The Glory of Grace
(No. 2763)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 26, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A THURSDAY EVENING, DURING THE
WINTER OF 1869.
"The glory of His Grace." Ephesians 1:6.
GOD is essentially glorious. Even were there no eyes to behold Him, no
lips to hymn His praise, no intelligent creatures to obey Him, He would
be infinitely glorious in Himself. Yet, nevertheless, God chooses to
exhibit His Glory that He may get praise out of the hearts of
intelligent beings, who, beholding the varied and wonderful
manifestations of the exceeding riches of His Grace, may be compelled
with joy and gratitude, to glorify Him. In this sense, also, God is
glorious–that is, Glory is given unto Him–He is admired, He is
beloved, He is adored. Every attribute of God has its Glory, not only
essential, but Glory through its exhibition of Himself. God's power is
glorious, as we all know, in the works of His hands. His skill, His
wisdom, His benevolence–all these are to be seen in those works of
Nature, as we call them, which meet our eyes every day. God's justice
is glorious and we sometimes tremble to think how awfully glorious it
is in the lowest pit of Hell. We have, on the present occasion,
however, not to talk about other attributes of God, but about this
one–"the glory of His Grace"–and while we are doing so, I must remark
that we shall have to see, incidentally, how this Grace, in itself
glorious, really brings Glory to all the other attributes. When God
glorifies His Grace, He glorifies His whole Character–Grace becomes a
platform upon which all the perfections of Deity exhibit themselves–
and Grace becomes a light which shines upon all the rest, and they,
albeit bright enough in themselves, seem to be doubly bright when they
glow in its brilliance.
Where every place is rich, one scarcely needs to strike out a pathway.
Let me, however, ask you first to notice the Glory of Divine Grace as
it has been displayed, and then, secondly, I will give you a few words
on the qualities for which it is distinguished.
I. In the first place, then, let us meditate on THE GLORY OF DIVINE
GRACE AS IT HAS BEEN DISPLAYED.
Grace has been displayed, of old, in the great council chamber, where
all the attributes of God sat in solemn conclave to devise a way by
which God should be glorified. Foreknowledge, as one of the attributes
of God, prophesied that man, if made fallible, would sadly fall.
Justice, therefore, arose and thundered forth his word that if man fell
and transgressed the Creator's command, he must be punished. Grace,
however, asked whether it could not be possible that man could be saved
and yet Justice should be satisfied. Wisdom, infinite Wisdom, answered
the question, and God's own Son was the answer! He promised that in the
fullness of time, He would become a Man for us and, for our redemption,
bear the whole weight of Jehovah's justly merited wrath, that the
vessels of mercy might be secured.
Now, albeit that all the other attributes displayed themselves in the
council chamber, when our soul, in holy reverence, dares venture into
that once secret, but now revealed counsel of the Most High, we are
compelled to admire all the attributes of God, but most of all, His
Grace. Why, it seems to me that Grace presided at this congress! It was
Grace that pressed man's suit, it was Grace that inspired Wisdom, it
was Grace that invited Wisdom to be its counselor, it was Grace that
defended man when Justice might have spoken against him. Grace was our
advocate! Christ Jesus, who was Grace, itself, of old, as He is now,
stood then as The Wonderful, The Counselor. And He devised the plan,
pleaded our cause and promised to work it out. The Glory of Grace, as
it sits with its crown upon its head in the council chamber of
eternity, is a subject well worthy of your devout reflection and quiet
meditation.
But now the council is over, and Grace steps forth to be glorified in
another manner. Now it glorifies itself in its gifts. Look how Grace
gives man blessings, countless in number, and priceless in value,
scattering them along his pathway as if they were but stones, while
each is so precious that only Heaven itself can tell its worth! At
last, after having given man blessings through long ages, Grace comes
up to Calvary and there gives its last–no, its first, its all, its
grandest gift! Grace gives up the Incarnate Son of God to die! He gives
up His own life and bows His head upon the Cross. There may be much of
shame and ignominy about the Cross–assuredly there is, for there we
see sin punished–but how much there is of Glory and of majesty for
there we see Grace triumphant over itself–Grace in the heart of Christ
leading Him to save others while Himself He cannot save!
We talk of these things, nowadays, as household words, but not thus do
the angels speak concerning Grace glorified in the Person of the dying
Son of God! Not thus did we think when, for the first time, we saw Him
to be ours in the day of our sore trouble and sorrow! We shall not
think so slightingly of Grace, as I fear we sometimes do now, when we
shall see His face without a veil between and then shall know what
wondrous Grace that was which made that glorious face become marred
with sorrow, and bowed that glorious head Divine to the depths of the
grave! Grace, in its highest Glory, is to be seen best on Calvary, but
I think it is rather to be seen and felt than to be talked of. My
feeble tongue declines to bear the burden of a theme so weighty. I
cannot stretch the wings of my imagination and rise to the height of
this grand argument! I cannot adequately utter the praises of that
Grace which is to be seen in the dying Son of God on Calvary. Since
then, Beloved, you have had to glorify Grace in its continued gifts.
You have found that He, who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him
up for us all, has with Him also freely given all things to us. What
debtors you and I are! As Rutherford would have said, we are drowned
debtors–we are head over heels in debt–we are sunken fathoms deep in
an ocean of indebtedness to God!
How much do you owe my Lord? Take your pen and sit down quickly, and
reckon up the amount. Ah, you may sit down quickly, but you will not
rise up quickly, for the full account you can never write. There are no
scales in which to weigh those ponderous blessings! Earth has no coin
by which to represent their value! Talk of millions and of billions–
we must get into the inconceivable before we can estimate the infinite,
the unutterable value of those gifts which Jesus Christ continually
gives to us, which Grace pours into our lap from the cornucopia of
love!
Now we go a little further. We have had God's Grace in the council
chamber, we have had His Grace in its gifts and, in both these things
we may well speak of "the glory of His Grace." Now we will speak of
Grace in its triumphs. It is a strange thing that love should be a
warrior and that Grace should fight, but when Grace came to make us
gracious, it found us graceless and averse to Grace. The door was shut
when Jesus came, though His hand and heart were open. Jesus Himself
burst open the door and stormed the passage into the heart of man. When
mercy comes to bless, it finds us bent to curse. We will not receive
the proffered gift–we reject the mercy–and Grace must overcome our
will. It must lead us captives in silken bonds, or otherwise it cannot
bless us! Man, while his will is free, is graceless. It is only when
his will is bound by fetters of Sovereign Grace that he is gracious at
all. If there is such a thing as free will, Luther truly hit the mark
when he called free will a slave! It is only our will in bonds that is
truly free. Our will constrained, ranges at liberty! When Grace binds
it, then it is free, indeed, and only then–when the Son has made it
free!
Think, my Brothers and Sisters, of the battles which Grace has had with
men, and what glory it has gained, for, remember, it has never once
been defeated! When Grace has come into the heart, there may have been
a long struggle, but it has always ended in a victory. In your case and
mine, how stern has been the fight! Do you not remember well the day
when Jesus met you by the way and He said to you, " Soul, have you no
interest in Me?" Do you remember how you spat in His face and passed
Him by, and made a jest of the Crucified? Do you remember another time
when He sent His black messengers, sickness and sorrow, and you lay
upon your bed and He came to you, again, and you uttered words to Him
which looked like truth, but, alas, they were but lying, deceptive
words–and you turned your face to the wall and you vowed
repentance–but you did not repent? You use no other friend so evilly
as you have used Him.
And do you recollect how you were determined to be lost–how your soul
set itself desperately on mischief? But you have not had your way.
Grace has overcome you and here you sit, a captive–
"A willing captive to your Lord, To sing the triumphs of His Word."
Ah, this always delights me when I think about preaching the Gospel,
that Grace must be a conqueror where God sends it forth! We may sing,
in the language of one of those good Welsh hymns, which I think, when
translated, runs something like this–
"Ride forth, O Jesus! Hell trembles at You, Earth cannot withstand You!
Man's heart will break before You Go forth and win the day!"
And when Jesus goes forth, He doeswin the day! The man may kick and
struggle, but if his name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, he
will be obliged to yield. If thus the heavenly mandate runs, "Almighty
Grace, arrest that man," that man, in God's time, shall be arrested by
the strong hand of Sovereign Grace and he, converted, changed and made
a new man in Christ Jesus, shall be one of Grace's willing captives–a
trophy of its Omnipotence!
And then, my dear Brothers and Sisters, as we speak of the triumphs of
Divine Grace, we must not forget the multitudes of triumphs Grace has
had in each soul. If you could bear in your body a mark for every
triumph that Grace has had in you and if every mark were a jewel, would
you not be covered from head to foot with jewels? And then it is not
merely one man in whom Grace has worked, but think of the countless
myriads of souls that Grace has overcome. It has gone into every land,
into every sort of habitation and it has secured its trophies. Oh, what
a glorious day will that day be when Christ, who is Grace Incarnate and
embodied, shall enter into Heaven with all His blood-bought saints and
shall cry, "Here I am, Father, and the children whom You have given Me.
Here are they whom I have rescued from the jaws of the lion and from
the paws of the bear. Not one of them is missing! I have been
triumphant over all their foes and I safely bring them to their
promised rest." "The glory of His Grace" is seen, then, in its
triumphs.
But let me remark, further, that the glory of Divine Grace is to be
seen more fully, by-and-by, when the whole plan of Grace shall be
worked out. I take it that we have, none of us, a very clear idea of
what the full design of Divine Grace is. We say it is the blessing of
the elect–it is, moreover, the indirect blessing of the world through
these elect ones–or, as good Elisha Coles has said, and we endorse his
saying, "Grace gives some good things to all men, though it gives all
good things to some men." But I take it that we have not, any of us,
fully realized the design of God's Grace. We all have some little
confusion in our minds. That confusion may be, probably, a better
insight of what God is doing than if we were able to put it into an
orderly system. I doubt not that, in the millennial days which are yet
to come, we shall see that God's Grace will be so wonderfully magnified
at the winding up that our little hearts have never thought of how
grandly the scene shall end!
At present, I see the world continually go on in its wickedness. It
seems to me that Justice is rather magnified than Grace, for multitudes
are daily descending into Hell. But there are happier days to come and
a brighter season, when Messiah the Prince shall stand a second time
among the sons of men! Then shall the earth ring with His praise! Then
shall myriads of men and women be made to know Him! Then shall they
come and bow down before Him and all people shall call Him blessed! And
then the enormous multitudes shall swell the roll of those chosen ones
to such a marvelous degree that, at the winding up, it shall be fully
known and seen that there is a number that no man can number whom
Christ has redeemed out of all people, and kindreds, and tongues! And
when the multitudes of infants and all the myriads of these elect ones
who shall be brought in, shall be encompassed within the shining walls
of Heaven, then shall we see that the number of the saved infinitely
surpasses the number of the lost! Then shall we see that though the
gate was narrow, though the road was strait, yet the number of those
who pass along it shall be immeasurably greater than the number of
those who shall go in the other road, broad as it is, and wide though
its gates may be!
I believe that the songs of Heaven shall prevail over all the growls of
Hell. Satan shall not be triumphant. Christ shall see of the travail of
His soul and shall be satisfied! And Divine Grace, when it counts up
its numbers, shall laugh in the face of Hell and cry, "I am triumphant
over you! The number of my trophies far exceeds the number of yours,
for you, black tyrant, have done little in comparison with what I have
accomplished! See, you have here and there a ruined soul, but I have
multitudes of blood-bought ones, whom I have raised up to everlasting
life and more than perfection, for it is the very perfection of Deity
which I have given to them."
II. Well now, having just run briefly over these things–you may think
of them at your leisure more fully–I want to talk about the subject in
another way for a little while. "To the praise of the glory of His
grace." I take it that we may see the Glory of this Grace if we notice
THE QUALITIES FOR WHICH IT IS DISTINGUISHED.
Grace is glorious if we consider its antiquity. Grace is not a piece of
new cloth put into an old garment. Grace is not an alteration which God
made in His original plan. It is not some addition that He made because
some unlooked-for catastrophe occurred. He foresaw the Fall from all
eternity and every iota of the plan of Grace was devised of old. Before
yon sun was created, long before he had been swaddled in mists, before
the stars had known their resting places and had sent the rays of their
light through the thick darkness. Long before the mountains knew their
places, or the water was poured into its fountains, God had chosen His
people, had set His heart of love upon them, had devised His plan and
chosen the objects that should be embraced by it. I love to think of
Grace in its antiquity. There are certain people who have a reverence
for everything that is old–the Puseyite, for instance–he likes a
thing because it used to be worn some six, seven, or 800 years ago!
Now, I confess I have a reverence for that which is old, but then it
must be old enough. If a doctrine or a ceremony is as old as the time
of Christ, I am content. But as to doctrinal truth, I can always
rejoice if I can see the fact to be old as the everlasting hills! The
geologist tells us that some rocks must have been fused myriads of
years ago–and we tell him it may be so, but we are certain that the
Covenant of Grace is older than the oldest of these things. They are
but born yesterday infants, aged though they seem to be. But Grace has
hoary age upon its head. Its head and its hair are white like wool, as
white as snow! Venerable for age is the Grace of God and the plan of
Grace is no new chapter of modern compilation, but it is old as God's
own eternity–an everlasting thing! O Grace, you are from everlasting
to everlasting!
Then, again, the Glory of Grace consists not only in its antiquity, but
in its Immutability. The Grace of God, old though it is, has never
changed. Many a mighty river has been dried up and now, over its dry
bed men can walk. The very sea has changed. There are no furrows on its
brow, but it has forsaken its channels and now finds a resting place
that is new to it. The very sun alters, everything grows dim with
age–but Grace flows on as it did at first! Its stream is just as deep
and its current just as mighty. There is no failing in Grace, any more
than there is any failing in God. And I may remark that it has never
failed of its objects. No, Grace runs in one direct stream and it has
never been made to wind about. The chosen vessels of mercy have been
washed in that stream–it has not passed by a single one, nor has one
more been washed by it than those chosen ones of old. Never, never can
we permit the idea of the mutability of Grace–Grace given today, and
taken away tomorrow!
I repeat what I have often said. If Grace could be given to a man
temporarily, and then taken away from him, I cannot imagine a more
awful malediction than that Grace would really be! I would sooner
perish as that fallen angel, that great sinner, Satan, than as one whom
God had loved, if He did not love me forever, because to give Grace,
and then to take it away would be the most awful method of tantalizing
that was ever known! Better for God to send no Gospel if He did not
send an everlasting one! The Arminian scheme of salvation is worse than
nothing! I had rather have no Revelation than believe it if, on that
hypothesis, I am but tantalized and tempted to hope that I may be
saved, but it ends in blackness and darkness forever because there is a
condition annexed to it which I cannot fulfill–and there is something
demanded of me which I cannot give. The Grace of God, then, is greatly
magnified in its Immutability as well as in its antiquity.
And then, to turn to another view of it, Grace derives great Glory from
its freeness. The Grace of God is as free as the air we breathe. If any
man here asks whether he may believe in Christ, my answer to him is–he
not only may, but he is commandedto do so! If, as I have often declared
to you, it is the command of God that we believe on Jesus Christ whom
He has sent, you are guilty of sin every moment that you live without
faith in Christ! It is commanded of you, therefore you can clearly say
you have a right to it, for any man has a right to obey a Divine
command! If we are commanded, we have a perfect right to come. He who
commands us to come to the feast gives us, in that very command, the
only permit we need. Oh, I would that men would believe in the freeness
of Divine Grace!
I preach the sovereignty of Divine Grace and desire to preach it with
reverence before God and with faithfulness to man–but the freeness of
Grace is not inconsistent with the Sovereignty of it. Albeit that none
ever drink of that sacred Fountain but those whom God sweetly
constrains to drink–if men do not drink, the fault lies with them–and
their blood will be on their own head forever. For thus cries the
Gospel, "Whoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
The Grace of God is free–no preparation is needed before you can
receive it, for God gives it even to men who do not ask for it–"I was
found of them that sought not after Me." There is no preparation
needed! I tell you, the preparation that you imagine is necessary would
be just that which would disqualify you! Come to Jesus now! You are
commanded to come just as you are. Oh, may Divine Grace, that gives the
command, induce you to obey–may it sweetly constrain you to obey!
Remember that there is no barrier between you and Christ except your
own depraved heart. If once you have the will, if God gives you the
will to go to Christ, there is nothing that can keep you back and
nothing that should intimidate you from coming, for the cry is,
"Whoever will, let him come."
This is, I think, one of the glories of Divine Grace–its freeness. But
it is a Glory which a great many cannot see. As soon as we touch upon
it, some Brother says, "Ah, he is not sound upon thatpoint," though,
when we preached upon God's Sovereignty, he liked it well enough. With
regard to the matter of soundness, I do not so much consider soundness
as sense. I always think if a thing is in Scripture, it little matters
to me if it is not in men's creed. They can alter their creed as
quickly as they like–I shall not alter mine. I will just stand to what
I always shall and always have preached, and take God's Word as it
stands, whether I can reconcile it with another part of God's Word or
not. One part of the Glory of Grace, then, consists in its freeness.
And now let me notice another thing. The Glory of Free Grace will be
found in its benevolence. What good has Grace done? I will put it in
another shape–What hurthas Grace ever done? There is not a man in the
universe who can blame Grace for any hurt he has received by it. You
know that a great public good is often a private evil, but while Grace
is often a public good, it is never a private evil. No one was ever
injured by it. I love a Gospel that hurts nobody. If there are none
saved by it, at least they cannot point the finger at the Gospel and
say, "That has destroyed me." Their destruction lies with themselves!
Grace scatters mercies, but never anything that is the reverse of good.
Its path is that of a conqueror, but its garments are not stained with
blood, except its own blood. It is true that it marches over the world,
beating down every high look and leveling every lofty thing. But, then,
that is a blessing, for it is better to be leveled by Grace than to be
exalted by pride! Good, only good are you, O Grace! You are a
continually gushing fountain of mercy. Your stream is always crystal
clear. There is no adulteration here, or anything that is ill to man,
but, as Milton says, "'It is better still, and better still, and better
still in infinite progression.'"
And now let me say, once more, what I think in my own soul will be one
of the greatest glories of Divine Grace. I think it will be if ever I
shall see the face of God with acceptance. I have said, and say it
again–
"Then loudest of the crowd I'll sing, While Heaven's resounding
mansions ring With shouts of Sovereign Grace."
You remember the story of the three wonders in Heaven? The first wonder
was that we should see so many there we did not expect to see. The
second was that we should miss so many we did expect to see there. But
the third wonder would be the greatest wonder of all–to see ourselves
there! Oh, when I hear people censuring and condemning their fellow
Christians because they are not perfect–because they see some little
fault in them–I think, "Do these people know that they are saved by
Grace and that they have nothing which they have not received? I think,
surely, if they knew how they received what they have, they would not
be quite so hard with those who have not the blessing." When we feel
right, my Brothers and Sisters, we always feel ourselves to be
veritable beggars. No, the more right we come to be, the less we feel
ourselves to be! That big letter, I, is so large with us all, pride is
so interwoven into our nature, that I am afraid we shall never get it
pulled out until we are wrapped in our winding-sheets! But if there is
anything that can cure it, I think it is the fact that it is all of
Divine Grace. Heaven shall show us how gracious God has been to us, but
on earth we shall never know the full value of the Grace we have
received. Let us continually sing–
"Oh, to Grace how great a debtor, Daily I'm constrained to be!"
And, then, as a consequence, let us walk humbly with our God. Let us
always be giving glory to Christ, waiting for and expecting that happy
day when we shall glorify Him with all His saints, when He shall come
in the Glory of His Father and all His holy angels with Him!
Brothers and Sisters, will we not sing if we once get across the
Jordan? Oh, what leaps for joy! What shouts! What praise! What
thanksgiving! Ah, my hoary-headed Brother, you are saying, "Would to
God I were safely there!" And so you shall be before long. Ah, my dear
young Friend, you are saying, "Oh, what temptations I have to battle
with! Would
God that I were at rest!" Your rest may be nearer than you think it
is–we are, none of us, sure how near we are to Heaven. That trouble
you are dreading may never come! That trial may never arrive, for
Christ may come before the trial and we may be caught up to dwell with
Christ before it shall come!
Let us just speed up the day by an hour or two. Ah, I shall soon be
dying. Time quickly fades away. Speed on, O Time! Roll on your wheels
and every year fly on apace! The shorter the road, the sooner I shall
be with Him! The nearer I am to Jordan, the nearer am I to Canaan!
Farewell, manna of the wilderness! Farewell, fiery serpents and
Amalekites! My soul shall soon cross the Jordan! I shall see the face
of Him whom, though I have not yet seen, I do unceasingly adore–in
whom I have a Heaven on earth and with whom I shall have an everlasting
blessedness in that day when He calls me Home to Himself!
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: EPHESIANS4.
Verse 1. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. "You are called
to be sons of God, you are called to be one with Christ, you are called
to be kings and priests unto God–this is the highest possible vocation
that anyone can have, so walk worthy of it!" O Beloved, if we walk
worthy of this vocation, what holy and noble lives we shall lead! The
Apostle so much desired godliness and holiness to be the
characteristics of those to whom he wrote that he used a very strong
term of entreaty–"I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you are called."
2. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one
another in love. "You are not called to bully others, to be lords over
God's heritage. You are called to be Christ-like, to be gentle and
tender, ready to bear and to forgive all manner of wrong that may be
done to you."
3. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Some people seem as if they endeavored to break the unity of the Spirit
and to snap every sacred bond of love and Christian affection–be you
not like they, but let Christ's mind be in you and with lowliness, and
meekness, and long-suffering, endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.
4-6. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all If
there were two lords, you might be divided into two parties. If there
were two faiths, you might split up into two sections. If there were
two baptisms, you might be right in having two denominations. If there
were two fathers, there might be two families. If there were two
indwelling spirits, there would be, and there must be, two sorts of
people! But, in the true Church of Jesus Christ, there is "one God and
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
7. But unto everyone of us is given Grace according to the measure of
the gift of Christ We have not all the same form of Grace and we cannot
all perform the same service for the Savior. We differ very much from
each other as to our abilities and as to the positions which we can
occupy–and our Lord intended it to be so.
8-10. Therefore He says, "When He ascended on high, He led captivity
captive and gave gifts unto men. (Now this, "He ascended," what is it
but that He also descended, first, into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same, also, that ascended up far above all
heavens, that He might fill all things). Paul could not help giving us
this lesson by the way, that He that ascended was also He that first
descended. And you may depend upon it that the man who will attain the
highest honor in the Church of Christ is the man who descends–who lays
aside all ambition and all desire to be honored and respected–and who
is willing to be nothing. He who thus descends, shall surely ascend.
11. And He gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. Not all alike, not all
Apostles or Prophets. And not all equal, for pastors may not be equal
in rank with Apostles. They are not all to do the same work, for all
teachers cannot prophesy, neither does a Prophet always serve as a
pastor and watch over a flock. Jesus Christ gave different gifts.
12, 13. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Then,
whatever spiritual gifts we have, they are not our own to use as we
please–they are
only entrusted to us that we may employ them to help our fellow
Christians. Beloved Brothers and Sisters, we are one with Christ, and
we are one with each other and, therefore, we must not look, every man
upon his own things, but also upon the things of others! And it should
be a question of the first importance to every Christian, "How can I
best utilize myself for the benefit of the rest of the members of the
Church?" Do not ask, "How can I benefit myself?" but let your enquiry
be, "How can I be most profitable to my fellow Christians?"
I have heard some professors say of a sermon that they could not feed
under it–the discourse was very likely to be useful to the
unconverted, but they could not stand it because they could not feed
under it. Their idea seems to be that preaching must always be a spoon
used for feeding them–but it is not so! The Word of God contains much
spiritual nutriment specially suitable for the lambs of the flock.
These men who are strong, need meat, so they say that they do not enjoy
what they hear, it is of no use to them. But are the babies in Christ's
family never to be fed? Does not humanity itself teach us that, first
of all, the weakest and feeblest should be cared for? Oh, for Grace to
be unselfish! There is such a thing as Christian selfishness and, of
all evil things in the world, it is the most unchristian! When the
first and last concern of a man is his own salvation, his own comfort,
his own advancement, his own edification and nothing besides, he needs
to be saved from such a selfish spirit as that!
14-16. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and
cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking
the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the
head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love. Every part of the body has its own
special function. There are some secret vessels of which as yet the
physiologists know very little. What may be the particular use of them
has not yet been ascertained, but depend upon it, God has created no
part of our body in vain and, in like manner, in the mystical body of
Christ, every Christian has his own office, his own work, something
that he can do that nobody else can do! And our great objective should
be to find out what that work is and to give our whole strength to it,
for the nourishing of the entire body of Christ.
17-19. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their
minds, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness
of their heart: who being past feeling. That is a terrible expression,
"past feeling."
19-25. Have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ; if
indeed you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is
in Jesus that you put off concerning the former conversation the old
man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new man, which God
created in righteousness and true holiness. Therefore putting away
lying, as a rotten, worn-out garment that you could not bear to wear.
26. Speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members, one of
another Then, why should we lie, one to another? Should one hand try to
deceive the other hand? Should the eye mislead the foot? Surely, the
union of one member with all the other members should ensure its
truthfulness!
26. Be you angry, and sin not If you must be angry, (and you must,
sometimes), take care that you do not sin when you are angry. It is
rather a difficult thing to be angry and not to sin, yet, if a man were
to see sin and not to be angry with it, he would sin through not being
angry! If we are only angry, in a right spirit, with a wrong thing, we
shall manage to obey the injunction of the Apostle, "Be you angry, and
sin not."
26. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Never let it outlive the
day, but forgive before the sun goes down.
27. Neither give place to the devil. A man who harbors malice in his
heart invites the devil to come in and keeps a place ready for him.
28. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor For
laziness is generally the cause of theft. If a man would work for what
he needed, he would not be tempted to steal it. Paul carries his
argument very far, "let him labor."
28. Working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to
give to him that needs. What a rise there is here–from a thief up to a
giver to him that needs! This is what the Grace of God does. Here is a
man who used to take his neighbor's goods if he could, but, when Divine
Grace transforms him, he actually gives a share of his own goods to his
poor neighbor–that is a marvelous change!
29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. I have
heard unthinking people say, "Well, if it is in your heart, you may as
well speak it–it is better out than in." I do not agree with them! If
you had a barrel of whiskey in your house, that would certainly be a
bad thing to be in your possession, but it would not do any hurt so
long as you kept it unopened so that nobody could get at it! The
mischief arises when people begin to drink it. Undoubtedly, it is an
evil thing for you to have anything that is corrupt in your heart, but
it will not be mischievous to other people until it begins to come out.
So, "let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth."
29. But. Since some communication is sure to come out of your mouth,
let it be a good one.
29-31. That which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
Grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you,
with all malice. Especially take heed of that "evil speaking" against
which the Apostle warns you, for there are many people who cannot live
without speaking–they must talk a great deal and they often say that
which is false–they invent evil, they twist an honest action and
impute wrong motives to the doer of it! A few such persons in a
community can cause much of heartache and distress. They little know
what servants of Satan they may become. God help us to put away all
evil speaking and all malice!
32. And be you kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. That is,
very freely, very often, very abundantly, very thoroughly, very
heartily–"even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you," so also
do you.