A REAL HINDRANCE
A sweet sin harboured in the heart, will prevent a soul from laying hold upon Christ by faith. The Lord Jesus has come to save us from sinning; and if we are resolved to go on sinning, Christ and our souls will never agree. A drunkard will be saved by believing in Chrst — that is to say, he will be saved from being a drunkard; but if he determines still to make himself intoxicated, he is not saved from it, and he has not truly believed in Jesus. A liar can by faith be saved from falsehood, but then he leaves off lying and is careful to speak the truth. Anyone can see that he cannot be saved from being a liar, and yet go on in his old style of deceit and untruthfulness. A person who is at enmity with another will be saved from that feeling of enmity by believing in the Lord Jesus; but if he vows that he will still cherish the feeling of hate, it is clear that he is not saved from it, and equally clear that he has not believed in the Lord Jesus unto salvation. The great matter is to be delivered from the love of sin, this is the sure effect of trust in the Saviour; but if this effect is so far from being desired that it is refused, all talk of trusting in the Saviour for salvation is an idle tale. To pretend to trust Christ to save you from sin while you are still determined to continue in it, is making a mock of Christ. I pray my reader not to be guilty of such profanity. Let him not dream that the Holy Jesus will be the patron of iniquity. If the sinner will keep his sin, he must die in it; if he is willing to be rescued from his sin, the Lord Jesus is able to do it if he commits his case to his care.
What, then is your darling sin? Is it any gross wrong doing? Then very shame should make you cease from it. Is it love of the world, or fear of men, or longing for evil gains? Surely, none of these things should reconcile you to living in enmity with God, and beneath his frown. Is it a human love, which is eating like a canker into the heart? Can any creature rival the Lord Jesus? Is it not idolatry to allow any earthly thing to compare for one instant with the Lord God? “Well,” saith one, “for me to give up the particular sin by which I am held captive, would be to my serious injury in business, would ruin my prospects, and lessen my influence in many ways.” If it be so, you have your case met by the words of the Lord Jesus, who bids you to pluck out your eye, and cut off your hand or foot, and cast it from you, rather than be cast into hell. It is better to enter life with one eye, with the poorest prospects, than to keep all your hopes, and be out of Christ. Better be a lame believer than a leaping sinner. Better be in the rear rank for life in the army of Christ than lead the van and be a chief officer under the command of Satan. If you will win Christ, it will little matter what you lose. No doubt many have had to suffer that which has maimed and lamed them for this life; but if they have thereby entered into eternal life, they have been great gainers. It comes to this, my friend, as it did with John Bunyan; a voice now speaks to you and says — WILT THOU KEEP THY SIN AND GO TO HELL? or LEAVE THY SIN AND GO TO HEAVEN?
The point should be decided before you leave the spot. In the name of God, I ask you, which will it be — Christ and salvation, or the favourite sin and damnation? There is no middle course. Waiting or refusing to decide will practically be a sure decision for the evil one. He that stands questioning whether he will be honest or not, is already out of the straight line; he that does not know whether he wishes to be cleansed from sin gives evidence of a foul heart. If you are anxious to give up every evil way, our Lord Jesus will enable you to do so at once. His grace has already changed the direction of your desires. Therefore, rest on him to strengthen you to battle with temptations as they arise, and to fulfil the Lord’s commands from day to day. The Lord Jesus is great at making the lame man leap as an hart, and in enabling those who are sick of the palsy to take up their bed and walk. He will make you able to conquer the evil habit. He will even cast the devil out of you. Yes, if you had seven devils, He could drive them out at once; there is no limit to his power to cleanse and sanctify. Now that you are willing to be made whole, the great difficulty is removed. He that has set the will right can arrange all your other powers, and make them more to his praise. You would not have earnestly desired to quit all sin if He had not secretly inclined you in that direction. If you now trust him, it will be clear that He has begun a good work in you, and we feel assured that He will carry it on.
As John Bunyan says, all the flowers in God’s garden are double; there is no single mercy: nay, they are manifold flowers. There are many flowers upon one stalk, and many flowers in one flower. You shall think you have but one mercy; but you shall find it to be a whole flock of mercies. Our beloved is unto us a bundle of myrrh, a cluster of camphor. When you lay hold upon one golden link of the chain of grace, you pull, pull, pull; but, lo! as long as your hand can draw there are fresh “linked sweetnesses” of love still to come. Manifold mercies! Like the drops of a lustre, which reflect a rainbow of colors when the sun is glittering upon them and each one, when turned in different ways, from its prismatic form shows all the varieties of color: so the mercy of God is one and yet many; the same, yet ever changing; a combination of all the beauties of love blended harmoniously together.
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Bekijk de hele uitgave van zaterdag 1 november 1969
The Banner of Truth | 20 Pagina's
Bekijk de hele uitgave van zaterdag 1 november 1969
The Banner of Truth | 20 Pagina's