483. Life And Walk Of Faith

A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, December 7, 1862, By Pastor C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

Therefore just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. (Col 2:6)

1. Our nature is fond of change. Although man was made in the image of God at first, it is plain enough that any trace of immutability which he may once have possessed has long ago departed. Man, unrenewed, if he could possess the joys of heaven, would in time grow weary of them, and crave for change. When the children of Israel in the wilderness were fed on angels’ food, they murmured for variety, and groaned out, “Our soul loathes this light bread.” It is little wonder, then, that we need cautions against shifting the ground of our hope and the object of our faith. Another evil principle will co-work with this love for change in our hearts, and produce much mischief — our natural tendency to build upon our own works. For a time that pernicious habit is cured by conviction of sin. The law, with its sharp axe, cuts down the lofty cedar of fleshly confidence, and withers all its verdure; but, since the root still remains, at the very scent of water it sprouts again, and there is good need to set the axe going with all its former edge and weight. When we think legality to be quite dead, it revives, and, linking hands with our love of change, it tempts us to forsake our simple standing upon Christ, the Rock of Ages, and urges us to advance to something which it dangles before our eyes with imagined colours, and appears to our feeble understandings to be better or more honourable for ourselves. Although this will certainly be again beaten down in a Christian, he will meet with trouble after trouble as soon as he goes astray from his first path, yet again the old secret desire to be something, to do something, to have some little honour for by performing the works of the law, will come in, and we shall have a need to hear the voice of wisdom in our hearts saying to us, “Just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him”; persevere in the same way in which you have begun, and, just as at the first Christ Jesus was the source of your life, the principle of your action, and the joy of your spirit, so let him be the same even until life’s end, the same when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and enter into the joy and the rest which remain for the people of God.

2. In trying to teach this very useful, though simple lesson, I shall, in the plainest possible language, first of all talk a little about the text by way of exposition; then, secondly, by way of advocacy; and then, thirdly, by way of application.

Exposition

3. I. Oh that the gracious Spirit, who alone can lead us into all truth, would aid me while I endeavour to open up this verse BY WAY OF EXPOSITION.

4. In expounding the text, we readily break it up into two parts: here is the life of faith — receiving Christ Jesus the Lord; here is, secondly, the walk of faith — so walk in him.

The Life of Faith

5. 1. The Holy Spirit here reveals to us the life of faith — the way by which you and I are saved, if saved at all. Notice carefully, that it is represented as receiving. Now the word receiving implies the very opposite of anything like merit. Merit is purchasing; merit might be called making by labour, or winning by valour; but receiving is just the accepting of a thing as a gift. The eternal life which God gives his people is in no sense whatever the fruit of their exertions; it is the gift of God. As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of God. The saints are not by nature wells, or streams, they are only cisterns into which the living water flows. They are only like the empty vessel; sovereign mercy puts them under the conduit pipe, and they receive grace upon grace until they are filled to the brim. He who talks about winning salvation by works; he who thinks he can earn it by prayers, by tears, by penance, by mortification of the flesh, or by zealous obedience to the law, makes a mistake; for the very first principle of the divine life is not giving out, but receiving. It is what comes from Christ into me which is my salvation; not what springs out of my own heart, but what comes from the divine Redeemer and changes and renews my nature. It is not what I give out, but what I receive, which must be life to me.

6. The idea of receiving, again, seems to imply in it a sense of realisation, making the matter a reality. One cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive what is substantial. Gold, silver, precious stones — such things we can receive; estates, riches, bread, water, food, clothing — all these are things which are substances to us, and therefore it becomes possible for us to receive them. We do not receive a dream; we do not receive, again I say, a shadow; we do not speak of receiving a spectre; we do not receive a phantom. There is something real in a thing that is received. Well now so it is also in the life of faith; we realise Christ. While we are without faith, Christ is a name to us, a person who may have lived a long while ago, so long that his life is only a history to us now! By an act of faith Christ becomes a real person in the consciousness of our heart, as real to us as our own flesh, and blood, and bones, and we speak of him and think of him as we would of our brother, our father, or our friend. Our faith gives a substance to the history and idea of Christ, puts real solidity into the spirit and name of Christ, and what to the worldly man is only a phantom, a thing to hear about, and talk about, becomes to us a thing to taste, and handle, to lay hold upon, and to receive as real and true. I know, you who are unconverted, that you think all these things are an idle tale; but you who are saved, you who have received Christ, you know that there is substance here, and shadow everywhere else. This has become to you the one grand reality, that God is in Christ reconciling you to himself.

7. But receiving means also a third thing, that is getting a grip of it, grasping it. The thing which I receive becomes my own. I may believe it to be real, but that is not receiving it. I may believe, also, that if I ever do get it — it must be given to me, and that I cannot earn it for myself, but still that is not receiving it. Receiving is the bona fide taking into my hand and appropriating to myself as my own property what is given to me. Now this is what the soul does when it believes on Christ. Christ becomes my Christ; his blood cleanses my sin, and it is cleansed; his righteousness covers me, and I am clothed with it; his Spirit fills me, and I am made to live by him. He becomes to me as much mine as anything that I can call my own; indeed, what I call my own here on earth is not mine; it is only lent to me, and will be taken from me; but Christ is so very much mine, that neither life, nor death, nor things present, nor things to come, shall ever be able to rob me of him. Oh! I hope, dear friends, you have that blessed appropriating faith which says, “Yes, he is not another man’s Christ, he is my Christ,” I hope you can look into his face today and say, “My Beloved, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” I hope you do not talk about these things as I might talk about my lord So-and-So’s park, and admire its beauties, while I myself have no right to one acre of the many thousands within the park fence; but I trust, on the other hand, you can say — “The blessings and promises of the Lord my God are all my own; whatever I read about in the covenant of grace that is good, that is comely, that is desirable, I have heard a voice say in my ears, ‘Lift up now your eyes, and look to the north, and the south, to the east, and the west — all this I have given to you to be your possession for ever and ever by a covenant of salt.’?” (2Ch 13:5) Now put these three things together, and I think you have the idea of receiving Christ. To receive him is to have him as the result of God’s free gift; to realise him; and then to appropriate him to yourselves.

8. The word “receive” is used in ten or a dozen senses in Holy Scripture; five of them will suffice for my purpose just now. To receive is often used for taking. We read of receiving a thousand shekels of silver, and of receiving money, clothing, olive yards, sheep, and oxen. Perhaps in this sense we understand the words of the Master, “No man can receive anything unless it is given to him from above,” other sentence — “To as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God.” We take Christ into us — to return to my old simile — just as the empty vessel takes in water from the stream; so we receive Christ. The love, life, merit, nature, and grace of Jesus freely flow into us, as the oil into the widow’s vessels. But the word is also used in Scripture to signify holding what we take in; indeed, a vessel without a bottom could hardly be said to receive water. I do not suppose anyone would talk of a sieve receiving water except in a mocking sense. But the life of faith consists in holding within us what Christ has put into us, so that Jesus Christ is formed in us the hope of glory. By faith it comes in; by faith it is kept in; faith gives me what I have; keeps what I have; faith makes it mine; faith keeps it mine; faith gets hold of it with one hand, and then clasps it with both hands with a grasp that neither death nor life can loosen. Then, receiving sometimes means in Scripture simply believing. “He came to his own and his own did not receive him.” We read of receiving false prophets, that is, believing them. Now, to receive Christ is to believe him. He says, “I can save you.” — I receive that. He says, “I will save you.” — I receive that. He says, “Trust me and I will make you like myself.” — I receive that. Whatever Jesus says, I believe him, and receive him as true. I make his word so true to myself that I act upon it as being true, and do not regard it as a word that may possibly be true, but which must be true, even if heaven and earth should pass away. This is receiving Christ — believing what he has said. Receiving, also, often means in Scripture entertaining. Thus the barbarous people at Melita received Paul and his companions kindly, and kindled a fire. Ah! after we have once found all in Christ to be our own, and have received him into ourselves by faith, then we entreat the Lord to enter our hearts and sup with us. We give him the best seat at the table of our souls; we wish to feast him on the richest dainties of our choicest love. We ask him to abide with us from morning until evening; we wish to commune with him every day, and every hour of the day. We entertain him; we have a reception room in our hearts, and we receive Christ. And then, once again, receiving in Scripture often means to enjoy. We hear about receiving a crown of life which does not fade away; that is, enjoying it, enjoying heaven, and being satisfied with all its bliss. Now, dear friends, when we receive Christ, there is intended in this an enjoying of it. I am only now speaking about the simplicities of our faith, but I want to make them very personal to you. Are you thus enjoying Christ? If you had a crown you would wear it; you have a Christ — feed on him. If you were hungry and there was bread on the table, you would eat. Oh! eat and drink, beloved, of your Lord Jesus Christ. If you have a friend, you enjoy his company: you have a friend in Christ; Oh! enjoy his communion. Do not leave him, like a bottle of cordial for the fainting, sealed up from us; do not let him be as some choice dainty all untasted, while you are hungry. Oh! receive Christ, for this is the very heaven and rest of the soul. His flesh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed. Never did angels taste such divine fare. Come here saints and satiate yourselves in him. To take him into one’s self, to hold him there, to believe every word he says, to entertain him in our hearts, and to enjoy the luscious sweetness which he must confer upon all those who have eaten his flesh, and have been made to drink of his blood — this it is what it means to receive Christ.

9. But we have not brought out the real meaning of this life of faith yet until we dwell upon another word. As you have received — received what? Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but beloved, beloved, here is a precious thought — oh that you may grasp it! We have not only received these things, but we have received CHRIST. “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord.” Do you catch it? It is true that he gave us life from the dead. He gave us pardon for sin; he gave us imputed righteousness. These are all precious things, but you see we are not content with them; we have received Christ himself. The Son of God has been poured out into us, and we have received him, and appropriated him. Notice, I say, not merely the blessings of the covenant, but himself; not merely the purchase of his blood, but he himself from whose veins the blood has flowed has become ours; and every soul that has eternal life is today a possessor of Christ Jesus the Lord. Now we will ask this, also, personally of you. Have I received Christ, that is the anointed? My soul, have you seen Christ as the anointed of the Father in the divine decree to execute his purposes? Have you seen him coming forth in the fulness of time wearing the robes of his priesthood, the anointed by the Father? Have you seen him standing at the altar offering himself as a victim, an anointed priest, anointed with the sacred oil by which God has made him a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek? My soul, have you seen Jesus going within the veil and speaking to your Father and to his Father as one whom the Father has accepted, of whom we can speak, in the language of David, as our shield and God’s anointed? Oh! it is a delight indeed to receive Christ not as an unsent prophet, not as a man who came by his own authority, not as a teacher who spoke his own word, but as one who is Christos, the anointed, the anointed by God, ordained by the Most High, and therefore most certainly acceptable, as it is written, “I have laid help upon one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. It pleased the Father to bruise him, he has put him to grief.” Delightful is the contemplation of Christ under that aspect! Soul, do you thus receive the Messiah of God? But the text says, “Christ Jesus.” Now Jesus means a Saviour. Christ is his relationship to God, Jesus is his relationship to me. Have I received Christ in his relationship to me as a Saviour? My soul, has Christ saved you? Come, no “ifs” and “ands” about it. Have you received him as your Saviour? Could you say in that happy day when your faith embraced him, “Yes, Jesus, you have saved me!” Oh! there are some professors of religion who do not seem to have received Christ as Jesus. They look upon him as one who may help them to save themselves, who can do a great deal for them, or may begin the work but not complete it. Oh! beloved, we must get a hold of him as one who has saved us, who has finished the work. What, do you not know that you are today whiter than the driven snow because his blood has washed you? You are today more acceptable to God than unfallen angels ever were, for you are clothed in the perfect righteousness of a divine one. Christ has wrapped you up with his own righteousness; you are saved; you have received him as God’s Anointed, see that you receive him as Jesus your Saviour.

10. Then, again, it is clear that saving faith consists also in receiving him as he is in himself, as the divine Son. “You have received Christ Jesus the Lord.” Those who say they cannot believe in his Deity have not received him. Others theoretically admit that he is divine, but he is never a subject of confidence as such; they have not received him. But I trust I speak to many hundreds this morning who willingly accept his Godhead, and say, “I entertain no doubt about his Deity, and, moreover, on that I risk my soul; I do take him into my heart as being God over all, blessed for ever, Amen; I kiss his feet while I see his humanity; but I believe that, since those feet could tread the waters, he is divine. I look up to his hands, and as I see them pierced I know that he is human; but since I know that those hands multiplied the loaves and fishes until they fed five thousand, I know that he is divine. I look upon his corpse in the tomb, and I see that he is man; I see him in the resurrection, and I know that he is God. I see him on the cross, suffering, and I know that he is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; but I hear a voice which says, ‘Let all the angels of God worship him,’ ‘Your throne, oh God, is for ever and ever’; and I bow before him and say, ‘Oh Lord, you Son of God and son of Mary, I receive you as Christ Jesus the Lord.’?”

11. Now this is all very plain talking you will say; and I remind you that souls are saved by very plain truths, and the dealings of men’s souls with Christ are not carried on in learned or metaphysical terms. We do believe, and so take Christ Jesus the Lord into us, and by that act of faith, without any doing of our own, we are completely saved.

12. I shall only make this further remark here, that the apostle speaks of this as a matter of certainty, and goes on to argue from it. Now we do not argue from a supposition. I must have you clear, dearly beloved in the Lord, that this is a matter of certainty to you. We can hardly get to the next point unless you can say, “I have received Jesus.” The verse runs, “As or since you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him.” We must not alter it into, “Since I hope I have,” “Since I trust I have.” You either have or have not; if you have not, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and cry to him for his great gift; but if you have, oh, dear friends, do not let it be a question with you, but say “Yes, yes, yes, I can say, once and for all, I have received him; poor, weak, and worthless though I am, I do put my humble seal to the fact that God is true, and I trust in him who is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him.” This is the life of faith.

The Walk of Faith

13. 2. Now, in expounding the text, our second point was the walk of faith. “Since you have received him, walk in him.” Walk implies, first of all, action. Do not let your reception of Christ be a mere thing of thought to you, a subject only for your bedroom and your prayer closet, but act upon it all. If you have really received Christ, and are saved, act as if you were saved, with joy, with meekness, with confidence, with faith, with boldness. Walk in him; do not sit down in indolence, but rise and act in him. Walk in him; carry out into practical effect what you believe. See a man who has received an immense fortune, his purse is bursting, and his cash box is heavy; what does he do? Why, he behaves like a rich man; he sees a luxury which pleases him, and he buys it; there is an estate he desires, and he purchases it; he acts like a rich man. Beloved brethren, you have received Christ — act upon it. Do not play the beggar now that boundless wealth is conferred upon you. Walking, again, implies perseverance not only being in Christ today, that would be standing in him and falling from him; but being in him tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and the next, and the next; walking in him all your walk of life. I remember Matthew Henry, speaking about Enoch walking with God, he says did not only take a turn or two up and down with God, and then leave him, but he walked with God for three hundred years. This implies perseverance. You have received Christ — persevere in receiving him; you have come to trust him — keep on trusting him; you hang around his neck as a poor, helpless sinner — remain hanging there; in other words abide in him. Walking implies habit. When we speak of a man’s walk and conversation, we mean his habits, the constant tenor of his life. Now, dear friends, if you and I sometimes enjoy Christ, and then forget him; sometimes say he is ours, and immediately loose our hold, that is not a habit; we do not walk in him. But if you have received him, let it be your habit to live upon him; stay with him; cling to him, never let him go, but live and have your being in him. This walking implies a continuance. There is no notice given in the text of the suspension of this walking, but there must be a continual abiding in Christ. How many Christians there are who think that in the morning and evening they ought to come into the company of Christ, and then they may be in the world all the day. Ah! but we ought always to be in Christ, that is to say, all the day long, every minute of the day; although worldly things may take up some of my thoughts, yet my soul is to be in a constant state of being in Christ, so that if I am caught at any moment, I am in him; at any hour if anyone should say to me, “Now, are you saved?” I may be able still to say, “Yes.” And if they ask me for an evidence of it, I may, without saying so, prove it to them by the fact that I am acting like a man who is in Christ, who has Christ in him, has had his nature changed by receiving Christ’s nature, and has Christ to be his one end and aim. I suppose, also, that walking means progress. So walk in him; proceed from grace to grace, run forward until you reach the uttermost limit of knowledge that man can have concerning our Beloved. “As you have received him walk in him.”

14. But now I want you to notice just this; it says, “Walk in him.” Oh! I cannot attempt to enter into the mystery of this text — “Walk in him!” You know if a man has to cross a river, he fords it quickly and is out of it again at once, but you are to suppose a person walking in a certain element always, in Christ. Just as we walk in the air, so am I to walk in Christ; not sometimes, now and then coming to him and going away from him, but walking in him as my element. Can you comprehend that? Not a soul here can make anything out of that except the most silly jargon, unless he is the man who having received the inner spiritual life, understands what it is to have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Dear friends, in trying to open up that point just for a moment, let us notice what this walking in Christ must mean. Just as Christ was at first when we received him the only ground of our faith; so as long as we live, we are to stand on the same point. Did you not sing the other day when you first came to him —

I’m a poor sinner and nothing at all,
But Jesus Christ is my all in all?

Well, that is how you are to continue to the end. We commence our faith with —

Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling.

When you are hoary with honours, when you are covered with fame, when you have served your Master well, still come in just the same way with —

A guilty weak and helpless worm,
 On Christ’s kind arms I fall,
He is my strength and righteousness,
 My Jesus and my all.

15. Do not let your experience, your sanctification, your graces, your attainments, come in between you and Christ, but just as you took him to be the only pillar of your hope at first, so let him be even to the last. You received Christ, again, as the substance of your faith. The infidel laughed at you, and said you had nothing to trust in; but your faith made Christ real to you. Well, now, just as the first day when you came to Jesus you no more doubted the reality of Christ than you did your own existence, so walk in him. Well can I remember that first moment when these eyes looked at Christ! Ah! there was never anything so real to me as those bleeding hands, and that thorn crowned head. I wish it were always so, and indeed it ought to be. As you have truly received Christ, so keep on realising and finding substance in him. And that day, beloved, Christ became to us the joy of our souls. Home, friends, health, wealth, comforts — all lost their lustre that day when he appeared, just as stars are hidden by the light of the sun. He was the only Lord and giver of life’s best bliss, the one well of living water springing up to everlasting life. I know that the first day it did not matter to me whether the day itself was gloomy or bright. I had found Christ; that was enough for me. He was my Saviour; he was my all. I do think that that day I could have stood upon the faggots of Smithfield1 to burn for him readily enough. Well now, just as you received him at first as your only joy, so receive him still, walking in him, making him the source, the centre, indeed, and the circumference too of all your souls’ range of delight, having your all in him. So, beloved, that day when we received him, we received him as the object of our love. Oh! how we loved Christ then! Had we met him that day, we would have broken the alabaster box of precious ointment, and poured it upon his head; we would have washed his feet with our tears, and wiped them with the hairs of our head. Ah! Jesus, when I first received you, I thought I should have behaved far better than I have, I thought I would spend and be spent for you, and should never dishonour you or turn aside from my faith, and devotedness, and zeal; but ah! brethren, we have not come up to the standard of our text — walking in him as we have received him. He has not been so well beloved by us as we dreamed he would have been.

16. I take it then to be the meaning of our text, as Christ Jesus the Lord was at the first All-in-All to you, so let him be while life shall last.

Advocacy

17. II. I shall be very brief upon THE ADVOCACY OF THIS PRINCIPLE, for surely you need no urgent persuasion to cleave to such a Lord as yours.

18. In advocating this principle, I would say, first of all, suppose, my brethren, you and I having been saved by Christ, should now begin to walk in someone else, what then? Why, what dishonour to our Lord. Here is a man who came to Christ and he says he found salvation in him, but after relying upon the Lord some half a dozen years, he came to find it was not a proper principle, and so now he has begun to walk by feelings, to walk by sight, to walk by philosophy, to walk by carnal wisdom. If such a case could be found, what discredit would it bring upon our Holy Leader and Captain. But I am certain no such instance will be found among you, if you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Have you not up until now found your Lord to be a compassionate and generous friend to you, and has not simple faith in him given you all the peace your spirit could desire? I beseech you, then, unless you would stain his glory in the dust, as you have received Christ, so walk in him.

19. Besides, what reason have you to make a change? Has there been any argument in the past? Has Christ not proven himself to be all sufficient? He appeals to you today — “Have I been a wilderness to you?” When your soul has simply trusted Christ, have you ever been confounded? When you have dared to come as a guilty sinner and believed in him, have you ever been ashamed? Very well, then, let the past urge you to walk in him. And as for the present, can that compel you to leave Christ? Oh! when we are hard beset with this world or with the more severe trials within the Church, we find it such a sweet thing to come back and pillow our head upon the bosom of our Saviour. This is the joy we have today, that we are in him, that we are saved in him, and if we find this today to be enough, why should we think of changing? I will not forsake the sunlight until I find something better, nor leave my Lord until a brighter Lover shall appear; and, since this can never be, I will hold him with an immortal grasp, and bind his name as a seal upon my arm. As for the future, can you suggest anything which can arise that shall render it necessary for you to tack about, or strike sail, or go with another captain in another ship? I do not think so. Suppose life to be long — he does not change. Suppose you die; is it not written that “neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” You are poor; what better than to have Christ who can make you rich in faith? Suppose you are sick; what more do you want than Christ to make your bed in your sickness? Suppose you should be maltreated, and mocked at, and slandered for his sake — what better do you want then to have him as a friend who sticks closer than a brother? In life, in death, in judgment, you cannot conceive anything that can arise in which you would require more than Christ bestows.

20. But, dear friends, it may be that you are tempted by something else to change your course for a time. Now what is it? Is it the wisdom of this world, the cunning devices and discoveries of man? Is it what our apostle mentions as philosophy? The wise men of the world have persuaded you to begin questioning; they have urged you to put the mysteries of God to the test of common sense, reason, and so forth, as they call it, and do not lean on the inspiration of God’s Word. Ah! well, beloved, it is wisdom, I suppose, which philosophy offers you. Well, but do you not have that in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? You received Christ at first, I thought, as being made by God to you wisdom, and sanctification, and righteousness, and so on; well, will you cast him off when you have already more than all the wisdom which this philosophy offers?

21. Is it ceremonies that tempt you? Has the priest told you that you ought to attend to these, and then you would have another ground of confidence? Well, but you have that in Christ. If there is anything in the circumcision of the Jews, you have that, for you are circumcised in him. If there is anything, in baptism, as some think that to be a saving ordinance, you have been buried with him in baptism; you have that. Do you want life? Your life is hidden with him. Do you want death? You are dead with Christ, and buried with him. Do you want resurrection? He has raised you up with him. Do you want heaven? He has made you sit together in heavenly places in him. Having Christ, you have all that everything else can offer you; therefore do not be tempted from this hope of your calling, but just as you have received Christ, so walk in him.

22. And then, further, do you not know this? that your Jesus is the Lord from heaven? What can your heart desire beyond God? God is infinite; you cannot want more than the Infinite. “In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Having Christ you have God, and having God you have everything. Well might the apostle add to that sentence, “And you are complete in him!” Well, then, if you are complete in Christ, why should you be beguiled by the bewitcheries of this world to want something besides Christ? If you are resting upon him, God is absolutely yours, and you are, therefore, full to the brim with all that your largest appetite can desire, oh! why should you thus be led astray, like foolish children, to seek after another confidence and another trust? Oh! come back, you wanderer; come back to this solid foundation, and sing once again with us —

On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

Application

23. III. And now, last of all, a few words BY WAY OF APPLICATION.

24. “So walk in him.” One of the first applications shall be made with regard to some who complain of a lack of communion, or rather, of those of whom WE ought to complain, since they harm us all by their distance from Christ. There are some of you who never have much communion with Christ. You are members of the Church, and very decent people, I dare say, in your way; but you do not have communion with Christ. Ask some professors — “Do you ever have communion with Christ?” They would be obliged to say — “Well, I do not know that my life is inconsistent; I do not think anyone could blame me for any wrong act towards my fellowman; but if you come to that, whether I have ever had communion with Christ, I am compelled to say that I have had it now and then, but it is very seldom, it is like the angels’ visits, few and far between.” Now, brethren, you have received Christ, have you not? Then the application of the principle is, just as you have received him, so walk in him. If it were worth while for you to come to him at first, then it is worth while for you always to stay with him. If it were really a safe thing for you to come to him and say, “Jesus, you are the way,” then it is a safe thing for you to do now; and if that was the foundation of blessedness to you, to come simply to Christ, then it will be the fountain of blessedness to you to do the same now. Come, then, to him now. If you were foolish in trusting him at the first, then you are wise in stopping now. If you were wise, however, in approaching to Christ years gone by, you are foolish in not standing by Christ now. Come, then, let the remembrance of your marriage to the Lord Jesus rebuke you; and if you have lost your fellowship with Jesus, come again to his dear body wounded for your sake, and say, “Lord Jesus, help me from this time forth as I have received you, day by day to walk in you.”

25. There are many of you who complain of a lack of comfort. You are not as comfortable as you would like to be, and why? Why you have sinned. Yes, yes, but how did you receive Christ? As a saint? “No, no,” you say, “I came to Christ as a sinner.” Come to him as a sinner now, then. “Oh! but I feel so guilty.” Just so, but what was your hope at first? Why, that though you were guilty, he had made an atonement, and you trusted in him. Well, you are still guilty; do the same as you did at first; walk in him, and I cannot imagine a person without comfort who continually makes this the strain of his life, to rest on Christ as a poor sinner, just as he did at first. Why, Lord, you know the devil often says to me, “You are no saint.” Well then if I am not a saint, then I am a sinner, and it is written “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” Then

Just as I am, and waiting not,
To rid my soul of one foul spot,
To him whose blood can cleanse each blot,
Oh Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Why, you cannot help having comfort if you walk with your Surety and Substitute as you did at the first, resting on him, and not in feelings, nor experience, nor graces, nor anything of your own; living and resting alone on him who is made by God to you all that your soul requires.

26. There is yet another thing. There are many Christians whose lives really are not consistent. I cannot understand this if they are walking in Christ; in fact, if a man could completely walk in Christ he would walk in perfect holiness. We hear an instance, perhaps, of a little shopkeeper who puffs and exaggerates as other shopkeepers do — he does not exactly tell a lie, but something very near to it. Now I want to know whether that man was walking in Christ when he did that. If he had said to himself, “Now I am in Christ,” do you think he would have done it? We hear of another who is constantly impatient, always troubled, fretting, and mournful. I want to know whether that man is really walking in Christ as he walked at first, when he is doubting the goodness, the providence, and the tenderness of God. Surely he is not. I have heard of hard hearted professors who take a Christian brother by the throat with, “Pay me what you owe.” Do you think they are walking in Christ when they do that? We hear of others, when their brothers have need, shut up the heart of their compassion; are mean and stingy; are they walking in Christ when they do that? Why, if a man walks in Christ, then he acts as Christ would act; for Christ being in him, his hope, his love, his joy, his life, he is the reflection of the image of Christ; he is the mirror into which Christ looks; and then the image of Christ is reflected, and men say of that man, “He is like his Master; he lives in Christ.” Oh! I know, dear brethren, if we lived now as we did the first day we came to Christ, we should live very differently from what we do. How we felt towards him that day! We would have given all we had for him! How we felt towards sinners that day! Lad that I was, I wanted to preach, and

Tell to sinners round,
What a dear Saviour I had found.

How we felt towards God that day! When we were on our knees what pleading there was with him, what a nearness of access to him in prayer! Oh! how different; how different with some now! This world has with rude hand brushed the bloom from the young fruit. Is it true that flowers of grace, like the flowers of nature, die in the autumn of our piety? As we all get older, ought we to be more worldly? Should it be that our early love, which was the love of our espousals, dies away? Forgive, oh Lord, this evil, and turn us anew to you.

Return, oh holy Dove! return,
 Sweet messenger of rest!
We hate the sins that made you mourn,
 And drove you from our breast.

The dearest idol we have known,
 Whate’er that idol be,
Help us to tear it from your throne,
 And worship only thee.

So shall our walk be close with God,
 Calm and serene our frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
 That leads us to the Lamb.

“As you have received him walk in him,” and if you have not received him, oh! poor sinner, remember he is free and full, full to give you all you need, and free to give it even to you. Let the verse we sang be an invitation to you:

This fountain, though rich,
 From change is quite clear;
The poorer the wretch,
 The welcomer here:

Come, needy and guilty;
 Come, loathsome and bare;
Though leprous and filthy,
 Come just as you are.

Trust in God’s anointed — that is, receive him — and then, having trusted him, continue still to trust him. May his Spirit enable you to do it, and to his name shall be glory for ever and ever.