RELIGION AND PROSPERITY
The elder unto the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
3Jn 1:1 Here we have sketched for us the character of a most remarkable man.
I. His religious character. Beloved, says St. John, I wish concerning all things that thou mayest prosper, and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. The strength of his religious character, and the growing strength of that character for the word prosper means to advance is the first point to be noticed. It was so sound and wholesome that his best friend, in his best wishes, could not wish anything better for him than that his outward life, and perhaps his physical health, might be up to the mark of, and correspond to, his religious condition. Do you think that anybody that wanted to invoke a very large measure of worldly prosperity on your head would say, I wish your fortunes may prosper as your religion is prospering? Is it not far more often the case that Christian people have these two kinds of progress and prosperity in an inverse ratio?
II. His outward life moulded by Christian truth. St. John s Epistle goes on to say, I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified to the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. The truth means here neither more nor less than the whole sum of the revelation of God, which St. John had had entrusted to him, and had given to Gaius. It is all gathered up in the one Person Who is Himself the Incarnate Truth; and to walk in the truth means neither more nor less than that the outward life, that is, the walk, the external activity of a man, should be in the truth, as it were, the path that is traced out, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in it.
III. His Christian service. Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers. A handful of Christian messengers had come from the Apostle to the Church with which Gaius was connected. There was hesitation in that Church to receive them; some of the members would not have anything to say to them. Gaius took in the strangers because they were brethren, and received them after a godly sort.
RELIGION AND HEALTH
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
3Jn 1:2 St. John s desire is founded on a reflection of primary importance, namely, that man does not consist of soul only, but rather of body, soul, and spirit. His desire is one in closest harmony with the general will of Almighty God as revealed in the pages of the New Testament, and when to considerations, derived from the New Testament, we add the thought which can hardly fail to strike us, as we note in the Mosaic law the strict sanitary regulations laid down in the Old Testament for Israel, we cannot doubt what is God s will for man, in his entirety, and we may be sure that His will will not only eventually be accomplished in all who use the appointed means, but also that His blessing, meantime, will rest on all efforts to promote it.
I. Note first the measure of health which, in a physical and in other points of view, St. John craved for him to whom he wrote. Observe that he describes his friend as one whose soul was already in health and prospering, so that we may conclude that the quickening, health-giving, and renovating influences of the Holy Ghost had been brought to bear upon his spirit. And in reply to any question which may arise as to what is the spirit of man, I would remind you of those significant words of Solomon: The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. The human spirit is the seat and spring of a man s aims, desires, and ideals; and the wise man here likens it to a candle, because, just as there is affinity between a candle and a flame, so also the spirit of man is capable of being lighted with fire from on high. It is that part of man with which the Divine influences come most directly in contact, and where this is so it becomes the candle of the Lord. And if it be true of our Lord Himself that He was the Light of the world, this is true also, in a measure, of those who are touched and illumined by the Divine flame.
II. But St. John was not yet satisfied. Attractive as was the condition of his friend, he still desired something more for him. How was this? Because, like other men, Gaius did not consist of soul and spirit only. The Apostle considered him not merely in a spiritual point of view, but in a physical one as well; and therefore said he: Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. That man should be renewed in the very sanctuary of his being his spirit, his very holy of holies, wherein he holds communion with his Maker this I must assert to be the first and chiefest thing to be sought after. Nevertheless, reason, no less than this clear expression of desire on the part of an Apostle of Jesus Christ, assures us that something more is to be sought after as well, for be it remembered that spirit, soul, and body are intimately connected together. In a marvellous way do they act and react on one another, and, as an eminent physician once remarked to me, To slight and neglect God s sanitary laws, as we usually speak of them, is a course which comes next door to insanity.
III. While the mission of Christ was primarily spiritual in its aims, still a great portion of His work was to heal the sick, to minister to the diseased, and to show care for the human body. And so, when He admonished His disciples to go out into the world to preach the Gospel of His Kingdom, He carefully charged them also to fulfil like practical duties. It is impossible, I think, not to perceive how this view of things sweeps away that unfortunate line of demarcation between what people call their religious and their secular duties. Nothing that is done in the following of Christ can properly be called a merely secular obligation. There is an old saying that cleanliness and health depends on this comes next to godliness, and a very true saying it is. Not only for our own sakes, but in the spirit of the truest altruism, which is the very essence of Christianity, it is our bounden duty to do all that in us lies to promote health around us, as also a clear knowledge of those laws on which health depends. The violation of those laws is a constant source of misery, disease, and loss to the human family; and notwithstanding all our boasted civilisation, ignorance of these laws is still widespread. The accounts which any one may read as to the spread of various diseases, and of the preventable injuries thereby inflicted on communities and individuals, are lamentable. Surely the time has come when an earnest desire, such as that recorded in the text, should pervade the hearts and minds of all, and that we should look to the wide promotion of such a desire rather than to the penalties of the law for the amelioration of many of the evils which so largely oppress and degrade us.
Bishop Straton.
Illustration As an instance of the close connection between the soul and spirit on the one hand, and the body on the other, I may mention that not long ago heard of a little child who was excruciatingly burnt, and it was found most difficult to alleviate her pain. At last some one suggested that she should be urged to sing her usual evening hymn. She did so, and the soul satisfaction thus engendered at once produced the desired effect, and she immediately fell peacefully asleep. Let no one imagine, then, but that body and soul are closely allied, or that what ministers to the well-being of the one fails to minister also to the other.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE HEALTH OF THE SOULLet me suppose that your soul is in a good way and is in health what shall you do to keep well? Let me offer you one or two rules for sustaining and increasing spiritual health.
I. Keep very near to the Good Physician to Whom you owe your recovery, and consult Him very often, and wait for His answer.
II. Use His prescription, for He is the Counsellor to the soul, always ready to listen patiently; He knows the exact treatment your constitution requires, and His remedies are infallible.
III. You must never forget two things: one, the fact that you have a soul you carry a soul with you wherever you are; and the other, that your soul is a very delicate thing, easily and immediately affected by all outward things, and has a great tendency to relapses.
IV. You must be very careful of the atmosphere in which you live; see that it be a pure atmosphere, free from all impurities. For the soul cannot breathe in every climate; the surroundings must be wholesome ones, suited to your health. The presenting of one bad subject to the mind, or the reading of one infidel or immoral book, may have such an influence or leave such a taint as may be very difficult indeed to eradicate from your moral constitution.
V. See that your soul has its own proper food, its daily diet, on which it is entirely dependent the Bread of Life, which is God s Holy Word, and the Water of Life, which is God s Holy Spirit. Without these, constantly taken, your soul cannot live! And it must take its meals regularly and have time for digestion.
CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH
Ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Jud 1:3 The Apostle St. Jude, with an abruptness only equalled by the plainness and impressiveness of his words, no sooner reminds those to whom he wrote of their spiritual privileges than he implies and urges the fulfilment of a spiritual responsibility. The Christian is beloved of the Father and preserved in Christ, but not for a life of inactivity or indifference in reference to Christ s cause. He has to recognise a solemn responsibility in regard to it. Let us first discover what this is, and then consider the Apostle s direction for its fulfilment.
I. The Christian is responsible for the preservation of a priceless possession. The torch of truth has been handed to him: the only torch which can light up the path of life. It is the faith once delivered unto the saints. Observe the exactness of the description here. A distinct and definite revelation was made to the saints. Have we that revelation? Have we the very words of those who were first set apart and sanctified to be sharers and custodians of a charge so sacred and momentous? Man s definition of it will not satisfy us. Have we the words dictated by the living lips or written by the living hand of the chosen messengers of God? We have them as surely as if written with an iron pen upon the imperishable rock. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, writes the beloved John; and St. Paul says, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Here are the foundation-stones of our faith. Here is the priceless possession entrusted to us. Christ died for us and rose again. His death upon the cross was on behalf of our sins. He made there (we are thankful for the explicitness of the acknowledgment) by His one oblation of Himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Look again at the Apostle s words; for a truth of the deepest importance is declared by them. The faith was once delivered unto the saints. That is, it was delivered once for all unto them. The measure of the revelation rather than the moment of it is pointed out. The measure was not imperfect, but full, complete, and final. It allows of no addition. It admits of no development. Every doctrine, therefore, which can be shown to be subsequent to the revelation of the faith unto the saints is new, and every doctrine which is new is false. It is the plain and simple gospel, apart from all human dogmas and traditions, with which we are entrusted and for which we are responsible. Aye, moreover, a system of religion, half human and half Divine, we cannot trust. It is only the infallible Word of God in which we can confide; so that our faith may be perfect and indestructible; so that it may stand not in the wisdom of man but in the power of God. In this we shall be safe. In this happy and triumphant.
Amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds.
Oh! for a greater recognition of this responsibility on the part of every member of our Church! God grant this to us!
II. The direction of the Apostle in regard to this responsibility claims our consideration. The Christian is to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. The soldier snatches the flag from the falling standard-bearer and upholds it; or, if need be, stands upon it and fights over it. It is dearer to him than his life. So must the Christian treat and regard his faith. The competitor in the torch race not only firmly held his torch, but also earnestly, yea, anxiously and eagerly, urged himself onwards towards the goal. He knew that the one was as essential for success as the other. Without the flaming torch he reached the goal in vain. Even so must the Christian contend. Do you ask, How did they act to whom the Apostle addressed this direction? They fulfilled their duty nobly, devotedly. No opposition could make them relax their hold or effort. Opposition, even when it took the most inhuman shape, only fanned into a brighter flame their faith and the more lit up with its light the spiritual darkness of the world. But whence the opposition? It is a sad dna significant fact that it arose from within the Church. Ungodly men, men without reverence or fear of God, had crept into the Church. Their actions and their words St. Jude does not hesitate to describe. But we pass from the past to the present, and I ask, is there any parallel to this in our time? It is said that history repeats itself. It is as true of the history of the Church as of the world. Now, as ever, indeed, in the history of the Church, the most insidious and therefore the greatest danger arises from within it. There are ungodly men, worldly men, men who would dim and destroy the faith once for all delivered to the saints and set up the light of their own reason in its place. Now, what shall be our attitude in the face of this fact? How will you meet this opposition? How will you avert the danger? There is but one course. It is plainly pointed out by the Divine direction Ye should earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. Will you shrink from fulfilling your part? Contend earnestly for the faith; for its finality, for its absolute necessity.
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a)
Do it in the spirit of Christ. Not only must our defence of the faith be firm and unyielding, it must also be carried on in gentleness and meekness of spirit. The spirit of uncharitableness, of hatred, of proud and vaunting bigotry is not in keeping with the character of the true follower of the Lord Jesus. Rather does He cherish the spirit of love for the mistaken, and of compassion for those who are out of the way. Of Himself He knows and acknowledges, By the grace of God I am what I am. Let us see that that spirit is seen in us. Fail not, however, to remember that one thing is essential to success in our efforts to fulfil the duty shown by my text to be incumbent upon us. It is that we strive day by day to live up to the faith we are bound to defend. How many are there who profess great zeal in upholding the truths of the gospel of God, and yet the greatest zeal which they could show for it, the greatest witness they could give to it, the strongest weapon they could wield in its defence would be a life consistent with its precepts and its promises. But this is wanting, and in vain they profess to discharge their duty, to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. Jehu could say, Come and see my zeal for the Lord, but the unerring Word of God declares, Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart. Wise is the admonition of a voice that is now silent Seek to be strong in that great security for soundness of doctrine a holy life. As an evil life breeds heresies by a spontaneous generation in the human soul, so does a vigorous life of holiness destroy those parasitical corruptions which attach themselves to bodies of a weaker vitality. Fulfil the duty in Christ s spirit and after the example of Christ s life, and
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b)
Do it for the good of men. We grant the power of human learning in its various branches for benefiting the condition of man. Yet, after all, how little it can do compared with the gospel of Christ! It fails to rule the passions, it reaches only the intellect and leaves the heart untouched. The man remains a slave to his bodily appetites, without God and without hope. Not so the faith once delivered to the saints. It purifies and ennobles and educates not only for time but for eternity.
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Do it for the glory of God. It is by the Christian faith that He is glorified mostly by men. This is the conquering car of the Saviour. It is said that at the coronation of a king every peer of the realm has his station about the throne, and with the touch of his hand upon the royal crown declares his personal duty to the honour which he is called unto, namely, to uphold the crown on the head of his sovereign and to make the establishment of his prince s throne his chief object and study. The like duty devolves upon every one of Christ s subjects; the honour is incomparable. Share in this by a Christ-like contention for the faith.
Rev. E. R. Mason.
SOUND DOCTRINE AND HOLY LIVING
Ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.
Jud 1:4 Sound doctrine leads to holy living. Perverted doctrine goes with unholy living. Let us look into this.
It is not a popular doctrine. People are always ready to say that if a man s life be good what matters it what he believes? But the point which people commonly lose sight of is that, as a matter of fact, all true teaching has holiness for its object, and that wherever you find unholy-living men you will also find neglect of sound doctrine. Errors as to Christian doctrine do lead directly to errors in life, and there is no single point in the true doctrine of Christ s Church which does not tend to correct the vices of ungodly men. Sound doctrine is the means to holy living: and to talk of holy living without sound teaching is to speak of flying without wings, or of being cured of sickness without medicine. Let us illustrate this.
I. Look at the doctrine of our Lord s Incarnation. There is, of course, a very true sense in which this includes nearly all Christian doctrine, and therefore I can only refer to one or two points in it. It is an essential element in this doctrine that our Lord was perfect God and perfect man, or, as it would be more accurately rendered, complete in His Godhead, and complete in his manhood. This involves that, in his manhood, He went through every item of every stage of human experience infancy, childhood, boyhood, etc. completely, as we do, sin only excepted; that He did this, among other purposes, as our example, and as exhibiting to us the pattern and standard of what humanity is intended to be; and, moreover, in order that all mankind, at every age and in every circumstance, might feel and know that in praying to Him for help they were praying to One Who had been through their own difficulties and trials. Now contrast this with the popular notion that it does not much matter what children are or do, that perhaps it is not much amiss for young people to sow a few wild oats before they learn to become steady.
II. See how the true doctrine of Holy Baptism teaches the same lesson, and leads to the same result, i.e. tends to holiness, and to lead people away from sin and carelessness. Baptism tells you that a child is God s child from the first. It tells you that Christ receives him in his earliest infancy for His own: gives the child His Holy Spirit before he can speak or think; surrounds him with His care and holy influences even in the cradle; so that as soon as ever the child s intelligence dawns there is the power of God within him to answer to all that good teaching and good training can do to bring up the child in holy ways. When we bid a child to be good, and patient, and obedient, and truthful, and unselfish, we do so because we know that there is already God s Holy Spirit in the child to enable it to be all that we try to teach it to be; and so we are not afraid to try and lead him or her on in goodness.
III. Look at the true doctrine of the other sacrament, the sacrament of the Lord s Supper. Here again we have the same contrast prevailing. We have false doctrine leading to ungodliness; we have true Christian doctrine leading to holiness. The common notion is that the Holy Communion is only to be taken by persons who are, as people say, thoroughly good; that if a man receives it, it is the same thing as publicly professing himself to be better than others, and that he has altogether overcome sin, and that none but such persons ought to come to it. Christian doctrine says that it is intended for all men to strengthen them to resist sin, that the more a man feels unable in himself to do right and resist temptation, the more he ought to come and seek Christ s grace in Christ s own way; and that every penitent soul, that all who believe and repent, are invited to it. What are the consequences of the two doctrines? Why, the consequence of the false doctrine is that thousands of souls which might have been strengthened to become thoroughly settled in good ways are kept back from this spiritual food, and deprived, perhaps, for nearly all their lives of its spiritual grace, while many others, perhaps, fall back just when they were beginning to do well, and never advance at all. The true doctrine says to a man who is finding out his own needs and his sinfulness You cannot persevere of your own self, you have not the spiritual strength, but Christ offers you the precise spiritual food you require. What is the address in our Communion Service? Ye that do truly and earnestly repent … Draw near with faith. Ye that intend to lead a new life, walking from henceforth in God s holy ways, draw near with faith. It does not say Ye that have been for a long time settled Christians, and profess yourselves to be better than other people. What it does say is Ye that intend to lead a new life, draw near with faith, and make your humble confession that in time past you have not lived as you ought. And then what follows? Why, that the penitent sinner is brought very near to his God as soon as he repents; that no sooner does he truly repent than he comes and receives grace to bring his repentance to good effect, and is strengthened to live henceforward a different life from that life of which he is repenting, and so is led on towards real holiness. So the true doctrine of Holy Communion leads a man towards holiness, while the false doctrine keeps a man back from holiness.
WISE IN HIS OWN CONCEIT
The way of Cain.
Jud 1:11 Cain stands before us as the example of one wise in his own conceit and wedded to his own way. This appears:
I. In his refusal to offer to God the appointed sacrifice for sin. God had specially appointed the offering of animal sacrifices by men. The strongest proof is given in Hebrews: By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Faith has always respect to a testimony borne by God or a command enjoined by Him. If there had been no Divine prescription of animal sacrifices, Abel s offering could not have been the result of faith. Cain s unbelief was manifested in preferring his own way, and bringing only the fruits of the ground. The spirit of Cain is manifested by all who refuse to accept redemption through Christ s blood, of which Abel s offering was the primeval type.
II. In his enmity toward Abel and in its tragic result. In all cases of self-sufficiency there are two distinguishable phases: undue appreciation of one s self and undue depreciation of others. The one is vanity, the other is envy. The sin of murder sprang originally from the root of wounded self-esteem. We have not now the murdering of individuals for their faith, but all who seek to injure the reputation of those who are serving the Lord are going the way of Cain.
III. In his disregard of the warning given him by God. Cain thought he could take care of himself. He had firmness enough to resist temptation. He went on defiantly in self-confidence, and was at length hurried to the murder of his brother.
IV. In his repudiation of responsibility for Abel. His motto was, Let every man take care of himself. He was utterly careless about his brother.
THE SIN OF SEPARATION
These are they who make separations, sensual, having not the Spirit.
Jud 1:19 (R.V.)
I am afraid that that which we find in the Epistle of St. Jude exhibits a spiritual degradation all too common in our varied pastoral experience.
I. Spiritual degeneration. Multitudes who have crept into the Church perhaps by the lax administration of Holy Baptism in these days, many others who were once established by the reception of Confirmation, have been at no pains at all to live by and from the graces which in those Holy Sacraments they received. Having received the Spirit, having tasted the heavenly gift, and being made partakers of the Holy Ghost, they have become as if they never had received it at all. They have lived, not from the Spirit, which by the grace of God was made theirs, but by and from their own natural instincts, or their self-acquired knowledge, according to the higher refinements of civilisation that has gained much from the reflex influence of Christianity upon it from these they have lived, and not from the grace of God. They have continued to live the animal, the intellectual, the natural life. Their whole being is conducted on the plane of the natural order. They are earthly, they are sensual, as St. Jude calls them, having no longer the Spirit which in the Church they received, and which, as they have not cherished and hallowed it, has died down where once it was. As St. Paul would put it, they have fulfilled the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
II. There are two sorts of men then, the sensual and the spiritual.(
a)
In outward form they have a similar appearance to the eye of man. We cannot detect the origin of actions, yet God can, God does, and God will do so. Admirable may be the acts of virtue within the range of nature, and virtue may have its great rewards in the natural order, for virtue is ever its own reward; but, beyond that, in relation to the supernatural, beyond the temporal, away in the eternal, it has no range; it belongs to the sphere of human nature. It is not of grace, it lacks Divine life, it is mere human virtue. The fact is that the man of nature, sensual, sensuous, animal, intellectual, affectionate, is but the man begun. Yet he may, by the grace of God, become glorious as the risen and glorified Christ.
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b)
A man of grace is by grace brought into vital contact with the supreme object of superhuman existence, man s chief end, God. His soul is in communion with the common good, God perfects His nature. He has found salvation, the common corporate salvation. He has been born into a society, the Divine society, the society of God s Church, where the Son of God reigns, where the Holy Ghost operates, and the whole society mutually help each other onwards and upwards, a company of heaven, where the spirits of just men are perfected.
III. For the avoidance of this declension, for the avoidance of this separation from the love of God, and for our encouragement in spiritual life and progress, St. Jude sets before us three specific points:
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Build up yourselves on your most holy faith edify yourselves upon the faith.
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Pray in the Holy Ghost. Prayer is the great evidence of spiritual life; it exists only in that atmosphere, and so becomes the evidence of it. It is the element of virtue and strength. If you have any tendency towards the spiritual declension or separation in any form, ask yourselves the question whether it may not be that you have ceased or been slack to pray.
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c)
Keep yourselves in the love of God. The love of God is the great grace, the grace of the graces that He has to give. To your sensual animal nature He adds His own pure love, differing in quality and character entirely from that love which may be between the dearest of human relationships.
So steadfast in faith, joyful in hope, rooted in charity, there can be no separation.
Rev. J. H. Anderson.
Illustration Let a man begin once to pick and choose about the faith communicated once and for ever to the Church, let him pick and choose about what he will believe or disbelieve out of that which Christ has revealed, which God has delivered, then he separates himself; and the ugly name for that kind of personal separation, altogether apart from any disciplinary action of the Church, is heresy. Let a man under a specious appearance of liberalism and broad-mindedness exhibit a sort of dignified patronage to every competing and perhaps contradictory religious organisation, ancient or recent, human or Divine, then, thus forgetting the one Holy Communion of the Saints, thus forsaking the common corporate administration of salvation, he makes for separation; and the ugly name for that kind of work is schism. Let a man take leave of religion altogether, let him negative the faith of God, the Apostles Creed, let him turn his back for ever upon that, the Sacrament of unity expressed in the one Bread and the one Cup, let him assume a cynical disregard for all the gracious creations of a Saviour s love, and then he separates himself, he promotes by bad example the separation of other Christians; and the specific name for that particular form is the ugly word apostasy.
IN THE LOVE OF GOD
Keep yourselves in the love of God.
Jud 1:21 There are many places and relationships in our human life in which it is honourable and a privilege to be how suggestive to bring them one and all into comparison with this position, the position of being in the love of God. This is supremely best.
I. What the love of God is. Far, infinitely far from being a word only, or a vague profession, it is so great a necessity, that if it were once withdrawn in every sense our own hold on life would be lost. Through many a channel it streams. There is the love which He has for all He has made; for us, as He made us, and as He would see us again. It is a creative, parental, guardian love. How good it is to be at present still inalienably in this love! There is the pitying love which He has for us as sinners, for a whole saddened, suffering, sinful world and this love, so real, so commanding, outweighs all. How good to have the resort and refuge of this love! There is the fostering, welcoming love, which He has, to receive and to help first repentant conviction, first penitent tearfulness, first practical endeavour, first symptoms of the returning prodigal. Oh, how good to have the help of this love! There is the love which He has to those who have strayed from the Lord, who have fallen, who have denied Him! and whom He would receive again, with tenfold pitying grace. There is the love which He has to a company of brethren and sisters in the truth, in Christ. Oh, how needed is this love!
II. The fulness of sense in which we may be in it. The love of God is so vast, that there is no risk of not being entirely surrounded by it, safely wrapped in it bathed in it. The love of the creature has danger in it; but in and to the love of God you may literally give yourself up, spirit, soul, and body, with a safe and a blessed abandon. The love of God has no fickleness, no uncertainty about it. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
III. We may keep in it for ever. Of all else that is innocent, honourable, good, and great, in which we may rest, we have to say (as when some morning awakes us), it is time to be getting up! But never, never so, if our place of folding is in the love of God. In it, work and rest, sleep and wake, day to day, and night to night, while you live even here below; and when you last lie down to sleep in it, let the morn awake you, it will be still to find you in it; in it satisfied; in it clad in bright and deathless bloom ; in it, for ever supremely blest! So then, keep yourselves in the love of God in the one only way of doing so, by giving yourself afresh to Him Who alone can keep you.
Illustration This very short Epistle is for vigour surpassed, perhaps, by no portion of any other. Its matter and tenor are most striking, and in large part awfulness is the tone of it. Short as it is, it finds room for some statements not found elsewhere in Scripture, or only darkly intimated, such as those respecting the angels who lost their first estate, and Michael the archangel, and the fresh particulars respecting Enoch and Balaam. Its warnings are of the most thrilling and unqualified character. As we read through the short, sharp, incisive sentences we wonder how they must have smitten the ear of those to whom they were originally addressed. Yet the outcome of all is a sentence breathing tenderest solicitude and the warmth of love itself. It seems that a fearful apostasy was in the very air all around, and the writer of the Epistle trembled with fear lest it should find a harbour in the heart of those whom he now so earnestly warns.
ABLE TO KEEP AND TO SAVE
Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.
Jud 1:24-25 There is a notion among some persons that the soul once converted and justified is secure against all danger is safe for ever; but half the warnings and promises in Scripture, addressed to pardoned believers, are grounded on the supposition that they are in the utmost danger. And so they really are. We, of ourselves, are prone to fall. What God said of His people of old He might say of us, They love to wander.
I. If we have any right knowledge of our own hearts, we shall say the same of ourselves. We are assailed continually from without; there are those around us who want us to fall. What is Satan doing with us? What is the world doing with us? Leading us on to heaven? Holding us up on the way to it? On the contrary, Satan and the world are doing all they can to throw us down. Now laying one snare for our feet, and now another. Business, pleasure, society all slippery ground. It is hard work sometimes to move about even for a day without a stumble. Which of us can for one moment stand, if left to ourselves? You cannot keep yourselves; nor can others keep you.
II. God can keep you. He deals with you as you do with children who cannot walk alone. As you hold them, so He holds you. And if the Lord occasionally lets you stumble, it is to teach you the difficult lesson a sense of your own weakness. But if you are true believers, He will not let you fall to your ruin, but, as with St. Peter when sinking on the waters, that you may look the more to Him for support, and more earnestly utter the prayer, Lord, save, or I perish. Well, therefore, do we need the caution, and especially young believers, to look alone to Christ for strength. Draw your strength from much secret communion with your Maker and Saviour. Seek the power of the Holy Spirit. Devoutly study the inspired Word. Remember that you are not your own, but that you are bought with the most precious blood of Christ your Lord. Beware of seducing spirits. Avoid those who teach false doctrines, shun irreligious companions. And in all that you do for your salvation, learn to look off from yourselves, and from all human aids, and look to Christ alone. Some, from not acting thus, have, like David, their spirits wounded, their hearts bruised within them all their days.
III. But we are to view the Divine power in another aspect. We are to view it not only in present grace, but also in future salvation. The Lord is able to preserve you by His grace, through this life, and then, when your spirit enters eternity, He will present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. What a richness and a fulness have we here. He will present you before the presence of His glory! The glory of the Lord will shortly be present. Now we look upon it as distant. But it is very near. This glory is now the object of your faith. It will then be the object of your sense. You believe in Christ now, your eyes will behold Christ in all His glory then.
IV. The Divine glory. To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Now this glory of God will appear.
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He is the only wise God. How vast is the Divine wisdom as seen in redemption!
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The glory of God will be manifested in His eternal praise. The ascription of praise which the Holy Spirit teaches us to make now will be the same in heaven. You will then indeed praise God for His redeeming love, His preserving grace, and for His wise guidance, praising Him that sitteth on the throne.
Rev. Dr. E. J. Brewster.
TRINITY BLESSINGS
Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful Witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth.
Rev 1:4-5 It is in entire accordance with all the arrangements of God, that the Revelation should open with a recognition and a display of the Holy Trinity: for God has never introduced any great thing to this earth but the doctrine of the Trinity stood at the threshold.
There is not an instance upon record in which the Three persons stand together without an intention of grace. And it is a magnificent thought that the completeness of Deity, in all His essence and all His operation, is never mentioned but for mercy. It is the separations of God that are His severities; but the whole and perfect Being is love. So that creation, redemption, resurrection, adoption, benediction all lie in Trinity.
I. It is interesting to trace how every great pronunciation of blessing, in the Bible, has in it, either intimated or declared, the Threefold Personages of Deity. From Aaron s blessing, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace, to the usual apostolic form, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, etc. to this solemn aspiration, standing at the foot of the Apocalypse. And not only this, not only in the direct formulas of benediction, but in every stirring appeal, in all the most animating passages of the Bible, we shall find the same. As, for example, in that conclusion of the Epistle to the Hebrews, that glowing passage, Now the God of peace, etc., or that earnest appeal of Jude, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, etc.
II. From these considerations I draw one plain conclusion, that whoever would be very happy in his religion, whoever wishes to be very holy in his religion, must have large views of the Holy Trinity: not so much allowing his mind to rest, as we are wont to do, on one or other particular attribute or work of either of the Divine Persons, as endeavouring to take in, in all its wonderful harmony and proportion, the whole compass of that cardinal doctrine, the Trinity. I am persuaded that this is the truest wisdom, and that this is the nearest path to all comfort and all peace.
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The Father, by Himself, is an eternal, invisible Spirit. Man has heard His voice; but no man hath seen God at any time. Yet it was necessary for God s purposes of holiness and peace, and for His own glory, that God should be known to man. And thus He did it. One Who shared His being, the brightness of His glory, the express image of His person, came. In His character, in His conversation, in His work, in His glorified person, He showed all that is communicable, all that mortal man can receive, of Godhead.
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As the light which mantles this earth is the sun, so was Christ the Father. He came from Him He was one in essence with Him He manifested Him He was only just not so glorious here in His humanity but that man could look upon Him, and man did look upon Him; and when man looked upon the Lord Jesus Christ, he beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth for no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, Which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him ; and He that hath seen Me, saith Christ, hath seen the Father. Or, take it in another way. As a word represents the thought in utterance, so Christ, the Living Word, manifested the invisible Father. This Living Word was declared in the written word.
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Then the Holy Spirit worked. He makes us to understand the Bible, that the Bible may make us understand Christ, that Christ may make us understand God. To this end, the Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shews them to us ; and the end of all is the knowledge; that from the knowledge there may be the love; and that from the love there may be the likeness of God the Father. And that is effected by Trinity.
Rev. James Vaughan.
BACK TO CHRIST
Behold, He cometh.
Rev 1:7 These words give us an Advent message. Back to Christ, that is the motto of to-day. We commemorate in the Advent season that the Lord has come, that the Lord will come, that the Lord is here. Many have been His comings since He came a child to Nazareth, many they will be before He comes in that last wonderful way of which we know not how to speak, except in such parables as He Himself has given.
I. Imparting gifts. The message of Advent links itself with the message of St. Andrew s Day, We have found the Messiah. So spoke St. Andrew to his brother Peter; and that, again, is linked with that other saying that follows it so closely of Philip, Come and see (the Christ). For why do we wish that Christian missions should go out? Is it not because we have something so precious that it must be given away? It is the nature of all the precious things upon earth that they must not be kept, but given away. Nothing is too precious to give away. That which you want to have for yourself, that which you cannot enjoy with another, is not precious. Think what are the most valuable things. Take two only:
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The gift of knowledge. What do you want to do when you know? To impart. And why? Because in teaching you know that you know much better than you thought, and because you have the sympathy of another who knows; but best of all because knowledge is too good a thing to keep to yourself.
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The gift of love. What does love consist of but giving love? And love grows by being given away. These two things, knowledge and love, they are what we have of Jesus Christ, and so the Divine call Back to Christ is linked with the call of St. Andrew s Day, Come and see. So it is that we want to teach, or to cause other people to teach, because we have something so precious that we must give it away.
II. Back to Christ. Are there any hearts here which are not stirred, are there any hearts here which do not know that Christ is so precious, that the knowledge and love of Christ are such precious things that they must needs publish them, that they must needs give them to others? Let me be a missionary to these hearts for one or two moments. Let me ask them humbly to go back to Christ.
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Back to Christ as He was, as you may read of Him, as you may almost follow His steps up and down the country of Galilee, as you may hear Him speak, as you may see Him die. Go back to him and see what kind of friend He was. Understand, again, what it was in Him that saved men and women, how He would never despair of any one who had despaired of themselves, of any one who would come and not place the confidence of their heart where they had so often placed it and misplaced it before, upon their own hopeless frailty, but upon His strength. Believe in Me, He said throughout His life, and thou shalt be saved. What is the message for men and women who despair, what is the message for men and women who are tired of their perpetual shortcomings? Not in yourself, but in the power which is outside you and yet which is so near, so near that from the outside it can come into the inside and there reanimate you. That is the message which He brought when He came to give life, namely, His own life, that men might live by it as He lived.
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And then again, as you come back to Christ, you see how, partly in condescension to our frailty, partly because of our Lord s prevision of the dulness of human nature to understand mere words, partly because He knew that no language could convey what was meant as a simple symbol might, He enshrined that very truth, that very promise, that very essence of His healing power, in the simplest of symbols, the symbol, namely, of our eating and drinking, by which our bodily life is sustained. He handed down, for all those who followed Him to hand on, this great truth enshrined in the Sacrament, so much more expressive than any words, that by Him we live.
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Go back to Christ and learn at the altar that by Him you may live and live His life. And why? Because last of all He claimed and He has substantiated His claim in all these thousands of years and millions of believers He claimed that in Him dwelt the Godhead, and He was one with the Father.
Bishop E. J. Palmer.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
LOOKING FOR THE LORD S RETURNWho are they that are looking for their Lord? Who are they that are really watching for Him and that are expecting Him?
I. They are those who are so impressed with the persuasion of their Lord s being at hand as to keep on the look-out. They are as faithful servants listening for their Master s knock. Soon, they exclaim, will He be here, either to require my soul in death, or to call me with the millions of my fellow-men before His judgment throne. Their hearts, therefore, are wakeful. They are observant of the times and seasons. They are attentive to events and providences. They seem to hear His voice in almost everything which happens to them. Prepare to meet thy God, and they hearken to that voice, spoken to them as it is both by Providence and Scripture. Christ is their Way, their Truth, and their Life, and they seek no other way of access to the Father but by Him.
II. How earnest are they for the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; and for that new heart which He creates! Anxious are they to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God, and through the grace bestowed on them, their desire is not in vain. They do exercise themselves in these blessed fruits of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Their expectation of their coming Lord has an influence on their earthly dealings and transactions.
III. They who look for Christ are those who love His appearing. We may expect things and prepare for things which we earnestly desire may never happen. It is not so with the man who looks for Christ. It is altogether otherwise; he looks for his Lord as longing for his Lord s arrival. He is like one who is expecting the approach of him whom he dearly loves. That man, you know, will count the hours. He will think that time runs slowly till his friend is at his doors. So they who look for Christ anticipate the joyful moment of His coming, and are glad of everything which seems to promise it.
Rev. Dr. E. J. Brewster.
Illustration Said the brave old Rabbi, Bury me with my sandals on and my staff beside me, that I may be ready when Messiah comes.
THE LORD S DAY
I was in the Spirit on the Lord s Day.
Rev 1:10 Our subject is the question of Sunday observance as distinct from Sabbath observance, the Christian institution of the Lord s Day, and its place in our religious life.
I. That it was not regarded as the true successor of the old Sabbath there are clear signs in Apostolic times. In the concessions made to the Judaic Christians by the advanced party in the Apostolic Church would, we doubt not, be included the joint observance of the two days the last and the first. The double observance was long continued in the Eastern Church. It should, moreover, not be forgotten that the application of the name Sabbath to the Christian rest-day is of modern origin. It is true that St. Augustine uses the phrase Our Sabbath ; but this is only a parallel with such a phrase as Christ our Passover. The word first appears in a treatise issued in 1595. We owe the name to Puritanism, and in recognising our indebtedness to this source, we may seasonably reflect that the Reformers had left untouched the pre-Reformation abuses of the Lord s day.
II. The immediate followers of our Lord had no inclination to secularise their new rest-day of evangelic freedom. A duty that none show a disposition to neglect it is needless to enforce. If we hear so little in the Apostolic records and writings of the Christian obligation of hallowing the Lord s day, we believe the main reason of this to be, that those early believers in the ardour and devotion of a fresh young faith, were prone rather to turn every weekday into a Sunday of holy fellowship and service than feel the slightest wish to make secular the weekly day of rest. Passing to the early testimonies subsequent to New Testament times, we have no hesitation in affirming that there is no historical fact enjoying better proof than this that the observance of the day by intermission of toil and by special religious exercises was the constant practice of the Christian Church from the days of the Apostles.
III. On the vexed practical question of allowable or unallowable pleasure-taking on Sunday we cannot embark. Keeping to the Apostolic principle, Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, we shall not stray far from the right and the true. But one prefatory reflection is offered here which may help us in settling details. Before we are capable of appreciating the true worth of the Christian s Sunday, can it ever be a really pleasurable day? Ought we to try to make it the happiest day of the week to those whose whole lives are one long grieving of the Holy Spirit of God, between whose souls and the Divine source of all truest happiness there stretches a great gulf fixed, unbridged, or, being bridged, uncrossed by their reluctant feet? And may we not be deterred from the attempt to render this good gift of our Father acceptable to the Christless by reflecting that the same principle that would make it pleasurable to them, while thus, would turn heaven itself into a paradise for worldlings, and degrade its pure joys into the hollow pleasures of selfish fashion? The Church s work is surely other than this: it is not to bring down the things of God to the level of the world, but, through her ceaseless ministries of loving suasion, to lift men up towards the altitude of the things of God.
Bishop A. Pearson.
THE FIRST AND THE LAST
I am Alpha and Omega … What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia.… And I turned to see the Voice that spake with me.
Rev 1:11-12 Christ is here brought before us as the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet. Is it not to teach us that He is the beginning and end of all things?
I. All things should be full of Him, and there should be nothing in which He is not. It is written (
Eph 4:10), He that descended is the same also that ascended up, far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. Yes, everything is empty in which He is not an empty universe, an empty world, an empty church, an empty heart, an empty life. He was exalted above all heavens that He might fill them.
II. Christ s person and Christ s truth must be permanent. What Thou seest write in a book. They are not like other things, which may only have a passing effect. They must be written, written on the memory and on the heart, in the life and in the character. He is like none other, and there is no truth like His truth. Like the fragments of the loaves on the mountain, they must be all gathered up because they were of His creation, and fell from His hand. So must it be with the Person and the words of the Lord Jesus.
III. That which He makes known to us must be handed on. Send it to the seven churches which are in Asia. It is to be world-wide. If the light is in your own soul, let it shine out to lighten others. If you know the Saviour yourself, make Him known to those around you. Live to scatter seeds of truth wherever you go. Live to win souls to Christ in every way you can. Let this be your life aim. Whatever blessings you possess from Him, send it, send it on. Be sure the scattered seed will turn up again one day for your joy and crown of rejoicing. God has said it, My word shall not return void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Yes, one thing or the other will surely turn up again either your scattered seed sown in weakness, for your blessed and eternal reward; or else your neglect will turn up again to your shame and everlasting confusion.
IV. That voice behind. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. It is striking to observe how God s communications are so frequently said to be from behind us. The communications of God are not for the eye, but for the ear; not for curiosity, but for faith. Therefore there is so much said, both by our Lord in the Gospels, and by the beloved Apostle in this book, about hearing. John turned to see the Voice that spake with him, but he did not see what he looked for, but what God intended him to see. We are just like him. To live by faith is no easy thing. We are always turning round to see what is in our own mind, and God is always showing us what is in His. So it was with St. John. God showed him the candlesticks and the glorious Person of the Son of God just what He wanted St. John to see for the blessing of the Church of Christ in all ages.
Rev. F. Whitfield.
THE PRESENT LORD
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man.
Rev 1:13 This vision of St. John in Patmos, granted to him on the Lord s day, brings before us
I. A living Lord. It is not a mere historical personage, to whose great deeds we look back with admiration, that we call Master. It is He Who is alive for evermore, Who has the keys of Hades in His own royal hand. We do not think and speak of our Divine Head as of One that was, but as of One that is.
II. A present Lord. He is in the midst of the Churches: not removed by immeasurable space from where we are living and labouring, but in the midst of us; quite near to us, accessible at every hour, observant of every action and of all endurance.
III. A reigning Lord. This One Who is in the midst of the golden candlesticks is He Who holdeth the seven stars in His right hand (
Rev 2:1). It is He Who has all power given to Him in heaven and on earth.
IV. A gracious Lord. One like unto the Son of Man ; He therefore Who was once clothed in our humanity, once was partaker of our flesh and blood, once lived our human life; He Who has looked on all things through human eyes, and weighed all things by human measures; He Who has actually experienced human hopes and fears, human joys and sorrows, human gratifications and disappointments. This is a living Lord, of whose tender sympathy we may be always sure, upon whose willing strength we may always lean, on whose gracious considerateness we may always count.
V. A Lord Whose presence is the one true bond of union. In the midst of the Churches ; each one of them is therefore closely and vitally related to Him. They may not be organically connected with one another, but every one of them is directly related to Him.
ST.THE FEAR NOTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Fear not!
Rev 1:17 My purpose is to ask your attention to the seven Fear nots of the New Testament.
I. We take our first Fear not! from St. Luk 8:15. But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, Fear not! believe only, and she shall be made whole. This is a Fear not! teaching us that we are never to give up hope. If there were ever a seemingly hopeless case, it was this of Jairus s daughter; but when Christ is concerned, or concerns Himself about us, we need never despair.
II. Then the second Fear not! is in St. Mat 10:28. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. This is the Fear not! which defies persecution. How little our enemies can do to us. They cannot touch you. Suppose they even mangled and murdered your body, that is not touching you, and after they have done that, there is no more they can do. Fear not! confess Christ and He will bless thee.
III. The third Fear not! is in St. Luk 12:32.
Fear not! little flock; for it is your Father s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Here we have the Fear not! that drives away anxiety with regard to our earthly supplies. No man, by worrying, can add a cubit to his stature. No man, by worrying or by growing anxious, can help lift a single burden of this life.
IV. The next Fear not! is in the Acts of the Apostles ( Act 27:24). Fear not, Paul … lo! God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Now this Fear not! is a most important one. It is a Fear not! even when almost certain failure seems to be staring us in the face. God is always better than our fears.
V. The fifth Fear not! is in Luk 5:10. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not! from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Now this is a Fear not! for all weary Christian workers. The Master said to His disciples, Work away! they did so, and were rewarded with a tremendous haul; and so the Master will come to every weary, discouraged Christian worker.
VI. The sixth Fear not! is also in St. Luke s Gospel (
Rev 2:10). And the angel said unto them, Fear not! for behold? I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. This is a Fear not! for each penitent sinner. We realise that God is for us: nay, more, God is with us our Emmanuel.
VII. And then we come to the Fear not! of the text ( Rev 1:17.) In this text our Master gives us three reasons, three solid facts why we should at once cease to fear.
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On account of His eternal existence.
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On account of his victory.
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On account of his power and authority.
Rev. F. Swainson.
THE RESURRECTION CHANGE
I am He that liveth and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore.
Rev 1:18 What should be our theme as we stand beside the empty tomb? There are many aspects of the Resurrection which might well engage our attention. We will think of the great changes effected by it.
I. A change in our Lord Himself.(
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The resurrection of the body means the rising again in some way of that which died and was buried. The dust, which was human, hath in it something which involves the development out of itself of a further life.
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But while the teaching of the New Testament establishes a real organic connection between that which died and that which rises again, it intimates also a mighty change. Does not the text (also 1
Co 15:37-44) indicate this?
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Hence we may learn to take another and a more blessed aspect of death itself. True, death entered into the world by sin; humanity, that is, was subjected to it as a penalty of transgression. But it has become in Christ the instrument also by which these bodies are changed so as to bear the splendour of the everlasting morning.
II. A change in our Lord s relations with His followers.(
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If He forbids Mary s touch because He has not yet ascended, He thereby manifestly implies that when He had ascended then should she touch Him without rebuke. His ascension would not separate Him from, but bring Him nearer to His faithful ones.
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Thus Christ draws the woman on from a lower to a higher love; from a carnal to a spiritual touch; from a clinging to Him with the limbs of the body, to an embracing Him with the arms of the soul.
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Do you ask, How can I touch my ascended Lord? The reply is ready. He touches Christ, who, when crushed with the felt burden of sin, conscious of a force of evil continually mastering him, after vain attempts to get rid of his slavery by mere strength of will or the maxims of worldly prudence, casts himself into the whole system of Christ s religion, clasping unto him alike Christ s commandments and Christ s promises, and looking and calling on Him for health and salvation. Yea, there is a more palpable touching of the Divine Lord still. What is the blessed Sacrament but the ordinance in which He offers Himself at a given moment, by a definite act, to the spiritual touch, to draw healing virtue out of Him?