tihvaxy of t:he trheolo^icd ^tmimvy
PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY
PRESENTED BY
Mrs, Charles Henry (rreenleaf
BV 4501~7h57 1895
Hopkins, Evan Henry.
The walk that pleases God
C(je mixlk lljat f bases 6otr,
BY THE REV.
EVAN H. HOPKINS,
Author of " The Holy Life," " Thoughts on Life and Godliness,
" Tht- Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life" etc, etc.
" Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort
yoa by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us now ve
OUGHT TO WALK AND TO PLEASE GoD, SO ye would abound
moieand more."— I Thess. iv. i.
SIXTH EDITION.
A
LONDON :
MARSHALL BROTHERS,
5A, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G.
1895.
Butler & Tanner.
The Selwood Printing Works,
Frome, and London.
CONTENTS,
PACK
I. Walking in Newness of Life . , . i
II. Deliverance by Faith . . . .11
III. Following Christ 18
IV. Divine Manifestations .... 27
V. All Blessings found in a Knowledge of
God 43
VI. Abundance of Peace 55
VII. The Christian's Ideal .... 72
VIII. The Service of God 87
IX. Life, Growth, and Fruit . . . .100
X. The Yoke of Christ 113
XL How Faith Grows . . , . .121
XII. Going Forward 132
XIII. Growth 141
XIV. "An Unction from the Holy One" . izj
The Walk that Pleases God.
Mctlkhtg ill It^ixrit^ss nf l^ife.
I TT is of the first importance that we
should clearly see, not only the des-
tination of this walk, but
Its Starting Point.
One great characteristic of all Holy
Ghost teaching is that He always leads us
to Christ — to some fact in which Christ is
the centre. And in the passage where
the words occur, that we should " walk in
newness of life," our thoughts are directed
to the historical fact of Christ's crucifixion.
But is it not to the same fact we are
directed in the previous chapters ? True ;
Rom. VI. 4.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
but then it was with another object —
namely to show the source and cause of
our justification. But in the sixth chapter
the Apostle passes on to the believer's
conduct in relation to sin. He points us
to the same central truth, but with another
purpose — namely to show the source and
secret of our practical deliverance from
the service of sin.
In the former case the Apostle sets
forth Christ's death in relation to God's
righteous claims. In the present it is
Christ's death in relation to sin's appeals.
In the first His death was a death for sin
— propitiation ; in the second it was a
death unto sin — separation. Christ not
only endured the penalty as a sinless
suflerer — He identified Himself with us
in our sinfulness. He who was altogether
sinless, absolutely pure, spotless, and knew
no sin — was willing to be regarded in the
eye of God as if He were the sinner.
Our Lord could not repent — He had no
sins to confess — and yet so truly did He
WALKING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.
identify Himself with u^ in our fallen
condition that He submitted to John's
baptism, which was a baptism of repen-
tance— for those who came confessing
their sins. Though He was never for a
single instant under the power of sin, yet
it is declared He not only died for^ but
unto sin.
The believer is identified with Christ in
His death. It was not simply that Christ
took your death, and you take His life.
That is the first lesson. The second
lesson is that you recognise your complete
identification with Him in His death.
When He died you died. In the eye of
God every believer — nay, the whole Church
— was crucified with Christ. We died
with Christ ; that is true, in what is called
a judicial sense. But this is not enough.
There must be experimental oneness
with Christ in His death. The his-
torical fact must become an experimental
reality. That which is true for us,
must become true iji us. For real prac-
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
tical holiness there must be personal
identification — heart-sympathy with Christ
in His death. This means a oneness of
spirit, having the same mind as Christ in
Pet. iv. I. reference to sin — "Arm yourselves with
the same mind." To have sympathy with
Christ in His death unto sin, is to cease to
have sympathy with sin. And when that
takes place sin's power is broken. You
now look out upon sin, and the world, and
Satan, from the standpoint of Christ's
death, and you are delivered from the
power of all of them.
The Apostle would remind them that
Baptism supposes this oneness with Christ
in His death. He appeals to them — you
have been baptized into Jesus Christ !
What did that baptism mean ? It repre-
sented your profession. It was an outward
confession of your faith in Christ. It was
your open avowal of your discipleship —
that henceforth you are a follower of Christ.
True ; but what did it mean in reference
to the Cross ? It was your personal
WALKING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.
ideniification with Christ in His death.
You were baptized "unto His death"
with a view to your complete oneness of
heart and mind with Him in that death.
Do you know what that death meant ?
Do you understand its import ? It was
to place Him in an altogether new relation
to His former life. It terminated that life
— but it introduced Him into a new life.
"Thou wilt show me the path of life."
Those words belong primarily to Christ.
They refer to the path of resurrection
life.
Now, if you enter into the meaning of
your baptism, it will be " even so " with
you. If you are brought into experi-
mental oneness with Him in His death,
you too shall find it the portal of the new
life. And your own spiritual instinct will
at once give the true answer to the ques-
tion which opens this chapter — " Shall we
continue in sin that grace may abound ? "
You will answer, not simply from a sense
of rightness, from a sense of the moral
Ps. xvi. II.
Rom. vi. I.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Phil. iii. 13.
obligation, the duty, of having nothing
more to do with sin ; but from a feeling
of hatred to sin, from a heart-desire at
once and for ever to renounce it. " How
shall we who died to sin live any longer
therein ? " Impossible !
Ihe Lord's Supper sets forth the same
truth. The conditions essential to holy
walking at the start are essential also all
along the way to the end of the journey.
To maintain this sympathy with Christ in
His death unto sin — nay, to deepen it — is
one of the chief benefits to be derived
from a right partaking of this sacred
ordinance.
What is it we show forth in the Lord's
Supper ? Ye do show forth His death,
till He come. It is only out of His
death that the new life springs. How are
we to know, experimentally and practi-
cally, how are we to know the power of
Christ's resurrection ? The Apostle gives
us the essential condition in the words that
follow : *' being made conformable unto His
WALKING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.
ikath.''^ It is by a daily conformity, an
experimental and ever-deepening oneness
of heart and soul with the dying Christ,
that we are brought to know and manifest
the power of His risen life.
Its Characteristics.
*' Even so we also should walk in new-
ness of life."
This newness of life does not consist in
the self life improved, reformed, or refined,
but in the old life replaced, superseded.
Another life is substituted.
" Newness of life." Not new in the
sense of a fresh beginning of the same
life, just as a tree may get new vigour and
stability through being transplanted into
a better soil, or into a better situation ;
but new in the sense of getting another
life, just as a branch grafted on another
tree partakes of its sap, and consequently
becomes possessed of new properties and
powers — a new life. It is new as to its
Rom. vi. 4.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Col, i. 29.
nature — a fresh source of life. It is life
from another root.
To walk in newness of life is not
making a fresh effort on the old resources,
putting forth fresh energy from the same
source of vitality, but going forth in the
energy of a new supply of life in union
with a new source. But this involves the
termination of the old life.
Such a life has marvellous possibilities.
Because it is Divine life, the life that
God lives. The holy life, the only holy
life; the only life that can glorify God
and bring forth fruit acceptable unto
Him.
It is a hfe of intense activity. *' Where-
unto I also labour," says the Apostle,
" striving according to His working, which
worketh in me mightily."
Not a life that makes us passive or
slothful, but which calls into activity every
faculty of our renewed being. " Walk in
newness of life." The figure suggests the
thought of activity, progress, manifesta-
WALKING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.
tion. It is a life unto God. It isi /from
Him, and it is also unto Him.
Its Lessons.
If it is in this new life all our service is
to be wrought, then let us cease to build
our hopes on the old. Let us cease to
expect anything from it but failure and
disappointment. Let us cease to cultivate
it Let us for ever have done with it.
And yet how many have all their
thoughts centred upon improving the old
self-life. How many earnest and religious
people belong to " the Old Adam Im-
provement Society." It is the recognition
of the Christ-life ; it is union with the
risen Christ, that men need instead of the
culture of the religious self-life.
Then again, let us learn that the source
of our pardon is also the spring of our
holiness.
We need, not only forgiveness for the
guilt, but also separation from the love of
10
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
2 Cor. iv. lo.
sin. The death of Christ is the fountain
of both these blessings.
The first need experienced in the matter
of the walk, after justification is known
and reahzed, is deHverance from the
power, activity, and tyranny of the self-
life principle. Nothing but the power of
Christ's death can set us free from this
hindrance. We need that power in con-
tinual exercise. It is not by its being
put forth once for all that we enjoy a
continuous freedom. It is by a constant
and ever-deepening conformity to His
death that we get the momentary deliver-
ance from the self-life. And as we are
freed from the old life, so we are filled
with the new. "Always bearing about
in the body the dying "—the putting to
death — " of the Lord Jesus, that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in
our body."
DELIVERANCE BY FAITH.
gelibenma bu Jfaitlj.
QOME of the chief difticulties experi-
enced by the child of God in the daily
life arise from a want of knowledge. He
has not seen clearly the extent of the
deliverance which has been obtained for
him by Christ on the cross.
Pardon for the sin of the past, com-
plete and free, has been seen and grasped.
A present perfect acceptance in Christ
before God, is known and realized. But
sin as a power, and too often as an over-
coming power, is keenly felt as a terrible
reality nevertheless.
The believer now tries to do his best to
meet this power and to set himself free
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
from it. He has seen God's way of for-
giveness, but he has yet to learn God's
way of deliverance from the power of
sin. And being ignorant of God's way, he
earnestly tries his own way of deliverance.
Perhaps he seeks to obtain freedom
from sin's dominion by setting himself to
do something in the Lord's service. He
tries
Deliverance by Working.
He hopes that by taking up definite and
regular work, being occupied in some
religious effort, he will find himself set
free from the tyranny and service of sin.
For a time he fancies things are better
— he persuades himself his experience is
brighter and more hopeful. So he per-
severes in this course — seeking deliverance
from the power of sin by means of Chris-
tian work. But after a time he is convinced
of his mistake. He is bitterly disappointed
with the results in his actual experience.
He feels more and more this is not God's
DELIVERANCE BY FAITH.
way, but he hardly knows wliere the mis-
take lies.
He reads a passage of Scripture like
this — ''That we being delivered out of
the hand of our enemies might serve Him
without fear, in holiness and rigliteousness
before Him, all the days of our life." This
reveals to him the fact that deliverance
comes not after, but before service — that
it is not to be the effect, or the fruit of our
service, but the essential condition of it.
Then he tries another plan. He seeks
emancipation from sin's dominion by his
own efforts to overcome sin. He seeks
Luke i.
Deliverance by Fighting.
Suppose the angel had said to Peter
when he came to him in the prison, "Peter,
thou art free. The chains which kept
thee bound have fallen from thy hands.
Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals.
Take this sword, and fight thy way out
of the prison. There are many foes yet
to be overcome. Conquer them all, and
H
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Act* xii • iC'.
thou shalt be free indeed." Deliverance
for Peter would have been partly by grace,
and partly by his own efforts. But we see
it was all of grace. The angel brought
a full and complete deliverance. It
reached from the innermost part of the
prison to the street of the city. Peter
realized something of that freedom when
he saw the chains fall off, but he did not
know the extent of it until he went forth
in the path of simple obedience. The
angel said, " Follow me." And Peter
" went forth and followed him." It was
as he pursued the path marked out for
him, step by step, that he saw how com-
plete, how truly of grace was that deliver-
ance which God had sent him. " When
they were past the first and second ward,
they came unto the iron gate that leadeth
unto the city ; which opened to them of
his own accord."
So it is with the believer now. Christ
has purchased for us deliverance from the
power, as well as from the penalty of sin.
DELIVERANCE BY FAITH. 15
— 1
We realize something of that freedom
when we first apprehend the truth —
when first we see that salvation is full,
present, and free. The chains instantly
fall off, but how little comparatively do
we yet see of the extent and completeness
of the liberty wherewith Christ by His
death has made us free !
Deliverance by Growth.
Once more, how many suppose that
deliverance can only come by growth ?
It is, therefore, just a question of time.
Being only young believers, they are, of
course, very weak, but the evil nature is
strong within them. The new nature must
have time to grow and become strength-
ened. In the meantime, as the old nature
is so strong, victory over sin cannot be
expected. Failure is regarded as inevit-
able, and as a consequence a sad and
dark experience follows.
How serious is the mistake thus made !
i6
Rom. vi.
14, 22.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Deliverance from sin's power does not
come by working, nor by self-efforts, nor
by spiritual growth.
Deliverance is the purchase of
Christ's death, and is to be
claimed by faith,
just as we claim pardon.
The mistakes many of us made when
seeking forgiveness are often repeated
when we seek deliverance.
God's way of deliverance from sin is by
Christ through faith that it may be of
grace. It is the Spirit alone that can
communicate this knowledge to us 07
enable us to appropriate it; just as it is
He alone who can reveal to us God's way
of justification. It is as we walk in the
Spirit that we live above sin's power.
We may at once by faith step into this
path of freedom and by faith abide therein.
" Sin shall not have dominion over you."
"Now being made free from sin {i.e. from
its power and service as the context shows).
DELIVERANCE BY FAITH.
17
and become servants to God, ye have
your fruit unto holiness and the end ever-
lasting life." Let us not suppose that
this freedom is to be accepted gradually.
It is to be claimed and received as an
immediate privilege, though it can be
known and enjoyed experimentally only
progressively. As Professor Godet ob-
serves, on the eleventh verse of the sixth
of Romans, " The believer does not
get disentangled from sin gradually. He
breaks with it in Christ once for all."
We are delivered by Christ's death com
pletely from sin's authority. Sin has no
right to lord it over us any longer. Claim
your right, then, to be free. " Stand fast
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free."
Gal. V. I.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Matt. viii.
19.
" IWr ASTER, I will follow Thee whither-
soever Thou goest." Such were
the words that were addressed to our
Lord by a certain scribe. From our
Lord's reply it would seem that the man
had scarcely realized their full import.
Or perhaps there was a lack of real sin-
cerity. Did the scribe understand what
he was saying ? Had he really counted
the cost 1
The words might have been the out-
burst of a mere passing emotion — a tem-
porary impulse — rather than the delibe-
rate decision of a calm and intelligent
estimate of spiritual realities. He had
FOLLOWING CHRIST.
19
been listening to Christ's preaching.
Perhaps he was captivated by the mar-
vellous wisdom and exquisite tenderness
of His words ; and as he listened his
heart was touched, his enthusiasm was
kindled, and he felt at the moment that
he was ready to go anywhere with such a
Teacher.
But whatever • might have been the
motive that prompted their utterance, the
words cons'dered in themselves do ex-
press the feelings of a truly devoted
disciple. They are the true expression
of a soul wholly consecrated to Christ.
Taking them in this sense, let us ask
what do they imply ? If we can say
Vhem truly — if this is the calm and de-
liberate decision to which we have come,
having been brought to see the infinite
preciousness of Christ, and the glorious
privilege of being under His guidance,
direction, and control— if we can say
from our hearts, " Master, I will follow
Thee — I will follow Thee whithersoever
Acts X. 36.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Cor. vi.
19.
Acts xxvii.
23.
Thou goest," — then we have been brought
into a very intimate relationship with
Christ. What does it imply ?
I. The recognition of Christ's
CLAIMS. It is possible to realize much
of the benefits of His death — pardon,
peace, acceptance — and yet but very im-
perfectly recognise Christ's lordship over
us. If He is Christ Jesus, anointed to
save, so He is Christ the Lord anointed
to rule. He is " Lord of all." In all
things He must have the pre-eminence.
Christ does not want our patronage. He
comes claiming our submission. He must
take the place of absolute supremacy.
He is your Proprietor. "Ye are not
your own." The Apostle Paul fully and
constantly recognised this truth. It was
to him the essential condition of all true
service. It was because he could say
" Whose I am," that he could add, " and
Whom I serve."
No one has a right to take possession
of our natures and to use us but Christ.
FOLLOWING CHRIST.
We belong to Him. The world, or Satan,
or self, have no right to our spirits, souls,
and bodies. These are all usurpers.
You may be under the power of one
who has no authority over you — no right
to lord it over you. A burglar may break
into your house, bind you hand and foot,
and then rob you of your goods. He
has no right, no authority, thus to deal
with you, yet you are powerless to resist
him.
So with the believer. Though it is per-
fectly true that he has been delivered out
of the authority of darkness, still if he is
not abitiing under the authority of Christ,
and in the keeping power of God, Satan
may have dominion over him. He may
fall under the power of evil.
We are only safe as we recognise
Christ's claims. He claims the right of
taking possession of the whole man, of
managing every part of our being, and
inseparable from His power to control
is His power to defend and to keep.
Col. i. 13.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
In proportion to the thoroughness with
which we submit to Christ's sway, to the
same degree shall we be brought to enjoy
Christ's rest. Anxiety and strain cease
just as we practically recognise that the
government of our wliole beings, and of
everything connected with us, has been
laid upon Christ's shoulder.
It is because in some subtle way or
other we fancy we are our own masters,
that we are oppressed by care and weighed
down with anxiety.
Imagine a cabin boy deluding himself
with the notion that the whole responsi-
bility of navigating the ship and providing
for the passengers rested upon his shoul-
ders. The captain would soon tell him
to look after his own business and do what
he w^as told : " I am commander here, my
boy."
So it is with us. It is because we fail
to recognise Christ's Lordship that we
often get burdened with anxiety and ham-
pered with care.
FOLLOWING CHRIST.
23
But to say these words from the heart
imph'es also —
II. Obedience to Christ's Com-
mands. *' Whatsoever He saith unto you, John ii. 5.
do it," were the words of the mother of
our Lord to the servants who waited on
them at the feast.
Christ has much more to say to us
than " Thy sins be forgiven thee." Jesus
spake the word as they were able to hear
it.
Obedience is conformity to a revealed
will. Divine obedience is conformity to
the revealed will of God.
Christ claims our obedience, step by
step, as He reveals to us His will and gives
us His commands. "His Command- ijohnv.3.
ments are not grievous." That is to say,
they may be fulfilled.
All His followers have been redeemed,
set free, for this purpose, that they might
follow Him. To follow Him is to obey
Him. To follow Christ is not the same
thing as to have a religion, or a system of
24
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
morality. It implies that we have come
to a Person.
It IS the obedience of the heart. It is
not the service of a mere outward com-
pliance, a service of compulsion. A con-
vict performs his task, goes through his
labours ; but it is not true service, for it is
not voluntary. There is all the difference
between the compulsory labour of a con-
vict and the willing and loving obedience
Rom. vi. 17. of a child. "Thanks be to God, that
whereas ye were servants of sin, ye
became obedient from the heart to that
form of teaching whereunto ye were de-
Hvered."
Lastly, the words imply —
III. Likeness to Christ's Character.
— Followers of Christ are imitators of God.
Eph V. T. " Be ye therefore imitators of God, as
dear children." To follow Christ is to
walk in His steps.
This likeness is not confined to tlie
actions of a man's life : it is something that
lies deeper. Outward conformity to Christ
FOLLOWING CHRIST.
25
can only come by union and fellowship
with Him in the secret springs of one's
being. The root of every true act of
service lies in the hidden principle which
prompted it.
Christ has revealed to us the secret
of His obedience. He not only says,
" Follow Me," do as I have done, imitate
Me in the visible acts of My life, but He
says " Follow Me " in the spiritual condi-
tions which were essential even to My own
obedience. " The branch cannot bear
fruit /r^;;z itself." As one has said, here
is " the imperative of a natural law," can-
not. So is it also the imperative of a
spiritual law, the law of true service. And
because He had taken the place of a
servant, the place of dependence — of a
branch — He voluntarily submits to the
same law which He bids us to observe.
He says, " I can of Mine own self do
nothing." Again, " I do nothing from
Myself." " I speak not from Myself."
Well, then, we have to be imitators of
John XV.
John V. 30 1
viii. 28 ;
xiv. 10.
26
ITos. xiv. 8
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Christ, followers of Him in this respect.
To work, to speak, to bear fruit, not from
ourselves, but from Him who liveth in us.
" From Me is thy fruit found."
DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS.
gifaine p;n:nifcsfatr0ns.
PROGRESS in the spiritual life de-
pends upon growth in our know-
ledge of Christ. It has been well said,
*' Tell me what you see of Christ, and I
will tell you where you stand.'' There
can be no doubt that is a sound prinqiple.
But how is it that many -ef us wlio
had blessed manifestations of the Lord
Jesus Christ at .our conversion, and in
the days that followed, are no longer en-
joying those blessings, or have but a
feeble sense of them to-day?
Before God can show Himself to us,
often He has first to do a work in us.
There are hindrances that come between
28
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Num. xiii.
26-33.
US and God, that act as a veil, and ob-
scure the vision of His presence. It was
so with the children of Israel. Before
the Lord manifested Himself to them,
there was a work of preparation that had
to be done in them. What was their
condition? Read Josh. v. 13-15. Their
hearts were hardened. They were really
unfit to receive either correction or in-
struction, either comfort or reproof. All
the glorious unfoldings of God's grace
were simply thrown away upon them.
They were in a state of disobedience.
You know how and where it happened.
It was at Kadesh-Barnea. Through un-
belief they refused to obey God. They
turned aside from the path of implicit
obedience because they were afraid of
men — of the giants that were in the land.
They thought more of the power of the
foe than of the omnipotence of God. So
they refused to obey God. And we find
from that time for more than thirty-eight
years they wandered about in the wilder-
DIVINE MA NIFES TA TIONS.
ness or " provocalion." Now we are not
surprised to learn what followed. They
neglected to obey one of God's clear
commands — keeping the Passover. It
was God's distinct command that they
should keep the Passover year by year
continually. But what do we find ? — that
from the time they left Sinai there is no
record of their having kept the Passover
for thirty-eight or thirty-nine years. There
is no mention of the commemoration of
the Passover during the whole of that
time. We have three passovers men-
tioned, or rather one passover and two
commemorations — first in Egypt, then at
Horeb, and then here on the borders of
Canaan. So that they were in a back-
sHding state ; they had forsaken God.
But God in His infinite love had not
forsaken them. Still He could not un-
fold His treasures. He could not mani-
fest Himself in His fulness to them,
That is practically the condition of
many Christians to-day. There has been
30
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
a point in their spiritual life when they
feared man more than they trusted God.
And so they turned aside out of the path
of His will, and one act of disobedience
led to another, all througli unbelief, and
where are they to-day ? If God were to
open the eyes of some of us, how amazed
should we be to discover that we had
wandered so far away from God ! We
are satisfied it may be with a cold ortho-
doxy ; we read our portion every day, say
our prayers, and, with the consciousness
that our conversion was clear and distinct,
we console ourselves with the thought
that we hold sound doctrine. But how
about our lives and our communion with
God ? how about the manifestation of
His presence to our soul ? You come to
the word of God, but ydu no longer know
what it is to hear His voice speaking to
you. Here you are to-day, feeling cold
and dead and formal. You want to lead
a better life. You have struggled and
striven ; you have said, " I will now turn
DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS.
over a new leaf; I will ask God to give
me more grace to enable me to overcome
this or that temptation." That is not the
life that God wants you to lead. He
calls you to a victorious, free, and spon-
taneous life. Something must be wrong
somewhere, and it must be in ourselves.
What do you need ? Just as Israel
needed preparation of heart, and to have
the hindrances removed, before God
could reveal Himself to them, so it is
with many of God's people to-day.
Consider first —
Israel's Preparation for the Divine
Manifestation.
The first thing they had to do was to
observe the two old Testament rites —
Circumcision and the keeping of the
Passover. What did that mean? The
first meant separation from everything
that was evil, from all iniquity ; the
second, taking up redemption ground
before God. In its application to our-
32
Acts XX. 21.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
selves it means the cleansing of ourselves
from all that is contrary to the mind of
God, and then taking up the ground of
simple faith of our acceptance in Jesus
Christ. In other words — repentance and
faith.
There are some people who seem to
look upon repentance as if it were an act
done once for all at their conversion. But
surely it is not merely an act^ but a con-
dition of mind that is to be maintained
throughout the whole Christian life. It
means the continuous separation from,
and renunciation of, everything that is
contrary to the mind of God ; and a
deepening work, as God reveals more to
you of yourself and the sinfulness of sin.
An attitude to be maintained throughout
together with simple faith in Christ.
Have you taken up that position to-day ?
Take your stand upon redemption ground
Mpon the finished work of Christ. Taking
our stand there, then the Lord, in the
stillness of our souls as we wait upon
DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS.
Him, will manifest Himself to us as He
did to Israel.
Consider secondly —
The Nature of the Manifestation.
Standing upon the border of the land, the
wilderness past, and the land flowing with
milk and honey spread out before them,
what a happy moment this was in their
history ! Is that the position of your soul
to-day — taking your stand there (the pro-
vocation over, the wandering over, the
self life over), you have the land of pro-
mise, all the glorious promises of the
word of God, spread out before you.
But there was something more. They
had in prospect the subduing of seven
nations mightier and stronger than they.
They were called to a life of conflict.
God had given them the land ; and yet
God says, " Go, and claim it." And, if
there is one word that God seems to be
emphasizing in connection with this
teaching, it is that little word claim.
^Z
34
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Josh. i. 3 ;
xiv. 9.
Deut.xi.24
When you are brought into the right
attitude of separation from all known
evil, then the promise is yours. Do not
simply look at it hesitating whether you
may have it, but go up and claim it.
" Every place that the sole of your feet
shall tread upon, that I have given you."
How many promises have you claimed ?
How many promises have been translated
into your experience, so that you can say,
" I know the truth of that promise ; 1
have found it a reality in my life ; I have
proved it " ?
Take, for instance, the promise of God's
keeping. " I believe He can do it," you
say. " I believe that He is able to do
it." Yes ; but can you say, " The Lord
Jesus is keeping me just at this mo-
ment"? Now it was at this crisis that
there was a fresh manifestation to Israel.
What was the nature of this manifesta-
tion ? Joshua went on to reconnoitre the
place. He wanted to make himself
acquainted with its surroundings. He
DIVINE MA NIFES TA 7 IONS,
35
did not yet know God's mind as to ihc
plan of attack. When standing there a
"stranger appears, one in human form.
Was he a mere man or angel ? Was it
a natural or supernatural manifestation }
What was the nature of it ? Notice
two or three things about it. It was
Divine. It was the Lord Himself. It
was none other than tlie Angel of the
Covenant — none other than He who h id
appeared to Jacob at Peniel, where the
patriarch cried, " I have seen God face
to face." It was He who had appeared
to Moses in the burning bush, and gave
His name " I Am." It was the second
person of the Godhead, the Lord Him-
self. This is clearly shown by the fact
that the ground upon which he stood was
holy ground. It was none other than
God Himself, for a mere angel would not
have received the homage that Joshua
gave. When the Apostle John would
worship the angel, as recorded in the
Book of Revelation, the angel said, " See
Gen. xxxii.
36
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Rev.xix.io. thou do it not ; worship God." But here
is Joshua prostrate at His feet, at this
fresh manifestation of Jehovah to His-
people.
Then notice that it was progressive.
It was part of a complete revelation, in
advance of what had gone before, and
preparatory to that which had yet to be
revealed. The Lord appeared to His
people not only at sundry times, but in
divers manners. He did not unfold His
character all at once, but in many parts,
and each manifestation had its place in
the Divine plan. There was a purpose
and there was a design in the order of
their occurrence.
He appeared in Egypt as the De-
liverer, the Redeemer ; by the blood of
the Lamb and by the power of His arm
bringing them out. He had appeared to
Israel at Sinai as their Teacher. There
they were gathered round His footstool,
and He communicated His mind ; He
taught them. Then He guided them and
DI VINE MANIFES TA J IONS.
37
provided for them, taking up His place
in their midst. But here He says, " As
Captain of the host of the Lord am I
now come," as Moses sang, " The Lord
is a man of war : the Lord is His name."
He had come to fulfil the precious pro-
mise which we have : " Dread not, neither
be afraid of them. The Lord your Cod
which goeth before you. He shall fight
for you according to all that He did for
you in Egypt before your eyes."
Once more, the manifestation was
scasojiable. It was just at the right time,
just what they needed — a new revelation
meeting a new need— a new need being
met by a new unfolding of the Divine
Name. What was this new need ? Not
the bondage of a cruel master, not the
scarceness of a barren waste, not the
uncertainty of a trackless desert — but the
peril of a fierce conflict. They were
standing face to face with an entrenched
and powerful foe. They wanted the
Captain of the Lord's host. So it is with
Josh. V. 14
Ex. XV.
Deut. i. 29.
38
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
l{M>i^
Josli. V. 13.
the believer to-day. Spiritual progress
means getting fresh views and unfoldings
of the Lord Jesus Christ to your soul, and
ths comes in the line of His will, as you
are led along, and as the need'arises you
are brought to experience more and more
of your need, so you see how the Lord
Jesus, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
just meets that need. That is true pro-
gress.
Consider lastly —
The Fresh Claims The Manifestation
Involved.
And what did the Lord now demand
of Joshua ?
I. Absolute authority. He reveals Him-
self as Prince of the Lord's host. He
did not come out as an ally. Joshua
said unto Him, "Art Thou for us or for
our adversaries ? " which meant : — Are
you going to take their side or ours ?
And He said. Nay, I am not going to
take this side or that side. I am not
DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS.
39
tH'
come to render you a little assistance. I
am come to take the supreme command.
I am come to supersede you altogether.
The battle is not yours, but the Lord's.
I am come to take the whole responsi-
bility of the conflict into My own hands.
You must hand over to Me the command
of the whole campaign. Joshua at once
obeyed.
Here, then, there was a crisis. Have
you been brought to that point ? Have
you put the government upon His
shoulder ? It belongs to Him. Have
you fallen in with God's mind in the
matter, and has it become a reality in
your own mind and experience ? " What
saith my Lord unto His servant ? " I am
Thy servant ; command me.
And then you see what followed as a
natural result. 2. Profound reverence. Be-
loved, if we are really making progress
in holiness, we shall be making progress
ill humility — that is, downwards — growing
m grace. Did it ever occur to you what
A°
^
Rev, L if
Phil. il.
»3-
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
that meant — growing in grace ? What is
grace? I may give just two definitions
of grace. It is the opposite of merit ; it
is the complement of need. It is the
opposite of merit — getting what you don't
deserve. We are saved by grace. Now
we have to grow in grace — not only to be
saved by grace. What does that mean ?
It means growing in a sense of our in-
debtedness to the Lord. That is true
humility; and it is just a view of the
Lord Jesus that brings us down. " When
I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead."
It was so with Moses, Joshua, Isaiah, and
with John at Patmos. " Put off thy shoes
from off thy feet, for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground " — a blessed
spot — never quit it, for God is there,
and there it is that He is working in you,
both to will and to do. You are always
to occupy holy ground, and therefore
always to be in the dust.
3. The Lord required of him implicit
trust. How foolish in the estimation of
DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS. 41
the world are some of God's commands.
I fancy I see some of those men in Israel
smiling as they were told the way they
were to take Jericho. Nothing could
seem more absurd than marching round
and round and using nothing but rams'-
horns. But it was the Divine command
— that is where the trial of faith comes
in ; and as they followed the path of God's
command, there was the victory. So it
will be with us in the fight of faith. The
principles and laws unfolded in the Old
Testament are precisely those that are to
be carried into practice in the New.
Now if indeed we have been brought
to His feet, and brought to see something
of ourselves, if we have been stripped of
our self-confidence, and in the depths of
our hearts have renounced every known
evil way, taking our stand upon the com-
pleted work of Christ, and conscious of
our acceptance in Christ before God — on
redemption ground — then we are in the
line of His blessing ; and He will come
42
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
to us just where we are. He knows our
need, and He will manifest Himself to us
in answer to that need.
A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
43
%\\ blessings
Jfoitnb iit a flnofolcirge 0f ^ob.
Job xxii. 21-30.
CCRIPTURE is its own interpreter.
It is by comparing one passage with
another that we arrive at its meaning.
Sometimes a flood of h'ght is thrown upon
a text by studying it simply in connection
with the context. The passage before us
is a case in point. The twenty-first verse
is the text, the verses that follow, right on
to the end of the chapter, we may call the
sermon. They are just an unfolding of
the truth contained in the text.
Two questions are suggested by the
opening words of this passage, ist. How
44
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
(Ru.i
is God to be known ? 2nd. In what
does the " good " here promised consist ?
I. How IS God to be Known?
Can God be known ? Is it possible
for finite creatures to comprehend the
infinite, the eternal God ? No man can
know God as He is in Himself. We can
only know God in relation to ourselves.
We can only know Him so far as He has
been pleased to reveal Himself to us.
If God had not sent us a revelation,
all our thoughts and conceptions of Him
would be nothing more than mere specu-
lation. But in the Holy Scriptures we
have an unveiling of His character, a
manifestation of His name. God may
be known. " Acquaint now thyself with
Him." *' But how?" you ask; "what are
the means to be used?" The twenty-
second verse gives us the answer. "Re-
ceive, I pray thee, the law from His
mouth."
God is to be known by a humble re-
A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
45
ception of the inspired word, the message
He has sent. h^^-'^^y^^uUf ^f h-^-- ^'
"Receive." Man's first thought when
he begins to seek God is not receiving,
but giving, or doing. He thinks, " What
shall I bring to God ? How may I pro-
pitiate my way into His favour? What
shall I do to obtain eternal life ? How
shall I construct a ladder by which I may
climb to heaven ? " God says, " Receive."
His first word is, Accept. It is not a
ladder for you to climb, but a message
for you to receive. It is not, in the first
place, man ascending, but God descend-
ing. God sends you His word, like a
ray of light from heaven. Take it in, let
it penetrate into your soul. Take down the
shutters, and let the light flood your whole
being. It comes to tell you what God is.
It comes to unveil the truth ; not to
create what does not exist, but to disclose
what is already a fact. It couies to make
God known to us, to declare His Name,
His Character. To show us Himself.
46
2 Cor. V. 17.
I Thess
13-
Jiuih
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Now such a revelation revolutionizes
all our thoughts. It changes all our pre-
conceived notions. It removes our pre-
judices and adjusts all our conceptions of
things. "Behold, all things become new."
Receive it " from His mouth." That
is, take it directly from Him. Take it as
the word of the living God. The Aposde
tells the Thessalonian converts that it was
this that caused him so much joy. " For
this cause also thank we God without
ceasing, because, when ye received the
word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received it not as the word of men, but
as it is in truth, the word of God, which
effectually worketh also in you that be-
lieve." But more than this, we must
know what it is to meditate upon it — we
must inwardly digest it. "Lay up His
words in thine heart." Perhaps it is this
that is especially needed in this busy age.
There is much hearing, but how little
there is of meditation and of prayerful
thought !
A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
God's word is like seed. Every grain
of wheat has a germ of life in it. But
how is that life to be called forth into
activity ? It must be sown. It is not
the earth that gives it life. It is not the
moisture that quickens it. The life is
there already. All it needs is to call it
forth. Bury it, and the latent life will
begin to manifest itself The imprisoned
life will burst forth. So it is with the
word of God.
It is full of life. " The words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they
are life." But the word needs to be
sown in a human heart. It needs to be
buried in the minds and affections of
men. Hide it there, and it will make
itself felt and seen. '' Thy word have I
hid in my heart that I might not sin
against Thee." In that quickening, living,
and active word, we shall see a revelation
of God. We get to know God by receiv-
ing the living Word.
But, again, we acquaint ourselves with
47
John vi. 63.
Ps.c.x
o^^
■If
48
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
2 Cor. V. 20.
God by entering into a right relation to
God.
"Be at peace." That is, tjike the
place of a reconciled soul. Be at peace,
not niake your peace with God. Christ
has done that. Peace is already made —
accept it. Fall in with God's terms. " Be
ye reconciled to God." Don't propose
any conditions of your own. Come over
on His side. This is to return. Don't
argue with God. Qonfession becomes us
rather than controversy. > *--(
" Put away iniquity far from thy tents."
Separation unto God means separation
from all unrighteousness. God and sin
are eternally opposed. If we love the
one we shall hate the other. Put away
iniquity — that is, put away the secret
spoils and unrighteous gains, things
acquired by violence and extortion and
unfair means. You cannot bring them
to the light, and ask God's blessing on
them. Well then, put them away.
Renounce all false grounds of trust,
A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
and let God alone be thy confidence.
This comes out in the words of the
twenty-fourth and twenty fifth verses.
Mark the contrast. "Lay thou thy
treasure in the dust. . . . And the
Almighty shall be thy treasure." Con-
sider what thy treasure might be. Trea-
sures represent anything which we prize
liighly, that we value dearly. It may be
worldly position ; it may be material
wealth ; it may be natural gifts ; it may
be intellectual or spiritual powers. ^ All
these things, good as they are in them-
selves, are not to occupy the place that
belongs to God alone. The Almighty
God Himself is to be thy treasure. All
your resources must be in Him. " All
my springs are in Thee." All this will
lead to a fuller and deeper knowledge of
God. These are the conditions of a true
acquaintanceship with God.
49
Ps. Ixxxvii.
7-
/•^ '?l
50
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
II. In what does the "Good" here
Promised Consist ?
/ "Thereby good shall come unto thee."
Ps iv. 6 There be many that say, " Who will show
us any good ? " I'hat is what every man
professes to be seeking— * good" We
may trace the blessings in the verses that
follow.
I. Joy in God Belief in God, and
reverence for Him there may be with-
out any real delight in the Lord. "For
then," that is, when you have obeyed
the directions, fulfilled the conditions,
"then shalt thou have thy delight in the
Almighty." No greater blessing can
come upon the soul than this. It is then
that the duty-life becomes transformed
into tlie love-life of willing and joyous
obedience.
God undertakes to bring it about. He
engages to bestow this blessing upon
those who fulfil the conditions.
A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
51
"Thou shalt Hit up thy face unto God."
The soul no longer goes about with a
condemned conscience, dejected and dis-
heartened. But in conscious, loving
fellowship the believer now looks up into
God's face, realizing that there is " nothing
between."
2. Power in Prayer. The spirit of
prayer is a Divine gift. We may observe
the practice and habit of prayer without
really enjoying the gift of prayer. "Thou
shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He
shall hear thee; and thou shalt pay thy
vows."
3. Success in Service. " Thou shalt
also decree a thing, and it shall be estab-
lished unto thee ; and the light shall
shine upon thy ways." t Good success
was promised to Joshua. ? It was granted
to Joseph. /I And also to Daniel. '^To
Nehemiah. Success, however, must not
be judged of by outward appearances.
It is the smile of God that is the true
evidence of real prosperity. This is the
Josh. i. 8.
Gen. xx.xix.
3. 23-.
Dan. VI. 28.
Neh. i. n.
(d
n
\
52
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
essence or all true blessedness, and this
the consecrated soul may always have.
It may be always true of the submissive
and obedierit believer, "Light shall shine
upon thy ways.
4. Faith in Trial. " And when they
cast thee down thou shalt say, There is
lifting up, and the humble person He
shall save." Confidence, and joy, and
hope, in seasons of trouble and adversity,
are God's special gifts. They are included
in the " good " here promised.
Lastly. Blessings that shall come
through us to oihers. " He shall deliver
even him that is not innocent ; yea, he
shall be delivered through the cleanness
of tlune hands " (New Version).
A godly man is not only a restful and
peaceful man ; he is a public good. Such
are the salt of the earth. Let any one be
true to God, live near Him, and abide
in Christ, and He will become, without
any special effort of his own, a channel of
blessing to others.
A KNO IV LEDGE OF GOD.
53
If he is himself in close contact with
the Divine Fountain, if the living stream
is flowing freely into his own soul, he will
not only become a vessel filled, he will
overflow, and others will reap the benefit.
"Thereby good shall come unto thee."
How many are trying to seek the good
who do not seek God. Of course they
fail. But the man who seeks God wholly
will find that good will overtake him. It
is the same thought we have in Deut.
xxviii. 2 : " All these blessings shall come
upon thee, and overtake thee." That is,
the " good " shall pursue thee as the
waters of a flood. You shall be inundated
with the blessings of God.
It is when we can say truly, the Lord
is my Shepherd, that is when we are fol-
lowing Him, that "goodness and mercy"
will follow us, not by following "good-
ness and mercy," but by following the
Lord, and then they will follow us all our
days. ^
What, then, is it we have to do ? Seek
Ps. xxiii. 1,6. / c/ '
/l/.ln,it.3S
54
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
to know God. Be at peace with Him.
Get right with Him. All the blessings
and gifts we so much prize, and which
only He can bestow, will then come unto
us. We need not pursue them — they will
overtake us,
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE.
55
**I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace."
Jer. xxxiii. 6.
\"\ ^HAT is the nature of this blessing?
not only peace, but the abunda?ice
of peace ; that is to say, Peace without
Hmit, without scarcity, without restraint —
Peace in all its fulness. Abundance in its
depth and duration. A Peace wliich fully
meets our needs, perfectly satisfies our
desires — abundant Peace.
Now, let us consider it in three aspects :
in connection with Christ's work ; in con-
nection with Christ's rule ; and then in
I connection with Christ's presence.
L
56
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
I. Peace in Connection with Christ's
Work.
Col.
The peace of reconciliation. This is
not an experience so much as a state of
relationship; not something wrought in
me, but something wrought fo7- me. We
may call it the work of peace. It is, in-
deed, a fact : one of the grand facts of
Christianity. In Christ there is Peace
with God. Peace already made. "Hav-
ing made Peace through the blood of His
Cross;" i.e., Peace between God and man.
Not a feeling in my heart, but something
wrought, apart from me, by Christ ; some-
thing accomplished for me by Christ on
the cross. True, when I am brought to
a knowledge of my relationship, and of
what He has wrought for me, there will
be Peace in my heart. I shall have the
feeling of Peace; but that is the ejfect, not
the cause. The external fact, that Peace
is accomplished, is the cause, and that is
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE.
57
Christ's work alone. On the subject of
this Peace it is not my purpose now to
dwell, for I am especially addressing
those who, being justified by faith, have
peace with God. We may not be as
happy as we should like, and our ex-
perience may not be exactly what it
ought to be ; but, nevertheless, we have
received by faith our sentence of justi-
fication from God, and we find ourselves
transferred in relation to Him into a
state of Peace. And the things which
secure it to us, bring it within our reach,
and make it permanent and abiding, we
may say, with truth, are abundant — there
is Abundance of Peace.
II. Peace in Connection with Christ's
Rule.
**0f the increase of His government
and peace there shall be no end." That
is true now spiritually as it will be literally
hereafter. In a very real sense Christ's
reign begins in the heart of the believer
Isa. ix. 7.
58
Isa. xxvi. 3,
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
now. If we would know the blessed-
ness of Christ's keeping, we must begin
by knowing the reality of His reign.
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee, because
he trusteth in Thee." What does this
imply ? That there has been entire sub-
mission to Christ's control. A man's
heart is like a city. Is there peace or
tumult ? Is there order or confusion ?
Is there loyal submission or rebellion ?
That depends upon whose shoulders the
government rests. If the believer is try-
ing to manage himself, to take the govern-
ment into his own hands, peace can never
be established or abiding. There may be
seasons of comparative tranquillity, but
how often the rebels will be in revolt, and
sin will be found to be too strong even for
the renewed man. But if the Prince of
Peace has come in— if the gates of the
city have been thrown open to receive and
welcome Him — if He has been enthroned
in the heart — the city is at peace. Every-
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE.
thing within will be under His control,
and there will be abutida?ice of peace.
How many who understand all about a
right position, are very far from enjoying
a right condition. They see and recognise
their standing in peace, but tliey know
little practically of an abiding experience
of peace. Let me trace some of the causes
of this. First, there is rebellion within.
Our desires, though perhaps to some ex-
tent sanctified, have not been brought
wholly under Christ's control, and hence
they are continually overstepping their
legitimate bounds. Our wills, though to
some extent subdued, are not wholly
yielded to Christ — to His keeping and
direction. Hence there is every now and
again more or less resistance to the ap-
pointments, and purposes, and leadings of
God. So long as this goes on there may
be a kind of peace at times, but the heart
will never know what is implied in the
expression the abundance of Peace.
Take another point — the matter of
6o
THE WALK 7 HAT PLEASES GOD.
2 Cor. xii.
9, lo.
temper — only a few seconds of ebullition
of temper, and our condition of inward
peace is destroyed. Up to that point you
seemed to be making some progress, but
that wretched temper got the mastery and
spoilt it all ! The grief and sorrow which
follow do not put you back where you
were before. What is to be done ? You
may say, "I have tried hard to control my
temper; I have struggled and striven
against it, but to no avail. The truth is, it
is constitutional. It is ray infirmity. I
read that Paul had a thorn in the flesh, and
I suppose that this is my thorn." Not so,
brother. Stop a moment. Paul's infirm-
ity was a weakness, but it was not a
sin^ or he could never have gloried in it.
That temper of yours is a sin. Call it
by its right name. You ask, " What am
I to do ? " Well, instead of trying to
control yourself, put yourself and your
temper under Christ's control. Get
down in the dust before Him. Do not
strain to keep your temper under; that
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE.
is what you have tried to do, but have
found it too strong for you. Seek to
get under Christ's controlHng power.
"Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God." If you want to feel the
benefit of the power of God's hand, get
under it. Humble yourself under it.
We do not mind trusting ; but we do not
like the humbling process that often has
to precede the trusting. If necessary,
acknowledge your need before others.
And the greater the humbling, the greater
will be your realization of the abundance
of peace. Christ is able to control that
temper and to fill up wdth His strength
the place where you are the weakest.
When He takes possession, He controls,
keeps under, and reigns as the Prince of
Peace ; and you then understand what is
meant by the abundance of peace.
Again, many are strangers to peace on
account of the a?ixieties, the worries, the
trials of daily life. Now what are you to
do with these things? What is your pre-
1 Pet.
62
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
sent habit of life in reference to tliem?
Are you trying to manage your own affairs,
and carry your own cares and burdens ?
You will not know what it is to be kept in
perfect peace unless you fulfil the threefold
command contained in the fourth chapter
to the Philippians : " Rejoice in the Lord
111. iv. 4-7 ahvay: and again I say, Rejoice." "Let
your moderation " — gentleness — " be
known unto all men. The Lord is at hand."
"Be careful" — or anxious — "for nothing."
Do you rejoice in Him? Is your modera"
tion or gentleness known ? And then,
are you anxious about nothing ? If so,
what then? "And the peace of God
which passeth all understanding shall keep
your hearts and minds" — thouglits — "in
Christ Jesus."
You have reversed this order, it may
be, and have been trying to keep God's
peace ; but if you do what He bids you,
He will undertake to do what He promises.
His peace will keep you. The very things
which you say it is impossible to keep,
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE.
Cxod undertakes to keep, namely, your
heart (the seat of your affections) and your
mind (the seat of your thoughts). He will
control our thoughts, and so garrison them
in Christ that they are brought into cap-
tivity to the obedience of Christ. It is in
Him as in a fortress that we find abiui'
dance of peace.
But once more. Peace is often lost
owing to cojiflict. Not necessarily owing
to the conflict itself, but owing to the way
in which the believer engages in it. How
often the believer engages in the warfare
on wrong principles, and uses WTong
metliods.
The good fight is the fight of faith.
Nothing is easier than to step out of
faith into feeling ; out of faith into sight
or sense. What follows ? At once there
is a failure. It is no longer a fight of
faith. But when we are in our true
position — in Christ, under Christ's con-
trol— we have the benefit of His
Almighty pow^r, and the force of the
64
THE WALK J HA T PLEASES GOD.
2 Chron.
xiv. II.
Joshua V.
13, H-
assault is borne by Him. He takes tlie
strain and the burden ; whilst the
believer passes into his triumphs, and is
kept in perfect peace through it all. The
child of God then understands the mean-
ing of Asa's words : " Lord, it is nothmg
with Thee to help, whether with many,
or with them that have no power ; help
us, O Lord our God, for we rest on Thee,
and in Thy name we go against this
multitude. O Lord, Thou art our
God ; let not man prevail against Thee."
Against us ? No ; against Ihee ! Why !
because the battle is the Lord's. How
often we have looked at the battle as
ours, and have asked that man shall not
prevail against us. But perhaps you are
not wholly on the Lord's side ; and this
may be the secret of your failure. If you
want continuous victory, you must be on
the side of Him who knows no defeat.
" Art thou for us or for our adversaries ? "
said Joshua. " Nay ; but as Captain of
the host of the Lord am I now come."
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE.
65
The question is not whetlier the Lord is
on your side, but whether you are on the
Lord's side.
in. Once more, Peace in connection
WITH Christ's presence.
" These things have I spoken unto you,
that in Me ye might have Peace." ///
Me, not tlirough Me, out of Me, or from
Me, but in Me.
The soul's dwelhng-place is the very
presence of Christ, the secret place of
God's tabernacle. It is in that dwelling-
place that the deepest, truest, and most
satisfying peace is found.
It is not so much what He gives as
what He is. " He is our peace," and He
says, " Lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world." See how
David testilied to this fiict : " Thou art
my hiding-place ; Thou shalt preserve me
from trouble ; Thou shalt compass me
about with songs of deliverance."
"My hiding-place," that is safety;
John xvi
33-
Eph ii. 14.
Matt, xxviii.
Ps. xxxii,
7-
65
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Isa.
" Thou shalt preserve me froiii trouble,"
strength ; " Songs of deliverance," g/ad-
jiess. And Isaiah says, " Behold, God is
my salvation ; I will trust, and not be
afraid : for the Lord Jehovah is my
strength and my songp " My strength and
my song" Many see the salvation and
the strength, but they forget the song.
If you have Christ formed in you the
hope of glory, you should have the song.
Let there be gladness in all you do and
say.
We read in the 72nd Psalm : "/« his
i^ays shall the righteous flourisli ; and
abundance of peace so long as the moon
endureth."
No doubt that has an important
prophetic application, but with that I
am not now concerned. I believe it
has a very important spiritual signifi-
cance. Do you give your days to Jesus
as well as your talents ? You say, " I am
going to give this day to the Lord ; but
tomorrow I have some special business
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE. 67
for myself ! " Exactly. Oh to have
every day a clay of the Son of man upon
earth ! That is the secret of continuous
peace. To give Him always the pre-
eminence. Every day the Lord's day, in
which we say, " Lord, what wilt Thou
have me to do ? " " Thou shalt have full
control." " Fulfil Thy good pleasure in
me." Then shall we have abufidafice of
peace. Let the presence of the Lord in
His people become a living, bright reality,
then we shall find abundant and abiding
peace.
Let us now endeavour to answer the
question, "How am I to enjoy this
peace?" There are conditions. Some
people object to conditions. But there
are conditions in the matter of salvation.
Faith is a condition. And so, when
we come to the matter of holiness,
and progress in holiness, there are
conditions all along the way. First, then,
I would say. Let there be 710 reserves. In
the end of the ninth chapter of Luke we
68
Luke ix.
6i.
Gen. xvii.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
read of a man who came to Jesus, and
said, "Lord, I will fullow Thee; but—*'
Many people go as far as tlmt, and there
ihey stop. They get the blessing only
when the hut is removed. " One says,
" Lord, I will follow Thee ; but I do
not want others to know it. The fact is,
I am afraid of being thought peculiar:
I am afraid I shall be misunderstood.
There are friends whose good opinion
and esteem I greatly j'rize, and I am
afraid that, if I am out-and-out for Christ,
they will shun and avoid me." Now
what does God say to such an one?
*' Walk before Me, and be thou perfect."
Another says, " Lord, I will follow Thee ;
but I am not willing to give up one
thing. In the first place, I am not sure
that there is any harm in it." Has any
one asked you to give it up ? " No," you
say ; " but I have not felt comfortable
about it." Then it may be the Lord is
dealing with you about it. And God
bids you lay aside not only sins, but
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE.
69
every weighty in running the race set be-
fore you. It may not be a sin ; but is it
a weight ? Is it hindering your progress,
or marring your influence. If so, that
settles the point. You must let it go.
Then, after all, oftdmes it is not the
thing itself that stands in the way, but the
act 0/ clinging to it. Sometimes God puts
His finger upon some object very dear
to you to bring you out into a sphere
of greater usefuhiess. Look at Abraham
and Isaac. I do not read that Abraham
idolised his son ; but the time came when
God said, " I want you to give Me your
son, your only son Isaac, to offer him up
as a burnt offering." What did Abraham
do ? At once he responded to God's call,
and gave him to the Lord ; but the Lord
gave him back again to Abraham. And
so God may be putting his finger upon
something in which there is neither any
harm nor any hindrance, neither a sin,
nor a weight, in order that you may
consecrate your will to Him. Yield it to
Gen.
70 THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
the Lord, and He will bless you with the
abundance of peace.
Once more. Another says, " Lord,
I will follow Thee, but I am afraid that
I shall be called to suffer." This is to
have hard thoughts of God. You think
that, if you put yourself wholly into His
hands, He will be cruel ! Why, He is
your Father. Whatsoever is loving and
tender in an earthly parent is just a faint
reflection of the infinite love that dwells
in our Father in heaven.
Secondly, let there be no distrust. God
wants you to give yourself to Him that
He might fulfil His good pleasure in
you, that His will may be done in you.
His will is your truest happiness. Let us
say, " Lord, take me, and do Thy will in
me ; use me as Thou wilt." What God
requires is that you should be at His
disposal, without any conditions.
Lastly, let there be no delay. Some here
may be saying, "When I get to my room
I will give myself wholly to the Lord."
ABUNDANCE OF PEACE.
Nay, let it be now. A few moments
may be sufficient. Just look up into His
face, and say, "Yes, Lord, yes; I will go
all lengths with Thee — and now — Here 1
am." " I see now," said one, not long
since, " the secret of abundance, the
secret of always having a full supply.
It is simply to live in the land; for my
Father says, " Dwell in the land, and
verily thou shalt be fed." It is in the
land the " abundance " is to be found.
Simply abide there. Abide in Him, in
whom all fulness dwells, and you will
have enough and to spare. Yield your-
self to Him now for this ; give yourself
to Him without reserve, unconditionally,
cheerfully, prompdy, and then the Lord
will undertake to meet all your need, and
you shall know what it is, day by day, and
right on to the end, to live in the Aeux-
DANCE OF Peace.
Pi. X>I>
3-
72 THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
%\t Cljrxsthui's Peal
*' I press toward the mark."— /'///A iii. 14.
CT. PAUL gives us here a sketch of his
own spiritual history. He tells us
what he once was — what he had gloried
in, what he had trusted to. He tells us
how all this had been changed. He tells
us what was now the ground of his con-
fidence, what was now the ruling prin-
ciple of his life — the one great aim of all
his spiritual activities.
Paraphrased a little, the statement in
these verses is this : — " I have told you,
brethren, that at the great turning point of
my life I was led by the gracious Spirit to
give up all my old grounds of trust, that I
THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL. 73
might win Christ and be found in Him.
But one act is not the whole of Christianity.
Acceptance of Christ by faith is but the
starting point of the new Hfe. Do not,
therefore, suppose that I regard myself by
that one decisive act of self-renunciation
for Christ to have laid hold of the goal of
my appointed race. I have not already
attained the great ideal of my heavenly
calling. By conversion to God I have
only just entered into the race — passed
through the entrance. By the reception
of Christ I have become possessed of a
complete spiritual equipment. But now
growth and progress must follow. And it
is in this I am now engaged." "This one
thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, and reaching forth unto those
tilings which are before, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus."
I do not now purpose to expound the
words " I press toward the mark." I
would take them simply as a motto. In
74
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
every true Christian life there are three
things we ought clearly to understand and
recognise — the ideal, the pozver, and the
?neaiis.
I. The Ideal.
How important that we should have
an ideal ! The truth of this is seen even
in earthly pursuits. From the lack of a
clear, definite aim, the noblest talents have
remained idle — the finest opportunities
have been allowed to slip by, and the
whole life has been misspent and wasted.
If we would excel, we must have an aim.
This applies to all human activities. It
is true of the scholar, the artist, the
architect, the reformer. It is ako true of
the Christian.
By an ideal I mean that which it is
possible for you to be. Not something
utterly beyond our reach — a mere vision-
ary aim — Utopian ; but an aim which
men of like passions with ourselves have
actually realized.
There is a danger of adopting a false
THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL.
ideal. If ou.r ideal is low, our practical
walk will also be low. No man rises
above his aim. The first thing necessary
in order to raise a man's practical life is
to raise his ideal. We are apt to form ovx
ideal from professing Cliristians. Perhaps
we take our standard from the so-called
Christian world. We form our idea as to
the possibilities of the spiritual life from
what we hear of the experience of others.
We are in danger of going to the stream,
rather than to the Fountain head. There
are multitudes of believers who are living
as dwarfs and cripples, simply because
they have been imitating a bad copy.
They have a false ideal. They are not
pressing toward the true mark.
But you ask, How am I to torm a true
ideal ?
The student, either of sculpture or of
painting, will go to the galleries of Rome
and of Florence to drink in the spirit of
the old masters. The scholar, the artist,
the reformer, all recognise the importance
76
Ps. cxix. q.
Rom.
viii.
29.
Jude
24,
I Cor
XV.
57-
Phil, iv
19-
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
of having before them continually the
very best standard of excellence they can
get.
The Christian must follow the same
course. Does any one ask, " Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way ? "
David gives us the answer, " By taking
heed thereto according to Thy 7Vord"
Here is the true standard. Just as the
artist goes to Nature to form his concep-
tion, to receive his impressions ; so the
believer must come to revelation — the
inspired word of God — to form his ideal.
Speaking generally, we notice how the
believer learns touching what it is possible
for him to do and to be here on earth
from four things which the Holy Scriptures
contain.
The purposes of God : There he sees
what God has called him to ; what He has
predestined him to be — to be conformed
to the image of His Son.
The promises of God : God's under-
takings of keeping, of triumph, of supply,
THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL.
77
of guidance, and that sin shall not have
dominion over him.
The precepts of God : He sees how in
all the Divine commands he has the
assurance of power; that His biddings
are enablings.
And the inspired prayers of the apostles.
These he finds scattered here and there
throughout the epistles. Studying these,
he not only learns for what he may pray,
but what he may expect to realize here on
earth.
In this way his ideal as to what is
actually possible in his life and experience
becomes formed. He gets it direct from
God's word ; and he finds how low were
his former expectations. His ideal is
raised to a true level.
H. The Power.
One of the first things we have to learn
in connection with this, is that it is not
natural, but supernatural power we need.
It is power that comes to the soul as a
principle of life. We say knowledge is
Ps. xxxii.
8.
Rom. vi. 14.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Rom. vii.
i8.
power. But we may know our duty; we
may know what we ought to be and do^
and yet we may be confessing with a
burdened conscience, " How to perform
tiiat which is good I find not."
What the Gospel in its fulness puts
before us is a life of freedom. But
knowledge without the pow^r of perform-
ing would be bondage.
As the Divine purpose, which shows us
what we may be, gives us the true stan-
dard from which to form our ideal, so the
Divine power provided for us by God
makes that ideal possible. His power
works in the line of His purpose.
It is thus we distinguish between an
ideal that is visionary and an ideal that is
practical and possible.
If the ideal is true, it has its warrant in
Scripture, and then the believer may count
upon power sufficient to realize it.
The point we are now considering is
not what I hope to be hereafter in glory,
but what I may expect to be here on
THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL.
earth, in the midst of temptation, of trial,
of difficulty, with my present moral and
physical constitution, in all my present
surroundings.
But it may be objected that the man
who actually reaches his own ideal must
of necessity become self-complacent, and
what is this but pride ? We have all
heard of the artist who at last succeeded
in producing a work of art that came up
to his ideal. He no sooner saw that he
had reached his highest conceptions than
he felt that all his hopes of higher achieve-
ments were at an end. He threw aside
his brushes and palette in despair. Now
it may be urged, let a man reach his ideal
in the Christian life, and all thought of
further progress, all idea of growth, must
perish.
But what are the facts? Why, the soul
that is really attaining is never self-com-
placent, because as he advances he finds
his ideal also advances. His standard of
practical godliness, his views of holiness
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
— his whole ideal, rises higher and higher.
His standard of the present is higher than
his ideal of the past.
Divine Power does not make all Chris-
tians alike. No two apostles were ex-
actly identical — each had his own idio-
syncrasies. But they all had the same
power. They were all filled with the same
Holy Ghost. The lightning that strikes
the tree does not go contrary to, but follows,
the grain of the tree. The Holy Ghost
does not destroy the individuality of a
man ; nor does He make all Christians
exactly alike, like so many eggs in a
basket.
Nor does Divine power destroy our
responsibility. Let us never lose sight of
the fact that it is God that works in us
both to will and to do. Yet we are not
mere machines. He does not act upon
us mechanically, so to speak. He has so
constituted us, that, though we are utterly
insufficient, and have no power of our-
selves to perform that which is good, yet
THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL.
we are intelligent and voluntary instru-
ments. He is the Agent, the V/orker.
Power belongeth unto God, and resides
in God.
The Divine power when duly received
does accomplish actual results in the tulfil-
ment of God's purposes concerning us.
"This is the will of God, even your sancti-
fication." It is not enough that we aim
at conformity to Christ. The true life is
the life of attaining, not merely aiming to
attain ; growing, advancing, though the
final goal cannot yet be reached.
III. The Means.
We must " press " toward the mark.
Eut how?
I. Make sure of your footing in the
present.
No man who is uncertain as to his
acceptance before God is ready to press
forward. If he is not sure the ground is
firm on which he now stands, he will not
know how to be stepping out towards
higher ihiiigs.
I Thes. iv.
3-
82
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
See how the Apostle puts it in the 9th
verse — "That I may be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness."
Humbly, but thankfully and definitely,
take up that position, and recognise the
fact that God sees you in Him who is the
Lord your righteousness.
2. Lay hold of every spiritual privilege
as it is revealed to you.
To be pressing forward implies two
things — there is the '■^ forgettiiig those
things which are behind," and there is the
" reaching forth unto those things which
are before."
What are the things behind ? They
may be the things that fill us with shame,
and with" vain regrets and with bitter re-
morse— with sorrow of heart. We have
to leave them.
Or they may be the things which tend
to self-gratulation, to vainglory and pride.
Let us forget them.
On the other hand, there is the '"'■i-eaching
forth unto those things which are before."
THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL. 83
" Every man," it has been said, " is
born with aspiration. It does not develop
in every man. Neither do half the buds
in trees blossom, but they are there.
Aspiration is to the man what the tendril
is to the plant. Some plants take hold
by winding around, some by delicate
roots, some by tendrils, some by little
hooks, some by leaves that catch like
anchors." But why ? Not to remain
where they cling, but that by these things
they may rise the higher.
So must it be with us. I took down
from my shelves the other day a book
entitled " A Year-book of Facts." This
was just a record of the results of scien-
tific discovery during the past twelve
months. We are enjoying to-day the
benefits and advantages that have been
reached through the discoveries made in
science during the past hundred years.
Take, for instance, such tilings as gas,
steam, and electricity. They are the re-
sults, not of inventions, strictly speaking,
84
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
but of discoveries. These great powers
were there before they were discovered.
What science has done is simply to unveil
the powers hidden in nature, and then to
apply them to the wants and necessities
of man.
Just so is it in the spiritual world. All
the power we need is stored up in Christ.
It is not something to be manufactured —
not something to be created — but to be
discovered and appropriated. The Holy
Spirit reveals to us the infinite resources
we have in Christ. All the power is there
for us potentially. How may I have it
experimentally and practically ? By faith.
Some time ago we were all astonished
by reading an account of a wonderful
explosion ; it was called the *' Hell Gate
Explosion." A large rock obstructed the
navigation of Long Island Sound, New
York. The rock, which formed an island
nine acres in extent, blocked the chan-
nel known as Hell Gate, between Long
Island and Ward's Island. It had alwavs
THE CHRISTIAN'S IDEAL.
85
been an obstruction to ships passing to
and from the East River to the Sound.
An engineer undertook the entire removal
of the island, so that the water should
everywhere be twenty-six feet deep at low
tides across the whole channel. Com-
mencing operations in 1875, he was be-
tween nine and ten years in preparing for
the event. From two shafts tunnels were
driven in every direction ; in all, twenty-
four galleries or tunnels were run from
north to south through the island. These
were intersected by others running nearly
east to west. After the galleries were
completed, the next work was to drill the
roof and the pillars full of holes. Into
these holes cartridges of dynamite were
placed. The enormous mine was studded
With 14,000 cartridges of dynamite, the
total weight of which was fourteen tons.
The whole was connected by means of
electric wires with a battery. The mine
was fired by a little girl, the daughter of
General Newton, the engineer. She simply
86
THE WALK THA T PLEASES GOD.
Mark vi.
56.
put her finger on a button and pressed it ;
instantly a great mass of water was thrown
upwards, and the thing was done.
So it is with the power we have trea-
sured up in Christ. All we need in order
to overcome the evil, in order to triumph
over difficulties, is stored up in Him.
The contact of faith enables us to receive
the supply. We read in the Gospels that
as many as touched Him were made per-
fectly whole. It was when faith came in
contact with Him that virtue — power —
came out of Him.
From before the foundation of the world
God made this provision for us in Christ.
The life that is sustained by this power is
the life of faith. Not one isolated act —
but a continuous course of action, keeping
touch with Christ, walking in living fellow-
ship with Him. It is thus that we receive
all the power we need to make us useful
and triumphant in the path of life.
THE SERVICE OF GOD. Z^
^\n Sorbite of Sotr.
TF we would have a right conception of
God's service, we must recognise the
principles by which it is governed. And
these are all laid down in the Scriptures.
We may look at the subject under two
main divisions —
The SERVICE to which we are called,
and the life we need for that service.
I. The SERVICE itself.
I. All true service lies in the lines of
God's Will. A good servant knows his
Master's will, and obeys it. It is not
enough that I am engaged in a good work;
I must work according to my Master's
will. It is the Master's office to give
directions ; it is the servant's to obey
88
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Ps. cxliii.
lo ; XXV. 4.
them. But if I am following my own
directions and pursuing my own counsels,
the work I am doing may be a very
excellent work, but I am not really serv-
ing the Lord.
We may go to God for His blessing,
but it may be for His blessing on our own
plans. The first thing is to come to Him
for His orders. We shall then pray, not
only " Give me Thy blessing," but "Teach
me Thy will, show me Thy ways." He
may bid us do a very simple work ; but
by doing it we shall be really serving
Him. It is better to be occupied with
little things in the path of His will than
to be doing a great work in obedience to
our own conceits.
We recognise this principle in daily Hfe.
You ask your servant to bring you a glass
of water. That is your will for him. But
he thinks to himself, I will do something
better than that, something grander and
nobler. I will take my master a basket of
fruit. Would he be a good servant, and
THE SERVICE OF GOD.
89
would that be true service ? A good ser-
vant is one who fulfils his master's bidding,
and seeks to carry out his will. It is not
with a view to glorify himself that he
serves. Self-exaltaiion is one of the chief
hindrances to our service. As Pasteur
Monod once said, " If you want to do
something, do not try to be somebody."
Such a life of service is always simple.
It is not coujplicated. It is not like a
number of divergent lines, but one single
line. God does not require you to be in
two places at the same time. Service in
the path of God's Will never consists of a
series of conflicting duties. It is when we
let our own desires, our own plans and
ambitions come in, that duty seems to be
complicated. " This one thing I do," is
the true motto of the whole course. The
nearer we approach God's will in our
service, the simpler and less difficult it
becomes, and the more freedom shall we
find in it We shall be learning then
the truth of those words, " Thy service
Phil. Hi. 13.
90
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Acts xxYii.
23-
is perfect freedom." It has been well
said by one deeply taught in God's ser-
vice, " The more liberty we can throw
into service, and the more service we
can put into liberty, the truer both the
service and the liberty will be." *
But some one may say, " How may I
get into the line of His will ? " Come
to the right centre, the place where the
will begins. It is w^ell to be occupied
with His commands ; it is better to be
occupied with the Commander. When
you come to Him, you are in the right
centre. Get right with God. True ser-
vice cannot begin until we respond to
God's claim upon us, until we recognise
His Ownership. " Whose I am^' must
come first ; then we can say, " a7id 7vhom
I server It was not the service so much
as the One he served that then occupied
the Apostle's thoughts. The practical
recognition of our true relationship to
Him as His servants involves very often
* Rev. James Vaughan.
THE SERVICE OE GOD.
9f
a complete re-adjustment of our whole
spiritual condition. We may have fol-
lowed the dictates of our own hearts so
fully, have served self so long, that before
we are brought to give up what v/e have
hitherto regarded as our personal rights,
a tremendous struggle ensues. But to
that point we must come, the entire
surrender of our whole beings to Him
who has bought us. This is to come to
the right centre. From that point the
path of His will for service begins. The
act of dedication now becomes an attitude
of devotion.
2. True service lies in the line of God's
supply. If we would be receiving His
supply, we must be found abiding in His
Will. We need never then be afraid of
His commands. " His commandments
are not grievous." They may be im-
possible to you when you are out of
Christ, or when you are not abiding in
Him. From man's point of view they
might seem very unreasonable. You re-
I John V.3.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
member that command the Lord Jesus
gave to His disciples when He said to
Luke ix. 13. them, "Give ye them to eat." How
could this requirement be fulfilled ? What
were their resources ? " Five barley loaves
and two small fishes ! " What were they
among five thousand ? And yet, impos-
sible as it was, that command they literally
fulfilled !
But observe how it was accomplished.
We have here an illustration of being
brought to the right centre in order to
get into the line of true service. They
must first see their own utter insufficiency:
" How many loaves have ye ? " That
question was intended to convince them
of their own helplessness. The first lesson
we all have to learn in service is contained
John XV. 5. in that one sentence, "Without Me ye
can do nothing."
The next step is consecration — " Bring
them hither to Me." Bring all you have
— your weakness and poverty, your empti-
ness and want — to Him. Put yourselves
THE SERVICE OF GOD. 93
into His hands. When that was done,
everything was adjusted ready for the
fulfilment of the command.
Picture the scene. The multitude forms
an outer circle— the disciples an inner
circle ; but the Centre is Christ Himself.
True service is found in lines that radiate
from Him. Taking these weak and feeble
things into His hands, He opens the foun-
tain of supply, and the stream at once
begins to flow from Him, through the
disciples, to the multitude. The impos-
sible command was actually fulfilled.
" But," you say, " the disciples them-
selves did not fulfil it. It was the Lord
who wrought the miracle. It was Christ
Himself who fulfilled it." Precisely so,
and so it must be always. This is what
we would insist upon to- day. Not you,
but Christ working through you. The
great point is, to be in the line of His
power and life and fulness. We have no
resources of our own with which to carry
out His commands. But in Him vre
94
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Phil. iv. 19.
shall find an abundant supply. " My
God shall supply all your need according
to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
3. True service lies in the line of God's
guidance. God has a place for each one
of His children. The highest wisdom
consists in learning His way concerning
us. The highest privilege is to live con-
tinually in His secret guidance. God
does not show us the whole course of
our life-work beforehand. We must be
content to have it gradually revealed. If
we would abide in His service, we must
walk continually in His guidance. The
work of failh and the walk of faith are
inseparably united. The best way to do
the work, is to be always in the will — that
is, in the guidance — of God. He will not
dispense with our faith by showing us a
chart of all His purposes concerning us
marked out in detail. He gives us light
step by step. And faith lives and grows
as it learns to trust, to follow, and to obey.
f Recognise this truth, and it will remove
THE SERVICE OF GOD.
all anxiety about work for God, It will
teach us that we can serve Him as truly
in the little things, and in the ordinary
events of daily life, as in the great, and
on special occasions. " There are some
Christians," it has been said, " who can
never find a place large enough to do
their duty." But small things after all
constitute almost the whole of life. True
service lies therefore in the line of God's
continual guidance.
II. The Life we need for the St^rvice.
We shall consider Christ our life for
service in three aspects : —
I. He is the life before us — our Pattern ;
the Object of our gaze — " Behold my
Servant." " I am among you as one that
serveth." " I have given you an example,
that ye should do as I have done to you."
He has left us an example that we should
follow His steps — "As the Fathei hath
sent Me, even so send I you." And as
He went forth in entire submission, in
complete dependence, and in simple trust,
95
Isa. xlii. 1.
John xiii.
John XX.
96
THE, WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Ps. xvi.
Ps. xlii. 5.
(margin.)
John XV. 4.
Col. iii. 17.
SO we must serve according to that pat-
tern. I heard a farmer once say that he
had a servant in his employ who was a
very good man, but a very bad ploughman.
When he was ploughing, instead of fixing
his eyes on some object, and keeping it
steadily before him as he drove the plough,
he was in the habit of continually looking
back to see whether he had made a
straight furrow ! The result was, he was
constantly making crooked ones. There
are many of God's servants who are doing
the same thing. But the true attitude of
service i.s, to be pressing towards the mark,
and to be looking off unto Jesus. We
have to look away from our own walk.
We have to "set the Lord always before
us" as the object of our continual gaze.
2. Christ is also the life around us — our
Protection. " His Presence is salvation."
He Himself, the ever-present Hving One,
is the Home of our souls. Hence He
says, *' Abide in Me." " Whatsoever ye do
in word or deed, do all in Me." Our ser-
THE SERVICE OF GOD.
97
vice is to be carried on in Him. Often we
have to serve through scenes of temptation.
Often our path lies through defiling and
deadening influences. It is in a world of
sin and darkness we are called to serve.
For this reason we need an armour to
keep us pure and undefiled. This pro-
vision we have in Him who is our life.
There are little creatures we have often
seen playing on the surface of our ponds.
They do not spend all their time upon the
surface : they dive down into the water
beneath. But when they descend, they
take with them a globule of air. They
become, in fact, enclosed in what looks
like a crystal sphere. In the atmosphere
of the world above they pursue their
errands, and prosecute their search in the
world beneath. No matter how impure
or polluted the waters may be through
which their duty lies, they pass through
them all, and come up again uncontami-
nated, because all the while they are pro-
tected in this sphere of atmospheric air.
98
Ezek. xi. t6.
Rom, xiii.
14.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
There we have a picture of what it is to
be abiding in Christ, and of how we have
to live, and move, and have our being in
Him. All our service is to be done in Him.
" I will be to them as a little sanctuary."
" Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ." He
that obeys that command is, as an old
writer says, "a Christ-enclosed man."
3. Christ is the life within us — our
Power. This power is needed for a two-
fold purpose — to cast off the works of
darkness, and to put on the armour of
light, or, to use another figure, to throw
off the dead leaves of the old life, and to
put forth the foliage and blossoms and
fruit of the new. It is wonderful with
what tenacity the dead leaves of our
former conversation often cling to us.
We need the life of the Risen Christ to
cause them to fall off.
Sir John Lubbock, lecturing recently
on " Leaves," has told us that the cause
of the fall of leaves is a process of life —
not of death. To prove this he exhibited
THE SERVICE OE GOD.
99
a twig which had been hah'-broken off in
the autumn. It was left hanging to its
parent trunk. The leaves above the bend,
where the life-sap had been hindered in
its flow, although utterly withered, re-
mained so firmly attached that it needed
considerable force to pull them off. The
truth taught here is self-evident. If we
find it so difficult to throw off evil habits
— if sometimes we have almost despaired
of ever being thoroughly quit of them —
we may discover the secret of our failure
in the fact that our real need is not
merely life, but the "life more abundant."
If only the avenues of our being were in
full and unhindered union with Christ,
there would be no lack of power. The
dead leaves of evil habit, which too often
mar the believer's testimony, would then
become easily detached, and by the same
increased flow of vital energy, the whole
life and conduct would become a bright
and attractive witness to the transforming
power of the indwelling Christ.
John X. lo.
lOO
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
fife, %xqU\, anir Jfruit.
A DEVOTED servant of God, now in
glory, who had attended one of
these Keswick Conventions, and received
very definite blessing, was asked ivhat it
was he had gained? He answered, "It
was there 1 learned to cash my cheques ! "
He referred to the promises of God. It
is to one of these cheques I desire now to
direct your thoughts. You will find it in
the third verse of the first Psalm : " He
shall be like a tree planted by the rivers
of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in
his season ; his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
Here is a cheque which we may get
cashed into the golden coin of a present
LIFE, GROWTH, AND FRUIT. loi
i
experience. Never let us forget that we
all have the same treasures in Christ.
There is no difference as to our resources
— no difference in this respect between
ourselves, including the weakest believer,
and the Apostle Paul. To us all, and for
us all, there is the same Christ — the same
unsearchable riches ! The question is,
How may I live upon these resources ?
How may I enjoy them ? In these words
we have an inspired description of a child
of God in his true normal condition —
"He shall be like a tree." Perhaps there is Ps.
no figure more beautiful, more simple and
suggestive, than the one before us. Think
of a tree ; you have three things — life,
growth, fruit. And those three things
you have in a believer who is living up to
his privileges.
1. There is Life. This is one of our
first needs. By nature we are dead in
trespasses and sins. It is not education,
culture, or training, we first need. We
need quickening — a life capable of being
I02
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Rom.vi. 23.
John V. 11
trained— that can be cultured and edu-
cated. That life comes from above.
The Word of God proclaims it. It re-
veals the way of life. It declares life to
be God's gift. "The gift of God is
eternal life." But there is a progress in
our app7'ehe7ision of what spiritual life is.
We do not grasp it all at once. In the
early stages of our spiritual history we do
not take in the full meaning of God's
statements. " God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in His Son."
Such a declaration strikes us at first as
somewhat mystical. We should have less
difficulty in understanding it if it had
been written, " and this life is from His
Son." But as we are led on by the Spirit,
we are enabled to enter more perfectly
into God's mind, and we find that God
means juSt what He says — "This life is
in His Son." Mark two important stages
in our apprehension of spiritual life.
Our first view of it is that it is a Divine
Nature Itnparted. That which is born of
LIFE, GROWTH, AND FRUIT.
IG-
tbe Spirit is spirit. The new nature is
not the Spirit — i.e. the Holy Ghost Him-
self ; but it is a spirit. It is that which is
born of the Holy Ghost. When that has
taken place, we have a being in God's
kingdom. Now we are new creatures in
Christ Jesus ; we have new affections and
desires, new aims and aspirations. It is
a blessed thing to know what life, in this
sense, means. But there is a higher and
truer apprehension of life.
The Divine Person Indwelling. " I live ;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
There is a new principle in me — " I live."
But in addition to this there is a Divine
Person dwelling within me — ''Christ liveth
in me." " I am the Life." " That Christ
might dwell in your hearts by faith." The
recognition of this fact— that life is not
merely an abstract principle communi-
cated to me, but a Person dwelling within
me — often (may we not say always) marks
a crisis in our spiritual history. From
that hour we enter on a new experience.
Gal. ii, 20.
Eph. iii. 17,
I04
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Ps. I. 3-
Col. I.
We are not occupied now with our new
nature, and waiting for it to grow and
become strong before we can live victo-
rious lives ; but we are thinking of Him,
who is not only the Source without us,
but the Spring tvithin us — we are tliinking
of Him who is Omnipotent to save us
now, and therefore we begin at once to
expect deliverance and triumph.
II. There is Growth. — What is
growth ? It is the expansion of life. It
is life in activity. The tree is planted
with a view to growth. God has secured
the best possible conditions for growth.
" He shall be like a tree planted by the
rivers of water .'^ Hebrew scholars tell us
that the word " planted " here means
transplanted. It implies that the tree
grew previously in another soil. One
came, and having chosen it, had it re-
moved into his own garden. How true is
this of every believer ! Once he grew in
a waste land, but God chose him, and
then translated him " into the kingdom of
LIFE, GROWTH, AND FRUIT.
His dear Son." Every believer is a trans-
planted tree.
Now, just as the tree finds in the soil
and moisture, in the atmosphere and light,
all it needs for growth, so the believer finds
all he needs in Christ. The life within
him has a need which only Christ can
supply. But he has been planted into
Christ. The new nature has a capacity
for reception. It is capable of taking in
the ■ food provided for it in the soil in
which God has planted it.
This growth takes place in two direc-
tions. Groivih in the Roots. Root
growth is hidden growth. Light is needed
for the branches, but it is not needed for
the roots ; on the contrary, it injures
them. "When you have hyacinths in
water glasses you put them first in dark-
ness for some weeks, till the roots strike
down into the water. And even when
the roots have spread and filled the glass
there is scarcely a sign of growth upward ;
the stalk remains undeveloped. Light is
io6 THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
needed for that growth. But the roots
must come first." * So is it spiritually.
The avenues through which spiritual
nourishment shall come to the soul must
be in contact with the Source of supply.
Many of us, it may be, need to have
the channels of our being cleared and
adjusted. Though there has been an
unlimited provision, our souls may never-
theless have remained barren and unfruit-
ful. Something has stopped the way.
There is something wrong in the roots of
our spiritual life. Our communion with
God is not what it might be. This is the
hidden life. We do not need the light of
publicity for this. Nay, we may be living
too much in public. We need to know
more of what it is to be alone with God.
Groivth in the Bra7iches. — This illus-
trates that part of the believer's existence
which is seen. "The life hid"— in the
roots ; the " Hfe manifested " — in the
branches.
* Dr. Leckie.
LIFE, GROWTH, AND FRUIT.
107
Closely connected with the root-Hfe is
the branch-Hfe. Of course it is really the
same life. The tree gives out by the
branches what it takes in by the roots.
''His leaf also shall not wither." In
another place we read —
" Her leaf shall be green." This illus-
trates the ministry of gladness. How
cheering to the eye is the beautiful green
of the fresh and healthy leaf! How it
gives beauty to the landscape ! Such
should be the influence of every believer's
life. He is sent into the world to manifest
the gospel of gladness ! and not only
towards man — in our testimony for God
— but also Godward in our worship and
service. We are to " serve the Lord with
gladness"
Then, again, the leaf is the means by
which the tree gives shelter. It affords a
refreshing shadow from the rays of the
scorching sun. And once more. The
leaves of a tree have a purifying influence
on the atmosphere. Animals, as they
Jcr. xvii.
Ps. c. 2.
io8
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
fer. xvii. 8.
breathe, render the air impure. They
cannot live upon the atmosphere that has
already passed through their lungs. It
has become poisonous to them. But the
leaves of trees have the property of
removing the noxious gases. They take
the carbon from the atmosphere, and
liberate the oxygen. We have all heard
of the wonderful effect of the eucalyptus ^
tree on the atmosphere of malarious dis-
tricts. The leaves of this tree give out a
volatile aromatic secretion, filling the air,
and producing a most beneficial effect.
These figures speak for themselves.
They shadow forth the believer's mission
here in the world. His life may be full
of blessing to others — cheering, sheltering,
and purifying.
But let us not forget the secret lies in
the roots being in contact with the river.
" She spreadeth out her roots by the
river." It is not by screwing oneself up
to it that these results are to be obtained.
We have seen artificial fountains playing
LIFE, GROWTH, AND FRUIT.
109
on our tables. As long as they are wound
up, the waters flow upwards beautifully ;
but then, after a while, they always run
down, and the fountain no longer exists.
There is a religious activity which is the
outcome of intense emotional feeling — the
result of a winding up of mere natural
enthusiasm. But as sure as there is a
"winding up " there will be a "running
down." Sooner or later it spends itself,
and then there comes the inevitable
reaction. The life of self-effort always
runs down. The better life is known
when Christ becomes to us the "well of
water within, springing up spontaneously
unto everlasting life."
Now, while we believe in progressive
sanctification, let us not lose sight of the
fact, that the beginning oi 2l new experience,
in which sanctification really is progres-
sive, may be something quite sudden and
immediate.
The discovery and the removal of the
stone that choked the channel and
John
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
stopped the stream may take place within
a very brief space of time. It may be the
work of a few moments. No sooner is
the hindrance removed than the waters
begin to flow, and the soul is filled to
overflowing.
III. There is Fruit. — If you are a
Christian at all there will be some fruit.
But it is God's will that there should be
Phil. i. IT. '' much fruit " — that we should " be filled
with the fruits of righteousness" — every
branch heavily laden, weighed down with
fruit.
And not only does God require abun-
dance of fruit ; it is His will that it should
be ripe fruit. We have seen trees with
quantities of fruit, but there has been no
ripeness. The fruit has been hard and
sour. Is this characteristic of our fruit ?
How shall our fruit be ripened ? It must
have the sunshine. Sunlight is not
enough ; it must be sunshine. Sunlight
is reflected light, but sunshine is light
direct from the sun itself. So we must
LIFE, GROWTH, AND FRUIT.
live in the light of Him who is the Sun
of righteousness, with nothing between.
The Lord Mayor, some time ago, was
distributing prizes to poor lads and others,
for window gardening. A lovely geranium
gained the first prize. When the owner
was called, a small child with a pale face
came shyly forward. The Lord Mayor
thought there must be some mistake, and
so he questioned her. She said, the lady
who gave her the flower when it was very
small bade her to keep it always in the
sunshine. So every morning she put it in
the window-sill ; at midday she took it to
the garret window ; in the evening she
placed it in the stairs, that it might
catch the slanting rays of the setting sun.
Day by day she tended it, with this
splendid result. Let us never forget our
Sun is always shining, and shining that we
might live in His rays. As we bask in
the sunshine of His smile He will do the
ripening. You need not be gazing at your
fruit ; leave that to Him. He will make
112
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
you abundantly fruitful, and will ripen it
with His own rays, that it may be fruit on
which He Himself can feast.
THE YOKE OF CHRIST,
%\t f oke of Cbrist.
113
"HPAKE My yoke upon you." Have Matt. xi. 29.
you noticed where this direction*
comes ? It comes after the invitation —
that most gracious of all His invitations —
" Come unto Me." It comes after the
promise, " I will give you rest " — the
promise that so peculiarly fits into the
special need of our nature. Every one
who listens to this call must feel conscious
that it speaks to the very deepest want
of his being.
In the invitation, the Lord Jesus ap-
\)eals to those who are in any kind of
sorrow ; who are weighed down with care
or anxiety — oppressed with any trouble.
But He speaks more especially to those
who are weary and heavy-laden with sin.
114
Matt.xi.3o-
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
When Christ says, " My yoke is easy
and My burden is light," He is showing
us the contrast between His yoke and the
sinner's — between His burden and that of
the heavy-laden. He saw men burdened
with the guilt of sin, and labouring under
the tyranny of its yoke. He had come to
remove the one, and to destroy the other.
He had come to take away the load off
the conscience, and to break every fetter,
and set the captive free.
It is to such, therefore, that He spoke
those gracious words, " Come unto Me ; "
it is in this way He gives us rest.
If the sinner's burden points to the
load of sins committed — a load that goes
on increasing the longer he refuses to
return — the yoke points to the power of
sin's dominion — a power that gains in
strength the longer we continue under it.
Rest comes with a sense of deliverance
from these. Such is the blessing Christ
bestows on those who come to Him.
This is salvation — a present salvation.
THE YOKE OF CHRIST.
But it is not everything. It is not all
that He has to bestow. It meets the
sinner's first great need.
Now, when the Lord Jesus says, " Take
My yoke upon you," He supposes that
the invitation has been accepted, and the
" rest " has been received. The question
is not now, How may the past be for-
given ? How may the conscience be at
rest ? — all that is settled — but, How may
I glorify Him in my walk and conver-
sation ? How may I live to His praise ?
What will He have me to do in that path
of obedience into which He has called me ?
In these words that follow the invitation,
the answer to the pardoned soul's inquiry
is found. This is what He would have
you to do, " Take My yoke upon you."
But do we understand what the Master
means by His yoke? There was His
Father's yoke to which He had submitted.
And in His voluntary and cheerful sub-
mission to that yoke, He gives us an
example for us to follow.
ii6
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
I. Christ's yoke is His will. Salva-
tion may be looked at as a series of
acceptances. We accept His pardon,
His righteousness, His rest. And let us
not forget we accept also His will. His
pardon takes the place of our guilt ; His
righteousness, of our supposed merits ;
His rest, of our misery ; and His will, of
our self-seeking.
Our study now is, not what we shall
choose, but — What is it that He has
Col. 1. 9. chosen for me ? " To be filled with a
knowledge of His will." It is quite
possible for the child of God sadly to
fail in this. We may desire His gifts and
His blessing, and yet not be doing His
will. We may make our own plans, and
set our hearts on our own ways, and then
come to God for His blessing on all
these. But this is not to seek His will.
" Take My will upon you," means
laying aside our own plans just seek-
ing first to lie down into the will of God.
Then we not only get the benefit of His
THE YOKE OF CHRIST.
117
merits to justify us, of His power to guard
and sustain us, but of His wisdom to
guide us.
2. His yoke means also His Rule.
Liberty in Christ does not mean freedom
from control — that would be lawltssness,
Christ sets us free, by translating us, out
of the reign of sin into the reign of grace.
We are called into His reign. " Sin shall
not have dominion over you." Why?
" For ye are not under the law, but under
grace." Grace is then over you ; it rules
you. You are under Christ's authority.
Deliverance from sin's power is found in
being under Christ's power. The best
way to be free from sin's dominion is to
be well under Christ's control.
3. His yoke means His Discipline. We
are under His correction and instruction
as well as His protection. We are in
His school, and the lessons to be learnt
we must each one learn for himself.
The master may teach, but he cannot
learn the lessons for the pupil. So Christ
Rom. vi.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Heb. V.
Psa. xviii.
35-
was Himself the perfect learner. " He
learned obedience by the things which
He suffered." Here again we have to
follow Him as our example. We have
to take His yoke. *' Thy gentleness," or
"loving correction, hath made me great."
But if Christ's yoke may be said to
include His will, His rule, and His cor-
rection, what is it to take it ?
We see at once that it implies a volun-
tary act. It is not something to be forced
upon you. Conversion leads on at once
to consecration. The first is receiving —
an empty heart receiving God's " unspeak-
able gift." The second means dedicating
— presenting our whole being unto Him
as a living sacrifice.
But how many shrink from such a step !
How many are afraid of yielding them-
selves unreservedly to the will of God !
But can we doubt His love to us, when
we see that He laid down His life for us ?
To take Christ's yoke means submis-
sion— unqualified submission to His sway.
THE YOKE OF CHRIST.
>9
" Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God." "Take My yoke upoti
you." You will know Christ's saving power
in its fulness — to meet your daily need
in the walk — in proportion as you know
what it is to be controlled by His will.
Once again, it means obedience.
"Take" and "Learn" follow immediately
" Come " and " Rest." A disciple is
a learner. " Learn of Me : " and the
Apostle says, " Ye have not so learned
Christ." Christ is both the lesson and
the Teacher. But the way to learn is to
obey.
Then how great are the blessings
secured in following this direction.
Standing at the head of every other
privilege is that of fellowship with Christ.
What is fellowship? It is union. But
what kind of union ? Regeneration is
union of life, but fellowship is union of
will. There is not only oneness of spirit,
but identity of purpose.
To be yoked with Christ and to be
I Pet. V.6.
Eph. iv. 20
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
willing to follow His leading, is to have
the benefit of Divine Guidance. How
great is this privilege ! Most of our
troubles are the fruit of our own folly
and sin in trying to guide ourselves, and
choosing our own way. But in His path
we know that all things work together for
good.
Not the least of the blessings that
come to us from a child-like compliance
with the direction, is that of Rest. "And
ye shall find rest for your souls." It is
" rest " indeed to receive emancipation
from the burden and yoke of sin. But to
be led into a path of deliverance from
self-seeking and self-management, from
self consciousness and self-glorying, is to
be finding a rest which meets not only
the need of the conscience, but of the
soul. It means a living fellowship with
a personal Saviour. The atonement of
Christ satisfies the conscience ; but we
need the Person of Christ to satisfy the
soul.
HO IV FAITH GROIVS.
121
fofo Jfaiflj ^rotes.
T^HE Apostle Paul could say of the
Thessalonian converts, " We are
bound to thank God always for you,
brethren, as it is meet, because that your
faith groweth exceedingly." For there
can be no doubt that depth of spiritual
life, on man's side, depends on the growth
of faith. Faith is a root-grace, and love
is a fruit-grace. If the root is in vigour,
the fruit will be in abundance. And so
the Apostle adds, "And the charity of
every one of you all toward each other
aboundeth."
But let us consider how faith grows.
By what means doth faith increase ? By
obedience. Tliat is, by responding to
2Tliess.i.
3-
12:
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
I John V. 3. God's requirements. " His command-
ments are not grievous."
We may take four little words — each a
divine command — and we may notice
how, by responding to them, step by step,
faith will grow. The first of these is
BEHOLD !
This is really God's first requirement.
Look and live — not Come and do, or
bring anything. Not try to create, to
improve, or make yourselves strong, or
worth}^, or sufficient. But "behold."
" Behold what I have provided for you.
What I have bestowed upon you. What
I am to you. All your need finds its
supply in Me." It was so with Hagar in
the wilderness of Beersheba. There she
was with the lad Ishmael perishing for
want of water. The bottle she had
brought with her was empty. She had
come to an end of all her own resources.
What could she do ? Only lie down and
die. She was in utter despair.
no IV FAITH GROWS.
123
Then came the word of the Lord,
" Arise, Hft up the lad, and hold him in
thine hand, for I will make him a great
nation." Impossible ! the creature of
sense would say. But God's word was
true. " And God opened her eyes, and she
saiv a well of water."
Another instance. Elisha's servant at
Dothan, He saw the enemy, but he did
not see God's hosts. Seeing only one
side of the truth — and that the dark side
— filled him with fear and dismay.
" Alas, my master ! how shall we do ? "
How many of God's children are like
the servant of the prophet in this
respect? They have a vivid sense of the
might of the enemy, of the power of
evil — but they fail to recognise the all-
sufficiency and nearness of the Lord of
hosts.
Elisha's conduct, in his dealings with
his despairing servant, should be our
pattern. " Fear not," said the prophet,
"for they that be with us are more than
Gen. xxi.
19.
2 Kings vi.
^5- It
124
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Kings vi.
17.
they that be with them." That was the
witness of the man of faith. Then, in-
stead of entering into controversy, Elisha
prayed and said, " Lord, I pray Thee,
open his eyes, that he may see. And the
Lord opened the eyes of the young man ;
and he saw : and, behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire
round about Elisha." He now saw the
other side of the truth, and all his fears
vanished.
So is it now. It is by responding to
this command " behold," that we get what
we may call the apprehension, or knowledge
of faith. The next word of command
that faith obeys is
LAY HOLD.
It is impossible for faith to respond
without receiving blessing. Each blessing
received is a fresh starting-point for faith
— not a resting-place for indolence, or
merely a refuge for fear, but the ground
from which to begin afresh a course of
more earnest activity and simple trust.
HO IV FAITH GROWS.
125
Gen. xiu,
" Lift up now thine eyes," said the
Lord to Abraham, " and look from the
place where thou art northward, and
southward, and eastward and westward :
for all the land which thou seest, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed for ever."
This was equivalent to the command
" behold." But then came the words,
" Arise, walk through the land in the
length of it, and in the breadth of it, for
I will give it unto thee." Similar words
came to Joshua nearly five hundred years
afterwards — " Every place that the sole of
your foot shall tread upon, that have I
given you." It was not enough that they
beheld the goodly land, and heard the
Divine words assuring them that it was
God's gift to them for ever. Beholding
was to be followed by appropriating.
How many earnest souls see the ful-
ness of the provision and are convinced
of the reality of the gift, and yet make no
Josh.
progress ?
A deed is put mto your hands, by
26
THE WALK THA T PLEASES GOD.
Heb. xi.
33-
I Tim. vi.
wliich you discover that you are the
rightful heir to an estate. Simply be-
Heving in the vaUdity of the document,
that it is in every way legally executed,
and that you are the heir, would not put
you into possession. The act of taking
possession must follow the knowledge of
the fact that the inheritance is yours.
So faith not only beholds, but also
obtains promises.
Here is a man who has fallen over-
board. A rope is thrown out to him.
He sees the effort made to save him. It
fills him with hope even in the moment of
his peril. The bare fact that the rope is
within his reach is not without its glad-
dening influence — but that alone will not
save him. He must lay hold.
Responding to this word of command
" lay hold on eternal life " is what we may
call the oppropriation of faith. The third
word is
HOLD FAST.
It is one thing to lay hold — it is another
HOH^ FAITH GROWS.
21
thing to hold fast. " Let us hold fast our
confession." " Let us hold fast the con-
fession of our hope without wavering "
(N.V.). " Holding fast the faithful word."
These are apostolic admonitions. For if
our great spiritual enemy fails in dis-
couraging us from taking faith's position,
he will spare no pains in endeavouring to
dislodge us from it, after we have taken it.
It is only as we follow the Divine direc-
tion in Eph. vi. that we are enabled to
withstand these efforts of Satan. We
must know what it is to be " strengthened
in the Lord" — to put on the whole
armour of God. *' The good fight of
faith " consists almost entirely in holding
fast that which by faith we have appro-
priated. To hold fast is to keep our
ground. It is this we are enabled to do
when intrenched in Christ, " that ye may
be able to withstand," — " and having
done all, to stand." Here we have the
te7iadty of faith. This brings us to the
last word :
Heb.
Tit.
28
Phll.ii. i6.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
HOLD FORTH.
If it needs faith to receive, to take in —
it needs still more faith to give out,
" Holding forth the word of life." But
faith is not growing exceedingly unless it
advances at each stage of God's require-
ment. To hinder this progress is one of
Satan's chief devices. That he should
dispute every inch of the ground need not
surprise us, for he knows the blessings
resulting from a steady unhesitating re-
sponse to the Divine command.
How often there comes the unbelieving
suggestion when the privileges of the
" fulness of blessing " are put before us,
that, after all, these blessings are not true.
Perhaps we are tempted to argue about
them. Perhaps we are betrayed into
controversies in such a spirit that it would
seem as if we hoped they were not true :
we argue as if we preferred living at a low-
level experience. And then the word has
come spoken with a power that has pene-
trated our inmost being. *' Behold ! " and
HOW FAITH GROWS.
129
we have seen — not our need merely — not
the depth of our weakness and depravity
only, but we have seen how infinite is the
provision, how all-sufiicient is the Divine
fulness to meet that need. Faith has
obeyed the command, and the despon-
dency and mist have fled. We have
obeyed, and in obeying we have risen
above the gloom and fog of a life that is
perpetually limiting God.
But the tempter has not left us. While
we have gazed on the fulness of the pro-
vision, we have heard the whisper, " Yes,
there it is, boundless in its extent ; but it
is not for you. Such a life of triumph is
only for God's favoured ones — some few
eminent saints ; it is not for those who are
engaged in the ordinary pursuits of daily
life. No ; these great and high privileges
are not for you." But God speaks to the
soul, and He says, "Lay hold," "Whoso-
ever will, let him take the water of life
freely." " If any man thirst, let him come
unto ]\Ie and drink." It is to such that
Rev. xxii.
17-
John vii.
37-
I30
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
the Lord Jesus promises not only the
grace that meets our own need, but the
fulness of grace that goes forth to others,
johnvii, 38. " Qut of him shall flow rivers of living
water." Obedience to God's word is the
only way of meeting that suggestion.
Then when we have experienced the
reality of the blessing, and know it in its
actual possession, there comes again the
unbelieving thought from the same evil
source : — " Yes, you have a blessed ex-
perience of the goodness and sufficiency
of Christ; but it won't last^ What is
faith's duty at such a moment ? Simply
to obey the word that comes to us from
God— "hold fast." Live on Him a
moment at a time. Hold fast to the
faithfulness of God. Never question the
immutability of His love.
Then, lastly, when the tempter has
failed m each of these assaults, he will
adopt another device with the object of
hindering our usefulness. He will en-
deavour to persuade us to hide our light
HOW FAITH GROWS. 131
under a bushel — to keep our religion to
ourselves — to do our utmost to prevent
our neighbours from discovering the fact
that the Lord has visited us with His
salvation. But a Divine command ap-
peals to faith at this step, and bids us
confess with the mouth as well as to
believe with the heart.
It is thus that our faith will grow ex-
ceedingly. Not by introspection — not by
emotional efforts to believe — but by a
simple child-like obedience to God's
biddings, at each step of the path along
which He leads us.
We see faith then in all these aspects :
the apprehension of faith ; the appro-
priation of faith ; the tenacity of faith ;
and lastly, the confession of faith.
132
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Ex.xiii. 20.
r^ OD never brings His people into posi-
tions from which retreat is necessary,
or advance impossible. That they bring
themselves into such positions is true.
But it is not by God's leading that they
come there. And yet God's children are
often Divinely led into circumstances of
peculiar difficulty.
It was so with Israel when they "en-
camped in Etham, in the edge of the
wilderness." The waters of the Red Sea
were before them. How could they hope
to escape in that direction? Pharaoh
and his hosts were behind them. The
situation was perilous.
GOING FORWARD.
'33
But since it was the Lord Himself who
had brought them there, they could with
confidence rely on His intervention for
deliverance.
It was a time of special trial, it was
therefore a time for special faith.
Their faith was to show itself first, in
their restfulness. " Moses said unto the
people, Fear ye not, stand stilly and see
the salvation of the Lord." We gain
nothing in times of perplexity by restless
unbelief and anxious efforts. To stand
still and to wait on the Lord in such cir-
cumstances is the first, but not the easiest,
lesson we have to learn. "The Lord shall
fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."
Again, their faith was to show itself
in their activity. Prayer alone was not
enough. " Wherefore criest thou unto
Me? speak unto the children of Israel,
that they go foi-ward.^^ This seemed
impossible ; yet this was God's command.
The rest of faith was only the prelimi-
nary condition to the activity and obedi-
Ex. xiv. I3.
Ex. xiv. 14.
Ex. xiv. 15
134
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
2 Chron.
xiv. II.
ence of faith. True activity is that which
springs out of, and is ever accompanied
by, rest. It is only as we know what it
is to be " still," that we are ready to " go
forward." "We rest on Thee, and in
Thy name we go."
Progress lies in the path which God
Himself opens for us. When no way is
clear before us, when every door seems
closed against us, then it is we are tempted
to devise openings for ourselves. The
great thing is never to lose the thread of
the Lord's leading. It is only in that
path that we can " go forward."
But progress cannot be without diffi-
culty ; for progress always means the
growth and strengthening of faith. And
this of necessity involves the trial of faith.
Difficulties are no real hindrances to growth
in grace. Every difficulty that meets us
in the path of God's will may become a
means of grace a factor in our spiritual
advancement.
Difficulties are of various kinds.
L_
GOING FORWARD.
There are those that arise from the
objections of carnal reason. Israel had
to pass through that trial. It was among
their first experiences. The command
came to them from the Lord, through
Moses, to slay the Passover lamb. This
was to follow a direction for which no rea-
son is assigned, no explanation given. They
were to do it simply because it was com-
manded of God. It was not necessary
that they should understand the reason
in order to obey.
It was clearly not a difficult thing to do
— not impossible, but perfectly easy — and
it involved no peril. But the temptation,
or trial, came from another side. There
was the temptation to regard it as a use-
less, powerless, superfluous, or reasonless
form. So far as human reason could see,
there was no essential connection between
the menns and the end — the cause and
the effect
To obey that command, human reason
must submit to Divine wisdom.
136
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Then there are difficulties that arise
from the objections of self-will. There
can be no progress without obedience,
and no obedience without the submission
of the will. Taking Christ's yoke is the
secret of all Hberty and joy in the path
of obedience. And what does this mean
but identity of will — union and fellowship
with Christ in the daily walk? What the
child of God is often tempted to think
is, that that will is something so dark and
terrible, that he dare not yield himself to
it. Often if he gave expression to the
language of his heart, he would say, " I
am afraid of trusting myself wholly to
God's will. What will it involve ? Will
He not call me out to bear a heavy cross ?
Will He not require me to suffer ? Will
He not lead me into paths of hardships
and self-denial from which I must shrink.^"
But such thoughts betray ignorance of
that infinite love which God has towards
all His children, of that love which He has
already manifested in the gift of His Son.
GOING FORWARD. 137
Let us accept it as a fact, let us grasp it
as a truth, at the very beginning of our
life of service, that nowhere shall we
know the fulness of joy but in the path
of God's will, that it is only in the full
abandonment of the soul to His leading
that complete and abiding rest can be
found.
Once more, there are difficulties that
arise from the objections of unbelief. In
the first class of difficulties considered,
the objection finds its expression in some
such words as these : " I cannot see why
— why I am required to do this or that."
In the second, the objection assumes the
form of disinclination — "I do not 7vant,
or I do not like — to follow this or that
leading." But in the third it is, "I can-
not see how — how the deliverance is
to be wrought, or how the blessing is to
come."
The command is given: "Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward."
And in the command the promise of
138
Psa. Ixxviii.
41.
Rom. iv.
20, 21,
Heb. xi. 8.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
safety or well-being is virtually included.
For " God's biddings are God's enablings."
But unbelief hesitates. It asks, " How
can it be done ? " Unbelief limits God.
It *' sets a mark," as the word in the
original signifies- — puts a limit to His
power : " They limited the Holy One
of Israel."
So unbelief questions whether God is
really able to do what He promises. Of
Abraham it is said, that "he staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief."
When a promise seems too good to be true,
then we are tempted to " stagger " at it.
But Abraham " was strong in faith, giving
glory to God ; and being fully persuaded
that, what He had promised, He was able
also to perform."
This condition of trust is the root of all
practical godliness. It was because of his
faith that Abraham " obeyed." When God
says, " Go forward," faith steps out on
the unseen and unknown ; it steps out
on the Divine warrant. It is not neces-
GOING FORWARD..
I J39
sary that faith should understand how —
it leaves that with God. No barrier can
possibly stand in God's way. He who
gave the command to "go forward" had
marked out the route, had determined the
path, and was ready, step by step, to open
the way and supply all their needs.
Another point must not be omitted :
Obedience to God's command secures the
assurance of God's Presence. The pillar
of cloud and of fire accompanied them.
*' He took not away the pillar of the
cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by
night, from before the people."
God was with them, and that was
enough. To go forward at God's word
was to have every blessing secured to
them. They need not be in doubt as
to the issue. God was their defence.
He stood between them and their ene-
mies. So He would go with them through
the waters. They were sure of reaching
the further shore in safety. There was
no fear of being; overwhelmed. That
Ex. xiii. 22.
I40
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Isa. i. 19.
God who had brought them in, would
bring them through. He who stood be-
tween them and their enemies would
stand between them and their circum-
stances. Jehovah was also the Fountain
of Supply. His Presence was Salvation.
He could provide bread for them in the
desert. He could make the waters flow
from the stony rock. They had but to
hearken and to obey. Obedience to the
command to " go forward " secured all
these blessings. So is it with the children
of God to-day. "If ye be willing and
obedient, ye shall eat the good of the
land."
GRO WTH.
141
^rotot^.
'T^HE first great truth the Scripture re-
veals as an essential condition of
fellowship with God is the impartation to
the soul of the principle of spiritual life.
" Ye must be born again." No amount
of moral culture or religious training can
raise the " natural man " into the sphere
of a spiritual existence. It is only by the
communication of a Divine principle — a
vital energy trom God Himself, that we
can pass from death unto life. The
Apostle Paul recognises that fact in such
words as these, " And you hath He quick-
ened, who were dead in trespasses and
Eph. ii I.
It is also the testimony of Scripture
142
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
John i
13-
; John V.
II. 12.
that this principle of Divine Ufe comes with
a reception of God's unspeakable gift.
" As many as received Him, to them gave
He power (right) to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on His
name : which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God." To receive the
Christ is to be born of God. " This is
the record, that God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He that hath the Son hath life."
But the question with the believer is,
not — How shall I obtain life? but. How
shall I, who have been born from above,
quickened into a new existence — how
shall I grow and advance so as to abound
in spiritual vigour and show forth the
praises of Him who hath called me out of
darkness into His marvellous light ?
This brings us to another great truth
revealed to us in the Scripture. And that
is, in order to a walk of fellowship with
God, next in importance to the commu-
GRO VVTH.
nication of life is the maintenance of those
conditions which are essential for its
development and growth.
What is the essential condition oiliving?
We must recognise the distinction between
mere spiritual existence and living. The
scientific definition of living, in the sphere
of the natural world, is this — that the life
must be in perfect correspondence with
its environment. There is the life within,
and there is its environment. All that
the life needs for its sustenance, develop-
ment, and transformation, is found, not in
itself, but in its surroundings. That which
is essential, therefore, in order that there
may be growth, is that the channel be-
tween the two should be open, so that
the stream of supply should flow uninter-
ruptedly.
This is precisely what the Scripture
reveals as essential in order to spiritual
growth. Salvation consists not merely in!
the quickening of the soul, but in its;
introduction into a Divine environment.
144
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
All that the regenerate soul needs for
progress, holiness and fruitfulness, is found
in that Divine surrounding. He is not
only quickened, he has by faith passed
into a new sphere of existence — he has
" believed into Christ." Whatever may be
his spiritual necessities, they are all to be
met by that fulness which dwells in Him.
But one thing is essential, and that is that
the channel of communication should be
free. There must be " correspondence "
between the need that belongs to the life
within, and the provision that exists in
the environment. The stream of supply
from one to the other must flow without
interruption. As in natural life health
consists not in the cessation of hunger, by
once for all satisfying the craving for food,
but by the continual supply of that which
meets the ever-recurring appetite ; so in
the spiritual life, soul-health does not con-
sist in the removal of our need once for
all, but in the continual meeting of that
need. The fulness stored up in Christ,
GROWTH.
H5
in whom we live and move and have our
being, is the complement of what we lack
in ourselves. But the two should be con-
stantly meeting each other.
In this consists the "fulness of bless-
mg.
My need and Thy great fulness meet,
And I have all in Thee."
Increase of spiritual vitality will be the
effect of a more perfect "correspondence"
with our Divine surrounding. This cor-
respondence is effected by faith. We are
"filled" "in believing." Faith is the
channel of communication between the
need in ourselves and the fulness in
Christ. The greater the faith, or the
greater the receptivity, the larger the chan-
nel and the larger the measure of supply.
"According to your faith be it unto you."
Declension in spiritual life and weak-
ness in action are the result of feebleness
of faith. The correspondence becomes
at once impaired, and the stream of supply
Rom.
Afatt. ix. 29.
146
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
is hindered.
surrounding,
To correspond with one's
does not mean that there
must be an identity of nature between
the inner being and its environment. On
the contrary, as we have said, the one is
the complement of the other. Wiiat the
Col. ii. 10. one lacks the other supplies. " Ye are in
Him being filled full."
In the spiritual, no less than in the
natural world, there is no such thing as
stagnation without corruption, decay, and
death. If the need ceases to exist, the
supply will cease to flow, and stagnation
at once begins. Ceaseless activity is the
characteristic of the healthy, vigorous life.
Our emptiness is ever being met by His
Fulness. Our weakness by His Strength.
Our defilement by His Cleansing. Our
tendency to sin by His Purity, and His
Power to keep us from falling.
It is not that Christ by one act, once
for all, meets the need and absolutely
removes it. But by the law of couniei--
, action and supply He is ever meeting the
GROWTH.
'47
need. To suppose that the first of these
is the case, is sooner or later to fall into
the delusion that we are kept by Christ
in a state of self-sufficiency.
**I need Thee every hour" is a true
experience, and one that is perfectly com-
patible with the utterance, " I have Thee
every hour."
The notion above referred to, pressed
to its logical issue, must result in the re-
jection of the truth that we are here in
this life only in process of being " changed
into the same image."
If we do not continue to the \txy last
hour of our earthly existence to need the
cleansing or purifying efficacy of the blood
of Jesus Christ, progressive purity can have
no place in our doctrine of sanctification.
We shall fall into the delusion that Christ
has made us already, not judicially merely,
but in ourselves, as pure as we ever shall
be ! This is simply to glory in our own
fulness, rather than in Christ.
He who is the very home of our renewed
148
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
r Cor. i. 9.
being is the brightness of the Father's
glory, and the express image of His per-
son. We are being changed into the same
image.
*' In Him is no sin." We are being
cleansed from every sin. In Him all fulness
dwells. We are receiving of that fulness
and grace for grace.
He is the power of God. We are bei^ig
strengthened with all might according to
His glorious power. And so on with all
our other needs, there must be a continu-
ous participation of Christ if we are to
grow up into Him in all things.
It is only as we are thus kept down low,
with an ever-deepening sense of our need
of Him, and in full and close communion
with Him, that we shall know what "liv-
ing" really means.
Let us recognise clearly that the source
of supply is not in ourselves. God has
"called us into participation of His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord." And to kindle
our faith, so that we may be brought into
GROWTH.
living commLinion with Him, He lias givei.
us " exceeding great and precious prom-
ises;" that by these " we might become "
partakers of the Divine Nature
2 Pet. i.<
50
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
%\i Etrr&n from W^t folg #ne,"
I John ii. 20. "\/E have an unction from the Holy
One, and ye know all things." It
is only in the power of that anointing that
our service is true, effective, or well pleas-
ing to God. But what is this anointing?
"The word, which expresses not the act
of anointing, but that with which it is
performed, marks the connection of Chris-
tians with their Head. As He was
' anointed ' for His office, so, too, are
they " ( Westcott).
Christ was anointed of the Spirit from
His birth. He was conceived of the
Holy Ghost. Therefore He was the Son
of God as well as the Son of man. As
to His humanity, He was absolutely pure
and sinless. But it was not in the power
of His sinlessness that He accomplished
" UNCTION FROM THE HOL V ONE."
15'
the work His Father had given Him to
do. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power:
who went about doing good, and heahng
all that were oppressed of the devil ; for
God was with Him."
That anointing He received when He
entered on His public ministry. He was
the true meat offering. The meat offer-
ing consisted of four things : fine flour,
oil, frankincense, and salt. The fine flour
pointed to the essential purity of His
nature. It was not sinful flesh — not our
fallen humanity that He took upon Him-
self— though it was a true humanity. All
that was pure and lovely in human nature
was in Jesus, but He was separate from
all sin, absolutely pure from the beginning.
It was not that the flour, originally im-
pure, became purified by a subsequent
process. He was spotless from the first.
It was not the discipline or trial through
which He passed that refined or purified
His nature. The suffering and the trial
Actb X. 38.
152
Lev. ii. II.
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
Lukeiv. i6.
He endured found Him pure, and mani-
fested the excellency of His nature. There
was no unevenness in the fine flour of
His perfect humanity. " No meat offer-
ing, which ye shall bring unto the Lord,
shall be made with leaven." So the Lord
Jesus Christ, who was the true meat offer-
ing, was separate from sin. He did no
sin. He knew no sin.
The holy oil was mingled with the fine
flour. There we see the Incarnation of
the Son of God. But not only was the
oil mingled with the flour— it was after-
terwards poicred upon it. There we have
the special anointing of the Holy Ghost
which the Lord Jesus received at His
baptism, just at the commencement of
His public ministry.
After this anointing for service came
the temptation in the wilderness. And
immediately after this the Lord Jesus
came to Nazareth, "And as His custom
was, He went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day, and stood up for to read."
UNCI ION FROM THE HOLY ONE:'
'53
What was the passage He read? "The
Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because
He hath anointed Me to preach the Gos-
pel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal
the broken-hearted, t6 preach dehverance
to the captives, and recovering of sight to
the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of
the Lord." And when He had closed
the book He said, " This day is this
Scripture fulfilled in your ears."
It was then that He presented Himself
as the true meat-offering. It was then that
the oil was poured out upon Him. The
Holy Ghost descended on Him visibly.
Does not this teach us that in addition
to being born of the Spirit we need the
anointing of the Spirit ?
What is the source of this anointing?
It is " from the Holy One." The Lord
Jesus is the " Righteous One," and He
is the " Holy One." Our first need has
reference to our guilt and sin. So our
first view of Christ is as the " Rin^lueous
T54 THE WALK THAT PLEASES GOD.
One." Christ made of God unto us right-
eousness— in His work of propitiation.
Righteousness brings in the idea of a just
claim, and the answer to that claim. We
^ee God in connection with His broken
law — a law that is holy and just — but a
law whose demands we are utterly unable
to meet, and under whose condemning
power we have been brought through
Rom. X. 4, *• Christ is the end of the law for right-
eousness to every one that believeth."
He is the "Righteous One" because He
meets for us all those claims, and delivers
us from the condemnation.
Righteousness is the prominent thought
johnii.i. when sin is between us and God. "If
any man sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous"
But it is not to a life of perpetual fall-
ing that we have been called. We may
know what fellowship with the *' Holy
One " means, as well as acceptance in the
" Righteous One."
''UNCTION FROM THE HOLY ONE" 155
Jesus, the Holy One, is the glorified
Head of the mystical body, the Church.
The holy oil has been poured upon the
head of our mystical Aaron, and by virtue
of our union and fellewship with Him we
are under the same Divine anointing. But
only those who are walking in fellowship
with Christ know what this means as a
continuous blessing. For we must observe
the words do not put before us one com-
pleted act, something experienced on
some one occasion, or at a particular
time in the past ; but rather the words
point to that which is a present and con-
tinuous privilege. It is not, " Ye were
anointed," but "Ye have an anointing."
It is quite possible, through careless-
ness and lack of abiding, to lose the
blessing, and to find ourselves no longer
walking under the power of this anoint-
ing from the Holy One. Our service then
at once becomes formal and unfruitful.
There may still be earnestness, and zeal,
and activity, but it will not be by virtue
i=;6
THE WALK THAT PLEASES GUD.
Ex. XXX.
32. 33-
of the anointing; it will not be the energy
of the Spirit, but of the flesh. It is just
here that a peculiar danger occurs. Find-
ing an absence of spiritual power, the soul
is tempted to make efforts to produce an
effect, or make power. But God had
expressly forbidden any imitation of the
holy oil to be made. '* Neither shall ye
make any other like it, after the compo-
sition of it : it is holy, and it shall be holy
unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any
like it, shall be cut off from his people."
False spirituality may show itself in the
matter of guidance as well as of service
There is a danger, even amongst the chil-
dren of God, of assuming to be guided by
the Spirit, when all the while they are
only indulging their own self-will or self-
conceit. Our safety lies only in abiding ;
a humble dependence upon Christ, keep-
ing close to Him, ever conscious of our
proneness to go astray, but restfully con-
fident that He will keep us from falling.
=\'
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