The Child Of Light Walking In Light
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 2, 1887,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we
lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the Light, as He is in the
Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus
Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:6, 7.
THE Apostle warns us against saying more than we have made our own by
experience. He hints at the solemn difference between empty profession
and gracious reality. To have fellowship with God is a great
matter–but merely to say that we have fellowship with Him is a totally
different thing. John warns us that if we say that which our characters
do not support, we lie. He leaves it just so, without a word of
softening or excuse. Between saying and being–between saying and
doing–there may be all the difference in the world. There is a
tendency among men, if there is a good experience, to say that they
possess it; if there is a high privilege of Grace, to say that they are
enjoying it. What a folly this is! It is akin to madness! To unsound
minds, a precious original suggests a desire to fashion an imitation.
To the untruthful mind, the genuine is an invitation to be the
counterfeit. Let us be upon our guard that we do not flatter ourselves
into saying more than is true. Let us not stretch our arm beyond our
sleeve, nor boast beyond our line. Every profession will be tried with
fire–let us, therefore, see to it that we put in no claim which will
not endure the severest test.
There were certain in John's day who said, "We have fellowship with
God." How they had come by it they did not explain. Perhaps they
claimed to have reached it by philosophical speculation, by exact
reasoning, or by long-continued meditation. Whatever the road, they
said that they had reached the City of God and were in communion with
the Great Being. John saw that they walked in darkness, rejecting the
Light of Divine Revelation from above and the pure Light of the Holy
Spirit within. He also saw that they, themselves, were not true, and
that their lives were not pure and, therefore, he warned them that they
were speaking and acting a lie. Their life was a lie, for they were not
walking in the truth. And their profession that they had fellowship
with God was another lie, for God can have no fellowship with
falsehood. "God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all" and,
therefore, He cannot hold any communion with darkness.
John draws the lines very tightly and judges with unflinching
fidelity–he is not inclined to the boasted charity of
latitudinarianism, but he curtly dismisses false claims with that plain
word, "lie." The disciple whom Jesus loved spoke like the Son of
Thunder that he was when he had to deal with shams. It is the part of
true love to be honest and to expose that which would be injurious to
those it loves. He who will gloss over a falsehood loves but in word,
only. Learn, then, that if men boast of fellowship with God and do not
receive the Revelation of His Word, they lie, and know not the
Truth of God.
Let us now speak of the real thing, the fellowship with God which comes
of walking in the Light of God. The Christian life is described as
walking, which implies activity. Christian life feeds upon
contemplation, but it displays itself in action. Fellowship with God
necessitates action, since to be with God, we must "walk with God." The
living God is not inactive, motionless, aimless. "My Father," says
Jesus, "works hitherto, and I work." Chiefly in the character of active
workers or in that of willing sufferers we must maintain fellowship
with God. Walking implies activity, but it must be of a continuous
kind. Neither this step, nor that, nor the next, can make a walk. We
must be moving onward and onward and remain in that exercise, or we
cease from walking. Holy walking includes perseverance in obedience and
continuance in service. Not he that begins, but he that continues is
the true Christian. Final perseverance enters into the very essence of
the Believer's life–the true pilgrims of Zion go from strength to
strength.
From strength to strength, did I say? This suggests that walking
implies progress. He that takes one step and another step, but still
stands where he was, has not walked! There is such a thing as the
goose-step and I am afraid many Christians are wonderfully familiar
with it–they are where they used to be–and are half inclined to
congratulate themselves upon that fact, since they might have
backslidden! They have not advanced in the heavenly pilgrimage–so how
can they be said to walk? My Hearer, is your life a walk with God and
towards God? If so, our subject has to do with you. May the Spirit of
all Grace lead us into the heart of it!
The things we shall consider this morning will arise out of the text in
the following order–First, the light of our walk. "If we walk in the
Light, as He is in the Light." Secondly, the communion of our walk. "We
have fellowship with one another." Thirdly, the glory of that
communion. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin."
I. Consider, first, THE LIGHT OF OUR WALK. True Believers do not walk
in darkness. They have found the road and they see it before them. They
know whom they have believed and why they have believed–and so they go
forward intelligently. How unhappy are those who are sure of nothing
but a groping for the way–and wander in endless circles of hope and
fear! True Believers walk onward because the Light of God shows them
their path and makes them sure of safety and progress. What is meant by
walking in the Light? It is somewhat singular that last Sunday morning
our subject was, "The Child of Light Walking in Darkness." [Sermon
#1985.] That darkness is very different from the darkness with which we
deal this morning. Children of Light may, for a time, walk in the
darkness of sorrow, but from the darkness of untruthfulness, ignorance,
sin and unbelief they have been delivered! In these respects the
darkness is past and the true Light of God now shines. Moral darkness
is contrary to their new-born nature–they cannot endure it. We must
distinguish between things that differ, between the darkness of sorrow
and the darkness of sin. A metaphor may be used for many purposes–and
that of darkness has a wide range of meaning.
What is this light, then, in which the Christian walks? I answer,
first, it is the Light of Grace. In our natural state we are in
darkness and under the dominion of the Prince of Darkness. The Apostle
says of us Gentiles, "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." When the Grace of God comes,
the Day-Spring from on high visits us. The Holy Spirit brings us out
from under the dominion of the old nature by creating within us a new
life. And He brings us out from under the tyranny of the Prince of
Darkness by opening our eyes to see and our minds to understand
celestial Truths of God. The opening of our blind eyes and the pouring
in of the Light of Truth are from the Lord. This is a work in which He
is as fully seen in the glory of His Godhead as when in the natural
creation He said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
The entrance of God's Word into the mind by the power of the Holy
Spirit gives us light as to ourselves, our sin and our danger. With
this comes light as to the way of salvation through Jesus Christ and
light as to the mind of God concerning our sanctification. True
knowledge takes the place of ignorance and a desire for purity becomes
supreme over the love of sin. Paul says, "You were sometime darkness,
but now are you light in the Lord." We accept the Revelation of God in
the Inspired Book–by the attending witness of the Holy Spirit it
becomes a Revelation of God to our own hearts and thus all our
position–our past, present and future–is set in a new light. With the
driving out of our natural darkness old things pass away and, with the
coming in of the Divine Light, all things become new. Blessed is that
man to whom the Eternal Light has come by the effectual working of the
Spirit of God who brings to us the Light of God wherein we see God,
Christ and life everlasting! This is the secret beginning of all our
light–"God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
The result of this Light of God is seen in various ways. It causes deep
sorrow in the beginning, for its first discoveries are grievous to the
conscience. Light is painful to eyes long accustomed to darkness. But
soon the Light brings great joy, for the soul perceives deliverance
from the evils which it mourned. Thus the Light of God and gladness in
the end go together, as it is written, "Light is sown for the
righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Always, in each
condition, you observe conspicuously that the Light of Grace is seen as
the light of sincerity. Until Grace comes into our souls we have no
heart for the things of God. We may be fussily religious so far as to
be attentive to every outward form of worship, but there is no
heart-work, no light of the Truth of God in all our devotion. But when
once the Divine Light comes in, then we become intensely real in our
dealings with God. Hypocrisy and pretence fly before sincere belief and
feeling. "Lord, have mercy upon us miserable sinners," no longer passes
our lips flippantly and thoughtlessly, but we are, indeed, miserable on
account of sin!
When we seek for mercy we mean it, and do not play at confession and
repentance. Our eyes look to God and our whole body is full of the
Light of God–we see what we are doing and awake ourselves to do it in
earnest. We know what we are praying about and there is no question as
to the deep sincerity of our cries and tears. We desire with the whole
force of our nature to find pardon and acceptance through the precious
blood of Christ. We do not merely say that we desire salvation and
eternal life, but we feel that we must have them and cannot be denied!
We cease from playing fast and loose with God. We no longer hesitate
between two opinions, but one thing we seek after, desiring it of the
Lord–we would be right with God in all respects. The man that is
walking in the Light of God is thoroughly sincere. The shadows of
pretence have been chased away–he is downright earnest in all that he
does.
O my Hearers, many of you have never come so far as this, though this,
alone, is not far! By being in a place of worship you show an outward
respect to Divine things, but are you worshipping God? Did you worship
Him just now in the prayer and in the praise? You are listening to me
while I talk of the highest things that ever occupied the human mind,
but do you long to be a partaker of these things? Do you hunger and
thirst after righteousness? Those who are walking in the Light of God
are free from pretence and are living in real earnest–is it so with
you? Contentment with unreality is a sign of dwelling in darkness!
Careful keeping up of shams, diligent puffing out of wind-bags and
constant creation of make-believes–all this is of the night and its
dreams! But to be what you seem to be, to be true in all the phases of
your life–this is surely seen in those who walk in the Light of God!
What can God have to do with shams? What cares He for empty
professions? Everything must be true which is to come under His eyes.
Next to sincerity I regard a willingness to know and to be known as an
early result of walking in the Light of God. The ungodly come not to
the Light, lest their deeds should be reproved. There are matters about
which they desire no Light, but rather say, "Depart from us, we desire
not the knowledge of Your ways." Where ignorance affords them a present
peace, they count it folly to be wise. Alas, it is too commonly the
case that men have no inclination to obtain a knowledge which might
involve humiliation, repentance and a retracing of steps. "Let well
enough alone," they cry. How many will say, "Well, we have been
Christians after our own way for a good many years–why need we
question ourselves?" They look upon a faithful preacher with
suspicion–he comes a deal too close to home. When he begins to deal
with the heart and conscience, they look at him as if he were a dog
hunting about for a rat! Truly the emblem is not so very unlike, for
wherever there is a self-satisfaction which is afraid of the Light of
God, we suspect that the rat of hypocrisy is not far off!
Beloved, we must not rest content with anything which will not bear the
light of day. A religion which we will not submit to the test of
self-examination cannot be worth much. No one is afraid to have a
genuine sovereign submitted to any test–it is the coiner who is
afraid. "Look!" says a man, "I hold a certain creed. My grandmother
held it. It has come down to me as an heirloom. You invite me to
examine that creed by the Word of God, but I would rather not. I am not
disposed to learn anything which might cause me to change. If you speak
too strongly, I shall go and hear somebody else, for I cannot bear to
be disturbed." This is a foolish prejudice, is it not? Yes, and it may
prove the man's ruin! This is the kind of thing that makes a man go out
angrily from a sermon and say, "I will not listen to that man again! He
is too personal and too severe."
No, Friend, can anyone who loves your soul be too severe? Do you wish
to be flattered? Do you not know that plain-dealing is more precious
than rubies? Would you not say to your physician, "Put me under the
severest examination and let me know the truth"? Would you pay him a
fee that he might deceive you? As to your soul, do you not desire to
know the very worst of your case? If you would rather be comfortable
than be safe, then you and I are not of one mind, for I want to walk in
the Light of God, free from deception, knowing truly and thoroughly my
own place before the heart-searching God. I would rather not cry,
"Peace, peace," where there is no peace. The comfort which grows out of
delusion I do not desire. Brothers and Sisters, we must build on the
Truth of God and nothing else but the Truth of God!
When men walk in the Light of God, they cease to take things for
granted, and look below the surface. Certain things have been labeled
with the mark of truth and have passed current. But men who are in the
Light of God disregard the labels and look at the goods, themselves. We
cannot afford to risk our souls on hearsays–we need personal
knowledge. For one, I desire a salvation which will bear the test of
the closest examination. I would be saved in such a way that I am
neither afraid of conscience, nor of death, nor of the Judgment Seat of
God! I would be saved in the Light of God. I
would be known and read of all men and I would know, even as I am
known. We wish to conceal nothing. We can conceal nothing, "for all
things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
We would lay bare our bosoms and sincerely cry, "Search me, O God, and
know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there is any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
A still surer evidence of Grace is the mind's perception of revealed
Truth and its obedience to it. Then has true light shone on a man's
walk when he perceives the Truth revealed by the Holy Spirit in sacred
Scripture–and receives it into his heart with a child-like spirit. He
that receives Christ, also receives Christ's Words and the doctrine
which we believe is by no means a matter of indifference. Whatever may
be said, Brothers and Sisters, we have received a Revelation from God
which we know to be "the faith once for all delivered to the saints."
The Lord God has broken through the veil of silence and has manifested
Himself to the sons of men! Through the darkness of their minds, the
carnal cannot see what God has revealed, neither will they believe His
Truth. The Truth of God is spiritual and the natural man is carnal and,
therefore, the natural wan will not receive the teaching which comes
from God. By this test shall you know whether the true Light of God is
shining upon you–Do you believe what God has revealed in His Word? Or
are you your own teacher–maker of your own faith? He cannot be a
disciple who does not learn, but invents. Do you hear the teaching of
the Lord Jesus and believe it? I repeat it–you must not only say that
you believe it–but you must, indeed, and without a doubt, believe the
things which God has revealed. By this shall you know whether you are a
child of Light, or a child of darkness. Are the Doctrines of Grace
essential Truths of God with you? Whatever God has said about sin,
righteousness, judgment to come–are you ready to accept it at once?
Whatever He has revealed concerning Himself, His Son, His Holy Spirit,
the Cross, life, death, Hell and the eternal future–do you believe it
unfeignedly? This is to walk in the Light of God! All other teaching is
darkness.
How many correct and amend–and so betray the Gospel! They take the
garment of the Truth of God and dip it in the blood of their own
thought till it is so stained that they might almost say unto God,
Himself, "Do You know whether this is Your Son's coat or not?" If you
are one of those who would twist the Scriptures and force your own
meaning on them, you are not in the Light! If you would make them mean
other than what God intended them to mean, you are in the darkness,
however learned a philosopher you may be! He only is in the Light of
God who distrusts his own wisdom and bows before the Wisdom which comes
from above! If you will sit at Jesus' feet like a child–and hear His
Words and learn of Him–then has the true Light of God shone upon you,
for He is the Light that lights every man that comes into the world.
The Holy Spirit comes not to help us to think out a system of belief of
our own, but to lead us into all the Truths of God by taking of the
things of Christ and showing them to us.
Brothers and Sisters, there is a Truth and there is a lie, and no lie
is of the Truth! Can light commune with darkness, or truth with
falsehood? I make no claim of implicit faith for what I say. God forbid
that I should ever become so presumptuous, for that were a sort of
blasphemy! But I claim implicit faith for what God says. Believing the
Gospel to be the Revelation of God, I claim for it implicit faith!
Believing the Lord Jesus to be an Infallible Teacher, I claim immediate
faith in all that He has said! If this implicit faith is refused, it is
because there is no Light of God in you! To walk in the Light of God is
to know, to love and to live the Truth of God! To walk in the Light of
God is to receive our instruction from God! To me, the end of all
controversy is, "Thus says the Lord." Only let me know that the Lord
has said this or that, and though the Revelation should seem impossible
to believe, and though it should come into conflict with all my
previous notions, I will bow before it without a question! "The Lord
has said it," stands to us instead of all reason, argument and
evidence! Yes, we believe God in the teeth of supposed evidence and
reason, saying, "Let God be true, but every man a liar." God will not
have fellowship with us if we reject His Light–but on the ground of
absolute Truth He can and will meet us. If we come unto the Light and
believe His witness to the Truth, then are we where God can walk with
us and where the precious blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all
sin.
This, beloved Brothers and Sisters, leads to a transparency and
simplicity of character. Walking in the Light of God produces
Israelites, indeed, in whom is no guile! Those who are full of deceit
and craftiness upon any subject are not walking in the Light of God.
God will not have fellowship with any whose minds are crooked and
deceitful. Some persons are so warped that nothing is straight to
them–their minds seem to see things crookedly–long practice in
un-truthfulness has given them an evil bias. This is not the case with
the man in whom the Light of Grace is shining. The man who does in
reality what he seems to do. The man who says what he means and means
what he says. The man who is
truthful, artless and sincere in all his general dealings both before
God and man–he it is whose conduct leads us to hope that the Light of
Grace shines within!
This is very evident in the man's cessation from all guile towards
himself. Remember how David pronounces him blessed "in whose spirit
there is no guile." He knew painfully what it was to be full of guile.
Look at him! He has gone astray most grievously. His mind is in the
dark. What does David do? There is a foul sin committed–he tries to
make himself believe that it is not so very horrible–he labors to
hoodwink his conscience! His sin is likely to be seen and he tries to
cover it. He brings back Bathsheba's husband. When Uriah declines to go
to his house, he must be made drunk. The design has failed. David is
afraid, but he is not penitent. On the contrary, he hastens to still
greater crime! Uriah is in the wars and there he is wantonly exposed to
death and is slain in battle! His death is ascribed to the fortune of
war. David did not see that it was murder, for he was not walking in
the Light of God. He was still in darkness and, therefore, he kept all
this while acting a deceitful part with his God and his own conscience.
His conduct could not bear the Light and so his one idea was to keep it
out.
How changed was all this after Nathan had said to him, "You are the
man"! When the light of heavenly conviction had penetrated the night of
his soul, he made no more excuses, He practiced no more subterfuges. He
stood in the Light, ashamed and confounded. Amazed at the sight of his
sin, he abandoned all idea of covering it and fled at once to the mercy
of God crying, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving
kindness." In the sobbing and sighing of the 51st Psalm he lays bare
his heart and in the most plain terms, he cries, "Deliver me from the
guilt of blood shed, O God, God of my salvation." He is in the Light of
God now, for deceit has gone and now God can speak comfortably to
him–and wash him and make him whiter than snow!
The man who is walking in the Light, as God is in the Light, is full of
abhorrence of sin. Sin is practical falsehood. It is moral darkness.
The man that abhors evil and injustice. The man that would do good if
it cost him his earthly all. The man that would not do wrong though the
world should be his reward for doing it–this is the man that walks in
the Light of God–and he is the man that shall have fellowship with God
and a sense of cleansing from sin. We cannot attach too great
importance to the condition of our minds in reference to sin, for if we
wink at it, or take pleasure in it, or persistently practice it, we are
abiding in the darkness–and we are under the wrath of God. John says,
"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is
righteous, even as He is righteous." Forget not this practical Truth of
God!
I fear I have scarcely brought out the fullness of the meaning. They
that are in the Light will know what I mean. Those who are in darkness
cannot imagine what life in the Light of God must be.
II. I come, secondly, to THE COMMUNION OF OUR WALK. Those who are in
the Light shall not be alone. God
Himself will be with them and be their God. The words, "we have
fellowship with one another," constitute a wonderfully condescending
expression. John would not have dared to coin such an expression–it
must have been minted for him by the Spirit from above. Think of God
and His people having mutual communion! What honor! What joy is this!
Thus is the mischief of the Fall removed and Paradise is restored!
God in the Light and man in the Light have much in common. Now are they
abiding in one element, for they are dwelling in one Light. Now are
they both concerned about the same thing and their aims are
undivided–God loves Truth and so do those who are renewed in heart. It
has come to pass that the great Lord and His enlightened ones see
things in the same Light. God, with His great vision, beholds more than
we can, yet He does not see more than the Truth. And we, with our
narrow perceptions, see the Truth and we cannot tolerate falsehood. Now
we can speak with God, seeing we speak Truth, and He can converse with
us, seeing we are ready to hear the Truth. In prayer and praise we are
no longer false and, therefore, the Lord can hear us! His Word also
falls upon an honest mind and so its meaning is perceived. Now we can
also act together–the great God and His poor feeble children are
striving together for truth and righteousness! Our poor little work He
might overlook if He were not so good, but being infinitely
condescending, He works through us whenever He sees that our work is
done in truth. If our works were works of darkness, He could not
co-operate with us. But now that we walk and work in His Light, He is
able to make us laborers together with Himself.
Now we partake with God in sympathy, having a fellow-feeling with Him.
Does the great Father mourn His prodigal child? So do we mourn over
sinners! Do we see Jesus weeping over Jerusalem? So do we mourn for the
perishing who will not be saved! Again, as God rejoices over sinners
that repent, so do we rejoice in sympathy with Him. By coming
into the Light of love as well as into the Light of knowledge we have
received power to enter into sympathy with God. Is not this a very
wonderful thing? But it is as clear and true as it is wonderful! We
would gladly bring the whole world into the Light of God! We daily
pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done." Our will has grown to be
like God's will, according to its measure, seeing we have come into the
same Light as that in which God dwells.
Do you know, dear Brothers and Sisters, by experience, what it is to be
honestly dealing with eternal things, to be no longer playing, toying
and counterfeiting, but to be in real and blessed earnest with God and
spiritual facts? Then you have come into fellowship with the great God,
for He is in earnest and in Him there is no trifling nor make-believe!
He is acting with intense reality, acting with His whole heart in His
contention against sin, His desire for the glory of His Son, His
purpose for the salvation of His people.
III. But now I come, in the third place, to that which strikes me most
in the text, and it is this–THE GLORY OF THIS COMMUNION–"We have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sin." Here am I a poor creature reading this text.
I find that it is possible for men to walk in fellowship with the great
and ever-blessed God! I rejoice to learn this and my heart responds,
"If there is any fellowship with God to be known, I will know it. If I
can be reconciled to God and be at friendship with Him, I desire it
beyond everything. But how can these things be? I see that a great
stone lies at the door. I cannot get out of my prison to begin this
walk because this great stone of sin shuts me in."
Then the Lord comes in and He says, "I saw that this hindrance was in
your road and so, in this very verse, I have shown you how I have taken
it away." Precious words! The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us
from all sin. I gather from the way in which this sentence grows out of
the text that this very thing which looks as if it were the death of
all communion with God, is made, by Infinite Grace, to be a wide and
open channel of communion with Him! This stone is rolled away from the
door of the sepulcher and the angel of communion sits down upon it as
on a throne. God justifies His people in broad daylight–in a way which
defies inspection–and then, by the very method of clearing away their
sin, He enters into the nearest and dearest fellowship with them!
To begin with, here is sin! What an evil thing it is! How our soul
hates it! It is uncleanness to us–a loathsome and abominable evil. You
that are in the Light know how every beam of light makes you see more
of the heinousness, blackness and accursed nature of sin. Even to feel
a tendency towards it in your members makes you groan out, "O wretched
man that I am! Who shall deliver me?" Listen! You are having fellowship
with God in this. In Him is no sin, but in Him is great abhorrence of
sin! If you hate sin, God hates it, also, and herein you are agreed.
The very thought of iniquity, uncleanness, or falsehood is abhorred of
God. His holy Nature detests it and in proportion as you feel the same
loathing and detestation, you have fellowship with God. This comes to
you by walking in the Light, as God is in the Light. "Horror has taken
hold upon me," says David, "because of the wicked that forsake Your
Law." David was as much in fellowship with God in that horror of sin as
he was another day when he could speak of God as his exceeding joy and
rejoice in the mercy which endures forever! Yes, Beloved, our horror
for sin drives us into fellowship with the great Father in that
loathing of sin which made Him hide His face from His Only-Begotten
because the sin of man had been made to meet upon Him!
Let us go a step further. Sin, being once perceived, the next step is
that it should be gotten rid of. "Ah," you say, "I wish I could be
cleansed from it; cleansed from all of it, but how can this be? It is
not possible for me to purge away my sin." I thought I heard you
singing just now–
"Could my tears forever flow.
Could my zeal no respite show.
All for sin could not atone–
You must save, and You alone." This, also, is God's thought about
sin–He knows how hard it is to remove its pollution. He saw that
nothing of ours could remove the horrible blot. Brethren, I know for a
fact that all the waters of all the seas might be used to wash my
scarlet sin and yet they could not wash out the fatal stain. Not even
the fires of Hell could burn out the defilement of sin! In this
persuasion we have fellowship with the pure and holy God who saw that
there was no means of removing sin but one–He must deliver up His own
Son to death–or the sin of man could never be purged away. The
Sacrifice of the Only-Begotten is the unique hope of sinners. The
laying of our iniquity upon Him who deigned to be the great Scapegoat
of His people, is the only means for the taking away of the sins of the
world! That inward persuasion of the impossibility
of the purgation of sin by any doings or feelings of our own–and the
consequent perception that only in Christ lies the help of men–has
brought us through the Light of Truth to walk in fellowship with the
thrice holy God!
Now go a step further. The glorious Son of God condescends to become
the Atonement for sin. He is taken to the tree. Our sins are made to
meet upon His blessed head and there He dies–the Just for the unjust!
He was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. Standing by the tree of doom, we look up to that blessed Savior
with all-absorbing admiration and love. We admire Him as the
masterpiece of Divine Wisdom, Grace, Power and Truth– and, admiring,
we love Him–we pledge ourselves to Him. Herein we have entered into
fellowship with the great Father, indeed, and without a doubt, for the
Father infinitely loves His Son! He greatly delights in Him. No thought
of Christ that the most rapturous enthusiast ever had can reach half
way to God's thoughts of Christ. See how holy Bernard seems to go into
a delirium of love when he talks about his Divine Master! O Bernard,
you cannot tell how the Father loves Jesus; how He delights in His
Sacrifice; how He takes pleasure in His exaltation!
In the putting away of sin by the blood of Jesus, the Father has an
infinite content and so have we. Beloved, we rejoice in the Divine
satisfaction for sin–it is a well of Divine delight to us. This
satisfaction is not accomplished by anything being hushed up and
concealed, but, walking in the Light, as God is in the Light, we have
fellowship with God in the one glorious Sacrifice! Suppose I could
persuade myself that sin is a trifle? I would not be walking in the
Light and I would have no fellowship with God. Suppose I said, "Pooh,
pooh. Sin can easily be forgiven! I am sure it requires no atonement"?
I would not be walking in the Light and I would have no fellowship with
God! Suppose I said, "Though Jesus died, His death was only the close
of His life and no special reference need be made to it as a Sacrifice
for sin"? I would not be walking in the Light of God and I would have
no fellowship with God.
A step further. Beloved, many of us have come to Jesus Christ by faith.
We have looked to Him and have accepted Him as our Savior cleansing us
from all sin. Joy, joy, joy forever–the brightest day that ever dawned
on us was that day when we saw all our sins numbered on our blessed
Scapegoat and carried away into the wilderness of forgetfulness! When
God saw the blood of old, He passed over Israel, for His justice was
satisfied. And it is so with Jesus. How glad and content we are to see
how Jesus finished transgression, made an end of sin and brought in
everlasting righteousness! Brothers and Sisters, the death of Jesus is
a cleansing from sin which will bear the Light of God–it is no hole
and corner business, no winking at evil, no suspension of law–no
making out that sin is no sin! No, the debt is acknowledged, and what
is far better, it is paid! The guilty are punished in their
Substitute–and in Him are thus justly set free!
We shall all appear before the Judgment Seat and I am glad it is so,
for the stain of our sin is so effectually removed by the blood of
Jesus that we are clean every whit–and even the eyes of Divine Justice
will see no spot in us! We rejoice in perfect whiteness, for the Lord
has made us whiter than snow. Yes, we have fellowship with God in this
cleansing, for God accepts us in the Beloved. God who made Him to be
the Lord, our Righteousness–God Himself justifies us in His Son! He
will, in the Last Great Day, make the whole universe a witness to the
righteousness of the salvation of Believers. All intelligences shall
see that in Christ all who are in Him are truly justified and most
justly saved! How the Lord God and His people will have fellowship in
their common joy in the work and Person of Jesus, as they see the
perfection of it, and the way in which all sin is removed by it! Our
salvation in Christ is, in the Light of God, in the most eminent
degree–it will bear the full, fierce light of Sinai to be turned upon
it–"yet no flaw will be found in it." This is wonderful! This is
glorious! Do you wonder that God is well pleased in Him! And are not we
well pleased? Blessed be His name! Do you not see how we thus have
fellowship with one another? Oh, that I had strength to set forth
before you the thoughts which fill my soul!
Brothers and Sisters, we are now at one with God in His master purpose.
Was it not in His heart to create beings with whom He might have
fellowship? He made the heavens and the earth. He made the angels. He
made all things–but He could find no companionship in all these
things. Our Lord, like Adam, found no help-meet for Himself in any of
the creatures He had made. He desired to produce and bring to Himself
an order of beings who could be glorified without danger of pride. Who
could think and feel as the First-Born would do. In fact, would become
the friends of the Son of God! How were these creatures to be produced?
Not by an immediate fiat of creation. Angels He could speak into being
by a word. But in the constitution of these beings there would need to
be an experience and a discipline to fit them for their lofty position.
Their model was to be the Son of Jehovah's love. He was to be the
First-Born among many brethren. It was necessary for these creatures to
know sin and yet to hate it more fully than if they had never known
it–to know
the love of God–and to be forever bound by it to an unsinning
obedience which would fill them with boundless happiness.
Behold the process by which this new creation, this new order of
creatures should come forth! Consider the processes by which the Fall,
the Incarnation, the Cross, and the new birth work out the sacred
result! When you have read the past in this light, then gaze into the
future. Now we see how throughout eternity we shall walk in the Light,
as God is in the Light, and have fellowship with one
another–fellowship culminating in Jesus Christ the Only-Begotten–and
the cleansing from all sin by His blood. The blood-washed are to be the
friends of God, with whom He shall speak face to face, as He speaks
with no angel or seraph! With these He will dwell and He will be their
God, and they shall be His people. And in them and through them He will
make known the glories of His Son to wondering worlds. This great
purpose has been worked out to a considerable extent by the Lord's
having already made us to walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, and
by washing us in the precious blood. But it does not even yet appear
what we shall be. This much we practically seek after–therefore we
live for Christ! Therefore our chief glory is the Cross! Therefore our
ideal of glory for ourselves is to see Jesus glorified! The torrents
have swept us away! We are no longer bound to this earth! We are borne
along by the irresistible force of Eternal Love! God has achieved His
purpose in our blood-washed souls–walking in the Light of God, we are
now in harmony with His master purpose and we cry–"Father, glorify
Your Son!"
I am done, but oh, I wish that all your hearts were brought into the
Light of God at this moment! Oh, that you would quit the dark ways of
self-righteousness, carelessness, thoughtlessness and sin–and come
into the Light of Truth! Oh, that the Light may come to you as to Saul
of Tarsus and at once transform you! May the Spirit of God bring you to
know God and His Son Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal.