SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8472, 24 January 1891, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

LOVE'S LOGIC-SEPARATION IM-

POSSIBLE.

[BY DR. H. SINCLAIR PATERSON.]

" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?" (Rom. viii., 35). It has often been noted that this chapter begins with " no condemnation," and ends with " no separation." The apostle starts with showing that the law has nothing to pronounce or produce against us; that sin, having been condemned in the flesh,and our unrighteousnesslaidon Another, we are made the righteousness of God in Him. Thus, being in Christ Jesus, we become children, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, and are admitted into the closest fellowship with God, beiug bound for ever to His heart. The logic is throughout strong and clear, but it is also very impassioned, especially as the apostle approaches the conclusion, which has been called

" LOGIC ON FIRE," winding up, as he does, with a series of questions, to which he apprehends there can be only one answer, " What, then, shall we say to tbesa things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" "Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect?" " Who" is he that condenineth?" And, as the last step in the climax, " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" or, as it is expanded in verse 39, " the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This love is the love wherewith God has loved His Son from all eternity, reaching man in Jesus Christ; who or what, then, can defeat its gracious purpose? Here is a wondrous truth, in which" each individual soul on earth who has received the Saviour for himself, sinful as that soul may have been and may stdl be in itself, finds comfort and strength. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance;" and, once we have yielded ourselves to Him, there is nothing to interfere with the accomplishment of His design towards us. He will surely perfect the good work He hath begun. " A SURE FOUNDATION." Such assurances we have throughout the Word of God, but here it is blessedly specific. " The love of Christ," here spoken of, is not our love to Him. That would be a very frail foundation on which to build. God has, indeed, taught us to love Him. "We love Him because He first loved us." Some of us do love Him, and desire to love Him more. But, while that is true, it is no foundation on which to rest our eternal hopes. The question is. Who shall separate us from the love of .Jesus to us ? This love is eternal, unchangeable, inexhaustible. He has proved it as no man has ever proved his love. It brought Him from the throne to the cross, from the glory to the grave. It is a love unquenchable; many waters cannot quench this love. Moreover, it is specific and individualising, a direct personal love. "He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it;" yes, but He also loved me and gave Himself for me." " God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son;" Jesus so ''loved the Church that He gave Himself for it." INDIVIDUAL LOVE, Here the apostle definitely contemplates the love which Jesus has to eacli individual soul who has received Him by faith. Nothing, he says, can separate us from that love. It anything can, many things might: our own coldness and changeableness, our own unbelief and worldliness; our selfishness and wilfulness. All these things might. Some may wonder why such things as these are not enumerated by the apostle in the list which follows. But it seems that all

these things pass out of the view of the writer as being met by the Lord Jesus. Met for ever by His full, perfect sacrifice and obligation; met when He was made, on that cross, sin for us. Hence there is no more mention of sin; for the guilt, the conseI quences, the ill-desert of it have been met j by Jesus when He bore the mighty load, j Therefore such questions, having been | settled, vanish from view, and the apostle thinks only of the trials, temptations, beset- : inents, and sorrows assailing us from the world without. Then, rising step by step, he contemplates the powers and principalities around us who seek our ruin ; he is " persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come," will be able to effect any separation between us and the love of Jesus which led Him to the cross for our sakes. Nothing, in short, in heaven or earth, " nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'' The fierceness of persecution—so real to the early Christians—the awfulness of distress, the pains of peril, privation, or the sword ; nothing in the whole providence of God can separate as from " the love of Christ;" or, as he says a little further on, from " the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." LOVED IN CHRIST JESUS. The Father loves us in Christ Jesus; but the love of Christ is directed towards you and me, the very people of whom it is written, " He loved us and gave Himself for us." This is no vague, indistinct, indefinite love. The love of God is in Christ Jesus, it rests on Him and through Him flows forth to us. The love of God is in His Son, who is the Beloved, the Father's delight, the Man who is His Fellow, who undertook to redeem fallen men and make them children of God, even joint heirs with Himself. God's love centres in His Son, it rests there, and is satisfied, finding everything it demands in His perfection. The perfection of Christ, as the Captain of our salvation, is manifested in His absolute and faultless obedience to the will of God, in His obeying that will even to death, laying down His life as the sacrifice for the sin of all who should believe on Him. This deathless love, which many floods and great waters cannot quench, is in Christ Jesus, God's Son; God found in Him the only thing really worth loving. And we being united to Him by faith, being made one with Him, rest in that love of God which flows to us in Him. "As He is, so are we in this world."

11 ALONE IS WORTHY. But many find this hard to believe. They have great difficulty in grasping such a thought; perhaps even considerable unwillingness to accept it, as setting aside any possible worthiness on the part of man. They cannot deny it is in the Bible, but they wander from the Scriptures to seek something which seems better to their perverted minds. They would lain discover or imagine some ground of human "worthiness ; but they cannot. Man can never make himself worthy of the love of God ; never, never ! No one, save Jesus, was ever worthy of God's love. But Jesus is worthy, and this love in all its fulness rests on Him, and through Him reaches us. Jesus' love is direct, God's love is indirect, coining to us through the Son. And it is well for us, else would His love never reach us at all. God is holy, just, and righteous. He has given, as He has absolute, unquestioned right to do, a perfect law, which he must uphold for the very security of the created universe. This law must be vindicated; God cannot love directly and personally law-breakers. But there is One who has magnified the law and made it honourable, and on Him God's love rests fully satisfied. We believing in Christ, accepting Him as our Saviour, are placed in Him, and thus we may enter into this love. He makes us one with Him and sharers of His love.

There are only two conceivable ways of salvation. Either it must be salvation by merit, or it must be salvation by grace. The last is the only one now possible, and it is the method revealed in {Scripture. Man, the sinner, has no merit, and cannot win salvation by any worthiness of his own. In this, Scripture teaching and all experience coincide. But salvation by grace, the method of Scripture, is salvation by merit, only it is the meritoriousness of Another. We are saved by grace on the ground of the meritoriousness of Jesus. Accepting Christ, all that is in Him, His work, His person become ours. In a word, there is no salvation save m ie T love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Jesus Christ our Lord the love of God claims us and enfolds us. What further can we want

A SOLEMN AND SERIOUS QUESTION. Sometimes, at the beginning of the Christian course, or it may be before the first step has been taken, one is disposed to reason after this fashion:— "l know that, if I accept Jesus to be my Saviour, there is salvation for me. I know that He is able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by Him. I admit that. But I know also the weakness and temptations of my own heart, I know the persistence of the world around and its tendency to drag me down. 1 know that I cannot live in sin and have Christ for my Saviour. The two things are antagonistic and irreconcilable. I must give up my sin and take the position of a Christian. I must yield Him my heart, bringing every thought into captivity to Christ. I see that to be necessary, unless

there is to be hypocrisy. I cannoPi as my Saviour and continue in «?„ m T ?im how am I to venture such a step, 1J I ,* o . lam I cannot hold out against SUr «d 4 within and without, overflow V 1 threatening to weep me away' l""- **& sible to maintain this steady un! lt pos obedience to every word of God ,\ etv iii! confess to be necessary ':" ' uctl as [

THREE UNFATHOMABLE Words Now, this is a very solemn and ri»u tion. But, then, here are three word*TT ea " meet the whole case. In this chant have one verse wliich answers the r v 'e fully. These three words are suffilT! the weakest man on the whole earth--' 1 p FOR us." Weigh against this truth all S D difficulties, temptations, and trials nf iand they are but as the dust of the bi 1 ' in comparison. They are as nothina 6 * we know that God is for us. "ff <-, u be for us, who can be against us?" Not! '"" 1 and no one. Thus the apostle reaches "' the conclusion of the chapter, the hi','' i" height man's thought can attain; j n a l ?' tet heading this we apprehend the highest s j strongest thought possible to man—" ff r<'! be for us, who can be against us *

f THE BEST AND BIGGEST GIFT. x That He is for us is evident, for, if n , " spared not His own Son, but delivered H ,", up for us all, how shall He not with Him J" 1 » freely give us all things ?" Having given H° i best and biggest gift first of all, will He with t hold aught that is needful? Consider th" „ gift. We might have dared to ask letu'th f days, the blessing of health and prosperity ' and so on, but who would have dared to ail- ' God to give up His Son to die for us, to di [ that we micht live But what we would not . have dared to ask God has given freely, ul \ spared not His own Son. It cost Cod some. . . thing to give His Son; do not forgot that' ' Yet He gave Him for us. If so, " how shall \ He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Under these words I see the othe~ thoughtHe that gave Himself to the cro-3 for us, what shall He refuse? Having given , thus, what can He keep back ? Love brought '. Him there, love to me, the worst of sinners with nothing in me worthy of it. Love' earthly love, is intelligible, but not such lov' ; as this. Human love is drawn by some J qualities or graces ; our hearts are drawn by t attractions of _ some kind or other. But l Christ's love is inexplicable ; we can find no . reason for it, save in Himself. Man loves the lovable; Christ loves the unlovable, that , He may make them lovable. There jj ! everything in Him to love, but nothing 111 the 1 object of His love. Sinners, all of us. Sinners in great variety of development"some more repulsive, to our eyes at least' than others, but all sinners. Ezekiel's picture may well be applied to many, if not all—" None eye pitied the ... to have compassion upon thee ; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person. . . . When I passed by thee I saw thee polluted in thine own blood ; I said unto thee in thy blood, Live." Then'it was He set His love upon us, choosing us m.. for good in us, for there was nothing in us but yileness. Surely, as the apostle says this is " love which passeth knowledge." He would have us know it; but how can we know what passeth knowledge? Yes, the heart knows many things the head does not know or enanotexplain and understand. We may grasp this love in the heart. Although we cannot comprehend it, or discuss it, or argue it out we may rest in it. Thus we know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and the end of it is, as in Kph. iii., that we may be "filled with all the fulness of God." Put the argument in this form, and it is sufficiently m. tense. THE PATIEXCE OF JESUS. At our Wednesday evening service we were considering the wonderful patience, submissiveness, and silence of Christ on that eventful morning when He was led to the cross. We saw Him in the midnight hours in the hands of brutal Roman soldiers, and led away to the judgment hall, Jesus Himself said He could have asked the Father and He would have given Him twelve legions of angels ; and, moreover, we saw that one look from Jesus made them fall before Him ; yet Jesus suffered them to bind Him and lead him away. The rude soldier? smote Him and reviled Him, yet He bore it all, answering not a word. Now, mark why. because He loved us. There is love! Was there ever love like this? He treads the way to the cross, he endures the cross, He humbles Himself unto the depths of it all, He bears the reproach of sinners against Himself. Why? That he might save sinners. That He might save me, the weakest and humblest. That He might be my Saviour. CAN HE FAIL ME NOV? And now, having done all this, will He fail me now? " Who shall separate me from the love of Christ ?" If His love bore Him to the cross, will it fail me now that I trust in Him? Now that He is in the glory, the glory which He had with the Father "before the world was, dowered with unlimited power, will He weakly allow any ro perishs Will He let one soul slip He gave His lift for ? If His love brought Him through death in order to redeem my soul, will that love die out now that He has purchased me? Never. He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Will he fail to bring one soul home for whom he died on the cross? The very thought is impossible. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Grant all the weakness and feebleness of my apprehension of the preciousness and power of his love, grant all my frailty and folly, but that does not alter it. His love is there all the same. " For lam persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers', nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I would ask you to examine closely and ponder deeply over these things at home. Sec bow the apostle brings together all possible things that might occur to any mind as likely to effect a separation, and expresses his full and final persuasion that none of them can separate the believer from the love of Christ. Not death, it is but a summons to His presence; not life, and life is often a creator danger' than death. In death the soul clings to Jesus and often has a clear vision of Him ; while in life there are frictions, burdens, and even pleasures likelv to intervene; but none of them can separate. Neither can angels, nor principalities, nor powers—nothing that is in the created universe of God, nor things in the present, nor (lest any shall fear the unknown' future) things to come. Nothing, nothing, can or ever shall be ;>ble to " separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord/' THE SACKED MEMORIALS. It is this unchanging, unfailing love we commemorate this morning, in these sacred memorials of His death. His love is sealed and assured to us ■in these elements his loving kindness has put into our hands, saying, "This is My body broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me." "This cup is the new testament in My blood; this do, as often as ye drink in it, in remembrance of Me." His love brought Him to the cross for us ; and love seeks love. He gave us these touching memorials of His death, that we might dwell on His wondrous love and hav our love stimulated anew. " Who shal" separate us from the love of Christ?" ALL I HAVE AND ALL I HOPE FOR. •' All I have and all I hops for," Was the echo of the song ; " All I have and all I hope for, All to Jesus Christ be ong." So it seemed He had 1 he casket, And He give me, one by one, All the jewels of His blessing. As He had so often done. ' And I gave Him all He gave me, Brought my barley-loaves, that lie Might divide them and increase them, And return them back to me. "All, I have," yes, I would bring it, All my pleasures and my pains ; All I have is His, His only, All my losses and my gains. "All I hope' for," I am sowing Seeds His loving hands bestow; And I wait His blessed sunshine, And His showers to make them grow. What the bloom will be, I know not; Pure and beautiful, I guess ; And bright buds for other blossoms, Blessings sent to cheer and bless. Oh, we all are hoping ever, And our earthly hopes around, Like untimely figs, are falling, Falling on life's barren ground ; But the hopes that lie has planted, All will blossom, all will bear : All I have and all I hope for, Is in Jesus, ever there. William Luff. FOR ONE LIKE THEE. 1. For one like thee, What should the minstrel's hopes and wishes be? 11. He only knoweth best, who wisely made Life's moieties of sunshine and of snade ; Who can alone to Life its myst'ry tell ; Who doeth all things womlrously and well. His be it then to guard thy arduous way, Through this strange night, to endless, clouU.-se day! 111. Yet I may hope for thee, thy way along, A secret joy, a ceaseless inward song ; A sweet content, that kindest thing of Hea v n, Unto the spirits of transgressors given. And I may wish for thee that " better part,'' Largeness of soul, am! purity of heart; As these are now, such graces aye be thine, Most truly beautiful when most divine ! IV. These then the ministrel's hopes and wishes be, for one like thee! S.C-. _ ~-— ~\ ,■ —— . >