lead a forlorn hope or storm a breach has found it impossible to face
the mockery of a few companions and has flinched from the path of duty to avoid
it.

To be laughed at, to be made a joke of, to be jested and sneered at, to be
reckoned weak and silly, to be thought a fool. There is nothing grand in all
this and many, alas, cannot make up their minds to undergo it. Yet here is a man
who made up his mind to it and did not shrink from the trial.

Moses saw reproach and scorn before him and he chose them and accepted them for
his portion. Such then were the things that Moses chose, affliction, the company
of a despised people, and scorn. Set down beside all this that Moses was no
weak, ignorant, illiterate person who did not know what he was about.

You are specially told he was mighty in words and in deeds and yet he chose as
he did. Acts 7.22 Set down too the circumstances of his choice. He was not
obliged to choose as he did.

None compelled him to take such a course. The things he took up did not force
themselves upon him against his will. He went after them.

They did not come after him. All that he did, he did of his own free choice,
voluntarily, and of his own accord. And then judge whether it is not true that
his choices were as wonderful as his refusals.

Since the war began, I suppose, none ever made such a choice as Moses did in our
text. Number 3 And now let me go on to a third thing. Let me speak of the
principle which moved Moses and made him do as he did.

How can this conduct of his be accounted for? What possible reason can be given
for it? To refuse that which is generally called good, to choose that which is
commonly thought evil, this is not the way of flesh and blood. This is not the
manner of man. This requires some explanation.

What will that explanation be? We have the answer in the next text. I know not
whether its greatness or its simplicity is more to be admired. It all lies in
one little word, and that word is faith.

Moses had faith. Faith was the main spring of his wonderful conduct. Faith made
him do as he did, choose what he chose, and refuse what he refused.

He did it all because he believed. God set before the eyes of his mind his own
will and purpose. God revealed to him that a Savior was to be born out of the
stock of Israel, that mighty promises were bound up in these children of Abraham
and yet to be fulfilled, that the time for fulfilling a portion of these
promises was at hand.

And Moses put credit in this and believed. And every step in his wonderful
career, every action in his journey through life after leaving Pharaoh's court,
his choice of seeming evil, his refusal of seeming good, all, all must be traced
up to this fountain. All will be found to rest on this foundation.

God had spoken to him, and he had faith in God's word. He believed that God
would keep his promises, that what he had said he would surely do, and what he
had covenanted he would surely perform. He believed that with God nothing was
impossible.

Reason and sense might say that the deliverance of Israel was out of the
question, the obstacles were too many, the difficulties too great. But faith
told Moses that God was all sufficient. God had undertaken the work, and it
would be done.

He believed that God was all wise. Reason and sense might tell him that his line
of action was absurd, that he was throwing away useful influence and destroying
all chance of benefiting his people by breaking with Pharaoh's daughter. But
faith told Moses that if God said, go this way, it must be the best.

He believed that God was all merciful. Reason and sense might hint that a more
pleasant manner of deliverance might be found, that some compromise might be
effected and many hardships be avoided. But faith told Moses that God was love
and would not give his people one drop of bitterness beyond what was absolutely
needed.

Faith was a telescope to Moses. It made him see the goodly land afar off, rest,
peace and victory, when dim-sighted reason could only see trial and barrenness,
storm and tempest, weariness and pain. Faith was an interpreter to Moses.

It made him pick out a comfortable meaning in the dark commands of God's
handwriting, while ignorant sense could see nothing in it but mystery and
foolishness. Faith told Moses that all this rank and greatness was of the earth,
earthy, a poor, vain, empty thing, frail, fleeting and passing away, and that
there was no true greatness like that of serving God. He was the king.

He, the true noble man, who belonged to the family of God. It was better to be
last in heaven than first in hell. Faith told Moses that worldly pleasures were
pleasures of sin.

They were mingled with sin. They led on to sin. They were ruinous to the soul
and displeasing to God.

It would be small comfort to have pleasure while God was against him. Better
suffer and obey God than be at ease and sin. Faith told Moses that these
pleasures, after all, were only for a season.

They could not last. They were all short-lived. They would weary him soon.

He must leave them all in a few years. Faith told him that there was a reward in
heaven for the believer far richer than the treasures in Egypt. Durable riches,
where rust could not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal.

The crown there would be incorruptible. The weight of glory would be exceeding
and eternal. And Faith bade him look away to an unseen heaven if his eyes were
dazzled with Egyptian gold.

Faith told Moses that affliction and suffering were not real evils. They were
the school of God in which he trains the children of grace for glory, the
medicines which are needful to purify our corrupt wills, the furnace which must
burn away our dross, the knife which must cut the ties that bind us to the
world. Faith told Moses that the despised Israelites were the chosen people of
God.

He believed that to them belonged the adoption and the covenant and the promises
and the glory, that of them the seed of the woman was one day to be born who
should bruise the serpent's head, that the special blessing of God was upon
them, that they were lovely and beautiful in his eyes, and that it was better to
be a doorkeeper among the people of God than to reign in the palaces of
wickedness. Faith told Moses that all the reproach and scorn poured out on him
was the reproach of Christ, that it was honorable to be mocked and despised for
Christ's sake, that whoso persecuted Christ's people was persecuting Christ
himself, and that the day must come when his enemies would bow before him and
lick the dust. All this and much more of which I cannot speak particularly Moses
saw by faith.

These were the things he believed and believing did what he did. He was
persuaded of them and embraced them. He reckoned them as certainties.

He regarded them as substantial verities. He counted them as sure as if he had
seen them with his own eyes. He acted on them as realities and this made him the
man that he was.

He had faith. He believed. Marvel not that he refused greatness, riches, and
pleasure.

He looked far forward. He saw with the eye of faith kingdoms crumbling into
dust, riches taking to themselves wings and fleeing away, pleasures leading on
to death and judgment, and Christ only and his little flock enduring forever.
Wonder not that he chose affliction, a despised people, and reproach.

He beheld things below the surface. He saw with the eye of faith affliction
lasting but for a moment, reproach rolled away and ending in everlasting honor
and the despised people of God reigning as kings with Christ in glory. And was
he not right? Does he not speak to us though dead this very day? The name of
Pharaoh's daughter has perished or at any rate is extremely doubtful.

The city where Pharaoh reigned is not known. The treasures in Egypt are gone.
But the name of Moses is known wherever the Bible is read and is still a
standing witness that whosoever liveth by faith happy is he.

And now let me wind up all by trying to set forth in order some practical
lessons which appear to me to follow as legitimate consequences from this
history of Moses. What has all this to do with us? Some men will say. We do not
live in Egypt.

We have seen no miracles. We are not Israelites. We are weary of the subject.

Stay a little if this be the thought of your heart and by God's help I will show
you that all may learn here and all may be instructed. He that would live a
Christian life and be a really holy man let him mark the history of Moses and
get wisdom. 1. For one thing, if you would ever be saved you must make the
choice that Moses made.

You must choose God before the world. Mark well what I say. Do not overlook this
though all the rest be forgotten.

I do not say that the statesman must throw up his office and the rich man
forsake his property. Let no one fancy that I mean this. But I say if a man
would be saved whatever be his rank in life he must be prepared for tribulation.

He must make up his mind to choose much which seems evil and to give up and
refuse much which seems good. I dare say this sounds strange language to some
who read these pages. I know well you may have a certain form of religion and
find no trouble in your way.

There is a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day which many have and
think they have enough. A cheap Christianity which offends nobody and is worth
nothing. I am not speaking of religion of this kind.

But if you really are in earnest about your soul if your religion is something
more than a mere fashionable Sunday cloak if you are determined to live by the
Bible if you are resolved to be a New Testament Christian then I repeat you will
soon find you must carry a cross. You must endure hard things. You must suffer
on behalf of your soul as Moses did or you cannot be saved.

The world in the 19th century is what it always was. The hearts of men are still
the same. The offense of the cross is not ceased.

God's true people are still a despised little flock. True evangelical religion
still brings with it reproach and scorn. A real servant of God will still be
thought by many a weak enthusiast and a fool.

But the matter comes to this. Do you wish your soul to be saved? Then remember
you must choose whom you will serve. You cannot serve God and mammon.

You cannot be on two sides at once. You cannot be a friend of Christ and a
friend of the world at the same time. You must come out from the children of
this world and be separate.

You must put up with much ridicule trouble and opposition or you will be lost
forever. You must be willing to think and do things which the world considers
foolish and to hold opinions which are only held by a few. It will cost you
something.

The stream is strong and you have to stem it. The way is narrow and steep and it
is no use saying it is not. But depend on it.

There can be no saving religion without sacrifices and self-denial. Now are you
making any sacrifices? Does your religion cost you anything? I put it to your
conscience in all affection and tenderness. Are you like Moses preferring God to
the world or not? I beseech you not to take shelter under that dangerous word
we.

We ought and we hope and we mean and the like. I ask you plainly what are you
doing yourself? Are you willing to give up anything which keeps you back from
God or are you clinging to the Egypt of the world and saying to yourself I must
have it I must have it I cannot tear myself away. Is there any cross in your
Christianity? Are there any sharp corners in your religion? Anything that ever
jars and comes in collision with the earthly mindedness around you? Or is all
smooth and rounded off and comfortably fitted into custom and fashion? Do you
know anything of the afflictions of the gospel? Is your faith and practice ever
a subject of scorn and reproach? Are you thought a fool by anyone because of
your soul? Have you left Pharaoh's daughter and heartily joined the people of
God? Are you venturing all on Christ? Search and see.

These are hard inquiries and rough questions. I cannot help it. I believe they
are founded on scripture truth.

I remember it is written There went great multitudes with Jesus and he turned
and said unto them If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and
wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot
be my disciple and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be
my disciple. Luke 14 verses 25-27 Many I feel would like glory who have no wish
for grace They would fain have the wages but not the work the harvest but not
the labor the reaping but not the sowing the reward but not the battle But it
may not be As Bunyan says the bidder must go before the sweet If there is no
cross there will be no crown. Number 2 The second thing I say is this Nothing
will ever enable you to choose God before the world except faith Nothing else
will do it Knowledge will not Feeling will not A regular use of outward forms
will not Good companions will not All these may do something but the food they
produce has no power of continuance It will not last A religion springing from
such sources will only endure so long as there is no tribulation of persecution
because of the word But as soon as there is any it will dry up It is a clock
without mean spring or weights Its face may be beautiful You may turn its
fingers round but it will not go A religion that is to stand must have a living
foundation and there is none other but faith There must be a real heartfelt
belief that God's promises are sure and to be depended on A real belief that
what God says in the Bible is all true and that every doctrine contrary to this
is false whatever anyone may say There must be a real belief that all God's
words are to be received however hard and disagreeable to flesh and blood and
that His way is right and all others wrong This there must be or you will never
come out of the world take up the cross follow Christ and be saved You must
learn to believe promises better than possessions Things unseen better than
things seen Things in heaven out of sight better than things on earth before
your eyes The praise of the invisible God better than the praise of visible man
Then and only then you will make a choice like Moses and prefer God to the world
Now I ask every reader of this paper Have you got this faith? If you have you
will find it possible to refuse seeming good and choose seeming evil You will
think nothing of today's losses in the hope of tomorrow's gains You will follow
Christ in the dark and stand by Him to the very last If you have not I warn you
you will never war a good warfare and so run as to obtain You will soon be
offended and turn back to the world Above all this there must be a real abiding
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ The life that you live in the flesh you must live
by the faith of the Son of God There must be a settled habit of continually
leaning on Jesus looking unto Jesus drawing out of Jesus and using Him as the
manna of your soul You must strive to be able to say To me to live is Christ I
can do all things through Christ which strengthens me Philippians 1.21 and 4.13
This was the faith by which the old saints obtained a good report This was the
weapon by which they overcame the world This made them what they were This was
the faith that made Noah go on building his ark while the world looked on and
mocked And Abraham gives the choice of the land to Lot and dwell unquietly in
Pence And Ruth cleaves to Naomi and turn away from her country and her gods And
Daniel continue in prayer though he knew the lion's den was prepared And the
three children refused to worship idols though the fiery furnace was before
their eyes And Moses forsake Egypt not fearing the wrath of Pharaoh All these
acted as they did because they believed They saw the difficulties and troubles
of the course But they saw Jesus by faith above them all and they pressed on
Well may the apostle Peter speak of faith as precious faith 2 Peter 1.1 3 The
third thing I say is this The true reason why so many are worldly and ungodly
persons is that they have no faith We must be aware that multitudes of
professing Christians would never think for a moment of doing as Moses did It is
useless to speak smooth things and shut your eyes to the fact That man must be
blind who does not see thousands around him who are daily preferring the world
to God placing the things of time before the things of eternity and the things
of the body before the things of the soul We may not like to admit this and we
try hard to blink the fact but so it is And why do they do so? No doubt they
will all give us reasons and excuses Some will talk of the fears of the world
Some of the want of time Some of the peculiar difficulties of their position
Some of the cares and anxieties of life Some of the strength of temptation Some
of the power of passions Some of the effects of bad companions But what does it
come to after all? There is a far shorter way to account for the state of their
souls They do not believe One simple sentence like Aaron's rod will swallow up
all their excuses They have no faith They do not really think what God says is
true They secretly flatter themselves with the notion it will surely not be
fulfilled There must surely be some other way to heaven besides that which
ministers speak of There cannot surely be so much danger of being lost In short
they do not put implicit confidence in the words that God has written and spoken
and so do not act upon them They do not really believe hell and so do not flee
from it nor heaven and so do not seek it nor the guilt of sin and so do not turn
from it nor the holiness of God and so do not fear Him nor their need of Christ
and so do not trust in Him nor love Him They do not feel confidence in God and
so venture nothing for Him Like the boy Passion in Pilgrim's Progress they must
have their good things now They do not trust God and so they cannot wait Now how
is it with ourselves? Do we believe all the Bible? Let us ask ourselves that
question Depend on it it is a much greater thing to believe all the Bible than
many suppose Happy is the man who can lay his hand on his heart and say I am a
believer We talk of infidel sometimes as if they were the rarest people in the
world and I grant that open avowed infidelity is happily not very common now But
there is a vast amount of practical infidelity around us For all that which is
as dangerous in the end as the principles of Voltaire and Paine There are many
who Sunday after Sunday repeat the creed and make a point of declaring their
belief in all that the apostolic and lithium forms contain And yet these very
persons will live all the week as if Christ had never died and as if there were
no judgment and no resurrection of the dead and no life everlasting at all There
are many who will say all we know at all when spoken to about eternal things and
the value of their souls and yet their lies show plainly that they know not
anything as they ought to know and the saddest part of their state is that they
think they do It is an awful truth and worthy of all consideration that
knowledge not acted upon in God's sight is not merely useless and unprofitable
It is much worse than that It will add to our condemnation and increase our
guilt in the judgment day A faith that does not influence a man's practice is
not worthy of the name There are only two classes in the church of Christ Those
who believe and those who do not The difference between the true Christian and
the mere outward professor just lies in one word The true Christian is like
Moses He has faith The mere outward professor has none The true Christian
believes and therefore lives as he does The mere professor does not believe and
therefore is what he is Always our faith Let us not be faithless but believing
4. The last thing I say is this The true secret of doing great things for God is
to have great faith I believe that we are all apt to err on this point We think
too much and talk too much about graces and gifts and attainments and do not
sufficiently remember that faith is the root and mother of them all In walking
with God a man will go just as far as he believes and no further His life will
always be proportioned to his faith His peace His patience His courage His zeal
His works All will be according to his faith You read the lives of eminent
Christians of such men as Wesley or Whitfield or Venn or Martin or Bickerstep or
Simeon or Machain and we are disposed to say what wonderful gifts and graces
these men had I answer you should rather give honor to the mother grace which
God put forward in the 11th chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews You should
give honor to their faith Depend on it Faith was the mainspring in the character
of each and all I can fancy someone saying they were so prayerful that made them
what they were I answer why did they pray much simply because they had much
faith what is prayer but faith speaking to God another perhaps will say they
were so diligent and laborious that accounts for their success I answer why were
they so diligent simply because they had faith what is Christian diligence but
faith at work another will tell me they were so bold that rendered them so
useful I answer why were they so bold simply because they had much faith what is
Christian boldness but faith honestly doing its duty and another will cry it was
their holiness and spirituality that gave them their weight for the last time I
answer what made them holy nothing but a living realizing spirit of faith what
is holiness but faith visible and faith incarnate now does any reader of this
paper desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
would you bring forth much fruit would you be eminently holy and useful would
you be bright and shine as a light in your day would you like Moses make it
clear as noonday that you have chosen God before the world I dare be sure that
every believer will reply yes yes yes these are the things we long for and
desire then take the advice I give you this day grow and cry to the Lord Jesus
as the disciples did Lord increase our faith faith is the root of a real
Christian character let your root be right and your fruit will soon abound your
spiritual prosperity will always be according to your faith he that believeth
shall not only be saved but shall never thirst shall overcome shall be
established shall walk firmly on the waters of this world and shall do great
works reader if you believe the things contained in this paper and desire to be
a thoroughly holy man begin to act on your belief take Moses for your example
walk in his steps go and do likewise chapter 9 page 150 Lot a beacon he lingered
Genesis 19.16 the holy scriptures which were written for our learning contain
beacons as well as patterns they show us examples of what we should avoid as
well as examples of what we should follow the man whose name heads this page is
set for a beacon to the whole church of Christ his character is put before us in
one little word he lingered let us sit down and look at this beacon for a few
minutes let us consider Lot who is this man that lingered it is the nephew of
faithful Abraham and when did he linger the very morning Sodom was to be
destroyed and where did he linger within the walls of Sodom itself and before
whom did he linger under the eyes of the two angels who were sent to bring him
out of the city even then he lingered the words are solemn and full of food for
thought they ought to sound like a trumpet in the ears of all who make any
profession of religion I trust they will make every reader of this paper think
who knows but they are the very words your soul requires the voice of the Lord
Jesus commands you to remember Lot's wife Luke 17.32 the voice of one of his
ministers invites you this day to remember Lot let me try to show 1. what Lot
was himself 2. what the text already quoted tells you of him 3. what reasons may
account for his lingering 4. what kind of fruit his lingering brought forth I
ask the special attention of all who have reason to hope they are real
Christians and desire to live holy lives let it be a settled principle in our
minds if we follow holiness that we must not linger once more I say Lot is a
beacon 1. what was Lot this is the most important point if I leave it unnoticed
I shall perhaps miss that class of professing Christians I want especially to
benefit if I did not make it clear many would perhaps say after reading this
paper ah! Lot was a bad man a poor wicked dark creature an unconverted man a
child of this world no wonder he lingered but mark now what I say Lot was
nothing of the kind Lot was a true believer a converted person a real child of
God a justified soul a righteous man has any one of my readers grace in his
heart so also had Lot has any one of my readers a hope of salvation so also had
Lot is any one of my readers a traveler in the narrow way which leads them to
life so was Lot let no one think this is only my private opinion a mere
arbitrary fancy of my own a notion unsupported by scripture let no one suppose I
want him to believe it merely because I say it the Holy Ghost has placed the
matter beyond controversy by calling him just and righteous 2 Peter 2 verses 7
and 8 and has given us good evidence of the grace that was in him one evidence
is that he lived in a wicked place seeing and hearing evil all around him 2
Peter 2.8 and yet was not wicked himself this Reformation audio track is a
production of Stillwater's revival books SWRB makes thousands of classic
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468 1096 or by mail at 4710 dash 37A Avenue Edmonton that's E-D-M-O-N T-O-N
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a free printed catalog and remember that John Kelvin in defending the
Reformation's regulative principle of worship or what is sometimes called the
scriptural law of worship commenting on the words of God which I commanded them
not neither came into my heart from his commentary on Jeremiah 731 writes God
here cuts off from men


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  CHAPTER 13: CHAPTER 13
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Now to be a Daniel in Babylon, an Obadiah in Ahab's house, an Abijah in
Jeroboam's family, a saint in Nero's court, and a righteous man in Sodom, a man
must have the grace of God. Without grace it would be impossible. Another
evidence is that he vexed his soul with the unlawful deeds he beheld around him,
2 Peter 2.8. He was wounded, grieved, pained, and hurt at the sight of sin.

This was feeling like holy David who says, I beheld the transgressors and was
grieved, because they kept not thy word. Rivers of waters ran down mine eyes,
because they keep not thy law. Psalm 119, verses 136 and 158.

This was feeling like Saint Paul who says, I have great sorrow and continual
heaviness in my heart, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Romans 9, verses 2 and 3. Nothing will account for this but the grace of God.
Another evidence is that he vexed his soul from day to day with the unlawful
deeds he saw, 2 Peter 2.8. He did not at length become cool and lukewarm about
sin as many do.

Familiarity and habits do not take off the fine edge of his feelings as too
often is the case. Many a man is shocked and startled at the first sight of
wickedness, and yet becomes at last so accustomed to see it that he views it
with comparative unconcern. This is especially the case with those who live in
towns and cities, or with English people who travel on the continent.

Such persons often become utterly indifferent about Sabbath breaking, and many
forms of open sin. But it was not so with Lot, and this again is a great mark of
the reality of his grace. Such in one was Lot, a just and righteous man, a man
sealed and stamped as an heir of heaven by the Holy Ghost himself.

Before we pass on, let us remember that a true Christian may have many a
blemish, many a defect, many an infirmity, and yet be a true Christian
nevertheless. We do not despise gold because it is mixed with much dross. We
must not undervalue grace because it is accompanied by much corruption.

Read on, and you will find that Lot paid dearly for his lingering. But do not
forget as you read that Lot was a child of God. 2. Let us pass on to the second
thing I spoke of.

What does the text, already quoted, tell us about Lot's behavior? The words are
wonderful and astounding. He lingered. The more we consider the time and
circumstances, the more wonderful we shall think them.

Lot knew the awful condition of the city in which he stood. The cry of its
abominations had waxen great before the Lord. Genesis 19.13 And yet he lingered.

Lot knew the fearful judgment coming down on all within its walls. The angels
had said plainly, The Lord hath sent us to destroy it. Genesis 19.13 And yet he
lingered.

Lot knew that God was a God who always kept his word, and if he said a thing, he
would surely do it. He could hardly be Abraham's nephew and live long with him,
and not be aware of this. Yet he lingered.

Lot believed there was danger, for he went to his sons-in-law and warned them to
flee. Up, he said, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this
city. Genesis 19.14 And yet he lingered.

Lot saw the angels of God standing by, waiting for him and his family to go
forth. He heard the voice of those ministers of wrath ringing in his ears to
hasten him. Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou
be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

Genesis 19.15 And yet he lingered. He was slow when he should have been quick,
backward when he should have been forward, trifling when he should have been
hastening, loitering when he should have been hurrying, cold when he should have
been hot. It is passing strange.

It seems almost incredible. It appears too wonderful to be true. But the Spirit
writes it down for our learning, and so it was.

And yet wonderful as it may appear at first sight, I fear there are many of the
Lord Jesus Christ's people very like Lot. I ask every reader of this paper to
mark well what I say. I repeat it that there may be no mistake about my meaning.

I have shown you that Lot lingered. I say that there are many Christian men and
Christian women in this day very like Lot. There are many real children of God
who appear to know far more than they live up to, and see far more than they
practice, and yet continue in this state for many years.

Wonderful that they go as far as they do, and yet go no further. They
acknowledge the head, even Christ, and love the truth. They like sound
preaching, and assent to every article of the gospel doctrine when they hear it.

But still there is an indescribable something which is not satisfactory about
them. They are constantly doing things which disappoint the expectations of
their ministers and of more advanced Christian friends. Marvelous that they
should think as they do, and yet stand still.

They believe in heaven, and yet seem faintly to long for it, and in hell, and
yet seem little to fear it. They love the Lord Jesus, but the work they do for
him is small. They hate the devil, but they often appear to tempt him to come to
them.

They know the time is short, but they live as if it were long. They know they
have a battle to fight, yet a man might think they were at peace. They know they
have a race to run, yet they often look like people sitting still.

They know the judge is at the door, and there is wrath to come, and yet they
appear half asleep. Astonishing they should be what they are, and yet be nothing
more. And what shall we say of these people? They often puzzle godly friends and
relations.

They often cause great anxiety. They often give rise to great doubts and
searchings of heart. But they may be classed under one sweeping description.

They are all brethren and sisters of Lot. They linger. These are they who get
the notion into their minds that it is impossible for all believers to be so
very holy and very spiritual.

They allow that eminent holiness is a beautiful thing. They like to read about
it in books, and even to see it occasionally in others. But they do not think
that all are meant to aim at so high a standard.

At any rate, they seem to make up their minds it is beyond their reach. These
are they who get into their heads false ideas of charity, as they call it. They
are morbidly afraid of being illiberal and narrow-minded, and are always flying
into the opposite extreme.

They would feign please everybody and suit everybody, and be agreeable to
everybody. But they forget they ought first to be sure that they please God.
These are they who dread sacrifices and shrink from self-denial.

They never appear able to apply our Lord's command to take up the cross, and cut
off the right hand and pluck out the right eye. Matthew 5, verses 29 and 30.
They cannot deny that our Lord used these expressions, but they never find a
place for them in their religion.

They spend their lives in trying to make the gate more wide and the cross more
light, but they never succeed. These are they who are always trying to keep in
with the world. They are ingenious in discovering reasons for not separating
decidedly, and in framing plausible excuses for attending questionable
amusements and keeping up questionable friendships.

One day you are told that they are attending a Bible reading. The next day
perhaps you hear of them going to a ball. One day they fast, or go to the Lord's
table and receive the sacrament.

Another day they go to the race course in the morning and the opera at night.
One day they are almost in hysterics under the sermon of some sensational
preacher. Another day they are weeping over some novel.

They are constantly laboring to persuade themselves that to mix a little with
worldly people on their own ground does good. Yet in their case it is very clear
they do no good and only get harm. These are they who find it in their hearts to
quarrel with their besetting sin, whether it be sloth, indolence, ill-temper,
pride, selfishness, impatience, or what it may.

They allow it to remain a tolerably quiet and undisturbed tenant in their
hearts. They say it is their health and their constitutions, or their
temperaments, or their trials, or their way. Their father, or mother, or
grandmother was so before themselves and they are sure they cannot help it.

And when you meet after the absence of a year or so, you hear the same thing.
But all, all may be summed up in one single sentence. They are the brethren and
sisters of Lot.

They linger. Ah, if you are a lingering soul you are not happy. You know you are
not.

It would be strange indeed if you were so. Lingering is the sure destruction of
a happy Christianity. A lingerer's conscience forbids him to enjoy inward peace.

Perhaps one time you did run well, but you have left your first love. You have
never felt the same comfort since, and you never will till you return to your
first works. Revelation 2.5 Like Peter, when the Lord Jesus was taken prisoner,
you are following the Lord afar off.

And like him, you will find the way not pleasant, but hard. Come and look at
Lot. Come and mark Lot's history.

Come and consider Lot's lingering and be wise. 3. Let us consider, next, the
reasons that may account for Lot's lingering. This is a question of great
importance and I ask most serious attention to it.

To know the root of a disease is one step towards a remedy. He that is
forewarned is forearmed. Who is there among the readers of this paper that feels
secure and has no fear of lingering? Come and listen while I tell you a few
passages of Lot's history.

Do as he did and it will be a miracle indeed if you do not get into the same
state of soul at last. One thing then I observe in Lot is this. He made a wrong
choice in early life.

There was a time when Abraham and Lot lived together. They both became rich and
could live together no longer. Abraham, the elder of the two, in the true spirit
of humility and courtesy gave Lot the choice of the country when they resolved
to part company.

If thou, he said, wilt take the left hand then I will go to the right. Or if
thou depart to the right hand then I will go to the left. Genesis 13 verse 9 And
what did Lot do? We are told he saw that the plains of Jordan near Sodom were
rich, fertile and well watered.

It was a good land for cattle and full of pastures. He had large flocks and
herds and it just suited his requirements. And this was the land he chose for a
residence simply because it was a rich well watered land.

Genesis 13 verse 10 It was near the town of Sodom. He cared not for that. The
men of Sodom who would be his neighbors were wicked.

It mattered not. They were sinners before God exceedingly. It made no difference
to him.

The pasture was rich. The land was good. He wanted such a country for his flocks
and herds.

And before that argument all scruples and doubts if indeed he had any at once
went down. He chose by sight and not by faith. He asked no counsel of God to
preserve him from mistakes.

He looked to the things of time and not of eternity. He thought of his worldly
profit and not of his soul. He considered only what would help him in this life.

He forgot the solemn business of the life to come. This was a bad beginning. But
I observe also that Lot mixed with sinners when there was no occasion for his
doing so.

We are first told that he pitched his tent toward Sodom. Genesis 13.12 This as I
have already shown was a great mistake. But the next time he is mentioned we
find him actually living in Sodom itself.

The Spirit says expressly he dwelt in Sodom. Genesis 14.12 His tents were left.
The country was forsaken.

He occupied a house in the very streets of that wicked town. We are not told the
reason of this change. We are not aware that any occasion could have arisen for
it.

We are sure there could have been no command of God. Perhaps his wife liked the
town better than the country for the sake of society. It is plain she had no
grace herself.

Perhaps she persuaded Lot it was needful for the advantage of his daughters that
they might marry and get settled in life. Perhaps the daughters urged living in
the town for the sake of gay company. They were evidently light minded young
women.

Perhaps Lot liked it himself in order to make more of his flocks and herds. Men
never want reasons to confirm their wills. But one thing is very clear.

Lot dwelt in the midst of Sodom without any good cause. When a child of God does
these two things which I have named we never need be surprised if we hear by and
by unfavorable accounts about his soul. We never need wonder if he becomes deaf
to the warning voice of affliction as Lot was Genesis 14 12 and turns out a
lingerer in the day of trial and danger as Lot did.

Make a wrong choice in life an unscriptural choice and settle yourself down
unnecessarily in the midst of worldly people and I know no surer way to damage
your own spirituality and to go backward about your eternal concerns. This is
the way to make the pulse of your soul beat feebly and languidly. This is the
way to make the edge of your feeling about sin become blunt and dull.

This is the way to dim the eyes of your spiritual discernment till you can
scarcely distinguish good from evil and stumble as you walk. This is the way to
bring a moral palsy on your feet and limbs and make you go tottering and
trembling along the road to Zion as if the grasshopper was a burden. This is the
way to sell the past to your worst enemy, to give the devil vantage ground in
the battle, to tie your arms in fighting, to fetter your legs in running, to dry
up the sources of your strength, to cripple your energies, to cut off your hair
like Samson and give yourself into the hands of the Philistines, to put out your
own eyes, grind at the mill, and become a slave.

I call on every reader of this paper to mark well what I am saying. Settle these
things down in your mind. Do not forget them.

Recollect them in the morning. Recall them to memory at night. Let them sink
down deeply into your heart.

If ever you would be safe from lingering, beware of needless mingling with
worldly people. Beware of lots choice. If you would not settle down into a dry,
dull, sleepy, lazy, barren, heavy, carnal, stupid, torpid state of soul, beware
of lots choice.

A. Remember this in choosing a dwelling place or residence. It is not enough
that the house is comfortable. The situation good.

The air fine. The neighborhood pleasant. The rent or price small.

The living cheap. There are other things yet to be considered. You must think of
your immortal soul.

Will the house you think of help you towards heaven or hell? Is the gospel
preached within an easy distance? Is Christ crucified within reach of your door?
Is there a real man of God near who will watch over your soul? I charge you, if
you love life, not to overlook this. Beware of lots choice. B. Remember this in
choosing a calling, a place or profession in life.

It is not enough that the salary is high. The wage is good. The work light.

The advantage is numerous. The prospects of getting on most favorable. Think of
your soul, your immortal soul.

Will it be prospered or drawn back? Will you have your Sundays free and be able
to have one day in the week for your spiritual business? I beseech you, by the
mercies of God, to take heed what you do. Make no rash decision. Look at the
place in every light, the light of God as well as the light of the world.

Gold may be bought too dear. Beware of lot's choice. C. Remember this in
choosing a husband or wife if you are unmarried.

It is not enough that your eye is pleased, that your tastes are met, that your
mind finds congeniality, that there is amiability and affection, that there is a
comfortable home for life. There needs something more than this. There is a life
yet to come.

Think of your soul, your immortal soul. Will it be helped upwards or dragged
downwards by the union you are planning? Will it be made more heavenly or more
earthly, drawn nearer to Christ or to the world? Will its religion grow in vigor
or will it decay? I pray you, by all your hopes of glory, allow this to enter
into your calculations. Think, as old Baxter said, and think and think again
before you commit yourself.

Be not ungrateful. Be not unequally yoked. 2 Corinthians 6.14 Matrimony is
nowhere named among the means of conversion.

Remember Lot's choice. D. Remember this if you are ever offered a situation on a
railway. It is not enough to have good pay and regular employment, the
confidence of the directors and the best chance of rising to a higher post.

These things are very well in their way, but they are not everything. How will
your soul fare if you serve a railway company that runs Sunday trains? What day
in the week will you have for God and eternity? What opportunities will you have
for hearing the gospel preached? I solemnly warn you to consider this. It will
profit you nothing to fill your purse if you bring leanness and poverty to your
soul.

Beware of selling your Sabbath for the sake of a good place. Remember Esau's
myth of pottage. Beware of Lot's choice.

Some reader may perhaps think, a believer need not fear. He is the sheep of
Christ. He will never perish.

He cannot come to much harm. It cannot be that such small matters can be of
great importance. Well, you may think so, but I warn you, if you neglect these
matters, your soul will never prosper.

A true believer will certainly not be cast away, although he may linger. But if
he does linger, it is vain to suppose that his religion will thrive. Grace is a
tender plant.

Unless you cherish it and nurse it well, it will soon become sickly in this evil
world. It may droop, though it cannot die. The brightest gold will soon become
dim when exposed to a damp atmosphere.

The hottest iron will soon become cold. It requires pain and toil to bring it to
red heat. It requires nothing but letting alone, or a little cold water to
become black and hard.

You may be an earnest, zealous Christian now. You may feel like David in his
prosperity. I shall never be moved.

Psalm 30, verse 6. But be not deceived. You have only got to walk in Lot's steps
and make Lot's choice, and you will soon come to Lot's state of soul. Allow
yourself to do as he did, presume to act as he acted, and be very sure you will
soon discover you have become a wretched lingerer like him.

You will find, like Samson, the presence of the Lord is no longer with you. You
will prove to your own shame an undecided, hesitating man in the day of trial.
There will come a canker on your religion, and eat of its vitality without your
knowing it.

There will come a slow consumption on your spiritual strength, and waste it away
insensibly. And at length you will wake up to find your hands hardly able to do
the Lord's work, and your feet hardly able to carry you along the Lord's way,
and your faith no bigger than a grain of mustard seed, and this perhaps at some
turning point in your life, at a time when the enemy is coming in like a flood,
and your need is the sorest. Ah, if you would not become a lingerer in religion,
consider these things.

Beware of doing what Lot did. 4. Let us inquire now what kind of fruit Lot's
lingering spirit bore at last. I would not pass over this point for many
reasons, and especially in the present day.

There are not a few who will feel disposed to say, after all, Lot was saved, he
was justified, he got to heaven. I want no more. If I do but get to heaven, I
shall be content.

If this be the thought of your heart, just stay a moment and listen to me a
little longer. I will show you one or two things in Lot's history which deserve
attention, and may perhaps induce you to alter your mind. I think it of first
importance to dwell upon this subject.

I always will contend that eminent holiness and eminent usefulness are most
closely connected, that happiness and following the Lord fully go side by side,
and that if believers will linger, they must not expect to be useful in their
day and generation, or to be very saintly and Christ-like, or to enjoy great
comfort and peace in believing. a. Let us mark then for one thing that Lot did
no good among the inhabitants of Sodom. Lot probably lived in Sodom many years.

No doubt he had many precious opportunities for speaking of the things of God,
and trying to turn away souls from sin. But Lot seems to have affected just
nothing at all. He appears to have had no weight or influence with the people
who lived around him.

He possessed none of that respect and reverence which even the men of the world
will frequently concede to a bright servant of God. Not one righteous person
could be found in all Sodom outside the walls of Lot's home. Not one of his
neighbors believed his testimony.

Not one of his acquaintances honored the Lord whom he worshipped. Not one of his
servants served his master's God. Not one of all the people from every quarter
cared a jot for his opinion when he tried to restrain their wickedness.

This one fellow came into sojourn, they said, and he will needs be a judge.
Genesis 19.9 His life carried no weight. His words were not listened to.

His religion drew none to follow him. And truly I do not wonder. As a general
rule, lingering souls do no good to the world and bring no credit to God's
cause.

Their salt has too little savor to season the corruption around them. They are
not epistles of Christ who can be known and read of all. 2 Corinthians 3.2 There
is nothing magnetic and attractive in Christ reflecting about their ways.

Let us remember this. b. Let us mark for another thing that Lot helped none of
his family, relatives, or connections towards heaven. We are not told how large
his family was, but this we know.

He had a wife and two daughters at least in the day he was called out of Sodom.
If he had not more children besides. c. But whether Lot's family was large or
small, one thing I think is perfectly clear.

There was not one among them all that feared God. d. When he went out and spake
to his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and warned them to flee from
the judgments coming on Sodom, we are told, he seemed to them as one that
mocked. Gen.

19.14 What fearful words those are! It was as good as saying, Who cares for
anything you say? So long as the world stands, those things will be a painful
proof of the contempt with which a lingerer in religion is regarded. d. And what
was Lot's wife? She left the city in his company, but she did not go far. She
had not faith to see the need of such a speedy flight.

She left her heart in Sodom when she began to flee. She looked back from behind
her husband, in spite of the plaintiff's command not to do so. Gen.

19.17 And was at once turned into a pillar of salt. And what were Lot's two
daughters? They escaped indeed, but only to do the devil's work. They became
their father's tempters to wickedness, and led him to commit the foulest of
sins.

In short, Lot seems to have stood alone in his family. He was not made the means
of keeping one soul back from the gates of hell. And I do not wonder.

Lingering souls are seen through by their own families, and when seen through
they are despised. Their nearest relatives understand inconsistency if they
understand nothing else in religion. They draw the sad, but not unnatural
conclusion, surely if he believed all he professes to believe, he would not go
on as he does.

Lingering parents seldom have godly children. The eye of the child drinks in far
more than the ear. A child will always observe what you do much more than what
you say.

Let us remember this. See, let us mark for a third thing that Lot left behind
when he died. We know but little about Lot after his flight from Sodom, and all
that we do know is unsatisfactory.

His pleading for Zohar, because it was a little one, his departure from Zohar
afterwards, and his conduct in the cave, all tell the same story, all show the
weakness of the grace that was in him, and how low the state of soul into which
he had fallen. We know not how long he lived after his escape. We know not where
he died, or when he died, whether he saw Abraham again, what was the manner of
his death, what he suffered, or what a gloomy deathbed the deathbed of Lot must
have been.

The scripture appears to draw a veil around him on purpose. There is a painful
silence about his latter end. He seems to go out like an expiring lamp, and to
leave an ill saver behind him.

And had we not been specially told in the New Testament that Lot was just and
righteous, I verily believe we should have doubted whether Lot was a saved soul
at all. But I do not wonder at his sad end. Lingering believers will generally
reap according as they have sown.

Their lingering often meets them when their spirit is departing. They have
little peace at the last. They reach heaven to be sure, but they reach it in
poor plight, weary and foot sore, in weakness and tears, in darkness and storm.

They are saved, but saved so as by fire. I ask every reader of this paper to
consider the three things which I have just mentioned. Do not misunderstand my
meaning.

It is amazing to observe how readily people catch at the least excuse for
misunderstanding the things that concern their souls. I do not tell you that
believers who do not linger will, as a matter of course, be great instruments of
usefulness to the world. Nor preached 120 years and none believed him.

The Lord Jesus was not esteemed by his own people, the Jews. Nor yet do I tell
you that believers who do not linger will, as a matter of course, be the means
of converting their families and relatives. David's children were, many of them,
ungodly.

The Lord Jesus was not believed on even by his own brethren. But I do say it is
almost impossible not to see some connection between Lot's evil choice and Lot's
lingering, and between Lot's lingering and his unprofitableness to his family
and the world. I believe the Spirit meant us to see it.

I believe the Spirit meant to make him a beacon to all professing Christians.
And I am sure the lessons I have tried to draw from the whole history deserve
serious reflection. And now let me speak a few parting words to all who read
this paper, and especially to all who call themselves believers in Christ.

I have no wish to make your heart sad. I do not want to give you a gloomy view
of the Christian course. My only object is to give you friendly warnings.

I desire your peace and comfort. I would fain see you happy as well as safe, and
joyful as well as justified. I speak as I have done for your good.

You live in days when a lingering, lot-like religion abounds. The stream of
profession is far broader than it once was, but far less deep in many places. A
certain kind of Christianity is almost fashionable now to belong to some party
in the Church of England and show a zeal for its interests, to talk about the
leading controversies of the day, to buy popular religious books as fast as they
come out and lay them on your table, to attend meetings, to ascribe to
societies, to discuss the merits of preachers, to be enthusiastic and excited
about every new form of sensational religion which crops up.

All these are now comparatively easy and common attainments. They no longer make
a person singular. They require little or no sacrifice.

They entail no cross. But to walk closely with God, to be really spiritually
minded, to behave like strangers in pilgrims, to be distinct from the world in
employment of time, in conversation, in amusement, in dress, to bear a faithful
witness for Christ in all places, to leave a savor of our Master in every
society, to be prayerful, humble, unselfish, good-tempered, quiet, easily
pleased, charitable, patient, meek, to be jealously afraid of all manner of sin
and tremblingly alive to our danger from the world, these, these are still rare
things. They are not common among those who are called true Christians, and
worst of all, the absence of them is not felt and bewailed as it should be.

In a day like this I venture to offer counsel to every believing reader of this
paper. I do not turn away from it. Do not be angry with me for plain speaking.

I bid you give diligence to make your calling and election sure. 2 Peter 1.10 I
bid you not to be slothful, not to be careless, not to be content with a small
measure of grace, not to be satisfied with being a little better than the world.
I solemnly warn you not to attempt doing what never can be done.

I mean to serve Christ and yet keep in with the world. I call upon you and
beseech you to be a wholehearted Christian, to follow after eminent holiness, to
aim at a high degree of sanctification, to live a consecrated life, to present
your body a living sacrifice unto God, to walk in the Spirit. Romans 12.1
Galatians 5.25 I charge you and exhort you by all your hopes of heaven and
desires of glory, if you will be happy, if you will be useful, do not be a fool,
do not be a fool, do not be a fool, do not be a do not be a fool, be a fool, do
not be a fool, do not be a fool, do not be a fool, do not do not be a fool, do
not be a do not be a fool, do not be a fool, do not be a fool, do not be a fool,
do not be a fool, do not do not be a fool, do not be a fool, do not be a fool,
do not be a do not do not be a fool, do not do not be a fool, do not be a fool,
be a us all remember the souls of others as well as our own.

If at any time we see any brother or sister lingering, let us try to awaken them
and try to arouse them, try to stir them up. Let us all exhort one another as we
have opportunity. Let us provoke unto love and good works.

Hebrews 3, 13 and 10, verse 24. Let us not be afraid to say to each other,
brother or sister, have you forgotten Lot? Awake and remember Lot. Awake and
linger no more.

Chapter 10, page 164. A woman to be remembered. Remember Lot's wife.

Luke 17, verse 32. There are few warnings in scripture more solemn than that
which heads this page. The Lord Jesus says to us, remember Lot's wife.

Lot's wife was a professor of religion. Her husband was a righteous man. 2 Peter
2, 8. She left Sodom with him on the day when Sodom was destroyed.

She looked back towards the city from behind her husband against God's express
command, and she was struck dead at once and turned into a pillar of salt. And
the Lord Jesus Christ holds her up as a beacon to his church. He says, remember
Lot's wife.

It is a solemn warning when we think of the person Jesus names. He does not bid
us remember Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or Sarah or Hannah or Ruth. No, he singles
out one whose soul was lost forever.

He cries to us, remember Lot's wife. It is a solemn warning when we consider the
subject Jesus is upon. He is speaking of his own second coming to judge the
world.

He is describing the awful state of unreadiness in which many will be found. The
last days are on his mind when he says, remember Lot's wife. It is a solemn
warning when we think of the person who gives it.

The Lord Jesus is full of love and mercy and compassion. He is one who will not
break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax. He could weep over
unbelieving Jerusalem and pray for the men that crucified him.

Yet even he thinks it good to remind us of lost souls. Even he says, remember
Lot's wife. It is a solemn warning when we think of the persons to whom it was
first given.

The Lord Jesus was speaking to his disciples. He was not addressing the scribes
and Pharisees who hated him, but Peter, James and John and many others who loved
him. Yet even to them he thinks it good to address a caution.

Even to them he says, remember Lot's wife. It is a solemn warning when we
consider the manner in which it was given. He does not merely say, beware of
following, take heed of imitating, do not be like Lot's wife.

He uses a different word. He says, remember. He speaks as if we were all in
danger of forgetting the subject.

He stirs up our lazy memories. He bids us keep the case before our minds. He
cries, remember Lot's wife.

I propose to examine the lessons which Lot's wife is meant to teach us. I am
sure that her history is full of useful instruction to the church. The last days
are upon us.

The second coming of the Lord Jesus draws nigh. The danger of worldliness is
yearly increasing in the church. Let us be provided with safeguards and
antidotes against the disease that is around us.

And not least, let us become familiar with the story of Lot's wife. There are
three things which I shall do in order to bring the subject before our minds in
order. One, I will speak of the religious privileges which Lot's wife enjoyed.

Two, I will speak of the sin which Lot's wife committed. Three, I will speak of
the judgment which God inflicted upon her. Number one, I will speak first of the
religious privileges which Lot's wife enjoyed.

In the days of Abraham and Lot, true saving religion was scarce upon earth.
There were no Bibles, no ministers, no churches, no tracts, no missionaries. The
knowledge of God was confined to a few favored families.

The greater part of the inhabitants of the world were living in darkness,
ignorance, superstition, and sin. Not one in a hundred perhaps had such a good
example, such spiritual society, such clear knowledge, such plain warnings as
Lot's wife. Compared with millions of her fellow creatures in her time, Lot's
wife was a favored woman.

She had a godly man for her husband. She had Abraham, the father of the
faithful, for her uncle by marriage. The faith, the knowledge, and the prayers
of these two righteous men could have been no secret to her.

It is impossible that she could have dwelt in tents with them for any length of
time without knowing whose they were and whom they served. Religion with them
was no mere formal business. It was the ruling principle of their lives and the
mainspring of all their actions.

All this Lot's wife must have seen and known. This was no small privilege. When
Abraham first received the promises, it is probable Lot's wife was there.

When he built his altar by his tent between Hai and Bethel, it is probable she
was there. When her husband was taken captive by Shechadomer and delivered by
God's interference, she was there. When Melchizedek, king of Salem, came forth
to meet Abraham with bread and wine, she was there.

When the angels came to Sodom and warned her husband to flee, she saw them. When
they took them by the hand and led them out of the city, she was one of those
whom they helped to escape. Once more I say, these were no small privileges.

Yet what good effect had all these privileges on the heart of Lot's wife? None
at all. Notwithstanding all her opportunities and means of grace,
notwithstanding all her special warnings and messages from heaven, she lived and
died graceless, godless, impenitent, and unbelieving. The eyes of her
understanding were never opened.

Her conscience was never really aroused and quickened. Her will was never really
brought into a state of obedience to God. Her affections were never really set
upon things above.

This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB
makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale,
in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our
complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary
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www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb.com, by phone at
780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Avenue, Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada, T6L 3T5.

You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in
defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is
sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God,
which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on
Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making
evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them,
whatever the Jews devised.

There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they
are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according
to their own fancies, and attend not to his commands, they pervert true
religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious
modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the
ground.

It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties
towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of
them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this
principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word, they
would be delivered from their deep abyss of error.

The prophet's words then are very important. When he says that God had commanded
no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that
men assume too much wisdom, when they devise what he never required, nay, what
he never knew.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 14: CHAPTER 14
========================================================================

The eyes of her understanding were never opened. Her conscience was never really
aroused and quickened. Her will was never really brought into a state of
obedience to God.

Her affections were never really set upon things above. The form of religion
which she had was kept up for fashion's sake and not from feeling. It was a
cloak worn for the sake of pleasing her company, but not from any sense of its
value.

She did as others did around her in Lot's house. She conformed to her husband's
ways. She made no opposition to his religion.

She allowed herself to be passively towed along in his wake. But all this time
her heart was wrong in the sight of God. The world was in her heart, and her
heart was in the world.

In this state she lived, and in this state she died. In all this there is much
to be learned. I see a lesson here which is of the deepest importance in the
present day.

You live in times when there are many persons just like Lot's wife. Come and
hear the lesson which her case is meant to teach. Learn then that the mere
possession of religious privileges will save no one's soul.

You may have spiritual advantages of every description. You may live in the full
sunshine of the richest opportunities and means of grace. You may enjoy the best
of preaching and the choicest instruction.

You may dwell in the midst of light, knowledge, holiness, and good company. All
this may be, and yet you yourself may remain unconverted, and at last be lost
forever. I dare say this doctrine sounds hard to some readers.

I know that many fancy they want nothing but religious privileges in order to
become decided Christians. They are not what they ought to be at present, they
allow. But their position is so hard, they plead, and their difficulties are so
many.

Give them a godly husband or a godly wife. Give them godly companions or a godly
master. Give them the preaching of the gospel.

Give them privileges, and then they would walk with God. It is all a mistake. It
is an entire delusion.

It requires something more than privileges to save souls. Joab was David's
captain. Gehazi was Elisha's servant.

Demas was Paul's companion. Judas Iscariot was Christ's disciple. And Lot had a
worldly, unbelieving wife.

These all died in their sins. They went down to the pit in spite of knowledge,
warnings, and opportunities. And they all teach us that it is not privileges
alone that men need.

They need the grace of the Holy Ghost. Let us value religious privileges, but
let us not rest entirely upon them. Let us desire to have the benefit of them in
all our moments in life, but let us not put them in the place of Christ.

Let us use them thankfully, if God grants them to us, but let us take care that
they produce some fruit in our heart and life. If they do not do good, they
often do positive harm. They fear the conscience.

They increase responsibility. They aggravate condemnation. The same fire which
melts the wax hardens the clay.

The same sun which makes the living tree grow dries up the dead tree and
prepares it for burning. Nothing so hardens the heart of man as a barren
familiarity with sacred things. Once more I say, it is not privileges alone
which make people Christians, but the grace of the Holy Ghost.

Without that, no man will ever be saved. I ask the members of evangelical
congregations in the present day to mark well what I am saying. You go to Mr.
A's or Mr. B's church.

You think him an excellent preacher. You delight in his sermons. You cannot hear
anyone else with the same comfort.

You have learned many things since you attended his ministry. You consider it a
great privilege to be one of his hearers. All this is very good.

It is a privilege. I should be thankful if ministers like yours were multiplied
a thousandfold. But after all, what have you got in your heart? Have you yet
received the Holy Ghost? If not, you are no better than Lot's wife.

I ask the servants of religious families to mark well what I am saying. It is a
great privilege to live in a house where the fear of God reigns. It is a
privilege to hear family prayers morning and evening, to hear the word of God
regularly expounded, to have a quiet Sunday, and to be able always to go to
church.

These are the things that you ought to seek after when you try to get a
situation. These are the things which make a really good place. High wages and
light work will never make up for a constant round of worldliness,
Sabbath-breaking, and sin.

But take heed that you do not rest content with these things. Do not suppose
because you have all these spiritual advantages that you will of course go to
heaven. You must have grace in your own heart as well as attend family prayers.

If not, you are at present no better than Lot's wife. I ask the children of
religious parents to mark well what I am saying. It is the highest privilege to
be the child of a godly father and mother, and to be brought up in the midst of
many prayers.

It is a blessed thing indeed to be taught the gospel from our earliest infancy,
and to hear of sin, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and holiness, and heaven
from the first moment we can remember anything. But oh, take heed that you do
not remain barren and unfruitful in the sunshine of all these privileges. Beware
lest your heart remains hard, impotent, and worldly, notwithstanding the many
advantages you enjoy.

You cannot enter the kingdom of God on the credit of your parents' religion. You
must eat the bread of life for yourself, and have the witness of the Spirit in
your own heart. You must have repentance of your own, faith of your own, and
sanctification of your own.

If not, you are no better than Lot's wife. I pray God that all professing
Christians in these days may lay these things to heart. May we never forget that
privileges alone cannot save us.

Light and knowledge, and faithful preaching, and abundant means of grace, and
the company of holy people are all great blessings and advantages. Happy are
they that have them. But after all, there is one thing without which privileges
are useless.

That one thing is the grace of the Holy Ghost. Lot's wife had many privileges,
but Lot's wife had no grace. I will next speak of the sin which Lot's wife
committed.

The history of her sin is given by the Holy Ghost in few and simple words. She
looked back from behind her husband, and she became a pillar of salt. We are
told no more than this.

There is a naked solemnity about the history. The sum and substance of her
transgression lies in these three words. She looked back.

Does that sin seem small in the eyes of any reader of this paper? Does the fault
of Lot's wife appear a trifling one to be visited with such a punishment? This
is the feeling, I dare say, that rises in some hearts. Give your attention while
I reason with you on the subject. There was far more in that look than strikes
you at first sight.

It implied far more than it expressed. Listen, and you shall hear. A. That look
was a little thing, but it revealed the true character of Lot's wife.

Little things will often show the state of a man's mind even better than great
ones, and little symptoms are often the signs of deadly and incurable diseases.
The apple that Eve ate was a little thing, but it proved that she had fallen
from innocence and become a sinner. A crack in an arch seems a little thing, but
it proves that the foundation is giving way, and the whole fabric is unsafe.

A little cough in the morning seems an unimportant ailment, but it is often an
evidence of failing in the Constitution and leads on to decline, consumption,
and death. A straw may show which way the wind blows, and one look may show the
rotten condition of a sinner's heart. B. That look was a little thing, but it
told of disobedience in Lot's wife.

The command of the angel was straight and unmistakable. Look not behind thee.
Genesis 19.17 This command Lot's wife refused to obey, but the Holy Ghost says
that to obey is better than sacrifice, and that rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft.

1 Samuel 15 verses 22 and 23 When God speaks plainly by His word or by His
messengers, man's duty is clear. C. That look was a little thing, but it told of
proud unbelief in Lot's wife. She seemed to doubt whether God was really going
to destroy Sodom.

She appeared not to believe there was any danger or any need for such hasty
flight. But without faith it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11.6 The
moment a man begins to think he knows better than God, and that God does not
mean anything when He threatens, his soul is in great danger.

When we cannot see the reason of God's dealings, our duty is to hold our peace
and believe. D. That look was a little thing, but it told of secret love of the
world in Lot's wife. Her heart was in Sodom, though her body was outside.

She had left her affections behind when she fled from her home. Her eye turned
to the place where her treasure was, as the compass needle turns to the pole.
And this was the crowning point of her sin.

The friendship of the world is enmity with God. James 4.4 If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2.15 I ask the special
attention of my readers to this part of our subject.

I believe it to be the part to which the Lord Jesus particularly intends to
direct our minds. I believe He would have us observe that Lot's wife was lost by
looking back to the world. Her profession was at one time fair and spacious, but
she never really gave up the world.

She seemed at one time in the road to safety, but even then the lowest and
deepest thoughts of her heart were for the world. The immense danger of
worldliness is the grand lesson which the Lord Jesus means us to learn. O that
we may all have an eye to see and a heart to understand.

I believe there never was a time when warnings against worldliness were so much
needed by the Church of Christ as they are at the present day. Every age is said
to have its own peculiar epidemic disease. The epidemic disease to which the
souls of Christians are liable just now is the love of the world.

It is a pestilence that walketh in darkness, and a sickness that destroyeth at
noonday. It hath cast down many wounded, yea, many strong men have been wounded
by it. I would fain raise a warning voice and try to arouse the slumbering
consciences of all who make a profession of religion.

I would fain cry aloud, remember the sin of Lot's wife. She was no murderess, no
adulteress, no thief, but she was a professor of religion, and she looked back.
There are thousands of baptized persons in our churches.

Who are proof against immorality and infidelity, and yet fall victims to the
love of the world. There are thousands who run well for a season, and seem to
bid fare to reach heaven. But by and by give up the race and turn their backs on
Christ altogether.

And what has stopped them? Have they found the Bible not true? Have they found
the Lord Jesus fail to keep his word? No, not at all. But they have caught the
epidemic disease. They are infected with the love of this world.

I appeal to every true-hearted evangelical minister who reads this paper. I ask
him to look round his congregation. I appeal to every old established Christian.

I ask him to look round the circle of his acquaintance. I am sure that I am
speaking the truth. I am sure that it is high time to remember the sin of Lot's
wife.

A. How many children of religious families begin well and end ill? In the days
of their childhood they seem full of religion. They can repeat texts and hymns
in abundance. They have spiritual feelings and convictions of sin.

They profess to love the Lord Jesus and desire after heaven. They take pleasure
in going to church and hearing sermons. They say things which are treasured up
by their fond parents as indications of grace.

They do things which make relations say, What manner of child will this be? But
alas, how often their goodness vanishes like the morning cloud and like the dew
that passes away. The boy becomes a young man and cares for nothing but
amusements, field sports, reveling, and excess. The girl becomes a young woman
and cares for nothing but dress, gay company, novel reading, and excitement.

Where is the spirituality which once appeared to promise so fair? It is all
gone. It is buried. It is overflowed by the love of the world.

They walk in the steps of Lot's wife. They look back. B. How many married people
do well in religion to all appearance until their children begin to grow up and
then they fall away? In the early years of their married life they seem to
follow Christ diligently and to witness a good confession.

They regularly attend the preaching of the gospel. They are fruitful in good
works. They are never seen in vain and dissipated society.

Their faith and practice are both sound and walk hand in hand. But alas, how
often a spiritual blight comes over the household when a young family begins to
grow up and sons and daughters have to be brought forward in life. Eleven of
worldliness begins to appear in their habits, dress, entertainments, and
employment of time.

They are no longer strict about the company they keep and the places they visit.
Where is the decided line of separation which they once observed? Where is the
unswerving abstinence from worldly amusements which once marked their course? It
is all forgotten. It is all laid aside like an old almanac.

A change has come over them. The spirit of the world has taken possession of
their hearts. They walk in the steps of Lot's wife.

They look back. See, how many young women seem to love decided religion until
they are twenty or twenty-one and then lose it all. Up to this time of their
life, their conduct in religious matters is all that could be desired.

They keep up habits of private prayer. They read their Bibles diligently. They
visit the poor when they have opportunity.

They teach in Sunday school when there is an opening. They minister to the
temporal and spiritual wants of the poor. They like religious friends.

They love to talk on religious subjects. They write letters full of religious
expressions and religious experience. But alas, how often they prove unstable as
water and are ruined by the love of the world.

Little by little, they fall away and lose their first love. Little by little,
the things seen push out of their minds the things unseen. And like the plague
of locusts, eat up every green thing in their souls.

Step by step, they go back from the decided position they once took up. They
cease to be jealous about sound doctrine. They pretend to find out that it is
uncharitable to think one person has more religion than another.

They discover it is exclusive to attempt any separation from the customs of
society. By and by, they give their affections to some man who makes no pretense
to decided religion. At last, they end by giving up the last remnant of their
own Christianity and becoming thorough children of the world.

They walk in the steps of Lot's wife. They look back. D. How many communicants
in our churches were at one time zealous and earnest professors and have become
torpid, formal, and cold.

Time was when none seemed so much alive in religion as they were. None were so
diligent in their attendance on the means of grace. None were so anxious to
promote the cause of the gospel and so ready for every good work.

None were so thankful for spiritual instruction. None were apparently so
desirous to grow in grace. But now, alas, everything seems altered.

The love of other things has taken possession of their hearts and choked the
good seed of the word. The money of the world, the rewards of the world, the
literature of the world, the honors of the world have now the first place in
their affections. Talk to them and you will find no response about spiritual
things.

Mark their daily conduct and you will see no zeal about the kingdom of God. A
religion they have indeed, but it is living religion no more. The spring of
their former Christianity is dried up and gone.

The fire of the spiritual machine is quenched and cold. Earth has put out the
flame which once burned so brightly. They have walked in the steps of Lot's
wife.

They have looked back. E. How many clergymen work hard in their profession for a
few years and then become lazy and indolent from the love of this present world?
At the outset of their ministry, they seem willing to spend and be spent for
Christ. They are instant in season and out of season.

Their preaching is lively and their churches are filled. Their congregations are
well looked after. Cottage lectures, prayer meetings, house-to-house visitation
are their weekly delight.

But alas, how often after beginning in the spirit they end in the flesh and like
Samson are shorn of their strength in the lap of that Delilah, the world. They
are preferred to some rich living. They marry a worldly wife.

They are puffed up with pride and neglect study and prayer. A nipping frost cuts
off the spiritual blossoms which once bad so fair. Their preaching loses its
unction and power.

Their weekday work becomes less and less. The society they mix in becomes less
select. The tone of their conversation becomes more earthly.

They cease to disregard the opinion of man. They imbibe a morbid fear of extreme
views and are filled with a cautious dread of giving offense. And at last the
man who at one time seemed likely to be a real successor of the apostle and a
good soldier of Christ settles down on his lease as a political gardener, farmer
or diner out by whom nobody is offended and nobody is saved.

His church becomes half empty. His influence dwindles away. The world has bound
him hand and foot.

He has walked in the steps of Lot's wife. He has looked back. Footnotes Remember
Dr. Dodd? I myself heard him tell his flock whom he was lecturing in his house
that he was obliged to give up that method of helping their souls because it
exposed him to so much reproach.

He gave it up and fell from one compliance to another with his corrupt nature.
And under what reproach did he die? He was hanged for forgery. From Zen's Life
and Letters, page 238, 1853.

End of footnote. It is sad to write of these things, but it is far more sad to
see them. It is sad to observe how professing Christians can blind their
consciences by spacious arguments on this subject and can defend positive
worldliness by talking of the duties of their station, the courtesies of life,
and the necessity of having a cheerful religion.

It is sad to see how many a gallant ship launches forth on the voyage of life
with every prospect of success and springing this leak of worldliness goes down
with all her freight in full view of the harbor of safety. It is saddest of all
to observe how many flatter themselves it is all right with their souls when it
is all wrong by reason of this love of the world. Gray hairs are here and there
upon them and they know it not.

They begin with Jacob and David and Peter and they are likely to end with Esau
and Saul and Judas Iscariot. They begin with Ruth and Hannah and Mary and Persis
and they are likely to end with Lot's wife. Beware of a half-hearted religion.

Beware of following Christ for any secondary motive to please relations and
friends to keep in with the custom of the place or family in which you reside to
appear respectable and have the reputation of being religious. Follow Christ for
his own sake if you follow him at all. Be thorough, be real, be honest, be
sound, be wholehearted.

If you have any religion at all, let your religion be real. See that you do not
sin the sin of Lot's wife. Beware of ever supposing that you may go too far in
religion and of secretly trying to keep in with the world.

I want no reader of this paper to become a hermit, a monk or a nun. I wish
everyone to do his real duty in that state of life to which he is called. But I
do urge on every professing Christian who wishes to be happy the immense
importance of making no compromise between God and the world.

Do not try to drive a hard bargain as if you wanted to give Christ as little of
your heart as possible and to keep as much as possible of the things of this
life. Beware lest you overreach yourself and end by losing all. Love Christ with
all your heart and mind and soul and strength.

Seek first the kingdom of God and believe that then all other things shall be
added to you. Take heed that you do not prove a copy of the character John
Bunyan draws, Mr. Facing Both Ways. For your happiness sake, for your usefulness
sake, for your safety sake, for your soul's sake, beware of the sin of Lot's
wife.

Oh, it is a solemn saying of our Lord Jesus, no man having put his hand to the
plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9, 62. Number 3 I will
now speak in the last place of the punishment which God inflicted on Lot's wife.

The scripture describes her end in few and simple words. It is written that she
looked back and became a pillar of salt. A miracle was wrought to execute God's
judgment on this guilty woman.

The same almighty hand which first gave her life took that life away in the
twinkling of an eye. From living flesh and blood she was turned into a pillar of
salt. That was a fearful end for a soul to come to.

To die at any time is a solemn thing. To die amidst kind friends and relations,
to die calmly and quietly in one's bed, to die with the prayers of godly men
still sounding in your ears, to die with a good hope through grace in the full
assurance of salvation leaning on the Lord Jesus, buoyed up by gospel promises,
to die even so, I say, is a serious business. But to die suddenly and in a
moment in the very act of sin, to die in full health and strength, to die by the
direct interposition of an angry god, this is fearful indeed.

Yet this was the end of Lot's wife. I cannot blame the prayer book litany as
some do for retaining this petition From sudden death, good Lord, deliver us.
That was a hopeless end for a soul to come to.

There are cases where one hopes, as it were, against hope, about the souls of
those we see go down to the grave. We try to persuade ourselves that our poor
departed brother or sister may have repented unto salvation at the last moment
and laid hold on the hem of Christ's garment at the eleventh hour. We call to
mind God's mercies.

We remember the Spirit's power. We think on the case of the penitent thief. We
whisper to ourselves that saving works may have gone on even on that dying bed
which the dying person had not strength to tell.

But there is an end of all such hopes when a person is suddenly cut down in the
very act of sin. Charity itself can say nothing when the soul has been summoned
away in the very midst of wickedness without even a moment's time for thought or
prayer. Such was the end of Lot's wife.

It was a hopeless end. She went to hell. But it is good for us all to mark these
things.

It is good to be reminded that God can punish sharply those who sin willfully
and that great privileges misused bring down great wrath on the soul. Pharaoh
saw all the miracles which Moses worked. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had heard God
speaking from Mount Sinai.

Hophni and Phinehas were sons of God's high priest. Saul lived in the full light
of Samuel's ministry. Ahab was often warned by Elijah the prophet.

Absalom enjoyed the privilege of being one of David's children. Delshazzar had
Daniel the prophet hard by his door. Ananias and Sapphira joined the church in
the days when the apostles were working miracles.

Judas Iscariot was a chosen companion of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. But they
all sinned with a high hand against light and knowledge. They were all suddenly
destroyed without remedy.

They had no time or space for repentance. As they lived, so they died. As they
were, they hurried away to meet God.

They went with all their sins upon them, unpardoned, unrenewed, and utterly
unfit for heaven. And being dead, they yet speak. They tell us, like Lot's wife,
that it is a perilous thing to sin against light, that God hates sin, and that
there is a hell.

I feel constrained to speak freely to my readers on the subject of hell. Suffer
me to use the opportunity which the end of Lot's wife affords. I believe the
time has come when it is a positive duty to speak plainly about the reality and
eternity of hell.

A flood of false doctrine has lately broken in upon us. Men are beginning to
tell us that God is too merciful to punish souls forever, that there is a love
of God lower even than hell, and that all mankind, however wicked and ungodly
some of them may be, will sooner or later be saved. We are invited to leave the
old paths of apostolic Christianity.

We are told that the views of our fathers about hell, and the devil, and
punishment are obsolete and old-fashioned. We are to embrace what is called a
kinder theology, and treat hell as a pagan fable, or a bugbear to frighten
children and fools. Against such false teaching I desire for one to protest.

Painful, sorrowful, distressing as the controversy may be, we must not blink it
or refuse to look the subject in the face. I, for one, am resolved to maintain
the old position and to assert the reality and eternity of hell. Believe me,
this is no mere speculative question.

It is not to be classed with disputes about liturgies and church government. It
is not to be ranked with mysterious problems like the meaning of Ezekiel's
temple or the symbols of Revelation. It is a question which lies at the very
foundation of the whole gospel.

The moral attributes of God, His justice, His holiness, His purity, are all
involved in it. The necessity of personal faith in Christ and the sanctification
of the Spirit are all at stake. Once let the old doctrine about hell be
overthrown, and the whole system of Christianity is unsettled, unscrewed,
unpinned, and thrown into disorder.

Believe me, the question is not one in which we are obliged to fall back on the
theories and inventions of man. The scripture has spoken plainly and fully on
the subject of hell. I hold it to be impossible to deal honestly with the Bible
and to avoid the conclusions to which it will lead us on this point.

If words mean anything, there is such a place as hell. If texts are to be
interpreted fairly, there are those who will be cast into it. If language has
any sense belonging to it, hell is forever.

I believe that the man who finds arguments for evading the evidence of the Bible
on this question has arrived at the state of mind in which reasoning is useless.
For my part, it seems just as easy to argue that we do not exist as to argue
that the Bible does not teach the reality and eternity of hell. A. Settle it
firmly in your mind that the same Bible which teaches that God in mercy and
compassion sent Christ to die for sinners does also teach that God hates sin and
must from His very nature punish all who plead to sin or refuse the salvation He
has provided.

The very same chapter which declares God so loved the world declares also that
the wrath of God abideth on the unbeliever. John 3.16.36 The very same gospel
which is launched into the earth with the blessed tidings he that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved proclaims in the same breath, he that believeth not
shall be damned. Mark 16.16 B. Settle it firmly in your mind that God has given
us proof upon proof in the Bible that He will punish the hardened and
unbelieving and that He can take vengeance on His enemies as well as show mercy
on the penitent.

The drowning of the old world by the flood the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah the
overthrow of Pharaoh and all his hosts in the Red Sea the judgment on Korah,
Dathan and Abiram the utter destruction of the seven nations of Canaan all teach
the same awful truth they are all given to us as beacons and signs and warnings
that we may not provoke God they are all meant to lift up the corner of the
curtain which hangs over things to come and to remind us that there is such a
thing as the wrath of God they all tell us plainly that the wicked shall be
turned into hell. Psalm 9.17 C. Settle it firmly in your mind that the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself has spoken most plainly about the reality and eternity of
hell. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus contains things which should make
men tremble but it does not stand alone.

No lips have used so many words to express the awfulness of hell as the lips of
him who spake as never man spake and who said the word which ye hear is not mine
but the Father's which sent me. John 14.24 Hell, hellfire, the damnation of
hell, eternal damnation, the resurrection of damnation, everlasting fire, the
place of torment, destruction, outer darkness, the worm that never dies, the
fire that is not quenched, the place of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth,
everlasting punishment. These, these are the words which the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself employs away with the miserable nonsense which people talk in this day
who tell us that the ministers of the gospel should never speak of hell.

They only show their own ignorance or their own dishonesty when they talk in
such a manner. No man can honestly read the four gospels and fail to see that he
who would follow the example of Christ must speak of hell. D. Settle it lastly
in your mind that the comforting ideas which the scripture gives us of heaven
are at an end if we once deny the reality or eternity of hell.

Is there no future separate abode for those who die wicked and ungodly? Are all
men after death to be mingled together in one confused multitude? Why then,
heaven will be no heaven at all. It is utterly impossible for two to dwell
happily together except they be agreed. Is there to be a time when the term of
hell and punishment will be over? Are the wicked after ages of misery to be
admitted into heaven? Why then, the need of the sanctification of the spirit is
cast aside and despised.

I read that men can be sanctified and made meat for heaven on earth. I read
nothing of any sanctification in hell. Away with such baseless and unscriptural
theories.

The eternity of hell is as clearly affirmed in the Bible as the eternity of
heaven. Once allow that hell is not eternal and you may as well see that God and
heaven are not eternal. The same Greek word which is used in the expression
everlasting punishment is the word that is used by the Lord Jesus in the
expression life eternal and by Saint Paul in the expression everlasting God.

Matthew 25 46 and Romans 16 26 I know that all this sounds dreadful in many
ears. I do not wonder. But the only question we have to settle is this.

Is it scriptural? Is it true? I maintain firmly that it is so. And I maintain
that professing Christians ought to be often reminded that they may be lost and
go to hell. I know that it is easy to deny all plain teaching about hell and to
make it odious by invidious names.

I have often heard of narrow-minded views and old-fashioned notions and
brimstone theology and the like. I have often been told that broad views are
wanted in the present day. I wish to be as broad as the Bible, neither less nor
more.

I say that he is the narrow-minded theologian who tears down some parts of the
Bible as the natural heart dislikes and rejects any portion of the counsel of
God. God knows that I never speak of hell without pain and sorrow. I would
gladly offer the salvation of the gospel to the very chief of sinners.

I would willingly say to the vilest and most profligate of mankind on his
deathbed, Repent and believe on Jesus and thou shalt be saved. But God forbid
that I should ever keep back from mortal man that scripture reveals a hell as
well as a heaven and that the gospel teaches that men may be lost as well as
saved. The watchman who keeps silent when he sees a fire is guilty of gross
neglect.

The doctor who tells us we are getting well when we are dying is a false friend.
And the minister who keeps back hell from his people in his sermons is neither a
faithful nor a charitable man. Where is the charity of keeping back any portion
of God's truth? He is the kindest friend who tells me the whole extent of my
danger.

Where is the use of hiding the future from the impenitent and the ungodly?
Surely it is like helping the devil if we do not tell them plainly that the soul
that sinneth shall surely die. Who knows but the wretched carelessness of many
baptized persons arises from this that they have never been told plainly of
hell. Who can tell but thousands might be converted if ministers would urge them
more faithfully to flee from the wrath to come.

Verily, I fear we are many of us guilty in this matter. There is a morbid
tenderness amongst us which is not the tenderness of Christ. We have spoken of
mercy but not of judgment.

We have preached many sermons about heaven but few about hell. We have been
carried away by the wretched fear of being thought low, vulgar, and fanatical.
We have forgotten that he who judges us is the Lord and that the man who teaches
the same doctrine that Christ taught cannot be wrong.

If you would ever be a healthy scriptural Christian I entreat you to give hell a
place in your theology. Establish it in your mind as a fixed principle that God
is a God of judgment as well as of mercy and that the same everlasting counsel
which laid the foundation of the bliss of heaven have also laid the foundation
of the misery of hell. Keep in full view of your mind that all who die
unpardoned and unrenewed are utterly unfit for the presence of God and must be
lost forever.

They are not capable of enjoying heaven. They could not be happy there. They
must go to their own place and that place is hell.

Oh, it is a great thing in these days of unbelief to believe the whole Bible. If
you would ever be a healthy and scriptural Christian I entreat you to beware of
any ministry which does not plainly teach the reality and eternity of hell. Such
a ministry may be soothing and pleasant but it is far more likely to lull you to
sleep than to lead you to Christ or to build you up in the faith.

It is impossible to leave out any portion of God's truth without spoiling the
whole. That preaching is sadly defective which dwells exclusively on the mercies
of God and the joys of heaven and never sets forth the terrors of the Lord and
the miseries of hell. It may be popular but it is not scriptural.

It may amuse and gratify but it will not save. Give me the preaching which keeps
back nothing that God has revealed. You may call it stern and harsh.

You may tell us that to frighten people is not the way to do them good. But you
are forgetting that the grand object of the gospel is to persuade men to flee
from the wrath to come and that it is vain to expect men to flee unless they are
afraid. Well would it be for many professing Christians if they were more afraid
about their souls than they are now.

If you desire to be a healthy Christian consider often what your own end will
be. Will it be happiness or will it be misery? Will it be the death of the
righteous or will it be a death without hope like that of Lot's wife? You cannot
live always. There must be an end one day.

The last sermon will one day be heard. The last prayer will one day be prayed.
The last chapter in the Bible will one day be read.

Meaning, wishing, hoping, intending, resolving, doubting, hesitating, all will
at length be over. You will have to leave this world and to stand before a holy
God. Oh that you would be wise.

Oh that you would consider your latter end. You cannot trifle forever. A time
will come when you must be serious.

You cannot put off your soul's concerns forever. A day will come when you must
have a reckoning with God. You cannot be always singing and dancing and eating
and drinking and dressing and reading and laughing and jesting and scheming and
planning and money making.

The summer insects cannot always sport in the sunshine. The cold chilly evening
will come at last and stop their sport forever. So will it be with you.

You may put off religion now and refuse the counsel of God's ministers. But the
cool of the day is drawing on when God will come down to speak with you. And
what will your end be? Will it be a hopeless one like that of Lot's wife? I
beseech you by the mercies of God to look this question fairly in the face.

I entreat you not to stifle conscience by vague hopes of God's mercy while your
heart pleads to the world. I implore you not to drown convictions by childish
fancies about God's love while your daily ways and habits show plainly that the
love of the Father is not in you. There is mercy in God like a river.

But it is for the penitent believer in Christ Jesus. There is a love in God
toward sinners which is unspeakable and unsearchable. But it is for those who
hear Christ's voice and follow Him.

Seek to have an interest in that love. Break off every known sin. Come out
boldly from the world.

Cry mightily to God in prayer. Cast yourself wholly and unreservedly on the Lord
Jesus for time and eternity. Lay aside every weight.

Cling to nothing however dear which interferes with your soul's salvation. Give
up everything however precious which comes between you and heaven. This old
shipwrecked world is fast sinking beneath your feet.

The one thing needful is to have a place in the lifeboat and get safe to shore.
Give diligence to make your calling and election sure. Whatever happens to your
house and property see that you make sure of heaven.

Oh better a million times be laughed at and thought extreme in this world than
go down to hell from the midst of the congregation and end like Lot's wife. And
now let me conclude this paper by offering to all who read it a few questions to
impress the subject on their consciences. You have seen the history of Lot's
wife her privileges, her sin, and her end.

You have been told of the uselessness of privileges without the gift of the Holy
Ghost of the danger of worldliness and of the reality of hell. There's a need to
wind up all by a few direct appeals to your own heart. In a day of much light
and knowledge and possessions a desire to set up a beacon to preserve souls from
shipwreck.

This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB
makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available free and for sale in
audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources as well as our
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Canada T6L 3T5 You may also request a free printed catalog.

And remember that John Calvin in defending the Reformation's regulative
principle of worship or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship
commenting on the words of God which I commanded them not neither came into my
heart from his commentary on Jeremiah 731 writes God here cuts off from men
every occasion for making evasions since he condemns by this one phrase I have
not commanded them whatever the Jews devised there is then no other argument
needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God for when
men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies and attend
not to his commands they pervert true religion and if this principle was adopted
by the papists all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly
exercise themselves would fall to the ground it is indeed a horrible thing for
the papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their
own superstitions there is an immense number of them as it is well known and as
it manifestly appears were they to admit this principle that we cannot rightly
worship God except by obeying his word they would be delivered from their deep
abyss of error the prophet's words then are very important when he says that God
had commanded no such thing and that it never came to his mind as though he had
said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required
nay, what he never knew


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  CHAPTER 15: CHAPTER 15
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B. Are you lukewarm and cold in your Christianity? Alas, many are. They try to
serve two masters. They labor to keep friends both with God and mammon.

They strive to be a kind of spiritual bat, neither one thing nor the other. Not
quite a thoroughgoing Christian, but not quite men of the world. If you are such
an one, I say to you this day, take care, remember Lot's wife.

C. Are you halting between two opinions and disposed to go back to the world?
Alas, many are. They are afraid of the cross. They secretly dislike the trouble
and reproach of decided religion.

They are weary of the wilderness and the manna, and would fain return to Egypt
if they could. If you are such an one, I say to you this day, take care,
remember Lot's wife. D. Are you secretly cherishing some besetting sin? Alas,
many are.

They go far in a profession of religion. They do many things that are right and
are very like the people of God. But there is always some darling evil habit
which they cannot tear from their heart.

Hidden worldliness or covetousness or lust sticks to them like their skin. They
are willing to see all their idols broken but this one. If you are such an one,
I say to you this day, take care, remember Lot's wife.

E. Are you trifling with little sins? Alas, many are. They hold the great
essential doctrines of the gospel. They keep clear of all gross profligacy or
open breach of God's law.

But they are painfully careless about little inconsistencies and painfully ready
to make excuses for them. It is only a little temper or a little levity or a
little faultlessness or a little forgetfulness, they tell us. God does not take
account of such little matters.

We are none of us perfect. God will never require it. If you are such an one, I
say to you this day, take care, remember Lot's wife.

F. Are you resting on religious privileges? Alas, many do. They enjoy the
opportunity of hearing the gospel regularly preached and of attending many
ordinances and means of grace and they settle down on their leaves. They seem to
be rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, Revelation 3.17.
While they have neither faith nor grace nor spiritual mindedness nor meekness
for heaven.

If you are such an one, I say to you this day, take care, remember Lot's wife.
G. Are you trusting to your religious knowledge? Alas, many do. They are not
ignorant as other men.

They know the difference between true doctrine and false. They can dispute. They
can reason.

They can argue. They can quote texts. But all this time they are not converted
and they are yet dead in trespasses and sins.

If you are such an one, I say to you this day, take care, remember Lot's wife.
H. Are you making some profession of religion and yet clinging to the world?
Alas, many do. They aim at being thought Christians.

They like the credit of being serious, steady, proper, regular, church going
people. Yet all the while their dress, their taste, their companions, their
entertainments tell plainly they are of the world. If you are such an one, I say
to you this day, take care, remember Lot's wife.

I. Are you trusting that you will have a deathbed repentance? Alas, many do.
They know they are not what they ought to be. They are not yet born again and
fit to die.

But they flatter themselves that when their last illness comes they shall have
time to repent and lay hold on Christ and go out of the world pardoned,
sanctified, and meet for heaven. They forget that people often die very suddenly
and that as they live, they generally die. If you are such an one, I say to you
this day, take care, remember Lot's wife.

J. Do you belong to an evangelical congregation? Many do, and the last go no
further. They hear the truth Sunday after Sunday and remain as hard as the
nether millstone. Sermon after sermon sounds in their ears.

Month after month they are invited to repent and to believe, to come to Christ
and to be saved. Year after year passes away and they are not changed. They keep
their seat under the teaching of a favorite minister and they also keep their
favorite sins.

If you are such an one, I say to you this day, take care, remember Lot's wife. O
may these solemn words of our Lord Jesus Christ be deeply graven on all our
hearts. May they awaken us when we feel sleepy, revive us when we feel dead,
sharpen us when we feel dull, warm us when we feel cold.

May they prove a spur to quicken us when we are falling back and a bridle to
check us when we are turning side. May they be a shield to defend us when Satan
casts a subtle temptation at our heart and a sword to fight with when he says
boldly, give up Christ, come back to the world and follow me. O may we say in
such hours of trial, soul, remember thy Savior's warning.

Soul, soul, has thou forgotten his words? Soul, soul, remember Lot's wife.
Chapter 11, page 182. Christ's greatest trophy.

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be
Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost
not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed
justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done
nothing amiss.

And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And
Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. Luke 23, verses 39 through 43.

There are a few passages in the New Testament which are more familiar to men's
ears than the verses which head this chapter. They contain the well-known story
of the penitent thief. And it is right and good that these verses should be well
known.

They have comforted many troubled souls. They have brought peace to many uneasy
consciences. They have been a healing balm to many wounded hearts.

They have been a medicine to many sin-sick souls. They have smoothed down not a
few dying pillows. Wherever the gospel of Christ is preached, there will always
be honored, loved, and had in remembrance.

I wish to say something about these verses. I will try to unfold the leading
lessons which they are meant to teach. I cannot see the peculiar mental state of
anyone into whose hands this paper may fall.

But I can see truths in this passage which no man can ever know too well. Here
is the greatest trophy which Christ ever won. Number one.

First of all, we are meant to learn from these verses Christ's power and
willingness to save sinners. This is the main doctrine to be gathered from the
history of the penitent thief. It teaches us that which ought to be music in the
ears of all who hear it.

It teaches us that Jesus Christ is mighty to save. Isaiah 60, verse 1. I ask
anyone to say whether a case could look more hopeless and desperate than that of
this penitent thief once did. He was a wicked man, a malefactor, a thief, if not
a murderer.

We know this for only such are crucified. He was suffering a just punishment for
breaking the laws. And as he had lived wickedly, so he seemed determined to die
wicked.

For at first, when he was crucified, he railed on our Lord. And he was a dying
man. He hung there, nailed to a cross, from which he was never to come down
alive.

He had no longer power to stir hand or foot. His hours were numbered. The grave
was ready for him.

There was but a step between him and death. If ever there was a soul hovering on
the brink of hell, it was the soul of this thief. If ever there was a case that
seemed lost, gone, and past recovery, it was his.

If ever there was a child of Adam whom the devil made sure of as his own, it was
this man. But see now what happened. He ceased to rail and blaspheme as he had
done at first.

He began to speak in another manner altogether. He turned to our blessed Lord in
prayer. He prayed Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom.

He asked that his soul might be cared for, his sins pardoned, and himself
thought of in another world. Truly this was a wonderful change. And then mark
what kind of answer he received.

Some would have said he was too wicked a man to be saved, but it was not so.
Some would have fancied it was too late, the door was shut, and there was no
room for mercy. But it proved not too late at all.

The Lord Jesus returned him an immediate answer, spoke kindly to him, assured
him he should be with him that day in paradise, pardoned him completely,
cleansed him thoroughly from his sins, received him graciously, justified him
freely, raised him from the gates of hell, gave him a title to glory. Of all the
multitude of saved souls, none ever received so glorious an assurance of his own
salvation as did this penitent thief. Go over the whole list from Genesis to
Revelation, and you will find none who had such words spoken to him as these.

Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. I believe the Lord Jesus never gave so
complete a proof of his power and will to save as he did upon this occasion. In
the day when he seemed most weak, he showed that he was a strong deliverer.

In the hour when his body was wracked with pain, he showed that he could feel
tenderly for others. At the time when he himself was dying, he conferred on a
sinner eternal life. Now have I not a right to say, Christ is able to save to
the uttermost them that come unto God by him? Hebrews 7 verse 25 Behold the
proof of it.

If ever sinner was too far gone to be saved, it was this thief. Yet he was
plucked as a brand from the fire. Have I not a right to say, Christ will receive
any poor sinner who comes to him with the prayer of faith and cast out none?
Behold the proof of it.

If ever there was one that seemed too bad to be received, this was the man. Yet
the door of mercy was wide open even for him. Have I not a right to say, By
grace ye may be saved through faith, not of works.

Fear not, only believe. Behold the proof of it. This thief was never baptized.

He belonged to no visible church. He never received the Lord's Supper. He never
did any work for Christ.

He never gave money to Christ's cause. But he had faith and so he was saved.
Have I not a right to say, The youngest faith will save a man's soul, if it only
be true.

Behold the proof of it. This man's faith was only one day old, but it led him to
Christ and preserved him from hell. Why then should any man or woman despair
with such a passage as this in the Bible? Jesus is a physician who can cure
hopeless cases.

He can quicken dead souls and call the things which be not as though they were.
Never should any man or woman despair. Jesus is still the same now that he was
1,800 years ago.

The keys of death and hell are in his hand. When he opens, none can shut.
Footnote.

O Savior, what a precedent is this of thy free and powerful grace! Where thou
wilt give, what unworthiness can bar us from thy mercy? When thou wilt give,
what time can prejudice our vocation? Who can despair of thy goodness when he,
that in the morning was boasting to hell, is in the evening with thee in
paradise? Bishop Hall. End of footnote. What though your sins be more in number
than the hairs of your head? What though your evil habits have grown with your
growth and strengthened with your strength? What though you have hitherto hated
good and loved evil all the days of your life? These things are sad indeed, but
there is hope even for you.

Christ can heal you. Christ can raise you from your lowest state. Heaven is not
shut against you.

Christ is able to admit you if you will humbly commit your soul into his hands.
Are your sins forgiven? If not, I set before you this day a full and free
salvation. I invite you to follow the steps of the penitent thief.

Come to Christ and live. I tell you that Jesus is very pitiful and of tender
mercy. I tell you he can do everything that your soul requires.

Though your sins be as scarlet, he can make them white as snow. Though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Why should you not be saved as well as
another? Come unto Christ and live.

Are you a true believer? If you are, you ought to glory in Christ. Glory not in
your own faith, your own feelings, your own knowledge, your own prayers, your
own amendment, your own diligence. Glory in nothing but Christ.

Alas, the best of us know but little of that merciful and mighty Savior. We do
not exalt him and glory in him enough. Let us pray that we may see more of the
fullness there is in him.

Do you ever try to do good to others? If you do, remember to tell them about
Christ. Tell the young, tell the poor, tell the aged, tell the ignorant, tell
the sick, tell the dying, tell them all about Christ. Tell them of his power and
tell them of his love.

Tell them of his doings and tell them of his feelings. Tell them what he has
done for the chief of sinners. Tell them what he is willing to do to the last
day of time.

Tell it to them over and over again. Never be tired of speaking of Christ. Say
to them broadly and fully, freely and unconditionally, unreservedly and
undoubtedly, come unto Christ as the penitent thief did.

Come unto Christ and you shall be saved. Number 2 The second lesson we are meant
to learn from this passage is this. If some are saved in the very hour of death,
others are not.

This is a truth that ought never to be passed over and I dare not leave it
unnoticed. It is a truth that stands out plainly in the sad end of the other
malefactor and is only too often forgotten. Men forget that there were two
thieves.

What became of the other thief who was crucified? Why did he not turn from his
sin and call upon the Lord? Why did he remain hardened and impenitent? Why was
he not saved? It is useless to try to answer such questions. Let us be content
to take the fact as we find it and see what it is meant to teach us. We have no
right whatever to say this thief was a worse man than his companion.

There is nothing to prove it. Both plainly were wicked men. Both were receiving
the due reward of their deeds.

Both hung by the side of our Lord Jesus Christ. Both heard him pray for his
murderers. Both saw him suffer patiently.

But while one repented the other remained hardened. While one began to pray, the
other went on railing. While one was converted in his last hours, the other died
a bad man as he had lived.

While one was taken to paradise, the other went to his own place, the place of
the devil and his angels. Now these things were written for our warning. There
is warning as well as comfort in these verses and that is a very solemn warning
too.

They tell me loudly that though some may repent and be converted on their
deathbeds, it does not at all follow that all will. A deathbed is not always a
saving time. They tell me loudly that two men may have the same opportunities of
getting good for their souls, may be placed in the same position, see the same
things, and hear the same things.

And yet only one of the two shall take advantage of them, repent, believe, and
be saved. They tell me above all that repentance and faith are the gifts of God
and are not in a man's own power, and that if anyone flatters himself he can
repent at his own time, choose his own season, seek the Lord when he pleases,
and like the penitent thief be saved at the very last, he may find at length he
is greatly deceived. And it is good and profitable to bear this in mind.

There is an immense amount of delusion in the world on this very subject. I see
many allowing life to slip away, quite unprepared to die. I see many allowing
that they ought to repent, but always putting off their own repentance.

And I believe one grand reason is that most men suppose they can turn to God
just when they like. They rest the parable of the laborer in the vineyard, which
speaks of the eleventh hour, and use it as it never was meant to be used. They
dwell on the pleasant part of the verses I am now considering and forget the
rest.

They talk of the thief that went to paradise and was saved, and they forget the
one who died as he had lived and was lost. Footnote. He that puts off his
repentance and seeking for pardon to the very last, in reliance upon this
example, does but tempt God and turn that to his own poison, which God intended
for better ends.

The mercies of God are never recorded in Scripture for man's presumption, and
the failings of man never for imitation. Lightfoot. A sermon, 1684.

Most ungrateful and foolish is the conduct of those who take encouragement from
the penitent thief to put off repentance to a dying moment. Most ungrateful in
perverting the grace of their Redeemer into an occasion of renewing their
provocations against him. And most foolish to imagine that what our Lord did in
so singular circumstances is to be drawn into an ordinary precedent.

Godridge. End of footnote. I entreat every man of common sense who reads this
paper to take heed that he does not fall into this mistake.

Look at the history of men in the Bible and see how often these notions I have
been speaking of are contradicted. Mark well how many proofs there are that two
men may have the same light offered them and only one use it, and that no one
has a right to take liberties with God's mercy and presume he will be able to
repent just when he likes. Look at Saul and David.

They lived about the same time. They rose from the same rank in life. They were
called to the same position in the world.

They enjoyed the ministry of the same prophet, Samuel. They reigned the same
number of years. Yet one was saved and the other lost.

Look at Sergius Paulus and Galileo. They were both Roman governors. They were
both wise and prudent men in their generation.

They both heard the apostle Paul preach. But one believed and was baptized. The
other cared for none of those things.

Acts 18.17 Look at the world around you and see what is going on continually
under your eyes. Two sisters will often attend the same ministry, listen to the
same truth, hear the same sermons, and yet only one shall be converted unto God
while the other remains totally unmoved. Two friends often read the same
religious book.

One is so moved by it that he gives up all for Christ. The other sees nothing at
all in it and continues the same as before. Hundreds have read Doddridge's Rise
and Progress without Prophet.

With Wilberforce, it was one of the beginnings of spiritual life. Thousands have
read Wilberforce's Practical View of Christianity and laid it down again,
unaltered. From the time Lay Richman read it, he became another man.

No man has any warrant for saying, Salvation is in my own power. I do not
pretend to explain these things. I only put them before you as great facts and I
ask you to consider them well.

You must not misunderstand me. I do not want to discourage you. I say these
things in all affection to give you warning of danger.

I do not say them to drive you back from heaven. I say them rather to draw you
on and bring you to Christ while He can be found. I want you to beware of
presumption.

Do not abuse God's mercy and compassion. Do not continue in sin I beseech you
and think you can repent and believe and be saved just when you like, when you
please, when you will, and when you choose. I would always set before you an
open door.

I would always say, while there is life, there is hope. But if you would be
wise, put nothing off that concerns your soul. I want you to beware of letting
slip good thoughts and godly convictions if you have them.

Cherish them and nourish them, lest you lose them forever. Make the most of
them, lest they take to themselves wings and flee away. Have you an inclination
to begin praying? Put it in practice at once.

Have you an idea of beginning really to serve Christ? Set about it at once. Are
you enjoying any spiritual light? See that you live up to your light. Trifle not
with opportunities, lest the day come when you will want to use them and not be
able.

Linger not, lest you become wise too late. You may say perhaps, it is never too
late to repent. I answer, that is right enough, but late repentance is seldom
true.

And I say further, you cannot be certain if you put off repenting, you will
repent at all. You may say, why should I be afraid? The penitent thief was
saved. I answer, that is true, but look again at the passage which tells you
that the other thief was lost.

Number 3 The third lesson we are meant to learn from these verses is this, the
Spirit always leads saved souls in one way. This is a point that deserves
particular attention and is often overlooked. Men look at the broad fact that
the penitent thief was saved when he was dying and they look no further.

They do not consider the evidences this thief left behind him. They do not
observe the abundant proof he gave of the work of the Spirit in his heart. And
these proofs I wish to trace out.

I wish to tell you that the Spirit always works in one way and that, whether he
converts a man in an hour, as he did the penitent thief, or whether by slow
degrees, as he does others, the steps by which he leads souls to heaven are
always the same. Let me try to make this clear to everyone who reads this paper.
I want to put you on your guard.

I want you to shake off the common notion that there is some easy royal road to
heaven from a dying bed. I want you thoroughly to understand that every saved
soul goes through the same experience and that the leading principles of the
penitent thief's religion were just the same as those of the oldest saint that
ever lived. A. See then for one thing how strong was the faith of this man.

He called Jesus, Lord. He declared his belief that he would have a kingdom. He
believed that he was able to give him eternal life and glory and in this belief
prayed to him.

He maintained his innocence of all the charges brought against him. This man,
said he, hath done nothing amiss. Others perhaps may have thought the Lord
innocent.

None said so openly, but this poor dying man. And when did all this happen? It
happened when the whole nation had denied Christ, shouting, Crucify him, crucify
him. We have no king but Caesar.

When the chief priests and Pharisees had condemned and found him guilty of
death. When even his own disciples had forsaken him and fled. When he was
hanging, faint, bleeding and dying on the cross, numbered with the transgressors
and accounted accursed.

This was the hour when the thief believed in Christ and prayed to him. Surely
such faith was never seen since the world began. Footnote I know not that since
the creation of the world there ever was a more remarkable and striking example
of faith.

Calvin's Commentary on the Gospels A great faith that can see the sun under so
thick a cloud that can discover a Christ, a Savior, under such a poor, scorned,
despised, crucified Jesus and call him Lord. A great faith that could see
Christ's kingdom through his cross in grave and death and when there was so
little sign of a kingdom and prayed to be remembered in that kingdom. Lightfoot,
A Sermon, 1684 The penitent thief was the first confessor of Christ's heavenly
kingdom, the first martyr who bore testimony to the holiness of his sufferings,
and the first apologist for his oppressed innocence.

Quesnel, On the Gospel End of Footnote The disciples had seen mighty signs and
miracles. They had seen the dead raised with a word and lepers healed with a
touch, the blind receiving sight, the dumb made to speak, the lame made to walk.
They had seen thousands fed with a few loaves and fishes.

They had seen their Master walking on the water as on dry land. They had all of
them heard him speak as no man ever spake and hold out promises of good things
yet to come. They had some of them had a foretaste of his glory in the Mount of
Transfiguration.

Doubtless their faith was the gift of God, but still they had much to help it.
The dying thief saw none of the things I have mentioned. He only saw our Lord in
agony and in weakness, in suffering and in pain.

He saw him undergoing a dishonorable punishment, deserted, mocked, despised,
blasphemed. He saw him rejected by all the great and wise and noble of his own
people. His strength dried up like a potsherd, his life drawing nigh to the
grave.

He saw no scepter, no royal crown, no outward dominion, no glory, no majesty, no
power, no signs of might. And yet the dying thief believed and looked forward to
Christ's kingdom. Would you know if you have the Spirit? Then mark the question
I put to you this day.

Where is your faith in Christ? B. See another thing. What a right sense of sin
the thief had. He says to his companion, We receive the due reward of our deeds.

He acknowledges his own ungodliness and the justice of his punishment. He makes
no attempt to justify himself or excuse his wickedness. He speaks like a man
humbled and self-abased by the remembrance of past iniquities.

This is what all God's children feel. They are ready to allow they are poor,
hell-deserving sinners. They can say with their hearts as well as with their
lips, We have left undone the things that we ought to have done, and we have
done those things that we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us.

Would you know if you have the Spirit? Then mark my question. Do you feel your
sins? C. See for another thing what brotherly love the thief showed to his
companion. He tried to stop his railing and blaspheming and bring him to a
better mind.

Dost not thou fear God, he says, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? There
is no surer mark of grace than this. Grace shakes a man out of his selfishness
and makes him feel for the souls of others. When the Samaritan woman was
converted, she left her waterpot and ran to the city, saying, Come, see a man
that told me all things that ever I did.

Is not this the Christ? When Saul was converted, immediately he went to the
synagogue at Damascus and testified to his brethren of Israel that Christ was
the Son of God. Acts 9.20 Would you know if you have the Spirit? Then where is
your charity and love to souls? In one word you see in the penitent thief a
finished work of the Holy Ghost. Every part of the believer's character may be
traced in him.

Short as his life was after conversion, he found time to leave abundant evidence
that he was a child of God. His faith, his prayer, his humility, his brotherly
love are unmistakable witnesses of the reality of his repentance. He was not a
penitent in name only, but in deed and in truth.

Let no man therefore think, because the penitent thief was saved, that men can
be saved without leaving any evidence of the Spirit's work. Let such an one
consider well what evidences this man left behind and take care. It is mournful
to hear what people sometimes say about what they call deathbed evidences.

It is perfectly fearful to observe how little satisfies some persons and how
easily they can persuade themselves that their friends have gone to heaven. They
will tell you when their relative is dead and gone, that he made such a
beautiful prayer one day, or that he talked so well, or that he was so sorry for
his old ways and intended to live so differently if he got better, or that he
craved nothing in this world, or that he liked people to read to him and pray
with him. And because they have this to go upon, they seem to have a comfortable
hope that he is saved.

Christ may never have been named. The way of salvation may never have been in
the least mentioned. But it matters not.

There was a little talk of religion, and so they are content. Now I have no
desire to hurt the feelings of anyone who reads this paper, but I must and will
speak plainly upon this subject. Once for all, let me say, that as a general
rule, nothing is so unsatisfactory as deathbed evidences.

The things that men say and the feelings they express when sick and frightened
are little to be depended upon. Often, too often they are the result of fear and
do not spring from the ground of the heart. Often, too often they are things
said by rote, caught from the lips of ministers and anxious friends, but
evidently not felt.

And nothing can prove all this more clearly than the well-known fact that the
great majority of persons who make promises of amendment on a sickbed, and then
for the first time talk about religion, if they recover, go back to sin and the
world. When a man had lived a life of thoughtlessness and folly, I want
something more than a few fair words and good wishes to satisfy me about his
soul when he comes to his deathbed. It is not enough for me that he will let me
read the Bible to him and pray by his bedside, that he says he has not thought
so much as he ought of religion, and he thinks he should be a different man if
he got better.

All this does not content me. It does not make me feel happy about his state. It
is very well as far as it goes, but it is not conversion.

It is very well in its way, but it is not faith in Christ. Until I see
conversion and faith in Christ, I cannot and dare not feel satisfied. Others may
feel satisfied if they please, and after their friend's death say they hope he
is gone to heaven.

For my part, I would rather hold my tongue and say nothing. I would be content
with the least measure of repentance and faith than a dying man, even though it
be no bigger than a grain of mustard seed. But to be content with anything less
than repentance and faith seems to me next door to infidelity.

What kind of evidence do you mean to leave behind as to the state of your soul?
Take example by the penitent thief, and you will do well. When we have carried
you to your narrow bed, let us not have to hunt up stray words and scraps of
religion in order to make out that you were a true believer. Let us not have to
say in a hesitating way to another, I trust he is happy, he talked so nicely one
day, and he seemed so pleased with a chapter in the Bible on another occasion,
and he liked such a person who is a good man.

Let us be able to speak decidedly as to your condition. Let us have some solid
proof of your repentance, your faith, and your holiness, so that none shall be
able for a moment to question your state. Depend on it.

Without this, those you leave behind can feel no solid comfort about your soul.
We may use the form of religion at your burial and express charitable hopes. We
may meet you at the churchyard gate and say, Blessed are the dead that die in
the Lord.

But this will not alter your condition. If you die without conversion to God,
without repentance and without faith, your funeral will only be the funeral of a
lost soul. You had better never have been born.

Number four. We are meant in the next place to learn from these verses that
believers in Christ, when they die, are with the Lord. This you may gather from
our Lord's words to the penitent thief.

This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And you have an expression very like
it in the epistle to the Philippians, where Paul says he has a desire to depart
and be with Christ. Philippians 1.23 I shall say but little on this subject.

I would simply lay it before you for your own private meditations. To my own
mind, it is very full of comfort and peace. Believers after death are with
Christ.

That answers many a difficult question which otherwise might puzzle man's busy,
restless mind. The abode of dead saints, their joys, their feelings, their
happiness, all seem met by this simple expression, they are with Christ. I
cannot enter into full explanations about the separate state of departed
believers.

It is a high and deep subject such as man's mind can neither grasp nor fathom. I
know their happiness falls short of what it will be when their bodies are raised
again in the resurrection at the last day and Jesus returns to earth. Yet I know
also they enjoy a blessed rest, a rest from labor, a rest from sorrow, a rest
from pain, and a rest from sin.

But it does not follow because I cannot explain these things that I am not
persuaded they are far happier than they ever were on earth. I see their
happiness in this very passage, they are with Christ. And when I see that, I see
enough.

If the sheep are with the shepherd, if the members are with the head, if the
children of Christ's family are with him who loved them and carried them all the
days of their pilgrimage on earth, all must be well, all must be right. I cannot
describe what kind of place paradise is because I cannot understand the
condition of a soul separate from the body. But I ask no brighter view of
paradise than this, that Christ is there.

Footnote. We ought not to enter into curious and subtle arguments about the
place of paradise. Let us rest satisfied with knowing that those who are
engrafted by faith into the body of Christ are partakers of life, and there
enjoy after death a blessed and joyful rest until the perfect glory of the
heavenly life is fully manifested by the coming of Christ.

Calvin's Commentary on the Gospels. End of footnote. All other things in the
picture which imagination draws of the state between death and resurrection are
nothing in comparison of this.

How he is there, and in what way he is there, I know not. Let me only see Christ
in paradise when my eyes close in death, and that will suffice me. Well does the
psalmist say, in thy presence is fullness of joy.

Psalm 1611. It was a true saying of a dying girl when her mother tried to
comfort her by describing what paradise would be. There, she said to the child,
there you will have no pains and no sickness.

There you will see your brothers and sisters who have gone before you, and will
be always happy. Ah, mother, was the reply, but there is one thing better than
all, and that is, Christ will be there. It may be you do not think much about
your soul.

It may be you know little of Christ as your Savior, and have never tasted by
experience that He is precious, and yet perhaps you hope to go to paradise when
you die. Surely this passage is one that should make you think. Paradise is a
place where Christ is.

Then can it be a place that you would enjoy? It may be you are a believer and
yet tremble at the thought of the grave. It seems cold and dreary. You feel as
if all before you was dark and gloomy and comfortless.

Fear not, but be encouraged by this text. You are going to paradise, and Christ
will be there. Number five.

The last thing we are meant to learn from these verses is this. The eternal
portion of every man's soul is close to him. Today says our Lord to the penitent
thief, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

He names no distinct period. He does not talk of his entering into a state of
happiness as a thing far away. He speaks of today.

This very day in which thou art hanging on the cross. How near that seems. How
awfully near that word brings our everlasting dwelling place.

Happiness or misery, sorrow or joy, the presence of Christ or the company of
devils, all are close to us. There is but a step, says David, between me and
death. First Samuel 20, verse 3. There is but a step, we may say, between
ourselves and either paradise or hell.

We, none of us, realize this as we ought to do. It is high time to shake off the
dreamy state of mind in which we live on this matter. We are apt to talk and
think, even about believers, as if death was a long journey, as if the dying
saint had embarked on a long voyage.

It is all wrong, very wrong. Their harbor and their home is close by, and they
have entered it. Some of us know by bitter experience what a long and weary time
it is between the death of those we love and the hour when we bury them out of
our sight.

Such weeks are the slowest, saddest, heaviest weeks in all our lives. But,
blessed be God, the souls of departed saints are free from the very moment their
last breath is drawn. While we are weeping and the coffin is preparing and the
mourning being provided and the last painful arrangements being made, the
spirits of our beloved ones are enjoying the presence of Christ.

They are freed forever from the burden of the flesh. They are where the wicked
cease from troubling and the weary be at rest. Job 3.17 The very moment that
believers die, they are in paradise.

Their battle is fought. Their strife is over. They have passed through that
gloomy valley we must one day tread.

They have gone over that dark river we must one day cross. They have drunk that
last bitter cup which sin has mingled for man. They have reached that place
where sorrow and sighing are no more.

Surely, we should not wish them back again. We should not weep for them, but for
ourselves. We are warring still, but they are at peace.

We are laboring, but they are at rest. We are watching, but they are sleeping.
We are wearing our spiritual armor, but they have forever put it off.

We are still at sea, but they are safe in harbor. We have tears, but they have
joy. We are strangers in pilgrims, but as for them, they are at home.

Surely, better are the dead in Christ than the living. Surely, the very hour the
poor saint dies, he is at once higher and happier than the highest upon earth.
This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books.

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that's E-D-M-O-N T-O-N Alberta A-B Canada T-6-L 3-T-5 You may also request a
free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the
Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the
scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded
them not, neither came into my heart.

From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every
occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not
commanded them whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed
to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men
allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies and attend not to
His commands, they pervert true religion.

And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of
worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It
is indeed a horrible thing for the papists to seek to discharge their duties
towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of
them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears.

Were they to admit this principle that we cannot rightly worship God except by
obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The
prophet's words, then, are very important when he says that God had commanded no
such thing, and that it never came to His mind, as though He had said that men
assume too much wisdom when they devise what He never required, nay, what He
never knew.


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  CHAPTER 16: CHAPTER 16
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Surely, the very hour the poor saint dies, he is at once higher and happier than
the highest upon earth. Footnote. We give thee hearty thanks, for that it hath
pleased thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful
world.

Church of England Burial Service. I have some of the best news to impart. One
beloved by you has accomplished her warfare, has received an answer to her
prayers, and everlasting joy rests upon her head.

My dear wife, the source of my best earthly comfort for twenty years, departed
on Tuesday. Venn's letter to Stilling Fleet, announcing the death of his wife.
End of footnote.

I fear there is a vast amount of delusion on this point. I fear that many who
are not Roman Catholics, and profess not to believe in purgatory, have,
notwithstanding, some strange ideas in their minds about the immediate
consequences of death. I fear that many have a sort of vague notion that there
is some interval or space of time between death and their eternal state.

They fancy they shall go through a kind of purifying change, and that though
they die unfit for heaven, they shall yet be found meet for it after all. But
this is an entire mistake. There is no change after death.

There is no conversion in the grave. There is no new heart given after the last
breath is drawn. The very day we go, we launch forever.

The day we go from this world, we begin an eternal condition. From that day
there is no spiritual alteration, no spiritual change. As we die, so we shall
receive our portion after death.

As the tree falls, so it must lie. If you are an unconverted man, this ought to
make you think. Do you know you are close to hell? This very day you might die.

And if you died out of Christ, you would open your eyes at once in hell and in
torment. If you are a true Christian, you are far nearer heaven than you think.
This very day, if the Lord should take you, you would find yourself in paradise.

The good land of promise is near to you. The eyes that you closed in weakness
and pain would open at once on a glorious rest, such as my tongue cannot
describe. And now let me say a few words in conclusion, and I have done.

1. This paper may fall into the hands of some humble-hearted and contrite
sinner. Are you that man? Then here is encouragement for you. See what the
penitent thief did, and do likewise.

See how he prayed. See how he called on the Lord Jesus Christ. See what an
answer of peace he obtained.

Brother or sister, why should you not do the same? Why should not you also be
saved? 2. This paper may fall into the hands of some proud and presumptuous man
of the world. Are you that man? Then take warning. See how the impenitent thief
died as he had lived, and beware lest you come to a like end.

O erring brother or sister, be not too confident, lest you die in your sins.
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Turn you.

Turn. Why will you die? 3. This paper may fall into the hands of some professing
believer in Christ. Are you such an one? Then take the penitent thief's religion
as a measure by which to prove your own.

See that you know something of true repentance and saving faith, of real
humility and fervent charity. Brother or sister, do not be satisfied with the
world standard of Christianity. Be of one mind with the penitent thief, and you
will be wise.

4. This paper may fall into the hands of someone who is mourning over departed
believers. Are you such an one? Then take comfort from this scripture. See how
your beloved ones are in the best of hands.

They cannot be better off. They never were so well in their lives as they are
now. They are with Jesus, whom their souls loved on earth.

O cease from your selfish mourning. Rejoice rather that they are freed from
trouble and have entered into rest. 5. And this paper may fall into the hands of
some aged servant of Christ.

Are you such an one? Then see from these verses how near you are to home. Your
salvation is nearer than when you first believed. A few more days of labor and
sorrow, and the King of kings shall send for you.

And in a moment your warfare shall be at an end, and all shall be peace. Chapter
12, page 196. The Ruler of the Waves And there arose a great storm of wind, and
the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

And he was in the hind part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him,
and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose and
rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still. And the wind ceased,
and there was a great calm.

And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
Mark 4, verses 37-40. It would be well if professing Christians in modern days
studied the four Gospels more than they do. No doubt all Scripture is
profitable.

It is not wise to exalt one part of the Bible at the expense of another. But I
think it should be good for some who are very familiar with the epistles, if
they knew a little more about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Now why do I say
this? I say it because I want professing Christians to know more about Christ.

It is well to be acquainted with all the doctrines and principles of
Christianity. It is better to be acquainted with Christ Himself. It is well to
be familiar with faith, and grace, and justification, and sanctification.

They are all matters pertaining to the King. But it is far better to be familiar
with Jesus Himself, to see the King's own face, and to behold His beauty. This
is one secret of imminent holiness.

He that would be conformed to Christ's image and become a Christlike man must be
constantly studying Christ Himself. Now the Gospels were written to make us
acquainted with Christ. The Holy Ghost has told us the story of His life and
death, His sayings and doings four times over.

Four different inspired hands have drawn the picture of the Savior, His ways,
His manners, His feelings, His wisdom, His grace, His patience, His love, His
power are all graciously unfolded to us by four different witnesses. Ought not
the sheep to be familiar with the shepherd? Ought not the patient to be familiar
with the physician? Ought not the bride to be familiar with the bridegroom?
Ought not the sinner to be familiar with the Savior? Beyond doubt it ought to be
so. The Gospels were written to make men familiar with Christ, and therefore I
wish men to study the Gospels.

On whom must we build our souls if we would be accepted with God? We must build
on the rock, Christ. From whom must we draw that grace of the Spirit which we
daily need in order to be fruitful? We must draw from the vine, Christ. To whom
must we look for sympathy when earthly friends fail us or die? We must look to
our elder brother, Christ.

By whom must our prayers be presented if they are to be heard on high? They must
be presented by our advocate, Christ. With whom do we hope to spend the thousand
years of glory and the after eternity? With the King of Kings, Christ. Surely we
cannot know this Christ too well.

Surely there is not a word, nor a deed, nor a day, nor a step, nor a thought in
the record of His life which ought not to be precious to us. We should labor to
be familiar with every line that is written about Jesus. Come now and let us
study a page in our Master's history.

Let us consider what we may learn from the verses of Scripture which head this
paper. You there see Jesus crossing the lake of Galilee in a boat with His
disciples. You see a sudden storm arise while He sleeps.

The waves beat into the boat and fill it. Death seems to be close at hand. The
frightened disciples awake their Master and cry for help.

He arises and rebukes the wind and the waves, and at once there is a calm. He
mildly reproves the faithless fears of His companions, and all is over. Such is
the picture.

It is one full of deep instruction. Come now and let us examine what we are
meant to learn. 1. Let us learn first of all that following Christ will not
prevent our having earthly sorrows and troubles.

Here are the chosen disciples of the Lord Jesus in great anxiety. The faithful
little flock which believed when priests and scribes and Pharisees were all
alike unbelieving is allowed by the shepherd to be much disquieted. The fear of
death breaks in upon them like an armed man.

The deep water seems likely to go over their souls. Peter, James, and John, the
pillars of the church about to be planted in the world, are much distressed.
Perhaps they had not reckoned on all this.

Perhaps they had expected that Christ's service would at any rate lift them
above the reach of earthly trials. Perhaps they thought that He who could raise
the dead and heal the sick and feed the multitudes with a few loaves and cast
out devils with a word, He would never allow His servants to be sufferers upon
earth. Perhaps they had supposed He would always grant them smooth journeys,
fine weather, an easy course, and freedom from trouble and care.

If the disciples thought so, they were much mistaken. The Lord Jesus taught them
that a man may be one of His chosen servants and yet have to go through many an
anxiety and endure many a pain. It is good to understand this clearly.

It is good to understand that Christ's service never did secure a man from all
the ills that flesh is heir to and never will. If you are a believer, you must
reckon on having your share of sickness and pain, of sorrow and tears, of losses
and crosses, of deaths and bereavements, of partings and separations, of
vexations and disappointments, so long as you are in the body. Christ never
undertakes that you shall get to heaven without these.

He has undertaken that all who come to Him shall have all things pertaining to
life and godliness. But He has never undertaken that He will make them
prosperous or rich or healthy and that death and sorrow shall never come to
their family. I have the privilege of being one of Christ's ambassadors.

In His name I can offer eternal life to any man, woman, or child who is willing
to have it. In His name I do offer pardon, peace, grace, glory to any son or
daughter of Adam who reads this paper. But I dare not offer that person worldly
prosperity as a part and parcel of the gospel.

I dare not offer him long life, an increased income, and freedom from pain. I
dare not promise the man who takes up the cross and follows Christ that in the
following he shall never meet with a storm. I know well that many do not like
these terms.

They would prefer having Christ and good health, Christ and plenty of money,
Christ and no death in their family, Christ and no wearing of cares, Christ and
a perpetual morning without clouds. But they do not like Christ and the cross,
Christ and tribulation, Christ and the conflict, Christ and the howling wind,
Christ and the storm. Is this the secret thought of anyone who is reading this
paper? Believe me, if it is, you are very wrong.

Listen to me and I will try to show you, you have yet much to learn. How should
you know who are true Christians if following Christ was the way to be free from
trouble? How should we discern the wheat from the chaff if it were not for the
winnowing of trial? How should we know whether men served Christ for his own
sake or for selfish motives if his service brought health and wealth with it as
a matter of course? The winds of winter soon show us which of the trees are
evergreen and which are not. The storms of affliction and care are useful in the
same way.

They discover whose faith is real and whose is nothing but profession and form.
How would the great work of sanctification go on in a man if he had no trial?
Trouble is often the only fire which will burn away the dross that clings to our
hearts. Trouble is the pruning knife which the great husbandman employs in order
to make us fruitful in good works.

The harvest of the Lord's field is seldom ripened by sunshine only. It must go
through its days of wind and rain and storm. If you desire to serve Christ and
be saved, I entreat you to take the Lord on his own terms.

Make up your mind to meet with your share of crosses and sorrows, and then you
will not be surprised. For want of understanding this, many seem to run well for
a season and then turn back in disgust and are cast away. If you profess to be a
child of God, leave to the Lord Jesus to sanctify you in his own way.

Rest satisfied that he never makes any mistakes. Be sure that he does all things
well. The winds may howl around you, and the waters swell.

But fear not, he is leading you by the right way, that he might bring you to a
city of habitation. Psalm 107, verse 7 2. Let us learn in the second place that
the Lord Jesus Christ is truly and really man. There are words used in this
little history which, like many other passages in the gospel, bring out this
truth in a very striking way.

We are told that when the waves began to break on the ship, Jesus was in the
hinder part, asleep on a pillow. He was weary, and who can wonder at it after
reading the account given in the fourth chapter of Mark. After laboring all day
to do good to souls, after preaching in the open air to vast multitudes, Jesus
was fatigued.

Surely if the sleep of the laboring man is sweet, much more sweet must have been
the sleep of our blessed Lord. Let us settle in our minds this great truth, that
Jesus Christ was verily and indeed man. He was equal to the Father in all
things, and the eternal God.

But he was also man, and took part of flesh and blood, and was made like unto us
in all things, sin only excepted. He had a body like ours. Like us he was born
of a woman.

Like us he grew and increased in stature. Like us he was often hungry and
thirsty, faint and weary. Like us he ate and drank, rested and slept.

Like us he sorrowed and wept and felt. It is all very wonderful, but so it is.
He that made the heavens went to and fro as a poor, weary man on earth.

He that ruled over principalities and powers in heavenly places took on him a
frail body like our own. He that might have dwelt forever in the glory which he
had with the Father amidst the praises of legions of angels came down to earth
and dwelt as a man among sinful men. Surely this fact alone is an amazing
miracle of condescension, grace, pity, and love.

I find a deep mine of comfort in this thought that Jesus is perfect man, no less
than perfect God. He in whom I am told by Scripture to trust is not only a great
high priest, but a feeling high priest. He is not only a powerful Savior, but a
sympathizing Savior.

He is not only the Son of God, mighty to save, but the Son of Man, able to feel.
Who does not know that sympathy is one of the sweetest things left to us in this
sinful world? It is one of the bright seasons in our dark journey here below
when we can find a person who enters into our troubles and goes along with us in
our anxieties, who can weep when we weep and rejoice when we rejoice. Sympathy
is far better than money and far rarer too.

Thousands can give who know not what it is to feel. Sympathy has the greatest
power to draw us and to open our hearts. Proper and correct counsel often falls
dead and useless on a heavy heart.

Cold advice often makes us shut up, shrink, and withdraw into ourselves when
tendered in the day of trouble. But genuine sympathy in such a day will call out
all our bitter feelings, if we have any, and obtain an influence over us when
nothing else can. Give me the friend who, though poor in gold and silver, has
always ready a sympathizing heart.

Our God knows all this well. He knows the very secrets of man's heart. He knows
the ways by which the heart is most easily approached and the springs by which
that heart is most readily moved.

He has wisely provided that the Savior of the gospel should be feeling as well
as mighty. He has given us one who has not only a strong hand to pluck us as
brands from the burning, but a sympathizing heart on which the laboring and
heavy laden may find rest. I see a marvelous proof of love and wisdom in the
union of two natures in Christ's person.

It was marvelous love in our Savior to condescend to go through weakness and
humiliation for our sakes, ungodly rebels as we are. It was marvelous wisdom to
fit himself in this way, to be the very friend of friends, who could not only
save man, but meet him on his own ground. I want one able to perform all things
needful to redeem my soul.

This Jesus can do, for he is the eternal Son of God. I want one able to
understand my weakness and infirmities, and to deal gently with my soul while
tied to a body of death. This again Jesus can do, for he was the Son of Man, and
had flesh and blood like my own.

Had my Savior been God only, I might perhaps have trusted him, but I never could
have come near to him without fear. Had my Savior been man only, I might have
loved him, but I never could have felt that he was able to take away my sins.
But, blessed be God, my Savior is God as well as man, and man as well as God.

God so as able to deliver me, man so as able to feel with me. Almighty power and
deepest sympathy are met together in one glorious person, Jesus Christ my Lord.
Surely a believer in Christ has a strong consolation.

He may well trust and not be afraid. If any reader of this paper knows what it
is to go to the throne of grace for mercy and pardon, let him never forget that
the mediator by whom he draws near to God is the man Christ Jesus. Your soul's
business is in the hand of a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of
your infirmities.

You have not to do with a being of so high and glorious a nature that your mind
can in no wise comprehend him. You have to do with Jesus, who had a body like
your own and was a man upon earth like yourself. He well knows that world
through which you are struggling, for he dwelt in the midst of it thirty-three
years.

He well knows the contradictions of sinners, which so often discourages you, for
he endured it himself. Hebrews 12.3 He knows the art and cunning of your
spiritual enemy, the devil, for he wrestled with him in the wilderness. Surely
with such an advocate you may well feel bold.

If you know what it is to apply to the Lord Jesus for spiritual comfort in
earthly troubles, you should well remember the days of his flesh and his human
nature. You are applying to one who knows your feelings by experience and has
drunk deep of the bitter cup, for he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. Isaiah 53.3 Jesus knows the heart of a man, the bodily pains of a man,
the difficulties of a man, for he was a man himself and had flesh and blood upon
earth.

He sat wearied by the well at Sychar. He wept over the grave of Lazarus at
Bethany. He sweat great drops of blood at Gethsemane.

He groaned with anguish at Calvary. He is no stranger to your sensations. He is
acquainted with everything that belongs to human nature, sin only accepted.

A. Are you poor and needy? So also was Jesus. The foxes had holes and the birds
of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head. He dwelt
in a despised city.

Men used to say, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? John 1.46 He was
esteemed a carpenter's son. He preached in a borrowed boat, rode into Jerusalem
on a borrowed ass, and was buried in a borrowed tomb. B. Are you alone in the
world and neglected by those who ought to love you? So also was Jesus.

He came unto his own, and they received him not. He came to be a Messiah to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel, and they rejected him. The princes of this
world would not acknowledge him.

The few that followed him were publicans and fishermen. And even these at the
last forsook him, and were scattered every man to his own place. C. Are you
misunderstood, misrepresented, slandered, and persecuted? So also was Jesus.

He was called a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans, a Samaritan, a
madman, and a devil. His character was belied. False charges were laid against
him.

An unjust sentence was passed upon him. And though innocent, he was condemned as
a malefactor, and as such died on the cross. D. Does Satan tempt you and offer
horrid suggestions to your mind? So also did he tempt Jesus.

He bade him to distrust God's fatherly providence, command these stones to be
made bread. He proposed to him to tempt God by exposing himself to unnecessary
danger, cast thyself down from the pinnacle of the temple. He suggested to him
to obtain the kingdoms of the world for his own by one little act of submission
to himself.

All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Matthew
4, verses 1-10 E. Do you ever feel great agony and conflict of mind? Do you feel
in darkness as if God had left you? So did Jesus. Who can tell the extent of the
sufferings of mind he went through in the garden? Who can measure the depth of
his soul's pain when he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Matthew 27, verse 46 It is impossible to conceive a Savior more suited to the
wants of man's heart than our Lord Jesus Christ, suited not only by his power,
but by his sympathy, suited not only by his divinity, but by his humanity.

Labor I beseech you to get firmly impressed on your mind that Christ, the refuge
of souls, is man as well as God. Honor him as King of kings and Lord of lords,
but while you do this never forget that he had a body and was a man. Grasp this
truth and never let it go.

The unhappy Thucynian errs fearfully when he says that Christ was only man and
not God. But let not the rebound from that error make you forget that while
Christ was very God, he was also very man. Listen not for a moment to the
wretched argument of the Roman Catholic when he tells you that the Virgin Mary
and the saints are more sympathizing than Christ.

Answer him that such an argument springs from ignorance of the Scriptures and of
Christ's true nature. Answer him that you have not so learned Christ as to
regard him only as an austere judge and a being to be feared. Answer him that
the four Gospels have taught you to regard him as the most loving and
sympathizing of friends as well as the mightiest and most powerful of saviors.

Answer him that you want no comfort from saints and angels, from the Virgin Mary
or from Gabriel, so long as you can repose your weary soul on the man Christ
Jesus. 3. Let us learn in the third place that there may be much weakness and
infirmity even in a true Christian. You have a striking proof of this in the
conduct of the disciples here recorded when the waves broke over the ship.

They awoke Jesus in haste. They said to him in fear and anxiety, Master, carest
thou not that we perish? There was impatience. They might have waited till their
Lord thought fit to arise from his sleep.

There was unbelief. They forgot that they were in the keeping of one who had all
power in his hand. We perish.

There was distrust. They spoke as if they doubted their Lord's care and
thoughtfulness for their safety and well-being. Carest thou not that we perish?
Poor faithless men! What business had they to be afraid? They had seen proof
upon proof that all must be well so long as the bridegroom was with them.

They had witnessed repeated examples of his love and kindness towards them,
sufficient to convince them that he would never let them come to real harm. But
all was forgotten in the present danger. Sense of immediate peril often makes
men have a bad memory.

Fear is often unable to reason from past experience. They heard the winds. They
saw the waves.

They felt the cold waters beating over them. They fancied death was close at
hand. They could wait no longer in suspense.

Carest thou not, said they, that we perish? But after all, let us understand,
this is only a picture of what is constantly going on among believers in every
age. There are too many disciples, I suspect, at this very day, like those who
are here described. Many of God's children get on very well so long as they have
no trials.

They follow Christ very tolerably in the time of fair weather. They fancy they
are trusting Him entirely. They flatter themselves.

They have cast every care on Him. They obtain the reputation of being very good
Christians. But suddenly some unlooked-for trial assails them.

Their property makes itself wings and flies away. Their own health fails. Death
comes up into their house.

Tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word. And where now is their
faith? Where is the strong confidence they thought they had? Where is their
peace, their hope, their resignation? Alas, they are sought for and not found.
They are weighed in the balances and found wanting.

Fear and doubt and distress and anxiety break in upon them like a flood, and
they seem at their wits' end. I know that this is a sad description. I only put
it to the conscience of every real Christian whether it is not correct and true.

The plain truth is that there is no literal and absolute perfection among true
Christians so long as they are in the body. The best and brightest of God's
saints is but a poor mixed being. Converted, renewed, and sanctified though he
be, he is still compassed with infirmity.

There is not a just man upon earth that always doeth good and sinneth not. In
many things we offend all. A man may have true saving faith and yet not have it
always close at hand and ready to be used.

Ecclesiastes 7.20 and James 3.2 Abraham was the father of the faithful. By faith
he forsook his country and his kindred and went out according to the command of
God to a land he had never seen. By faith he was content to dwell in the land as
a stranger believing that God would give it to him for an inheritance.

And yet this very Abraham was so far overcome by unbelief that he allowed Sarah
to be called his sister and not his wife through the fear of man. Here was great
infirmity. Yet there have been few greater saints than Abraham.

David was a man after God's own heart. He had faith to go out to battle with the
giant Goliath when he was but a youth. He publicly declared his belief that the
Lord who delivered him from the paw of the lion and bear would deliver him from
this Philistine.

He had faith to believe God's promise that he should one day be king of Israel
though he was owned by few followers. Though Saul pursued him like a partridge
on the mountain and there often seemed but a step between him and death. And yet
this very David at one time was so far overtaken by fear and unbelief that he
said, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul.

1 Samuel 27 verse 1 He forgot the many wonderful deliverances he had experienced
at God's hand. He only thought of his present danger and took refuge among the
ungodly Philistines. Surely here was great infirmity.

Yet there have been few stronger believers than David. I know it is easy for a
man to reply. All this is very true but it does not excuse the fears of the
disciples.

They had Jesus actually with them. They ought not to have been afraid. I should
never have been so cowardly and faithless as they were.

I tell the man who argues in that way that he knows little of his own heart. I
tell him no one knows the length and breadth of his own infirmities if he has
not been tempted. No one can say how much weakness might appear in him if he was
placed in circumstances to call it forth.

Does any reader of this paper think that he believes in Christ? Do you feel such
love and confidence in him that you cannot understand being greatly moved by any
event that could happen? It is all well. I am glad to hear it. But has this
faith been tried? Has this confidence been put to the test? If not, take heed of
condemning these disciples hastily.

Be not high-minded, but fear. Think not because your heart is in a lively frame
now that such a frame will always last. Say not because your feelings are warm
and fervent today tomorrow shall be as today and much more abundant.

Say not because your heart is lifted up just now with a strong sense of Christ's
mercy I shall never forget him as long as I live. O learn to abate something of
this flattering estimate of yourself. You do not know yourself thoroughly.

There are more things in your inward man than you are at present aware of. The
Lord may leave you, as he did Hezekiah, to show you all that is in your heart. 2
Chronicles 32 verse 31 Blessed is he that is clothed with humility.

Happy is he that feareth always. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed,
lest he fall. 1 Peter 5.5 Proverbs 18 verse 14 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12 Why do
I dwell on this? Do I want to apologize for the corruptions of professing
Christians and excuse their sins? God forbid! Do I want to lower the standard of
sanctification and countenance anyone in being a lazy, idle soldier of Christ?
God forbid! Do I want to wipe out the broad line of distinction between the
converted and the unconverted and to wink at inconsistencies? Once more I say,
God forbid! I hold strongly that there is a mighty difference between the true
Christian and the false, between the believer and the unbeliever, between the
children of God and the children of the world.

I hold strongly that this difference is not merely one of faith, but of life,
not only one of profession, but of practice. I hold strongly that the ways of
the believer should be as distinct from those of the unbeliever, as bitter from
sweet, light from darkness, heat from cold. But I do want young Christians to
understand what they must expect to find in themselves.

I want to prevent their being stumbled and puzzled by the discovery of their own
weakness and infirmity. I want them to see that they may have true faith and
grace in spite of all the devil's whispers to the contrary, though they feel
within doubts and fears. I want them to observe that Peter and James and John
and their brethren were true disciples, and yet not so spiritual that they could
be afraid.

I do not tell them to make the unbelief of the disciples an excuse for
themselves, but I do tell them that it shows plainly that so long as they are in
the body, they must not expect faith to be above the reach of fear. Above all, I
want all Christians to understand what they must expect in other believers. You
must not hastily conclude that a man has no grace merely because you see in him
some corruption.

There are spots on the face of the sun, and yet the sun shines brightly and
enlivens the whole world. There is quartz and dross mixed up with many a lump of
gold that comes from Australia, and yet who thinks the gold on that account
worth nothing at all? There are flaws in some of the finest diamonds in the
world, and yet they do not prevent their being rated at a priceless value. Away
with this morbid squeamishness, which makes many ready to excommunicate a man if
only he has a few faults.

Let us be more equipped to see grace, and more slow to see imperfections. Let us
know that if we cannot allow there is grace where there is corruption, we shall
find no grace in the world. We are yet in the body.

The devil is not dead. We are not yet like the angels. Heaven has not yet begun.

The leprosy is not out of the walls of the house, however much we scrape them,
and never will be till the house is taken down. Our bodies are indeed the temple
of the Holy Ghost, but not a perfect temple until they are raised or changed.
Grace is indeed a treasure, but a treasure in earthly vessels.

It is possible for a man to forsake all for Christ's sake, and yet to be
overtaken occasionally with doubts and fears. I beseech every reader of this
paper to remember this. It is a lesson worth attention.

The apostles believed in Christ, loved Christ, and gave up all to follow Christ,
and yet you see in this storm the apostles were afraid. Learn to be charitable
in your judgment of them. Learn to be moderate in your expectations from your
own heart.

Contend to the death for the truth that no man is a true Christian who is not
converted, and is not a holy man. But allow that a man may be converted, have a
new heart, and be a holy man, and yet be liable to infirmity, doubts, and fears.
Number four.

Let us learn in the fourth place the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have a
striking example of His power in the history upon which I am now dwelling. The
waves were breaking into the ship where Jesus was.

The terrified disciples awoke Him and cried for help. He arose and rebuked the
wind and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a
great calm.

This was a wonderful miracle. No one could do this but one who was almighty.
Make the winds cease with a word.

Who does not know that it is a common saying, in order to describe an
impossibility, you might as well speak to the wind. Yet Jesus rebukes the wind
and at once it ceases. This was power.

Calm the waves with a voice. What reader of history does not know that a mighty
king of England tried in vain to stop the tide rising on the shore. Yet here is
one who says to a raging wave in a storm, Peace, be still.

And at once there was a calm. Here was power. It is good for all men to have
clear views of the Lord Jesus Christ's power.

Let the sinner know that the merciful Savior to whom he is urged to flee and in
whom he is invited to trust, is nothing less than the Almighty and has power
over all flesh to eternal life. Revelation 1.8 John 17.2 Let the anxious
inquirer understand that if he will only venture on Jesus and take up the cross,
he ventures on one who has all power in heaven and earth. Matthew 28.18 Let the
believer remember as he journeys through the wilderness that his mediator and
advocate and physician and shepherd and redeemer is Lord of lords and King of
kings and that through him all things may be done.

Revelation 17.14 Philippians 4.13 Let all study the subject for it deserves to
be studied. A. Study it in his works of creation. All things were made by him
and without him was not anything made that was made.

John 1.3 The heavens and all their glorious host of inhabitants, the earth and
all that it contains, the sea and all that is in it, all creation, from the sun
on high to the least worm below, was the work of Christ. He spake and they came
into being. He commanded and they began to exist.

That very Jesus who was born of a poor woman at Bethlehem and lived in a
carpenter's house at Nazareth had been the former of all things. Was not this
power? B. Study it in his works of providence and the orderly continuance of all
things in the world. By him all things consist.

Colossians 1.17 Sun, moon and stars roll round in a perfect system. Spring,
summer, autumn and winter follow one another in regular order. They continue to
this day and fail not according to the ordinance of him who died on Calvary.

Psalm 119.91 The kingdoms of this world rise and increase and decline and pass
away. The rulers of the earth plan and scheme and make laws and change laws and
war and pull down one and raise up another. But they little think that they rule
only by the will of Jesus and that nothing happens without the permission of the
Lamb of God.

They do not know that they and their subjects are all as a drop of water in the
hand of the crucified one and that he increases the nations and diminishes the
nations just according to his mind. Is not this power? C. Study the subject not
least in the miracles worked by our Lord Jesus Christ during the three years of
his ministry upon earth. Learn from the mighty works which he did that the
things which are impossible with man are possible with Christ.

Regard every one of his miracles as an emblem and figure of spiritual things.
See in it a lovely picture of what he is able to do for your soul. He that could
raise the dead with a word can just as easily raise men from the death of sin.

He that could give sight to the blind hearing to the deaf and speech to the dumb
can also make sinners to see the kingdom of God hear the joyful sound of the
gospel and speak forth the praise of redeeming love. He that could heal leprosy
with a touch can heal any disease of heart. He that could cast out devils can
bid every besetting sin yield to his grace.

Or begin to read Christ's miracles in this light. Wicked and bad and corrupt as
you may feel take comfort in the thought that you are not beyond Christ's power
to heal. Remember that in Christ there is not only a fullness of mercy but a
fullness of power.

Study the subject in particular as placed before you this day. I dare be sure
your heart has sometimes been tossed to and fro like the waves in a storm. You
have found it agitated like the waters of the troubled sea when it cannot rest.

Come and hear this day that there is one who can give you rest. Jesus can say to
your heart whatever may be a single moment peace, be still. This Reformation
audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books.

SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available free and for
sale in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources as well as
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780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada. T6L3T5 You may also request a free printed catalog.

And remember that John Kelvin in defending the Reformation's regulative
principle of worship or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship
commenting on the words of God which I commanded them not neither came into my
heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731 writes God here cuts off from men
every occasion for making evasions since he condemns by this one phrase I have
not commanded them whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument
needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God.

For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies and
attend not to His commands they pervert true religion. And if this principle was
adopted by the papists all those fictitious modes of worship in which they
absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible
thing for the papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by
performing their own superstitions.

There is an immense number of them as it is well known and as it manifestly
appears. Were they to admit this principle that we cannot rightly worship God
except by obeying His word they would be delivered from their deep abyss of
error. The prophet's words then are very important when he says that God had
commanded no such thing and that it never came to his mind as though he had said
that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required nay,
what he never knew.


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  CHAPTER 17: CHAPTER 17
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My Lord and Master Jesus Christ can rebuke the devil's raging, can calm even
your soul's misery, and say even to you, Peace be still. He can scatter that
cloud of guilt which now weighs you down. He can bid despair depart.

He can drive fear away. He can remove the spirit of bondage and fill you with
the spirit of adoption. Satan may hold your soul like a strong man armed, but
Jesus is stronger than he, and when he commands, the prisoners must go free.

Oh, if any troubled reader wants the calm within, let him go this day to Jesus
Christ, and all shall be yet well. But what if your heart be right with God, and
yet you are pressed down with a load of earthly trouble? What if the fear of
poverty is tossing you to and fro, and seems likely to overwhelm you? What if
pain of body be racking you to distraction day after day? What if you are
suddenly laid aside from active usefulness, and compelled by infirmity to sit
still and do nothing? What if death has come into your home and taken away your
Rachel, or Joseph, or Benjamin, and left you alone, crushed to the ground with
sorrow? What if all this has happened? Still there is comfort in Christ. He can
speak peace to wounded hearts as easily as calm troubled seas.

He can rebuke rebellious wills as powerfully as raging winds. He can make storms
of sorrow abate and silence tumultuous passions as surely as he stopped the
Galilean storm. He can say to the heaviest anxiety, Peace be still.

The floods of care and tribulation may be mighty, but Jesus sits upon the flood
waters, and is mightier than the waves of the sea. Psalm 93, 4 The winds of
trouble may howl fiercely round you, but Jesus holds them in his hand, and can
stay them when he lists. Oh, if any reader of this paper is brokenhearted, and
careworn, and sorrowful, let him go to Jesus Christ and cry to him, and he shall
be refreshed.

Come unto me, he says, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Matthew 11, 28 I invite all who profess and call themselves Christians
to take large views of Christ's power. Doubt anything else, if you will, but
never doubt Christ's power.

Whether you do not secretly love sin may be doubtful. Whether you are not
privately clinging to the world may be doubtful. Whether the pride of your
nature is not rising against the idea of being saved as a poor sinner by grace
may be doubtful.

But one thing is not doubtful, and that is that Christ is able to save to the
uttermost, and will save you if you will let him. Hebrews 7, 25 5 Let us learn
in the last place how tenderly and patiently the Lord Jesus deals with weak
believers. We see this truth brought out in his words to his disciples when the
wind ceased and there was a calm.

He might well have rebuked them sharply. He might well have reminded them of all
the great things he had done for them, and reproved them for their cowardice and
mistrust. But there is nothing of anger in the Lord's words.

He simply asked two questions. Why are ye so fearful? Why is it that ye have no
faith? The whole of our Lord's conduct toward his disciples on earth deserves
close consideration. It throws a beautiful light on the compassion and
long-suffering that there is in him.

No master surely ever had scholars so slow to learn their lessons as Jesus had
in the apostles. No scholars surely ever had so patient and forbearing a teacher
as the apostles had in Christ. Gather up all the evidence on this subject that
lies scattered through the Gospels and see the truth of what I say.

At no time of our Lord's ministry did the disciples seem to comprehend fully the
object of his coming into the world. The humiliation, the atonement, the
crucifixion were hidden things to them. The plainest words and clearest warnings
from their master of what was going to befall him seemed to have had no effect
on their minds.

They understood not. They perceived not. It was hid from their eyes.

Once Peter even tried to dissuade our Lord from suffering. Frequently you will
see things in their spirit and demeanor which are not at all to be commended.
One day we are told they disputed among themselves who should be greatest.

Mark 9.34 Another day they considered not his miracles and their hearts were
hardened. Mark 6.52 Once two of them wished to call down fire from heaven upon a
village because it did not receive them. Luke 9.54 In the garden of Gethsemane
the three best of them slept when they should have watched and prayed.

In the hour of his betrayal they all forsook him and fled. And worst of all,
Peter, the most forward of the twelve, denied his master three times with an
oath. Even after the resurrection you see the same unbelief and hardness of
heart cling to them.

Though they saw their Lord with their eyes and touched him with their hands even
them some doubted. So weak were they in faith. So slow of heart were they to
believe all that the prophets had spoken.

Luke 24.25 So backward were they in understanding the meaning of our Lord's
words and actions and life and death. But what do you see in our Lord's behavior
toward these disciples all through his ministry? You see nothing but unchanging
pity, compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, longsuffering and love. He
does not cast them off for their stupidity.

He does not reject them for their unbelief. He does not dismiss them forever for
cowardice. He teaches them as they are able to bear.

He leads them on step by step as a nurse does an infant when it first begins to
walk. He sends them kind messages as soon as he is risen from the dead. Go, he
said to the women, go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee and there they
shall see me.

Matthew 28.10 He gathers them round himself once more. He restores Peter to his
place and bids him feed my sheep. John 21.17 He condescends to sojourn with them
forty days before he finally ascends.

He commissions them to go forth as his messengers and preach the gospel to the
Gentiles. He blesses them in parting and encourages them with that gracious
promise I am always with you even unto the end of the world. Matthew 28.20 Truly
this was a love that passes knowledge.

This is not the manner of man. Let all the world know that the Lord Christ is
very pitiful and of tender mercy. He will not break the bruised reed nor quench
the smoking flax.

As a father pitieth his children so he pitieth them that fear him. As one whom
his mother comforts so will he comfort his people. James 5.11 Matthew 12.20
Psalm 103.13 Isaiah 66.13 He cares for the lambs of his flock as well as for the
old sheep.

He cares for the sick and feeble ones of his fold as well as for the strong. It
is written that he will carry them in his bosom rather than let one of them be
lost. Isaiah 40.11 He cares for the least members of his body as well as for the
greatest.

He cares for the babes of his family as well as for the grown up men. He cares
for the tenderest little plants in his garden as well as for the cedar of
Lebanon. All are in his book of life and all are under his charge.

All are given to him in an everlasting covenant and he has undertaken in spite
of all weaknesses to bring everyone safe home. Only let a sinner lay hold on
Christ by faith and then, however feeble, Christ's word is pledged to him, I
will never leave thee nor forsake thee. He may correct him occasionally in love,
he may gently reprove him at times, but he will never, never give him up.

The devil shall never pluck him from Christ's hand. Let all the world know that
the Lord Jesus will not cast away his believing people because of shortcomings
and infirmities. The husband does not put away his wife because he finds
failings in her.

The mother does not forsake her infant because it is weak, feeble and ignorant.
And the Lord Christ does not cast off poor sinners who have committed their
souls into his hands because he sees in them blemishes and imperfections. Oh no,
it is his glory to pass over the faults of his people and heal their
backslidings, to make much of their weak graces and to pardon their many faults.

The 11th of Hebrews is a wonderful chapter. It is marvelous to observe how the
Holy Ghost speaks of the worthies whose names are recorded in that chapter. The
faith of the Lord's people is there brought forward and had in remembrance, but
the faults of many of one which might easily have been brought up also are left
alone and not mentioned at all.

Who is there now among the readers of this paper that feels desires after
salvation but is afraid to become decided lest by and by he should fall away?
Consider, I beseech you, the tenderness and patience of the Lord Jesus and be
afraid no more. Fear not to take up the cross and come out boldly from the
world. That same Lord and Savior who bore with the disciples is ready and
willing to bear with you.

If you stumble, he will raise you. If you err, he will gently bring you back. If
you faint, he will revive you.

He will not lead you out of Egypt and then suffer you to perish in the
wilderness. He will conduct you safe into the promised land. Only commit
yourself to his guidance and then, my soul for yours, he shall carry you safe
home.

Only hear Christ's voice and follow him and you shall never perish. Who is there
among the readers of this paper that has been converted and desires to do his
Lord's will? Take example, this day, by your Master's gentleness and
long-suffering and learn to be tender-hearted and kind to others. Deal gently
with young beginners.

Do not expect them to know everything and understand everything all at once.
Take them by the hand. Lead them on and encourage them.

Believe all things and hope all things rather than make that heart sad which God
would not have made sad. Deal gently with backsliders. Do not turn your back on
them as if their case was hopeless.

Use every lawful means to restore them to their former place. Consider yourself
and your own infirmities and do as you would be done by. Alas, there is a
painful absence of the Master's mind among many of his disciples.

There are few churches, I fear, in the present day which would have received
Peter into communion again for many a long year after denying his Lord. There
are few believers ready to do the work of Barnabas willing to take young
converts by the hand and encourage them at their first beginnings. Verily, we
want an outpouring of the Spirit upon believers almost as much as upon the
world.

And now I have only to ask my readers to make a practical use of the lessons I
have brought before them. You have heard this day five things. First, that
Christ's service will not secure you against troubles.

The holiest saints are liable to them. Second, that Christ is very man as well
as God. Third, that believers may have much weakness and infirmity and yet be
true believers.

Fourth, that Christ has all power. And fifth, that Christ is full of patience
and kindness toward his people. Remember these five lessons and you will do
well.

Bear with me a few moments while I say a few words to impress the things you
have been reading more deeply on your heart. One, this paper will very likely be
read by some who know nothing of Christ's service by experience or of Christ
himself. There are only too many who take no interest whatever in the things
about which I have been writing.

Their treasure is all below. They are wholly taken up with the things of the
world. They care nothing about the believers' conflict and struggles and
infirmities and doubts and fears.

They care little whether Christ did miracles or not. It is all a matter of words
and names and forms about which they do not trouble themselves. They are without
God in the world.

If perchance you are such a man as this, I can only warn you solemnly that your
present course cannot last. You will not live forever. There must be an end.

Gray hairs, age, sickness, infirmities, death, all, all are before you and must
be met one day. What will you do when that day comes? Remember my words this
day. You will find no comfort when sick and dying unless Jesus Christ is your
friend.

You will discover to your sorrow and confusion that however much men may talk
and boast, they cannot do without Christ when they come to their deathbed. You
may send for ministers and get them to read prayers and give you the sacrament.
You may go through every form and ceremony of Christianity.

But if you persist in living a careless and worldly life and despising Christ in
the morning of your days, you must not be surprised if Christ leads you to
yourself in your latter end. Alas, these are solemn words and are often sadly
fulfilled. I will laugh at your calamity.

I will mock when your fear cometh. Come then this day and be advised by one who
loves your soul. Cease to do evil.

Learn to do well. Forsake the foolish and go in the path of understanding. Cast
away that pride which hangs about your heart and seek the Lord Jesus while he
may be found.

Cast away that spiritual sloth which is palsying your soul and resolve to take
trouble about your Bible, your prayers and your Sundays. Break off from the
world which can never really satisfy you and seek that treasure which alone is
truly incorruptible. Oh, that the Lord's own words might find a place in your
conscience.

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in
their scorning and fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will
pour out my Spirit unto you.

I will make known my words unto you. I believe the crowning sin of Judas
Iscariot was that he would not seek pardon and turn again to his Lord. Beware,
lest that be your sin also.

This paper will probably fall into the hands of some who love the Lord Jesus and
believe in him and yet desire to love him better. If you are such a man, suffer
the word of exhortation and apply it to your heart. For one thing, keep before
your mind as an ever-present truth that the Lord Jesus is an actual living
person and deal with him as such.

I fear the personality of our Lord is sadly lost sight of by many professors in
this day. Their talk is more about salvation than about the Savior, more about
redemption than about the Redeemer, more about justification than about Jesus,
more about Christ's work than about Christ's person. This is a great fault and
one that fully accounts for the dry and sapless character of the religion of
many professors.

As ever you will grow in grace and have joy and peace in believing, beware of
falling into this error. Cease to regard the gospel as a mere collection of dry
doctrines. Look at it rather as the revelation of a mighty, living being in
whose sight you are daily to live.

Cease to regard it as a mere set of abstract propositions and abstruse
principles and rules. Look at it as the introduction to a glorious, personal
friend. This is the kind of gospel that the apostles preached.

They did not go about into the world telling men of love and mercy and pardon in
the abstract. The leading subject of all their sermons was the loving heart of
an actual living Christ. This is the kind of gospel which is most calculated to
promote sanctification and meekness for glory.

Nothing surely is so likely to prepare us for that heaven where Christ's
personal presence will be all, and that glory where we shall meet Christ face to
face as to realize communion with Christ as an actual living person here on
earth. There is all the difference in the world between an idea and a person.
For another thing, try to keep before your mind as an ever-present truth that
the Lord Jesus is utterly unchanged.

That Savior in whom you trust is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He
knows no variableness nor shadow of turning. Though high in heaven at God's
right hand, He is just the same in heart that He was 1,900 years ago on earth.

Remember this and you will do well. Follow Him all through His journey to and
fro in Palestine. Mark how He received all that came to Him and cast out none.

Mark how He had an ear to listen to every tale of sorrow, a hand to help every
case of distress, a heart to feel for all who needed sympathy. And then say to
yourself, This same Jesus is He who is my Lord and Savior. Place and time have
made no difference in Him.

What He was, He is, and will be forevermore. Surely this thought will give life
and reality to your daily religion. Surely this thought will give substance and
shape to your expectation of good things to come.

Surely it is matter for joyful reflection that He who was 33 years upon earth
and whose life we read in the Gospels is the very same Savior in whose presence
we shall spend eternity. The last word of this paper shall be the same as the
first. I want men to read the four Gospels more than they do.

I want men to become better acquainted with Christ. I want unconverted men to
know Jesus, that they may have eternal life through Him. I want believers to
know Jesus better, that they may become more happy, more holy, and more meet for
the inheritance of the saints in light.

He will be the holiest man who learns to say with St. Paul, To me to live is
Christ. Philippians 1.21 Chapter 13, page 216 The Church which Christ builds
Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Matthew 16.18 Do we belong to the church which is built upon a rock?
Are we members of the only church in which our souls can be saved? These are
serious questions.

They deserve serious consideration. I ask the attention of all who read this
paper while I try to show the one true holy Catholic Church and to guide men's
feet into the only safe fold. What is this church? What is it like? What are its
marks? Where is it to be found? On all these points I have something to say.

I am going to unfold the words of our Lord Jesus Christ which stand at the head
of this page. He declares, Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. There are five things in these famous
words which demand our attention.

One, a building, my church. Two, a builder, Christ says, I will build my church.
Three, a foundation, upon this rock I will build my church.

Four, perils implied, the gates of hell. Five, security asserted, the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it. The whole subject demands special attention
in the present day.

Holiness, we must never forget, is the prominent characteristic of all who
belong to the one true church. Number one, we have firstly a building mentioned
in the text. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks of my church.

Now what is this church? Few inquiries can be made of more importance than this.
For want of due attention to the subject, the errors that have crept into the
world are neither few nor small. The church of our text is no material building.

It is no temple made with hands of wood or brick or stone or marble. It is a
company of men and women. It is no particular visible church on earth.

It is not the Eastern Church or the Western Church. It is not the Church of
England or the Church of Scotland. Above all, it is certainly not the Church of
Rome.

The church of our text is one that makes far less show than any visible church
in the eyes of man, but is of far more importance in the eyes of God. The church
of our text is made up of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, of all
who are really holy and converted people. It comprehends all who have repented
of sin and fled to Christ by faith and been made new creatures in Him.

It comprises all God's elect, all who have received God's grace, all who have
been washed in Christ's blood, all who have been clothed in Christ's
righteousness, all who have been born again and sanctified by Christ's Spirit.
All such of every name and rank and nation and people and tongue compose the
church of our text. This is the body of Christ.

This is the flock of Christ. This is the bride. This is the Lamb's wife.

This is the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of the Apostles' Creed and the
Nicene Creed. This is the blessed company of all faithful people spoken of in
the communion service of the Church of England. This is the Church on the Rock.

The members of this church do not all worship God in the same way or use the
same form of government. Some of them are governed by bishops and some of them
by elders. Some of them use a prayer book when they meet for public worship and
some of them use none.

The 34th article of the Church of England most wisely declares, It is not
necessary that ceremonies should be in all places one and alike. But the members
of this church all come to one throne of grace. They all worship with one heart.

They are all led by one spirit. They are all really and truly holy. They can all
say Alleluia and they can all reply Amen.

This is that church to which all visible churches on earth are servants and
handmaidens. Whether they are Episcopalian, Independent or Presbyterian, they
all serve the interests of the one true church. They are the scaffolding behind
which the great building is carried on.

They are the husk under which the living kernel grows. They have their various
degrees of usefulness. The best and worthiest of them is that which trains up
most members for Christ's true church.

But no visible church has any right to say, We are the only true church. We are
the men and wisdom shall die with us. No visible church should ever dare to say,
We shall stand forever.

The gates of hell shall not prevail against me. This is that church to which
belong the Lord's gracious promises of preservation, continuance, protection and
final glory. Whatsoever, says Hooker, we read in Scripture concerning the
endless love and saving mercy which God showeth towards his churches, the only
proper subject thereof is this church, which we properly term the mystical body
of Christ.

Small and despised as the true church may be in this world, it is precious and
honorable in the sight of God. The temple of Solomon in all its glory was mean
and contemptible in comparison with that church which is built upon a rock. I
trust the things I have been just saying will sink down into the minds of all
who read this paper.

See that you hold sound doctrine upon the subject of the church. A mistake here
may lead on to dangerous and soul-ruining errors. The church which is made up of
true believers is the church for which we, who are ministers, are specially
ordained to preach.

The church which comprises all who repent and believe the gospel is the church
to which we desire you to belong. Our work is not done and our hearts are not
satisfied until you are made a new creature and are a member of the one true
church. Outside of the church which is built on the rock, there can be no
salvation.

I pass on to the second point to which I propose to invite your attention. Our
text contains not merely a building, but a builder. The Lord Jesus Christ
declares, I will build my church.

The true church of Christ is tenderly cared for by all the three persons in the
Blessed Trinity. In the plan of salvation revealed in the Bible, beyond doubt
God the Father chooses, God the Son redeems, and God the Holy Ghost sanctifies
every member of Christ's mystical body. God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Ghost, three persons and one God, cooperate for the salvation of every
saved soul.

This is truth which ought never to be forgotten. Nevertheless, there is a
peculiar sense in which the help of the church is laid on the Lord Jesus. He is
peculiarly and preeminently the Redeemer and Savior of the church.

Therefore, it is that we find him saying in our text, I will build. The work of
building is my special work. It is Christ who calls the members of the church in
due time.

They are the called of Jesus Christ, Romans 1.6. It is Christ who quickens them.
The Son quickeneth whom he will. John 5.21 It is Christ who washes away their
sins.

He has loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Revelation 1.5 It
is Christ who gives them peace. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you.

John 14.27 It is Christ who gives them eternal life. I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. John 10.28 It is Christ who grants them
repentance.

Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Savior to give repentance. Acts 5.31
It is Christ who enables them to become God's children. To as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.

John 1.12 It is Christ who carries on the work within them when it is begun.
Because I live, you shall live also. John 14.19 In short, it has pleased the
Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell.

Colossians 1.19 He is the author and finisher of faith. He is the life. He is
the head.

From him every joint and member of the mystical body of Christians is supplied.
Through him they are kept from falling. He shall preserve them to the end and
present them faultless before the Father's throne with exceeding great joy.

He is all things in all believers. The mighty agent by whom the Lord Jesus
Christ carries out this work in the members of his church is without doubt the
Holy Ghost. He it is who is ever renewing, awakening, convincing, leading to the
cross, transforming, taking out of the world stone after stone and adding to the
mystical building.

But the great chief builder who has undertaken to execute the work of redemption
and bring it to completion is the Son of God, the Word who was made flesh. It is
Jesus Christ who builds. In building the true church the Lord Jesus condescends
to use many subordinate instruments.

The ministry of the gospel, the circulation of the scriptures, the friendly
rebukes, the word spoken in season, the drawing influence of afflictions, all,
all are means and appliances by which his work is carried on and the Spirit
conveys life to souls. But Christ is the great superintending architect,
ordering, guiding, directing all that is done. Paul may plant and the polis
water, but God giveth the increase.

1 Corinthians 3.6 Ministers may preach and writers write, but the Lord Jesus
Christ alone can build. And except he builds, the work stands still. Great is
the wisdom wherewith the Lord Jesus Christ builds his church.

All is done at the right time and in the right way. Each stone in its turn is
put in its right place. Sometimes he chooses great stones and sometimes he
chooses small stones.

Sometimes the work goes on fast and sometimes it goes on slowly. Man is
frequently impatient and thinks that nothing is doing. But man's time is not
God's time.

A thousand years in his sight are but as a single day. The great builder makes
no mistakes. He knows what he is doing.

He sees the end from the beginning. He works by a perfect, unalterable,
uncertain plan. The mightiest conceptions of architects like Michelangelo and
Wren are mere trifling and child's play in comparison with Christ's wise
counsels respecting his church.

Great is the condescension and mercy which Christ exhibits in building his
church. He often chooses the most unlikely and roughest stones and fits them
into a most excellent work. He despises none and rejects none on account of
former sins and past transgressions.

He often makes Pharisees and publicans become pillars of his house. He delights
to show mercy. He often takes the most thoughtless and ungodly and transforms
them into polished corners of his spiritual temple.

Great is the power which Christ displays in building his church. He carries on
his work in spite of opposition from the world, the flesh, and the devil. In
storm, in tempest, through troublous times, silently, quietly, without noise,
without stir, without excitement, the building progresses like Solomon's temple.

I will work, he declares, and who shall let it? Isaiah 43, 13 The children of
this world take little or no interest in the building of this church. They care
nothing for the conversion of souls. What are broken spirits and penitent hearts
to them? What is conviction of sin or faith in the Lord Jesus to them? It is all
foolishness in their eyes.

But while the children of this world care nothing, there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God. For the preserving of the true church, the laws of nature
have oftentimes been suspended. For the good of that church, all the
providential dealings of God in this world are ordered and arranged.

For the elect's sake, wars are brought to an end and peace is given to a nation.
Statesmen, rulers, emperors, kings, presidents, heads of governments have their
schemes and plans and think them of vast importance. But there is another work
going on of infinitely greater moment for which they are only the axes and saws
in God's hands.

Isaiah 10.15 That work is the erection of Christ's spiritual temple, the
gathering in of living stones into the one true church. We ought to feel deeply
thankful that the building of the true church is laid on the shoulders of one
that is mighty. If the work depended on man, it would soon stand still.

But blessed be God, the work is in the hands of a builder who never fails to
accomplish his designs. Christ is the mighty builder. He will carry on his work
though nations and visible churches may not know their duty.

Christ will never fail. That which he has undertaken, he will certainly
accomplish. Number three.

I pass on to the third point which I propose to consider, the foundation upon
which this church is built. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us, upon this rock will
I build my church. What did the Lord Jesus Christ mean when he spoke of this
foundation? Did he mean the Apostle Peter to whom he was speaking? I think
assuredly not.

I can see no reason if he meant Peter why he did not say, upon thee will I build
my church. If he had meant Peter, he would surely have said, I will build my
church on thee. As plainly as he said, to thee will I give the keys.

No, it was not the person of the Apostle Peter but the good confession which the
Apostle had just made. It was not Peter, the erring, unstable man, but the
mighty truth which the Father had revealed to Peter. It was the truth concerning
Jesus Christ himself which was the rock.

It was Christ's mediatorship and Christ's messiahship. It was the blessed truth
that Jesus was the promised Savior, the true surety, the real intercessor
between God and man. This was the rock and this the foundation upon which the
church of Christ was to be built.

The foundation of the true church was laid at a mighty cost. It needed that the
Son of God should take our nature upon Him and in that nature live, suffer, and
die, not for His own sins but for ours. It needed that in that nature Christ
should go to the grave and rise again.

It needed that in that nature Christ should go up to heaven to sit at the right
hand of God having obtained eternal redemption for all His people. No other
foundation could have met the necessities of lost, guilty, corrupt, weak,
helpless sinners. That foundation once obtained is very strong.

It can bear the weight of the sins of all the world. It has borne the weight of
all the sins of all the believers who have built on it. Sins of thought, sins of
imagination, sins of the heart, sins of the head, sins which everyone has seen
and sins which no man knows, sins against God and sins against man, sins of all
kinds and descriptions.

That mighty rock can bear the weight of all these sins and not give way. The
mediatorial office of Christ is a remedy sufficient for all the sins of all the
world. To this one foundation every member of Christ's true church is joined.

In many things believers are disunited and disagreed. In the matter of their
soul's foundation they are all of one mind. Whether Episcopalians or
Presbyterians, Baptists or Methodists, believers all meet at one point.

They are all built on the rock. Ask where they get their peace and hope and
joyful expectation of good things to come. You will find that all flows from
that one mighty source, Christ, the mediator between God and man and the office
that Christ holds as the high priest and surety of sinners.

Look to your foundation if you would know whether or not you are a member of the
one true church. It is a point that may be known to yourself. Your public
worship we can see but we cannot see whether you are personally built upon the
rock.

Your attendance at the Lord's table we can see but we cannot see whether you are
joined to Christ and one with Christ and Christ in you. Take heed that you make
no mistake about your own personal salvation. See that your own soul is upon the
rock.

Without this all else is nothing. Without this you will never stand in the day
of judgment. Better a thousand times in that day to be found in a cottage upon
the rock than in a palace upon the sand.

Number four. I proceed in the fourth place to speak of the implied trials of the
church to which our text refers. There is mention made of the gates of hell.

By that expression we are meant to understand the power of the prince of hell
even the devil. Compare Psalm 9 verse 13 Psalm 107 verse 18 and Isaiah 38 verse
10. The history of Christ's true church has always been one of conflict and war.

It has been constantly assailed by a deadly enemy, Satan, the prince of this
world. The devil hates the true church of Christ with an undying hatred. He is
ever stirring up opposition against all its members.

He is ever urging the children of this world to do his will and to injure and
harass the people of God. If he cannot bruise the head he will bruise the heel.
If he cannot rob the believers of heaven he will vex them by the way.

Warfare with the powers of hell has been the experience of the whole body of
Christ for 6,000 years. It has always been a bush burning though not consumed. A
woman fleeing into the wilderness but not swallowed up.

Exodus 3, 2 and Revelation 12 verses 6 and 16. The visible churches have their
times of prosperity and seasons of peace but never has there been a time of
peace for the true church. Its conflict is perpetual.

Its battle never ends. Warfare with the powers of hell is the experience of
every individual member of the true church. Each has to fight.

What are the lives of all the saints but records of battles? What were such men
as Paul and James and Peter and John and Polycarp and Christosome and Augustine
and Luther and Calvin and Lattimer and Baxter but soldiers engaged in a constant
warfare? Sometimes the persons of the saints have been assailed and sometimes
their property. Sometimes they have been harassed by calumnies and slanders and
sometimes by open persecution. But in one way or another the devil has been
continually warring against the church.

The gates of hell have been continually assaulting the people of Christ. We who
preach the gospel can hold out to all who come to Christ exceeding great and
precious promises. 2 Peter 1.4 We can offer boldly to you in our Master's name
the peace of God which passes all understanding.

Mercy, free grace and full salvation are offered to everyone who will come to
Christ and believe on Him. But we promise you no peace in the world or with the
devil. We warn you on the contrary that there must be warfare so long as you are
in the body.

We would not keep you back or deter you from Christ's service but we would have
you count the cost and fully understand what Christ's service entails. Luke
14.28 A. Marvel not at the enmity of the gates of hell. If ye were of the world
the world would love his own.

John 15.19 So long as the world is the world and the devil the devil. So long
there must be warfare and believers in Christ must be soldiers. The world hated
Christ and the world will hate true Christians as long as the earth stands.

As the great reformer Luther said King will go on murdering Abel so long as the
church is on earth. B. Be prepared for the enmity of the gates of hell. Put on
the whole armor of God.

C. The tower of David contains a thousand bucklers all ready for the use of
God's people. The weapons of our warfare have been tried by millions of poor
sinners like ourselves and have never been found to fail. D. Be patient under
the enmity of the gates of hell.

It is all working together for your good. It tends to sanctify. It will keep you
awake.

It will make you humble. It will drive you nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ. It
will wean you from the world.

It will help to make you pray more. Above all, it will make you long for heaven.
It will teach you to say with your heart as well as lips Come Lord Jesus, thy
kingdom come.

D. Be not cast down by the enmity of hell. The warfare of the true child of God
is as much a mark of grace as the inward peace which he enjoys. No cross, no
crown.

No conflict, no saving Christianity. Blessed are ye, said our Lord Jesus Christ,
when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake. If you are never persecuted for religion's sake and all
men speak well of you, you may well doubt whether you belong to the church on
the rock.

Matthew 5, verse 11 and Luke 6, verse 26 Number 5 There remains one thing more
to be considered, the security of the true church of Christ. There is a glorious
promise given by the builder, the gates of hell shall not prevail. This
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And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative
principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship,
commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my
heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men
every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have
not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument
needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For
when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and
attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion.

And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of
worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It
is indeed a horrible thing for the papists to seek to discharge their duties
towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of
them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears.

Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by
obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The
prophet's words then are very important when he says that God had commanded no
such thing, and that it never came to his mind. As though he had said that men
assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he
never knew.


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  CHAPTER 18: CHAPTER 18
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There is a glorious promise given by the Builder. The gates of hell shall not
prevail. He who cannot lie has pledged his word that all the powers of hell
shall never overthrow his church.

It shall continue and stand in spite of every assault. It shall never be
overcome. All other created things perish and pass away, but not the church
which is built on the rock.

Empires have risen and fallen in rapid succession. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon,
Persia, Tyre, Carthage, Rome, Greece, Venice. Where are all these now? They were
all the creation of man's hand and have passed away.

But the true church of Christ lives on. The mightiest cities have become heaps
of ruins. The broad walls of Babylon have sunk to the ground.

The palaces of Nineveh are covered with mounds of dust. The hundred gates of
Thebes are only matters of history. Tyre is a place where fishermen hang their
nets.

Carthage is a desolation. Yet all this time the true church stands. The gates of
hell do not prevail against it.

The earliest visible churches have in many cases decayed and perished. Where is
the church of Ephesus and the church of Antioch? Where is the church of
Alexandria and the church of Constantinople? Where are the Corinthian and
Philippian and Thessalonian churches? Where indeed are they all? They departed
from the word of God. They were proud of their bishops and synods and ceremonies
and learning and antiquity.

They did not glory in the true cross of Christ. They did not hold fast the
gospel. They did not give the Lord Jesus his rightful office or faith its
rightful place.

They are now among the things that have been. Their candlestick has been taken
away. But all this time the true church has lived on.

Has the true church been oppressed in one country? It has fled to another. Has
it been trampled on and oppressed in one soil? It has taken root and flourished
in another climate. Fire, sword, prisons, fines, penalties have never been able
to destroy its vitality.

Its persecutors have died and gone to their own place. But the word of God has
lived and grown and multiplied. Weak as this true church may appear to the eye
of man, it is an anvil which has broken many a hammer in times past and perhaps
will break many more before the end.

He that lays hands on it is touching the apple of his eye. Zechariah 2.8 The
promise of our text is true of the whole body of the true church. Christ will
never be without witness in the world.

He has had a people in the worst of times. He had 7,000 in Israel even in the
days of Ahab. There are some now, I believe, in dark places of the Rome and
Greek churches who in spite of much weakness are serving Christ.

The devil may rage horribly. The church in some countries may be brought
exceedingly low. But the gates of hell shall never entirely prevail.

The promise of our text is true of every individual member of the church. Some
of God's people have been so much cast down and disquieted that they have
despaired of their safety. Some have fallen sadly as David and Peter did.

Some have departed from the faith for a time like Cranmer and Jewel. Many have
been tried by cruel doubts and fears but all have got home safe at last, the
youngest as well as the oldest, the weakest as well as the strongest. So it will
be to the end.

Can you prevent tomorrow's sun from rising? Can you prevent the tide in the
Bristol Channel from ebbing and flowing? Can you prevent the planets moving in
their respective orbits? Then and then alone can you prevent the salvation of
any believer, however feeble, the final safety of any living stone in that
church which is built upon the rock, however small or insignificant that stone
may appear. The true church is Christ's body, not one bone in that mystical body
shall ever be broken. The true church is Christ's bride.

Those whom God has joined in everlasting covenant shall never be put asunder.
The true church is Christ's flock. When the lion came and took a lamb out of
David's flock, David arose and delivered the lamb from his mouth.

Christ will do the same. He is David's greater son. Not a single sick lamb in
Christ's flock shall perish.

He will say to his father in the last day, Of them which thou gavest me, I have
lost none. John 18.9 The true church is the wheat of the earth. It may be
sifted, winnowed, buffeted, tossed to and fro, but not one grain shall be lost.

The tares and chaff shall be burned. The wheat shall be gathered into the barn.
The true church is Christ's army.

The captain of our salvation loses none of his soldiers. His plans are never
defeated. His supplies never fail.

His muster role is the same at the end as it was at the beginning. Of the men
that marched gallantly out of England many years ago in the Crimean War, how
many ever came back? Regiments that went forth, strong and cheerful, with bands
playing and banners flying, laid their bones in a foreign land and never
returned to their native country. But it is not so with Christ's army.

Not one of his soldiers shall be missing at last. He himself declares, they
shall never perish. John 10.28 The devil may cast some of the members of the
true church into prison.

He may kill and burn and torture and hang. But after he has killed the body,
there is nothing more than he can do. He cannot hurt the soul.

When the French troops took Rome years ago, they found on the walls of a prison
cell under the Inquisition the words of a prisoner. Who he was we know not, but
his words are worthy of remembrance. Though dead, he yet speaketh.

He had written on the walls very likely after an unjust trial and still more
unjust excommunication the following striking words, Blessed Jesus, they cannot
cast me out of thy true church. That record is true. Not all the power of Satan
can cast out of Christ's true church one single believer.

I trust that no reader of this paper will ever allow fear to prevent his
beginning to serve Christ. He to whom you commit your soul has all power in
heaven and earth and he will keep you. He will never let you be cast away.

Relatives may oppose. Neighbors may mock. The world may slander and ridicule and
jest and sneer.

Fear not, fear not. The powers of hell shall never prevail against your soul.
Greater is he that is for you than all they that are against you.

Fear not for the church of Christ when ministers die and saints are taken away.
Christ can ever maintain his own cause. He will raise up better saints and
brighter stars.

The stars are all in his right hand. Leave off all anxious thought about the
future. Cease to be cast down by the measures of statesmen or the plots of
wolves in sheep's clothing.

Christ will ever provide for his own church. Christ will take care that the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. All is going on well though our eyes
may not see it.

The kingdoms of this world shall yet become the kingdoms of our God and of his
Christ. I will now conclude this paper with a few words of practical
application. One, my first word of application shall be a question.

What shall that question be? What shall I ask? I will return to the point with
which I began. I will go back to the first sentence with which I opened my
paper. I ask you whether you are a member of the one true church of Christ.

Are you in the highest, the best sense, a churchman in the sight of God? You
know now what I mean. I look far beyond the church of England. I am not speaking
of church or chapel.

I speak of the church built upon the rock. I ask you with all solemnity, are you
a member of that church? Are you joined to the great foundation? Are you on the
rock? Have you received the Holy Ghost? Does the Spirit witness with your spirit
that you are one with Christ and Christ with you? I beseech you in the name of
God to lay to heart these questions and to ponder them well. If you are not
converted, you do not yet belong to the church of the rock.

Let every reader of this paper take heed to himself if he cannot give a
satisfactory answer to my inquiry. Take heed. Take heed that you do not make
shipwreck of your soul to all eternity.

Take heed lest at last the gates of hell prevail against you, the devil claim
you as his own, and you be cast away forever. Take heed lest you go down to the
pit from the land of Bibles and in the full light of Christ's gospel. Take heed
lest you are found at the left hand of Christ at last, a lost Episcopalian or a
lost Presbyterian, a lost Baptist or a lost Methodist.

Lost because with all your zeal for your own party and your own communion table,
you never joined the one true church. Number two. My second word of application
shall be an invitation.

I address it to everyone who is not yet a true believer. I say to you, come and
join the one true church without delay. Come and join yourself to the Lord Jesus
Christ in an everlasting covenant not to be forgotten.

Consider well what I say. I charge you solemnly not to mistake the meaning of my
invitation. I do not bid you leave the visible church to which you belong.

I abhor all idolatry of forms and parties. I detest a proselytizing spirit. But
I do bid you come to Christ and be saved.

The day of decision must come sometime. Why not this very hour? Why not today
while it is called today? Why not this very night ere the sun rises tomorrow
morning? Come to him who died for sinners on the cross and invites all sinners
to come to him by faith and be saved. Come to my Master Jesus Christ.

Come I say for all things are now ready. Mercy is ready for you. Heaven is ready
for you.

Angels are ready to rejoice over you. Christ is ready to receive you. Christ
will receive you gladly and welcome you among his children.

Come into the ark. The flood of God's wrath will soon break upon the earth. Come
into the ark and be safe.

Come into the lifeboat of one true church. This old world will soon break into
pieces. Hear you not the tremblings of it? The world is but a wreck hard upon a
sand bank.

The night is far spent. The waves are beginning to rise. The wind is getting up.

The storm will soon shatter the old wreck. But the lifeboat is launched and we,
the ministers of the gospel, beseech you to come into the lifeboat and be saved.
We beseech you to arise at once and come to Christ.

Dost thou ask how can I come? My sins are too many. I am too wicked yet. I dare
not come.

Away with the thought. It is the temptation of Satan. Come to Christ as a
sinner.

Come just as you are. Hear the words of that beautiful hymn. Just as I am
without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me
come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.

This is the way to come to Christ. You should come waiting for nothing and
tarrying for nothing. You should come as a hungry sinner to be filled, as a poor
sinner to be enriched, as a bad, undeserving sinner to be clothed with
righteousness.

So coming Christ would receive you. Him that cometh to Christ he will in no wise
cast out. O come, come to Jesus Christ.

Come into the true church by faith and be saved. 3. Last of all let me give a
word of exhortation to all believers into whose hands this paper may fall.
Strive to live a holy life.

Walk worthy of the church to which you belong. Live like citizens of heaven. Let
your light shine before men, so that the world may profit by your conduct.

Let them know whose you are and whom you serve. Be epistles of Christ, known and
read of all men, written in such clear letters that none can say of you, I know
not whether this man be a member of Christ or not. He that knows nothing of real
practical holiness is no member of the church on the rock.

Strive to live a courageous life. Confess Christ before men. Whatever station
you occupy in that station, confess Christ.

Why should you be ashamed of him? He was not ashamed of you on the cross. He is
ready to confess you now before his father in heaven. Why should you be ashamed
of him? Be bold.

Be very bold. The good soldier is not ashamed of his uniform. The true believer
ought never to be ashamed of Christ.

Strive to live a joyful life. Live like men who look for that blessed hope, the
second coming of Christ. This is the prospect to which we should all look
forward.

It is not so much the thought of going to heaven as of heaven coming to us. That
should fill our minds. There is a good time coming for all the people of God, a
good time for all the church of Christ, a good time for all believers, a bad
time for the impenitent and unbelieving, but a good time for true Christians.

For that good time, let us wait and watch and pray. The scaffolding will soon be
taken down. The last stone will soon be brought out.

The top stone will be placed upon the edifice. Yet a little time in the full
beauty of the church which Christ is building shall be clearly seen. The great
master builder will soon come himself.

A building shall be shown to assembled worlds in which there shall be no
imperfection. The Savior and the saved shall rejoice together. The whole
universe shall acknowledge that in the building of Christ's church all was well
done.

Blessed it shall be said in that day if it was never said before. Blessed are
all they who belong to the church on the rock. Chapter 14 Page 229 Visible
churches warned.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Revelation 3.22 I suppose I may take it for granted that every reader of this
paper belongs to some visible church of Christ. I do not ask now whether you are
an Episcopalian or Presbyterian or Independent.

I only suppose that you would not like to be called an Atheist or an Infidel.
You attend the public worship of some visible particular or national body of
professing Christians. Now, whatever the name of your church may be, I invite
your special attention to the verse of Scripture before your eyes.

I charge you to remember that the words of that verse concern yourself. They are
written for your learning and for all who call themselves Christians. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

This verse is repeated seven times over in the second and third chapters of the
book of Revelation. Seven different letters does the Lord Jesus there send by
the hand of his servant John to the seven churches of Asia. Seven times over he
winds up his letter by the same solemn words.

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now
the Lord God is perfect in all His works. He does nothing by chance.

He caused no part of the Scriptures to be written by chance. In all His dealings
you may trace design, purpose, and plan. There was design in the size and orbit
of each planet.

There was design in the shape and structure of the least fly's wing. There was
design in every verse of the Bible. There was design in every repetition of a
verse wherever it took place.

There was design in the sevenfold repetition of the verse before our eyes. It
had a meaning and we were intended to observe it. This verse appears to me to
call the special attention of all true Christians to the seven epistles to the
churches.

I believe it was meant to make believers take particular notice of the things
which these seven epistles contain. Let me try to point out certain leading
truths which these seven epistles seem to me to teach. They are truths for the
times we live in.

Truths for the latter days. Truths which we cannot know too well. Truths which
it would be good for us all to know and feel far better than we do.

Number one. I ask my readers to observe in the first place that the Lord Jesus
in all the seven epistles speaks of nothing but matters of doctrine, practice,
warning, and promise. I ask you to look over these seven epistles to the
churches quietly and at your leisure and you will soon see what I mean.

You will observe that the Lord Jesus sometimes finds false with false doctrines
and ungodly inconsistent practices and rebukes them sharply. You will observe
that he sometimes praises faith, patience, work, labor, perseverance, and
bestows on these graces high commendation. You will sometimes find him enjoining
repentance, amendment, return to the first love, renewed application to himself,
and the like.

But I want you to observe that you will not find the Lord in any of the epistles
dwelling upon church government or ceremonies. He says nothing about sacraments
or ordinances. He makes no mention of liturgies or forms.

He does not instruct John to write one word about baptism or the Lord's Supper
or apostolic succession of ministers. In short, the leading principles of what
may be called the sacramental system are not brought forward in any one of the
seven epistles from first to last. Now why do I dwell on this? I do it because
many professing Christians in the present day would have us believe these things
are of first, of cardinal, of paramount importance.

There are not a few who seem to hold that there can be no church without a
bishop and no godliness without a liturgy. They appear to believe that to teach
the value of the sacraments is the first work of the minister and to keep to
their parish church the first business of a people. Now let no man misunderstand
me when I say this.

Do not run away with the notion that I see no importance in sacraments. On the
contrary, I regard them as great blessings to all who receive them rightly,
worthily, and with faith. Do not fancy that I attach no value to episcopacy, a
liturgy, and the parochial system.

On the contrary, I consider that a church well administered which has these
three things and an evangelical ministry is a far more complete and useful
church than one in which they are not to be found. But this I say, that
sacraments, church government, the use of a liturgy, the observance of
ceremonies and forms are all as nothing compared to faith, repentance, and
holiness. And my authority for so saying is the whole tenor of our Lord's words
to these seven churches.

I never can believe if a certain form of church government was so important as
some say, that the great head of the church would have nothing said about it
here. I should have expected to have found something said about it to Sardis and
Laodicea. But I find nothing at all and I think that silence is a great fact.

I cannot help remarking just the same fact in Paul's parting word to the
Ephesian elders. Acts 20 verses 27 through 35. He was then leaving them forever.

He was giving his last charge on earth and spoke as one who would see the faces
of his hearers no more. And yet there is not a word in the church about the
sacraments and church government. If ever there was a time for speaking of them,
it was then.

But he says nothing at all and I believe it was an intentional silence. Now here
lies one reason why we, who rightly or wrongly are called evangelical clergy do
not preach about bishops and the prayer book and ordinances more than we do. It
is not because we do not value them in their place, proportion and way.

We do value them as really and truly as any and are thankful for them. But we
believe that repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ and a
holy conversation are subjects of far more importance to men's souls. Without
these, no man can be saved.

These are the first and most weighty matters and therefore on these we dwell.
Here again lies one reason why we so often urge on men not to be content with
the mere outward part of religion. You must have observed that we often warn you
not to rest on church membership and church privileges.

We tell you not to be satisfied all is right because you come to church on
Sunday and come up to the Lord's table. We often urge you to remember that He is
not a Christian who is one outwardly. That you must be born again.

That you must have a faith that worketh by love. That there must be a new
creation by the Spirit in your heart. We do it because this seems to us the mind
of Christ.

These are the kind of things He dwells upon when writing seven times over to
seven different churches. We feel that if we follow Him we cannot greatly err. I
am aware that men charge us with taking low views of the subjects to which I
have adverted.

It is a small thing that our views are thought low so long as our consciences
tell us they are scriptural. High ground, as it is called, is not always safe
ground. What Balaam said must be our answer.

What the Lord saith, that will I speak. Numbers 24.13 The plain truth is there
are two distinct and separate systems of Christianity in England at the present
day. It is useless to deny it.

Their existence is a great fact and one that cannot be too clearly known.
According to one system, religion is a mere corporate business. You are to
belong to a certain body of people.

By virtue of your membership of this body, vast privileges both for time and
eternity are conferred upon you. It matters little what you are and what you
feel. You are not to try yourself by your feelings.

You are a member of a great ecclesiastical corporation. Then all its privileges
and immunities are your own. Do you belong to the one true visible corporation?
This is a grand question.

According to the other system, religion is eminently a personal business between
yourself and Christ. It will not save your soul to be an outward member of any
ecclesiastical body whatever, however sound that body may be. Such membership
will not wash away one's sin or give you confidence in the day of judgment.

There must be personal faith in Christ, personal dealings between yourself and
God, personal felt communion between your heart and the Holy Ghost. Have you
this personal faith? Have you this felt work of the Spirit in your soul? This is
a grand question. If not, you will be lost.

This last system is the system which those who are called evangelical ministers
cleave to and teach. They do so because they are satisfied that it is the system
of Holy Scripture. They do so because they are convinced that any other system
is productive of the most dangerous consequences and calculated to delude men
fatally as to their actual state.

They do so because they believe it to be the only system of teaching which God
will bless and that no church will flourish so much as that in which repentance,
faith, conversion, and the work of the Spirit are the grand subjects of the
minister's sermon. Once more I say, let us often look carefully over the seven
epistles to the churches. Number two, I ask my readers in the second place to
observe that in every epistle the Lord Jesus says, I know thy works.

That repeated expression is very striking. It is not for nothing that we read
these words seven times over. To one church the Lord Jesus says, I know thy
labor and patience.

To another, thy tribulation and poverty. To a third, thy charity and service and
faith. But to all he uses the words I now dwell on.

I know thy works. It is not I know thy profession, thy desires, thy resolutions,
thy wishes, but thy works. I know thy works.

The works of a professing Christian are of great importance. They cannot save
your soul. They cannot justify you.

They cannot wipe out your sins. They cannot deliver you from the wrath of God.
But it does not follow because they cannot save you that they are of no
importance.

Take heed and beware of such a notion. The man who thinks so is fearfully
deceived. I often think I could willingly die for the doctrine of justification
by faith without the deeds of the law.

But I must earnestly contend as a general principle that a man's works are the
evidence of a man's religion. If you call yourself a Christian you must show it
in your daily ways and daily behavior. Call to mind that the faith of Abraham
and of Rahab was proved by their works.

James 2 verses 21 through 25 Remember it avails you and me nothing to profess we
know God if in works we deny him. Titus 1 16 Remember the words of the Lord
Jesus. Every tree is known by its own fruit.

Luke 6 44 But whatever the works of a professing Christian may be Jesus says I
know them. His eyes are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs
15 3 You never did an action however private but Jesus saw it.

You never spoke a word no not even in a whisper but Jesus heard it. You never
wrote a letter even to your dearest friend but Jesus read it. You never thought
a thought however secret but Jesus was familiar with it.

His eyes are as a flaming fire. The darkness is no darkness with him. All things
are open and manifest before him.

He says to everyone I know thy works. A. The Lord Jesus knows the works of all
impenitent and unbelieving souls and will one day punish them. They are not
forgotten in heaven though they may be upon earth.

When the great white throne is set and the books are opened the wicked dead will
be judged according to their works. B. The Lord Jesus knows the works of his own
people and weighs them. By him actions are weighed.

1 Samuel 2 3 He knows the why and the wherefore of the deeds of all believers.
He sees their motives in every step they take. He discerns how much is done for
his sake and how much is done for the sake of praise.

Alas not a few things are done by believers which seem very good to you and me
but are rated very low by Christ. C. The Lord Jesus knows the works of all his
people and will one day reward them. He never overlooks a kind word or a kind
deed done in his name.

He will own the least fruit of faith and declare it before the world in the day
of his appearing. If you love the Lord Jesus and follow him you may be sure your
work and labor shall not be in vain in the Lord. The works of those that die in
the Lord shall follow them.

Revelation 14 13 They shall not go before them nor yet by their side but they
shall follow them and be owned in the day of Christ's appearing. The parable of
the pounds shall be made good. Every man shall receive his own reward according
to his own labor.

1 Corinthians 3 8 The world knows you not for it knows not your master but Jesus
sees and knows all. I know thy works. Think what a solemn warning there is here
to all worldly and hypocritical professors of religion.

Let all such read, mark and digest these words. Jesus says to you, I know thy
works. You may deceive me or any other minister.

It is easy to do so. You may receive the bread and wine from my hands and yet be
cleaving to iniquity in your hearts. You may sit under the pulpit of an
evangelical preacher week after week and hear his words with a serious face but
not believe them.

But remember this, you cannot deceive Christ. He who discovered the deadness of
Sardis and the lukewarmness of Laodicea sees you through and through and will
expose you at the last day except you repent. Oh, believe me, hypocrisy is a
losing game.

It will never answer to seem one thing and be another. To have the name of
Christian and not the reality. Be sure if your conscience smites you and
condemns you in this matter, be sure your sin will find you out.

The eye that saw Achan steal the golden wedge and hide it is upon you. The book
that recorded the deeds of Gehazi and Ananias and Sapphira is recording your
ways. Jesus mercifully sends you a word of warning today.

He says, I know thy works. But think also what encouragement there is here for
every honest and true hearted believer. To you also Jesus says, I know thy
works.

You see no beauty in any action that you do. All seems imperfect, blemished and
defiled. You are often sick at heart of your own shortcomings.

You often feel that your whole life is one great error and that every day is
either a blank or a blot. But now know that Jesus can see some beauty in
everything that you do from a conscientious desire to please him. His eye can
discern excellence in the least thing which is a fruit of his own spirit.

He can pick out the grains of gold from amidst the dross of your performances
and sift the wheat from amidst the chaff in all your doings. Your tears are all
put into his bottle. Your endeavors to do good to others, however feeble, are
written in his book of remembrance.

The least cup of water given in his name shall not lose its reward. He does not
forget your work and labor of love however little the world may regard it. It is
very wonderful but so it is.

Jesus loves to honor the work of his spirit in his people and to pass over their
frailties. He dwells on the faith of Rahab but not on her lie. He commends his
apostles for continuing with him in his temptations and passes over their
ignorance and want of faith.

Luke 22 28 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. Psalm 103 13 And as a father finds a pleasure in the least acts of his
children, of which a stranger knows nothing, so I suppose the Lord finds a
pleasure in our poor feeble efforts to serve him. But it is all very wonderful.

I can well understand the righteous in the day of judgment, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee, and hungered and fed thee, or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw
we thee a stranger and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick or in prison and came unto thee? Matthew 25 verses 37-39 It may well
seem incredible and impossible that they can have done anything worth naming in
the great day. Yet so it is. Let all believers take the comfort of it.

The Lord says, I know thy works. It ought to humble you, but it ought not to
make you afraid. Number 3 I ask my readers to observe in the third and last
place that in every epistle the Lord Jesus makes a promise to the man that
overcomes.

Seven times over Jesus gives to the churches exceeding great and precious
promises. Each is different and each full of strong consolation, but each is
addressed to the overcoming Christian. It is always he that overcometh, or to
him that overcometh.

I ask you to take notice of this. Every professing Christian is a soldier of
Christ. He is bound by his baptism to fight Christ's battle against sin, the
world, and the devil.

The man that does not do this breaks his vow. He is a spiritual defaulter. He
does not fulfill the engagements made for him.

The man that does not do this is practically renouncing his Christianity. The
very fact that he belongs to a church, attends a Christian place of worship, and
calls himself a Christian is a public declaration that he desires to be reckoned
a soldier of Jesus Christ. Armor is provided for the professing Christian if he
will only use it.

Take unto you, says Paul to the Ephesians, the whole armor of God. Stand, having
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of
righteousness. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God.

And above all, take the shield of faith. Ephesians 6 verses 13-17 And not least,
the professing Christian has the best of leaders, Jesus the captain of
salvation, through whom he may be more than conqueror. The best of provisions,
the bread and water of life, and the best of pay promised to him, an eternal
weight of glory.

All these are ancient things. I will not be drawn off from my subject in order
to dwell on them now. The one point I want to impress upon your soul just now is
this, that the true believer is not only a soldier but a victorious soldier.

He not only professes to fight on Christ's side against sin, the world and the
devil, but he actually does fight and overcome. Now this is one grand
distinguishing mark of true Christians. Other men perhaps like to be numbered in
the ranks of Christ's army.

Other men may have lazy wishes and languid desires after the crown of glory. But
it is the true Christian alone who does the work of a soldier. He alone fairly
meets the enemies of his soul, really fights with them, and in that fight
overcomes them.

One great lesson I want men to learn from these seven epistles is this, that if
you would prove you are born again and going to heaven, you must be a victorious
soldier of Christ. If you would make it clear that you have any title to
Christ's precious promises, you must fight the good fight in Christ's cause, and
in that fight you must conquer. Victory is the only satisfactory evidence that
you have a saving religion.

You like good sermons perhaps. You respect the Bible and read it occasionally.
You say your prayers night and morning.

You have family prayers and give to religious societies. I thank God for this.
It is all very well.

But how goes the battle? How does the great conflict go on all this time? Are
you overcoming the love of the world and the fear of man? Are you overcoming the
passions, tempers, and lusts of your own heart? Are you resisting the devil and
making him flee from you? How is it in this matter? You must either rule or
serve sin and the devil and the world. There is no middle course. You must
either conquer or be lost.

I know well it is a hard battle that you have to fight and I want you to know it
too. You must fight the good fight of faith and endure hardships if you would
lay hold of eternal life. You must make up your mind to a daily struggle if you
would reach heaven.

There may be short roads to heaven invented by man, but ancient Christianity,
the good old way, is the way of the cross, the way of conflict. Sin, the world,
and the devil must be actually mortified, resisted, and overcome. This is the
road that saints of old have trodden in and left their record on high.

A. When Moses refused the pleasures of sin in Egypt and chose affliction with
the people of God, this was overcoming. He overcame the love of pleasure. B.
When Micaiah refused to prophecy smooth things to King Ahab, though he knew he
would be persecuted if he spoke the truth, this was overcoming.

He overcame the love of ease. C. When Daniel refused to give up praying, though
he knew the den of lions was prepared for him, this was overcoming. He overcame
the fear of death.

D. When Matthew rose from the receipt of custom and our Lord's bidding, left all
and followed him, this was overcoming. He overcame the love of money. E. When
Peter and John stood up boldly before the council and said, We cannot but speak
the things we have seen and heard, this was overcoming.

They overcame the fear of man. F. When Saul the Pharisee gave up all his
prospects of preferment among the Jews and preached that very Jesus whom he had
once persecuted, this was overcoming. He overcame the love of man's praise.

The same kind of thing which these men did, you must also do if you would be
saved. They were men of like passions with yourself, and yet they overcame. They
had as many trials as you can possibly have, and yet they overcame.

They fought, they wrestled, they struggled. You must do the same. What was the
secret of their victory? Their faith.

They believed on Jesus, and believing were made strong. They believed on Jesus,
and believing were held up. In all their battles they kept their eye on Jesus,
and he never left them nor forsook them.

They overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony. And so
may you. Revelation 12, 11 I set these words before you.

I ask you to lay them to heart. Resolve by the grace of God to be an overcoming
Christian. I fear much for many professing Christians.

I see no sign of fighting in them, much less of victory. They never strike one
stroke on the side of Christ. They are at peace with his enemies.

They have no quarrel with sin. I warn you, this is not Christianity. This is not
the way to heaven.

I often fear much for those who hear the Gospel regularly. I fear lest you
become so familiar with the sound of its doctrines, that insensibly you become
dead to its power. I fear lest your religion should sink down into a little
vague talk about your own weakness and corruption, and a few sentimental
expressions about Christ, while real, practical fighting on Christ's side is
altogether neglected.

Oh, beware of this state of mind. Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. No
victory, no crown.

Fight and overcome. James 1, 22 Young men and women, and especially those who
have been brought up in religious families, I fear much for you. I fear lest you
get a habit of giving way to every temptation.

I fear lest you become afraid of saying no to the world and the devil. And when
sinners entice you, think it least trouble to consent. Beware, I do beseech you
of giving way.

Every confession will make you weaker. Go into the world resolved to fight
Christ's battle and fight your way on. Believers in the Lord Jesus of every
church and rank in life, I feel much for you.

I know your course is hard. I know it is a sore battle you have to fight. I know
you are often tempted to say it is of no use and to lay down your arms
altogether.

Cheer up, dear brethren and sisters. Take comfort, I entreat you. Look at the
bright side of your position.

Be encouraged to fight on. The time is short. The Lord is at hand.

The night is far spent. Millions as weak as you have fought the same fight. Not
one of all those millions has finally been led captive by Satan.

Mighty are your enemies, but the captain of your salvation is mightier still.
His arm, his grace, and his spirit shall hold you up. Cheer up and be not cast
down.

What though you lose a battle or two, you shall not lose all. What though you
faint sometimes, you shall not be quite cast down. What though you fall seven
times, you shall not be destroyed.

Watch against sin, and sin shall not have dominion over you. Resist the devil,
and he shall flee from you. Come out boldly from this world, and the world shall
be obliged to let you go.

You shall find yourselves in the end more than conquerors you shall overcome.
Let me draw from the whole subject a few words of application, and then I have
done. Number one.

For one thing, let me warn all who are living only for the world, to take heed
what they are doing. You are enemies to Christ, though you may not know it. He
marks your ways, though you turn your backs on him, and refuse to give him your
hearts.

He is observing your daily life, and reading your daily ways. There will yet be
a resurrection of all your thoughts, words, and actions. You may forget them,
but God does not.

You may be careless about them, but they are carefully marked down in the Book
of Remembrance. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's
Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available,
free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats.

Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, containing
thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, tapes, and
videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. the scriptural law of
worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither
came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts
off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one
phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no
other argument needed to condemn superstitions, than that they are not commanded
by God.

For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and
attend not to his commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle
was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship, in which they
absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible
thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God, by
performing their own superstitions.

There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly
appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God,
except by obeying his word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of
error. The Prophet's words then are very important, when he says that God had
commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind.

As though he had said, that men assume too much wisdom, when they devise what he
never required, nay, what he never knew.


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  CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER 19
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O worldly man, think of this. Tremble, tremble and repent. Number two.

For another thing, let me warn all formalists and self-righteous people to take
heed that they are not deceived. You fancy you will go to heaven because you go
regularly to church. You indulge in expectation of eternal life because you are
always at the Lord's table and are never missing in your pew.

But where is your repentance? Where is your faith? Where are your evidences of a
new heart? Where is the work of the Spirit? Where are your evidences of
regeneration? O formal Christian, consider these questions. Tremble, tremble and
repent. Three.

For another thing, let me warn all careless members of churches to beware lest
they trifle their souls into hell. You live on year after year as if there was
no battle to be fought with sin, the world and the devil. You pass through life
a smiling, laughing, gentleman-like or lady-like person and behave as if there
was no devil, no heaven and no hell.

O careless churchmen or careless dissenter, careless Episcopalian, careless
Presbyterian, careless Independent, careless Baptist, awake to see eternal
realities in their true light. Awake and put on the armor of God. Awake and
fight hard for life.

Tremble, tremble and repent. Four. For another thing, let me warn everyone who
wants to be saved not to be content with the world standard of religion.

Surely no man with his eyes open can fail to see that the Christianity of the
New Testament is something far higher and deeper than the Christianity of most
professing Christians. The formal, easy-going, do-little thing which most people
call religion is evidently not the religion of the Lord Jesus. The things that
He praises in these seven epistles are not praised by the world.

The things that He blames are not things in which the world sees any harm. O, if
you would follow Christ, be not content with the world's Christianity. Tremble,
tremble and repent.

Five. In the last place, let me warn everyone who professes to be a believer in
the Lord Jesus not to be content with a little religion. Of all sites in the
Church of Christ, I know none more painful to my own eyes than a Christian
contented and satisfied with a little grace, a little repentance, a little
faith, a little knowledge, a little charity, and a little holiness.

I do beseech and entreat every believing soul that reads this tract not to be
that kind of man. If you have any desires after usefulness, if you have any
wishes to promote your Lord's glory, if you have any longings after much inward
peace, be not content with a little religion. Let us rather seek every year we
live to make more spiritual progress than we have done, to grow in grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, to grow in humility and self-acquaintance, to
grow in spirituality and heavenly mindedness, to grow in conformity to the image
of our Lord.

Let us beware of leaving our first love like Ephesus, of becoming lukewarm like
Laodicea, of tolerating false practices like Pergamus, of tampering with false
doctrine like Thyatira, of becoming half-dead, ready to die like Sardis. Let us
rather covet the best gifts, let us aim at imminent holiness, let us endeavor to
be like Smyrna in Philadelphia, let us hold fast what we have already and
continually seek to have more, let us labor to be unmistakable Christians. Let
it not be our distinctive character that we are men of science, or men of
literary attainments, or men of the world, or men of pleasure, or men of
business, but men of God.

Let us so live that all may see that to us the things of God are the first
things, and the glory of God the first aim in our lives, to follow Christ our
grand object in time present, to be with Christ our grand desire in time to
come. Let us live in this way and we shall be happy, let us live in this way and
we shall do good to the world, let us live in this way and we shall leave good
evidence behind us when we are buried, let us live in this way and the Spirit's
word to the churches will not have been spoken to us in vain. Chapter 15, Lovest
Thou Me? Page 241 Lovest Thou Me? John 21, 16 The question which heads this
paper was addressed by Christ to the Apostle Peter.

A more important question could not have been asked. 1900 years have passed away
since the words were spoken, but to this very day the inquiry is most searching
and useful. A disposition to love somebody is one of the commonest feelings
which God has implanted in human nature.

Too often, unhappily, people set their affection on unworthy objects. I want
this day to claim a place for him who alone is worthy of all our heart's best
feelings. I want men to give some of their love to that divine person who loved
us and gave himself for us.

In all their loving, I would have them not forget to love Christ. Suffer me to
press this mighty subject upon the attention of every reader of this paper. This
is no matter for mere enthusiasts and fanatics.

It deserves the consideration of every reasonable Christian who believes the
Bible. Our very salvation is bound up with it. Life or death, heaven or hell,
depend on our ability to answer the simple question, do you love Christ? There
are two points which I wish to bring forward in opening up this subject.

One, in the first place, let me show the peculiar feeling of a true Christian
towards Christ. He loves him. A true Christian is not a merely baptized man or
woman.

He is something more. He is not a person who only goes, as a matter of form, to
a church or chapel on Sundays and lives all the rest of the week as if there was
no God. Formality is not Christianity.

Ignorant lip worship is not true religion. The scripture speaketh expressly,
they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. The practical lesson of those
words is clear and plain.

All are not true Christians who are members of the visible church of Christ. The
true Christian is one whose religion is in his heart and life. It is felt by
himself in his heart.

It is seen by others in his conduct and life. He feels his sinfulness, guilt and
badness and repents. He sees Jesus Christ to be that divine savior whom his soul
needs and commits himself to him.

He puts off the old man with his corrupt and carnal habits and puts on the new
man. He lives a new and holy life, fighting habitually against the world, the
flesh and the devil. Christ himself is the cornerstone of his Christianity.

Ask him in what he trusts for the forgiveness of his many sins and he will tell
you in the death of Christ. Ask him in what righteousness he hopes to stand
innocent at the judgment day and he will tell you it is the righteousness of
Christ. Ask him by what pattern he tries to frame his life and he will tell you
that it is the example of Christ.

But beside all this there is one thing in a true Christian which is eminently
peculiar to him. That thing is to love Christ. Knowledge, faith, hope,
reverence, obedience are all marked features in a true Christian's character.

But his picture would be very imperfect if you omitted his love to his divine
master. He not only knows, trusts and obeys, he goes further than this, he
loves. This peculiar mark of a true Christian is one which we find mentioned
several times in the Bible.

Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ is an expression which many Christians are
familiar with. Let it never be forgotten that love is mentioned by the Holy
Ghost in almost as strong terms as faith. Great as the danger is of him that
believeth not, the danger of him that loveth not is equally great.

Not believing and not loving are both steps to everlasting ruin. Hear what St.
Paul says to the Corinthians. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be anathema maranatha.

St. Paul allows no way of escape to the man who does not love Christ. He leaves
him no loophole or excuse. A man may lack clear head knowledge and yet be saved.

He may fail in courage and be overcome by the fear of man like Peter. He may
fall tremendously like David and yet rise again. But if a man does not love
Christ, he is not in the way of life.

The curse is yet upon him. He is on the broad road that leadeth to destruction.
Hear what St. Paul says to the Ephesians.

Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Ephesians 6
24 The apostle is here sending his good wishes and declaring his good will to
all true Christians. Many of them no doubt he had never seen.

Many of them in the early churches we may be very sure were weak in faith and
knowledge and self-denial. How then shall he describe them in sending his
message? What words can he use which will not discourage the weaker brethren? He
chooses a sweeping expression which exactly describes all true Christians under
one common name. All had not attained to the same degree whether in doctrine or
practice, but all loved Christ in sincerity.

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ himself says to the Jews. If God were your
Father, ye would love me. John 8 42 He saw his misguided enemies satisfied with
their spiritual condition on the one single ground that they were children of
Abraham.

He saw them like many ignorant Christians of our own day claiming to be God's
children for no better reasons than this, that they were circumcised and
belonged to the Jewish church. He lays down the broad principle that no man is a
child of God who does not love God's only begotten Son. No man has a right to
call God Father who does not love Christ.

Well would it be for many Christians if they were to remember that this mighty
principle applies to them as well as to the Jews. No love to Christ, then no
sonship to God. Hear once more what our Lord Jesus Christ did to the Apostle
Peter after he rose from the dead.

Three times he asked him the question, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? John
21 15-17 The occasion was remarkable. He meant gently to remind his erring
disciple of his thrice repeated fall. He desired to call forth from him a new
confession of faith before publicly restoring to him his commission to feed the
church.

And what was the question that he asked him? He might have said, Believest thou?
Art thou converted? Are thou ready to confess me? Willst thou obey me? He uses
none of these expressions. He simply says, Lovest thou me? This is the point he
would have us know on which a man's Christianity hinges. Simple as the question
sounded, it was most searching.

Plain and easy to be understood by the most unlearned poor man, it contains
matter which tests the reality of the most advanced apostle. If a man truly
loves Christ, all is right. If not, all is wrong.

Would you know the secret of this peculiar feeling towards Christ which
distinguishes the true Christian? You have it in the words of Saint John. We
love him because he first loved us. 1 John 4 19 That text, no doubt, applies
specially to God the Father, but it is no less true of God the Son.

A true Christian loves Christ for all he has done for him. He has suffered in
his stead and died for him on the cross. He has redeemed him from the guilt, the
power, and the consequences of sin by his blood.

He has called him by his spirit to self-knowledge, repentance, faith, hope, and
holiness. He has forgiven all his many sins and blotted them out. He has freed
him from the captivity of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

He has taken him from the brink of hell, placed him in the narrow way, and set
his face toward heaven. He has given him light instead of darkness, peace of
conscience instead of uneasiness, hope instead of uncertainty, life instead of
death. Can you wonder that the true Christian loves Christ? And he loves him
besides for all that he is still doing.

He feels that he is daily washing away his many shortcomings and infirmities and
pleading his soul's cause before God. He is daily supplying all the needs of his
soul and providing him with an hourly provision of mercy and grace. He is daily
leading him by his spirit to a city of habitation, bearing with him when he is
weak and ignorant, raising him up when he stumbles and falls, protecting him
against his many enemies, preparing an eternal home for him in heaven.

Can you wonder that the true Christian loves Christ? Does the debtor in jail
love the friend who unexpectedly and undeservedly pays all his debts, supplies
him with fresh capital, and takes him into partnership with him? Does the
prisoner in war love the man who at the risk of his own life breaks through the
enemy's lines, rescues him, and sets him free? Does the drowning sailor love the
man who plunges into the sea, dives after him, catches him by the hair of his
head, and by a mighty effort saves him from a watery grave? A very child can
answer such questions as these. Just in the same way, and upon the same
principles, a true Christian loves Jesus Christ. But where there is real
justifying faith in Christ, there will always be heart love to Christ.

He that is really forgiven is the man who will really love. If a man has no love
to Christ, you may be sure he has no faith. b. Love to Christ is the mainspring
of work for Christ.

There is little done for His cause on earth from sense of duty or from knowledge
of what is right and proper. The heart must be interested before the hands will
move and continue moving. Excitement may galvanize the Christian's hands into a
fitful and spasmodic activity, but there will be no patient continuance in
well-doing, no unwary labor and missionary work at home or abroad without love.

The nurse in a hospital may do her duty properly and well, may give the sick man
his medicine at the right time, may feed him, minister to him, and attend to all
his wants, but there is a vast difference between that nurse and a wife
attending the sick bed of a beloved husband or a mother watching over a dying
child. The one acts from a sense of duty, the other from affection and love. The
one does her duty because she is paid for it, the other is what she is because
of her heart.

It is just the same in the matter of the service of Christ. The great workers of
the church, the men who have led forlorn hopes in the mission field and turned
the world upside down, have all been eminently lovers of Christ. Examine the
characters of Owen and Baxter, of Rutherford and George Herbert, of Leighton and
Hervey, of Whitfield and Wesley, of Henry Martin and Judson, of Bickerstith and
Simeon, of Helotson and Machine, of Stilwell and McNeill.

These men have left a mark on the world. And what was the common feature of
their characters? They all loved Christ. They not only held a creed, they loved
a person, even the Lord Jesus Christ.

C. Love to Christ is the point which we ought specially to dwell upon in
teaching religion to children. Election, imputed righteousness, original sin,
justification, sanctification, and even faith itself are matters which sometimes
puzzle a child of tender years. But love to Jesus seems far more within reach of
their understanding.

That he loved them even to his death, and that they ought to love him in return,
is a creed which meets the span of their minds. How true it is that out of the
mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise. Matthew 21, 16 There
are myriads of Christians who know every article of the Anthantean, Nicene, and
Apostolic creeds, and yet know less of real Christianity than a little child who
only knows that he loves Christ.

D. Love to Christ is the common meeting point of believers of every branch of
Christ's church on earth, whether Episcopalian or Presbyterian, Baptist or
Independent, Calvinist or Arminian, Methodist or Moravian, Lutheran or Reformed,
Established or Free, here at least they are agreed. About forms and ceremonies,
about church government and modes of worship, they often differ widely. But on
one point at any rate they are united.

They have all one common feeling towards him on whom they build their hope of
salvation. They love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Many of them perhaps
are ignorant of systematic divinity, and could argue but feebly in defense of
their creed.

But they all know what they feel toward him who died for their sins. I cannot
speak much for Christ, sir, said an old, uneducated Christian woman to Dr.
Chalmers. But if I cannot speak for him, I could die for him.

Love to Christ will be the distinguishing mark of all saved souls in heaven. The
multitude which no man can number will all be of one mind. All differences will
be merged in one common feeling.

Old doctrinal peculiarities, fiercely wrangled for upon earth, will be covered
over by one common sense of debt to Christ. Luther and Dwingle will no longer
dispute. Wesley and Toplady will no longer waste time in controversy.

Churchmen and dissenters will no longer bite and devour one another. All will
find themselves joining with one heart and voice in that hymn of praise unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood, and hath made us
kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion for ever
and ever.

Amen. Revelation 1, verses 5-6 The words which John Bunyan puts in the mouth of
Mr. Stanfast as he stood in the river of death are very beautiful. He said, This
river has been a terror to many.

Yea, the thoughts of it also have often frightened me. But now methinks I stand
easy. My foot is fixed upon that which the priests that bear the ark stood while
Israel went over Jordan.

The waters indeed are to the palate bitter and to the stomach cold. Yet the
thoughts of what I am going to, and of the convoy that waits for me on the other
side, lie as a glowing coal at my heart. I see myself now at the end of my
journey.

My toilsome days are ended. I am going to see that head which was crowned with
thorns, and that face which was spit upon for me. I have formerly lived by
hearing and faith, but now I go where I shall live by sight, and be with him in
whose company I delight myself.

I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of, and wherever I have seen the print of
his shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot to. His name has been
to me a civet box, yea, sweeter than all perfumes. His voice to me has been most
sweet, and his countenance I have more desired than they that have desired the
light of the sun.

Happy are they that know something of this experience. He that would be in tune
for heaven must know something of love to Christ. He that dies ignorant of that
love had better never have been born.

Let me show in the second place the peculiar marks by which love to Christ makes
itself known. The point is one of vast importance. If there is no salvation
without love to Christ, if he that does not love Christ is in peril of eternal
condemnation, it becomes all us to find out very distinctly what we know about
this matter.

Christ is in heaven, and we are upon earth. In what way shall the man be
discerned that loves him? Happily, the point is one which it is not very hard to
settle. How do we know whether we love any person here on earth? In what way and
manner does love show itself between people in this world, between husband and
wife, between parent and child, between brother and sister, between friend and
friend? Let these questions be answered by common sense and observations, and I
ask no more.

Let these questions be honestly answered, and the knot before us is untied. How
does affection show itself among ourselves? A. If we love a person, we like to
think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him.

We do not forget his name, or his appearance, or his character, or his opinions,
or his taste, or his position, or his occupation. He comes up before our mind's
eye many a time in the day. Though perhaps far distant, he is often present in
our thoughts.

Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ. Christ dwells in his
heart and is thought of more or less every day. Ephesians 3.17 The true
Christian does not need to be reminded that he has a crucified master.

He often thinks of him. He never forgets that he has a day, a cause, and a
people, and that of his people he is one. Affection is the real secret of a good
memory in religion.

No worldly man can think much about Christ unless Christ is pressed upon his
notice, because he has no affection for him. The true Christian has thoughts
about Christ every day that he lives, for this one simple reason, that he loves
him. B. If you love a person, we like to hear about him.

We find pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest in
any report which others make of him. We are all attention when others talk about
him and describe his ways, his sayings, his doings, and his plans.

Some may hear him mentioned with utter indifference, but our own hearts bound
within us at the very sound of his name. Well, it is just so between the true
Christian and Christ. The true Christian delights to hear something about his
master.

He likes those sermons best which are full of Christ. He enjoys that society
most in which people talk of the things which are Christ's. I have read of an
old Welsh believer who used to walk several miles every Sunday to hear an
English clergyman preach, though she did not understand a word of English.

She was asked why she did so. She replied that this clergyman named the name of
Christ so often in his sermons that it did her good. She loved even the name of
her Savior.

C. If we love a person, we like to read about him. What intense pleasure a
letter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a letter from an absent son to
his mother. Others may see little worth notice in the letter.

They can scarcely take the trouble to read it through. But those who love the
writer see something in the letter which no one else can. They carry it about
with them as a treasure.

They read it over and over again. Well, it is just so between the true Christian
and Christ. The true Christian delights to read the Scriptures because they tell
him about his beloved Savior.

It is no worrisome task with him to read them. He rarely needs reminding to take
his Bible with him when he goes on a journey. He cannot be happy without it.

And why is all this? It is because the Scriptures testify of him whom his soul
loves, even Christ. D. If we love a person, we like to please him. We are glad
to consult his tastes and opinions, to act upon his advice, and do the things
which he approves.

We even deny ourselves to meet his wishes, abstain from things which we know he
dislikes, and learn things to do which we are not naturally inclined because we
think it will give him pleasure. Well, it is just so between the true Christian
and Christ. The true Christian studies to please him by being holy both in body
and spirit, show him anything in his daily practice that Christ hates and he
will give it up, show him anything that Christ delights in and he will follow
after it.

He does not murmur at Christ's requirements as being too strict and severe as
the children of the world do. To him, Christ's commandments are not grievous and
Christ's burden is light. And why is all this? Simply because he loves him.

E. If we love a person, we like his friends. We are favorably inclined to them
even before we know them. We are drawn to them by the common tie of common love
to one and the same person.

When we meet them, we do not feel that we are altogether strangers. There is a
bond of union between us. They love the person that we love, and that alone is
an introduction.

Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ. The true Christian
regards all Christ's friends as his friends and members of the same body,
children of the same family, soldiers in the same army, travelers to the same
home. When he meets them, he feels as if he had long known them.

He is more at home with them in a few minutes than he is with many worldly
people after an acquaintance of several years. And what is the secret of all
this? It is simply affection to the same Savior and love to the same Lord. F. If
we love a person, we are jealous about his name and honor.

We do not like to hear him spoken against without speaking up for him and
defending him. We feel bound to maintain his interest and reputation. We regard
the person who treats him ill with almost as much disfavor as if he had treated
us ill.

Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ. The true Christian
regards with a godly jealousy all efforts to disparage his master's name or
word, church or day. He will confess him before princes if need be and be
sensitive of the least dishonor put upon him.

He will not hold his peace and suffer his master's cause to be put to shame
without testifying against it. And why is all this? Simply because he loves him.
G. If we love a person, we like to talk to him.

We tell him all our thoughts and pour out all our heart to him. We find no
difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation. However silent and reserved
we may be to others, we find it easy to talk to a much-loved friend.

However often we may meet, we are never at a loss for matter to talk about. We
have always much to say, much to ask about, much to describe, much to
communicate. Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ.

The true Christian finds no difficulty in speaking to his savior. Every day he
has something to tell him, and he is not happy unless he tells it. He speaks to
him in prayer every morning and night.

He tells him his wants and desires, his feelings and his fears. He asks counsel
of him in difficulty. He asks comfort of him in trouble.

He cannot help it. He must converse with his savior continually, or he would
faint by the way. And why is this? Simply because he loves him.

H. Finally, if we love a person, we like to be always with him. Thinking and
hearing and reading and occasionally talking are all well in their way. But when
we really love people, we want something more.

We long to be always in their company. We wish to be continually in their
society and to hold communion with them without interruption or farewell. Well,
it is just so between the true Christian and Christ.

The heart of a true Christian longs for that blessed day when he will see his
master face to face and go out no more. He longs to have done with sinning and
repenting and believing and to begin that endless life when he shall see as he
has been seen and sin no more. He has found it sweet to live by faith, and he
feels it will be sweeter still to live by sight.

He has found it pleasant to hear of Christ and talk of Christ and read of
Christ. How much more pleasant will it be to see Christ with his own eyes and
never leave him any more. Better, he feels, is the sight of the eyes than the
wandering of the desire.

And why is all this? Simply because he loves him. Such are the marks by which
true love may be discovered. They are all plain, simple and easy to be
understood.

There is nothing dark, obtruse and mysterious about them. Use them honestly and
handle them fairly and you cannot fail to get some light on the subject of this
paper. Perhaps you had a beloved son in the army at the time of a great war.

Perhaps he was actively engaged in that war and in the very midst of the
struggle. Cannot you remember how strong and deep and anxious your feelings were
about that son? That was love. Perhaps you have known what it is to have a
beloved husband in the Navy, often called from home by duty, often separated
from you for many months and even years.

Cannot you recollect your sorrowful feelings at that time of separation? That
was love. Perhaps you have at this moment a beloved brother in London, launched
for the first time amidst the temptations of a great city in order to make his
way in business. How will he turn out? How will he get on? Will you ever see him
again? Do you not know that you often think about that brother? That is
affection.

Perhaps you are engaged to be married to a person every way suited to you, but
prudence makes it necessary to defer the marriage to a distant period and duty
makes it necessary to be at a distance from the one you have promised to make
your wife. Must you not confess that she is often in your thoughts? Must you not
confess that you like to hear of her and hear from her and that you long to see
her? That is affection. I speak of things that are familiar to everyone.

I need not dwell upon them any further. They are as old as the hills. They are
all understood the world over.

There is hardly a branch of Adam's family that does not know something of
affection and love. Then let it never be said that we cannot find out whether a
Christian really loves Christ. It can be known.

It may be discovered. The proofs are already to your hands. You have heard them
this very day.

Love to the Lord Jesus Christ is no hidden, secret, impalpable thing. It is like
the light. It will be seen.

It is like sound. It will be heard. It is like heat.

It will be felt. Where it exists, it cannot be hid. Where it cannot be seen, you
may be sure there is none.

It is time for me to draw this paper to a conclusion, but I cannot end without
an effort to press it subject home to the individual conscience of each into
whose hands it has fallen. I do it in all love and affection. My heart's desire
and prayer to God in writing this paper is to do good to souls.

One, let me ask you for one thing to look the question in the face which Christ
asked of Peter and try to answer it for yourself. Look at it seriously. Examine
it carefully.

Weigh it well. After reading all that I have said about it, can you honestly say
that you love Christ? It is no answer to tell me that you believe the truth of
Christianity and hold the articles of the Christian faith. Such religion as this
will never save your soul.

The believers believe in a certain way and tremble. James 2.19 True saving
Christianity is not the mere believing a certain set of opinions and holding a
certain set of notions. Its essence is knowing, trusting, and loving a certain
living person who died for us, even Christ the Lord.

The early Christians like Phoebe and Persis and Tryphena and Tryphosa and Gaius
and Philemon knew little probably of dogmatic theology, but they all had this
grand leading feature in their religion. They loved Christ. It is no answer to
tell me that you disapprove of a religion of feelings.

If you mean by that that you dislike a religion consisting of nothing but
feelings, I agree with you entirely. But if you mean to shut out feelings
altogether, you can know little of Christianity. The Bible teaches us plainly
that a man may have good feelings without any true religion.

But it teaches us no less plainly that there can be no true religion without
some feelings toward Christ. It is vain to conceal that if you do not love
Christ, your soul is in great danger. You can have no saving faith now while you
live.

You are unfit for heaven if you die. He that lives without love to Christ can be
sensible of no obligation to him. He that dies without love to Christ could
never be happy in that heaven where Christ is all and in all.

Awake to know the peril of your position. Open your eyes. Consider your ways and
be wise.

I can only warn you as a friend. But I do it with all my heart and soul. May God
grant that this warning may not be in vain.

2. In the next place, if you do not love Christ, let me tell you plainly what is
the reason. You have no sense of debt to him. You have no feeling of obligation
to him.

You have no abiding recollection of having got anything from him. This being the
case, it is not likely, it is not probable, it is not reasonable that you should
love him. There is but one remedy for this state of things.

That remedy is self-knowledge and the teaching of the Holy Ghost. The eyes of
your understanding must be opened. You must find out what you are by nature.

You must discover that grand secret, your guilt and emptiness in God's sight.
Perhaps you never read your Bible at all or only read an occasional chapter as a
mere matter of form without interest, understanding or self-application. Take my
advice this day and change your plan.

Begin to read the Bible like a man in earnest and never rest till you become
familiar with it. Read what the law of God requires as it is founded by the Lord
Jesus in the fifth of St. Matthew. Read how St. Paul describes human nature in
the first two chapters of his epistle to the Romans.

Study such passages as these with prayer for the Spirit's teaching and then say
whether you are not a debtor to God and a debtor in mighty need of a friend like
Christ. Perhaps you are one who has never known anything of real, hearty,
business-like prayer. You have been used to regard religion as an affair of
churches, chapels, forms, services and Sundays but not as a thing requiring the
serious, heartfelt attention of the inward man.

Take my advice this day and change your plan. Begin the habit of real, earnest
pleading with God about your soul, asking for light, teaching and
self-knowledge. Beseech Him to show you anything you need to know for the saving
of your soul.

Do this with all your heart and mind and I have no doubt that before long you
will feel your need of Christ. The advice I offer may seem simple and
old-fashioned. Do not despise it on that account.

It is the good old way in which millions have walked already and found peace to
their souls. Not to love Christ is to be in imminent danger of eternal ruin. To
see your need of Christ and your amazing debt to Christ is the first step
towards loving Him.

To know yourself and find out your real condition before God is the only way to
see your need. To search God's books and ask God for light in prayer is the
right course by which to attain saving knowledge. Do not be above taking the
advice I offer.

Take it and be saved. 3. In the last place, if you really know anything of love
towards Christ, accept two parting words of comfort and counsel. The Lord grant
they may do you good.

For one thing, if you love Christ in deed and truth, rejoice in the thought that
you have good evidence about the state of your soul. Love, I tell you this day,
is an evidence of grace. What though you are sometimes perplexed with doubts and
fears, what though you find it hard to say whether your faith is genuine and
your grace real, what though your eyes are often so dimmed with tears that you
cannot clearly see your calling and election of God, still there is ground for
hope and strong consolation if your heart can testify that you love Christ.

Where there is true love, there is faith and grace. You would not love Him if He
had not done something for you. Your very love is a token for good.

4. For another thing, if you love Christ, never be ashamed to let others see it
and know it. Speak for Him, witness for Him, live for Him, work for Him. If He
has loved you and washed you from your sins in His own blood, you need never
shrink from letting others know that you feel it and love Him in return.

Man said a thoughtless ungodly English traveler to a North American Indian
convert, Man, what is the reason that you make so much of Christ and talk so
much about Him? What has this Christ done for you that you should make so much
ado about Him? The converted Indian did not answer him in words. He gathered
together some dry leaves and moss and made a ring with them on the ground. He
picked up a live worm and put it in the middle of the ring.

He struck a light and set the moss and leaves on fire. The flame soon rose and
the heat scorched the worm. It writhed in agony and after trying in vain to
escape on every side, curled itself up in the middle as if about to die in
despair.

At that moment the Indian reached forth his hand, took up the worm gently and
placed it on his bosom. Stranger, he said to the Englishman, do you see that
worm? I was that perishing creature. I was dying in my sins, hopeless, helpless
and on the brink of eternal fire.

It was Jesus Christ who put forth the arm of His power. It was Jesus Christ who
delivered me with the hand of His grace and plucked me from everlasting
burnings. It was Jesus Christ who placed me a poor sinful worm near the heart of
His love.

Stranger, that is the reason why I talk of Jesus Christ and make much of Him. I
am not ashamed of it because I love Him. If we know anything of love to Christ,
may we have the mind of this North American Indian.

May we never think that we can love Christ too well, live to Him too thoroughly,
confess Him too boldly, lay ourselves out for Him too heartily. Of all the
things that will surprise us in the resurrection morning, this I believe will
surprise us most, that we did not love Christ more before we died. This
Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books.

SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for
sale, in audio, video and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as
our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and
contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, tapes and videos at great discounts, is
on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb at swrb dot
com, by phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6L 3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog.

And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative
principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship,
commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my
heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men
every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have
not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument
needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For
when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and
attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion.

And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of
worship, in which they absurdly exercise themselves, would fall to the ground.
It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties
towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of
them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears.

Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by
obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The
Prophet's words, then, are very important. When he says that God had commanded
no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that
men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he
never knew.


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  CHAPTER 20: CHAPTER 20
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Chapter 16, page 254 Without Christ Ye are without Christ Ephesians 2-12 The
text which heads this paper describes the state of the Ephesians before they
became Christians But that is not all It describes the state of every man and
woman in England who is not converted to God A more miserable state cannot be
conceived It is bad enough to be without money, or without help, or without
home, or without friends But it is far worse to be without Christ Let us examine
the text this day and see what it contains Who can tell but it may prove a
message from God to some reader of this paper 1. Let us consider in the first
place when it can be said of a man that he is without Christ The expression
without Christ, be it remembered, is not one of my own invention The words were
not first coined by me, but were written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost
They were used by St. Paul when he was reminding the Ephesian Christians what
their former condition was before they heard the gospel and believed 2. Ignorant
and dark no doubt they had been, buried in idolatry and heathenism, worshippers
of the false goddess Diana But all this he passes over completely He seems to
think that this would only partially describe their state So he draws a picture
of which the very first feature is the expression before us At that time ye were
without Christ, Ephesians 2.12 Now what does the expression mean? A. A man is
without Christ when he has no head knowledge of Him Millions no doubt are in
this condition They know not who Christ is, nor what He has done, nor what He
taught, nor why He was crucified, nor where He is now, nor what He is to mankind
In short they are entirely ignorant of Him The heathen of course who never yet
heard the gospel come first under this description But unhappily they do not
stand alone There are thousands of people living in England at this very day Who
have hardly any clearer ideas about Christ than the very heathen Ask them what
they know about Jesus Christ And you will be astounded at the gross darkness
which covers their minds Visit them on their deathbeds And you will find that
they can tell you no more about Christ than about Mohammed Thousands are in this
state in country parishes and thousands in towns And about all such persons but
one account can be given They are without Christ I am aware that some modern
divines do not take the view which I have just stated They tell us that all
mankind have a part and interest in Christ whether they know Him or not They say
that all men and women however ignorant while they live shall be taken by
Christ's mercy to heaven when they die Such views I firmly believe cannot be
reconciled with God's word It is written this is life eternal that they might
know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17 3 It is
one of the marks of the wicked on whom God shall take vengeance at the last day
that they know not God 2 Thessalonians 1 8 An unknown Christ is no savior What
shall be the state of the heathen after death? How shall the savage who never
heard the gospel be judged? In what manner will God deal with the helplessly
ignorant and uneducated? All these are questions which we may safely let alone
We may rest assured that the judge of all the earth will do right Genesis 18 25
But we must not fly in the face of scripture If Bible words mean anything to be
ignorant of Christ is to be without Christ B But this is not all a man is
without Christ when he has no heart faith in him as his savior It is quite
possible to know all about Christ and yet not to put our trust in him There are
multitudes who know every article of the belief and can tell you glibly that
Christ was born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified
dead and buried They learned it at school They have it sticking fast in their
memories But they make no practical use of their knowledge They put their trust
in something which is not Christ They hope to go to heaven because they are
moral and well conducted Because they say their prayers and go to church Because
they have been baptized and go to the Lord's table But as to a lively faith in
God's mercy through Christ A real intelligent confidence in Christ's blood and
righteousness and intercession These are things of which they know nothing at
all And of all such persons I can see but one true account They are without
Christ I am aware that many do not admit the truth of what I have just said Some
tell us that all baptized people are members of Christ by virtue of their
baptism Others tell us that where there is a head knowledge We have no right to
question a person's interest in Christ To these views I have only one plain
answer The Bible forbids us to say that any man is joined to Christ until he
believes Baptism is no proof that we are joined to Christ Simon Magus was
baptized and yet was distinctly told that he had no part or lot in this matter
Acts 8.21 Head knowledge is no proof that we are joined to Christ The devils
know Christ well enough but have no portion in Him God knows no doubt who are
His from all eternity But man knows nothing of anyone's justification until he
believes The grand question is, do we believe? It is written, he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life But the wrath of God abideth on him He that
believeth not shall be damned John 3.36 and Mark 16.16 If Bible words mean
anything, to be without faith is to be without Christ See, but I have yet one
thing more to say A man is without Christ when the Holy Spirit's work cannot be
seen in his life Who can avoid seeing if he uses his eyes That myriads of
professing Christians know nothing of inward conversion of heart They will tell
you that they believe the Christian religion They go to their places of worship
with tolerable regularity They think it a proper thing to be married and buried
with all the ceremonies of the church They would be much offended if their
Christianity were doubted But where is the Holy Ghost to be seen in their lives?
What are their hearts and affections set upon? Who is the image and
superscription that stands out in their tastes and habits and ways? Alas, there
can only be one reply They know nothing experimentally of the renewing,
sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost They are yet dead to Christ And of all such,
only one account can be given They are without Christ I am well aware again that
few will admit this The vast majority will tell you that it is extreme and wild
And extravagant to require so much in Christians And to press on everyone
conversion They will say that it is impossible to keep up the high standard
which I just referred to Without going out of the world And that we may surely
go to heaven without being such very great saints To all this I can only reply
What sayeth the scripture? What sayeth the Lord? It is written, except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God Except ye be converted and become
as little children Ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven He that sayeth
he abideth in Christ ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked If any man
have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his The scripture cannot be broken
If Bible words mean anything, to be without the spirit is to be without Christ I
commend the three propositions I have just laid down to your serious and
prayerful consideration Mark well what they come to Examine them carefully on
every side In order to have a saving interest in Christ Knowledge, faith and the
grace of the Holy Ghost are absolutely needful He that is without them is
without Christ How painfully ignorant are many They know literally nothing about
religion Christ and the Holy Ghost and faith and grace and conversion and
sanctification are mere words and names to them They could not explain what they
mean if it were to save their lives And can such ignorance as this take anyone
to heaven? Impossible, without knowledge, without Christ How painfully
self-righteous are many They can talk complacently about having done their duty
and being kind to everybody And having always kept to their church And having
never been so very bad as some And therefore they seem to think they must go to
heaven And as to deep sense of sin and sinful faith in Christ's blood and
sacrifice These seem to have no place in their religion Their talk is all of
doing and never of believing And will such self-righteousness as this land
anyone in heaven? Never, without faith, without Christ How painfully ungodly are
many They live in the habitual neglect of God's Sabbath, God's Bible, God's
ordinances and God's sacraments They think nothing of doing things which God has
flatly forbidden They are constantly living in ways which are directly contrary
to God's commandments And can such ungodliness end in salvation? Impossible,
without the Holy Ghost, without Christ I know well that at first sight these
statements seem hard and sharp and rough and severe But after all, are they not
God's truth as revealed to us in scripture? If truth, ought they not to be made
known? If necessary to be known, ought they not to be plainly laid down? If I
know anything of my own heart, I desire above all things To magnify the riches
of God's love to sinners I long to tell all mankind what a wealth of mercy and
loving kindness there is laid up in God's heart For all who will seek it But I
cannot find anywhere that ignorant and unbelieving and unconverted people have
any part in Christ If I am wrong, I shall be thankful to anyone who will show me
a more excellent way But till I am shown it, I must stand fast on the positions
I have already laid down I dare not forsake them, lest I be found guilty of
handling God's word deceitfully I dare not be silent about them, lest the blood
of souls be required at my hands The man without knowledge, without faith, and
without the Holy Ghost is a man without Christ Let me now turn to another point
which I wish to consider What is the actual condition of a man without Christ?
This is a branch of our present subject that demands very special attention
Thankful indeed should I be, if I could exhibit it in its true colors I can
easily imagine some reader saying to himself Well, suppose I am without Christ
Where is the mighty harm? I hope God will be merciful I am no worse than many
others I trust all will be right at last Listen to me and by God's help I will
try to show you You are sadly deceived Without Christ all will not be right but
all desperately wrong A. For one thing to be without Christ is to be without God
The Apostle St. Paul told the Ephesians as much as this in plain words He ends
the famous sentence which begins Ye were without Christ by saying Ye were
without God in the world And who that thinks can wonder That man can have very
low ideas of God Who does not conceive him a most pure and holy and glorious and
spiritual being That man must be very blind who does not see that human nature
is corrupt and sinful and defiled How then can such a worm as man draw near to
God without comfort? How can he look up to Him with confidence and not feel
afraid? How can he speak to Him, have dealings with Him Look forward to dwelling
with Him without dread and alarm There must be a mediator between God and man
And there is but one that can fill the office That one is Christ Who art thou
that talkest of God's mercy and God's love Separate from and independent of
Christ There is no such love and mercy recorded in Scripture Know this day that
God out of Christ is a consuming fire Hebrews 12.29 Merciful He is beyond all
question Rich in mercy, plenteous in mercy But His mercy is inseparably
connected with the mediation of His beloved Son Jesus Christ It must flow
through Him as the appointed channel Or it cannot flow at all It is written He
that honoreth not the Son Honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him I am the
way, the truth, and the life No man cometh unto the Father but by me John 5.23
And 14.6 Without Christ we are without God B. For another thing to be without
Christ is to be without peace Every man has a conscience within him Which must
be satisfied before he can truly be happy So long as this conscience is asleep
or half dead So long no doubt he gets along pretty well But as soon as a man's
conscience wakes up And he begins to think of past sins And present failings And
future judgment At once he finds out that he needs something to give him inward
rest But what can do it? Repenting and praying And Bible reading And church
going And sacrament receiving And self mortification may be tried And tried in
vain They never yet took off the burden from anyone's conscience And yet peace
must be had There is only one thing can give peace to the conscience And that is
the blood of Jesus Christ sprinkled on it A clear understanding that Christ's
death was an actual payment of our debt to God And that the merit of that death
is made over to man when he believes Is the grand secret of inward peace It
meets every craving of conscience It answers every accusation It calms every
fear It is written these things I have spoken unto you That in me ye might have
peace He is our peace Being justified by faith we have peace with God Through
our Lord Jesus Christ John 16.33 Ephesians 2.14 And Romans 5.1 We have peace
through the blood of his cross Peace like a deep mine Peace like an ever flowing
stream But without Christ we are without peace C. For another thing to be
without Christ is to be without hope Hope of some sort or other almost everyone
thinks he possesses Rarely indeed will you find a man who will boldly tell you
that he has no hope at all about his soul But how few there are that can give a
reason of the hope that is in them 1 Peter 3.15 How few can explain it, describe
it, and show its foundations How many a hope is nothing better than a vague
empty feeling Which the day of sickness and the hour of death will prove to be
utterly useless Impotent alike to comfort or to save There is but one hope that
has roots, life, strength, and solidness And that is the hope which is built on
the great rock of Christ's work and office as man's redeemer Other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians 3.11 He
that buildeth on this cornerstone shall not be confounded About this hope there
is reality It will bear looking at and handling It will meet every inquiry
Search it through and through and you will find no flaw whatever in it All other
hopes besides this are worthless Like summer-dried fountains they fail man just
when his need is the sorest They are like unsound ships which look so well as
they lie quiet in harbor But when the winds and the waves of the ocean begin to
try them Their rotten condition is discovered and they sink beneath the waters
There is no such thing as a good hope without Christ And without Christ is to
have no hope Ephesians 2.12 D. For another thing to be without Christ is to be
without heaven In saying this I do not merely mean that there is no entrance
into heaven But that without Christ there could be no happiness in being there A
man without a savior and redeemer could never feel at home in heaven He would
feel that he had no lawful right or title to be there Boldness and confidence
and ease of heart would be impossible Amidst pure and holy angels under the eyes
of a pure and holy God He could not hold up his head he would feel confounded
and ashamed It is the very essence of all true views of heaven that Christ is
there Who art thou that dreamest of a heaven in which Christ has no place Awake
to know thy folly Know that in every description of heaven which the Bible
contains The presence of Christ is one essential feature In the midst of the
throne, says St. John, stood a lamb as it had been slain The very throne of
heaven is called the throne of God and of the lamb The lamb is in the light of
heaven and the temple of it The saints who dwell in heaven are to be fed by the
lamb And led to living fountains of waters The meeting of the saints in heaven
is called the marriage supper of the lamb Revelation 5, 6, 22, 3, 21, 22, 23, 7,
17, 19, 9 A heaven without Christ would not be the heaven of the Bible To be
without Christ is to be without heaven I might easily add to these things I
might tell you that to be without Christ is to be without life Without strength,
without safety, without foundation Without a friend in heaven, without
righteousness None so badly off as those that are without Christ What the ark
was to Noah What the Passover lamb was to Israel in Egypt What the manna, the
smitten rock, the brazen serpent The pillar of cloud and fire The scapegoat were
to the tribes in the wilderness All this the Lord Jesus is meant to be to man's
soul None so destitute as those that are without Christ What the root is to the
branches What the air is to our lungs What food and water are to our bodies What
the sun is to creation All this and much more Christ is intended to be to us
None so helpless, none so pitiable as those that are without Christ I grant that
if there were no such things as sickness and death If men and women never grew
old and lived on this earth forever The subject of this paper would be of no
importance But you must know that sickness, death and the grave are sad
realities If this life were all If there were no judgment, no heaven, no hell,
no eternity It would be mere waste of time to trouble yourself With such
inquiries as this tract suggests But you have got a conscience You know well
that there is a reckoning day beyond the grave There is a judgment yet to come
Surely the subject of this paper is no light matter It is not a small thing and
one that does not signify It demands the attention of every sensible person It
lies at the very root of that all important question The salvation of souls To
be without Christ is to be most miserable Number one And now I ask everyone who
has read this paper through To examine himself and find out his precise
condition Are you without Christ? Do not allow life to pass away without some
serious thoughts and self-inquiry You cannot always go on as you do now A day
must come when eating and drinking and sleeping and dressing And making merry
and spending money will have an end There will be a day when your place will be
empty And you will be only spoken of as one dead and gone And where will you be
then If you have lived and died without thought about your soul Without God and
without Christ Oh remember it is better a thousand times to be without money And
health and friends and company and good cheer Than to be without Christ Two If
you have lived without Christ hitherto I invite you in all affection to change
your course without delay Seek the Lord Jesus while he may be found Call upon
him while he is near He is sitting at God's right hand Able to save to the
uttermost everyone who comes to him However sinful and careless he may have been
He is sitting at God's right hand Willing to hear the prayer of everyone who
feels that his past life has been all wrong And wants to be set right Seek
Christ Seek Christ without delay Acquaint yourself with him Do not be ashamed to
apply to him Only become one of Christ's friends this year And you will say one
day it was the happiest year that you ever had Three If you have become one of
Christ's friends already I exhort you to be a thankful man Awake to a deeper
sense of the infinite mercy of having an almighty Savior A title to heaven A
home that is eternal A friend that never dies A few more years and all our
family gatherings will be over What a comfort to think that we have in Christ
something that we can never lose Awake to a deeper sense of the sorrowful state
of those who are without Christ We are often reminded of the many who are
without food or clothing or school or church Let us pity them and help them as
far as we can But let us never forget that there are people whose state is far
more pitiable Who are they? The people without Christ Have we relatives without
Christ? Let us feel for them Pray for them Speak to the King about them Strive
to recommend the gospel to them Let us leave no stone unturned in our efforts to
bring them to Christ Have we neighbors without Christ? Let us labor in every way
for their soul salvation The night cometh when none can work Happy is he who
lives under the abiding conviction That to be in Christ is peace, safety and
happiness And that to be without Christ is to be on the brink of destruction
Chapter 12, page 262 Thirst Relieved In the last day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying If any man thirst, let him come unto me and
drink He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said Out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water John 7, verses 37 and 38 The text which heads this
chapter contains one of those mighty sayings of Christ Which deserve to be
printed in letters of gold All the stars in heaven are bright and beautiful Yet
even a child can see that one star exceleth another in glory All scripture is
given by inspiration of God But that heart must indeed be cold and dull Which
does not feel that some verses are peculiarly rich and full Of such verses, this
text is one In order to see the whole force and beauty of the text We must
remember the place, the time, and the occasion when it comes in The place, then,
was Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judaism And the stronghold of priests and
scribes, of Pharisees and Sadducees The occasion was the Feast of Tabernacles
One of those great annual feasts when every Jew, if he could Went up to the
temple according to the law The time was the last day of the feast When all the
ceremonies were drawing to a close When the water drawn from the fountain of
Siloam According to traditional custom Had been solemnly poured on the altar And
nothing remained for worshippers but to return home At this critical moment, our
Lord Jesus Christ Stood forward on a prominent place And spoke to the assembled
crowds I doubt not, he read their hearts He saw them going away with aching
consciences and unsatisfied minds Having got nothing from their blind teachers,
the Pharisees and Sadducees And carrying away nothing but a barren recollection
of pompous forms He saw and pitied them and cried aloud like a herald If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink That this was all our Lord said on this
memorable occasion I take leave to doubt I suspect it is only the keynote of his
address But this, I imagine, was the first sentence that fell from his lips If
any man thirst, let him come unto me If anyone wants living, satisfying water
Let him come unto me Let me remind my readers in passing That no prophet or
apostle ever took on himself To use such language as this Come with us, said
Moses to Hobab Numbers 10-29 Come to the waters, says Isaiah Isaiah 55 verse 1
Behold the Lamb, says John the Baptist John 1-29 Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, says St. Paul Acts 16-31 But no one except Jesus of Nazareth ever said,
Come to me That fact is very significant He that said, Come to me Knew and felt,
when he said it That he was the eternal Son of God The promised Messiah, the
Saviour of the world There are three points in this great saying of our Lord To
which I now propose to direct attention 1. You have a case supposed, if any man
thirst 2. You have a remedy proposed Let him come unto me and drink 3. You have
a promise held out He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said Out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living waters Each of these points concerns all
Into whose hands this paper may fall On each of them I have somewhat to say 1.
In the first place, then, you have a case supposed Our Lord says, if any man
thirst Bodily thirst is notoriously the most painful sensation To which the
frame of mortal man is liable Read the story of the miserable sufferers in the
black hole at Calcutta Ask anyone who has traveled over desert plains under a
tropical sun Hear what any old soldier will tell you Is the chief want of the
wounded on the battlefield Remember what the crews of ships lost in mid-ocean
Tossed for days in boats without water go through Mark the awful words of the
rich man in the parable Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in
water To cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame The testimony is
unvarying There is nothing so terrible and hard to bear as thirst But if bodily
thirst is so painful How much more painful is thirst of soul? Physical suffering
is not the worst part of eternal punishment It is a light thing even in this
world Compared to the suffering of the mind and inward man To see the value of
our souls And find out they are in danger of eternal ruin To feel the burden of
unforgiven sin And not to know where to turn for relief To have a conscience
sick and ill at ease And to be ignorant of the remedy To discover that we are
dying, dying daily And yet unprepared to meet God To have some clear view of our
own guilt and wickedness And yet to be in utter darkness about absolution This
is the highest degree of pain The pain which drinks up soul and spirit And
pierces joints and marrow And this no doubt is the thirst of which our Lord is
speaking It is thirst after pardon, forgiveness, absolution, and peace with God
It is the craving of a really awakened conscience Wanting satisfaction and not
knowing where to find it Walking through dry places and unable to get rest This
is the thirst which the Jews felt When Peter preached to them on the day of
Pentecost It is written that they were pricked in their heart and said Men and
brethren, what shall we do? Acts 2.37 This is the thirst which the Philippian
jailer felt When he awoke to consciousness of his spiritual danger And felt the
earthquake making the prison real under his feet It is written that he came
trembling And fell down before Paul and Silas And brought them out saying Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? Acts 16.30 This is the thirst which many of the
greatest servants of God Seem to have felt when light first broke in on their
minds Augustine seeking rest among the Manchean heretics And finding none Luther
groping after truth among monks in Erfurt monastery John Bunyan agonizing amidst
doubts and conflicts in his Elstow cottage George Whitfield groaning under
self-imposed austerities Or want of clear teaching when an undergraduate at
Oxford All have left on record their experience I believe they all knew what our
Lord meant when he spoke of thirst And surely it is not too much to say That all
of us ought to know something of this thirst If not as much as Augustine,
Luther, Bunyan or Whitfield Living as we do in a dying world Knowing as we do if
we will confess it That there is a world beyond the grave And that after death
comes the judgment Feeling as we must do in our better moments What poor, weak,
unstable, defective creatures we all are And how unfit to meet God Conscious as
we must be in our inmost heart of hearts That on our use of time depends our
place in eternity We ought to feel and to realize something like thirst For a
sense of peace with the living God But alas, nothing proves so conclusively the
fallen nature of man As the general, common want of spiritual appetite For
money, for power, for pleasure, for rank, for honor, for distinction For all
these the vast majority are now intensely thirsting To lead forlorn hopes, to
dig for gold, to storm a beach To try to hew a way through thick-ribbed ice to
the North Pole For all these objects there is no lack of adventurers and
volunteers Fierce and unceasing is the competition for these corruptible crowns
But few indeed by comparison are those who thirst after eternal life No wonder
that the natural man is called in scripture Dead, and sleeping, and blind, and
deaf No wonder that he is said to need a second birth and a new creation There
is no surer symptom of mortification in the body Than the loss of all feeling
There is no more painful sight of an unhealthy state of soul Than an utter
absence of spiritual thirst Woe to that man of whom the Savior can say Thou
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked Revelation 3.17 But who is there among the readers of this paper that
feels the burden of sin And longs for peace with God? Who is there that really
feels the words of our prayer book confession I have erred and strayed like a
lost sheep There is no health in me, I am a miserable offender Who is there that
enters into the fullness of our communion service And can say with truth The
remembrance of my sins is grievous And the burden of them is intolerable You are
the man that ought to thank God A sense of sin, guilt, and poverty of soul Is
the first stone laid by the Holy Ghost when he builds a spiritual temple He
convinces of sin Light was the first thing called into being in the material
creation Genesis 1.3 Light about our own state is the first work in the new
creation Thirsting soul, I say again You are the person who ought to thank God
The kingdom of God is near you It is not when we begin to feel good But when we
feel bad That we take the first step towards heaven Who taught thee that thou
wast naked Whence came this inward light Who opened thine eyes and made thee see
and feel Know this day that flesh and blood hath not revealed these things unto
thee But our Father which is in heaven Universities may confer degrees And
schools may impart knowledge of all mysteries But they cannot make men feel sin
To realize our spiritual need And feel through spiritual thirst Is the ABC in
saving Christianity It is a great saying of Elihu in the book of Job God looketh
upon men And if any say I have sinned And perverted that which was right And it
profited me not He will deliver his soul from death And his life shall see the
light Job 33 verses 27 and 28 Let him that knows anything of spiritual thirst
Not be ashamed Rather let him lift up his head and begin to hope Let him pray
that God would carry on the work he has begun And make him feel more Two I pass
from the case supposed To the remedy proposed If any man thirsts Says our
blessed Lord Jesus Christ Let him come unto me and drink There is a grand
simplicity about this little sentence Which cannot be too much admired There is
not a word in it of which the literal meaning Is not plain to a child Yet simple
as it appears It is rich in spiritual meaning Like the cordineur diamond Which
you may carry between finger and thumb It is of unspeakable value It solves that
mighty problem Which all the philosophers of Greece and Rome Could never solve
How can man have peace with God? Place it in your memory side by side With six
other golden sayings of our Lord I am the bread of life He that cometh to me
shall never hunger And he that believeth on me shall never thirst I am the light
of the world He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness But shall have the
light of life I am the door By me if any man enter in He shall be saved I am the
way, the truth and the life No man cometh unto the Father but by me Come unto me
all ye that labour and are heavy laden And I will give you rest Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out Add to these six texts the one before you today
Get the whole seven by heart Rivet them down in your mind and never let them go
When your feet touch the cold river On the bed of sickness and in the hour of
death You will find these seven texts all above price John 6.35 8.12 10.9 14.6
Matthew 11.28 John 6.37 For what is the sum and substance of these simple words?
It is this Christ is that fountain of living water Which God has graciously
provided for thirsting souls From him as out of the rock smitten by Moses There
flows an abundant stream for all who travel Through the wilderness of this world
In him as our redeemer and substitute Crucified for our sins and raised again
for our justification There is an endless supply of all that men can need
Pardon, absolution, mercy, grace, peace, rest, relief, comfort and hope This
rich provision Christ has bought for us At the price of his own precious blood
To open this wondrous fountain he suffered for sin The just for the unjust And
bore our sins in his own body on the tree He was made sin for us who knew no sin
That we might be made the righteousness of God in him 1 Peter 2.24 3.18 2
Corinthians 5.21 And now he is sealed and appointed To be the reliever of all
who are laboring and heavy laden And the giver of living water to all who thirst
It is his office to receive sinners It is his pleasure to give them pardon, life
and peace And the words of the text are a proclamation he makes to all mankind
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink The efficacy of a medicine
depends in great measure On the manner in which it is used The best prescription
of the best physician is useless If we refuse to follow the directions which
accompany it Suffer the word of exhortation While I offer some caution and
advice about the fountain of living water A. He that thirsts and wants relief
must come to Christ himself He must not be content with coming to his church and
his ordinances Or to the assemblies of his people for prayer and praise He must
not stop short even at his holy table Or rest satisfied with privately opening
his heart to his ordained ministers O no, he that is content with only drinking
these waters Shall thirst again, John 4.13 He must go higher, further, much
further than this He must have personal dealings with Christ himself All else in
religion is worthless without him The king's palace, the attendant servants The
richly furnished banqueting house, the very banquet itself All are nothing
unless we speak with the king His hand alone can take the burden off our backs
and make us feel free The hand of man may take the stone from the grave and show
the dead But none but Jesus can say to the dead, come forth and live John
11.41-43 We must deal directly with Christ B. Again, he that thirsts and wants
relief from Christ must actually come to him It is not enough to wish and talk
and mean and intend and resolve and hope Hell, that awful reality is truly said
to be paved with good intentions Thousands are yearly lost in this fashion and
perish miserably just outside the harbour Meaning and intending they live,
meaning and intending they die O no, we must arise and come If the prodigal son
had been content with saying How many hired servants of my father have bread
enough and to spare And I perish with hunger I hope someday to return home He
might have remained forever among the swine It was when he arose and came to his
father That his father ran to meet him and said Bring forth the best robe and
put it on him Let us eat and be merry Luke 15.20-23 Like him we must not only
come to ourselves and think But we must actually come to the high priest, to
Christ We must come to the physician C. Once again, he that thirsts and wants to
come to Christ Must remember that simple faith is the one thing required By all
means let him come with a penitent, broken and contrite heart But let him not
dream of resting on that for acceptance Faith is the only hand that can carry
the living water to our lips Faith is the hinge on which all turns in the matter
of our justification It is written again and again that whosoever believeth
Shall not perish, but have eternal life John 3.15-16 To him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly His faith is counted for
righteousness Romans 4.5 Happy is he that can lay hold on the principle laid
down in that matchless hymn Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood
was shed for me And that thou bid'st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come How
simple this remedy for thirst appears But oh how hard it is to persuade some
persons to receive it Tell them to do some great thing, to mortify their bodies
To go on pilgrimage, to give all their goods to feed the poor And so to merit
salvation, and they will try to do as they are bid This Reformation audio track
is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books SWRB makes thousands of classic
Reformation resources available free and for sale in audio, video, and printed
formats Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog
contain thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books and
videos at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com We can also be reached
by email at swrb at swrb.com By phone at 780-450-3730 By fax at 780-468-1096 Or
by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton Alberta Canada T6L 3T5 You may also request a free
printed catalog And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's
Regulative Principle of Worship, or what is sometimes called The Scriptural Law
of Worship, commenting on the words of God Which I commanded them not, neither
came into my heart From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes God here cuts off
from men every occasion for making evasions Since he condemns by this one phrase
I have not commanded them whatever the Jews devised There is then no other
argument needed to condemn superstitions Than that they are not commanded by God
For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies And
attend not to his commands, they pervert true religion And if this principle was
adopted by the Papists All those fictitious modes of worship In which they
absurdly exercise themselves Would fall to the ground It is indeed a horrible
thing for the Papists To seek to discharge their duties towards God By
performing their own superstitions There is an immense number of them As it is
well known, and as it manifestly appears Were they to admit this principle That
we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying his word They would be delivered
from their deep abyss of error The Prophet's words then are very important When
he says that God had commanded no such thing And that it never came to his mind
As though he had said that men assume too much wisdom When they devise what he
never required Nay, what he never knew


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