LOVE TO CHRIST CONNECTED 60 his defects, lives to Christ; lives not to himself, but to the Lord, who died for him. The Christian is delivered from his vain conversation; becomes one of a peculiar people, who are zealous of good works; is not his own, but the Lord's; and for the sake of Jesus will labour without fainting, and suffer with patience. What has now been laid before you is represented as descriptive of that character in general, not merely in some elevated instances: there is nothing in this description of which grace will not make you a partaker, if in sincerity you go to Christ, and follow him. It is true, this standard for the Christian character is much higher than that with which many professors of religion appear satisfied. But be not deceived. God's word is not changed. God's description of a Christian is not altered, to adapt itself to their selfish disposition, and worldly minds. We have every reason to fear that Christ at last will say to myriads, that in this land of peace profess adherence to the gospel, I never knew you, depart from me. He is no Christian who lives to himself; who does not act upon this principle, that he is the Lord's; who does not appear a peculiar person zealous of good works. Let him plume himself on his conversion, or what he please, he is no Christian. An expressive description of devotedness to Jesus is that in which the apostle describes his own. "I am crucified with Christ nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." "b Impressive statement! happy they who realize it all! I am crucified with Christ; dead through his cross to the world, it has no charms for me. Yet I live, freed from condemnation and death. I live the life of grace. Yet not I; no excellency, no natural power of mine, produced this life, or gives it vigour. Not I; Christ liveth in me. He governs in my soul. He guides and regulates my actions. He gave me spiritual life, and his Spirit dwelling in me produces all the fruits of the life of grace. The apostle seems to represent himself as brought into such a state, as if the Spirit of Christ had actually taken possession of his body and his soul, and were ruling both with absolute sway. His meaning may be illustrated by the case of those unhappy persons that were possessed by evil spirits. Their actions and words are ascribed to the evil spirit that possessed (8) Gal. ii. 20. WITH DEVOTEDNESS TO HIM. 61 them. He literally dwelt and governed in them. The apostle represents himself as much under the influence of Christ as they were of the devil. Christ liveth in me, and the life I lead he prompts, he rules. How happy a life! how holy must be its practice! how benevolent its tendency! how peaceful its end! But was it the life of an angel? No: of a man, and that man once one of the chief of sinners, but now made a child of God by faith. O pant, and pray, and labour after such devotedness to Jesus Christ. You never will repent of being too much devoted to him, though millions have mourned being too little. § 14. After this brief delineation of some important parts of the Christian character, allow me affectionately to urge on you the grand inquiry, Do these things meet in mine? Am I washed from my sins in the blood of the Lamb, and justified by faith in the Son of God? Is my whole dependence on him? Do I count all things loss for him? Am I united to him in a bond as firm as that which binds husband and wife in lasting union? Do I discern a supreme glory in him, and cherish a supreme love for him? Is there no one thing on earth so prized by me as Christ crucified? The inquiry is needful, for many deceive themselves. All is not gold that glitters. Not all that appear penitent truly repent. Not all that profess faith truly believe. Not all that seem zealous for the gospel feel its power. Not all that profess to be disciples of Jesus here, will dwell with Jesus above. To avoid self-deception is so unspeakably momentous, that it may be useful to observe how far you might go, and yet have no saving faith in the Lord Jesus. 1. You may be free from gross and open sins, may be adorned with many moral virtues, may be chaste and dutiful, just and liberal, courteous and engaging, and yet be a stranger to saving faith in the Lord Jesus. All this was the young ruler, whose history is recorded by the evangelists; who was so moral and pleasing, that Jesus loved him, and yet so worldly, that Jesus spoke of him as a perishing sinner, of whose conversion there was little hope.c 2. You may, alarmed or instructed by the preaching of the gospel, have forsaken some iniquities in which you once delighted, and yet be no Christian. So Herod acted. He (c) Mark x. 62 listened for awhile to the instructions of John the Baptist; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. Yet Herod soon murdered the man he once respected, when requested by the profligate daughter of a revengeful harlot. CAUTIONS AGAINST SELF-DECEPTION. d 3. You may be a hearer of the gospel, and hear its sacred truths with regularity, and yet be a stranger to all its blessings. Such hearers were the Jews at Capernaum; when the Lord himself preached, they crowded and thronged to excess the place where he uttered his divine lessons, yet were they so far from embracing the gospel, that he said, "Thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell."e Many (he declares) are called, but few are chosen.” Many will be rejected at last that may say to him, "We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets." 66 4. You may be impressed and affected by the truths of the gospel, and yet not be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. So Felix was. When Paul "reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled." The Lord describes one class of hearers of the gospel, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, but yet have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time. 5. You may be a professor of the gospel, and yet be no Christian; but destitute of every gospel blessing: for you read of those who "profess that they know God, but in works deny him;" ;"i "who wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."* 6. You may pray formally and frequently, and yet offer no prayers that God will hear. So did the Pharisees of old; they made long prayers "in the synagogues and in the streets;" but it was that they might be admired by men, and in that admiration they had their reward. 7. You may be esteemed a Christian by others, and yet not be a Christian. Doubtless the apostles looked on Judas as a faithful brother. When told by their Lord, "One of you shall betray me;" each seemed to suspect himself, and said, (d) Mark vi. 20. (f) Matt. xxii. 14. (i) Tit. i. 16. (e) Mark ii. 2. Matt. xi. 23. (g) Luke xiii. 26. (k) 2 Tim. iii. 13. CHRIST'S LOVE CLAIMS DEVOTEDNESS TO HIM. 63 "Lord, is it I?"m but no one seems to have suspected Judas; yet he was the traitor. 8. You may deem yourself a Christian, and yet not be one; for some deceive themselves. "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."" 9. You may profess to trust in Christ, and call him Lord, you may be even engaged in his service, and yet be no Christian. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." How many never advance as far as this, yet all this only would leave you as far short of heaven as even the careless profligate! It is needful then to inquire, whether you have gone much further? whether you have received Jesus with all your heart, to cleave to him in pain and in ease, in wealth and in poverty, in honour and in dishonour, in the sunshine and in the storm, in youth and in age, in life and in death, in time and in eternity? § 15. While the adorable Lord Jesus calls for this consecration of yourself to him, does he demand too much? Can he demand too much? Again contemplate his love, and think how it was enhanced by the utter unworthiness of them for whom he died. For what a world did he suffer! a miserable world! yet in love with sin, the source of all its misery! A world in league with Satan, and in dreadful subjection to him! millions hardened in their crimes! millions more heedless in their folly! every heart by nature set against himself, and not one of whom it could be said, This is not a child of sin and wrath! The busy wrapt up in care; the gay pursuing pleasure; the young charmed with a fading world; the aged still occupied in its pursuits; yet this active, busy, thoughtless world, all dead! all deserving of eternal death! and all under righteous condemnation to all its horrors! A world whose guilt no powers can measure; of whose ruin no heart can form a right conception; and whose wretchedness an inspired pen described in those two emphatic words, All dead! Such was the world he pitied. How could he pity it! Such was the world from whose polluted tribes he came to collect a colony for heaven. How could he stoop to accomplish this amazing work of love! (m) Matt. xxvi. 22. 64 CHRIST'S LOVE CLAIMS He forsook riches, not like those of earth, vain, empty, transient, but riches of divine glory, divine blessedness, divine majesty. He becomes poor. A babe at Bethlehem, a man of sorrows through successive years, an agonizing sufferer in Gethsemane, a bleeding victim on Calvary. And this poor sufferer is God made man, for man to die. Oh! how changed from what he was! How infinite the difference between the torturing cross and his eternal throne! between the thorny crown and the many crowns of divine glory that rested on his head! between the murderer's cry, Crucify him, crucify him, and the seraph's worship, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory! During his transient abode on earth his love shone like a sun, but without a setting beam. He dispensed blessings with a lavish hand for the body and the soul. He cured the diseased, and raised the dead; he taught the ignorant; he forgave the penitent; and bound up the broken heart. He cheered and comforted his friends, he wept and prayed for his enemies. He snatched from destruction the soul of a criminal dying by his side, and gave that ransomed penitent a place in Paradise. And has the sun of his love ceased to shine? has the torrent of his mercies ceased to flow? Ah, no! the stream still flows with all its abundance. The sun still shines with all its glory. He has not become less loving since he returned to his eternal throne, to the bosom of his Father. Do you not say, My own experience proves he has not. How long did he bear with my unfruitfulness and neglect! how many invitations, rich in mercy, have I received from him! how many blessings has he showered on my unworthy head! His patient forbearance, his gracious invitations, his oft repeated calls, his unwillingness to be denied my heart and soul! His pardoning mercy, and the complete eternal salvation he bestows, all this displays his love, and makes it appear as vast and boundless as when he dwelt below. And when will that love cease? The narrow span of time cannot set limits to its riches; and the ample ages of eternity will never bring its end, he declares that he will display it there by having his followers with him ;P and by exalting them to honours inconceivable now.¶ There he will give them eternal deliverance from labours, sins, and sorrows. There he will own them before his Father, and be(p) John xii. 26. John xvii. 24. (g) Luke xii. 37. (r) Rev. xiv. 13. |