Once Dead, Now Alive

Once Dead, Now Alive

(No. 2388)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1894.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 30, 1888.

"And you has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."
Ephesians 2:1.

I PREACHED to you, this morning, [Sermon #2046, Volume 34–Consolation
from Resurrection] the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead and its
various bearings. But unless you have experienced spiritual
resurrection, you do not understand that doctrine and you cannot grasp
its meaning. Spiritual resurrection may be understood in theory, but it
cannot be really comprehended until we, ourselves, have been raised out
of spiritual death. Always remember that in the things of God,
knowledge is only to be gained by personal experience. If you would
understand regeneration, you must be born again. If you would
understand faith, simple as it is, you must, yourselves, believe.

Tonight I want to give you another exposition of spiritual quickening
as it is described in my text–"And you has He quickened, who were dead
in trespasses and sins." There are three things about which I am going
to speak to you. First, you were dead. Secondly, some of you have been
quickened. And, thirdly, of those of you who have been quickened, it
can be truly said that you are now alive.

I. First, then, YOU WERE DEAD.

I think that I must, in imagination, take you into that death chamber.
The blinds are all drawn, there is a great hush about the room. Here is
a coffin covered with a white cloth–turn it back, gently, and stand
with me–and look at the person who lies sleeping there. He is dead.
Alas, there is woe in the family, for the brother is dead. Here is the
terribly true picture of what we were by nature–I mean, what we all
were–and what many still are. God grant that they may be delivered
from this sad condition!

To find out what spiritual death means, I shall ask you to remember
that this dead body, here, is characterized by an absence of sense. Be
not afraid, it is your brother man. Come close to him and speak. He
does not hear you. Speak more loudly. He does not answer you, he gives
no sign of recognition. Shout at the very top of your voice–stoop down
and speak into his ear. Alas, it is the clay-cold ear of death upon
which no effect whatever is produced! I remember when I was spiritually
just like that. I could not hear, even, the voice of Jesus, though it
was very soft and tender. He said, "Come unto Me," but I did not
respond to His call. There were others near me who did, but I was dead
and took no notice. Then there came a louder sound, a voice of
threatening, a message of condemnation! God spoke from the top of Sinai
and hurled at me the ten great thunderbolts of His Law. But I still did
not hear. I had broken all those commands and I must bear the penalty
of disobedience–the Law told me so, but I did not hear. Friends led
me, sometimes, dead as I was, where both the Law and the Gospel were
fully preached, but I did not hear. I could not hear. Sounds went past
the drums of my ears and my body heard, but the ear of my heart was not
reached. I could not hear, for I was dead.

Let us see if our friend in the coffin can see. Here, lift up the
coffin lid, wave a lighted candle before his eyes. Pull up that blind,
let in the sunlight. He does not see and he cannot see. There are none
so blind as the dead. And there was a time with me–and I use myself
sorrowfully as an example–when I could not see. I could not see my
Lord, I could not see His love, I could not see His bleeding heart, I
could not see His thorn-crowned head. I saw no beauty in the Altogether
Lovely One. I was wrapped up in my own worldly pleasure and in
myself–and I was not alive unto God. Ah, me, this is, indeed,
death–to be unable to hear or to see!

Can this dead body perceive anything by smelling? Here, bring that
smelling bottle and place it close to the man's nostrils. It contains
the strongest volatile salts that would make the tears come to some of
our eyes–but it does not affect him. Burn the rarest incense, fill the
chamber with the smoke, yet he recognizes nothing as to what sweet
perfume is in the room. And well do I remember when my mother told me
that there had been much unction about the sermon and my father said
that the Lord was there, and that it was as when one breaks a box of
ointment and the house is filled with the sweetest odors–but I declare
to you that I discerned nothing of its fragrance! There was, to me, no
spiritual sweetness, no subtle delight about the doctrines of the
Gospel, for I was dead!

Perhaps this man may have lost the power of sight, hearing and
smelling, but yet he may be alive. Let us see if he has any sense of
taste. Bring here the most nauseous drug, or give me gall and wormwood,
and I will put a few drops on his lips. These things are not loathsome
to him! Now let us try sugar and honey and all things that are luscious
and sweet. Evidently you might as well lay these things upon a slab of
marble, for the dead man has no taste for them! It was just so with me
spiritually. I knew not, in those days, the sweetness of the Gospel of
Christ, nor even the bitterness of sin. I had no taste, for I was
dead–and that is what you all were, my Brothers and Sisters! That is
what some are who are sitting at your side in the pew–dead–having no
taste for heavenly joys.

But, perhaps, after all, these senses may be gone and yet life may
remain. Let me see if the man can feel. Let me press his hand very
gently. No, he does not press mine in return. I will stoop down and
kiss the face of this, my brother, but there is no smile upon his
countenance, though he would have smiled in other days. He is dead. He
can feel nothing of pain or joy. It is a dreadful thing to be sitting
in God's House as, perhaps, some of you are, feeling nothing whatever!
I would give my eyes, no, I would give even my life to save this
company if I knew how to speak so as to reach men's hearts! But there
is no mode of human language that can make a dead heart live, or make a
stony heart to beat with the pulsations of life. This comes from
another and a higher Power than mine. But, apart from the operations of
the Spirit of God, all are, by nature, dead, and this is what some of
you are even now, spiritually dead and, therefore, devoid of holy
senses.

There is another test that we may apply to see if there is an absence
of desire. I will speak to this dead man and say, "Friend, you lie here
dead–do you know it? You who cannot feel, or hear, or see–do you wish
to live? Do you desire to live? There is no answer to my question. But
I can tell you that because he is dead, he does not even desire to
live–and this, too, is the state of many spiritually. They have not
any wish after heavenly things. You are quite content if you have money
enough to pay your way, or if you have enough to enjoy yourself at the
theater, or in some worldly gaiety. But as for God, Christ and
Heaven–these may all go as far as you are concerned. You have no
desire for them, you are dead– dead to the very things for which men
were made to live, and by which, alone, men do live! You are dead and
you have no desire after life.

Shall I speak to the corpse, again? It is no use, for the man has no
senses and no desire. Beside that, there is an absence of power. Has
not this man the power to get life, the power to do something good? I
lift his hand–it drops down powerless. I try the other hand–it is no
sooner up than it falls down, again. It is evidently useless to attempt
to force him to any action, for he is without power. We, also, were
"without strength." Oh, how can this dead man live if he can do nothing
towards making himself alive? I will tell you that, by-and-by, but,
meanwhile, this is an essential part of death–that the man is "without
strength."

Further, in those who are naturally or spiritually dead there is an
absence of fellowship with the living. If this man cannot do anything
for himself, let us get him up and dress him! Come here, good woman,
you who washed him, come, and put on his best clothes and make him sit
up. It was not long ago that we saw the picture of a dead emperor lying
dressed in his warrior's garments. So dress this man up in his Sunday
suit and let him sit at the table with his wife and children! You
shudder at the suggestion and tell me that it is impossible. Yet the
Egyptians set a skeleton at their feasts, so as to remind themselves of
death–and it was not altogether unwise. But if I had my choice of a
place at the table, I would not elect to have our bony friend next to
me! And I think that if the dead were seated at our festivals, we would
all naturally shrink from that part of the table.

Thus you can see what death does spiritually–it shuts you out of
fellowship with the living people of God. You were in a room, the other
night, where there were half-a-dozen Christian people and you said to
yourself, "This is about the dullest evening I have ever spent." You
went to a service, the other day, where there was much prayer, and you
made fun

of it when you came away, it was so dreary to you. Yes, of course it
was, and if you were condemned to go to Heaven– no, I have not made a
mistake, I mean what I say–if you were condemned to go to Heaven, it
would be a Hell to you! You would not be able to endure that constant
praise of God, that perpetual adoration of Him which is the occupation
of the blessed! You would have no heart for that. "Let me out," you
would say, "I had rather go to my own place than stay here." Thus, you
see, you are dead. And the dead are shut out from fellowship with the
living.

Then, once more, there are tokens of decay. We will not take this man
from the coffin–we will let him lie there. Look at him. It is now four
days since he was pronounced dead. I noticed, when I came into the room
just after his death, that his face looked, perhaps, more sweet than it
did during his lifetime. It often happens that when the time of the
extreme pain which brought on death has come altogether to an end, the
face seems to regain its former sweetness which was obliterated by the
pain, and the man looks more beautiful than before. And often the
countenance appears restful, though the heart, before death, was full
of anguish. Yes, but that was a little while after death when I noticed
this sweet expression of face. How is it with the corpse four days,
five days, say, six days after death? Ah, me, come, Undertaker, nail
this coffin lid down–it is not meet that any other eyes should look at
this ghastliness, or that anyone else should see these tokens of decay!

It is just so spiritually. The young man who is dead in sin, may, under
his mother's care at home, look very beautiful. There may be no trace
of spiritual death about him. You might think him–and he may think
himself–better than a great many Christians! Have I not heard him say
that it is so? But give him time to show what he really is! Bring him
to London–place him in a large warehouse. Let him go out in the
evening and let there be nobody to meet him but the strange woman. Ah,
within how short a time the destructiveness of horrible sin may be seen
in his character! Could that fond mother, who sent him from her
fireside comparatively pure, see what he has become, she might almost
say, "Bury him out of my sight!" This is the way we were all going to
decay till our Lord Jesus appeared to us and stopped the corruption by
dethroning Death and putting spiritual life into us through faith in
Himself!

I think, perhaps, I have said enough on this part of my subject, so I
will not take you back to the death chamber.

II. Now, in the second place, dear Friends, to all who have believed in
Christ it can be truly said, "YOU HAVE BEEN QUICKENED." So the text
says, "You has He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."

Do you remember how that happened? I can only speak about myself in
such a matter as this, because one man cannot enter into another's
experience, but I think that what I see in myself, you have seen in
yourselves, you who are alive unto God. There came a time when I began
to live! I remember it well–I not only remember when the new life
first came into my soul, but I can distinctly recall the first effect
of it. I am told that when a man has been drowning and he begins to
return to consciousness, when they rub him back to conscious life, the
first sensation is that of exquisite pain as the blood begins to flow,
again, in the channels in which it had been latent.

When the life-blood began to flow in my heart spiritually, it gave me
nothing but pain. I was lost and I felt that it was so. I was not dead,
was I, if I felt? Then I heard the Gospel, and I did hear it, too, with
awful distinctness! I remember to have had, on one occasion, a slight
deafness, and when the surgeon had attended to my ears and I went into
the street, I wished myself deaf again, for all the noises were so
dreadful to my ears, so intense was every little sound! We ought to
thank God that we do not hear more than we do–if we heard more, we
would not hear anything at all–we would hear so much that the
different sounds would not convey any meaning to our mind! So was it
with me, I heard too much. The thunder of the Law of God deafened me
and when I heard the voice of the Savior, it seemed to say, "You have
rejected Me and I have left you to perish! The door of mercy is now
shut and will not be opened to you." I began to feel what sin really
was and to realize that I could not escape from it–and that a just God
must punish me! Yet I consented to the punishment, dreadful as it was,
and confessed that I did not wish the Lord to be unjust even to save
me. This was the tremendous terror of my state–that I had received a
living consciousness of what was right, and sided with the right–yet
all the while felt that the righteous Judge condemned me!

What happened after that? Being quickened and having felt this pain,
after a while I woke up as out of an awful sleep and I seemed to say to
myself, "Where am I?" I had been born into a new world! Some of you
know the egg-shell of this poor sinful world, but you do not know the
real life of it. A man may go dreaming on through this world, seeing
the sun, moon, stars and all things that are visible, but he may never
have discovered the true life which is invisible. So it was with me.
If, all of a sudden, this lamp, here, could be made into a living
thing, it would be a strange change for it to find itself

alive in the midst of this crowd of people, where it has stood so long
a poor, dead, metallic thing! There was some such change as that worked
in me–I thought that if the world was not new, I was! Something
wonderful had happened to me! I can tell you that I had a sort of twist
that day and I have never got over it–and I have no wish to get over
it!

Everything seemed different to me. I looked at all things through new
eyes and heard with new ears and, somehow, I discovered what I had
never dreamed of, for I talked to God! Christ was near me! His Spirit
was within me! I saw living men and women in this new world and I began
to wish to get among them and would have been glad to have washed the
feet of any of them so long as they would but permit me to be in their
company! I remember that experience. Do you? We must all have felt
something like that if we have really been born from above!

And then, being thus alive, we had to learn everything. You see, a
person just born into the world and knowing nothing is like a newborn
infant. I suppose that when an infant first sees, it cannot measure
distances. It does not know whether a thing is close to it, or far
away. All that the eyes can bring to it seems flat at the first.
Mothers do not always reflect how little their children know–and how
all the things that we know as a matter of course were really learned
by experience. Once we did not understand much, just like babies that
do not, at first, comprehend what is said to them, and could not reply
even if they understood. There are a few simple words, or syllables, by
which they speak to mother and father–and you are very pleased when
they are able to say them–and you talk of it to one another as a great
achievement when baby has uttered a whole sentence!

I have heard you and I remember doing the same thing, myself. It is so
natural for us to like to hear the first words of our children. That is
just how it was with God and ourselves spiritually–we had everything
to learn. We were alive, but we did not know much. We were rather
puzzled by some of our big Brothers and Sisters, but our heavenly
Father accepted our broken utterances and our oft-mistaken words. We
did see, though we did not know much about the laws of perspective. We
did hear, though we did not understand music and harmony. We did
feel–and that was a proof that we were alive. Oh, what a mercy that
was!

Very soon, we began to have new needs. Do you remember that experience?
We felt a new hunger–we had never had that while we were dead. We
needed to feed on the Truth of God! Do you remember when you went to
hear a certain popular preacher deliver one of his wonderful sermons
and everybody else spoke of it as, "splendid," but you said to
yourself, "I do not know what there was in it, but certainly I did not
get any food for my soul"? Another time, you were taken to hear a
plain, simple minister who talked about Jesus and His love, and others
exclaimed, "He is a poor preacher, with no name, and no fame," but you
said, "I do not know how it is, but I am satisfied with the feast I
have had, I feel as if I had been sitting at the King's banqueting
table." Ah, God's people know the difference between flowers and fruit!
They know the difference between meat and mere plate, spoon and
fork–and they are not to be deceived! You remember when you began to
hunger and to thirst, and oh, when you drank your first draught of the
Living Water, you could not make out what it was! You see, you had been
dead, and all these things were new to you. What was hunger? What was
thirst? How did you come to have such sensations? You never hungered
after Christ, you never thirsted after the Gospel while you were dead
in sin! But now you have many things that are quite new to you–new
fears, new cares, new doubts, new aspirations.

Let me remind you that you also had new joys. Your heart began to dance
at the sound of Christ's name! You never danced at the sound of that
name while you were dead, but when you had received spiritual life,
that dear name had all the music of Heaven in it when it rang in your
ears, and your heart responded, "Jesus, precious Jesus–

"'No music's like Your charming name, Nor half so sweet can be.'"

Oh, what rapture you had in those early days! You went forth with joy
and were led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills broke forth
before you into singing and all the trees of the field clapped their
hands! That delight has not gone from you now, has it? You are still
happy in the Lord, you can sing as joyously as ever–

"Oh happy day, that fixed my choice

On You, my Savior, and my God!

Well may this glowing heart rejoice

And tell its raptures all abroad!" You see how it is with you now–life
has brought you, as a new creature, into a new world–old things have
passed away, behold, all things have become new! So far, I hope that
many have been able to follow me.

II. Now comes the closing point and I must say only a few words upon
it, for I should like you to sing a verse of "Happy Day," before we
separate. The third division is YOU ARE NOW ALIVE. Yes, as many as have
believed in the Lord Jesus Christ are spiritually alive! Does not He
say, "He that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live"?

You are spiritually alive. Very well, then, do not go back to the
grave. It was a madman's taste to go and live in a cemetery. The
demoniac from the country of the Gadarenes had his habitation among the
tombs and, surely, nobody in his right mind would think of having such
an abode as that! If you are alive, do not go and live in the grave.
Sometimes a person says to me, "Tell me, Sir, may I go to such and such
a place of amusement?" When I hear the name of it, I say, "Well, if you
want to go, go. If you are dead, go and be buried with the dead–we do
not need any dead souls among the living in Zion. If that sort of thing
is to your taste, go and enjoy it. But if you are a child of God, it
will not be your taste. If you are alive from the dead, you will not
want to go and live in a morgue." I once was in a place where there
were said to be at least ten thousand skulls heaped up, one above
another, from floor to ceiling. I should think that there must have
been quite that number, and as I walked along through those rows of
skulls, every one of them seeming to be grinning at me, I did not ask
to be allowed to stay there all night! So, he that is spiritually alive
does not wish to dwell with sinners in ungodliness! Their merriment
would be his misery. That which is their delight would cause him the
most exquisite pain. "Let me get out of this," he would say, "this is
no place for me." To chain a living man to a skeleton would be a
horrible torment–do not, I pray you, be chained to a dead man, or a
dead woman, either–and do not seek your company among the dead. You
are alive! Therefore, do not go back to the tomb.

Next, you are alive, therefore, do not be carried on a bier. I have
seen living men carried about on biers. Here is a man who has long
heard the good old-fashioned Gospel, but, the other day he met with a
believer in evolution, one of the monkey-worshippers of whom I told you
last Thursday night, [Sermon #2056, Volume 34–Idols Found Wanting, But
Jehovah Found Faithful.] whose father is not in Heaven, but up a tree!
"Oh!" said the foolish man, as he listened to the heresymonger, "this
evolution theory is a very wonderful thing!" And so three or four of
them bore him off on a bier, carried him away from the Truth of God as
it is in Christ. Of course, if the man is dead, the proper place for
him is on a bier! But you are alive–therefore you know what the dead
do not and, I pray that you may know it from the sole of your feet to
the crown of your head, and stand up for the Truth of God, defend it
valiantly, and not be driven to and fro with every wind of doctrine,
just as if you were only a stray straw in the street! Know what God has
taught you and be prepared to live by it, and to die for it, if need
be! You are alive, therefore, be alive for the Truth of God and be not
carried away on a bier.

Further, you are alive, therefore, do not be wrapped up in grave
clothes. Have you any on now? I should not wonder if you have. There is
a piece of red stuff that many living persons still wear–it is called,
"bad temper." Oh, get rid of that fragment of grave clothes, I entreat
you! It smells of the tomb! The Lord help you to be sweet, gentle and
meek! Do not wear your old grave clothes, now that you are alive from
the dead! Were you covetous? Were you lustful? Were you false? Get rid
of all these grave clothes. Oh, that God the Holy Spirit may sanctify
you–spirit, soul and body–till you are clean delivered from these
cerements of the sepulcher! Lazarus came out of the tomb with his grave
clothes on, but the Savior said, "Loosen him and let him go," and they
took the napkin from his head, the winding sheets from about his body
and the man was free. Do not go about in a winding sheet! Put off the
old man, with his deeds, and put on the new man. The Lord help you so
to do!

You are alive–then another exhortation is, get up and work. You are
alive unto God. Are you so alive that you mean to sit down and take it
quietly? Are you going to Heaven in an easy chair? You have climbed up
the Gospel coach, sat down on the box seat and you say that you mean to
sit there as long as you live? Oh, you good-for-nothing wretch! Do not
talk about being saved! Why, you are not yet saved from selfishness!
When we are really saved, we begin to love other people as well as to
love God and we desire with all our might to spend and to be spent in
the Lord's service. You do not suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ came
here to be a lackey to the lazy, do you? We are not saved by works, but
if we have not works, we are not saved! We are saved by Grace, but
Grace makes us a people zealous for good works! God grant that this
purpose of mercy may be fulfilled in each one of us who was dead, but
is now alive!

You are alive, now, therefore glorify Him who quickened you. If I had
lived in the days of our Lord, I would have liked, if it had been
possible, to have had a cup of tea with Lazarus. I think that I would
have asked him down to my house and would have said to him, "Lazarus,
tell me all about your resurrection. You were dead and your sisters
buried

you, and Martha said to the Lord Jesus, 'By this time he stinks: for he
has been dead four days.' Tell me, did you really hear that voice that
said, 'Lazarus, come forth,' and did you know the sweet tones of the
dear Master's call? Were you dead and did that sound bring life with
it? How did you feel when you found yourself lying on that cold stone
shelf in the sepulcher, and when the light came streaming in where
there had been a stone, before, to shut it out? Do you remember how you
felt when you shuffled out and came from the sepulcher all wrapped up
in the grave clothes?" "Oh!" Lazarus would say, "my dear Brother, I
cannot tell you much about these things, but I remember that the first
thing I saw, when they took the napkin off my eyes, was that blessed
Man, my Lord and my God! And I knew that He had raised me from the
dead, and I felt that I could lie at His feet and die again of
overwhelming love! I loved Him so–for He had raised me from the dead!
Do not talk about me, speak about Him! Go forth and preach about Him to
others, wherever you have an opportunity! Say that He raised me from
the dead, that He can raise others from the dead, and He can make death
yield up all his spoils, through the power of His resurrection life!"

That is what I want all you, who are spiritually alive, to do–go forth
and tell what Jesus has done in raising the dead to life!

I have finished when I have said just this word to the unsaved. Trust
Jesus. Trust Him now! Come to Him, now, even by one gracious stride of
faith, for He is able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto
God by Him!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: Ephesians 4.

Verse 1. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you. Paul puts
force into the argument by his manner of speaking. You can hear in his
words the rattle of his chains! Here is a man who, for Christ's sake,
has lost his liberty and who, for that reason, pleads with his fellow
Christians. "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you"–

1. That you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. "Do
not dishonor the good cause. Let not your lives bring disgrace upon
Christ–if you are called Christians–be Christians."

2. With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one
another in love. This is the very spirit of Chris-tianity–to be able
to bear and forbear, to be gentle–not to be selfish or self-seeking,
or angry and passionate, but full of lowliness and meekness. Brothers
and Sisters, do not seek the highest place! If you do, you will at
least have a contested election, for many want that position. But if
you choose the lowest place, you shall have it, and nobody will try to
run in opposition to you. There is always plenty of room in the lowly
places and there is peace there! Let me whisper to you– they are
really the highest places in the Church of God! If we will go down, we
shall ascend! But if we are striving to be great–to be masterful–we
shall not gain the ends we are seeking and we shall not honor our
Master.

3. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond ofpeace.
That is a living ligature which binds the members of the body together.
Try to keep in one spirit, united by "the bond of peace."

4. There is one body. Christ never had two.

4. And one Spirit. There never were two Holy Spirits. The one Spirit
that quickened the whole Church of Christ is by Himself, alone.

4. Even as you are called in one hope of your calling. You have only
one ground of confidence and you have only one Heaven in which you hope
to meet all your fellow Believers.

5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. There is only one Lord in the
Christian Church! And there is only one faith. There may be many forms
of faith, but there is only one true faith. "One baptism." There may be
many baptisms, so-called, but there can be only one that is the true
baptism.

6. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in
you all. So that if we are one in all these things, we ought to be one
in a hearty affection towards one another!

7. But unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of
the gift of Christ. That is, to every one of us who are members of His
mystical body. The living members of the living body receive according
to each one's function and place in the body a measure of Grace for the
benefit of the whole.

8-10. Therefore He says, When He ascended on high, He led captivity
captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now this, "He ascended," what is it
but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He
who descended is the same, also,

who ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things).
When He received gifts for men, and gave them to men, what did He give?

11. And he gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. Different gifts to
different races.

12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ. The early Church could not have
been without Apostles and we cannot do without Evangelists. May the
Lord send many faithful men who will range over the whole country
preaching the Word! Neither can we do without pastors and teachers and
it is idle to attempt to do so. Would God we had many more of the sort
that Jesus gives! Those whom men make are worth nothing, but those whom
Jesus gives are worth everything!

13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ. When all Christian people shall be well
developed, mature, then the whole body of Christ will come unto the
stature of a perfect man. When will that be? There are some who are
always looking for the perfect Church of Christ, but they have not seen
it, yet. When Eve was in the making, Adam did not see her–it was only
when she was complete that she became visible–and today the real
Church of Christ is only in the making! When she has been fashioned out
of the side of Christ, then she will be presented to Him without spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing. All the various agencies which God has
appointed are working together for the fashioning of this perfect body
of the Church.

Meanwhile, it is equally true that all Believers are intended to grow
"unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Some of
them are, in spiritual things, only like children of a span long.
Others are but as boys and girls in the streets of Jerusalem, while
some are half-developed men and women! Oh, that we could all come "unto
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ!" You know how the
sergeants stand the recruits against a wall and then measure them to
see whether they are up to the army standard. Now stand upright and see
whether you have come "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ." Alas! How very short we are! Oh, that we could grow! Spirit
of God, make us more like Christ!

14. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and
cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. There are
plenty of so-called Christians of that sort, nowadays, who are too weak
to know anything for themselves. They are not settled and grounded–the
last person who comes near them and pulls their ear a little hard,
turns their head his way. The next person who will pull their ear a
little harder, will turn their head another way! Be no longer children,
I beseech you, Brothers and Sisters, but be men and women–know what
you know–hold it with the tenacious grip of a Divinely-implanted faith
and God help you to escape from those who lie in wait to deceive!

15. 16. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all
things, which is the Head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly
joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies,
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Every part of
the body supplies something that is essential to the whole. There are
certain sacs and vessels, the use of which we cannot tell. Even the
best anatomist does not know what are their uses, but he does know that
if they are not there, health cannot be maintained and, in some
instances, life, itself, would expire if some vessel, quite
insignificant, should be taken away! Let us believe that all God's
people are essential to the completion of the body of Christ and that
all the workers and all the sufferers, too, are needed to make up the
Church of which Christ is the Head.

17-19. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their
mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness
of their heart: who being past feeling–That is a dreadful condition
for anyone to reach! Let us pray to God to save us from that terrible
state of heart!

19. Have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness. Oh, dear Friends, we must come away from
everything that is impure and unclean! May we never, by any conduct of
ours, give countenance to un-chastity and impurity! Christian people
must be clear of these things!

20-25. But you have not so learned Christ; if so be that you have heard
Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you
put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,

and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new
man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Therefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor:
for we are members, one of another. They who lie in jest will find out
that God puts it down as sinning in earnest. Let us never attempt to
deceive. In the East, in olden times, and I might say as much of the
present day, it was not usually reckoned a great sin to lie–the great
evil was when the liars were discovered. Oh, but the Christian man must
be true in every word that he speaks. He must faithfully keep his
promises and be known to be a trustworthy, reliable man. If you are not
true, Christ will not acknowledge you as belonging to Him.

26. Be you angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
If ever angry, be only angry with evil and never retain anger in your
heart. It must not last more than a day. They say that a wasp's sting
dies at night, so, let every resentful thought die away as the sun
sets.

27. Neither give place to the devil. He will knock at your door and try
to get in, but do not offer him a chair. If he forces his company upon
you, let him know he is not welcome!

28. Let him who stole steal no more. If he has only been a petty
pilferer, "Let him who stole steal no more." He that steals a pin will
one day steal an ox if he can.

28. But rather let him labor. If he must have something that he does
not at present possess, this is the way to get it– not by stealing
it–but by laboring for it.

28. Working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to
give to him that needs. Observe that our trade must be a right one, not
one that injures others–"Working with his hands the thing which is
good." But what a remarkable verse this is! A man has been a thief and
he is to go and get to work! What for? To supply his own necessities?
Yes, but he is to rise to something higher than that! He is to work
"that he may have, to give to him that needs." What changes the Grace
of God makes in a man! He who once took from other people is taught to
work that he may give to other people! This is, indeed, a turning of
things the right side uppermost.

29. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Do not
utter a dirty or corrupt word, no, though it has a merry jest appended
to it, do not speak it! "He pares his apple who would cleanly feed," is
a good proverb. Take away all that is corrupt about the story.

29. But that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister
Grace unto the hearers. What sweet talking there would be if we all
spoke in this way–to "minister Grace unto the hearers!" Ah, then, my
dear Friends, it would not matter how much we talked, if every word
were salted with salt.

30. But grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto
the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit's being in you is your seal that
you are the child of God–and the power by which you will be preserved
till the resurrection! Therefore, do not grieve that blessed Spirit.

31. 32. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be you kind, one
to another. "Kind" is a good old Saxon word! It means kinned. Be you
kind, like men who are akin to one another–look on all men as your
brothers!

32. Tenderhearted, forgiving one another. You will have something that
will need to be forgiven, and your brother will have something which
you will need to forgive.

32. Even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. The Lord write
all these words upon our hearts, for Christ's sake! Amen.