The Singular Origin of a Christian
(No. 1829)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, MARCH 22, 1885,
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON FEBRUARY 7, 1884.
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." Ephesians
2:10.
THIS text is written by the Apostle as a reason why salvation cannot be
a thing of human merit–"not of works, lest any man should boast, for
we are His workmanship." The for indicates an argument. It is a
conclusive reason why salvation cannot be by our good works, because
even when we have an abundance of the best of works, they are far more
due to God than to ourselves! We, ourselves, in our saved condition,
are the workmanship of God, and with each of us the argument holds
good–"Not of works, for we are His workmanship."
We are so completely the Lord's workmanship that we are also styled a
creation! We are "created in Christ Jesus," and a creation cannot
possibly be the creature's own work–such a supposition would be absurd
upon the face of it! It would be a misuse of language to speak of
anything as creating itself. Whatever, therefore, we are in Christ
Jesus is the result of God's work upon us and cannot be the cause of
that work.
Moreover, our good works, be they what they may, are the subjects of an
ordinance of God–"which God has before ordained that we should walk in
them." Truly they are purposed by ourselves and our will and heart
determine them, but far at the back of all this lies the Divine Purpose
by which they were settled from of old. If good works are ordained, as
well as the salvation of which they are the evidence, then the whole
matter is of Divine ordaining and there is no space left to impute
salvation to human works! The tree is not created by its fruit, for the
fruit is created with the tree, and is one purpose for which the tree
was created. Good works are not the cause of salvation, for they are
the result of it and were contemplated as a result by God when He saved
us. The argument deserves to be worked out at greater length, but we
have not space for it now.
I want, at this time, to call your attention to four things in the
text. And if you can carry in your mind's eye the first creation, the
making of Adam and what he was made for–and where he was put when he
was made–it will serve as a background to the picture of the second
creation which I shall attempt to paint. I would dwell upon man as
God's workmanship in a still higher sense than by his first making. I
would set him forth as created anew "unto good works, which God has
before prepared"–for that is the word properly used in the new
translation–"which God has before prepared that we should walk in
them."
I. To begin, then, notice first, THE SINGULAR ORIGIN OF A Christian. Of
all Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles–of all Christians, even if
they are the highest Apostles, like Paul, or the least of all the
family of love, such as we may be–as many as are truly saved and
brought into union with Christ, they are the workmanship of God!
No Christian in the world is a chance production of Nature, or the
outcome of evolution, or the result of special circumstances. "By the
Grace of God I am what I am," may be said by every man who is saved. To
nothing can we ascribe the fact that we are in Christ except this–that
we are God's workmanship. Of regeneration, we must say, once and for
all, "This is the finger of God."
The spiritual life cannot come to us by development from our old
nature. I have heard a great deal about evolution and development, but
I am afraid that if any one of us were to be developed to our utmost,
apart from the Grace of God, we should come out worse than before the
development began! Our flesh would be apt to produce, by evolution,
something exceedingly brutish and devilish. Mr. Whitefield once raised
a great outcry against himself by saying that man by
nature was half beast, half devil–I have never seen any reason why the
description should be altered, but I have sometimes wondered which was
the worse of the two–the devil in the man, or the beast in him!
As to spiritual life coming out of our unrenewed nature, it is
impossible! "Out of nothing comes nothing." There is no spiritual life
in men dead in trespasses and sins–how, then, can life come out of
them? Out of death, truly, there comes a something congruous
thereto–horrible are the forms of corruption that arise from the body
in which death holds sway! But this is dissolution and destruction–not
life. What the corruption of a human soul may be, I cannot attempt to
say. Terrible as Hell must be, there is nothing in the Pit more awful
than those who are in it. The lost, themselves, are more unutterably
dreadful than any punishment that justice may have imposed upon them.
Developed manhood, developed without any restraining influences, if it
is shut up in vast numbers, must be a fermenting mass of hate, envy,
malice, lust, cruelty and pride. Speak of evolution–here it is–"When
lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
brings forth death." Darkness never begets light, filth never creates
purity, Hell never yields Heaven and depravity never produces Grace.
But the point is that we are God's workmanship. We are His workmanship
from the very first. The first stroke that helps to fashion us into
Christians comes from the Lord's own hands. He marks the stone while
yet in the quarry, cuts it from its natural bed and performs the first
hewing and squaring, even as it is He who afterwards exercises the
sculptor's skill upon it. It was the Lord who first taught us our need
of a Savior and gave us our sense of sin–and our early trembling and
our new desires. The faintest breath of spiritual life that was ever
breathed by any one of us came from God Himself! We might almost use
the same words concerning our new nature as the Psalmist used when he
spoke of his body–"Your eyes did see my substance, yet being
imperfect; and in Your book all my members were written, which in
continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."
We shall remain the Lord's workmanship to the very last. The picture
must be finished by that same Master hand which first sketched it. If
any other hand should lay so much as a tint or color on it, it would
certainly mar it all. God has commenced the character of His people
after so marvelous a sort that no human mind, as yet, fully comprehends
the full design of infinite love, for none know perfectly the matchless
Character of Jesus, our Lord. "It does not yet appear what we shall
be." Since, then, we do not even know what we are to be, we cannot
intrude into the work and take the pencil from the hand of the great
Artist, and complete His design–the Author must be the Finisher of
what He has begun.
This is very beautiful to remember and it should stir up all that is
within us to magnify the Lord. If it is so, that from the first the
Lord has worked all our works in us, what an amount of patience, what
an amount of power, what an amount of skill, what an amount of love,
what an amount of Grace has God spent upon us! I was surprised when I
was told, the other day, by a friend, who was a maker of steel-plate
engravings, how much labor had to be put into a finely-executed
engraving. Think of the power that has cut lines of beauty in such
steel as we are! Think of the patience that lent its arms, its eyes and
its heart–and its infinite mind–to the carrying on of the supreme
work of producing the image of Christ in those who were born in sin!
Think of the skill which makes heirs of God out of heirs of wrath! It
seemed impossible, when one said that, "God is able of these stones to
raise up children unto Abraham," but it is more than fulfilled in us!
Miracles of Grace have been worked upon us as many as the sands on the
seashore. How graciously has the Lord endured our opposition to His
gracious operations, never violating the freedom of our will, but
making us willing in the day of His power! This is one of the greatest
of the marvels. See how He has continued to work upon us, year after
year, with final perseverance of undiminished love! How much more of
power will still be needed and how much more of long-suffering–and how
much more of careful wisdom–before we shall be perfect and complete?
According to His riches in Grace will He deal with us and if that
should not suffice, He will take a higher standard and treat us
according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus. This we know, that we
shall certainly receive all that is needed for completion, for He that
has begun a good work in us will perform it unto the day of Christ.
Happy is it for us that "we are His workmanship"!
Now, ought we not, dear Friends, as far as the Lord has gone with us
already, to bless and praise His holy name? Do you not think that it is
becoming in all of us who know that God has been at work with us, to
adore Him continually for what He has done? I know you sigh because a
part of the picture still looks rough and incomplete. Consider that the
Artist has not ended His labor upon that portion of us. Sanctification,
in its practical issues, is not yet ended. But do not
sigh so much over the incomplete part as to fail in rejoicing over that
which is accomplished! Rejoice that a hand has been laid upon the
canvas which is matchless even in its outlines and foundation colors! A
hand, moreover, which was never yet known to throw away a canvas upon
which it had once commenced a masterpiece! Remember to magnify His
work. "He who has worked us for the same thing is God, who also has
given unto us the earnest of the Spirit."
One thing I would say to you who are God's people–if we are His
workmanship, never let us be ashamed to let men see God's workmanship
in us. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." Let us be very much
ashamed to let them see the remains of the devil's workmanship in us–
hide it behind a veil of repentant grief! Christ has come to destroy
it–let it be destroyed! Yet let your simple faith be known and spoken
of, even though it is ridiculed by the wise men of the age who, by
wisdom, know not God. Do not be ashamed of your confidence in your God
at any time, even though men burst into a fit of laughter over it as if
you must be raving mad–for this, also, is God's workmanship. Nothing
that God has worked is unfit to be seen. Search from the summit of the
highest Alp to the bottom of the deepest cavern and there is neither
plant, nor beast, nor insect, nor even grain of dust which is not
beautiful in its season.
I have heard foolish people half scream at the sight of some poor
little insect, or frog, or lizard–but this is from lack of knowing
more of the beauty of the creature which our great Father has formed.
If these are quietly looked at, especially if they are examined under
the microscope, they amaze us with the marvelous art displayed in them.
Nothing that God has made should be despised. Assuredly this is most
true in the spiritual kingdom where the lowest form of Grace is lovely
as an angel's countenance! All the new creatures of God are
surpassingly beautiful and as far as you, my Brothers and Sisters, are
God's workmanship, so far are you comely with the comeliness which He
has put upon you! Look how the Bridegroom in Solomon's Song extols His
bride, fair metaphor of the manner in which the Lord Jesus praises His
Church! He is an impartial Judge of all that is excellent, but when He
views His people as God's work, He is full of admiration!
That which is your own work, you may well blush to acknowledge. That
which is the devil's work, you are bound to detest! But that which is
the work of the Holy Spirit in you will bear inspection and no guilty
fear should cause you to conceal it. Let your meekness, your kindness,
your uprightness, your integrity, your purity appear unto all men.
Never let it be a question whether you are a Christian. Do not tremble
at the persecution which the enmity of the ungodly may inflict upon you
because you belong to Christ, but rather accept it as an honor,
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt!
As to any of you who hear me at this time and feel forced to say, "Ah,
me! I do not see how I am to be a Christian"– let me speak with you. I
am thinking of the matter very differently. I see very plainly how you
can become Christians– for all of us who are Believers are God's
workmanship and that God who has made us His workmanship can make you
to be the same. "Oh, but I cannot do anything!" Who said you could? Who
asked you to do any part of God's work? We are God's workmanship! There
is, in your fallen nature, no power or will towards good and if the
question were about your workmanship, the answer would be full of
despair! But while God works, there is hope.
"Oh, but I have a withered hand!" When Jesus bids you stretch it out,
do not enquire about your own power, but look to His power who gives
the command! Do you say, "I cannot save myself. I cannot make myself
holy"? Look, then, to Him who is a Savior, able to save to the
uttermost, who was born for this end that He might save His people from
their sins. "We are His workmanship," cry all the saints! Do you want
to be your own workmanship? He that can work upon one can work upon
another. Oh, that you would lie at His feet! Oh, that you would put off
all idea of what you can do for yourself and draw comfort from these
few words of my text–"We are His workmanship"! What is there that God
cannot do for you? Rough material as you are, He can make you what you
should be! He can make you what it will delight you to be! God grant
that we may learn to look to the Strong for strength and no longer
waste our time in enquiring for it where there is nothing but perfect
weakness!
Here, then, is the origin of a Christian–he comes out of the workshop
of God.
II. Secondly, here in the text we see THE PECULIAR MANNER OF THIS
ORIGIN. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." "Created in
Christ Jesus." Catch that thought. Our new life is a creation. This
goes further than the former expression, for workmanship is less than
creation. A man may produce a picture and say, "This is my
workmanship"–a piece of mosaic, or a vessel fresh from the wheel may
be a man's workmanship–but it is not his creation.
The artist must procure his canvas and his colors. The maker of a
mosaic must find his marbles or his wood. The potter must dig his clay,
for without these materials he can do nothing, for he is not the
Creator. To One only does that august name strictly belong! None other
could create a gnat, or the beam of light in which it dances, or the
eyes with which it is seen.
In this world of Grace, wherever we live, we are a creation. Our new
life is as truly created out of nothing as were the first heavens and
the first earth. This ought to be particularly noticed, for there are
some who think that the Grace of God improves the old nature into the
new. It does nothing of the sort! That which we possess since the Fall
is corrupt and dead and to be buried–of which our Baptism is the type
and the testimony. That which is of God within us is a new birth, a
Divine principle, a living seed, a quickening Spirit! In fact, it is a
creation–we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. What a sweeping
statement! This goes back to the very beginning of Grace within us. As
we read, "In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth," so
may we say of every man that is born again unto God, that he had no
true beginning till God created him and made him to be spiritually.
Creation is the calling of something out of nothing, of light out of
darkness, of life out of death. Is not this a fair description of the
new birth? Has not this happened to us? When we were nothing, God, in
the greatness of His Grace, created us in Christ Jesus!
Creation was effected by a word. "By the word of the Lord were the
heavens made." "He spoke, and it was done! He commanded, and it stood
fast." "God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Is not
that, again, an accurate description of our entrance into spiritual
light and life? Do we not confess, "Your Word has quickened me"? "Being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word
of God, which lives and abides forever." "Which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God." The Lord breathed upon us by His Spirit and we lived–He spoke,
and we were created in Christ Jesus.
In creation the Lord was alone and unaided. The Prophet asks, "Who has
directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor has taught Him?
With whom took He counsel, and who instructed Him, and taught Him in
the path of judgment, and taught Him knowledge, and showed to Him the
way of understanding?" After all was done, the morning stars sang
together and all the sons of God shouted for joy–but they did
not–could not aid in the work! Creation is the prerogative of Jehovah
and none can share it with Him. So it is in the regeneration of a
soul–instrumentality appears, but the real work is immediately of the
Spirit of God.
See, then, poor Sinners who may hear these words, that they have a
relation to you! You are saying, "How can we become Christians?" Why,
you can become Christians by being created–and there is no other way!
"But we cannot create ourselves," says one. It is even so! Stand back
and quit all pretence of being creators–and the further you retreat
from self-conceit the better–for it is God who must create you! How I
wish that you felt this! "It would drive us to despair," you say. It
might drive you to such despair as would be the means of your flying to
Christ–and that is precisely what I desire! It would be greatly to
your gain if you never again indulged a shred of hope in your own works
and were forced to accept the Grace of God! I seek not to excite in you
a proud activity, but a humble reliance on the mercy of God and a
submissive acceptance of His plan of salvation by Free Grace. Oh, that
this might be done!
The Gospel does not call upon you to save yourselves, but its voice is
the echo of that of the Lord in Isaiah 45:22, "Look unto Me, and be you
saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else." The Lord does not even ask for your help in your own salvation.
When He has worked in you, you may work it out, but that is all. Be
ready to be as clay in the hands of the Potter, plastic to the touch of
the All-Creating God, and you shall find that He is the God of
salvation and to Him belong the issues from death! Out of black sinners
He can make bright saints! Hearts of stone He can take away and give
hearts of flesh. He can take the infidel and create in him a mighty
faith; the harlot and make her a pattern of purity; the lowest of the
low and the vilest of the vile–and put them among the princes–even
the princes of His people! Granted that a Christian is the result of a
creation, then nothing is needed to begin with and no help is required
in the process–the Lord can work and none can hinder Him. This Truth
of God lifts the whole matter out of the region of the creature's
merit, worth, or ability–and puts it on another footing, full of hope
to man and of glory to God! I would be glad and rejoice forever in that
which God creates–it fills me with comfort for my fellow men and with
reverence for my God.
But the text speaks of this creation as, "in Christ Jesus." This is a
deeply instructive subject which, at this present time, cannot fully be
discussed, partly from lack of time and partly from lack of ability, on
my part, to fully open it up. It
would require a series of discourses, such as Dr. John Owen, or Stephen
Charnock might have been able to deliver. The theologians of today, if
there are any, cannot come near it. Herein is a great deep–"created in
Christ Jesus." This much, however, I may note, for it rises to the
surface. In the first creation you and I were created in Adam. We wear
the image of the earthly Adam by our natural descent and, as such, we
are the creatures of God. It is of our natural birth that the Psalmist
said, "Your hands have made me and fashioned me." Thus we received our
being and that is a blessing. But the blessing would have soured into a
curse had not Jesus come to work our well-being! Creation in the first
Adam has brought us into a world of misery–and to reach a better
world, we require to be created in some such fashion that we come into
union, connection and relationship with the second Adam–the Lord from
Heaven.
This is what the Lord does when He new-creates each Believer–He
creates him in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus is his federal Head and his
Representative–his hope is hidden in Him. We are thus put under a new
economy and are dealt with under a new system and order of things. I
could tell you something more that I believe, namely, that when the
glorious Jehovah created the Christ, as the Man, Christ Jesus–and when
the Godhead came into union with this human Nature of our blessed Lord,
all of us were viewed as in Him. What says the Lord? "In Your book all
My members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as
yet there was none of them." That God saw you and me and all the
redeemed in Christ from all eternity is a matter of faith to me.
And we were in Christ when He died, in Him when He rose and we are in
Him even now that He sits at the right hand of God, the Father. Who can
separate the Head from the members, or the members from the Head? We
are regarded as one in the thought and acts of Jehovah! Beloved, there
is a mystic unity between Christ and the twice-born, into which I will
not further go. I point to a case which, just now, I will not unlock.
But to return to the text, here is the glory of it– first, we are
God's workmanship–and the peculiar manner in which we have been
created is that we have been created "in Christ Jesus."
III. We come, thirdly, to dwell upon THE SPECIAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS
CREATION–"unto good works,
which God has before ordained that we should walk in them."
When Adam was created, the Lord made him for His own Glory. This always
was, and is, and must be the chief end of man. As soon as he was
created, the Lord placed Adam in the garden. And what did He give him
to do? "He had only to enjoy himself," says one. I do not read such a
statement in the Scriptures. "He put him there," says another, "that he
might eat of every fruit that grew in the garden." Truly He did permit
Adam, freely, to partake of all that Nature yielded, but God tells us,
Himself, that He put Adam in the garden, "to dress it, and to keep it."
An occupation was found for Adam which would keep him always busy.
A gardener's business is healthful and interesting, but it offers no
temptation to idleness, for every season has its demands–and if the
work is not kept well under hand, it is hard to overtake it again. That
noble man who was the founder of our race, trimmed the vine and trained
the tree! He uprooted the weed and planted the herb. Paradise, itself,
required, to make it perfect, that a man should have something to do!
Slavish drudgery involved by unreasonable hours is not of God, but of
the cruel greed of man. Ill-remunerated toil, by which the worker
cannot earn his daily bread, is the result of human tyranny, not of
Divine purpose! But a fair share of healthy, useful labor is necessary
for us all and, if ever this world becomes a Paradise, again, we shall
have, each one of us, to pay either the sweat of our brow or of our
brain as the price of our bread.
When the Lord creates us the second time, in the second Adam, He does
not make us that we may be merely comfortable and happy. We may enjoy
all that God has given us, for of every tree of this garden you may
freely eat, since in the Paradise into which Christ has introduced you,
there is no forbidden fruit. You may eat and drink abundantly of
heavenly food, but you are not created anew with so poor a purpose as
only your pleasure! Around you is the garden of the Lord, and your call
is that you may dress it and keep it. Cultivate it within; guard it
from foes without. Holy labors await you! Good works are expected of
you and you were created in Christ Jesus on purpose–that you might be
zealous for them. To you the great Father says, "Son, go work today in
My vineyard." He who died for you calls you to do works like His own.
The Holy Spirit within you prompts you to consecration, urges you to
diligence.
And what are good works? In that question lies another large subject.
Tell me, you who talk so much of good works, what are they? I should
say that they are works such as God commands–works of obedience. When
we heartily keep the Divine precepts, we must be right, for it can
never be evil for a man to do what God bids him.
Next, I should say that they are works of love–of love to God and love
to man–works done out of a pure affection to the great Father and out
of unselfish regard to men. That which we do to display our own
liberality is done unto self, and so is spoiled. But where there is a
single eye to God's Glory, the work is good. Works done out of love to
Christ, love to saints, love to the poor and love to lost sinners are
good works.
Furthermore, I should say that works of faith are good works–works
done in confidence in God–undertaken in reliance upon His help and in
the firm belief that He will accept them even though men might censure
them. The proclamation of His Gospel with faith in its power, the
pleading of the promise with expectation of its fulfillment, the
sacrifice of personal gain for the service of the Truth of God–works
such as these are good and pleasing to God–for without faith it is
impossible to please Him.
I am bound to add that good works include the necessary acts of common
life when they are rightly performed. We are to produce good works in
our home, in our shop, in our workplace, in our travel abroad, or on
our sickbed– everywhere we are to be filled with good works to God's
Glory. All our works should be good works and we may make them so by
sanctifying them with the Word of God and prayer, according to that
precept, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus."
Observe that God has not created us that we may talk about our good
works, but that we may walk in them. Practical doing is better than
loud boasting! God has not created us that we may occasionally perform
good works, but that we may walk in them–that they may be so habitual
to us that the common course of our conversation may be full of them.
God has not created us that we may execute good works as a grand
performance, but that we may walk in them–not that we may jump up to
them, or seem to be walking on stilts and making a great display every
now and then–but that easily, naturally, out of a fully renewed heart,
our new-created spirit may display itself in good works! May God grant
that His holy objective may be carried out in us to such a degree that
our path may be luminous with holiness, that we may leave behind a
shining track like that of a vessel upon the sea! Oh, that our way may
be strewn with gracious acts, as when a cloud shines over a thirsty
land and blesses it with silver showers!
I have known in a certain village, a spot called, "The Poet's Walk,"
and another called, "The Lovers' Walk." Oh, that ours may be, "The
Christian's Walk"! May the good Lord perfect us in every good work to
do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight!
IV. And now I close with this last head. Fourthly, THE REMARKABLE
PREPARATION MADE FOR THAT OBJECTIVE, for so the text may be rendered,
"which God has prepared that we should walk in them."
God has decreed the salvation of His people–but do not accept that
statement as it is at times delivered–but clearly understand what it
means. The Lord has decreed everything and He has as much decreed the
holy lives of His people as He has decreed their ultimate glorification
with Him in Heaven! Concerning good works, "He has before ordained that
we should walk in them." If God has really and of a truth met with you
in a way of Grace and worked upon you by His Spirit, and new-created
you, then take it for certain that you are ordained to be a prayerful,
godly, upright, sanctified man. The purpose is one and
indivisible–there is no ordination to salvation apart from
sanctification!
The Lord has not ordained any man to eternal life with the proviso that
he may continue in sin. No, but He has ordained him that he shall
become a new creature in Christ Jesus and then shall forsake his evil
ways and walk in good works until that walk shall end in perfection
before the Eternal Throne of God! Understand, then, that the walk of a
Christian man is predestinated of God as much as the safety of a
Christian! And so we, whom He has predestinated, are as eager to
fulfill our holy destiny here as to enjoy our heavenly destiny
hereafter. Foreordination to holiness is indissolubly joined to
foreordination to happiness. Note that. Thus, in the Eternal Purpose,
due provision is made for the good works of Believers.
But, next, God has personally prepared every Christian for good works.
"Oh," some say, "I sometimes feel as if I am so unfit for God's
service." You are not unfit, so far as you are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works! When God creates a bird to fly, it is
the best flying-machine that can be manufactured–indeed, none can
equal it! If God creates worms to plow the soil and bring up the more
useful ingredients to the surface, they are the best fertilizers under
Heaven! God's purpose is subserved by that which He makes, else were He
an unwise worker. We are, in a special degree, God's workmanship,
created to this end, that we may produce good works–and we are fitted
to that end as much as a bird is fitted to fly, or a worm is fitted for
its purpose in the earth.
"Oh," says one, "but I find it so difficult to walk in good works."
Then you are not your true and real self. Pray God to put the flesh
back and to let that dead and carnal part of you be gone! And ask that
the new life, which He has infused, may have good scope to carry out
its own natural instincts, for it is a holy thing, created on purpose
to walk in good works, and it will do so if it is not hindered. Give it
liberty! Give it opportunity! Feed it! Bring it before God to
strengthen it and it must, it will, as certainly produce good works as
a good tree brings forth good fruit! Spontaneous holiness comes forth
from sincere piety. A pure fountain yields clear streams, it cannot do
otherwise. The new nature cannot sin because it is born of God. He that
has a clean heart will necessarily have clean hands. An impure sea
casts up mire and dirt, but the river of the Water of Life, when it
overflows its banks, deposits no mud–it leaves sand of gold behind it!
Once more, observe with content that everything around you is arranged
for the production of good works in you. "I do not see that," says one.
But listen. When God made Adam, when did He make him? He did not create
him till He had made a place for him to live. The great Father's dear
child could not be created until the garden had its roses blooming and
its fruits ripening for him, that he might be delighted with them. When
the Lord God created you in Christ Jesus, as you believe He did, He had
prepared for you a position of service and usefulness exactly fitted
for your capacity. That place, for the present, is the position which
you now occupy." No," says one, "but I am in the place of poverty."
That is it–it is God's design that you may, in that place, produce the
sweet fruits of contentment and patience!
"Alas!" cries another, "I dwell among the ungodly." It is intended by
your Lord that your light may shine among them and that you, having
your Graces tried, may become all the stronger and the better
Christian. "Oh," says one, "I am a Christian, but I believe that I am
in the worst place that ever was. I am alone, like a plant in the
desert." Is it not written, "The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as
the rose"? Full often the most advantageous place for our manhood is
that which is surrounded with splendid difficulties! A soldier is
trained by battles and a mariner by storms. What can a man do when he
has everything to his hand? Everything is possible to him, but so it is
to every simpleton! He is truly a man who has nothing to assist him and
yet is aided by the opposition which confronts him. To sail against
wind and tide would be more notable than to drift with gale and
current. Is not he a true man who can turn to account the worst
possible circumstances so as to produce the best possible results? He
has an opportunity for distinguishing himself who is placed amid
temptations and perils. In your life, good works are provided for–"God
has before prepared that we should walk in them."
On the whole, you are placed in the best position for your producing
good works to the Glory of God. "I do not think it," says one. Very
well. Then you will worry to quit your position and attain another
footing–mind that you do not plunge into a worse! The wise man says,
"as a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man that wanders from
his place." It is not the box that makes the jewel, nor the place that
makes the man. "Oh, but anywhere rather than this!" Yes, and when you
get into the place you now covet, you will pine to be back again! A
barren tree is none the better for being transplanted. A blind man may
stand at many windows before he will improve his view. If it is
difficult to produce good works where you are, you will find it still
difficult where you wish to be! He who said that he leaped so many
yards at Rhodes, was asked to do the same feat at home–surely the
place could not take away his strength, nor give it to him!
Oh, Sirs, the real difficulty lies not without you, but within you! If
you get more Grace and are more fully God's workmanship, you can
glorify Him in Babylon as well as in Jerusalem! Were you placed within
the outskirts of Perdition, you would glorify God if God has sanctified
you. If you were called to walk through Pandemonium, you would startle
it with a message from the Most High if the Spirit of God is truly
within you. Your present possibilities are the best for this
present–use them as they fly! At any rate, rest assured that Divine
Wisdom has not only prepared you for the hour, but the hour for you.
All things are, in a Divine sense, your friends, "For you shall be in
league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall
be at peace with you."
Moreover, the Lord has prepared the whole system of His Grace to this
end–that you should abound in good works. Every part and portion of
the economy of Grace tends toward this result, that you may be perfect,
even as Your Father in Heaven is perfect. I long to be holy–the Holy
Spirit is given to be my Sanctifier. I desire to live near to God–the
Holy Spirit dwells in me and this is nearness of the highest order. Did
I hear you sigh–"I pine to know more of God"? This precious Book is in
your hands and its Author is among us, ready to expound it to you. "Oh,
but I agonize to conquer sin!" This is not denied you, for it is
written, "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our
faith."
Another says, "I yearn to be more like Christ." You are taken into
communion with Christ on purpose that this may be. Looking at Him, you
are changed into His image, from glory unto glory! Everything necessary
for your holiness is to your hand in the Covenant of Grace. All the
helps that you need in your pilgrim way are already placed along the
sacred road. The Lord, in the Scriptural sense of the word, "prevents"
you with the blessings of His goodness. All events, whether terrible or
joyous, shall be made to work together for this highest form of good,
namely, your sanctification! January's snow, February's cold, April
showers, March winds, and July suns, all co-operate to prepare the
wheat for the garner–and all earthly changes are sent of God to ripen
us for the eternal future.
Yes, I may even say that the glories of Heaven call us to a sublime
life of holiness–and the thunders of Hell urge us to conquer the
temptations which are in the world through lust. The crown which Christ
holds over our heads inspires us with ardor in our race–while the
Cross on which He died stirs us to a fervent enthusiasm for His praise.
Nothing in Heaven, or on earth, or in Hell, rightly used, will excuse
us in lukewarmness, but everything will impel us to intense zeal for
holiness. Even the sin which so sadly abounds around us should make us
the more watchful and careful in life. When dung is laid to the roots
of the vine, it is not, thereby, defiled, but even out of the foul
decay it finds nutriment with which to swell its delicious clusters!
Thus, even the wickedness of man, by driving us nearer to our God,
should prove a powerful motive for producing more exemplary lives in
the midst of an untoward generation.
Oh, Sirs, if God calls you His workmanship, take care that none can
justly find fault with the Worker! If you are, indeed, God's creation
in Christ Jesus, take care that none despise the second birth, or the
second Adam. And if it is so, that the Lord has before prepared all
things that we may walk in good works, let us get into gear with
Creation–let us be in harmony with Providence–let us keep step with
the march of God's Purpose. What more shall I say? I will only breathe
a wish. Oh, that you who have not yet believed in my Lord Jesus would
do so now! For, "to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name"! Amen.
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