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Heroes and Artists- The Thing

Jack Kirby Early

Jack Kirby - Later

Chick Stone

John Byrne

Michael Turner

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CT reports on a theology showdown inside Young Life. Frankly, as a former YL staff guy, I am happy to see them take a stand on anything besides surviving, but the debate also makes me glad I am former. At the heart of the debate lies the question of how to handle the discussion of sin.

Tempted as I am to get into the internal YL politics of all this, I'll stay former and let it roll. I will say this; however, the question of how to present sin is much older than this recent flair. I debated it with some people 20 years ago.

It is, in my view, the key theological question facing the greater church. The concept of sin is gradually becoming watered down in our culture and eventually we will be left with a church that is mostly a self-help or group-therapy thing rather than a salvation bringer. Any more we heal, when it seems we should bring a message of re-creation.

Consider some scripture:

Gal 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Rom 6:4 - Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Our journey is not one of healing, but it is one THROUGH DEATH into life, a journey only made possible because He walks with us, and preceded us.

We seek to minimize or by-pass the through death part of that journey and we do so at great peril. Without that there is insufficient humility and the church becomes the authority, not the Word.

Consider this from the article:

When composing the Non-Negotiables document, YL leaders were evidently concerned to differentiate between style and substance. "We affirm Young Life's style is relational and incarnational," the statement reads. "This means that our proclamation of the gospel will most always proceed from the context of relationships with adolescents." The statement welcomes creativity in methodology but bolds the line, "However, while our methodology may change, our message does not."

When we alter the message, style becomes substance.

Here is an interesting thought - could new reformation be in the offing? Have we forgotten how to be "always reforming"?

Just wondering.

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After the revival had concluded, the three pastors were discussing the results with one another.

The Methodist minister said, "The revival worked out great for us! We gained four new families."

The Baptist preacher said, "We did better than that! We gained six new families."

The Presbyterian pastor said, "Well, we did even better than that! We got rid of our 10 biggest trouble makers!"

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This post by Dan Edelen sounds pretty familiar, which means I like it.

It seems to me that a good many churches out there are cults. Not like Jehovah’s Witnesses, but cults of personality. They revolve around a few dynamic individuals. Should something happen to those dynamic individuals…well, you can see the handwriting forming on the wall.

It should never be that way.

Blame it on something in the drinking water in America, but we don’t do a very good job seeing ourselves as replaceable. Worse, people in leadership positions in churches take this to the extreme and find ways to keep from grooming successors. That dog-eat-dog, business world, CEO model permeates too much of our thinking, making us resistant to doing what’s best for the church, even if that best may not be the best for us personally.

[...]

The church that makes a difference is the one that understands that nothing good from anything that hasn’t died first. In this case, the truth is that I, along with you, must die to any preconceptions I have about “my ministry.” It’s not my ministry anymore than it is yours. It’s the Lord’s. And He only works wonders when the people trust Him enough to do it His way.

When we build our churches on a handful of talented individuals, we only set ourselves up for failure. Our goal instead should be to build a church where each person is replaceable, no matter how much a person might give to the ministry of the church in terms of time, effort, and money.

You see, when we’re dead, none of that worldly striving for position matters. It no longer becomes “my ministry.” The goal isn’t to play out my ministry, but to ensure that Christ plays out His, even if it means I wind up martyred for it. Because I’m replaceable.

The thesis is dead nuts on, but I am going to pick at the details a bit. First of all, at bottom it is not "dog-eat-dog, business world, CEO model" that is the problem, it is sin. As a consultant, I have been a part of many companies, some that were competitive without being carnivorous and that was a good thing. Such competition was part of grooming the next generation of leadership. Competition is not a bad thing - the problem is when we fail to handle the "loser" with grace. All organizations have hierarchies, it is an inevitability - what we need to do is foster organizations that understand, encourage, and support the role of those lower down the org chart. There is no shame in reaching the top rung or reamining on the bottom one, unless the organization makes you think so, and then they are wrong.

One of the things that I think churches really need to learn how to do is divorce maturity from position. We think that as Christian, our spiritual maturity will lead us higher in the organization - nothing could be further from the truth. Position on an org chart has to do with gifting and ability, but it is just as possible and blessed to be a spiritually-mature janitor as it is a spiritually-mature pastor.

Frankly, in the final analysis, it is spiritually-immature pastors that are the root of the problems Dan has so correctly laid his fingers on here. It is immature leadership that creates the illusion of advancement. The immature cling to their position for worth and value instead of to the source - the Lord.

Dan is right - we are all replaceable, because the source of our abilities and capabilities, the one that holds it all together and makes it all work is not us - It is Jesus Christ through the agency of His Holy Spirit.

Personality cult churches are all too common - in fact it is a problem that invades the para-church as well. Frankly I think it accounts for the plethora of churches we have in the nation, all the splintering, all the "I'll go start my own thing."

But it is a result of sin, not competition.

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Justin Taylor Links to a "USnooze" report on religion returning to tradition.

But this shift extends beyond the Roman Catholic Church. In Richardson, Texas, the congregation of Trinity Fellowship Church participates in something that would have been considered almost heretical in most evangelical Protestant churches five or 10 years ago: a weekly Communion service. An independent, nondenominational church of some 600 members, Trinity Fellowship is not the only evangelical congregation that is offering a weekly Eucharist, saying the Nicene or Apostles' creeds, reading the early Church Fathers, or doing other things that seem downright Roman Catholic or at least high Episcopalian. Daniel Wallace, a professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, which trains pastors for interdenominational or nondenominational churches, says there is a growing appetite for something more than "worship that is a glorified Bible class in some ways."

Something curious is happening in the wide world of faith, something that defies easy explanation or quantification. More substantial than a trend but less organized than a movement, it has to do more with how people practice their religion than with what they believe, though people caught up in this change often find that their beliefs are influenced, if not subtly altered, by the changes in their practice.

This is a trend to be fostered, loved, cajoled, and in every possible way encouraged. I say this not because I am an old "stick-in-the-mud," but because the traditional and the liturgical serve very, very important roles in our faith and our personal transformation.

On the faith level, tradition keeps it alive and carries it from generation to generation. Songs and liturgy can be remembered when words cannot. If you are a life long Christian, ask yourself why it is you can still sing the Gloria Patri from memory, or recite the Lord's Prayer.

As Christian's we decry the constant shifts in society, but it is the lack of the traditional and liturgical in our greater society that makes such possible. Remember what it is we seek to pass on to future generations, not our institutions, but our faith. What was the Apostle's or Nicene Creed written for? To provide an encapsulated statement of that we wish to preserve. Liturgical recitation of same preserves them forever.

But in the personally evangelical age, there is another reason for all this that will resonate even more. The liturgical become part of us and eventually transforms us. I have personally been pulled back from leaving the faith by liturgy, specifically the liturgy of confession.

I have mentioned before here the dark time in my life when I swore Christianity was not real, and yet the Holy Spirit dragged me to church weekly. What I have not told is the role liturgy played in my restoration. Each week the Assurance of Pardon in the service was exactly the same:

God proves His amazing love for us in this, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Those words have burned into my soul and each week they worked on me - they began to come to me unbidden during the week. The became nearly omnipresent in my life, eventually they demanded reaction from me.

Was that the Holy Spirit? Of course, but He was operating through the mechanism of liturgy.

These things are not empty and trite, they are full of meaning, signifigance and import. If "seekers" do not find such, it is because we have failed to demonstrate it and teach them. Now they are left to "discover" these things on their own.

Shame on us.

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Backwoods Presbyterian looks at the overwhelming desire of seminary students to study pastoral care, and the underwhelming desire to study The Word.

Now this should be no surprise to those with any interaction with the American church whose movement into seeker-friendly and ego-smoothing churches over the past 30 years has provided us a generation of people looking to God not for salvation from eternal death but salvation from eternal unhappiness. Christ no longer is sought for his life changing death on the cross but for his ability to bring us out of the valleys and onto the mountain top in our emotional and mental health. This not only brings to us a false definition of who Christ is but also presents an untrue concept of what the Christian life looks like. [emphasis added]

In the end, I am a both/and kind of guy when it comes to this sort of thing, but I am convinced that my friend here is onto something when it comes to giving a false impression of what the Christian life is supposed to look like. The church is not a dispensary for for happiness.

That said, I have been a part of too many churches that were void of any sort of concern for the mental health and well-being of its congregants.

Now, what is really at issue in this post is something that strikes at the very heart of why people go into ministry. I was such a person, so I am not speaking out of turn here. Too many people go into ministry, or at least study for ministry not out of a sense of calling, but out of a sense of trying to find/complete/or otherwise fix themselves. Thus, I think the huge interest in pastoral counseling in seminaries. The same thing is true for the psychological profession in general, people get into it for themselves instead of for their patients.

Two things matter a lot in this circumstance. One is the need to build disciples, that is to say people who understand that ministry is other-focused.

The second thing is we need to work harder at weeding such people out in the ministry qualification process. The PC(USA) has very elaborate systems for this kind of thing, but they are used only as a formality anymore. Sessions have abdicated their responsibilities to lead and train those that think they are called to ministry. Rubber stamps are the order of the day.

I wonder if we will ever be serious about being the church again?

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CNSNews reports that many view "global warming" with a religious eye. I agree - it is a branch of the growing "scientism." There is another pseudo-religion growing in this nation and everybody knows it - "Oprahism." I am also beginning to wonder if there is also not a "politicism" finding its way into our midst, which if you think about it would be the most fractured church in history.

These things are all apologetics if you think about. They are evidence of the contention that we as people are built to to hold dear something greater than ourselves with a faithful and uncritical eye. Throughout the history of the western world, until very recently, that has been some form of Christianity. However that predominance is fading, and one is forced to wonder why.

The common answer is complacency on the part of the greater, whole church. I agree, but I disagree with the conventional wisdom on how that complacency has expressed itself and how to respond to it.

I think the complacency has expressed itself by the various branches of Christianity infighting. Since we presumed that everybody was more-or-less a Christian, we started competing over what kind of Christian, which in turn looked VERY ugly to those that are not which resulted in a downward spiral towards these secular religions. It is still going on. It is pretty well documented that growth in megachurches is at the expense of other congregations in the neighborhood.

The plain fact of the matter is we have to get our internicene squabbling back into check or we risk losing it all. Our disagreements are real, but they must be kept in the proper perspective, and they must be somewhat behind the curtain. This is particularly true in the politico/cultural wars.

Frankly, much as I trumpet transformation around here, I fully understand that most people come to church for cultural reasons, not deeply religious ones. The church, to have any hope, must have cultural presence. The consequences of these false religions are too terrifying to think otherwise.

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This week, using a number one seed home court advantage gained by an outstanding record, my beloved Butler Bulldogs set out to win their conference championship on the road to yet another NCAA tournament appearance. Ranked as high as #8 this season, the Bulldogs are probably looking at a #4 seed in the Big Dance regardless, but a conference championship brings momentum and pride to the show, something a mid-major like the 'Dogs really need.

A lot of poeple are not fans of college basketball, but most know the movie "Hoosiers." Look closely at the picture of Hinkle Fieldhouse below. It is where the climactic game of that film was made, AND it is where the real Bobby Plump took the real shot for tiny Milan on which the movie was based. Butler basketball is the stuff of legends.

In recent years, my personal legends with Butler basketball have become melancholy. Three years ago, the man with whom I attended Butler as an undergrad died in a car accident. We talked BU ball at least once a week. Last year, my father, with whom I discussed BU ball almost daily was similarly killed in a car accident. Without these men to share the thrill of victory with; the victories are, for me, much less thrilling.

Regardless, a Butler trip to the Elite Eight, something quite possible this year, would add another legend to an already legendary program.

GO DAWGS!



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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

John Summerfield was born in England in 1798, and came to New York in 1821, where he soon became one of the most popular and eloquent preachers of that day. He belonged to the Methodist Communion and his name is still perpetuated in the names of many Methodist churches. He was unusually simple and modest in his tastes and habits, but when he spoke from the pulpit he produced a great impression by the force and daring of his style. He gave promise of equaling Whitefield as a pulpit orator, but he was subject to delicate health and prematurely died in 1825, twenty-seven years of age.


For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. - 2 Peter 1:11.

Of all the causes which may be adduced to account for the indifference which is so generally manifested toward those great concerns of eternity, in which men are so awfully interested, none appears to me so likely to resolve the mystery, as that unbelief which lies at the core of every heart, hindering repentance, and so making faith impossible. Men hear that there is a hell to shun, a heaven to win; and, though they give their assent to both these truths, they never impress them on their mind. It is plain that, whatever their lips may confess, they never believed with the heart, otherwise some effect would have been produced in the life. The germ of unbelief lies within, and discovers itself in all that indifference which is displayed, in the majority of that class of beings whose existence is to be perpetuated throughout eternity. If these thoughts do sometimes obtrude themselves on their serious attention, they are immediately banished from their minds; and the dying exclamation of Moses may be taken up with tears by every lover of perishing sinners: “ 0! that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!” When God, by His prophet Isaiah, called the Israelites to a sense of their awful departure from Him, His language was, “My people do not know: My people do not consider.” How few are there like Mary, who “ponder those things in their heart,” who are willing to look at themselves, to pry into eternity, to put the question home,


This question must sooner or later have a place in your minds, or awful will be your state indeed; let it reach your hearts to-day; and if you pray to the Father of light, you will soon be enabled in His light to discern so much of yourselves as will cause you to cry, “What shall I do to be saved?” While we shall this morning attempt to point out some of the privileges of the sons of God, oh l may your hearts catch the strong desire to be conformed to the living Head, that so an abundant entrance may be administered unto you also, into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The privilege to which our text leads us, is exclusively applicable to those to whom that question has been solved by the Spirit of God; those who have believed to the saving of their souls; who have experienced redemption through His blood, and the forgiveness of sins; and who are walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

I. The state to which we look forward: the “everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior.”

1. It is a kingdom. By this figurative expression our Lord has described the state of grace here and of glory hereafter; our happiness in time and our happiness in eternity. They were wisely so called: Jesus has said, as well as done, all things well; for these two states differ not in kind, but in degree; the one is merely a preparative for the other, and he who has been a subject of the former kingdom will be a subject of the latter. Grace is but the seed of glory, glory is the maturity of grace; grace is but the bud of glory, glory is grace full blown; grace is but the blossom of glory, glory is the ripe fruit of grace; grace is but the infant of glory, glory is the perfection of grace. Hence our hymn beautifully says, ‘,‘ The men of grace have found glory begun below,” agreeing with our Lord’s own words, “He that believeth hath everlasting life”; he feels even here its glories beginning - a foretaste of its bliss.

Now the propriety with which these two states are called kingdoms is manifest from the analogy which might be traced between them and the model of a human sovereignty. Two or three of the outlines of this model will be sufficient.

In the idea of a kingdom it is implied that in some part of its extent there is the residence of a sovereign; for this is essential to constitute it. Now in the kingdom of grace the heart of the believer is made the residence of the King invisible! “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” Such know what that promise means7 “I will dwell in them, and they shall be my people.” St. Paul exultingly cries, “Christ liveth in me.”

Again, it is essential that the inhabitants of a kingdom be under the government of its laws. An empire without laws is no sovereignty at all; it ceases to be such, for every inhabitant has an equal right to do that which seems good in his own eyes. Now the subjects of Christ’s kingdom of grace are “not without law, but are under a law to Christ”; they do His righteous will!

Lastly, it is essential that the subjects of a kingdom be under the protection of the pre¬siding monarch, and that they repose their confidence in him. To the subjects of the kingdom of grace, Christ imparts His kingly protection; this in their heritage: “No weapon formed against them shall prosper”; nay, He imparts to them of His royal bounty, and they enjoy all the blessings of an inward heaven.

But how great the perfection of the kingdom of glory mentioned in our text! Does He make these vile bodies His residence here? How much more glorious is His temple above! how splendid the court of heaven! There, indeed, he fixes His throne, and they see Him as He is. Does He exercise His authority here and rule His happy subjects by the law, the perfect law of love? How much more in heaven! He reigns there forever over them; His government is there wholly by Himself; He knows nothing of a rival there; His rule is sole and perfect: there they serve Him day and night. Are His subjects here partakers of His kingly bounty? Much more in heaven! He calls them to a participation of all the joys, the spiritual joys which are at His right hand, and the pleasures which are there forevermore. Yet, after all our descriptions of that glory, it is not yet revealed, and, therefore, inconceivable. But who would not hail such a Son of David? who would not desire to be swayed by such a Prince of Peace I Whose heart would not ascend with the affections of our poet, “0! that with yonder sacred throng, we at His feet may fall”?

2. But it is an everlasting kingdom! Here it rises in the scale of comparison. Weigh the kingdoms of this world in this balance, and they are found wanting; for on many we read their fatal history, and ere long we shall see them all branded with the writing of the invisible Agent, “The kingdom is taken from thee, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”; “For the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ”; they will be absorbed and swallowed up in the fullness of eternity, and leave not a wrack behind! Every thing here is perishable! The towering diadem of Caesar has fallen from his head and crumbled into dust; and that kingdom whose scepter once swayed the world, betwixt whose colossal stride all nations were glad to creep to find themselves dishonored graves, is now forgotten, or, if its recollection be preserved, its history is emphatically called “The Decline and Fall.”

But bring the matter nearer home; apply it not to multitudes of subjects, but to your individual experience, and has not that good teacher instructed you in this sad lesson? We tremble to look at our earthly possessions and employments, lest we should see them in motion, spreading their wings to fly away! How many are there already who, in telling of their comforts, are obliged to go back in their reckoning! Would not this be the language of some of you: “I had - I had a husband, the sharer of my joys, the soother of my sorrows; but he is not! I had a wife, a helpmate for me; but where is she?. I had children to whom I looked up as my support and staff in the decline of life, while passing down the hill; but I am bereaved of my children! I had health, and I highly prized its wealth; but now my emaciated frame, my shriveled system, and the pains of nature bespeak that comfort fled! I had, or fondly thought I had, happiness in possession! Then I said with Job, ‘I shall die in my nest!’ but ah! an unexpected blast passed over me, and now my joys are blighted! ‘They have fled as a shadow, and continued not.’” Yes! time promised you much! perhaps it performed a little; but it can not do any thing for you on which it can grave “eternal.” Its name is mortal, its nature is decay; it was born with man, and when the generations of men shall cease to exist, it will cease also: “Time shall be no longer!” We know, concerning these that, “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower fadeth, but the word of the Lord endureth forever.” Yes! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; glory can not corrupt! the crown of glory can not fade! Why? Death will be destroyed; Christ will put this last enemy under his feet, and all will then be eternal life! Oh, happy, happy kingdom; nay, thrice happy he who shall be privileged to be its subject!

3. It is the everlasting kingdom of our own Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is his by claim: “Him hath God the Father highly exalted”; yea, Him hath He appointed to be “the judge of quick and dead”; for tho by the sufferings of death He was made a little lower than the angels, yet immediately after His resurrection He declares that now “All power is given unto him in heaven and in earth”! The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son, and He has now the disposal of the offices and privileges of the empire among His faithful followers. This is the idea that the penitent dying thief had on the subject: “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom”; and St. Paul expresses the same when he says to Timothy in the confidence of faith, “The Lord shall deliver me and preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom.” Oh! how pleasing the thought to the child of God, that his ruler to all eternity will be his elder Brother; for He who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one; and though He is heir of all things, yet we, as younger branches of the same heavenly family, shall be joint heirs, fellow-heirs of the same glorious inheritance How great will be our joy to behold Him who humbled Himself for us to death, even the death of the cross, now exalted God over all, blest for evermore; and while contemplating Him under the character of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, how great the relish which will be given to that feeling of there deemed which will constrain them to cry, “Thou alone art worthy to receive glory, and honor, and power.”

II. But the apostle reminds us of the en¬trance into this kingdom!

1. The entrance into this kingdom is death: “By One man sin entered into the world, and death by sin:”


“A messenger is sent to bring us to God, but it is the King of Terrors. We enter the land flowing with milk and honey, but it is through the valley of the shadow of death.” Yet fear not, 0 thou child of God! there is no need that thou, through the fear of death, shouldst be all thy lifetime subject to bondage.

2. No; hear the apostle: the entrance is ministered unto thee! Death is but His minister; he can not lock his ice-cold hand in thine till He permit. Our Jesus has the keys of hell and death; and till He liberates the vassal to bring thee home, not a hair of thy head can fall to the ground! Fear not, thou worm! He who minds the sparrows appoints the time for thy removal: fear not; only be thou always ready, that, whenever the messenger comes to take down the tabernacle in which thy spirit has long made her abode, thou mayest be able to exclaim, “Amen! even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” Death need have no terrors for thee; he is the vassal of thy Lord, and, however unwilling to do Him reverence, yet to Him that sits at God’s right hand shall even death pay, if not a joyful, yet a trembling homage; nay, more:


Christ has already had one triumph over death; His iron pangs could not detain the Prince who has “life in himself”; and in His strength thou shalt triumph, for the power of Christ is promised to rest upon thee! He has had the same entrance; His footsteps marked the way, and His cry to thee is, “Follow thou me.” “My sheep,” says He, “hear my voice, and they do follow me”; they follow Me gladly, even into this gloomy vale; and what is the consequence? “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

3. It is ministered unto you abundantly. Perhaps the apostle means that the death of some is distinguished by indulgences and honors not vouchsafed to all. In the experience of some, the passage appears difficult; in others it is comparatively easy; they gently fall asleep in Jesus. But we not only see diversities in the mortal agony - this would be a small thing. - . . Some get in with sails full spread and carrying a rich cargo indeed, while others arrive barely on a single plank. Some, who have long had their conversation in heaven, are anxious to be wafted into the celestial haven; while others, who never sought God till alarmed at the speedy ap¬proach of death, have little confidence,


This doctrine must have been peculiarly encouraging to the early converts to whom St. Peter wrote. From the tenor of both of his epistles it is clear that they were in a state of severe suffering, and in great danger of apostatizing through fear of persecution. He reminds them that if they hold fast their professions, an abundant entrance will be administered unto them. The death of the martyr is far more glorious than that of the Christian who concealed his profession through fear of man. Witness the case of Stephen: he was not ashamed of being a witness for Jesus in the face of the violent death which awaited him, and which crushed the tabernacle of his devoted spirit; his Lord reserved the highest display of His love and of His glory for that awful hour! “Behold!” says he to his enemies, while gnashing on him with their teeth, “Behold! I see heaven opened, and the Son of man standing, on the right hand of God”; then, in the full triumph of faith, he cries out, “Lord Jesus! receive my spirit!”

But did these things apply merely to the believers to whom St. Peter originally wrote? No; you are the men to whom they equally apply; according to your walk and profession of that gospel will be the entrance which will be ministered unto you. Some of you have heard, in another of our houses, during the past week, the dangerous tendency of the spirit of fear, the fear of man. I would you bad all heard that discourse: alas! many who have a name and a place among us are becoming mere Sabbath-day worshipers in the courts of the Lord, and lightly esteem the daily means of grace. I believe this is one cause at least why many are weak and sickly among us in divine tidings. The inner man does not make due increase; the world is steal¬ing a march unawares upon us. May God revive among us the spirit of our fathers!

These things, then, I say, equally apply to you. Behold the strait, the royal, the king’s highway! Are you afraid of the reproach of Christ?


How soon would the world be overcome if all who profess that faith were faithful to it! Wo to the rebellious children who compromise truth with the world, and in effect deny their Lord and Master! Who hath required this at their hands? Do they not follow with the crowd who cry, “Lord, Lord! and yet do not the things which He says”? Will they have the adoption and the glory? Will they aim at the honor implied in these words, “Ye are my witnesses?” Will ye indeed be sons? Then see the path wherein His footsteps shine! The way is open! see that ye walk therein! The false apostles, the deceitful workers shall have their reward; the same that those of old had, the praise and esteem of men; while the faith of those who truly call Him Father and Lord, and who walk in the light as He is in the light, who submit, like Him and His true followers, to be counted as “the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things, shall be found unto praise, and honor, and glory!

The true Christian does not seek to hide himself in a corner; he lets his light shine be¬fore men, whether they will receive it or not; and thereby is his Father glorified. Having thus served, by the will of God, the hour of his departure at length arrives. Tile angels beckon him away; Jesus bids him come; and as he departs this life he looks back with a heavenly smile on surviving friends, and is enabled to say, “Whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know.” An entrance is ministered unto him abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of his Lord and Savior.

III. Having considered the state to which we look, and the mode of our admission, let us consider the condition of it. This is implied in the word “so.” “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you.” In the preceding part of this chapter, the apostle has pointed out the meaning of this expression, and in the text merely sums it all up in that short mode of expression.

The first condition he shows to be, the obtaining like precious faith with him, through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Not a faith which merely assents to the truths of the gospel record, but a faith which applies the merits of the death of Christ to expiate my individual guilt; which lays hold on Him as my sacrifice, and produces, in its exercises, peace with God, a knowledge of the divine favor, a sense of sin forgiven, and a full certainty, arising from a divine impression on the heart, made by the Spirit of God, that I am accepted in the Beloved and made a child of God.

If those who profess the Gospel of Christ were but half as zealous in seeking after this enjoyment as they are in discovering crea¬turely objections to its attainment, it would be enjoyed by thousands who at present know nothing of its happy reality. Such persons, unfortunately for themselves, employ much more assiduity in searching a vocabulary to find out epithets of reproach to attach to those who maintain the doctrine than in searching that volume which declares that “if you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father”; and that “he that believeth hath the witness in himself.” In whatever light a scorner may view this doctrine now, the time will come when, being found without the wedding garment, he will be cast into outer darkness.

0 sinner! cry to God this day to convince thee of thy need of this salvation, and then thou wilt be in a condition to receive it:


But, besides this, the apostle requires that we then henceforth preserve consciences void of offense toward God and toward man. This faith which obtains the forgiveness of sin unites to Christ, and by this union we are made, as St. Peter declares, “partakers of the divine nature”: and as He who has called you is holy, so you are to be holy in all manner of conversation. For yours is a faith which not only casts out sin, but purifies the heart - the conscience having been once purged by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, you are not to suffer guilt to be again contracted; for the salvation of Christ is not only from the penalty, but from the very stain of sin; not only from its guilt, but from its pollution; not only from its condemnation, but from its very in-being”; “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin”; and “For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” You are therefore required by St. Peter, “to escape the corruption that is in the world through lust,” and thus to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord!

Finally, live in progressive and practical godliness. Not only possess, but practice, the virtuous of religion; not only practise, but increase therein, abounding in the work of the Lord! Lead up, hand in hand, in the same delightful chorus, all the graces which adorn the Christian character. Having the divine nature, possessing a new and living principle, let diligent exercise reduce it to practical holiness; and you will be easily discerned from those formal hypocrites, whose faith and religion are but a barren and unfruitful speculation.

To conclude: live to God - live for God - live in God; and let your moderation be known unto all men - the Lord is at hand: “Therefore giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity.”

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