Hope for Your Future
We knew, then, we were newly cleansed sinners! Oh, that blessed period!
Our earthly comforts were forgotten in the greater sweetness and our
earthly sorrows ceased because guilt was gone. Taken out of the bonds
of iniquity, our hearts danced at the very sound of the redeeming name.
We sang, "I am forgiven! I am forgiven!" We wanted to tell the angels
this strange wonder of almighty love. That was one of the good things
of our beginning. We recollect very well, too, that we had, then, a
delicious enjoyment of the good things of the Covenant of Grace. We did
not know a tenth of what we know now, but we intensely enjoyed what we
did know.
When the Israelites first came into Canaan they found it to be a land
that flowed with milk and honey. It became afterwards a stony land
through their sins, but rare clusters then grew in Eshcol and the wild
bees made honey plentifully, even in such a strange place as the
carcass of a lion. When we first came to Christ it was so with us as to
the things of God–they were all sweets. We saw one Covenant blessing,
then another and then another. And we were enraptured with each one.
Whether in the body or out of the body we could scarcely tell, for we
did not look, then, without tasting and we did not taste, then, without
feasting–and we did not feast, then, without feasting again! We
grudged the world the hours we spent in business–we wanted to get back
to our Bibles–or to the assembly of the saints.
Our Lord was a precious Christ, then, and exceedingly lovely in our
eyes that had been so newly opened. Everything about Him, His people,
His Word, His day and His Cross was astonishing to us and filled us
with an intense delight! It was "happy days," indeed, with us then.
That was another blessed point in our beginnings. And, at that time, we
were like the children of Israel in a third matter, namely, that we had
repeated victories. Do you remember when your Jericho fell down–when a
high walled-up sin that you feared would never yield to you, was
brought down suddenly?
As Israel went from victory to victory and slew king after king, so in
those early days did you. As quickly as conscience revealed a sin you
smote it as with a two-edged sword. You sometimes wondered at
professors, that they could live as they did. You felt you could not.
Your hand was in for fighting and, like Joshua, you did not stop. The
day was not long enough for you in which to slay your sins! You felt
inclined to bid the sun stand still and the moon rest so that you might
make full work of blessed carnage in putting sin altogether to the
sword.
You have had a good many defeats since then, it may be, for which you
cannot excuse yourself–but then, "Victory!" was your watchword and you
went on to realize it in the name of the eternal God. From day to day,
though attacked by the uprising of corruptions, you said, "In the name
of the Lord I will destroy them." And you sometimes cried like she of
old, "O my Soul, you have trodden down strength!" You marveled to see
how the adversary was subdued beneath the feet of your faith! Those
were good times, were they not–those beginnings? In those days, you
had great delight in prayer. When alone with Christ, it was Heaven
below–and in Prayer Meetings, when God's people were warm at
heart–how you delighted to unite with them!
The preaching was marrow and fatness to you. You did not mind walking a
long way on a wet night to hear about your Lord and Master. It may be
there was no cushion to the seat or you had to stand in the aisle. You
did not mind that–but you are getting wonderfully dainty now–you
cannot hear the poor preacher whose voice was once like music to you.
You cannot enjoy the things of God as you once did. Whose fault is
that? The kitchen is the same and the food the same– I fear the
appetite has gone.
How ravenous I was after God's Word–how I would wake early in the
morning to read those books that are full of the deep things of God! I
wanted none of your nonsensical novels, nor your weekly tales for which
some of you pine, like children for sugar sticks. Then one fed on Manna
that came from Heaven, on Christ Himself! Those were good times in
which everything was delightful. You heard a Gospel preacher and
perhaps he spoiled the Queen's English–but you did not care a bit
about that. You were hungry and you minded not the knives and the
tablecloths–you wanted meat, and plenty of it–and so long as it was
good spiritual meat, your souls were delighted! That is one of the good
things of our beginnings.
In those days we were full of living fruitfulness. I hope we have not
lost it. Just as the mountains of Judea dropped with wine and ran with
milk through the abundance of the soil, so was it with us, then. We
could do anything! Sometimes, in looking back, we wonder how we ever
attempted so much. We were not so anxious to keep up our spiritual life
as we were to spend what we had got. We thought, then, we would push
the Church before us and drag the world behind us! What marvels we were
going to do! Yes, and we did many of them by God's good Grace!
Then, if we had but little strength, yet we kept the Lord's Word. If we
had but one talent, we made as much use of it, perhaps, as some do with
ten. I love to see you young Christians as active as ever you can
be–and I am going to put my hand on young heads and say, "This is
right. Do all you can. You may not be so lively by-and-by." If you are
not earnest when you begin, what will you soon be? I want you to
maintain that earnestness and to let it increase, for no man is doing
too much for Jesus! No one is too consecrated! No one is too
self-denying! No one is too enthusiastic! There has never been seen on
the face of the earth, yet, a man who has laid himself out too much for
the cause and kingdom of our Master. That will never be.
But it is one of the good points of our beginnings that we were full of
fruitfulness for the Lord our God. This is because the saints begin
generally with abounding love. Oh, how we loved the Savior when first
we discovered how He had loved us with an everlasting love! When we see
that the dunghill is never to be our portion again, but yon bright
Glory at the right hand of the Eternal–oh, then we love our Savior
with all our hearts! I am not saying that we do not now love even
more–but it is a good beginning when we overflow with love to our Lord
Jesus.
II. I could thus keep on reminding you of the days gone by, but I do
not care to do so. I am going now, in the second
place, to answer the question, CAN ANYTHING BE BETTER THAN THIS? Well,
it would be a very great pity if there
could not be because I am sure we, when we were young beginners, were
not much to boast of and all the joy we had was, after all, but little
compared with what is revealed in the Word of God! We ought to get to
something better–and it would be a miserable thing if we were to get
"small by degrees, and miserably less."
It would not look like Christian perseverance if our light were to
shine less and less unto the perfect darkness! No, but it is to shine
more and more unto the perfect day–and in the beginning our day is
only twilight! In coming to God at first we are only in the outer
courts–we have not yet entered the Holy of Holies of inward
experience–we stand in the outer court. We are wheat in the blade as
yet. Ask the farmer whether he thinks that the green blade is the best
thing on the farm. He says, "Yes, for the present." But if it is a
green blade next July he will not think so. There is something better
than before.
All the good that God gives us draws something better behind it. And
let me whisper it–there is a best thing yet to come–not yet revealed
unto eye or ear of saint, but it will be ours by-and-by when our Lord
comes. In what respects, then, can our future be better than that which
is behind? I answer very readily, faith may be stronger. By the Grace
of God it will be firmer and more robust. At first it shoots up like
the lily, very beautiful but fragile. Afterwards it is like the oak
with great roots that grip the soil and rugged branches that defy the
winds. Faith in the young beginner is soon cast down and doubts and
fears prevail–but if we grow in Divine Grace we become rooted and
grounded.
In these days, when it is fashionable to sneer at the doctrines of
Scripture and nobody is thought to be sensible who believes anything,
the young Believer is apt to be staggered. But it would take a great
many of the critics and divines of the present day, with all their
skepticism, to shake some of us. We have tasted and handled and lived
upon these things– and being established in them we are not to be
moved from the hope of our calling! Though all the wiseacres in the
world should dip their pens in tenfold darkness and write it down as
proven that there is no such thing as light, we have seen it with our
eyes–we live in it and we are not to be moved from the eternal
verities. This is something better than early faith, is it not? Go on
and obtain it!
Again, God gives to His people, as they advance, much more knowledge.
At first they enjoy what they know, but they hardly know what they
enjoy! As we grow in Grace we know more. We are surprised to see that
what we thought to be one blessing is 50 blessings in one. We learn the
art of dissecting the Truth of God–taking it to pieces and seeing the
different veins of Divine thought that run through it! And then we see
with delight blessing after blessing conveyed to us by the Person and
Sacrifice of our exalted Lord. Brothers and Sisters, if years and
experience make us know more, our present is better than our
beginnings!
Love to Christ gets to be more constant. It is a passion always, but
with Believers who grow in Grace it comes to be a principle as well as
a passion. If they are not always blazing with love, there is a good
fire banked up within the soul. You know how you bank your fire up when
you come to chapel in the evening, and have nobody at home, and want to
keep the fire alight till you get home? That is often the condition of
a Christian. Even if we do not talk much about assurance and say
nothing about getting near perfection, yet we lie humbly before God and
do not doubt that we love Him. We are sure that we do, for it becomes a
daily delight to us to speak with Christ and, in the speaking, we feel
our love glowing!
You do not always feel that you love those whom you never see–but when
you talk to the dear objects of your love, your heart is moved. As one
of the old Puritans used to say, our Graces are not apparent unless
they are in exercise. You walk through a preserve and there may be
partridges and pheasants and hares all round you–but you will not see
them till one flies out of its hiding, or a hare starts up before you.
You see them in motion–but while they were quiet in the bushes you did
not observe them. So may love to Christ and all Christian virtues lie
concealed till they are called into action. Our Lord's dear Presence
attracts them all out of their hiding places and then you perceive that
love was always there, and there in strength, too, though it was not
always on your lips nor even in your thoughts.
As Christians grow in Divine Grace, prayer becomes more mighty. If the
Lord builds you up into true spiritual manhood, you will know how to
wrestle. Why did not Jacob meet the angel the first time when he went
to Bethel? He lay down and slept, and dreamed a dream. He was a
spiritual babe and a dream suited his capacity. But when he came
back–a man who had grown by years of experience–then the Angel of God
came and wrestled with him! It is one part of the teaching of Divine
experience that we grow stronger in the art of prayer and know how to
win from God greater things than we ever dreamt of asking at first. God
grant you better things in the matter of prayer than at your
beginnings!
So, I think, it is in usefulness. Growing Christians and full-grown
Christians are more useful than beginners. They may not, apparently, be
doing so much but they are doing it better and there is more result.
Their fruit, if not quite so plentiful, is of better quality and more
mellow. If there are fewer fruits, they are larger ones and each one of
a finer flavor. In fact, this one thing is clear of all Believers who
have grown in Grace–that the work of Grace in them is nearer
completion. They are getting nearer Heaven and they are getting more
fit for it. Some of you are sitting very loose by this world. You are
expecting very soon to hear the summons which will call you to quit
these earth-born things.
As ripe fruit comes from the tree with a gentle touch, so is it getting
to be with you–the world had a greater hold upon you when you were
young than it has now–and your thoughts of departure from it are more
frequent and more full of desire than they used to be. You have come to
look at death as though it were only a removal to a neighboring town,
or like stepping across the street. You have looked at it so long that
you can say like one I knew, "I have dipped my foot in the river every
morning and I shall not be at all afraid to ford it when the time
comes." The Lord has made you to stand on tiptoe, ready to rise. You
can say, "The time of my departure is at hand." Your chariot is at the
door!
Well, now, this is something better than your beginnings! The old
Christian may look back upon the new wine and say regretfully, "How it
sparkled and effervesced! But the old is better." You may think of the
days of your youthful vigor when the body kept pace with the
spirit–and you were young and full of nerve and muscle and enthusiasm.
Those animal spirits have now gone from you and you are sobered and
even slow. You have become old, and, perhaps, forgetful of many things.
You go over the old story, now, instead of inventing new ones. But
then, the old story–the old, old story–is as new to you as at the
first and you love it better than ever before!
You cannot be driven from it now. I should think Satan himself would
hardly like to meddle with some of you–he feels that he cannot shake
your faith in the living God! Or if he should shake you, you would in
turn shake him! He has had so many brushes with you during the last 50
years that he begins to know that you carry the true Jerusalem blade–
and he had rather deal with other folks who are fond of the "modern
thought" wooden sword! You have come to the land Beulah and you are
sitting on the brink of Jordan, waiting to cross over to the Celestial
City. Surely, you have realized that God is dealing better with you
than at your beginnings!
III. I will end with the last, which is a practical matter. How can we,
dear Friends, we who are beginning a Christian
life, HOW CAN WE SECURE THAT IT WILL BE BETTER WITH US, BY-AND-BY, THAN
IT IS NOW? Alas, we
have seen some start splendidly in appearance. They did run well but
they were soon out of breath or turned aside. We hear no more of them.
Our fear should be lest the like should happen to us. How can we act so
as to hold on our way and go from good to better?
I answer, first, keep to the simplicity of your first faith. Never get
away from that! You remember the story we used to tell of poor Jack the
huckster, who sang–
"I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, But Jesus Christ is my All in
All"?
Questioners could not make him doubt. He said that he could not doubt
that he was a poor sinner and nothing at all, for he knew he was! And
why should he doubt that Jesus Christ was his All in All? The Word of
God says so–why should he doubt it? Here he stood and would not budge
an inch.
By God's Grace, neither will I. The coney is safe in the rock and he
knows better than to come out. I hide in Jesus, and there I mean to
remain, whatever the critics or the cultured may say. Jesus is my All
in All and I am nobody! My life cost Him His death and His death is my
life. He took my sin and died–I take His righteousness and live. You
may laugh, but I win. You may sneer, but I sing. O dear Friend, fly to
Jesus and hide in Him and stay there! Never get an inch beyond the
Cross, for, if you do, you will have to come back. That is your place
till you die–you are nothing– Christ is everything!
You have to sink lower, and lower and lower–and in your esteem Christ
must rise higher, and higher and higher. The "nothing at all" must be
more emphatic the older you grow–and the "All in All" must be more
emphatic, too. If you get to borrowing wings and trying to fly up with
speculations about what you may be in yourself, you will end in coming
down heavily with a bruised heart–if not with broken bones. Keep at
the foot of the Cross and you will maintain–no, you will increase your
joy in the Lord! At the same time, dear Friends, practice great
watchfulness. Many a child of God has to weep for months because he did
not watch for minutes. He closed his eyes a little while and said, "It
is all right with me." And in that little while the enemy came and
sowed tares among his wheat and great mischief came because of a little
nap.
We ought to have the eyes of a lynx and they ought never to be closed.
We know not which way the most temptation will come. We need to be
guarded on all sides and remember the words of our Master, "What I say
unto you, I say unto all, Watch." You will not keep your joy and grow
in Divine Grace unless you watch. The next advice is grow in dependence
upon God. For your watchfulness, depend upon His watching. You cannot
keep yourself unless He keeps you. You must watch, but it is He that
keeps Israel and does neither slumber nor sleep. Remember that.
Determine, dear Friends, at the very beginning, to be thorough.
I love to see young Christians very scrupulous about the mind of the
Lord. I would not have you say, "Oh, that is nonessential!" Obedience
to a command may not be essential to your salvation but it must be
essential to the completeness of your holiness. "Whatever He says to
you, do it." Safe walking can only come of careful walking. I have
known the time when I felt afraid to put down one foot before the other
for fear I should go wrong–and I believe I was never so right as when
that feeling was on me continually. You young people must cultivate
more and more the Grace of holy fear. You must dread daily lest in
anything you should omit to do your Lord's will, or should trespass
against Him. In this way your joy shall be maintained and you shall be
settled after your old estates–and God will do better unto you than at
your beginnings.
Lastly, seek for more instruction. Try to grow in the knowledge of God
that your joy may be full. It will be ill for you to say, "I know I was
converted and therefore need not care any further." That will not do.
No, no, in conversion you began a race from which you are never to
cease! You have been born-again and therefore you need spiritual food.
You enjoy spiritual life and you are to nurture that life till it is
conformed to the perfect image of Christ. Onward, Brothers and Sisters!
Onward, for that which is beyond will repay your labor!
PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Ezekiel 36:1-15;23-34.