The Religious Outlook

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 1 July 1939, Page 17

The Religious Outlook

THE MEANING OF KESWICK The following was a broadcast ad- i dress by Bishop Taylor Smith, K.C.8., | C.V.0.. D.D.. late Chaplain-General to; the Forces, cn the meaning of Keswick, i Let us bow our heads and lift up our ; hearts in silent prayer—you praying l for me. and I for you. “Lord, uphold me that I may uplift Thee, and grant that the words of m.v : mouth, and the meditation of our hearts ! may now be acceptable in Thy spirit, (_ Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. “I am come that they might have life, 1 and that they might have it more abun- | dantly.”—John x. 10. Another year has passed, and another Convention begun; and those of you who are assembled before me. having been here before, or are here for the first time, are not only thinking of the thousands who are listening-in. both far and near, but wondering what this week has in store for this great congregation gathered here from all parts of the world, as well as for yourselves Some of those listening-in are asking the question. “What is the Keswick Convention?” “What is the aim or purpose of those who have been gathering there year by year now for fiftynine years?” The answer may be summed up thus: We are here to meet with God. In the midst of beautiful scenery, and amongst those glorious mountains we have come apart from the busy scenes of labour—workshop, office, college, mission field, and mart—to hear once again in the stillness the voice of the Lord our God. Some of us have passed this way before. Some of us have proved in past years that “waiting time” is not “wasted time.” Like the Psalmist of old we can say: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined His ear and heard my cry." Nay. more. “He lifted me up out of an horrible pit. He cleansed me from the miry clay. He put my feet upon the rock. He established my goings. He put a new song in my mouth.” Yes, the “waiting time” was not “wasted time.” it led to the experience of a full salvation! We realised afresh the wonderful grace of God! God, the Father, God the Son. and God the Holy Ghost! God the Father (Emmanuel), with us ai Bethlehem. God the Son. for us at Calvary. God the Holy Ghost, in us as at Pentecost.

To more than the shepherds of Bethlehem have the angels been sent, telling once again the Good News “Unto you is born a Saviour,” and we have realised*that unto us a Child was born in His humanity, and unto us a Son was given in His Divinity. The ladder Jacob saw in his dream, the Nathanael meditated upon under the fig tree, has been set up on earth, namely, the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, resting on the earth in His humanity, and reaching unto Heaven in His divinity; the only ladder without broken rungs, and which, unlike all other human ladders, does not come short of Heaven’s gate. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life! No man cometh unto the Father but ,my Me.” Some years ago I was visiting Cambridge when an undergraduate friend ! invited me to address a “Squash" (which means an overfilled room of undergraduates!) Not knowing my audience T divided it into three classes, namely: Those who were “longing to see"; those who were “rejoicing to know”; and those who were “eager to tell”! And it may be that a similar classification might well describe my audience to-night. CHRIST S INVITATION Though the prime object of these Conventions is the “Deepening of the Spiritual Life,” it has evei' been the experience of those who have come, that there are some who have not yet realised the first step in the Christian life, namely, the pardon and peace of sins forgiven. Their request would be echoed in the words of those Greeks who came to Philip, saying, “Sir, we would see Jesus,” and who received that strange reply from Jesus, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But, if it die. it bringeth forth much fruit.” What did He mean? I think He was speaking of Himself. He was the corn of wheat, the soil-less seed in the Garden of Heaven; and had He remained there. Heaven would be unpeopled tonight. And we—poor humanity—were the seedless'soil on earth, and had He not come down and been sown in our flesh, and died for our sins, there would have been no fruit on earth. To any who are “longing to see” the Saviour is longing to give the eternal vision, to bestow “faith” (as the sixth sense has been called) whereby we see God and invisible things. It is a “gift”; hence never ours by money or merit. Like little children —an empty hand without, and a hungry cry within, and the blessing is ours. “Come unto Me, all ye that labour, and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” As St. Augustine says. “We believe to know” I —not. “we know to believe.” The rea- | sonableness comes after: the understanding mind follows the surrendered will and the obedient heart. So simple —“Come,” “Receive.” Yet so profound the gift! “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Why are men so slow to come to Jesus, and so quick to respond to the world, the flesh, and the devil? The world says, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest and happiness,” and we have all come and found how false the invitation. and how hollow the gift The flesh says. “Come unto me” —and we have all come in some form or another, but have found no satisfaction. The Devil says, “Come unto me.” and we have all come, and found what a liar and a deceiver he is: but Jesus has never failed any who have come unto Him: and He will not fail you.

The history of the Old Testament is one long story of God’s demands and man’s failure to do God’s commands and merit eternal life. The history of the New Testament tells of One Who, as Man for men, did fulfil the Law, and merited eternal life; and now makes the possession of eternal life possible, in response to man’s obedience in coming, and gratefully receiving the gift. Blessed—happy are those who saw and believed in the days of Christ’s flesh! Blessed—happy are those who have not seen, and yet have believed! A LIFE OF VICTORY But there are those who are not rejoicing, though believers. How is this? Can it be that they have taken the gift of life, but have not pressed forward for the abundance of life? Christ came, and He tells us, that we might have the abundance of life. “I am come that yt might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly.” Here is the object of the Keswick Convention. Here is the purpose of our coming together as at this time. Not pnly to remind one another of the forgiveness of sins (a precious truth and trophy indeed!) and eternal life, but to proclaim freedom from sin’s power, and the possibility to live a blameless life

“Sin shall not have dominion over you.” "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and of death.” Why should it be more difficult to persuade believers to trust and obey for the abundance of eternal life, than to persuade unbelievers to trust and obey for the experience of the beginning of the eternal life? The aim of this Convention is to put before Christians the possibilities of eternal life down here on earth; that they may be numbered amongst those who are “rejoicing to know.” And so the original purpose of the Keswick Convention was not evangelistic, that is to say, to bring souls to the new birth, but to lead those who had been born again to a realisation of the abundance of life which Christ came to make possible, and the Holy Spirit to bestow. The questions, to what extent can I be sanctified here on earth? What degree of holiness is possible to those of us who are yet in the flesh? Scripture leaves us without doubt that holiness (which means wholeness) is possible, and possible because God has commanded it, and every provision has been made to bring it about. “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” And Paul, writing to the Thessalonian Christians, says, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,” and “I pray God your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and he adds, “Faithful is He that calleth you Who also will do it.” Yes. “Whom God commands He enables! Whom God calls. He equips!” Alas! How many fight shy of holiness because their own experience, and the experience of others, are followed rather than the commands of God. They speak in the words oi Paul, who, like other Christians, have felt the fruitlessness of the struggle and cry out, “Who shall deliver me from this dead body?” He seems to be picturing himself as the criminal of old, who had been tied to a dead body, foot to foot, hand to hand, his face resting on the putrid face of the dead —an awful position and condition, on.-y to be relieved by madness or death. The despairing cry, “Who shall deliver me?” is suddenly changed to the triumphant shout, “I thank Goa, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He realises that he is bound by faith to the body of Jesus which never saw corruption, which rose triumphant over death, which ascended into Heaven, and is now waiting on the throne for the great Home-gathering of the redeemed. GOD’S RICH TREASURES Mark well what follow's: “There is therefore now- no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and of death.” “No condemnation”—the judgment passed in the Person of Jesus. “He died for all.” “No longer debtors to live after the flesh.” but enabled by the Holy Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body. To be henceforth “more than conquerors through Him that loved me.” Sjpoilgatherers after every battle, and crowned after every victory. “All things working together for good to them that love God.” Not 999 in every 1000; but 999 and I in every 1000! “All things work together for good to them that love God.” Not ever struggling in the flesh towards a credit | balance at the Bank of Heaven, but working from a credit balance which can never be exhausted. “All things are yours, for ye are Christ's. and Christ is God's.” No separation from ihe love of Christ! No separation from the fellowship of saints! No separation from “the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What a position! What a possession is ours in Christ Jesus! “All things are yours: foi; ye are Christ’s." Lose no time, if you are not already the happy possessor of such wealth, in “letting go" and "letting God." “Letting go" the things of the world, the flesh, and the Devil; and taking hold by faith of the rich treasures of God's grace. The abundance of life will daily inform and unfold. Walking with God will have a new meaning, and reveal a

richer experience than you have ever known. Enoch walked with God, and

“before his translation he had this testimony. that he pleased God.” Talking with God! Prayer will be breathing the atmosphere of Heaven, making conversation with God through Christ unceasingly! “Abiding in Christ" and “Abounding in fruit!” "If ye abide in Me. and My words abide in you: ye shall ask what we will, and it shall be done unto yeti.” "Yoked with Christ” —learning and experiencing a deeper rest of soul, in walk and work as the hours of each day unfold. THE MORNING WATCH Does some one ask. How can I become the happy possessor of this abundant, victorious life? My answer is. Not by a fresh resolution, but by a fresh revelation. Not by a human effort, but by a Divine gift. Not by turning over a new leaf, but by the reception of a new life. "He came unto ITls own. and His own received Him not . But to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become th* sons of God.” And so, just as the new spiritual life is the gift of God, so the abundance of life is ours by reception also. We are not the authors ox our first birth, nor of our second birth As the old saying hath it: Once born, twice to die—the death of the body, and the death of the soul, for “the soul that sinneth it shall die": but twice born, never to die. only to fall asleep It is the Christ received. "Behold I stand at the door and knock: it any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in.” We cannot work out our own salvation (or sanctification) with fear and trembling, as Paul writes to the Christians at Philippi, until God has first worked it in: and then it is still God working within us to will and to do ol His good pleasui'e. If you would ask me. ere I conclude, for some helps to maintain this high standard of Christian living. I wouln say. Keep your early morning watch with God: enter into your closet and when you have shut the door, pray to your Heavenly Father in secret, and He will reward you openly. I know of nothing more helpful than rising early for the adjustment -of the spirit, the mind, and the body of the Master. He will take our temperature, and save us from being lukewarm—neither cold not hot. He will see whether our spiritual barometer is rising or falling; and set it for the coming day. Who can estimate the value of such an adjustment? Henceforth may you, by God’s grace, be victorious in life, and effec-

tiye in service. “Faithful is He that calleth you. Who also will do it.” Living for Christ, my members I yield. Servants to God. for evermore sealed. "Not under law," I’m now “under grace." Sin is dethroned, and Christ takes Its place. Glory be to God!