3446. “Christ Is All”

A Sermon Published On Thursday, February 18, 1915.

Christ is all. {Col 3:11}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1006, “Christ is All” 997}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2501, “All and All in All” 2502}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2888, “Christ is All” 2889}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3446, “Christ is All” 3448}

   Exposition on Col 3:1-17 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2679, “Christ’s Indwelling Word” 2680 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Col 3:1-4:4 Ps 28:1-6 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3446, “Christ is All” 3448 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Col 3:1-4:4 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3037, “Christians Kept From Sin” 3038 @@ "Exposition"}

1. My text is so very short that you cannot forget it; and, I am quite certain, if you are Christians at all, you will be sure to agree with it. What a multitude of religions there is in this poor wicked world of ours! Men have taken it into their heads to invent various systems of religion and if you look around the world, you will see scores of different sects; but it is a great fact that, while there is a multitude of false religions, there is only one that is true. While there are many falsehoods, there can be only one truth; real religion is, therefore, one. There is only one gospel—the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful thing it is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, should be born of humble parents, and live as a poor man in this world, for the purpose of our salvation! He lived a life of suffering and trial, and at length, through the malignity of his enemies, was crucified on Calvary as an outcast of society. “Now,” they said, “that is an end of his religion; now it will be such a contemptible thing, that no one will ever call himself a Christian; it will be discreditable to have anything to do with the name of the man Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth.” But it is an amazing fact that this religion has not only lived, but is at this hour as strong as ever. Yes! the religion he founded still exists, and is still powerful, and constantly expanding. While other religions have sunk into the darkness of the past, and the idols have been cast to the moles and to the bats, the name of Jesus is still mighty, and it shall continue to be a blessed power as long as the universe shall endure.

2. The religion of Jesus is the religion of God; hence, notwithstanding all the reproach and persecution which it has had to encounter, it still exists, and still flourishes. It is this religion which I shall attempt to preach to you—the one gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ—and the text embraces it all in the most comprehensive manner, “Christ is all.”

3. I shall use it, first, as a test to try you, and, afterwards, as a motive to encourage you. I want, first, to sift you, to see how many of you are the people of God, and how many are not. I shall make my text a great sieve, and put you into it to see which is wheat and which is chaff. We must consider this passage in two or three senses in order.

4. I. First, I shall use the text as:—A TEST TO TRY YOU.

5. Christ must be all, as your Great Master and Teacher. There are some who set up a certain man as their authority; they regard him as their master, they look up to him as their teacher, and whatever he says is right; it is the truth, and is not to be disputed. Or, perhaps, they have taken a certain book, other than the Bible, and say, “We will judge all things by this book”; and if the preacher does not teach exactly the creed written in that book, he is put down as not sound in the faith, and they do not hesitate to say this at once, because he does not come up to the standard of their little book! We meet many people in this world who make their creed, their one little narrow creed, everything, and they measure everything and everyone by that. But, my friends, I must have you say that “Christ is all,” and not any man, however good or great, before I can allow that you are Christians. We do not have to follow men. Our faith does not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. We are to follow no man, except so far as he follows Christ, who alone is our Master. Do not be deceived; do not submit yourselves to creeds, to books, or to men; give yourselves to the study of God’s Word, only derive your creed and the doctrines of your faith from it, and then you will be able to say:—

   Should all the forms that men devise

      Assault my faith with treacherous art,

   I’d call them vanity and lies,

      And bind the gospel to my heart.

6. Let Christ be your only Master, and say, in the words of our text, “Christ is all.” Now can you say this, or are you boasting, “The Baptists are all”—“The Wesleyans are all”—“The Church of England is all”? As the Lord lives, if you are saying that, you do not know his truth; because you are not testifying that “Christ is all,” but simply uttering the Shibboleth of your little party. I should like to see the word party blotted out from the vocabulary of the Christian Church. I thank God that I have no sympathy whatever with what is merely sectarian, and have grace given me to protest against it, and to exclaim:—

   Let party names no more

   The Christian world o’erspread;

since:—

   Gentile and Jew, and bond and free,

   Are one in Christ, their Head.

If “Christ is all” to you, you are Christians; and I, for one, am ready to give you the right hand of brotherhood. I do not care what place of worship you attend, or by what distinctive name you may call yourselves, we are brethren; and I think, therefore, that we should love each other. If, my friends, you cannot embrace all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter to what denomination they may belong, and cannot regard them as your brethren in the Lord, and as belonging to the universal Church, you do not have hearts large enough to go to heaven; because, if such are your contracted views, you cannot possibly say, “Christ is all.”

7. Next, Christ must be all, as your principal object in life—your chief good. Your great aim must be to glorify Christ on the earth, in the hope and expectation of enjoying him for ever above. But as it regards some of you, Christ is not your all. You think more of your shop than you do of him. You are up early in the morning looking at your ledgers, and all day long toiling at your business. Do not misunderstand me: I dislike lazy people, who let the grass grow over their shoes; and God disapproves of them too. We want no lazy gospellers. The true Christian will say, “I know that I am bound to be diligent in business; but I want to work for eternity as well as for time. I need something besides earthly riches; I need an inheritance not made with hands, a mansion not built by man, a possession in the skies.” Are you making this world your all? Poor souls, if you are, the world and its fashion are passing away; your all will soon be gone. I imagine I see a rich man, one whose gold is his all, when he gets into the next world, looking for his gold, and wondering where it is, and being at length compelled to exclaim, in despair, “Oh! my all is gone!” But if you can say that Christ is your all, then your treasure will never be gone; for he will never leave you, nor forsake you. Not only in this world, but also in what is to come, you shall be happy and blessed, for you shall be crowned with glory, and made to sit with Christ on his throne for ever.

8. “Well,” says some easy-going gentleman, “I do not make business my all, I assure you; not I: my maxim is, let us enjoy this life, let us fill the glass to the brim, and live in pleasure while we may.” I also have a word for you. Do you think that such a course of conduct will prepare you for heaven, for the enjoyments of eternity? Do you imagine that, when you come to die, it will be any pleasure for you to think of your drunkenness? When you are lying on a sick-bed, will your oaths bring you any peace, as they reverberate on your conscience, just as I hear my voice, at this moment, echoing back to my ears the words I am saying? I think I see you springing up as you hear your blasphemies against God returning on you, while, with a mind oppressed with anguish, and eyes bulging from their sockets, you exclaim, in your terror, “I hear my own oaths again! God is coming to call me to judgment, to demand of me why I dare blaspheme his name!” and the Judge will say, “You, with oaths and curses, profaned my holy name; you asked me to curse your soul, and now I will do it; you prayed in your profane moments that you might be lost, and now you shall be.” How horrible that would be! You who say pleasure is all, let me warn you that you will have to drink the bitter dregs of the cup of pleasure for all eternity, no matter how sweet the draught may be to your taste now.

9. But there are some more moderate people, who are by no means extravagant in their pleasures, and are great sticklers for religion; they go to church or chapel every Sabbath, and believe themselves to be a very good kind of people, and such as will be accepted at the last day, and placed on the right hand of the throne. Again I ask the question, can you say, “Christ is all”? No; you cannot say that. Many of you make the externals of religion your all, resting in the letter, but knowing or caring nothing for the spirit. This will not do; and you are not such Christians as Christ will acknowledge if you are making anything your all but him. Religion is not to be stowed away in some dark corner of the brain. Christianity is a heart religion, and if you cannot say, from the very depths of your being, “Christ is all,” you have neither part nor lot in the blessings and privileges of the gospel, and your end will be destruction, everlasting banishment from the presence of the Lord. May God grant it may not be so; but that in both your lives and mine we may each be enabled to truly say, “Christ is all”; and that we may meet again around the eternal throne!

10. Next, Christ will be all, as the source of your joy. Some people seem to think that Christians are a very melancholy kind of folk, that they have no real happiness. I know something about religion, and I will not admit that I stand second to any man with respect to being happy. So far as I know religion, I have found it to be a very happy thing.

   I would not change my blest estate,

   For all that earth calls good or great.

11. I used to think that a religious man must never smile; but, on the contrary, I find that religion will make a man’s eye bright, and cover his face with smiles, and impart comfort and consolation to his soul, even in the deepest of his earthly tribulations. To illustrate this, I might tell you the story of a poor man who lives in one of the courts in Holborn, who experiences great joy in religion, even in the midst of the deepest poverty. A Christian visitor, going up into the poor man’s room at the top of the house, said, “My friend, how long have you been in this place?” “I have not been downstairs, nor walked across the room, these twelve months.” “Have you anything to depend on?” “Nothing,” he replied; but upon memory, he added, “I have a good Father up in heaven, and I depend on him entirely, and he never lets me lack. Some kind Christian friends are sure to call, and they never go away without leaving me something; and I get enough to live on and pay my rent, and I am very happy. I would not change places with anyone in the world, for I have Jesus Christ with me, and my heavenly Father will take me home eventually, and then I shall be as rich as any of them—shall I not, sir? Sometimes I get very low, and Satan tells me that I am not a child of God, and that I had better give up all as lost; but I tell him that he is a great coward to come and meddle with such a poor weak creature like me; and I show him the blood, sir; and I tell him the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin; and when I show Satan the precious blood, sir, he stops tempting me, and immediately flees, for he cannot bear the sight of the Saviour’s blood.”

12. So we see that true religion can cheer the sick man’s bed, can make the poor man feel that he is rich, and make him joyful in the Lord. Well did the old man say that the devil cannot bear the sight of the Saviour’s blood; and if, beloved friends, you can take Christ’s blood, and put it on your conscience, however sinful you may have been, you will be able to sing of Christ as all your hope, all your joy, and all your support. I ask you who love Jesus, does religion ever make you unhappy? Does love for Jesus distress you, and make you miserable? It may bring you into trouble sometimes, and cause you to endure persecution for his name’s sake. If you are a child of God, you will have to suffer tribulation; but all the afflictions which you may be called on to endure for him will work for your good, and are not worthy to be compared with the glory which is to be revealed hereafter.

13. Now, then, let me ask, could you go with me while I have been speaking? Can you now say that Christ is your only Master, your chief good, your only joy? “Oh! yes; I do love Jesus, because he first loved me.” Then, welcome, brother; you are one with Jesus, and we are one with each other. But if you cannot say it, how terrible it shall be for some of you, when you shall find your gourds wither, the crops on which you now lean struck down with a blow, your false refuges swept away, and, deprived of all your feathers and finery, your soul will appear before God in its true character! May it not be so with any of you, but may you be united to Christ by living faith, which works by love, and purifies the heart!

14. II. Secondly, I shall now consider the text as:—A MOTIVE TO ENCOURAGE YOU.

15. “Christ is all.” My beloved friends, in what is he all? Christ is all in the entire work of salvation. Let me just take you back to the time before this world was made. There was a time when this great world, the sun, the moon, the stars, and everything which now exists throughout all of the vast universe, lay in the mind of God, like unborn forests in an acorn-cup. There was a time when the Great Creator lived alone, and yet he could foresee that he would make a world, and that men would be born to populate it; and in that vast eternity a great scheme was devised, by which he might save a fallen race. Do you know who devised it? God planned it from first to last. Neither Gabriel nor any of the holy angels had anything to do with it. I question whether they were even told how God might be just, and yet save the transgressors. God was all in the drawing up of the scheme, and Christ was all in carrying it out. There was a dark and doleful night! Jesus was in the garden, sweating great drops of blood, which fell to the ground; no one then came to bear the load that had been laid on him. An angel stood there to strengthen him, but not to bear the sentence. The cup was put into his hands, and Jesus said, “Father, must I drink it?” and his Father replied, “If you do not drink, sinners cannot be saved”; and he took the cup and drained it to its very dregs. No man helped him. And when he hung on that accursed tree of Calvary, when his precious hands were pierced, when:—

   From his head, his hands, his feet,

   Sorrow and love flow mingled down,

there was no one to help him. He was “all” in the work of salvation.

16. And, my friends, if any of you shall be saved, it must be by Christ alone. There must be no patchwork; Christ did it all, and will not be helped in the matter. Christ will not allow you, as some say, to do what you can, and leave him to make up the rest. What can you do that is not sinful? Christ has done all for us; the work of redemption is all finished. Christ planned it all, and worked out all of it; and therefore, we preach a full salvation through Jesus Christ.

17. What could we poor mortals do towards saving ourselves? Our best works are only base and worthless for that great end; I am sure I could not do it. My preaching—I am ashamed of that, and there are a thousand faults in my prayers. God wants nothing from us by way of “making up” Christ’s work; but he cancels all the sins, and blots out all the transgressions of everyone who trusts in his Son’s death.

18. If I have found Christ, I have found all. “I do not have strong faith,” you say. Never mind, Christ is all. “I do not feel my sins sufficiently”; but Christ is all. Many people think they must feel a load of repentance before they may hope Christ will receive them. I know every child of God will repent; but we are not all brought to the cross by the terrors of the law. It is not your feelings, my friends, that will save you; but Christ only, Christ standing in your place, Christ being your Substitute. If, feeling your need of his grace to pardon you, and his righteousness to justify you before God, you can only just look to Christ, though you have nothing good about you, you will have done all that is necessary to carry you to heaven; because it is not your act that can save you, but the act of Christ alone. A little while ago, I had a conversation with an Irishman, who had been to hear me preach. He had come to ask me, he said, the way of salvation. “What troubles me,” he said, “is this: God says that he will condemn the sinner, and punish him; then how can God forgive, because he must punish if he would keep his word?” I placed before him the scriptural view of the atonement, in the substitution of Christ for the sinner; and the poor man was astonished and delighted beyond measure, never having understood the beauty and simplicity of the gospel way of salvation before. “Is it really so?” he said. “It is in the Bible,” I replied. “Then the Bible must be true,” he said, “for no one but God could have thought of it.”

19. If Jesus Christ is our Surety, friends, we are safe from the demands of the law. If Christ is our Substitute, we shall not suffer the penalty due to sin; for God will never punish the same sin twice. If I have nothing but Christ, I do not need anything else, for Christ is all. If Christ is your all, you will not need anything to help you, either in living or in dying. Now for two thoughts before I close.

20. (1) My first thought is, if a man has Christ, then what else does he need? If a man has Christ, he has everything. If I want perfection, and I have Christ, I have absolute perfection in him. If I want righteousness, I shall find in him my beauty and my glorious dress. I want pardon, and if I have Christ, I am pardoned. I want heaven and if I have Christ, I have the Prince of heaven, and shall be there eventually, to live with Christ, and to dwell in his blessed embrace for ever. If you have Christ, you have all. Do not be desponding, do not give ear to the whisperings of Satan that you are not the children of God; for if you have Christ, you are his people, and other things will come eventually. Christ makes you complete in him; as the apostle says, “You are complete in him.” I think of poor Mary Magdalene; she would have nothing to bring of her own; she would remember that she had been a prostitute; but when she comes to heaven’s gates, she will say, “I have Christ,” and the command will go out, “Let her in, Gabriel; let her in.” Here comes a poor squalid wretch, what has he been doing, he has never learned to write, he scarcely went even to a Ragged School, {a} but he has Christ in his heart. “Gabriel, let him in.” Next comes a bad rich man, with rings on his fingers, and wearing fine clothes; but the command is, “Shut the gates, Gabriel; he has no business here.” Then comes a fine flaming professor of the gospel; but he never knew Christ in his heart. “Shut the gate, Gabriel.” If a man has Christ, he has all for eternity; and if he does not have Christ, he is poor, and blind, and naked, and will be miserable for ever. Will you not, then, who are listening to me now, resolve, in the strength of the Lord, to seek him at once, and make him your Friend? No matter what may be your state or condition, you are invited to come to him.

21. You blind, you lame, who are far from Christ, come to him, and receive your sight, and obtain strength! He is made your all; you need bring nothing in your hand to come to him. “Ah!” one says, “I am not good enough yet.” Beggars do not talk like that: they consider that, the more needy they are, the more likely they are to obtain what they ask for. The worse the clothing, the better for begging. It is the same with respect to the gospel; and you are invited to come to Christ just as you are, naked and miserable, so that he may clothe and comfort you.

22. (2) My last thought is this: How poor is that man who is destitute of Christ! If I were to say to some of you that you are poor, you would reply, “I am not poor; I have £250 a year coming in, a decent house, and an excellent job.” And yet, if you do not have Christ, you are a poor man indeed. Look at that poor worldling with a load of £10,000 on his back, a quantity of stocks and annuities in one hand, policies and railway bonds in the other; but he is wretched with all his wealth, though he can hardly carry it. There is a poor beggar woman, who says to him, “Let me take a part of your burden”; but the miserable man refuses all assistance, and resolves to carry all his load himself. But eventually he comes to a great gulf, and, instead of finding these riches help him, they hang around his neck like millstones, and weigh him down. Yet there are some who would do anything for gold. If there is one man more miserable than another in hell, it must be the man who robbed his neighbours to feather his own nest; such feathers will help the flight of the arrows which shall pierce his soul for all eternity. No matter what your wealth, if you do not have Christ, you are miserably poor; but with Christ, you are rich for all eternity.

23. I think I see one of you ungodly ones in your last moments; someone stands by your bedside, and watches your face; the death-sweat comes over you, and the big drops bead on your brow; the strong man is bowed down, and the mighty one falls; and now the eyes close, and the hand falls powerless—life is fled. Ah! but the soul never dies! Up it flies to appear at God’s judgment bar. How will it appear there? Oh! the poor soul without Christ! It will be a naked soul; it will have no garment to cover it—it will be a perishing soul, no salvation for it. Mercy cannot be secured then; it will be in vain to pray then, because the lamp will be put out in eternal darkness. And the Judge will say, in tones that will pierce you to the quick, “Depart from me, you cursed.”

24. May God give all of you grace to repent, and to embrace the salvation which is revealed in the gospel! Every sin-sick soul may have Christ; but as for you who are Pharisees, and trusting in yourselves that you are righteous, if you know nothing about sin, you can know nothing about Christ. The way to be saved is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. “But what is it to believe?” you say. I have heard of a captain who had a little son, and this little boy was very fond of climbing aloft. One day he climbed to the masthead, and the father saw that, if the boy attempted to return, he would be dashed to pieces; he therefore, shouted to him not to look down, but to drop into the sea. The poor boy kept firm hold of the mast; but the father saw it was his only chance of safety, and he shouted once more, “Boy, the next time the ship lurches, drop, or I will shoot you.” The boy is gone; he drops into the sea, and is saved. Had he not dropped, he must have perished. This is just your condition: as long as you cling to works and ceremonies, you are in the utmost peril; but when you give yourselves up entirely to the mercy of Christ, you are safe. Try it, sinner; try it, that is all. “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved,” is Christ’s promise, and it shall never fail you. The invitation is to all who thirst. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let him who is thirsty come, and take the water of life freely.” I have heard that, in the deserts where they can only get water at long intervals, they send a man on a camel in search of it; when he sees a pool, he springs off his beast, and before he himself drinks he calls out, “Come,” and there is another man at a little distance, and he shouts, “Come,” and one further away still repeats the word, “Come,” until the whole desert resounds with the cry, “Come,” and they come rushing to the water to drink. Now I do not make the gospel invitation wider than the declaration of the Word of God, “Whoever wills, let him take the water of life freely.” Whoever you are, and whatever you may have been, if you feel your need of Christ, “Come,” and he will receive you, and give you a drink of the water of life freely.

{a} Ragged School: A free school for children of the poorest class. OED.

Expositions By C. H. Spurgeon {Col 3:1-4:4 Ps 28:1-6}

Colossians 3

1. If then you are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God.

Oh! how often we need to be called to do this, for the flesh is grovelling, and it holds down the spirit; and very often we are seeking the things below as if we had not yet attained to the new life, and did not know anything about the resurrection power of Christ within the soul. Now, if it is that you, believers, have risen with Christ, do not live as if you had never done so, but “seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God.”

2. Set your affection

Not “your affections.” Tie them up into one bundle. Make one of them.

2. On things above, not on things on the earth.

You say that you were dead with Christ, and that you have risen with Christ. Live, then, the risen life, and not the life of those who have never undergone this matchless process. Live above.

3. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

The old life is dead. You are dead to it. You will not be consumed by it: you cannot be controlled by it. You have a newer and higher life. Let it have full scope.

4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then you shall also appear with him in glory.

Christ was hidden while he was here. The world did not know him. So is your life. But there is to be a glorious revealing. When Christ is revealed, so you shall be. Wait for him.

5. Therefore mortify your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Since you are dead, let all the lusts of the flesh be put to death. Kill these. They were once a part of you. Your nature lusted this way. Mortify them. Do not merely restrain them and try to keep them under. You are to have nothing to do with these things.

6, 7. Because of these things the wrath of God comes over the children of disobedience: in which you also walked some time, when you lived in them.

“When you lived in them” But now you do not live in them. You are dead to them. If it should ever come to pass that you fall into any of these things, you will loathe yourself with bitterest repentance that you could find comfort, satisfaction, life in them. You are dead to them.

8-10. But now you also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to each other, since you have put off the old man with his deeds: and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him:

No lies. Such talk is filthy. But you put these things away through your union with Christ in his risen life. Therefore, abhor them. Avoid the very appearance of them, and cry for grace to be kept from them, for you have been “renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him.”

11. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

In the new life there is no distinction of people and nationality. We are born into one family; we become members of Christ’s body; and this is the one thing we have got to keep up—separation from all the world besides: no separations in the church, no disunion, nothing that would cause it, for we are one in Christ, and Christ is all. Now, since we have to put off these things, that is the negative side: that is the law’s side, for the law says, “You shall not”—“You shall not.” But now look at the positive side.

12. Therefore put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering:

This is what you have to wear, even on the outside—to put it on; not to have a latent kindness in your heart, and a degree of humbleness deep down in your soul if you could get at it; but you are to put it on. It is to be the very clothing you wear. These are the sacred vestments of your daily priesthood. Put them on.

13. Bearing with each other, and forgiving each other, if any man has a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Just as readily, just as freely, just as heartily, just as completely.

14, 15. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts,

For that is the great foundation of every godly fruit. We are in such a hurry, in such dreadful haste, so selfish, so discontented, so impetuous, and the major part of our sins spring from that condition of mind. But if we were godly, restful, peaceful, how many sins we would avoid! “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.”

15. To which also you are called in one body; and be thankful.

It looks like a very small virtue to be thankful. Yet, dear friends, the absence of it is one of the grossest of vices. To be ungrateful is a base thing: to be ungrateful to God is an extremely base thing. And yet how many may accuse themselves of it! Who among us is as grateful as he should be? Be thankful.

16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you

Alexander the Great had a chest of gold studded with gems to carry Homer’s works. Let your own heart be a chest for the command of Christ. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you.”

16-18. Richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands, since it is fitting in the Lord.

See how our being Christians does not relax the bonds of our Christian relationship, but it calls us to the higher exercise of the responsibilities and duties connected with it.

19. Husbands love your wives, and do not be bitter against them.

Oh! there are some spirits that are very bitter. A little thing puts them out of sorts, and they would take delight in a taunt which grieves the spirit. I pity the poor woman who has such bitterness where she ought to have sweetness: yet there are some such husbands.

20-21. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The duties are mutual. Scripture maintains an equilibrium. It does not lay down commands for one class, and then leave the other to exercise whatever tyrannical oppression it may please. The child is to obey, but the father must not provoke.

22. Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers;

How much there is of that! How quickly the hands go when the master’s eye looks on! But the Christian servant remembers God’s eye, and is always diligent. “Not with eye-service as men-pleasers.”

22-4:2. But in singleness of heart, fearing God: And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men; Knowing that you shall receive from the Lord the reward of the inheritance: for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done; and there is no respect of persons. Masters, give to your servants what is just and equal; knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.

See how he keeps putting that in—“Be thankful”—“with thanksgiving.” Why, that is the oil that makes the machinery go around without its causing friction. May we have much of that thanksgiving.

3, 4. As well praying also for us, that God would open for us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: so that I make it clear, as I ought to speak.

So the preacher of the gospel asks for your prayers: and it is a part of the duties arising out of the relationship between Christian men that those who are taught should pray for those who teach God’s Word.

Psalms 28.

1. To you I will cry, oh Lord, my rock: do not be silent to me: lest, if you are silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit.

Oh! if God did not hear prayer, we should become like dead men—indeed, like lost men. Our fall or despair would be terrible indeed. “Lest, if you are silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit.”

2. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands towards your holy oracle.

Is that the way you pray, dear friend? I know there are some who, if they have uttered certain good words—got through a form of prayer—are perfectly satisfied. As for whether God hears them or not, that does not trouble them. But if you are a true child of God, it will be your main thought in prayer, “Will he hear me? Will he hear me? Will he answer me?” And you will think nothing of a prayer at all unless you have the comforting, believing persuasion that your prayer has reached the ear and heart of God. Oh! believe us, for some of us do know, by experience, that prayer is a real thing. It is no repetition of words. It really is the heart speaking into the ear of God; and God graciously responds when prayer is truly offered.

3. Do not take me away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

We are often afraid lest we should be numbered with them.

   Oh! were it not for grace divine,

   Their fate so dreadful had been mine.

“Do not gather my soul with sinners,” is the prayer of many a godly man. When he looks within and sees the sin that is there, and what he deserves from the hand of God, apart from the blood and righteousness of Christ, he begins, indeed, to pray, “Do not take me away with the wicked. Oh Lord, do not let me wander into doctrinal error or into errors of life, or into laxity of behaviour, or into backslidings, but keep me firm, for unless you hold me firm:—

   I feel I must, I shall, decline,

   And prove like them at last.

Do not take me away with the wicked.”

4. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them according to the work of their hands; render to them what they deserve.

And a just mind feels that such ought to be the case. God is a judge, and he will punish sin, and gracious men do not wish that it should be otherwise. Even to that terrible side of God’s character, which is seen in his vengeance on the ungodly, the Christian turns the loving eye. He is not reconciled to half a God, or to a God with half the attributes of God, namely, love and tenderness; but he loves God as he finds him. He loves that God who is a consuming fire. I should be afraid if I could not love God under any aspect in which he is presented to me, because just as I should feel that I did not love a man truly if I said, “In such a character I cannot endure him,” I should feel that there was some difference between him and me. We must love God in every character—on the throne of justice, as well as on the seat of love.

5, 6. Because they do not regard the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. Blessed be the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplications.

Can you say this? Excuse me asking the question again and again to all now present, for it is a very vital question. If you never knew what answered prayer means, may God help you to begin to pray, “Blessed be the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplications.”