Luminous Words
(No. 2549)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 26, 1897.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
DECEMBER 28, 1884.
"Therefore since Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm
yourselves, likewise, with the same mind: for he that has suffered in
the flesh has ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest
of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have worked the will of
the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine,
drinking parties and abominable idolatries." 1 Peter 4:1-3.
Our Lord Jesus Christ has suffered for sin and He has suffered to the
utmost extent, for He has paid the death penalty on His people's
behalf. Look at the 18th verse of the previous chapter–"For Christ
also has once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the
Spirit." Christ has fought with sin to the bitter end. He has now done
with sin, for He has died to it. He has borne the capital sentence
pronounced upon the guilty, dying, "the Just for the unjust, that He
might bring us to God." Now, as many as have believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ are one with Him. And what He did, He did representatively for
them, so that they virtually did it in Him. Therefore, every Believer
ought to regard Himself as having been put to death on account of
sin–as having undergone, in the Person of His Great Substitute, the
capital sentence on account of sin and now, as a man who has been
executed is clear of the guilt, so are we! And as a man who has been
executed should not return, could he live again, under the old sin, so
neither must we. "Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death
has no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin
once: but in that He lives, He lives unto God. Likewise reckon you,
also, yourselves, to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Now read between the lines of our text. In Christ we have died unto sin
once, but now that we live unto God, we are as if we had actually died
to sin and had passed into a new state and condition by virtue of our
union with Jesus Christ our Lord. But while this is true, there is an
experience of it which we have to undergo within our own spirits–hence
the Apostle says, "Therefore since Christ has suffered for us in the
flesh, arm yourselves, likewise, with the same mind." As He has died to
sin, we are to die to sin, also. This takes place–the commencement of
it, at any rate–at the time of conversion. The man who formerly loved
sin begins to hate it. The sin which he used to swallow greedily, he
now loathes and shuns. There is such a change worked by the Spirit of
God in the heart of the Believer that sin can no more have dominion
over him. It is dethroned from the place which it occupied over his
nature. It once put its foot upon his neck, but now he puts his foot
upon its neck. He is dead to sin and he ceases from it–not only
that–in the sight of the all-seeing Jehovah, he has his infirmities,
his failures and his sins, but still, as far as his heart is concerned,
he has done with it.
There is not any sin which he would willingly do. There is no sin which
he wishes to spare. "Destroy them all," he says, "There is not one of
them which is not a deadly viper which would cause my ruin. Sweep them
all out, my happiness can never be complete till my character is
perfect! O Lord, I can never have my heart's desire till–
'The dearest idol I have known, Whatever that idol is shall be once And
forever torn from off Your throne, That I may worship only You.'" You
see, dear Friends, what a wonderful change it is, that is worked in
those who are united to the Lord Jesus Christ. (It is as though a man
were made to be dead to all for which he once lived and were made to
live for that to which he was before dead). He has passed from death
unto life, from loving evil into loving righteousness, from hating that
which is good to the following after it with all his heart and soul and
spirit! I am not going to enlarge upon that great Truth of God except
to say this. I beg you to remember that there is no quitting of
sin–there is no escaping from its power– except by contact and union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. I may stand here and preach against the
prevalent vices of the age, as I hope I never shall be ashamed to do,
but no vice will be put down merely by my denunciation of it. I may
charge this man to shake off his sins by righteousness and to escape
for his life, but I have set him a task which is quite impossible to
him unless I also tell him where the power is to be found by which this
work is to be done.
You will not bring a man into the humor to break off his sin by merely
telling him that it is his duty, or by warning him that he will be
ruined unless he does so. No, but if you can lay that dead man at the
foot of the Cross–if you can bring the pierced hands of Jesus to touch
that dead and powerless sinner–then he will live! If he does but look
to Christ, a glance at Him will give that moral and spiritual power
which shall enable the man to make a total alteration in his life,
because inwardly there shall be made, by the Holy Spirit, a complete
transformation in his inner self. You may take a lantern which has no
candle in it and you may clean the exterior as long as you like, but it
will not guide you through the darkness. There must be a candle placed
within, or else it will be useless to you, cleanse it as you may! And
within man's secret nature there must be put the Divine candle of faith
in Christ, otherwise all his outward moralities will leave him a dark
lantern. You may take a sow from the trough and you may wash it with
much soap and expend much toil upon it– but whatever you may do, as
soon as it is set free–the creature will go back to its wallowing and
be as filthy as the rest of the swine. It can never be cleanly, like
the sheep, unless an Almighty hand shall transform the sow into a sheep
and, in like manner, sinners are never really changed until they are
born again!
It is a good thing for the sow to be washed, I have no doubt it is all
the better for it. It is a good thing for the lantern to be cleaned
though it has no candle–it is all the better for it. And so, it is a
good thing for the drunk to become a total abstainer. It is a right
thing for the thief to become honest. It is a wise thing for the impure
to become chaste. All these things are good, but, still, they fall
short of what is needed to enable a man to enter Heaven. And there
comes down, again, this great Nasmyth hammer which, at every blow,
crushes all self-righteousness! "You must–you must–you must be born
again! There is no escaping from the bondage of sin except by that
wonderful means which God has ordained–"Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved." There is no way of getting the power
with which we can kill sin, the great adversary of our souls, except by
laying hold upon the conquering Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord and
Savior!
That is the great Truth of God I shall try to enforce all through my
discourse, but I intend just to light up portions of my text as I have
sometimes seen, at illuminations, a few oil lamps lit up, and not the
rest. I am going to select a few words here and there, and to try to
illuminate them by the light of the Holy Spirit.
I. The first words I want to light up are but two–"NO LONGER." "That
he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts
of men, but to the will of God."
Those words, "no longer," strike me as exceedingly suggestive to some
of you. If God the Holy Spirit shall open your eyes to see Jesus Christ
as having died for you–and you shall look to Him and find life in that
look–then you will "no longer" be what you are! You will "no longer"
wish to do what you have been doing. You will not even ask for an
hour's furlough or respite, but this will be your cry, "No longer! No
longer would I spend my time in the flesh to the lusts of men." It is
near the end of the year, the last Sabbath evening in another year. My
Heart, have you been living to please yourself and have your own
passions been your master? Then, O my God, help me to say that it shall
be so no longer!
For, first, it is a dishonorable thing for a man to let his body, which
is his baser part, rule his spirit, which is his nobler part. It is a
disgraceful thing for a man to live only for the pleasures of the day
and never cast a glance into the future and think about his immortal
soul which will outlive the stars. Say to yourself, "Why should I act
so dishonorably? Come, my spirit, wake yourself up!" If you are,
indeed, a man with intellect and soul within you, let your spirit take
its right position and say to the body, "You shall no longer rule, but
you shall be a drawer of wood and a drawer of water to my mind and my
spirit, which shall henceforth come to the front, for no longer will I
seek after the lusts of the flesh."
And for this reason, also, because it is not only dishonorable, but it
is wrong "to live in the flesh to the lusts of men." Are you not
conscious, you who have never lived unto God, that you are living
altogether a wrong kind of life? I do not mean, necessarily, that you
are leading a vicious life, but is your Maker, your Creator, getting
glory out of you, or does this complaint of God apply to your
case–"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken,
I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against
Me. The ox knows his owner and the ass his master's crib, but Israel
does not know, My people do not consider." Have I not often put it to
you that you would not keep a dog if it never followed at your heel?
You would not care to have an engine that never worked according to
your will. You would soon say, "I must get rid of this useless thing."
Yet here is God who has created you and provided for you–and preserved
you in being–and all this while you have scarcely thought of Him! You
have never loved Him, you have never truly worshipped Him and, whatever
kind of outward homage you have rendered to Him, you have had no real
delight in it. You have been a trembling slave, but you have never been
an obedient servant to Him! Well, then, as this is all wrong, we must
alter it! A man who is a man says, "If this course is wrong, I am going
no further in it. If this is a dishonest thing, I will have no more to
do with it. No longer! No longer! No, not a moment longer will I
continue as I have been! If I can have an alteration made, that
alteration shall be made at once, for this is my motto, 'no longer.'"
Let me also say to you, dear Friend, that you ought "no longer" to live
"in the flesh to the lusts of men" because the tendency is for you to
get hardened in that evil state. Remember that text on which I spoke to
you, a fortnight ago? [Sermon #1821, Volume 31–Cords and Cart Ropes]
"Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin, as it
were, with a cart rope." As cords of vanity grow into cart ropes, so
little evil practices consolidate into dreadful habits which hold a man
as with bands of steel! There are some of you who, if you mean to go to
Heaven, must begin at once! I feel that there are some here to whom God
seems to say, "now, or never!" I can hear the great pendulum of the
clock of time and as it goes to and fro it says, "Now, or never! Now,
or never! Now, or never!" Before, like Lot's wife, you stiffen into a
pillar of salt that can never move, I charge you, escape for your life!
Run to the only refuge set before you! May God help you to do so,
looking unto Jesus! Let the words, "no longer," enter into your heart
as they now come forth from my mouth!
"No longer," for if, dear Friend, you have found out that Jesus has
loved you, and that He gave Himself for you, you will say to yourself,
"No longer will I harbor His enemies." I pray the Holy Spirit to help
me to lead you right away to Calvary where Jesus hangs bleeding on the
Cross. Will you not sit down with me upon the ground and look up, and
see Him die? Mark the precious blood flowing from His many wounds and
hear Him cry, "I thirst." "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Look unto Him! Oh, that you would look, as I now do! I am looking unto
Jesus and trusting myself entirely with Him to save me. And I feel in
my heart that He has saved me. Now I cannot live as I once lived. I
cannot sin as I once sinned. I must have done with sin if I have,
indeed, trusted in Christ. Do you not feel the same? I am sure that if
you do, now, look to Him, and live by Him, you will not want to have
your sins spared you even until the end of this year but you will say,
"No! Take them out! Hang them up! Let them all be put away forever.
There is no darling sin that I would keep back. Let them all die, for
no longer would I seek to find a perilous and poisonous enjoyment in
them, but my delight shall consist in seeking to be holy and in
endeavoring to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ." If you have received the
new life into your soul, then I know that you will say, "No longer will
I abide in sin." I have been charmed, this week, by some whom I have
seen who have found the Savior just lately. And I am pleased to find
that the Lord is at work in many ways bringing sinners to Himself. Why
should He not bring you? And what better time could there be than just
at the close of this year?
Remember that it must be short work with every sin. Your watchword must
be, "NO LONGER!" There must be no parleying, no trifling. You have
already parleyed too long and trifled too long. Now for the one deadly
shot that shall penetrate the very heart of sin-love and make it fall
slain within you. It will have to be sharp work with some of you, as
well as short work. It will be like cutting off your right arm or
tearing out your right eye, but it must be done! It must be with you as
it was with John Bunyan, "Will you have your sins and go to Hell? Or
will you give them up and go to Heaven?" There is no other alternative.
As God lives, it must be one of these two! As it is short work and
sharp work, it will be saving work, for, when you have parted with your
sins, you will be joined to Christ! And when at Christ's feet you have
laid down your love of sin, then you may go your way hearing the
Apostle's comforting message, "Being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Trusting in Christ, you are
saved, and you may sing of it, and bless the name of the Most High!
So much for these two words, "no longer."
II. Now I want you kindly to turn to my text, again, that I may light
up five words in the second verse. They are these, "THE REST OF HIS
TIME."
"The rest of his time." I do not know how much there may be, but, in
any case, it cannot be very long. "The rest of his time," cannot be
very long even with the longest-lived among us. Some have good
constitutions and they are yet only in the beginning of their days, so
they may live a considerable long time. Still, they cannot be sure that
it will be so. God has been visiting this congregation very frequently
of late. Every day, almost, somebody is taken away from us. Elderly
persons have gone in immense numbers during the last two months. Some
of our young friends are also going and we shall have to carry to the
grave, this week, some who have scarcely reached middle life. The hand
of God is at work among us in a very marked manner, taking away one and
another from our midst. "Who'll be next? Who'll be next?" One who was
here on Sabbath week has now gone into the world of spirits–I know of
one–there may be many more besides. Well, then, dear Friends, it is
clear that the rest of our time cannot be very long.
"The rest of his time." With some, it must be very short–persons who
are very sickly. Others who are very aged. And to some who are neither
sickly nor aged, the bolt of death shall be let fly in a moment and
they will be in the unseen world. Come, then, dear Friends, let us
think this matter over! I would like to think it over myself. There is
this consideration which we must not forget–while we are talking about
the rest of our life–it is already going. Every moment that we are
here, we are traveling at an immense rate, speeding onward to the great
goal of death. We had need be in earnest, for while we are making up
our minds to be earnest, our time is slipping away! We say that we will
find a firm foundation to build on for eternity and while we are
thinking and talking of the foundation, the earth is crumbling from
underneath our feet and we are gradually gliding away! "It is time to
live," said Anacreon, "for I grow old." And surely we may each one of
us say, "It is time to live, since, whether old or not, my life is
continually passing away."
I should like to cheer up some of you who are not yet converted. With
the belief that although the rest of your time for serving the Lord
cannot be as long as it would have been if you had been converted
earlier, yet, if you yield yourself to Christ at once, there may be
enough time left to you to do good work for your Lord and Master. I
have known an aged man converted to Christ long after gray hairs have
been upon him, even when tottering to his grave. He has not been wholly
useless–he has still brought forth fruit in his old age to show that
the Lord is upright. It has been the happy lot of some of us to be
working for our Lord and Master ever since our boyhood, but we have not
yet done enough. We feel, indeed, hungry to do much more, and we have
the satisfaction of hoping that we may be spared, to do in the future,
more than we have ever done up to the present. Who knows? God may give
us fresh health and strength and we may be enabled to accomplish more
than in the past–we shall do so if it pleases Him. But if any of you
are converted in your old age, if you are brought to Christ at a period
when your years must be few, yet take care to redeem the time, because
the days are evil. It is wonderful how God can use even you–there is a
testimony for you to bear–bear it and may God bless it very
abundantly!
Meanwhile, as for the rest of our life, it has immediate demands, and I
beg to impress that thought upon everybody here. The way to do a great
deal is to keep on doing a little. The way to do nothing at all is to
be continually resolving that you will do everything. Let that grand
dream of yours, "baseless fabric of a vision" as it is, go where dreams
must go. And begin to do the day's work in the day, yes, and tonight's
work–the work of the hour upon which we have entered–do that while
the hour is here. I am sure that there are many of you professing
Christian people who do not bring anybody to Christ because, although
you know how it ought to be done, you keep on finding fault with those
that do it. Now, just leave your fellow servants alone and get to your
own work. "Oh," you say, "there is a person who is constantly trying to
speak to others. He is really quite intrusive." Yes, I know him very
well, but, instead of bothering your head about him, would it not be as
well for you to do the work better, yourself, if you can? If you tried
to do so, you would then not have any inclination to find any fault
with your fellow servant. If we were all determined to do what we could
and to do it well, we should serve the Lord acceptably and be blessed
in doing it.
"When I get home," says someone, "I know what I can do. I am a
nursemaid and I shall hear the children say their prayers." Yes, hear
them say their little prayers, but be sure to tell them something about
"Gentle Jesus." "Oh, but," says another, "I have such a number of
children around me that I hardly ever get out. It is only now and then,
on a Sunday evening, that I can come here. It seems as if there is
nothing that I can do for Jesus." "My dear good soul, you are the very
person who has much to do for Christ! You have a great and precious
charge entrusted to you–seek to bring all those dear children to the
Savior." "Well," says another, "I really do not know what I can do."
Now, for a person who lives in London to say that is really wicked! You
know what Solomon says about our work, "Whatever your hand finds to do,
do it with all your might." I should have thought that he would have
said, "Whatever your eyes can see that needs to be done." No, he seems
to say, "You may shut your eyes and put out your hand and do the first
thing that comes within your reach." In such a city as this, there is
so much to be done that you may just put out your hand and do the first
thing that comes within your reach–that is the best thing for you to
do!
"The rest of his time." I have tried to light up those words and I want
every Christian and every unconverted person, also, to go away thinking
in some such fashion as this, "the rest of my time–let me use it,
Lord, for You. Let me work at double-quick speed. Lord, help me to make
forced marches for You. Lord, help me to do thoroughly what I do.
Enable me to throw my whole soul into it and, by Your Divine Spirit, so
inspire me, so fill me with Your own power and Grace, that what I do
may be done effectually and efficiently." Know you not that you are
laborers together with God, and that what you do aright, God does
through you? If you can but realize this, how honorably and gloriously
will the rest of your life be spent!
III. Now, to close, I would throw the lamp-light on six words in the
third verse. The words are these–"THE TIME PAST OF OUR LIFE."
"The time past of our life." Well, that has gone past recall Oh, if you
could only get your life back, again! But you cannot–not even a
momentof it. What is done can never be undone–
"Could your tears forever flow, Could your zeal no respite know,"
you cannot undo anything that is done. There your past life will always
stand. If you are a believer in Jesus, the sin of your past life is
forgiven. Still, it was your sin. The penalty of it will never be
executed. Still, you did have that evil feeling, you did think that
rebellious thought, you did say that word, you did commit that
transgression, you did omit the keeping of that precept. There it is
and it cannot be altered.
And further, there is no way of making up for the past of your life.
The duties of today are not the duties of 10 years ago. If I live unto
myself during the first 20, 30, 40, or 50 years of my life, I had need
to be doubly zealous in the ardor of my service for God in the future.
But, still, that does not fill up the void in the past. That does not
remove the fact that all those fields behind me lay untilled through
many a year, bringing forth nothing but thorns and thistles–no
acceptable harvest for my God. Ah, me, this makes "the time past of our
life" appear very solemn. Certainly it is true that it has sufficed "to
have worked the will of the Gentiles." There is no man here whom God
has converted by His Grace, who wishes that he had spent more of his
life in sin. No doubt, it has given him a knowledge of the world, but
it is a knowledge of the world which those who have, would be glad to
be rid of. I know many a child of God who, when he is in prayer, will
have suggested to him, even by the words he uses, some lascivious song.
And even what the preacher says, though perfectly pure, may raise
before the mind some impure thought, some unhallowed act. It is a
blessed thing for a man who has been steeped up to his throat in the
bogs of devilry, to be converted, but he who has never seen the world
at all has seen quite enough of it. He who has never seen even the hoof
of the devil, nor a print which he has made in the earth has seen
enough of him. The time past may well suffice us to have worked the
will of the Gentiles. If we were converted to God in boyhood, we had
had quite enough of sin. Enough, did I say? Far too much, for a single
drop of that burning acid will leave a scar upon the flesh even after
it has no longer any power to destroy the spirit!
"The time past of our life" seems to me to be a matter of humiliation t
o us all, without exception, but most of all to those who are newly
converted. I never mind hearing a man tell that he is converted, but I
must confess to feeling a kind of sickness come over me when I have
heard some people tell what they used to do before they were converted.
I have thought, "I wish that Brother would get away in a corner
somewhere and tell that story where nobody could hear it." I have heard
some men tell the tale of their past lives as if it really was very
grand and very creditable to them to have done such abominable things!
A man gets up in a meeting and says, My dear Friends, I have done that
which, if it had been known, would have brought me to the gallows."
"Then sit down," says someone, "sit down!" A very sensible thing to
say, because perhaps the man might die on the gallows if he went on
with his story. But some fellows will get up, and, under the pretense
that they are going to glorify God, will tell of all manner of
filthiness and vice which cannot do any good to anybody. Stand up and
cry, Brother, that is the best thing you can do. Or else, sit down, and
cover your face, and say, "Concerning those things whereof I am now
ashamed, I only pray God, as He has blotted them out of His memory, to
put them out of mine, also."
"The time past of our life" ought to also come before us as a matter of
contrast. A Christian should say, "I cannot do this or that. I used to
do it, but that is the very reason why I cannot do it now. I cannot
make the angry answer that I once would have done to a man who injured
me. The time was when my blood would have been up and I would soon have
let him know that he could not insult me in that fashion. But now he
may insult me if he pleases, for I am changed, and, by His Grace, I
have become a Christian. Time was when, in my business, I would not
have minded how the weights went, but now I would far rather defraud
myself than injure another." The Christian should recollect the time
past to make his present converted life to be a strict contrast to it.
And he should sometimes remember it that it may be a stimulus to him. I
remember a man who came a considerable distance to worship with us in
the House of God, as some of you do. I often notice, when you come to
join the Church, if you have to walk five miles here and five miles
back, and I say to you, "It is a very long way," you exclaim, "Oh, it
is nothing, Sir! It does me good and I like a walk on Sundays." After
you have been here a few years, if you get lukewarm or cold in spirit,
those same miles grow terribly long–do they not? And you go somewhere
nearer home–there is a great difference between a mile and a mile–as
much difference as there is between a heart and a heart. And when the
heart changes, the length of the miles increases directly. Well, this
man, of whom I was telling you, one day was going to this place of
worship and he felt very tired and his legs said, "don't go this
morning." So he just pulled up and said, "Ah, you old rascals, you used
to go further than that to the theater, and I will make you go to the
Tabernacle." So, on he walked.
And, sometimes, it is a good thing to put it to yourself, "Why, I have
stood up in the gallery of the theater among the 'gods' when it has
been hot enough to bake me! And I will go, though the place is hot, or
though the place is cold, to hear the Gospel!" Some of you would have
sat on a very bare seat in the days of your flesh to take your
enjoyment, and paid your money down as freely as possible to see what
only did you harm. But now it often happens that in a place of worship
you must have a very soft cushion, be very comfortable and everybody
must be very polite to you, or else you get sick and tired of it. O
Friend, remember the past in order to chide yourself about the present,
and say, "I went through thick and thin for the devil and I will go
through thick and thin for Christ! I was never ashamed to acknowledge
my old master, I could swear and curse among the worst of his servants.
And surely I will not be ashamed to acknowledge Christ, but I will sing
to His praise and acknowledge that I belong to Him."
I would like you all to take up these three threads–"No longer," "The
rest of His time," "The time past of our life." Wind them round your
finger and keep them in your memory, and may God grant that we may all
start afresh from this time, to the praise of the glory of His Grace!
Amen and amen.
EXPOSTION OF C. H. SPURGEON: 1 PETER 4
Verse 1. Therefore since Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm
yourselves, likewise, with the same mind. Accepting this great Truth of
God, that it is well that the flesh should die that the spirit may
triumph, even as it was with Christ.
1. For he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. If he
has, indeed, died with Christ, and the power of Christ's sufferings has
made him dead to sin, he has ceased from it.
2-4. That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to
the lusts of men, but to the will of God for the timepast of our life
may suffice us to have worked the will of the Gentiles, when we walked
in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, drinking parties and
abominable idolatries: wherein they think it strange that you run not
with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. For the
very thing in which they ought to speak well of you, men will speak
evil of you. If you will not drink as they do, if you will not follow
after sinful pleasures as they do, if you will not sing their songs, or
use their language, then straightway they will hate you and call you a
hypocrite. It is a pity that if we are not willing to go into sin as
they do, they should, for that reason, speak ill of us, yet this is
what we must expect.
5. Who shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the quick and
the dead. There will be a day when those who are alive at the coming of
Christ will be judged. And those who were dead long before that time
will not escape the judg-ment–for they shall be raised from their
graves to appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
6. For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead,
that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the spirit Men who heard the Gospel and believed
it, and are now dead. They have undergone the sentence of death like
other men, but, still, they are living "according to God in the
spirit."
7. But the end of all things is at hand. We are never told the exact
date of the times or seasons which are yet to come. It is the evident
aim of the Holy Spirit to keep us on our tiptoes of expectation. We are
always to be as men whose Lord may come at any minute of the day or
night. "The end of all things is at hand."
7. Be you, therefore, sober Do not get intoxicated with anything,
neither with pride, nor with covetousness, nor with the cares of this
world. Maintain your equilibrium. Stand steadfast and firm. "Be you,
therefore, sober"
7. 8. And watch unto prayer And above all things have fervent charity
among yourselves. For, when Christ comes, He will know you as His
disciples if you love one another. But if there is an absence of
Christian affection when He comes, He will say at once that you have
missed the main mark of discipleship.
8. For charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Not your own sins,
but the sins of your friends, so that you will not see them. Where love
is thin, faults are always thick. Wherever there is true love in the
heart, we make many apologies and allowances for the weaknesses and
infirmities of our friends. Often we cannot see the faults in them and
when we know they are there, we go backward, like the godly sons of
Noah, and cover the nakedness upon which we will not think of
looking–"for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."
9. Use hospitality, one to another, without grudging. Whenever saints
of God traveled in those days, there were few public inns available for
their accommodation, so they stayed with Brothers and Sisters in Christ
as they went on their way.
10. As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same, one
to another, as good stewards of the manifold Grace of God. God's Grace
takes many shapes, it is manifold, and He gives to one Brother one form
of Grace, and to another quite a different form. And, to a third, yet
another form of His blessing. Now, as nations increase their wealth by
mutual commerce, so do Christians increase their Grace by a sweet
fellowship in the good things with which God has entrusted them.
11. If any man speaks. Let him speak thoroughly well, but, in order
that he may do so, what shall be his model? 11. Let him speak as the
Oracles of God. As truthfully, carefully, solemnly, as the Bible,
itself, speaks. "If any man speaks, let him speak as the Oracles of
God."
11. If any man ministers, let him do it as of the ability which God
gives. "If any man ministers," or serves–if he is called to serve the
Church in any capacity–"let him do it as of the ability which God
gives."
11. That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to
whom be praise and dominion forever and ever Amen. Note how Peter has
the same spirit in him as that which burned in the breast of Paul, for
he stops in the middle of a letter, lays down his pen, and lifts up his
heart to God in an adoring strain of thanksgiving–"to whom be praise
and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is
to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. In Peter's
day the Christians were called, not only to what might be
metaphorically termed, "the fiery trial," but they had literally to
suffer thus for Christ's sake. Nero had multitudes of Christians
brought to his gardens and tied to stakes, that he might light up his
midnight revelries by the burning of these godly men and women smeared
with pitch. They had to bear even that fiery trial for the name of
Christ. Many periods of martyrdom have passed, since then, in which the
saints of God have willingly died rather than deny their Lord. We have
fallen upon comparatively silken times–a jest, a slander, a calumnious
observation–these are the only weapons with which our enemies can
smite the most of us.
13. 14. But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's
sufferings, that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad,
also, with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ,
happy are you. Did not your Savior say, "Blessed are you when men shall
hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and
shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of
Man's sake. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for, behold, your
reward is great in Heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers
unto the Prophets." So, be glad about it.
14. For the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part He
is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. Whenever they
speak against you that which is not true, they think that they shall
slander the name of God by slandering you, but they do no such thing.
As far as they are concerned, God is evilly spoken of, but that is all
you could have expected from such people. "But on your part"–and that
is the thing you have to look to–"on your part He is glorified."
15. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief or as an
evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. A curious mixture
that–is it not? A murderer is classed with "a busybody in other men's
matters." But, really, people of this latter sort are very obnoxious.
There are some who seem as if they cannot mind their own business. I
have heard that it is for two reasons. First, because they have not any
business to mind and, secondly, they have no mind at all with which to
mind their business! But these very people think they can mind other
people's business and the more is the pity. See how strongly Peter
condemns them and asks that none of those to whom he writes may have to
suffer because of such wrongdoing.
16. 17. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed;
but let him glorify God on this behalf For the time is come that
judgment must begin at the house of God. Trial and testing must begin
there. We must not expect to have our religion taken for granted and
ourselves to be saved simply upon our own warranty. We must be
tried–"The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are
weighed." "The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of
God."
17. And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that
obey not the Gospel of God?If the wheat is winnowed, what is to become
of the chaff? If God puts even the gold into the fire, what is to
become of the dross? If that which is really valuable has to be tested,
what is to be done with the mire and the clay? Oh, that all who have no
part or lot with Christ would consider this solemn Truth of God!
18. And if the righteous scarcely are saved–If they are saved with
difficulty–
18. Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?f even men who live
godly lives are often hard put to it to know whether they shall be
saved or not–if they raise the question again and again with a
terrible seriousness, "where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
19. Therefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit
the keeping of their souls to Him in doing well, as unto a faithful
Creator The whole run of the chapter is that we are to prefer any
suffering of the flesh to the sin of the spirit and we are to be
prepared to endure whatever trial or pain may come upon us for Christ's
sake, and to hear it joyfully, rather than to seek the pleasures of sin
and to be plunged under the waves of the wrath of God. May He give us
the Grace thus to glorify Him, for Christ's sake! Amen.