The Love of God and the Patience of Christ
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, JUNE 17, 1888,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the
patient waiting for Christ." 2 Thessalonians 3:5.
FOR the moment, Paul in spirit is coasting the purple shores of the
celestial country. With his Thessalonian friends he is making a joyful
voyage within hail of Immanuel's land. The sail is bright with the
sunlight and the keel is marking a silver track behind it. The
Apostle's happy soul has left far in the stern the deceivableness of
unrighteousness and the rocks of error. It comes into his heart that he
would gladly steer his friends into certain of those lovely creeks
which run up far into the inner recesses of the sacred fatherland.
Shall he turn the helm that way? He pauses, for the navigation is
difficult. One must be greatly expert to thread the streams which
descend from the sunny fountains.
It is not given to all saints to follow safely all the windings of the
rivers of delight. Paul had been with his Brethren at sea in the place
where the Lord sank all their transgressions in the depths and he had
been with them in sore affliction when neither sun nor moon
appeared–and in all such seafaring he was in his element. But, brave
pilot as he was, he could not pretend to penetrate all the richer and
rarer experiences which bring elect souls nearest to the heart of the
great Father. Therefore, instead of offering to be their pilot, he
bowed his head and prayed, "The Lord direct your hearts into the love
of God and into the patient waiting for Christ."
The special entrance into the goodly land, which the Apostle desired
for his friends, was one which mere insight, wit, knowledge, or
instruction could never give them. If so, he would have directed their
minds that way at once. But the perception of the heavenlies is only
given to heavenly faculties. The attainments which Paul desired for his
friends were not beliefs of the head but indwelling of the heart. To
return to our figure of sailing up the creeks and rivers into the
center of the glorious country–that delicious voyage was only possible
to the more refined and spiritual powers of the soul. Those sweet
waters could only be navigated by the heart and the heart itself would
need Divine direction before it could find the entrance to them.
There is a path which the vulture's eye has not seen and the lion's
whelp has not trod–only God sees and knows it. The Beulah country of
spiritual wisdom, especially in its higher reaches, is a matter for
personal Revelation from God to each one of His own. We are here
hopelessly in the dark if we have no light from above. And even with
that light we do but see the difficult nature of our way and fail to
enter upon it until the light becomes a force and He whom we desire to
know directs our hearts into communion with Himself. Yes, yonder are
the radiant coasts and the rivers of life up which our boat might sail
into the center of "the island of the innocent." Yet our great Apostle
does not rush into the office of pilot but humbly acts as intercessor,
crying, "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God."
All this whets our desires! Who would not wish to go where only choice
spirits can enter and where these can only come as the Lord directs
their hearts? Paul could give his converts external directions, he
could guide his more advanced Brethren in the work, walk and warfare of
life. And he did so with all simplicity and earnestness. He urged them
to abound in this grace and to avoid that folly. But he felt that his
exhortation would be inefficient unless their hearts were touched. Here
he felt his own powerlessness and so he cast the grand matter of
heart-work upon the Lord Himself. As the heart naturally baffles all
physicians so spiritually it is far beyond our knowledge. Who among
ministers can guide you? Therefore, may "the Lord direct your hearts."
God alone knows the heart and God alone can rule it–for this ruling
Paul makes request. "The Lord direct your hearts." Let us borrow his
prayer and turn it to our own personal use–"Domine dirige nos." The
place for God in reference to the heart is that of supreme director.
When the Lord lays His hand on the heart, which is the helm of the
ship, then the whole vessel is rightly directed–this, therefore, is
what we beseech Him to do. When the Holy Spirit comes into
the heart and takes supreme control of the affections, the whole life
and conversation are after a godly sort, Oh, that He may prove this
fact to each one of us! Some think much of liberty–I long far more to
be in perfect subjection to the Lord my God. Oh, how I wish for a
Master, a Dictator, a Director! Oh, that my Lord would take the reins
and bring my every thought into captivity to His own will, henceforth
and forever!
What a heavenly content I feel in yielding myself to the sacred
Trinity! The God who made us may most fitly be called upon to govern
us. When we recognize the glory of the whole Godhead we perceive the
perfect suitability of such direction as will come from the Three in
One God. Albeit that the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in this verse by
name, He is mentioned by His operations, for it is the Spirit of God
that deals with the hearts of Believers. I take rare pleasure in our
text, because we have the blessed Trinity in unity in these few words,
"The Lord"–that is, the Holy Spirit who dwells within
Believers–"direct your hearts into the love of God (by whom I
understand the Father) and into the patient waiting for Christ."
May the Trinity in Unity work with us and fulfill in each of us this
prayer of the Apostle that our hearts may be directed into the love of
God and into the patient waiting for Christ! Paul would have his
Thessalonian friends advance in a straight line. Our heart is to be as
a vessel that is not left to beat about, nor to come into harbor by a
circuitous route, but is steered directly into the fair haven. May the
Spirit of God take us and give us a straight tendency towards the
holiest things and then at once bring us into the love of God and into
the patient waiting for Christ.
But here we must do a little translating or interpreting. Observe in
the Revised Version a difference of translation. There we read "into
the patience of Christ." This is a great improvement upon our former
translation. But, although it is accurate, it is not complete–it does
not take up the whole of the meaning. In our Authorized Version we have
"the patient waiting for Christ," but in its margin we find "into the
patience of Christ"–showing that the earlier translators felt that
"the patience of Christ" would be a good translation. And yet, after
considering it in all its bearings, they thought that Paul did not
quite mean the patience of Christ, but that he meant a patience which
we exert towards Christ.
Is there not weight in this? Does not the context support it? As the
love into which we are to be directed is love to God, so the patience
into which we are to be directed must be a patience towards Christ. Our
grand old translators expressed this Truth by language which may be
inaccurate as mere wordings, but it is deeply correct as to its sense.
Surely Paul did mean "the patience towards Christ which manifests
itself in the patient waiting for Christ." If you consider all this you
will see that we have no infant-class lesson in the text before us!
Here are nuts for young men who have cut their wisdom-teeth. May the
good Spirit help us to reach the kernels.
Having turned the text over many times, I thought that we might be able
to gather up a considerable amount of its real meaning if we thought of
it thus–first, here are two precious things for us to enter into–the
love of God and the patience of Christ. And, secondly, here are two
eminent virtues to be acquired by us–the love of God, that is, love to
God and the patience of Christ–the patient waiting for Christ.
I. To begin, then, here are TWO PRECIOUS THINGS FOR US TO ENTER INTO.
We cannot enter into them except as the Lord directs our hearts. There
is a straight entrance into them but we do not readily find it. It
needs the Holy Spirit to direct our feet along the narrow way which
leads to this great blessedness.
The first precious thing which we are to enter is the love of God.
Beloved, we know the love of God in various ways. Many know it by
having heard of it, even as a blind man may thus know the charms of an
Alpine landscape. Poor knowledge this! Others of us have tasted of the
love of God, have talked about the love of God, have prayed and have
sung concerning the love of God. All very well, but Paul meant a dove
of a brighter feather. To be directed into the love of God is quite
another thing from all that we can be told of it. A fair garden is
before us. We look over the wall and are even allowed to stand at the
door while one hands out to us baskets of golden apples. This is very
delightful. Who would not be glad to come so near as this to the garden
of heavenly delights?
Yet it is something more to be shown the door, to have the latch
lifted, to see the gateway opened and to be gently directed into the
Paradise of God. This is what is wanted–that we may be directed into
the love of God. Oh, that we may feel something of it while we meditate
upon it! Beloved, we come, when we are taught of the Spirit of God, to
enter into the love of God by seeing its central importance. We see
that the love of God is the source and center, fountain and foundation
of all our salvation, and of all else that we receive from God.
At first we are much taken up with pardoning Grace. We are largely
engrossed with those royal robes of righteousness with which our
nakedness is covered. We are delighted with the viands of the marriage
banquet–we eat the fat and we drink the sweet. What else would you
expect from starving souls admitted to the abundant supplies of
heavenly Grace? Afterwards we begin more distinctly to think of the
love that spread the feast, the love that provided the raiment, the
love that invited us to the banquet and gently led us to take our place
in it. This does not always come at first.
But I pray that none of us may be long receiving the gifts of love
without kissing the hand of love. That none of us may be content to
have had much forgiven without coming and washing the feet of our
forgiving Lord with our tears and declaring our deep and true love to
Him. O saved soul, may the Lord fill you with personal love to that
personal Savior through whom all blessings come to you! Remember, you
have all good things because God loves you! Remember that every cake of
the heavenly manna, every cup of the living water comes to you because
of His great love wherewith He loved you. This will put a sweetness
into what you receive even greater than that which is there
intrinsically, sweet though God's mercies are in their own nature and
quality. Oh, to enter into God's love by perceiving it to be the
wellhead of every stream of mercy by which we are refreshed!
If we further enter into the love of God, we see its immeasurable
greatness. There is a little word which you have often heard, which I
beg to bring before you again–that little word "so." "God so loved the
world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Come, you surveyors,
bring your chains and try to make a survey of this word "so." No, that
is not enough. Come here, you that make our national surveys and lay
down charts for all nations. Come, you who map the sea and land and
make a chart of this word "so."
No, I must go further. Come here, you astronomers, that with your optic
glasses spy out spaces before which imagination staggers, come here and
encounter calculations worthy of all your powers! When you have
measured between the horns of space, here is a task that will defy
you–"God so loved the world." If you enter into that you will know
that all this love is to you–that while Jehovah loves the world, yet
He loves you as much as if there were nobody else in all the world to
love. God can pour the infinite love of His heart upon one object and
yet, for all that, can love ten thousand times ten thousand of His
creatures just as much. O Heir of God, your store of love is not
diminished because the innumerable company of your Brethren share it
with you! Your Father loves each child as if He had no other. Peer into
this abyss of love. Plunge into this sea. Dive into this depth
unsearchable. Oh, that God might direct you into the immeasurable
greatness of this love!
Neither be you afraid to enter into this love by remembering its
antiquity. Some fight the great Truth of the eternal electing love of
God. But to me it is as wafers made with honey. What music lies in that
sentence–"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love"! When this
great world, the sun, and moon and stars, had not yet flashed the
morning of their little day, the Lord Jehovah loved His people with an
everlasting love. In the Divine purposes, which were not of yesterday,
nor even of that date of which Scripture speaks as "In the
beginning"–when the Lord created the heavens and the earth–God loved
His own people.
He had chosen you, thought of you, provided for you and made ten
thousand forecasts of loving kindness towards you before the earth was.
Beloved Believer, you were engraved on the hands of Christ even then.
Oh that the Lord would direct you into the antiquity of His love. It
shall make you greatly prize that love to think that it had no
beginning and shall never, never have an end.
Again–I pray that we may be directed into the love of God as to its
infallible constancy. The unchangeable Jehovah never ceases to love His
people. It would be a wretched business to be directed into the love of
God only to find it a thing of the past. O believing Soul, you have not
to deal with things which once were gems of the mine but now are dreams
of the night. Oh, no! The love of God abides forever the same. When you
are in darkness the Lord still sees you with an eye of love–
"He saw you ruined in the Fall, Yet loved you notwithstanding all."
When you were without strength, "in due time Christ died for the
ungodly." Since you have known Him He has never varied in His love.
When you have grown cold He has loved you. When you have grown cruel He
has loved you. You have grievously provoked Him till He has taken down
His rod and made you smart. But He has loved you in the smiting. With
God there is as much love in chastening as in caressing. He never
abates in fervor towards His ancient
friends. Has He not said, "I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore you
sons of Jacob are not consumed"? I pray the Lord to direct us into the
immutability of His Divine love, for this is a great medicine in the
day of soul-trouble.
When conscious of imperfection, when darkened by the shadow of a great
fault, when trembling under apprehension of wrath it draws you back
again if you can feel, "Still my Father is my Father, still will He
receive His wandering child and press His prodigal to His bosom and
rejoice over me and say, 'This My son was dead and is alive again.' " O
Child of God, your questionings of Divine love are grievous to your
God. But if you can learn this Truth and be led into it–that He loves
you evermore the same–it will help you right graciously.
This love we ought to know and if the Lord will lead us into it we
shall know that it is omnipresent. I mean by this, that whatever
condition we may be in, the Lord is still active in love towards us.
You are going across the sea to a far country but your Father's love
will be as near you on the blue wave as on the greensward of Old
England. You have come out tonight alone–time was when you did come to
the House of God in company. But it may be that graves and desertions
furnish sad reasons for your present solitude. Still, you are not
alone, your Father's love is with you.
You are tonight, perhaps, in a very strange part of your spiritual
experience–you have not gone this way before. But the road is not new
to eternal love. Go where you may, the air is still about you–go where
you may, your Father's love is all around you. Higher than your
soaring, deeper than your sinking is all-surrounding love. You are
going home, perhaps, to a bed from which you shall not rise for months.
You have no apprehension just now of what lies before you in the
immediate future. It is as well you should not know. I should be slow
to lift the curtain of merciful concealment even if it were in my power
to do so. There is no necessity to know details when one or two grand
facts provide for all contingencies.
Trouble not yourself about the morrow. If you are to be sick or if you
are to die, your Father's love will be with you still. Therefore go on
and fear not. He cannot, will not, turn away from you. An omnipresent
God means omnipresent love and omnipotence goes hand-in-hand with
omnipresence. The Lord will show Himself strong on the behalf of them
that trust Him. His love, which never fails, is attended by a power
that faints not, nor is weary. Oh, may the Lord lead you into such love
as this! May the Holy Spirit lead you into the innermost secret of this
joy of joys, this bliss unspeakable.
And I would also wish that you may be directed into the love of God as
to its entire agreement with His justice, His holiness, His spotless
purity. I firmly believe that God loves sinners but I am equally sure
that He hates sin. I do believe that He delights in mercy but I am
equally clear that He never dishonors His justice, nor frustrates the
sternest threat of His Law. It is our joy that a holy God loves us and
does not find it needful to stain His holiness to save the unclean. We
are loved by one so just, so righteous that He could not pardon us
without atonement. Even today He will never spare our sins but He will
drive the love of them out of us by chastisement, even as He has washed
the guilt of them away by the precious blood of His dear Son.
Beloved, we have a holy God who is determined to make us holy. He would
have us love our wives. And he sets before us a holy model–"Even as
Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it; that He might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word." All
true love goes towards purification. And the true love of God goes that
way with an invincible current that can never be turned aside. O
Believer, your God loves you so well that He will not let a darling sin
stay in your heart. He loves you so strongly that He will not spare any
iniquity in you. "You only have I known of all the families of the
earth. Therefore I will punish you for your iniquities." Out of His
pure love He will chasten and refine till He has made us pure and able
to abide in fellowship with His perfect nature.
1 have thus spoken a little upon a vast theme. I fear it will seem to
you mere surface-work. And yet I pray that it may lead you to deep
knowledge of Divine things so that you may apprehend God's love as
yours. And that you may feel the power, the unction, the savor which
come out of His love. I pray this knowledge, by His Grace, will make
your heart as sweet and aromatic as a chamber in which a box of
precious ointment has been broken. Oh, that you might be led into the
innermost secret of the Lord's love till it shall saturate you,
influence you, take possession of you, carry you away! The Lord direct
you into the love of God.
The second part of the prayer upon which we shall have to dwell is,
"The Lord direct your hearts into the patience of Christ." Now,
Beloved, I have another great sea before me, and who am I that I should
act as your convoy over this main
ocean? Here I am lost. I cannot take my bearings. I am a lone speck
upon the infinite. I will imitate the wise Apostle and pray, "The Lord
direct your hearts into the patience of Christ."
What a patience that was which Jesus exhibited for us in our
redemption! To come from Heaven to earth, to dwell in poverty and
neglect and find no room even in the inn! Admire the patience of
Bethlehem. To hold His tongue for thirty years–who shall estimate the
wonderful patience of Nazareth and the carpenter's shop! When He spoke,
to be despised and rejected of men. What patience for Him whom Cherubim
obey! Oh, the patience of the Christ to be tempted of the devil! One
can hardly tell what patience Christ must have had to let the devil
come within ten thousand miles of him, for He was able to keep him far
down in the abyss below His feet.
There is not much in a patience which cannot help itself. But you well
know that all the while Christ could have conquered all foes, chased
away all suffering and kept off all temptation. But for our sakes, as
Captain of our salvation, that He might be made perfect through
suffering, His patience had its perfect work, right on to Gethsemane.
Do you need that I tell you this? Golgotha, with all its woes, its
"lama Sabacthani," its abysmal griefs–do I need remind you of the
patience of Christ for us when the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us
all? Patient as a lamb, He opened not His mouth but stood in
omnipotence of patience, all-sufficient to endure. You have heard of
the patience of Job but you have need to enter into the patience of
Jesus.
Oh, the patience within Christ Himself! God never seems so like a God
as when He divinely rules Himself. I can understand His shaking earth
and Heaven with His Word. But that He should possess His own soul in
patience is far more incomprehensible. Marvel that omnipotent love
should restrain omnipotence itself. In the life and death of our Lord
Jesus we see almighty patience. He was very sensitive–very sensitive
of sin, very sensitive of unkindness, and yet, with all that
sensitiveness He showed no petulance but bore Himself in all the calm
grandeur of Godhead. He was not quick to resent an ill but He was
patient to the uttermost. As I have said before, there went with His
sensitiveness the power at any time to avenge Himself and deliver
Himself but He would not use it.
Legions of angels would have been glad to come to His rescue but He
bowed alone in the garden and gave Himself up to the betrayer without a
word. And all the while He was most tender and graciously considerate
of everybody but Himself. He spoke burning words sometimes–His mouth
could be like the red lips of a volcano as He poured out the burning
lava of denunciation upon "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites." But the
resentment was never aroused by any injury done to Himself. When He
looked that way it was always gentleness–He cried, "Father, forgive
them. For they know not what they do." Oh, the wondrous patience of
Heaven's own Christ!
Enter into His patience with us as well as for us. How He put up with
each one of us when we would not come to Him! How He wept over us when
we neglected Him! How He drew us with constancy of love when we tugged
against the cords! And when we came to Him and since we have been with
Him, what patience He has had with our ill manners! If I had been
Christ, I would have discharged such a servant as I have been long ago.
Often have I gone to His feet and cried, "Dismiss me not Your service,
Lord." I know how justly He might have stripped His livery from my
back. But He has not done so. Have you not often wondered that He
should still love you? He is affianced to you and He hates divorce.
But is it not marvelous that He keeps His betrothal with you and will
do so, though you have often defiled yourself and forgotten Him?
Blessed fact, the ring is on His finger rather than on yours and the
marriage is as sure as His love. He will present you unto Himself,
"without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," one of these days. But
oh, His patience with each one of us! How He has put up with our
unbelief, our mistrust, our hard hearts, our indifference, our strange
ways! Never lover so kind as He! On our part never return so unworthy.
Blessed be the patience of our Best Beloved!
Now, Beloved, what is wanted is that we be directed into this patience
of Christ. The choicest saints in different ages of the world have
studied most the passion of our Lord. And although nowadays we hear
from the wise men that it is sensuous to talk about the Cross and the
five wounds and so forth, for my part I feel that no contemplation ever
does me so much real benefit as that which brings me very near my
bleeding Lord. The Cross for me! The Cross for me! Here is doctrine
humbling, softening, melting, elevating, sanctifying. Here is Truth
that is of Heaven and yet comes down to earth–love that lifts me away
from earth even to the seventh Heaven.
Have you ever read the words of holy Bernard, when his soul was all on
fire with love of that dear name of which he so sweetly sang–
"Jesus the very thought of You
With sweetness fills my breast"? Why, Bernard is poet, philosopher and
Divine, and yet a child in love. Have you studied Rutherford's letters
and the wondrous things which he says about his own dear Lord? For an
hour at Glory's gate commend me to heavenly Master Rutherford. Have you
ever held fellowship with George Herbert, that saintly songster? Hear
him as he cries–
"How sweetly does my Master sound! My Master!
As ambergris leaves a rich scent
Unto the taster,
So do these words a sweet content,
An oriental fragrance, my Master!" O Friends, I can wish you no greater
blessing than to be directed into these two things–the love of God and
the patience of your Savior. Enter both at the same time. You cannot
divide them–why should you? The love of God shines best in the
patience of the Savior. And what is the patience of Christ but the love
of the Father? "What God has joined together, let no man put asunder."
May the Lord lead us into both of them at this hour and continue upon
us the heavenly process all the rest of our lives, in all experiences
of sorrow and of rapture and in all moods and growths of our spirit!
II. But now I must ask your attention for the few minutes that remain
to me to what is, perhaps, still the real gist of the text–HERE ARE
TWO EMINENT VIRTUES TO BE ACQUIRED.
"The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God." Beloved, let the
love of God to you flow into your hearts and abide there till it
settles down and bears on its surface the cream of love to God, yielded
by your own heart. The only way to love God is to let God's love to you
dwell in your soul till it transforms your soul into itself. Love to
God grows out of the love of God.
Well, now, concerning love to God–if you receive it fully into your
souls it will nourish the contemplative life. You will want to be
alone. You will prefer to sit silently at Jesus' feet while others
wrangle over the little politics of the house. You will give up being
busy-bodies, talking in six peoples' houses in an hour–quietude will
charm you. You will love no company so much as the society of Him who
is the Best and the Most. To be with God in quiet will be your highest
enjoyment. You will not say, as some do, "I must have recreation."
Contemplation of God is recreation to the child of God. It creates the
soul anew. And is not this the truest recreation? Whenever God's
creation in us seems to have grown a little dim, love to God will
gender and nourish the contemplative life and so make us come forth as
new creatures, fresh from our Maker's holy hand.
It will also animate the active life if you love God. You will feel
that you must yield fruit unto your Lord. Your soul, when full of the
love of God, will cry, "I must go after the wanderer. I must care for
the poor. I must teach the ignorant." You cannot love God and be lazy.
Love to God will stir you up. Contemplation teaches you to sit still
and this is no trifling lesson. But after sitting still, you rise with
greater energy to go about the one thing needful, namely, the service
of your Lord's love.
Love to God will also arouse enthusiasm. We want more persons in the
Church who will be a little daring–rash men and women who will do
things which nobody else would think of doing, such as will make their
prudent friends hold up their hands and say, "How could you? If you had
consulted with me, I could have given you many a wise hint as to how it
ought to have been done." This has been my lot of late. I have been
surfeited with notions as to how I should have acted. Yes, my Friend, I
know you of old. You have wisdom at your fingers' ends. But let me
quietly whisper that you would have done nothing at all. You would have
been too anxious to save yourself from trouble.
It is an easy thing to tell a man how he ought to have done it. And yet
that man, perhaps, may be suffering intensely for having done bravely a
well-meant deed. Instead of your showing sympathy with him, you treat
him to the remark, "It might have been done better in another way."
There was never a child that was near drowning but what the man that
plunged in and drew him out of the river ought to have done it in a
better way. He wetted himself too much. He waited too long. Or he
handled the drowning one too roughly. Alas, for silly criticisms of
gracious deeds!
If you come to love God with all consuming zeal you will not be
hindered by criticisms. You will testify for Jesus freely, because you
cannot help yourself. It has to be done–somebody has to sacrifice
himself to do it and you say to
yourself, "Here am I, Lord, send me. At every risk or hazard, send me.
For Your dear love's sake I count it joy to suffer shame or loss. I
count it life to suffer death that I may honor You." Love to God will
arouse enthusiasm.
It will also stimulate holy desire. They that love God can never have
enough of Him–certainly never too much. Sometimes they are found
pining after Him. When we love the Lord, we chide the laggard hours
which keep us from His coming. Time has not wings enough–
"My heart is with Him on His Throne,
And ill can brook delay,
Each moment listening for the voice,
'Rise up and come away.'"
A heavenly love-sickness sometimes makes God's handmaids swoon. For
they long to see the Beloved face to face and to be like Him and to be
with Him where He is. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God
in some such fashion as this. For it will make you sit loose by all
things here below.
Do you ever feel that your wings are growing? Do you ever sigh, "Oh,
that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away and be at
rest"? And this love, better still, will transform the character. It is
wonderful what a difference love makes in the person that is possessed
with it. A poor timid hen that will fly away from every passerby loves
its offspring and when it has its chicks about it, it will fight like a
very lion for its young. And when the love of Christ comes into a timid
Believer, how it changes him! It takes the love of sin away and
implants a sublime nature.
Only God knows what a mortal man can yet become. Of women sunken in
sin, what saints the Lord has made when He has filled them with His
love! When the sun shines on a bit of glass bottle far away it flashes
like a diamond. A little fleecy vapor in the sky rivals an angel's wing
when the sun pours itself upon it. Our Lord can put so much of Himself,
by means of His love, into the hearts of His people that they may be
mistaken for Himself. John made a blunder in Heaven and fell at the
feet of one of his Brethren, the Prophets–for he had come to be so
much like His Lord that John could hardly tell the one from the other.
Had he forgotten that word, "We shall be like He. For we shall see Him
as He is"? It does not yet appear what we shall be but love is the
transfiguring power in the hand of the Holy Spirit. If the heart is
directed into the love of Christ, it is on the highway to holiness.
Lastly–I am sorry that time will fly so fast just now–we want our
hearts to be directed into patience towards Christ. What a subject is
this! Beloved, if our heart is directed into patience towards Christ we
shall suffer in patience for our Lord's sake and we shall not complain.
Those about us will say, "It is wonderful how resigned he seems." Or,
"How gladly she bears grief for love of Christ!" And if it is the
suffering of reproach and scorn for Jesus' sake, if we are directed
into the patience of Christ, it will not seem to be any trouble at all.
We shall bear it calmly and in our hearts we shall laugh at those who
laugh at us for Jesus' sake.
Yet it is not all patience of suffering that we want. We want the
patience offorbearing. We must learn not to answer those who blaspheme.
"Bear and forbear and be silent." Chew the cud in peace. Put up with
much. When reviled, revile not again. The Lord direct your hearts into
the patience of Christ.
We shall also want the patience of working–working on when nothing
comes of it–pleading on with souls that are not converted. Preaching
when preaching seems to have no effect–teaching when the children do
not care to learn. We need the patience of Christ who set His face like
a flint and would accomplish His work, cost what it may. He never
turned aside from it for a moment. The Lord direct our hearts into
patient working.
Then there is the patience of watching in prayer–not giving it up
because you have not received an answer. What? Did a friend say she had
prayed for seventeen years for a certain mercy and now meant to ask it
no more? Sister, make it eighteen years and when you have got to the
end of eighteen make it nineteen. May the Lord direct our hearts into
the patience of Christ in prayer! We long kept Him waiting–we need not
complain if He makes us tarry at His leisure. Still believe. Still
hope. Still wrestle, until the break of day.
Pray for the patience of waiting His will, saying, "Let Him do what
seems Him good." Though it be for months, for years, wait on. Christ is
glorified by our patience. Depend on it, the best way in which certain
of us can extol Him is by letting Him have His way with us. Even though
He plunge me into seven boiling caldrons one after the other, I will
say–Let Him do what He wills with His own and I am His own. I am sure
that He does not make the furnace one degree too hot. If He means to
give His servant ten troubles, let His heavy hand fall even to the
tenth, if so He pleases.
We want to be directed into patience towards Christ and especially in
patience in waiting for His coming. That, no doubt, is very justly
inferred and so it is put in our translation very prominently–"Patient
waiting for Christ." He will come, Brothers. He will come, Sisters. It
is true the interpreters of the Book of Revelation told us that He was
to come three hundred years ago and there are thousands upon thousands
of books in the British Museum which were very dogmatic upon this point
and yet they have all been disproved by the lapse of time.
Men were as sure as sure could be that Christ would come just then. And
He did not, for He is bound by His Word– not by their interpretation
of it. He will come at the appointed hour. To the jots and tittles,
God's Word will stand. He will come to the tick of the clock. We know
not when. We need not ask. But let us wait.
Just now some of you may be, as I am, troubled because the Lord does
not yet appear to vindicate His cause. And there is noise and triumph
among the priests of Baal. The Lord direct our hearts into the patience
of Christ. It is all right. Clouds gather. The darkness becomes more
dense. The thunder rolls, friends flee in confusion. What next? Well,
perhaps before we have hardly time for dread, silver drops of gracious
rain may fall and the sun may break through the clouds and we may say
to ourselves, "Who would have thought it?"–
"You fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head."
May the Lord direct each one of us into the patient waiting for Christ!
I am sorry, very sorry, that there are persons here to whom all this
must seem a strange lot of talk. They know nothing about it. Dear
Souls, you cannot at present know anything about it. You must first be
born again. A total change of heart must come over you before you can
enter into the love of God or the patience of Christ. May that change
take place tonight, before you go to sleep!
If the Lord shall lead you to seek His face, this is the way to seek
it–trust His dear Son. Lifted on the Cross is Jesus Christ, the great
Propitiation for sin. Look to Him and looking alone to Him, you shall
be saved. He will give you the new heart and the right spirit with
which you shall be enabled to enter into the love of God and the
patience of Christ. The Lord direct you at this very hour, for Jesus'
sake! Amen.