(quinquagesima)<\/p>\n
Ephes. 6:10<\/p>\n
\u201cFinally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
WE know that there are great multitudes of professed Christians, who, alas! have actually turned from God with a deliberate will and purpose, and, in consequence, are at present strangers to the grace of God; though they do not know, or do not care about this. But a vast number of Christians, half of the whole number at least, are in other circumstances. They have not thrown themselves out of a state of grace, nor have they to repent and turn to God, in the sense in which those must, who have allowed themselves in wilful transgression, after the knowledge of the truth has been imparted to them. Numbers there are in all ranks of life, who, having good parents and advisers, or safe homes, or religious pursuits, or being without strong feelings and passions, or for whatever reason, cannot be supposed to have put off from them the garment of divine grace; and deserted to the ranks of the enemy. Yet are they not safe, nevertheless. It is plain,\u2014for surely it is not enough to avoid evil in order to attain to heaven,\u2014we must follow after good. What, then, is their danger?\u2014That of the unprofitable servant who hid his lord\u2019s money. As far removed as that slothful servant was from those who traded with their talents, in his state and in his destiny, so far separate from one another are two classes of Christians who live together here as brethren,\u2014the one class is using grace, the other neglecting it; one is making progress, the other sitting still; one is working for a reward, the other is idle and worthless.<\/p>\n
This view of things should ever be borne in mind when we speak of the state of grace. There are different degrees in which we may stand in God\u2019s favour; we may be rising or sinking in His favour; we may not have forfeited it, yet we may not be securing it; we may be safe for the present, but have a dangerous prospect before us. We may be more or less \u201chypocrites,\u201d \u201cslothful,\u201d \u201cunprofitable,\u201d and yet our day of grace not be passed. We may still have the remains of our new nature lingering on us, the influences of grace present with us, and the power of amendment and conversion within us. We may still have talents which we may put to account, and gifts which we may stir up. We may not be cast out of our state of justification, and yet may be destitute of that love of God, love of God\u2019s truth, love of holiness, love of active and generous obedience, that honest surrender of self, which alone will secure to us hereafter the blessed words, \u201cWell done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.\u201d1<\/p>\n
The only qualification which will avail us for heaven is the love of God. We may keep from gross sinning, and yet not have this divine gift, \u201cwithout which we are dead\u201d in God\u2019s sight. This changes our whole being; this makes us live; this makes us grow in grace and abound in good works; this makes us fit for God\u2019s presence hereafter.<\/p>\n
Now, here I have said a number of things, each of which will bear drawing out by itself, and insisting on.<\/p>\n
No one can doubt that we are again and again exhorted in Scripture to be holy and perfect, to be holy and blameless in the sight of God, to be holy as He is holy, to keep the commandments, to fulfil the Law, to be filled with the fruit of righteousness. Why do we not obey as we ought? Many people will answer that we have a fallen nature, which hinders us: that we cannot help it, though we ought to be very sorry for it; that this is the reason of our shortcomings. Not so: we can help it; we are not hindered; what we want is the will; and it is our own fault that we have it not. We have all things granted to us; God has abounded in His mercies to us; we have a depth of power and strength lodged in us; but we have not the heart, we have not the will, we have not the love to use it. We lack this one thing, a desire to be new made; and I think any one who examines himself carefully, will own that he does, and that this is the reason why he cannot and does not obey or make progress in holiness.<\/p>\n
That we have this great gift within us, or are in a state of grace, for the two statements mean nearly the same thing, is very plain of course from Scripture. We all know what Scripture says on the subject, and yet even here it may he as well to dwell on one or two passages by way of reminding and impressing ourselves.<\/p>\n
Consider then our Saviour\u2019s words: \u201cThe water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water<\/i> springing up into everlasting life.\u201d1 Exhaust the sea, it will not fill the infinite spaces of the heavens, but the gift within us may be drawn out till it fills eternity.<\/p>\n
Again, consider St. Paul\u2019s most wonderful words in the Epistle from which the text is taken, when he gives glory to \u201cHim who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.\u201d2 You observe here, that there is a power given to us Christians, which \u201cworketh in us,\u201d a special hidden mysterious power, which makes us its instruments. Even that we have souls, is strange and mysterious. We do not see our souls; but we see in others and we are conscious in ourselves of a principle which rules our bodies, and makes them what the brutes are not. We have that in us which informs our bodies, and changes them from mere animal bodies into human. Brutes cannot talk; brutes have little expression of countenance; they cannot form into societies; they cannot progress. Why? Because they have not that hidden gift which we have?\u2014reason. Well, in like manner St. Paul speaks of Christians too as having a special power within them, which they gain because they are, and when they become Christians; and he calls it, in the text to which I am referring, \u201cthe power that worketh in us.\u201d In a former chapter of the Epistle, he speaks of \u201cthe exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power;\u201d1 and he says that our eyes must be enlightened in order to recognise it; and he compares it to that divine power in Christ our Saviour, by which, working in due season, He was raised from the dead, so that the bonds of death had no dominion over Him. As seeds have life in them, which seem lifeless, so the Body of Christ had life in itself, when it was dead; and so also, though not in a similar way, we too, sinners as we are, have a spiritual principle in us, if we did but exert it, so great, so wondrous, that all the powers in the visible world, all the conceivable forces and appetites of matter, all the physical miracles which are at this day in process of discovery, almost superseding time and space, dispensing with numbers, and rivalling mind, all these powers of nature are nothing to this gift within us. Why do I say this? because the Apostle tells us that God is able thereby \u201cto do exceeding abundantly above all<\/i> that we ask or think.\u201d You see he labours for words to express the exuberant, overflowing fulness, the vast and unfathomable depth, or what he has just called \u201cthe breadth, and length, and depth, and height\u201d of the gift given us. And hence he elsewhere says, \u201cI can do all things<\/i> through Christ, which strengtheneth<\/i> me;\u201d2 where he uses the same word which occurs also in the text,\u2014\u201cMy brethren, be strong<\/i> in the Lord, and in the power of His might.\u201d See, what an accumulation of words! First, be strong<\/i>, or be ye made strong. Strong in what? strong in power. In the power of what? in the power of His might, the might of God. Three words are used one on another, to express the manifold gift which God has given us. He to might has added power, and power He has made grow into strength. We have the power of His might; nor only so, but the strength of the power of His might who is Almighty.<\/p>\n
And this is the very account which St. Luke gives us of St. Paul\u2019s own state in the Acts, after his conversion. The Jews wondered, but \u201cSaul increased the more in strength<\/i>, and confounded the Jews who dwelt at Damascus.\u201d1 He became more and more strong. And, at the end of his course, when brought before the Romans, \u201cThe Lord,\u201d as he says, \u201cstood with him, and strengthened<\/i> him;\u201d and in turn he too exhorts Timothy, \u201cThou, therefore, my son, be strong<\/i> in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.\u201d2<\/p>\n
I said just now that we did not need Scripture to tell us of our divinely imparted power; that our own consciousness was sufficient. I do not mean to say that our consciousness will enable us to rise to the fulness of the Apostle\u2019s expressions; for trial, of course, cannot ascertain an inexhaustible gift. All we can know of it by experience is, that it goes beyond us<\/i>, that we<\/i> have never fathomed it, that we have drawn from it, and never emptied it; that we have evidence that there is a<\/i> power with us, how great we know not, which does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and is always equal to all our needs. And of as much as this, I think, we have abundant evidence.<\/p>\n
Let us ask ourselves, why is it that we so often wish to do right and cannot? why is it that we are so frail, feeble, languid, wayward, dim-sighted, fluctuating, perverse? why is it that we cannot \u201cdo the things that we would?\u201d why is it that, day after day, we remain irresolute, that we serve God so poorly, that we govern ourselves so weakly and so variably, that we cannot command our thoughts, that we are so slothful, so cowardly, so discontented, so sensual, so ignorant? Why is it that we, who trust that we are not by wilful sin thrown out of grace (for of such I am all along speaking), why is it that we, who are ruled by no evil masters and bent upon no earthly ends, who are not covetous, or profligate livers, or worldly-minded, or ambitious, or envious, or proud, or unforgiving, or desirous of name,\u2014why is it that we, in the very kingdom of grace, surrounded by Angels, and preceded by Saints, nevertheless can do so little, and instead of mounting with wings like eagles, grovel in the dust, and do but sin, and confess sin, alternately? Is it that the power<\/i> of God is not within us? Is it literally that we are not able<\/i> to perform God\u2019s commandments? God forbid We are able. We have that given us which makes us able. We are not in a state of nature. We have had the gift of grace implanted in us. We have a power within us to do what we are commanded to do. What is it we lack? The power? No; the will. What we lack is the real, simple, earnest, sincere inclination and aim to use what God has given us, and what we have in us. I say, our experience tells us this. It is no matter of mere doctrine, much less a matter of words, but of things; a very practical plain matter.<\/p>\n
To take an instance of the simple kind. Is not the power to use our limbs our own, nay, even by nature? What then is sloth but a want of will? When we are not set on an object so greatly as to overcome the inconvenience of an effort, we remain as we are;\u2014when we ought to exert ourselves we are slothful. But is the effort any effort at all, when we desire that which needs the effort?<\/p>\n
In like manner, to take a greater thing. Are not the feelings as distinct as well can be, between remorse and repentance? In both a man is very sorry and ashamed of what he has done; in both he has a painful foreboding that he may perchance sin again in spite of his present grief. You will hear a man perhaps lament that he is so weak, so that he quite dreads what is to come another time, after all his good resolutions. There are cases, doubtless, in which a man is<\/i> thus weak in power, though earnest in will; and, of course, it continually happens that he has ungovernable feelings and passions in spite of his better nature. But in a very great multitude of cases this pretence of want of power is really but a want of will. When a man complains that he is under the dominion of any bad habit, let him seriously ask himself whether he has ever willed<\/i> to get rid of it. Can he, with a simple mind, say in God\u2019s sight, \u201cI wish it removed?\u201d<\/p>\n
A man, for instance, cannot attend to his prayers; his mind wanders; other thoughts intrude, time after time passes, and it is the same. Shall we say, this arises from want of power? Of course it may be so; but before he says so, let him consider whether he has ever roused himself, shaken himself, awakened himself, got himself to will, if I may so say, attention. We know the feeling in unpleasant dreams, when we say to ourselves, \u201cThis is a dream,\u201d and yet cannot exert ourselves to will to be free from it; and how at length by an effort we will to move, and the spell at once is broken; we wake. So it is with sloth and indolence; the Evil One lies heavy on us, but he has no power over us except in our unwillingness to get rid of him. He cannot battle with us; he flies; he can do no more, as soon as we propose to fight with him.<\/p>\n
There is a famous instance of a holy man of old time, who, before his conversion, felt indeed the excellence of purity, but could not get himself to say more in prayer than \u201cGive me chastity, but not yet.\u201d I will not be inconsiderate enough to make light of the power of temptation of any kind, nor will I presume to say that Almighty God will certainly shield a man from temptation for his wishing it; but whenever men complain, as they often do, of the arduousness of a high virtue, at least it were well that they should first ask themselves the question, whether they desire to have it. We hear much in this day of the impossibility of heavenly purity;\u2014far be it from me to say that every one has not his proper gift from God, one after this manner, another after that;\u2014but, O ye men of the world, when ye talk, as ye do, so much of the impossibility of this or that supernatural grace, when you disbelieve in the existence of severe self-rule, when you scoff at holy resolutions, and affix a slur on those who make them, are you sure that the impossibility which you insist upon does not lie, not in nature, but in the will? Let us but will, and our nature is changed, \u201caccording to the power that worketh in us.\u201d Say not, in excuse for others or for yourselves, that you cannot be other than Adam made you; you have never brought yourselves to will it,\u2014you cannot bear to will it. You cannot bear to be other than you are. Life would seem a blank to you, were you other; yet what you are from not desiring a gift, this you make an excuse for not possessing it.<\/p>\n
Let us take what trial we please,\u2014the world\u2019s ridicule or censure, loss of prospects, loss of admirers or friends, loss of ease, endurance of bodily pain,\u2014and recollect how easy our course has been, directly we had once made up our mind to submit to it; how simple all that remained became, how wonderfully difficulties were removed from without, and how the soul was strengthened inwardly to do what was to be done. But it is seldom we have heart to throw ourselves, if I may so speak, on the Divine Arm; we dare not trust ourselves on the waters, though Christ bids us. We have not St. Peter\u2019s love to ask leave to come to Him upon the sea. When we once are filled with that heavenly charity, we can do all things, because we attempt all things,\u2014for to attempt is to do.<\/p>\n
I would have every one carefully consider whether he has ever found God fail him in trial, when his own heart had not failed him; and whether he has not found strength greater and greater given him according to his day; whether he has not gained clear proof on trial that he has<\/i> a divine power lodged within him, and a certain conviction withal that he has not made the extreme trial of it, or reached its limits. Grace ever outstrips prayer. Abraham ceased interceding ere God stayed from granting, Joash smote upon the ground but thrice, when he might have gained five victories or six. All have the gift, many do not use it at all, none expend it. One wraps it in a napkin, another gains five pounds, another ten. It will bear thirty-fold, or sixty, or a hundred. We know not what we are, or might be. As the seed has a tree within it, so men have within them Angels.<\/p>\n
Hence the great stress laid in Scripture on growing in grace. Seeds are intended to grow into trees. We are regenerated in order that we may be renewed daily after the Image of Him who has regenerated us. In the text and verses following, we have our calling set forth, in order to \u201cstir up our pure minds, by way of remembrance,\u201d1 to the pursuit of it. \u201cBe strong in the Lord,\u201d says the Apostle, \u201cand in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God,\u201d with your loins girt about with truth, the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit. One grace and then another is to be perfected in us. Each day is to bring forth its own treasure, till we stand, like blessed spirits, able and waiting to do the will of God.<\/p>\n
Still more apposite are St. Peter\u2019s words, which go through the whole doctrine which I have been insisting on, point by point. First, he tells us that \u201cdivine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness;\u201d1 that is, we have the gift<\/i>. Then he speaks of the object<\/i> which the gift is to effect,\u2014\u201cexceeding great and precious promises are given unto us, that by these we may be partakers of the divine nature<\/i>;\u201d that we who, by birth, are children of wrath, should become inwardly and really sons of God; putting off our former selves, or, as he says, \u201chaving escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust;\u201d that is, cleansing ourselves from all that remains in us of original sin, the infection of concupiscence. With which closely agree St. Paul\u2019s words to the Corinthians, \u201cHaving these promises,\u201d he says, \u201cdearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.\u201d2 But to continue with St. Peter,\u2014\u201cGiving all diligence,\u201d he says, \u201cadd to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity.\u201d Next he speaks of those who, though they cannot be said to have forfeited God\u2019s grace, yet by a sluggish, will and a lukewarm love have become but unprofitable, and \u201ccumber the ground\u201d in the Lord\u2019s vineyard. \u201cHe that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins,\u201d\u2014has forgotten that cleansing which he once received, when he was brought into the kingdom of grace. \u201cWherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall; for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.\u201d Day by day shall ye enter deeper and deeper into the fulness of the riches of that kingdom, of which ye are made members.<\/p>\n
Or, lastly, consider St. Paul\u2019s account of the same growth, and of the course of it, in his Epistle to the Romans. \u201cTribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed.\u201d Such is the series of gifts, patience, experience, hope, a soul without shame,\u2014and whence all this? He continues, \u201cbecause the love<\/i> of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.\u201d1<\/p>\n
Love can do all things; \u201ccharity never faileth;\u201d he that has the will, has the power. You will say, \u201cBut is not the will itself from God? and, therefore, is it not after all His<\/i> doing, not ours, if we have not<\/i> the will?\u201d Doubtless, by nature, our will is in bondage; we cannot will good; but by the grace of God our will has been set free; we obtain again, to a certain extent, the gift of free-will; henceforth, we can will, or not will. If we will, it is doubtless from God\u2019s grace, who gave us the power to will, and to Him be the praise; but it is from ourselves too, because we have used that power which God gave. God enables us to will and to do; by nature we cannot will, but by grace we can; and now if we do not will, we are the cause of the defect. What can Almighty Mercy do for us which He hath not done? \u201cHe has given all<\/i> things which pertain to life and godliness;\u201d and we, in consequence, can \u201cmake our calling and election sure,\u201d as the holy men of God did of old time. Ah, how do those ancient Saints put us to shame! how were they \u201cout of weakness made strong,\u201d how \u201cwaxed\u201d they \u201cvaliant in fight,\u201d and became as Angels upon earth instead of men! And why?\u2014because they had a heart to contemplate, to design, to will<\/i> great things. Doubtless, in many respects, we all are but men to the end; we hunger, we thirst, we need sustenance, we need sleep, we need society, we need instruction, we need encouragement, we need example; yet who can say the heights to which in time men can proceed in all things, who beginning by little and little, yet in the distance shadow forth great things? \u201cEnlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left.\u2026 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither shalt thou be confounded, for thou shalt not be put to shame.\u2026 In righteousness shalt thou be established; thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee \u2026 This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord.\u201d1<\/p>\n
High words like these relate in the first place to the Church, but doubtless they are also fulfilled in their measure in each of her true children. But we sit coldly and sluggishly at home; we fold our hands and cry \u201ca little more slumber;\u201d we shut our eyes, we cannot see things afar off, we cannot \u201csee the land which is very far off;\u201d we do not understand that Christ calls us after Him; we do not hear the voice of His heralds in the wilderness; we have not the heart to go forth to Him who multiplies the loaves, and feeds us by every word of His mouth. Other children of Adam have before now done in His strength what we put aside. We fear to be too holy. Others put us to shame; all around us, others are doing what we will not. Others are entering deeper into the kingdom of heaven than we Others are fighting against their enemies more truly and bravely. The unlettered, the ungifted, the young, the weak and simple, with sling and stones from the brook, are encountering Goliath, as having on divine armour. The Church is rising up around us day by day towards heaven, and we do nothing but object, or explain away, or criticise, or make excuses, or wonder. We fear to cast in our lot with the Saints, lest we become a party; we fear to seek the strait gate, lest we be of the few, not the many. Oh may we be loyal and affectionate before our race is run! Before our sun goes down in the grave, oh may we learn somewhat more of what the Apostle calls the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and catch some of the rays of love which come from Him! Especially at the season of the year now approaching, when Christ calls us into the wilderness, let us gird up our loins and fearlessly obey the summons. Let us take up our cross and follow Him. Let us take to us \u201cthe whole armour of God, that we 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 rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places; wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(quinquagesima) Ephes. 6:10 \u201cFinally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.\u201d WE know that there are great multitudes of professed Christians, who, alas! have actually turned from God with a deliberate will and purpose, and, in consequence, are at present strangers to the grace of God; though they … Continue reading “THE POWER OF THE WILL”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}