The Looking Glass
(No. 1848)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 5, 1885,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"For if anyone is a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto
a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholds himself,
and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was.
But he who looks into the perfect Law of liberty, and continues in it,
he beingnot a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall
be blessedin his deed." James 1:23-25.
LAST Lord's Day I tried to show the right way of hearing the Word of
God. We spoke of how to behave before the sermon, at the sermon and
after the sermon. May God grant that the word which I then spoke may
continue in your minds and bring forth good fruit! At this time I shall
draw a distinction between the true and blessed hearer of the Word and
the person who misses the blessing because he hears to forget. You will
forgive my coming back to this subject when I confess that I groan in
my own heart with unutterable longings to be a channel of blessing to
all who hear or read my discourses. To what purpose do I stand here so
often and pour out my soul before you, if you are not the better for
it? I am an unhappy sower if all the handfuls of seed which I scatter
must fall upon unbroken soil, to be devoured of birds and never take
root. Blessed be God, it is not altogether so! We, by His Grace, have
reaped many harvests in this place. But still, our hearts ache for
larger results!
There remain among us, still, those who are impervious to the Truth of
God, in whom the Divine Word has taken no lodging–will these never be
saved? They still continue to listen and to listen with kindly respect,
but they are not yet doers of the Word. Our lament is that of Paul,
"They have not all obeyed the Gospel." They have heard it and, in a
measure, appreciated it, but they have not obeyed it. It has not come
to them with power, compelling them to yield to its commands. It will
be a sad thing if, when I give in my account, it shall be with grief
and not with joy–for this will be as unprofitable for you as it will
be grievous for me. I know that I shall meet my hearers at the Judgment
Day and I know, also, that an account will be demanded of me–much more
searching than any through which my conscience can put me even when it
is most awake! How will you stand in that account? It will be read in
the seven-fold light of that Great Day for which all other days were
made! And what will the record be?
I earnestly desire to present you all as a chaste virgin unto Christ,
but I fear it will not be so. Concerning some of you, I fear that I
shall have run in vain and labored in vain. I am bowed with grief at
such a prospect! O my Hearers, do not kill me by destroying your own
souls! Oh, that you may now turn to our Lord Jesus and, in Him, find
acceptance with the Lord in that day! The Lord grant it for His
infinite mercy's sake!
Two things are very obvious in the text–the first is the hearer of the
Word who does not profit by it and is represented as looking into a
glass. And then, secondly, we see the man who does profit by the Word,
for he is represented as looking into the perfect Law. May the Holy
Spirit help us to see these clearly!
I. First, then, here is LOOKING INTO A GLASS. Looking into a glass is a
trivial business. In all areas men, not to say, women, have been fond
of seeing themselves. In the earlier days they had no reflecting
glasses as we now have, but they used mirrors made of brass and
different metals, highly polished. These mirrors yielded a sufficiently
clear image of the beholder. Albeit, the children of Israel came out of
Egypt in a great hurry, yet we find that the women carried their
looking glasses with them into the wilderness. (See Exodus 38:8). It
was according to their womanly nature–whatever else they forgot, they
must have the indispensable looking glass for the purpose of their
toilet. It is to their praise, however, that in the desert their
devotion overcame their vanity, for when the bronze laver was to be
made in which the
priests should wash, it was made of the looking glasses of the
serving-women who were accustomed to meet at the door of the
tabernacle.
Still, the use of the mirror must be ranked among the trifles of
life–I see that you are half-smiling at the playfulness which glitters
around a glass. Is not this a hint at the light in which many regard
the hearing of the Gospel? They crowd to hear a preacher if he has some
sort of name–not that they desire to get a blessing, but merely that
they may say that they have heard him–or that they may gratify their
curiosity by seeing what he is like. Truly the burden of our lives is a
pastime to some of you! Sirs, this reminds me of the fable of the
frogs. When the boys stoned them, the poor creatures said, "It may be
sport to you, but it is death to us!" You may hear me, this day, with
the most idle curiosity and judge my message with the coldest
criticism, but if you do not receive the blessings of the Gospel, it
strikes a chill at my heart! Your unspiritual hearing is sport to you,
but it is death to me! A deadly shadow like a Hell-mist hovers over my
Spirit while I suppose it possible that I am, with all my earnestness,
ministering to your condemnation!
Can it be that I am laboriously doing nothing? Worse than that, are my
instructions, persuasions and entreaties to be so treated as to
increase your responsibility and bury you under a heavier load of sin?
As God's servant, I tremble at so dreadful a prospect! We live if you
live unto God–but if you do not turn to God, we wish that we had never
been born! It were better for us to plow the thankless sea than to
utter Truth which will be a savor of death to you. O Sirs, to hear the
Gospel will one day appear to be the most solemn of exercises! Indeed,
it is not the trivial matter that many make of it! It is infinitely
more than gazing into a mirror. How long will it be before you know
this?
Upon my first head of looking into a glass, let me say that to every
hearer, the true Word of God is as a mirror. Certain preachers dream
that it is their business to paint pretty pictures, but it is not so.
We are not to design and sketch, but simply to give the reflection of
the Truth of God. We are to hold up the mirror to nature, in a moral
and spiritual sense, and let men see themselves. We have not even to
make the mirror, but only to hold it up! The thoughts of God–not our
own thoughts–are to be set before our hearers' minds–these allow a
man to discover himself. The Word of the Lord is a revealer of
secrets–it shows a man his life, his thoughts, his heart, his inmost
self.
A large proportion of hearers only look upon the surface of the
Gospel–and to their minds, the surface, alone, is operative. Yet, even
that surface is sufficiently effectual to reflect the natural face
which looks upon it and this may be of lasting service if rightly
followed up. Brethren, the chief blessing cannot come to us by surface
work–he that would be enriched by the Gospel must dig for it–and must
dig deep. He must sink shafts into its fathomless mines, that he may
bring up "the much fine gold." Let not our thoughts glide over the
surface of the Word like swift birds that touch the crests of the
waves, but let us plunge into the depths of Scripture like
pearl-fishers who seek for hidden treasures.
The Scripture gives a truthful reflection of man's nature–it lets the
man see himself, not as others see him, for others make mistakes, nor
as he would see himself, for he is very apt to be partial to his own
soul–but the Scripture makes him see himself as God sees him. Look at
the Scriptural portrait of a sinner. That is you, O man! Look at the
depraved heart, the rebellious will, the darkened understanding–that
heart, will and understanding are yours, O my Brother! What a sight it
is which meets the sinner's eyes when he is hearing the faithful Word!
"I thought," he says, as he looks into the Word, "that I was much more
comely than this. I had never dreamed of these freckles and spots! I
was not aware that I suffered from such a twist of features, such an
exaggeration of one and such a deficiency in another."
The Bible does not flatter human nature, neither does the true preacher
attempt so base a work–but in plain and downright honesty of truth the
witness is given, "They are all gone out of the way, they are together
become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one." When
conscience is awakened and the man sees himself as the Revelation of
God declares him to be, he can hardly think that this can be the same
self with which he was upon such excellent terms! If God blesses the
sight, he is led to abhor himself and to seek for cleansing and
renewal! But if not, the man has at least seen himself and has had the
opportunity of knowing his true state.
The reflection of self in the Word is very like life. You have,
perhaps, seen a dog so astonished at his image in the glass that he has
barked fiercely at himself. A parrot will mistake its reflection for a
rival. Well may the creature wonder, since every one of its movements
is so accurately copied–it thinks itself to be mocked. Under a true
preacher, men are often so thoroughly unearthed and laid bare that even
the details of their lives are reported. Not only is the portrait drawn
to the life, but it is an actually living portrait which is given in
the mirror of the Word. There is little need to point the finger and
say, "You are the man," for the hearer perceives on his own that he is
spoken of. As the image in the
glass moves and alters its countenance, and changes its appearance, so
does the Word of the Lord set forth man in his many phases, moods and
conditions.
The Scripture of Truth knows all about him and it tells him what it
knows. Many a time the hearer has said, "Somebody has told the
preacher." Yes, somebody has told him–that which you do in your
bedchamber the Lord has revealed unto His servant. The Holy Spirit
"aides our hands wittingly," so that we lay them upon the right heads.
I have sometimes said to you that people frequently wish that the
preacher knew their experience in order that he could preach to it. But
it is not necessary to tell God's sent servant anything about it, for
he will speak to you with all the more power because he does not know!
You may go in to hear the sermon–and be wearing a disguise–but even a
blind Prophet will find you out and say, "Come in, you wife of
Jeroboam, why do you feign yourself to be another woman? I have heavy
tidings from the Lord for you." The Chaldean soothsayers said to King
Nebuchadnezzar, "Tell your servants the dream and we will show the
interpretation"–but Daniel knew the dream and the interpretation,
also, and that marked him out as being sent of God! When the preacher's
description of the man's heart is true to life and yet no human mouth
has whispered it into his ears, then the man cries, "This is the finger
of God!" A great part of the self-evidencing power of the Gospel lies
in the way in which it discovers to our minds that which, before, lay
within our bosoms, hidden, even, from ourselves!
The glass of the Word is not like our ordinary looking glass, which
merely shows us our external features, but, according to the Greek of
our text, the man sees in it "the face of his birth," that is, the face
of his nature. He that reads and hears the Word may see not only his
actions, there, but his motives, his desires, his inward condition. As
the butcher cuts down the carcass and reveals all the innards, which
never could have been seen but for his knife, so is the Word of God
"quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
The secrets of the man are opened up to himself and he is astonished to
see his inward depravity, his carnal tendencies and his corrupt
inclinations. As a man sees his outward self in the looking glass, so
may he see his inward self in the Word of God. But if this is all, to
what purpose is it?
Secondly, many a hearer does see himself in the mirror of the Word. We
are told so twice in the text–"He is like a man beholding his natural
face in a glass, for he beholds himself." He really does see himself,
for he cannot help doing so. He is not such a careless hearer as to be
utterly blind to the Revelation of God–he beholds–he beholds himself.
He beholds the face of his birth. He is thoughtful during the
discourse. He spies out the application of the Truth of God to himself
and marks his own spots and blemishes.
Oftentimes he sees himself so plainly that he grows astonished at what
he sees. He cries, like the woman of Samaria– "Come, see a Man that
told me all things that ever I did." Barbarous people, when they first
of all see looking glasses, are quite taken aback. "How can these
things be?" is their first question. Now, have not you, dear Hearers,
who are unconverted, been often staggered at the home-thrusts of the
Word? You have seen yourselves so unmistakably that you have been
unable to escape from the truth, but have been filled with wonder at
it. But what is the use of this if it goes no farther?
Such observers have been known to praise the excellence of the mirror
and speak well of its faithfulness. You may hear them say, "The man is
a true servant of God and preaches in all honesty and courage." So far
so good. But, alas, there are many preachers who will win no such
praise! As I have seen glasses which have elongated my face or
broadened it–so that it was by no means my true image–so have I known
ministers whose description of human nature is flattering and false.
But after all, if the face is not to be washed, to what purpose is it
that the mirror faithfully shows the smuts and stains which are upon
it? O my Hearers, I desire to be always faithful to you, but how will
my faithfulness benefit you if you are not faithful to yourselves?! Why
should I show you your blots if you do not seek the Lord Jesus to have
them removed?
Many of our hearers go somewhat further, for they are driven to make
solemn resolutions after looking at themselves. Yes, they will break
off their sins by righteousness; they will repent; they will believe on
the Lord Jesus–and yet their firm resolves are blown away like smoke
and come to nothing! The sight of their natural face leads to a natural
resolve but the strength of nature suffices not to carry the resolution
into practice. O Sirs, you must be born again! And, for lack of that
new birth, your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew!
Both of these soon vanish and so do
your fine feelings and resolutions! What a multitude of dead
resolutionss fall in this House of Prayer! The blossoms upon our fruit
trees give great promise of a heavy crop of fruit, but, alas, the most
of them do not knit, but drop from the tree and powder the ground as
with snow! So the flowers of promise are upon our Hearers, but they
come not to real soul-fruit. O Spirit of God, make it otherwise with my
congregation! Save them from their own inconstancy! Let them not
resolve and re-resolve and yet die in their sins!
But what follows? Observe, "He beholds himself, and goes his way." Many
hearers go away from what they have seen in the Word. There are two,
"ands," in the text, following quickly one after the other, but they
have a force which I cannot very well convey to you. They show that the
man looks at himself hurriedly and, as it were, in passing, and so goes
his way, straightway forgetting what manner of man he was, because his
glance was hasty, casual and soon over. He heard the Word and that was
the end of it–no echoes lingered in his soul. The sermon was over when
it was over. Many a man, having seen himself in the glass of the Word,
has no time for any further thought about himself. Tomorrow morning he
will be over head and ears in business–the shutters will be down from
his shop windows, but they will be put up to the windows of his soul.
His office needs him and, therefore, his prayer closet cannot have him!
His ledger falls like an avalanche over his Bible. The man has no time
to seek the true riches–passing trifles monopolize his mind! Sirs, you
call earthly things, "business," but the salvation or the damnation of
your souls is such a biding matter that any stray hour will suffice for
it. Is it not so? Do you not propose to put off the Lord till your last
gasp? The Lord deliver you from this madness! Oh, that you would no
more allow your earthly business to crush your souls!
Others have no particular business to engross them, but, having seen
themselves in the glass of the Word with some degree of interest, they
go their way to their amusements. Their principal difficulty is how to
kill time and spin the weary hours away. What will become of some of
you who are going down to Perdition with all your time to spare? You
will not be able to say that you went your way to your farm, or to your
merchandise, for you have neither farm nor merchandise and do not know
what to do with your time. And yet, for all that, you cannot spare an
hour to think upon your souls and upon your God. Oh, that it were not
so! May infinite mercy make men wiser than to go their way while their
souls are going down to Hell!
Alas, there are some who go their way to sin. It is not mere pleasure,
or business, but it is an overt act of transgression to which they go!
It is an awful thing, to my mind, that men go from hearing the Word of
God to speaking the word of the devil–they go from God's House to the
house of sin! They go straight away from the holy to the profane, from
the pure to the foul. They go from the Mercy Seat to the seat of the
scorner. I do not wonder that no good comes of such hearing as this!
When a man sees his face in the glass and then goes his way to defile
that face more and more, of what use is the glass to him? If you return
to sin, to procrastinate, to live in willful neglect of God and
eternity, you would derive no benefit from such hearing, though all the
Apostles should, in turn, preach to you, or even their Master, Himself!
This going is always followed by forgetting all they have seen. This
forgetfulness is, indeed, very mischievous. How different is this from
that word of David, "I will never forget Your precepts"! The wicked
forget God, but the favored of the Lord "remember His commandments to
do them." Forget the words of man, but be zealous to remember the Word
of the Lord, for forgetfulness leads to inaction. Those who forget,
forget to do! They follow not the Lord's command in the Book of
Numbers–"Remember to do all My commandments." In Purchas' Pilgrim, we
read of certain Spaniards of the olden time who were often pinched with
hunger and yet immense shoals of fish passed along their shores. They
saw the fish, but were too idle to take them! Are there not many
Hearers of that kind? The Truth of God shines by them unappropriated,
unused, unpracticed–and all because they take no earnest heed to make
it their own by personal obedience to it. They say, "I go, Sir," but
they forget to go. They see the pearl of great price, but forget to buy
it. They are mere players with the Lord's message and never come to
honest dealing with it.
Forgetfulness of the Word leads to self-satisfaction. Looking in the
glass, the man felt a little startled that he was such an ugly fellow,
but he went his way, mingled with the crowd and forgot what manner of
man he was and, therefore, he felt quite easy again. The sweep thinks
he is as clean as his neighbors, for he has forgotten the soot upon his
face. By the force of sheer ignorance a man can climb to a desperately
false assurance of his own excellence. He can cry, "Peace, peace," when
there is no peace, till, at last, a blast of trumpets will not alarm
him! What can be more fatal than this? One may as well not know, as
only learn and straightway forget!
This forgetfulness leads to a growing carelessness. A man who has once
looked in the glass and afterwards has not washed, is very apt to go
and look in the glass, again, and continue in his filthiness. He who
thinks his conscience has cried, "wolf," in mere sport, will think the
same till he takes no heed when it cries in earnest. When men get to
playing with the Word of God, they are near to destruction. Beware of
hearing the Gospel as a pastime–it is the next stage to eternal ruin!
When that which God designs to be to our salvation becomes a pastime to
us, then, in all likelihood, that it will save us is gone. He who
sports with Heaven and Hell will soon lose all hope of the one–and be
hurried down to the other.
Yes, but let me remark that this forgetfulness of the Word leads to
increased sin, for we do not hear the Word of God without some result
coming of it. As I am responsible for preaching, so are you for
hearing. O unconverted Hearers, you to whom the Gospel has come as a
revealer of yourselves, but not as a renewer of your hearts, you have
grown harder in sin and you have sinned against more Light and against
more knowledge–and thus your sin grows blacker!
Thus have I sketched the hearer of the Word who is not a doer of it. I
do not wish, personally, to apply this to anyone here, but I beg that
every person who does not know the Lord will make a personal
application of it to his own conscience and I pray God, the Holy
Spirit, Himself, would now come and press these Truths upon each
conscience. O, my dear Friends, will you not invite His sacred
operations? You have seen your faces in the mirror of the Word–do you
not desire to have them cleansed and beautified? You know your
impurity–do you not wish to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus from all
sin? Will you go your ways as if there were no Law to accuse you, no
Gospel to invite you, no Christ to forgive you? Will you live and die
as if there were no Heaven, no Hell, no eternity, no God? May the Lord
deliver you from being triflers with the Word and forgetters of it,
lest, at the end, your religion should turn out to be vain and you
should find yourselves accursed by that which might have been a
blessing to you!
II. May I have your further attention while I speak upon the true and
blessed hearer? He does not look into the glass, but he is represented
as LOOKING INTO THE LAW–"Who looks into the perfect Law of liberty,
and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the
work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."
The picture I have in my mind's eye at this moment is that of the
cherubim upon the Mercy Seat–these are models for us. Their standing
is upon the golden Mercy Seat and our standing is the Propitiation of
our Lord–there is the resting place of our feet and, like the cherubs,
we are joined there and, therefore, continue therein. They stand with
their eyes looking downward upon the Mercy Seat, as if they desired to
look into the perfect Law of God which was treasured within the ark.
Even so do we look through the Atonement of our Lord Jesus, which is,
to us, as pure gold like unto transparent glass, and we behold the Law,
as a perfect Law of liberty, in the Person of our Mediator. Like the
cherubim, we are in happy company and, like they, we look towards each
other by mutual love. Our common standing is the Atonement; our common
study is the Law in the Person of Christ and our common posture is that
of angels with outstretched wings prepared to fly at the Master's
bidding. Oh, that we might, in this sense, be as the cherubim and like
they, abide in the secret place of the Most High, where the light is
the Light of God and the Glory is the Divine Presence! We are not to
look casually at the Word as though it were a mere looking glass, but
we are to gaze earnestly upon it as our law under the New Covenant. As
the Apostles stooped down and looked into the sepulcher, so are we to
search diligently into the blessed Law of the Lord and delight in it
after the inner man.
Note well that the Law of God is worth looking into. I understand by
the, "Law," here, not merely the Law of the Ten Commandments, but the
Law as it is condensed, fulfilled and exhibited in Christ Jesus. The
Gospel Law, the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that Gospel
which we are called upon to obey, is worthy of deep meditation! I mean
that holy Law which the Lord has promised to put into our inward parts
and write upon our hearts–the Law of faith and not of
self-righteousness–even the command of Grace which bids us believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and obey His commands. A law is always worth
considering, for we may break the law unwittingly, and involve
ourselves in penalties which we might have avoided. An unknown law is a
pitfall into which a man may fall without knowing it. It is the duty of
all loyal subjects to learn the law, that they may obey it.
Better still, it is a perfect Law. All human laws are imperfect, but
the Law of the Lord is perfect. The Law in the hand of Christ is
perfect in itself, having no excess and no deficiency. And it is a Law
which makes those perfect who obey it. It is a Law which is set forth
in the Person of the perfect Christ and worked in us by the perfect
Spirit. It is a Law
which touches our whole nature and works it unto perfect beauty. Who
would not wish to look into a Law which, like its Author, is love and
purity itself?
It is called the "perfect Law of liberty." Now, the Law under the Old
Covenant genders to bondage, but the Law in the hand of Christ is
liberty. We never walk in liberty till we walk in the Lord's commands!
He that wears the yoke of Christ is the Lord's free man. Oh, Brothers
and Sisters, I do trust our eyes will be turned to the "perfect Law of
liberty," for freedom is a jewel and none have it but those who are
conformed to the mind and will of our God!
The true hearer looks into this perfect Law of liberty with all his
soul, heart and understanding till he knows it and feels the force of
it in his own character. He is the prince of hearers, who delights to
know what God's will is and finds his joy in acting out the same. He
sees the Law in its height of purity, breadth of comprehensiveness and
depth of spirituality. And the more he sees, the more he admires. He
cannot have too much of it, but meditates on it both day and night and,
therefore, he cries, "Oh, how I love Your Law! It is my meditation all
the day." His most frequent prayer is that he may be conformed unto
that perfect Law in all respects. And in proportion as his prayer is
heard, he enters into perfect rest. I pause and ask you whether you
belong to the blessed company who look into the crystal glass of the
Law. If you can answer that you are such, then please follow me for a
minute or two.
As I stand here, I look into the mirror of the Word and see myself. But
this is not enough for me–I will look till I see more. I continue
looking into the mystic glass until, to my great surprise, I see
another form appearing. Evidently some mysterious Person is reflected
in this mirror. How beautiful and majestic is the Stranger's visage! I
look till the image of my countenance melts into the reflection of His
countenance and He, alone, is seen. I only appear in Him. Is He not
lovely? Indeed, He is the Chief among ten thousand! Now I see the
meaning of that word, "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass
the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord."–
"This is the thankful glass, That mends the looker's eyes; This is the
well That washes what it shows."
Surely this is the mirror that Mercy, in "The Pilgrim's Progress,"
longed for! Does not Master Bunyan say of it, "Now the glass was one of
a thousand. It would present a man one way, with his own features
exactly, but turning it another way, it would show one the very face
and similitude of the Prince of Pilgrims, Himself. Yes, I have talked
with them that can tell and they have said that they have seen the very
crown of thorns upon His head by looking in that glass. They have
therein also seen the holes in His hands, in His feet and His side"?
A man looks into the Law of liberty and he sees all perfection in
Christ–he looks and looks till, by a strange miracle of Grace, his own
image dissolves into the image of Jesus! Surely this is a thing worth
looking into and infinitely superior to any looking into a glass merely
to see yourselves! We are compelled to say, "Come, see a Word which
tells me all things that I ever did: did not this come from God? "No,
more! We said this at first, but now we see Jesus and we cry, "Come,
see a Man that told me all things that I ever did: is not this the
Christ?"
He that looks into the perfect Law of liberty will not only see Christ,
but he will begin to see the Eternal Spirit of God bearing witness with
that Law of liberty and operating by that witness upon his own soul.
"Oh," says he, "this is a blessed Law, indeed, now, for I have it
written upon the prepared tablets of my heart!" What a sight is that
which lets us see the Holy Spirit working in us to will and to do of
His own good pleasure–and making us conformable to the Law of His own
declaring!
Yes, and he that looks into that perfect Law will, by-and-by, see God
the Father–for the pure in heart shall see God. Those who love and
live the Law of God become like unto God–they are "imitators of God as
dear children." They that are familiar with God's will, love it and
study it, gradually receive the likeness of God their Father till they
are called the children of God! Thus the sacred Trinity are seen and
known by those who do the will of the Father in Heaven. Is not this a
joy, to have our fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus
Christ? Oh, to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God!
Dear Friends, I cannot speak to you as I should like to this
morning–my theme masters me. I cannot make you see all that I see,
myself, but you must look into it for yourselves in the Light of God.
Look, and look again, till what you see
in the Word is also to be seen in yourself. Transformation of character
will follow upon meditation upon the Truth of God, by the blessing of
the Holy Spirit.
Note carefully that our text says, "He continues"–"who looks into the
perfect Law of liberty and continues." Our translators insert the word,
"therein," but it is not in the Greek text. "And continues"–that is,
he continues to meditate in the Law and he continues to own his
allegiance to it. The Law of the Lord is always Law to him. He also
continues to practice it–he does not begin and then turn aside, but he
continues to make advances in holy living and gracious conformity to
the Lord's statutes–and he continues by a final perseverance to follow
on. This is the hearer that shall win the blessing–not you who make a
profession one day and then disgrace it the next! Not you who are all
hot for Christ today and lukewarm tomorrow. The man who obtains the
blessing of the Lord is, by God's Grace, made to continue in it! I have
heard of a famous King of Poland who did brave deeds in his day and
confessed that he owed his excellent character to a secret habit which
he had formed. He was the son of a noble father and he carried with him
a miniature portrait of his father and often looked upon it. Whenever
he went to battle, he would look upon the picture of his father and
nerve himself to valor, When he sat in the council chamber, he would
secretly look upon the image of his father and behave himself right
royally, for, he said, "I will do nothing that can dishonor my father's
name."
Now, this is the grand thing for a Christian to do, to carry with him
the will of God in his heart, and then in every action to consult that
will. We ought to ask–What shall I do, as a child of God? What course
shall I follow as a man of God, bought with the precious blood of Jesus
Christ? It is thought, by some, that you cannot always continue in the
will of God–they dream that you are to hear a sermon and then be very
pious–or go to a Prayer Meeting and then be very devout. But they
think that this piety and devotion cannot remain with us all day.
Brothers and Sisters, we must continue in the Law of the Lord or we
have no true religion! Living godliness is for the shop, for the
kitchen, for the parlor and for the street–it is a continuous struggle
for holiness. Looking at the perfect will of God is for every day and
all day! We are to believe for holiness; looking to the Lord to become
like the Lord. I would gladly have my Savior's image painted on my
eyeballs so that I could not see except I saw everything through Him!
It is well to have Christ's portrait hung up in every chamber of your
soul–I do not say of your house–that might lead to idolatry, but in
every chamber of your mind and heart!
I once saw a room so covered with mirrors, that when I looked, I saw
myself some 15 times, certainly, to my taste, 14 times too often. But
oh, I would have my whole being to be such, that whenever Jesus comes
into it, He may see Himself everywhere–above, below, to the right, to
the left and on all sides! Oh, to have Him shining even into the
innermost closet of our nature so as to have no dark part! Oh, to
become new editions of the life of Christ! We would not only look into
the mirror, but we would be our mirrors reflecting the beauties of the
holy Lord Jesus! But remember, this must not be occasional, but
continual, for the true heart continues looking into the perfect Law of
liberty.
To conclude–you notice how it says, "this man shall be blessed in his
deed." Mark–"this man," "this man." These demonstrative pronouns act
like fingers. A man has gone up to the Temple to pray. What a fine
gentleman he is! He wears a striking phylactery between his eyes and he
boasts a broad blue hem on his garment. He is a very superior person!
You can see that at a glance. He stands in a prominent place in the
Temple and he most pompously cries, "God, I thank You that I am not as
other men are." Curious that the Bible does not make much account of
him. But yonder is a poor weeping creature who does not dare to come
into a prominent position, nor even to lift up his eyes towards Heaven.
Every now and then he beats upon his breast as if very much depressed.
At last he cries, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!"
Look! The Savior points out the publican and says, "this man–this man
went down to his house justified rather than the other." He lays His
hand on him as one near to Him and says, "this man." In my text there
is a person who has seen himself in the glass and he has gone his way,
but we need not mind about him–he is of no account. But here is a man
who has been looking into the Law and has continued to look into
it–and the Holy Spirit has selected him from all others and marked him
as, "this man." This man is blessed! Perhaps he does not wear the best
broadcloth. Perhaps he is arrayed in a fustian jacket, but he is
selected and distinguished as, "this man!" Perhaps he has received no
elaborate edu-cation–you will not see him at the Athenaeum, or hear
him discussing Evolution with the learned, yet he is "this man." "This
man," says the text, "is blessed." Where is this man? Where is this
woman? Judge whether you are the persons thus called and
chosen–whether you are abiding in love to that Law which has won your
heart.
"This man shall be blessed in his deed." "Oh," says one, "I do not see
the blessedness of true religion!" No, my Friend, you are not likely to
see it, because you do not do it. This man is blessed "in his deed."
"In keeping His commandments there is great reward." Much of the
blessedness of godliness lies in the practice of godliness. Not in
consideration of doctrine, but the blessing lies in obedience to
precept. "This man shall be blessed in his deed." In the very act of
serving his Lord and Master, he shall be blessed–not for it but in it.
The doing of the obedient deed is the evidence that God has blessed the
doer from before the foundation of the world! His practical godliness
is the evidence of his election; his actual holiness is the evidence of
his redemption; his keeping close to the will of God is the evidence of
his adoption. Holiness is the witness that its possessor shall be
blessed in the day when Christ shall glorify His people!
You who do not get a blessing by hearing the Gospel may now see why it
is so. You glance into a looking glass and that is all. Much good may
it do you! After having seen your pretty selves, you go your ways into
the world to live as you lived before and, therefore, you get no
blessing. If you had gone to the Divine Law, that heavenly mirror of
the will and mind of the Most High, it had been better for you. If,
instead of making the Word a mirror to look at, you had made it a
window to look through–and you had seen God in Christ and perfect
holiness in Him–and had put your trust in Jesus, He would have given
you a higher and better life, so that you would have become like Jesus!
Then you would have been blessed in your deed!
Behold I set before you, this morning, as they did of old upon Ebal and
Gerizim, blessing and curse–the curse for those who peek into the
looking glass, but do no more–the blessing for those who attentively
look into the perfect Law of liberty and continue to do so until they
are transformed into the image of the Lord! Which shall it be? May God
the Eternal Spirit decide that question by leading you, now, solemnly,
seriously, earnestly, to close in with Christ and His perfect Law of
liberty. And to Him be glory forever and ever! Amen and amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Matthew 7:13-29.
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Coming Judgment of the Secrets of Men