Chapter 10: Endurance and Surrender

Rejoice Always

Whenever a Christian gives in to a mournful, despairing spirit under his trials — when he does not seek grace from God to battle bravely and cheerfully with trouble, when he does not ask his heavenly Father for the strength and comfort to enable him to rejoice in the Lord at all times — he dishonors the high, mighty, and noble principles of Christianity, which are designed to lift a person up and make him happy even in times of the deepest affliction. It is the boast of the gospel that it lifts the heart above trouble. It is one of the glories of our faith that it enables us to say, "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food — yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17–18).

Religion a Present Concern

Religion must be a thing of the present, because the present has such intimate connections with the future. We are told in Scripture that this life is a seedtime and the future is the harvest: "He who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life" (Galatians 6:8). As the seed produces the plant, so does this present life generate the eternal future. Heaven and hell are, after all, only the developments of our present character, for is it not written, "He who is holy, let him be holy still; he who is unjust, let him be unjust still" (Revelation 22:11)?

Do we not know that in the heart of every sin, condemnation lies sleeping? Is it not a fearful truth that the seed of everlasting torment sleeps in every corrupt desire, every unholy thought, every impure act — so that hell is only the eruption of lava that had been lying so quiet that, while the mountain was covered with green growth to its very summit, death comes and bids the lava rise? Yet it was there all along, for sin is hell, and rebellion against God is the prelude of misery.

So it is with heaven. I know that heaven is a reward — not of debt but of grace. But still the Christian has something within him that gives him a foretaste of heaven. What did Christ say? "I give My sheep eternal life." He did not say "I will give," but "I do give" (John 10:28). "He who believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment" (John 5:24). The Christian has within him the seedbeds of a paradise. In due time the light sown for the righteous, and the gladness sown for the upright in heart, will spring up, and they will reap the harvest.

Is it not plain, then, that faith is something we must have here? Is it not clearly revealed that religion matters for the present? For if this life is the seedtime of the future, how can I expect to harvest in another world anything other than what I have been sowing here? How can I trust that I will be saved then, unless I am saved now? How can I hope that heaven will be my eternal inheritance, unless the first fruits have already begun in my own soul on earth?

Trouble Lightened

I am persuaded that if we looked more to Jesus, our troubles would appear neither so great nor so painful. In the darkest night of trial, looking to Christ will clear the black sky. When the darkness seems thick enough to touch, even then — like a brilliant flash of lightning, as vivid but not as brief — a look to Jesus will prove to be all the light we need. One glimpse of Him may well be enough for all our labor while on the road. Looking to Him will brighten the dreariest way. Encouraged by His voice, strengthened by His power, we are prepared to do and to suffer, even as He did, to the end. Weary and troubled Christians, "look to Him and be radiant!" (Psalm 34:5).

The Gospel Requirement

The gospel is not a plan of giving to God, but of receiving from God. It is taking of His fullness, drinking from His "wells of salvation," receiving from His storehouse. Sinner, remember — all that God asks of you in order to be saved is that you would be a receiver, and even this He gives you: the power to receive. He does not ask you to do anything but hold out your empty hand and take all you need. He does not tell you to fill your barns and become rich, but He tells you to simply confess your poverty and open the doors of your empty rooms, so that He may pour out a blessing so great you will scarcely find room to contain it.

Have you learned this truth? Have you come to live as a receiver from the hand of God? Have you stood at mercy's gate, humbly seeking salvation? For if you have not — if you have never yet been willing to take the riches of grace from God instead of offering Him your own worthless efforts — if you are not willing to be a recipient of His free goodness — you are a total stranger to everything like the gospel of Christ.

You Are Not Your Own

If you are a child of God, you belong wholly and entirely to Christ. Yet are there not many who seem to imagine that if they save a corner in their souls for their religion, all will be well? Satan may march across the wide fields of their judgment and understanding, and he may reign over their thoughts and imaginations — but if in some quiet corner the appearance of religion is preserved, all will be fine.

Do not be deceived in this. Christ never went halves with anyone. He will have all of you, or He will have none of you. He will be the supreme Lord, the absolute Master, the undisputed Monarch — or else He will have nothing to do with you. You may serve Satan if you choose, but when you serve him, you will not serve Christ too. If you are not completely given over to God — if in the purpose of your soul every thought, wish, ability, talent, and possession is not devoted and consecrated to Christ — you have no reason to believe that you have been redeemed by His precious blood. In His people, whom He has purchased for His own, He will reign without a rival. Christ will not be part-owner of anyone.

Continue in Prayer

Be much in prayer. God's plants grow faster in the warm atmosphere of the prayer room — it is a greenhouse for spiritual growth. Whoever would grow strong must often kneel at the throne of grace. Of all training for spiritual battles, knee practice is the most healthy and strengthening.

The Holy Savior

There is an expression the apostle Paul uses about the Lord Jesus that is very beautiful and significant — He "knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). It does not merely say He did none, but He knew none. Sin was no acquaintance of His. He was acquainted with grief, but no acquaintance of sin. He had to walk through its most crowded haunts, but He did not know it. Not that He was ignorant of its nature or unaware of its penalty, but He did not know it — He was a stranger to it. He never by word, by gesture, or by look gave it the slightest recognition.

Of course He knew what sin was, for He was very God. But with sin He had no communion, no fellowship, no partnership. He was a perfect stranger in the presence of sin — a foreigner, not a citizen of that land where sin is accepted. He passed through the wilderness of suffering, but into the wilderness of sin He could never go. "He knew no sin" — mark that expression and treasure it up. And when you are thinking of your Substitute, and you see Him bleeding upon the cross, think that you see written in those lines of blood, "He knew no sin." Mingled with the redness of His blood — that Rose of Sharon — behold the purity of His nature — the Lily of the Valley — "He knew no sin."

Christ Our Example

Remember the blessed example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This surely will teach you not to live for yourself! "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9). His heart is made of tenderness; His innermost being melts with love. In all our afflictions He is afflicted. Since the day He became flesh of our flesh, He has never hidden Himself from our sufferings. Our glorious Head is moved with all the sorrows that distress His members. Crowned though He now is, He has not forgotten the thorns He once wore. Amid the splendors of His royal state in paradise, He is not unmindful of His children here below. Still He is persecuted when Saul persecutes the saints. Still His people are the apple of His eye and very near His heart.

If you can find in Christ a grain of selfishness, consecrate yourselves to your own pleasures and let money be your god. If you can find in Christ a single atom of hardness of heart and coldness of spirit, then justify yourselves, you whose hearts are as stone to the cries of the hurting. But if you claim to be followers of the Man of Nazareth, be full of compassion. He fed the hungry, lest they faint along the way. He bound up the brokenhearted and healed all their wounds. He heard the cry of the needy and rose to their help. If you are His disciples, go and do likewise.

God's Government

There are still people foolish enough to believe that events happen by chance, without divine direction, and that disasters occur without the overruling hand or the direct involvement of God. How terrible for us if chance had anything to do with the events of our life! We would be like poor sailors put out to sea in an unsafe vessel, without a chart and without a helm. We would know nothing of the port we might ultimately reach; we would only feel that we were the sport of the winds, the captives of the storm, and might soon be victims of the all-devouring deep. What poor orphans we would all be if we depended for food and clothing, for present comfort and future security, on nothing but chance! No father's care to watch over us — left to the unreliability and weakness of mortal things!

What would all that we see around us be, but a great sandstorm in the middle of a desert, blinding our eyes, preventing us from ever hoping to see the end through the darkness of the beginning? We would be pilgrims in a pathless waste, where there were no roads to direct us — travelers who might be overturned and overwhelmed at any moment.

Thank God, it is not so with us. We believe that everything which happens to us is ordered by the wise and tender will of Him who is our Father and our Friend. We see order in the middle of confusion. We see purposes accomplished where others see nothing but emptiness and randomness. We believe that "The LORD has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet" (Nahum 1:3).

The Secret of Strength

Are you proud, believer, because you have been useful to the Church and done some small service in your generation? Who makes you different, and what do you have that you did not receive? Have you shed a little light on the darkness? Who lit your candle — and who keeps you still burning, and prevents you from going out? Have you overcome temptation? Do not raise your banner; do not decorate your own chest with the glory. Who made you strong in the battle? Who sharpened your sword and strengthened your arm to strike the enemy?

Remember — you have done nothing at all by yourself. If you are today a vessel of honor, decorated and refined — if now you are a precious container filled with the sweetest perfume — you did not make yourself so. You are the clay, but who is the potter? If you are a vessel of honor, you are not a vessel to your own honor, but to the honor of Him who made you. If you stand among your fellow believers as the angels stand above the fallen spirits — a chosen one, set apart from the rest — remember, it was not any goodness in yourself that caused you to be chosen, nor any of your own efforts or power that lifted you out of the miry pit, set your feet on the rock, and made your steps secure.

Take the crown off your proud head, and lay down your honors at the feet of Him who gave them to you. With cherubim and seraphim, cover your face and cry, "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory" (Psalm 115:1).

And when you are bowed down with humility, be prepared to learn this other lesson — never depend on yourself again. If you have anything to do, do not go out to do it leaning on human strength. First bend your knee and ask power from Him who makes you strong, and then you will return from your work rejoicing. But if you go in your own strength, you will break your plow on the rocks. You will sow your seed beside the salt sea upon barren sand, and you will look at the empty fields in years to come, and they will not produce so much as a single blade to gladden your heart. "Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength" (Isaiah 26:4). That strength is not available to you so long as you rely on any strength of your own. He will help you if you confess your weakness, but if you are strong in yourself, He will take away His own power from you, and you will stumble and fall. Learn, then, the grace of depending daily on God, and you will be clothed with appropriate humility.

Nature and Grace

You will never see God in nature until you have learned to see God in grace. We have heard a great deal about going up from nature to nature's God — but it is impossible! A person might as well attempt to reach heaven from the top of the Alps. There is still a great gulf between nature and God for the natural mind. You must first see God made flesh in the person of Christ before you will see God all-powerful in the creation He has made.

You have heard much about people who delight in worshipping in the forest glades and look down on attending church with the saints. But there was little truth in it. There is often great noise where there is much emptiness, and you will frequently find that those who talk most about "natural worship" are those who do not worship God at all. God's works are too blurry a lens to let the light through clearly. The path is rough and the air is thick if we try to reach the Creator by way of the creatures alone.

But when I see Christ, I see God's new and living way between my soul and my God — most clear and pleasant. I come to my God at once, and finding Him in Christ, I find Him everywhere else besides.

Look to Christ

Would you be free from doubts? Would you rejoice in the Lord with faith unmoved and confidence unshaken? Then look to Jesus! I am certain that if we lived more with Jesus, were more like Jesus, and trusted more in Jesus, doubts and fears would be very scarce and rare things.

Love in Chastening

God's people are often disciplined, and the Lord's hand lies heavy on them. Yet there is fatherly goodness in their discipline and infinite lovingkindness in their hardships.

Did you ever hear this parable? There was a shepherd who had a sheep he wanted to lead into another and better pasture. He called it, and it would not come. He led it, and it would not follow. He drove it, but it went its own way. At last he thought, "I will do this." The sheep had a little lamb at its side. The shepherd took the lamb in his arms and carried it away, and then the mother sheep came too.

And so with you. God has been calling you, and you did not come. Christ said, "Come," and you would not. He sent affliction, and you still would not come. At last He took your child away, and you came immediately — you followed the Savior then. You see, it was a loving act on the shepherd's part. He only took the lamb to save the sheep, and the Savior only took your child to heaven so that He might bring you there as well.

Oh, blessed afflictions, blessed losses, blessed deaths, which end in spiritual life! You know that if a person wants to grow a harvest in his field, he first plows it up. The field might complain and say, "Why these scars across my face? Why this rough upturning?" Because there can be no sowing until there has been plowing; sharp plowshares make furrows for good seed. Or take another picture from nature: a person wants to turn a rusty piece of iron into a bright sword for a great warrior. What does he do? He puts it into the fire and melts it. He removes all its impurities. Then he shapes it with his hammer, beating it hard upon the anvil. He tempers it in one fire after another, until at last it comes out a fine blade that will not snap in the day of battle.

This is what God does with you. I beg you, do not misread the book of God's providence, for if you read it rightly it says this: "I will have mercy on this person, and therefore I have struck him and wounded him. As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline" (Revelation 3:19). Come, then — let us return to the Lord, for He has torn but He will heal. He has struck, but He will bind us up.

Enduring the Cross

"For the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2). What was the joy? It is a thought that should melt a rock and move a heart of iron — the joy set before Jesus was principally the joy of saving us. I know it was the joy of fulfilling His Father's will, of sitting down on His Father's throne, of being made complete through suffering. But still, I know that the great, driving motivation of the Savior enduring the cross was the joy of saving us.

Do you know what the joy of doing good for others feels like? If you do not, I pity you, for of all the joys God has left in this poor world, this is one of the sweetest. Do you know it? Have you never felt that divine joy when you gave to the poor and dedicated your resources to the Lord — when you provided for the hungry — and you went away saying, "It is a joy worth living for, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and do good to my poor suffering fellow human beings"?

This is the joy Christ felt: the joy of feeding us with the bread of heaven; the joy of clothing poor, naked sinners in His own righteousness; the joy of finding a home for homeless souls, of delivering us from the prison of hell, and giving us the eternal enjoyments of heaven. See the greatness of His love, which led Him to endure the cross and despise the shame so that He might save sinners. Truly, Christ's love "surpasses knowledge!" (Ephesians 3:19).

Christians! If Christ endured all this for the joy of saving you, will you be ashamed of bearing or suffering anything for Christ? Surely love for Him who has so loved us should make us willing to endure all things for His sake. Do you feel that in following Christ you must lose something — honor, position, wealth? Do you feel that in being a Christian you will face mockery and criticism? Will you turn aside because of these small things, when He would not turn aside, but endured the cross and despised the shame?

No — by the grace of God, let every Christian say: "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). Living, I will be His; dying, I will be His. I will live to His honor and serve Him completely. I will take up my cross and follow Him, rejoicing if I am counted worthy to suffer for His name's sake.