Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Spirit and the flesh, no more contest against sin. God has prepared a glorious kingdom, where they who have overcome this present evil world shall suffer no more, neither contend any more: for therein "dwelleth righteousness," and "the wicked cease from troubling."

LECTURE LXXV.

THE METHOD BY WHICH FAITH IN CHRIST
OVERCOMES THE WORLD.

1 JOHN v. 5.

5. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

In the preceding verse St. John had stated, that the sincere Christian, the man born of God, has a contest to maintain, a victory to achieve he must oppose and conquer the world in which he lives and moves. Because that world has objects which would divert him from the allegiance he owes to God: objects which he must only follow, as far as they agree with God's commands and are consistent with his service.

This the apostle had said before. Now he proceeds farther, and affirms that the Christian alone does enter upon this contest and obtain this victory.

Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Such is the hold which the world and the things that are in the world retain over the heart, even when they can no longer please or profit, that all except the followers of Christ Jesus, instead of overcoming the world, by the world are overcome.

Consider such persons: such as are described by the phrase," children of this generation; " seeking their portion here, and looking for nothing beyond. Take the covetous man, for example: one who is wise in his own conceit, and who pleads that riches purchase comforts and gratifications, and therefore he is seeking riches. Then, in proportion as he has obtained these, and has procured comforts; or in proportion as he grows older, and has less time to enjoy comforts, he will be less and less eager to increase his store. So we might suppose; but it is not so in fact he does not overcome the world, but the world overcomes him even when it can never profit him. On the brink of the grave he still seeks more of that for which the grave has no use: and employs the last remainder of his strength to grasp some addition to his treasures. This is neither wise nor reasonable but it is notoriously true. Common sense or reason does not overcome the world.

Observe another class; those who indulge their sensual appetites and passions. See their health declining: their fortune wasted away: their prospects blighted their conscience stinging them their hearts wretched, confessedly wretched: so as to envy,

sometimes, the brute animal that sports before them. Yet they proceed in their unhappy course; sink lower and lower: the impure are hurried away by temptations, against which they have made, perhaps, repeated vows: and the intemperate still lift to their lips the cup, which they own to be the cup of poison. The understanding, alone, cannot conquer passion : or Herod would have put away Herodias. A sense of present evils cannot change the heart, or Pharaoh would have released the Israelites.

And

The case is much the same with the lovers of what is called pleasure. Day after day they complain of fatigue, of weariness: of the dullness of their amusements and the trouble which they cost: yet they travel the same beaten road: trying from week to week to excite an appetite which is palled, and to satisfy tastes which are insatiable: but not leaving these vanities for things more reasonable, or relinquishing the tracks which they have found so wearisome. Because a new taste, a new desire must be excited, before the old one can be overcome. these have not that new desire. So that St. John's question is answered by experience, Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? He does not overcome the world, who opposes it by any worldly arguments. The world cannot overcome the world. Nor he who employs against it any carnal weapons. The flesh cannot overcome the flesh. Reason does not overcome it. Reason falls prostrate before passion. Expediency does not overcome it: in spite of certain danger or clear advantage, the force of evil habits

prevails, and the man rushes headlong on foreseen destruction. There is only one power which is able to overcome the world; even our faith.

Because two things are needful, that the victory be obtained. There must be, both the мOTIVE to attempt it, and the POWER to effect it.

may

First, there must be motive.

All present things must have great influence over beings constituted like man. And this world is present. Its advantages are seen and felt. And the goods which it possesses and offers, are such as gratify our nature. When it proposes an object to us, there are appetites, passions, inclinations, and tastes within ourselves, which make that object pleasant and desirable. Thus the enemy against which we are to contend, is both powerful in himself, and has an ally within the walls, ready to betray all into his hands. There is "a law in our members warring against the law of God, and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin."

"That

which is born of the flesh, is flesh :" things carnal are congenial to it; to follow them is the smooth and easy road.

There must, then, be some force, equal to the occasion; able to conquer the opposite force; able to resist the influence and subdue the power of the world which would enslave the heart, and of the heart which is disposed towards the world.

Now he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God, has such an effectual motive. The Son of God, he who was with God in the beginning, and who was God; he who is one with the Father, “the brightness of his glory and the express image of his per

ness!"

son:" he left "the glory which he had with the Father before the world was," that he might make us the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life. The Christian says, This he did for me. How great must have been my necessity! How grievous my natural state, as a part of that world which is enmity against God, and "lieth in wickedThe costliness of the remedy proves the danger of the disease. With this example before my eyes, how can I pursue the things of the world, as the first thing needful; how seek "the friendship of the world" rather than the divine favour; how yield to "the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life," to deliver me from which the Son of God came down from heaven? Men may say, that the end or consequences of sin as revealed in Scripture, that "the worm which dieth not, and the fire which is never quenched, and the blackness of darkness for ever," are words of figurative ter- · ror which describe nothing real or substantial. But the Christian argues, Whatever may be concealed under these figures, it was sin which nailed my Saviour to the cross; it was sin which pierced his hands and feet; it was sin which made him melt in speechless agony; it was sin which drew from him his expiring words, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And with this living proof, this fact before his eyes, can he venture upon sin, as that which God will not notice, as that which no evil follows? Surely if one believes that Jesus who suffered on the cross is the Son of God, by that cross sin is crucified to him, and he to sin.

« AnteriorContinuar »