Idolatry Condemned

Idolatry Condemned

(No. 3071)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1907.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 6, 1874.

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." 1 John 5:21.

THIS is the conclusion of one of the most mysterious, most simple and
yet most sublime of all the Divinely-inspired Books. And we may
naturally expect that the closing verse of the Epistle will have great
weight in it. This seems to be the practical conclusion of the whole
matter upon which John had been writing, "Little children, keep
yourselves from idols." This Epistle is specially perfumed with love.
As you read it, you cannot help realizing that it was written by a very
tender, gentle hand and yet, when this loving writer is giving has last
words in this Epistle, the admonition with which he closes is this,
"Little children, keep yourselves from idols." As love thus speaks in
its fullness, let us be ready to give earnest attention to the message
which it utters. John has, in this Epistle, written much concerning the
love of Jesus, as well he might, for he knew more about that love than
any other man knew. And yet, when he had written concerning love to
Jesus, he was moved to an intense jealousy lest, by any means, the
hearts of those to whom he wrote should be turned aside from that dear
Lover of their souls who deserved their entire affection and,
therefore, not only love to them, but also love to Jesus, made him wind
up his letter with these significant words, "Little children, keep
yourselves from idols."

I. My first observation shall be concerning THE TITLE UNDER WHICH WE
ARE HERE ADDRESSED–"Little children."

I do not think that John meant, literally, to address little children.
Nor do I think he merely referred to a certain class of Believers who
are very little in Grace and, therefore, are called "babes" in contrast
to those who are men in Christ. I think he addressed himself to the
whole body of Believers to whom he was writing and, through them, that
he addressed the whole Church of Christ when he wrote, "Little
children, keep yourselves from idols."

This is, first, a title of deep affection. The Christian Church is the
home of Christian love. When it is what it should always be, it is a
family–it is "the household of faith," of which God Himself is the
Father, the Lord Jesus is the Elder Brother, and all the members are
Brothers and Sisters–all equal, all one in Christ Jesus, all seeking
to serve the rest, laying themselves out to be servants to the whole
band of Brothers and Sisters in Christ. It seems most appropriate that
an aged Apostle, such as John doubtless was when he wrote this Epistle,
should have looked round upon the younger members of the Lord's family
and should have called them, "little children." And when we recollect
how much he knew and, above all, how much he had seen of Jesus, how he
had fallen at the feet of his glorified Lord as one who was dead, and
then had had the pierced hand of Jesus laid upon him to raise him
up–when we remember how he had heard the blowing of the seven trumpets
and seen the pouring out of the seven vials, how he had beheld a door
opened in Heaven, how he had counted the foundations of the glorious
City and gazed within its streets of gold, and heard the music of the
celestial harps–I do not wonder that such a man with such a mind and
heart, so full of God, must, as he looked upon the rest of his
brethren, have regarded them, without any egotism, as still remaining
as "little children." It is a familiar, endearing mode of speech such
as I think should often be coming from the lips of aged saints. At any
rate, if our expressions are not exactly the same as John's, the love
to which the expression was thus given should burn in each one of our
hearts. Like as a father loves his children, so should the pastor love
his flock, so should the teacher love his class– and he may speak to
them in such terms as these, "My little children."

Mark, next, that in this title there is much that indicates good. John
calls those to whom he wrote, "children"– children of God, he means
and he calls them "little children." Now, it is a good thing to be even
little children in Christ, for this is an indication that the new birth
has taken place! If this is the case with us, we are not now men or
women in sin, but children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. What a
priceless privilege it is to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit! There
is a so-called "regeneration" by a priestly ceremony which leaves the
man or the child as unregenerate as he was before the ceremony had been
performed! But the regeneration by the Holy Spirit entirely changes the
nature of the pea-son concerned and bestows upon him or her a new heart
and a right spirit. To have this high privilege is to have one of the
choicest gifts of Heaven–indeed, it is that which is essential to the
enjoyment of all other blessings! So, however humble the title, "little
children," may be, it is an indication of much good, for it is no small
thing to be a little child in Christ Jesus and to be able even to lisp,
as a little child might, "Abba, Father," and to say, with all the rest
of God's family, "Our Father, who are in Heaven."

The title, "little children," also indicates the humility of those who
are rightly called by that name. A little child is not proud. He
meddles not with high things. He is content to sit at his father's feet
or to lie in his mothers bosom. And Christians, being born-again–born
from above–become as little children, otherwise they could not enter
the Kingdom of Heaven. They were very great people once, but they are
very little now. They thought, at one time, that they were really
growing as they grew bigger in their own estimation, but now they
understand that they are growing in the best fashion when they are
growing smaller! Growing Christians reckon themselves to be nothing.
But full-grown Christians count themselves less than nothing! And when
we feel ourselves to be "less than the least of all saints," then we
are indeed making good progress in the Divine Life. To grow less and
less in your own esteem is the right kind of growth. Naturally, we grow
up from childhood to manhood but, spiritually, we grow down from
manhood to childhood–yet it is not really growing down, but growing up
as we increase in humility.

Moreover, this title denotes teachableness. A little child will go to
school. A little child is not above learning its letters. We cannot
often get men to do this, especially in spiritual things. They are so
crusted over with prejudice that they think they know all they need to
know, yet it is little that they do know, and even that little is
wrong, yet it is enough to keep them from being willing to be taught
what they really need to learn! Truly blessed is the man who is a
little child in relation to God. I believe that very often great
knowledge and more especially great pretensions to knowledge of science
and philosophy, stand in men's way and prevent them from learning what
is most worth learning. God forbid that I should say anything in praise
of ignorance! Yet I think that I might, in spiritual things, give it
greater praise than I could give to "philosophy" or "science," falsely
so-called. Happy and wise were the shepherds to whom the angels came
and sang and spoke concerning the birth of Jesus, for in their
simplicity, they went straight away to Bethlehem and found the newborn
King! But the wise men (happy, too, for a star came to guide them), in
their very wisdom seemed to make mistakes, for they went to Jerusalem
and enquired, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews?" And so, for
a time, they lost their way–and caused Herod to seek the life of the
Holy Child Jesus! Well did Augustine say, "Shepherds and artisans often
enter the Kingdom of Heaven while wise men and scholars are fumbling to
find the latch." Know all you can that is really worth knowing but,
with your knowledge, mind that you have the child-like spirit without
which all your knowledge will be of little service to you! After all,
there is not much difference between those who are called wise men and
those who know but little, for the wisest of men really know but
little–and if they are truly wise, they know that they know but
little.

There are some, nowadays, who think themselves to be such wise men that
they even pretend to know more than God knows, or has revealed to us in
His Word. They sit upon the throne of judgment and call God, Himself,
before them and arraign Him, rejudge His judgments and profess to be
the god of God! Such "wise" men are the most credulous fools of the
age! I pity the poor creatures who believe in popish miracles, but I
have now learned to think that those who can believe in such frauds are
not half such idiots as the men who try to teach us that inanimate
matter has fashioned itself into those marvelously beautiful shapes in
which we see it all over this wondrous world which God created "in the
beginning." Set these "wise"men up on a pinnacle in the center of the
court of fools and let the biggest fools' caps that were ever made be
placed upon their heads! When they sneer at the credulity of Believers
in Christ, we can tell them to look at home, for there are none who are
so credulous as they are! And let us still come to God's Book as little
children who are willing to be taught by God's Spirit all that God's
Son has to say to our hearts.

And little, children, too, have faith. What a great deal of faith they
usually have and how wicked it is for anyone ever to trifle with the
faith of little children! It is really scandalous when nurses and
others tell little children idle tales and foolish stories which the
children believe to be true. We should be very careful and jealous
concerning the faith which a little child has in its elders and never
do or say anything to weaken their belief. Little children have a very
beautiful faith, especially when the word of their father is concerned.
They know that what he says is true. They laugh at the idea that their
father would ever tell a lie. Let us be little children of that sort
towards God, unquestioningly believing whatever He says to us–not
asking how or why it is so but, being quite prepared to be told that we
cannot yet understand everything and that all we have to do is
implicitly believe all that our Heavenly Father says. If it is God who
speaks, believe what He says and say with the confidence of a little
child, "My Father cannot lie."

So far, we see that it is a good thing to be called little children.
But I think there is another view of the matter which we must not
forget, for the title also implies weakness. "Little children"–that is
all we are at the very best–little children are very apt to be led
astray and so are we. We all of us feel the influence of others and we
sometimes feel it more than we would like to confess. And it is a
singular thing that probably there are no persons who are so much
influenced by others as those who themselves influence others. The
leaders are often those who are most led and, therefore, we need to be
extremely cautious. Surrounded as we are by hosts of idolaters, we are
all too apt to be swayed by their example, so John says to us, "Little
children, do not be led into evil by those who are around you. Try to
be men in this respect and dare to do right even if you stand alone.
Stand fast and quit yourselves like men. Be not carried about by every
wind that blows, but stand like a mighty rock that is immovable."

Little children, too have this weakness, that they have need, as a
rule, of something to see. You cannot teach them so well in any other
way as you can by pictures and models. That tendency is also manifest
in us spiritually–we have a craving for signs and symbols. The great
mass of people–even Christian people–need something or other that
they can see. Like Israel in the wilderness, they say, "Make us gods
which shall go before us." If they cannot have a god in some visible
shape, then they need some ceremony, some ritual, something or other
that is not purely spiritual. As the girl wants her doll and the boy
his rocking horse, so those who are little children in spiritual things
seem to need some article which they can see and touch. Oh that we were
men enough to believe in the spiritual–to be content with God's
Revelation without needing anything symbolical except the two grand
symbols which Christ has given us in His two ordinances–and never
putting even those out of their proper place, much less wishing to
overlay them with any adornments of our own, but worshipping Him, who
is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth and yielding ourselves up to the
guidance of His gracious Spirit, who will teach us how to worship God
acceptably!

Little children also have a very bounded range. Put a little child down
with a few broken platters and a little dirt, and he will amuse himself
by the hour together! It does not seem to strike him that he may grow
up to be a man and have to work for his living, or manage big business
like his father does. It is, under some aspects, a great blessing to be
such a child as that, but it is a pity that we are so prone to be thus
childish spiritually. We are so much engrossed in the present that if
we have a little trouble we fret over it as if that trouble would last
for years! If we meet with a little discouragement, we are worried by
it and seem to forget the Heaven that is awaiting us, the God who rules
over all, the Divine Comforter who is always near us and the unerring
Wisdom which will bring good out of evil. Our sphere of observation is
too confined–we are too much taken up with the present and do not turn
our eyes across the gulf of time to that fair Glory Land where the day
has broken and the shadows have forever flown away. Little children, it
is because of this special weakness of yours that the Apostle has said,
"Keep yourselves from idols."

II. This remark brings me to the second part of my subject which is
this–THE WARNING WHICH IS DIRECTED TO US. "Keep yourselves from
idols."

I hope that I need not say to you, dear Friends, Keep yourselves from
all sorts of visible idols, for I trust that you abhor them as much as
I do. Yet in this present age, idol temples are being set up almost
everywhere by our Ritualistic clergy! And a form of idolatry that is on
a par with the fetishism of ignorant Africans has come back to this
land, for they make a god out of a bit of bread. And after worshipping
their idol, eat it up–a process which can only be fitly described in
such sarcasm as Elijah would have poured upon it if he could have stood
in the midst of these modem priests of Baal as he stood among their
prototype of old! Keep yourselves, Beloved, from all their idols! Pay
no reverence to them, nor to their so-called "priests." It is strange
that now, when men have open Bibles and can read them, there should
come back to us the old idolatry which our fathers abhorred and which
even in the days of dim religious light, their ancestors could not
endure. Do not endure it for a moment, but make your protest against it
every day in the most earnest possible manner! Let the cry ring out to
any Christians who are mingled with the idolaters, "Come out from among
them, and be you separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing." God will surely punish this land and every other land where
these or any other idols are set up!

But to you, dear Friends, I must speak concerning other idols. First,
keep yourselves from worshipping yourselves. Alas, how many fall into
this gross sin! Some do it by indulgence at the table. How much of
eating and especially of drinking, is there which, correctly speaking,
is nothing better than gluttony and drunkenness! There are professing
Christians who, perhaps, never are regarded as intoxicated, yet they
sip, and sip, and sip until if they do not lose the control of their
brain, they cause observers to raise the question whether they ever had
any at all! It is almost a pity for some professing Christians that
they can thus indulge themselves at home, for if like working men, they
had to go home from the tippling-shop, it would soon be discovered that
they were scarcely able to walk straight and the evil habit might be
cured! It is a scandalous thing when there is such a sin as this in the
Church of God. And as it has been known, I urge all of you, Beloved, to
see to it that you offer no sacrifices to gluttony, nor pour out
libations to Bacchus–for if you do, you prove that you are idolaters
worshipping your own bellies and that God's love dwells not within you.

There are others who worship themselves by living a life of indolence.
They have nothing to do and they seem to do it very thoroughly. They
take their ease and that is the main thing in which they take any
interest. They flit from pleasure to pleasure, from show to show, from
vanity to vanity as if this life were only a garden in which
butterflies might fly from flower to flower, and not a sphere where
serious work was to be done and all-important business for eternity was
to be accomplished. Worship not yourselves by trifling as these
indolent people do!

Some worship themselves by decorating their bodies most elaborately.
Their first and their last thought being, "What shall we wear?" Fall
not into that idolatry!

Then there are some people who make idols of their wealth Getting money
seems to be the main purpose of their lives. Now it is right that a
Christian man should be diligent in business–he should not be second
to anybody in the diligence with which he attends to the affairs of
this life. But it is always a pity when we can be truthfully told,
"So-and-So is getting richer every year, but he has also gotten
stingier. He gives less now than he gave when he had only half as much
as he now has." We occasionally meet with people like the man who, when
he was comparatively poor, gave his guinea–but when he grew rich, he
only gave a shilling. His explanation was that when he had a shilling
purse, he had a guinea heart, but when he had a guinea purse, he found
that he had only a shilling heart. But it is always a pity when hearts
grow smaller as means grow greater. Remember, dear Friends, that it
will be only a little while before you must leave all that you have.
What is the use of your having it at all unless you really enjoy it and
how can you so truly enjoy it as by laying it at your Savior's feet and
using it for His Glory? There is certainly more lasting enjoyment to be
gained out of the unrighteous mammon in this way than in any other that
I ever heard of–this is the testimony of those who have tried it and
proved it to be so. I trust that none of you will worship the golden
calf.

Some worship the pursuit which they have undertaken. They give their
whole soul up to their art, or their particular calling, whatever it
may be. In a certain sense, this is a right thing to do, yet we must
never forget that the first and great commandment is, "You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your mind." This must always have the first place.

Let me here touch a very tender point. There are some who make idols of
their dearest relatives and friends. Some have done this with their
children. I remember reading a story of a good man who seemed as if he
could never forgive God for taking away his child. He sat in a Quakers'
meeting bowed down and sorrowful. His time of deliverance came when a
Sister rose, uttered these words, "Verily, I perceive that children are
idols," and then resumed her seat. Such a message as that is often
needed–yet it is a pity that it should be. Make no idol of your child,
or your wife, or your husband, for by putting them into Christ's place,
you really provoke Him to take them from you! Love them as much as you
please–I would that some loved their children, their husbands, or
their wives more than they do–but always love them in such a fashion
that Christ shall have the first place in your hearts!

The catalog of idols that we are apt to worship is a very long one.
Hindus are said to have many millions of idols and it would take me a
very long while to make a list of the various forms which the idolatry
of the heart will take, but in a

sentence, let me say to you–Remember that God has a right to your
whole being. There is nothing and there can be nothing which ought to
be supreme in your affections but your Lord. And if you worship any
thingor any ideal, whatever it may be, if you love that more than you
love your God, you are an idolater, and you are disobeying the command
of the text, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." So pray to
Him, with Toplady–

"The idols tread beneath Your feet,

And to Yourself the conquest get–

Let sin no more oppose my Lord,

Slain by the Spirit's two-edged sword." I would say to you, Beloved, in
closing my observations upon this point–in the matter of your faith,
be sure to keep yourselves from the idol of the hour Some of us have
lived long enough to see the world's idols altered any number of times.
Just now, in some professedly Christian churches, the idol is
"intellectualism," "culture," "modern thought." Whatever name it bears,
it has no right to be in a Christian church, for it believes very
little that appertains to Christ! Now, I have some sort of respect for
a downright honest infidel, like Voltaire or Tom Paine, but I have none
for the man who goes to college to be trained for the Christian
ministry and then claims to be free to doubt the Deity of Christ, the
need of conversion, the punishment of the wicked and other Truths of
God that seem to me to be essential to a full proclamation of the
Gospel of Christ. Such a man must have strange views of honesty–and so
has the minister who goes into a pulpit and addresses people when he
knows that he does not believe any of the Doctrines that are dearer to
them than their own lives! Yet the moment he is called to account for
his unbelief, he cries out, "Persecution! Persecution! Bigotry!
Bigotry!" A burglar, if I found him outside my bedroom door and held
him till the Policeman came, might consider me to be very bigoted
because I did not care to have my property stolen by him and because I
interfered with his liberty. So, in like manner, I am called bigoted
because I will not allow a man to come and assail, from my own pulpit,
the Truths which are dearer to me than my life! I am quite willing to
give that man liberty to go and publish his views somewhere else, and
at his own expense, but it shall not be done at my expense, nor in the
midst of a congregation gathered by me for the worship of God and the
proclamation of His Truths as they are revealed in the Scriptures! Keep
yourselves from this idol of the times, for it is the precursor of
death to any church that gives it admittance.

Unitarianism, to which this so-called liberality of thought always
goes, is a religion of a parasitical kind. It flourishes by feeding
upon the life of other churches, just as the ivy clings to the oak and
sucks the life out of it. Let us tear this ivy down wherever we find it
beginning its deadly work! Believe me, my Brothers and Sisters, that
the Church of Christ, if not the world, shall yet learn that the
highest culture is a heart that is cultivated by Divine Grace! That the
truest science is the science of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified! That
the greatest thought and the deepest of all metaphysics are found at
the foot of the Cross! That the men who will keep on simply and
earnestly preaching the old-fashioned Gospel–and the people who will
stand fast in the old paths are they who will most certainly win the
victory! When those who are sailing in a frail boat–which they or
their fellow sinners have constructed without a rudder and without a
pilot at the helm–when, I say, theyshall drift away and be dashed to
pieces upon the rocks–they who trust in the Lord and have Him as their
Pilot shall be kept clear of the rocks on which others have made
shipwreck, and shall be safely steered into the haven of peace–and
there be at rest forever!

Many of us are about to gather around the Communion Table to celebrate
the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This ordinance should
help us to keep ourselves from idols, for if there is any place where
idols disappear, it is at the foot of the Cross! Look, by faith, at
your Lord and Savior as He hung upon the accursed tree–

"See from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down!

Did ever such love and sorrow meet,

Or thorns compose so rich a crown??" Can you give your heart's
affection to any idol after that? Has not Christ so engrossed your
warmest love that no earthly charms have any power to allure you away
from Him? Are you not, as it were, fastened up by His nails? Is not
your heart pierced with His spear? Are you not so crucified with Christ
that the world is dead to you and you are dead to the world? Do you
think Jesus lived for self? What provision did He make for the flesh,
to fulfill the lusts thereof? Was not His whole life one of self-denial
and self-renunciation? What idol did He ever set up? To what objective
did He devote His life? Did

He seek fame? Did He labor for earthly honor and glory? Did He hoard up
wealth? Did He say to the man of the world, "Applaud MM"? Was He turned
aside from His purpose by either the frowning or the fawning of men?
You know that it was not so! Then you who have been washed in His
blood, follow Him! O you who are called by His name, do not blaspheme
that name among the Gentiles by idolatry of any kind! Bring out your
idols if you have hidden them as Rachel hid her father's images in the
camel's furniture–bring them all out and let them be broken in pieces
at the foot of the Cross, or be ground to powder as Moses treated the
golden calf that his brother Aaron had made! O Jesus, where You are,
who can worship any but You? If He came and lodged in your house, that
child of yours would not be adored as it now is. If He always dwelt
there, you would not pamper yourself as you now do. If you could see
Him as He is, you must admit Him to reign within your heart. Well, let
it be so as you now, by faith, gaze upon Him. And as these dear
memorials of His broken body and His blood are fed upon by you and you
remember Him, do with all your idols as the Ephesians did with their
magical books–bring them out and let them be burned–a blessed
holocaust in honor of Him who "has loved us, and has given Himself an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor." Sing with
Cowper, and let the prayer ascend to your Lord from the very depths of
your heart–

"The dearest idol I have known,

Whatever that idol be,

Help me to tear it from Your Throne,

And worship only Thee!

So shall my walk be close with God,

Calm and serene my frame,

So purer light shall mark the road

That leads me to the Lamb."

God bless you. And if any of you are living without Christ, perhaps it
is some beloved idol that is keeping you from Him. If so, may you be
delivered from its thralldom by coming to Jesus right now, for His dear
name's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 JOHN 5.

Verse 1. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.
Where there is real faith in Jesus Christ as the Anointed of God, there
is the evidence that the new birth has taken place. Let the first, the
best and the clearest proof of our regeneration be the fact that we do
verily and in our heart believe that Jesus is the Christ!

1. And everyone who loves Him that begot, loves Him also that is
begotten of Him. If we really love God with our whole heart, we must
equally love Jesus Christ. And we shall also love all His people, for
they are one with Him.

2. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love
Godandkeep His commandments. For love leads to imitation. If we truly
love the children of God, we shall imitate them. And they are known by
these distinguishing characteristics–that they love their Heavenly
Father and keep His commandments.

3. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His
commandments are not grievous. Obedience is the flower of love. Where
obedience to God does not exist, no love to God exists. It is a mockery
for us to talk about emotions of the heart if there are not actions
that correspond with them.

4. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. The new life is the
conquering life. The old must give place to the new. The world that is
one day to be finally overthrown, is already overcome by the child of
God.

4. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith For
it brings a better and brighter world before us and, opening to us the
eternal, takes away from us the charms and allurements of the temporal.

5. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus
is the Son of God?No one else can overcome the world. But where there
is true faith in Christ, it creates within the heart a holy valor by
which the conquest of the world is achieved. The Law tells us to
overcome the world, but the Gospel of God's Grace enables us to do it.
The legal spirit knows that it ought to conquer the world, but the
evangelical spirit does conquer it.

6. This is He that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by
water only, but by water and blood. Andit is the Spirit that bears
witness, because the Spirit is truth The cleansing of the outward life
does not stand alone, but it is accompanied by the putting away of sin
from the heart. The two must go together and no man will ever rightly
value the

cleansing water unless he equally values the atoning blood. It is said
by some that the preaching of the Doctrine of the full and free
forgiveness of sin which is bestowed upon all who exercise faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, will load men to carelessness of life. But it has
quite the opposite effect. The cleansing of the life by the sanctifying
power of the Holy Spirit through the Word, becomes incumbent upon us
when once we are washed from sin in the precious blood of Jesus. The
Atonement is the true guarantee of holiness!

7, 8. For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Spirit and these three are one. And there are three
that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood:
and these three agree in one. What a blessing it is for us to get the
witness of these three even here on earth in the new life which is
created within our souls by the Holy Spirit–the daily cleansing of our
life by that same blessed Spirit through the Word, and the continual
application by the Spirit of that precious blood by which peace is
given to the conscience and sin is put away from the

heart. [See Sermon #1187, Volume 20–THE THREE WITNESSES, for a fuller
explanation of this subject.]

9, 10. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater:
for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He
that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself.That very
faith becomes to him the best witness and he is able to confirm the
witness of his faith that he is a partaker of the salvation of Christ.

10, 11. He that believes not God has made Him a liar; because he
believes not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the
record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. That is the Gospel in brief–what Luther would have called a
little Bible containing a condensation of the whole Revelation of God.

12. He that has the Son has life; and He that has not the Son of God
has not life. He may exist. He may have that which may be called moral,
physical, or animal life–but there is such a thing as existing. Yes,
and existing forever, without even a particle of "life" in the
Apostle's sense of the word, in the Scriptural sense of the word! And
blessed and happy are those who do not merely exist, but who have, by
the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, been brought into that living
inner circle and have been made to live, really to live in Christ!

13, 14. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name
of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and
that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the
confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to
His will, He hears us.First we believe, and so we prove that we have
eternal life. Then we climb up to the full assurance of faith. From
full assurance we mount still higher to the clear conviction that God
hears prayer–and from that height we mount yet higher to the assured
confidence that He will hear our prayer!

15. 16. And if we know that He hear us, whatever we ask, we know that
we have the petitions that we desired of Him. If any man sees his
brother sin a sin which is not unto death.What then? He shall run all
over the place and tell everybody of it? Oh, no! That is not what the
Apostle says, yet I have seen something like that carried into
practice. But when I look into this Inspired Book, I do not see
anything about talking of this sin to our fellow men, but something is
said about talking of it to God! And this is what every true Christian
should do. If you see any man sin, mind that you ask for pardon for the
erring one, "If any man sees his brother sin a sin which is not unto
death."

16. He shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto
death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for
it John does not say that he may not–and as we cannot be absolutely
sure that any sin is a sin unto death, this verse does not prevent us
from praying for any man, whatever his sin may have been. John says,
writing under Inspiration, "There is a sin unto death." "What is it?"
someone asks. Ah, would you really like to know? If you did know, you
could go and commit all other sins except that one, could you not? But
would that be any help to your piety? Certainly not! You know that,
sometimes, a notice to this effect is put up as a warning, "Man-traps
and spring guns set on these premises." And do you go and knock at the
door and say, "Will you kindly tell me where the man-traps and spring
guns are?" No, for it is the fact that you do notknow where they are
that keeps you out of the premises! In like manner, somewhere in the
fields of sin, there is one great man-trap which John calls "a sin unto
death"–but you need not need to know what that sin is, nor where that
trap is set–your business is to keep as far away from allsin as you
can, whether it is unto death, or not unto death!

17. All unrighteousness is sin. If a thing is not right–if it is not
right all round, it is sin, you can be sure of that. I heard the other
day of a man who was said to be a splendid Christian God-wards, but a
wretched creature man-wards.

But there cannot be such a monstrosity as that! Such a man as that was
not a Christian at all. Our righteousness, if it is real and true, must
be an all-round righteousness towards men as well as towards God!

17, 18. And there is a sin not unto death. We know that whoever is born
of God sins not, but he that is begotten of God keeps himself and that
Wicked One touches him not That is to say sin is not the bent of his
renewed nature. It would not be a fair description of his life to say
that he was living a sinful life. There are spots in the sun, but the
sun itself is a great mass of brightness. So is it with the Christian's
life–it is not a sinful life although there are imperfections in it.

19-21. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in
wickedness. And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us
an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him
that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and
eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.