SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11544, 1 December 1900, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

" WE OUGHT." [BY REV. CHARLES INWOOD.] " fie that saith he abideth in Him might himself also to walk even as He walked" (I John ii. 6). " Hereby we perceive the love of God because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (iii. 16). " Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (iv. 11). This word "ought" comes from the old Saxon word "owe"—something which we owe, an obligation undischarged. It is a very remarkable word, w?ith tremendous import in it. I suppose that the bush at Horeb, as a bush, was like many more. Possibly there were scores and hundreds of bushes in that desert very like it; but there was one thing which differentiated that bush from all others —the awful presence of the fire of God. It was not the bush, but God in the bush, who smote the heart and mind' of Moses and sobered him and awed and dwarfed him in the presence of God. And so this word is only a simple Saxon word, but in this connection it burns, and flashes, and quivers, and glows with the very holiness and love of God; and if God will only bring us face to face with the searching light of that obligation we shall not have spent these moments in vain, though wo may be smitton to the heart by the obligation here presented and by us undischarged. You see how beautifully the three passages fit into each other. The first obligation is to walk as Jesus walked ; the second obligation is to sacrifice as Jesus sacrificed; and the next is to love as Jesus loved. I. THE OBLIGATION' TO WALE AS JlfsUS WALKED. And what was it that specially distinguished the earthly walk of the Lord Jesus? Much, of course; but there were two distinctions in that walk which may bo and should be a guide for us. First of all, the Lord Jesus always walked along the path of His Father's will. Whether tho way were rough or smooth, bright or dark; whether man praised or persecuted Him, whether in company or alone, it mattered not; there was the same calm, exible devotion to His Father's will. He elected to live in the centre of that will, not because it was easy and painless, but because it was His Father's will. In His Father's will He found His service, in that will He found His rest, in that will He found His joy. And that was true just as much of the thirty years of patient, holy silence as of the three and a-half years of public life. And, "he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself so to walk even as Jesus walked." And now, beloved, let me ask you one straight, searching question. It is this: What is the will of God to you? Do you think of i: as a racksomething on which you are stretched and torn and mangled, until the very agony becomes almost unendurable, and you begin to question the love and wisdom of God? I have met Christians who in times of great sorrow seemed to have no better conception of God's love than that. Or do you think of God's will as a prison-house, a place where you are limited, hampered, confined, where thero is gloom and bitterness? Are you standing knocking against tho walls of the prison, with an irrepressible desire to get outside, to get freedom, sunshine, rest? I hear there are many people— some in Keswick have no better conception of the Father's will than that. Or do you think of that will as a workingman thinks of the factory or workshop where he goes and works, and works, and works with exhausting labour until he is tired out,

and his one thought is of the time when the factory will close and rest come? Or, beloved, do you think of God's will as home, homo ! —the place where associations are tencleroßt, the place where music is sweetest, the place where the voices thrill your heart most deeply, the place where you can rest, the place where you find delight and fellowship and ease? That was as it was with the Master, and if wo walk as He walked so the Father's will will be with us. Then there was another feature which complements and crowns the first. The Lord Jesus always walked in dependence on the Holy Spirit. Now. here we touch one of the most sacred and profound mysteries of the Christian faith, and one would not, daro not dogmatisel mean the relation of the Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus durinor His earthly life. You will have noticed as Bible students how much is said about it in your New Testament. You will remember that the human body of the Lord Jesus was begotten by the power of the Holy Ghost, and that He received the Spirit on the banks of the Jordan before Ho began His public ministry. You will remember it was by the Spirit He was led into the wilderness, and in the power of the Spirit He returned from the wilderness. You remember His first sermon was: "The Spirit of tho Lord is upon Me;" that it is said He wrought His miracles bv the Spirit of God; and, as the R.V. has it. that "At that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent." Again, in the Acts of the Apostles the whole life ministry of the Lord Jesus is distinctly said to have been in the power of the Holy Ghost. Yes, and remombor the text from which my brother has spoken to us: " Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself." If that text, wero not in the Bible I do not suppose tho thought would cross the human mind— dared not have uttered or even thought it; but there, in reference to that great atoning sacrifice for us sinners and our redemption, oven of that solemn, mysterious, and glorious sacrifice we read: " He through tho Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot unto God." Now it does seem to one, in remembrance of what Paul said to the Philippiaus, as if

this were in some sense a part of th«*wlf» emptying of the Lord Jesus, " who emptied Hiin-<uf." It would seem that that selfemptying lay in part in this, that all through His earthly life, as a man amongst men. Hoi leaned upon the power of the Holy Spiritf to do His Father's will. And "he that rsutf h-i abideth in Him ought" in that partieulw " to walk even as lie walked." 7 Some of the truths we have to proclaim k this convention we dare not proclaim if /<? lost sisht of the truth I am now deal/? with—that the power of 7 THE HOLT BFIP.IT IS ALWAYS AVAILABLEi'OI THE DOING OF GOD'S Witt, / but it is never available for the doing/f our own will. Out of pity and eompassttm for us, God dare not entrust to us th 7 pow>r of the Spirit to work out our own yilltrat would be destruction; but that is always available for the doing of God* will, aid not only always available but, praiy; Him, always adequate, too. Whatever/power jou need to live a holy life is provided for you in the ever-present power of the,pergonal Holy Spirit. Does not this beautifylly simplify ife and ore's conception of the con-oersted life? Thr?e years ago last spring I was facing in God's presence, in the silence of my own stud/, the call to lay down my pastorate and heme, and all that that meant, to go out to the work of which wo were speaking this af;ernoon. One morning as I preyed there was such bewilderment that it; seemed :■» i' there were a hundred paths before one. and one could only tread one; and as if there were a hundred conflicting words calling for attention and obedience, and one could only obey one. The whole situation seemed bo confused and so bewildering that in one's uttermost need and stress one cried: " 0 God, what am I to do?" Then there en me back, not an audible voice, but a real: " My child, you have not to do a thousand things, or please a thousand people; my child, you have only to do one thing." " What is that, Father?" " All you have to do is just to do your Father's will, not to try to do what So-and-so thinks; just simply to look to Me and do My will." Somehow, it seemed in one moment to clear away all the mists and bewilderments ; and again and again, in moments of stress and of strain during iho*e three years there has come back those inspiring words: "My child, you have only one thing to do. just to do your Father's will, and to do it in the power of the Holy Spirit."

IT. THE OBLIGATION TO SACRIFICE. " We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Let me say at once that sacrifice also must ever be along the lines of God's will.' I mention that because one sees so much selfinspired sacrifice, and so much disposition amongst Christian people to go and copy the sacrifice someone else has made, and to think. Because So-and-so did so-and-so, I mu>t do the same. I have no doubt in my heart whatever that God called me definitely 10 make the sacrifice, but it did not follow that the pastor of the next church in Belfast was called to do the same thing. No, you are only called to sacrifice whatever stands in the way of your whole-hearted obedience to the will of God, and you have no more right to determine what sacrifice you will make than to determine what service you will render to tho Lord. > The main thought concerning the Lord Jesus is —His sacrifice was continual anc" complete. His all was always laid down always at tho disposal of sinful men. There was not one single moment in the life of tin Lord Jesus when He was not utterly and entirely yielded up to sacrifice for thoEe amongst whom He lived and laboured. ■ Have you paused to think how largely snor'fice came into that life? Think for a moment what a sacrifice to a fine unstained spirit it was to como into daily contact with th» Breed and selfishness and corruption of men. Why, for Jesus Christ to live in a world liko this ircist have teen to His spirit something like what fire is to our bodies when it touches us! Then His sacrnce involved Him in being homeless, in being lonely, in consecrating not only His days for service, but even the nights for intercession, 1 communion, prayer; and what sacrifice of [friendship, fellowship I do not suppose ihatlthero ever was another who appreciated human love so much as the pure, loving, sinless heirt of the Lord Jesus. Look at that home at Bethany! What a responsive atmosphere! How often He went there jut to get a little of the solace of real true human friendship ; and the sacrifice came in here that he was willing to leavt the responsive friendship and fellowship of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and without a second thought go away and face the studied discourtesy ct Simon the leper. So all '.hrough His life there was this spirit of sacrifice for others; and that great atoning work on tie Cross was the consummation and crown ,)f a life of sacrific3 which had gone before. ' • ! * ;r - I do not need to tell you that wo are not called as He was to offer a sacrifice for the sins of others. We do not need to do that ; we could not do that. Tie sacrifice of Jesus Christ as an atonement stands absolutely unique and isolated ; nothing can be added, nothing taken from it. When we stand in brokenness of spirit in the presence of Calj vary we do not stand there to imitate, hut as penitent sinners to appropriate what He at great cost has purchased for us. But because we are His we are called to tread as He did the lowly path of self-sacrifice — to sacrifice ease, and comfort, and convenience, and friendships, and earthly prospects— to be willing to sacrifice what we call our own rights and opinions and dignity, and so on; to be willing to sacrifice time and luxuries—anything, as God calls us to do it. In other words, the whole heart and whole life are to bo placed as a, willing sacrifice on the altar for sinful, suffering humanity. If you do that, you will soon roll back the reproaches of which Mr. Meyer was speaking bust night. Some of you remember that beautiful scene in the life of General Gordon. Ho had just returned from China after the distinguished Taeping campaign. He went as a poor man, and he came back as poor—lots of honour, but nothing more substantial. When leaving China, the Emperor, out of gratitude for tho services he had rendered the Empire, presented to him a large gold medal. When' Gordon reached Plymouth, and saw the first copies of the English papers, he read of the famine amongst the silk weavers in and around Coventry. The people were starving, some were dying, and public funds were being subscribed for the relief of the distress. Gor> don had nothing but his gold medal, which' was his most highly cherished possession ; and yet he took the medal, erased the inscription, and then sent it anonymously to the treasurer of the Coventry relief funds ; find he adds: " After all, this is the secret of bliss —give away your medal." Nothing kept back, everything given! So it must be with you. " Measure thy life bv loss instead of gainNot by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth. For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice, And whosoever suffers most hath, most to give," 111. THE OBLIGATION TO LOVE. I want you to notice Christ's order—first there came tho walk, then the walk led to tho Cross, and then the Cross led to the outpouring of a love which was absolutely new in the history of the world— a love possessed < f a Divine recreative power, poured out without stint at Calvary and Pentecost." It is love that is the conqueror and drives away the sin; and what I want you here to learn is, that the measure of your love to others is the measure of your power to bleu?. If you simply work from a sense of t'.tiy, that will not do. You cannot be used of God to bless others a bit more and farther then there is love in your soul to them. I found this out in China. I knew there would bo much which was repulsive in tho Chinese, and one was fearful lest any sort of disdain or repugnance should get hold of one's soul. So I and my wife made it a matter of special prayer, asking the Lord to give us a real, conscious, overmastering love for the Chinese. And He did it, so that when I looked at them but could not speak to them my heart went out in such conscious love to them that I felt just as much love to them as to my most beloved congregations at home. I believe, under God, that was one reason why the Lord made one a real blessing to those dear people, both Christian and heathen too. What we want is a, great baptism of love. If you ask me what is the greatest hindrance to the spread of the kinordom of Christ ft this moment, it is not the consniracies of the enemy, it is the absence of real self-sacri-fice and love in those of us who call themselves Christians. Whatever else you receive or do not receive, do give yourselves here and now. in utter self-abandonment, to God. asking Him. to give you a heart like that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Give me, 0 Lord, a heart like Thine!