Chapter 11: Finishing Strong

Christian Gravity

When we make a profession of our faith in Christ, we are not to drape our faces in gloom, but rather to light our hearts with a purer joy than we ever knew before. And yet we must put away all careless foolishness. "I said of laughter, 'It is madness'" (Ecclesiastes 2:2). I said it, too, in the day of the gladness of my heart. The wild antics of the reckless and the rowdy mirth of the drunkard — these compare nothing with the calm pleasure of our princely expectations. Walk as those who are watching for the coming of the Son of Man, hearing this voice in your ears: "What manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness?" (2 Peter 3:11).

Short-Sightedness

What short-sighted creatures we often are! We think we see the end when we are only viewing the beginning. We get our telescope out sometimes to look at the future, and we breathe on the glass with the hot breath of our anxiety, and then we think we see clouds and darkness ahead. If we are in trouble, we imagine that it must end in our destruction. We think "God has forgotten to be gracious." We believe "He has in anger shut up His compassion."

Oh, this short-sightedness! When you and I ought to believe in God — when we ought to look at the heaven that awaits us and the glory for which these light afflictions are preparing us — when we ought to be looking through the cloud to the eternal sun which never knows an eclipse — when we should be resting on the invisible arm of the immortal God and celebrating His love — we are mourning and distrusting. God forgive us for this, and enable us from now on to look not at our troubles but above them, to Him who, with infinite wisdom and love, is guiding us and has promised to bring us safely through.

Steadfastness

If you had more faith, you would be as happy in the furnace as on the mountaintop of enjoyment. You would be as glad in famine as in plenty. You would rejoice in the Lord when the olive yielded no oil, as well as when the vat was overflowing. If you had more confidence in God, you would have far less tossing up and down; and if you had greater closeness to Christ, you would have less uncertainty. At times you can defy the rage of Satan, boldly meet every attack, and resist every temptation. But too often you are fearful and indecisive, ready to run from the fight instead of standing firm.

If you always remember Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, you could always be firm and steadfast. Live near your Master, and you will not be so changeable and unpredictable. Beware of being like a weathervane. Ask God that His law may be written on your heart as if carved in stone, and not as if written in sand. Ask that His grace may come to you like a river, and not like a stream that dries up. Ask that you may keep your life always holy — that your path may be like the shining light that does not linger but burns brighter and brighter until the fullness of day. Ask that "the God of all grace" may "establish, strengthen, settle you" (1 Peter 5:10).

Be Not Overconfident, but Watchful

While we most earnestly seek the full assurance of faith, knowing it is our strength and our joy, let us at the same time remember that there is a temptation connected with it. When you have gained this full assurance, believer, then be on your guard, for the next temptation will be: "Soul, take your ease. The work is done. You have arrived. Now fold your arms, sit still — all will end well. Why worry yourself?"

Take care in those seasons when you have no doubts. "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation" (Matthew 26:41). "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). "I said, 'I shall never be moved.' LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong" — and what next? "You hid Your face, and I was troubled" (Psalm 30:6–7). Bless God for full assurance, but remember: nothing but careful living can preserve it. Full assurance is a priceless pearl, but when a person has a precious jewel and walks the streets, he ought to be very wary of thieves. So when the Christian has full assurance, let him be sure that Satan will try to rob him of it. Let him be more careful in his conduct and more watchful in his guard than he was before.

Evidence of the New Life

"If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious" — it is certain evidence of a divine change, for people by nature find no delight in Jesus. I do not ask what your experience may or may not have been. If Christ is precious to you, there has been a work of grace in your heart. If you love Him, if His presence is your joy, if His blood is your hope, if His glory is your goal, and if His person is the constant love of your soul, you could not have acquired this taste by nature, for you were dead. You could not have learned this by study, for this is a miracle that only the God who rules over nature could have worked in you. Let every tried and troubled Christian who nevertheless does taste that the Lord is good take comfort from this. "The upright love You" (Song of Solomon 1:4).

A Few Names Even in Sardis

"You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments" (Revelation 3:4). Here we have special preservation. Notice it carefully. "You have a few names." Only a few — not so few as some think, but not so many as others imagine. A few compared with the mass of those who claim faith; a few compared even with the true children of God, for many of them have stained their garments. There were only a few, and those few were even in Sardis. There is not a Church on earth so corrupt that it does not have "a few."

Take heart, Christians — there are a few in Sardis. Do not be completely cast down. Some heroes have not turned their backs in the day of battle; some mighty ones still fight for the truth. But be careful, for perhaps you are not one of the "few." Since there are only "a few," there ought to be great searching of heart. Let us examine our garments and see whether they are stained. And since there are only "a few," be active. The fewer the workers to do the job, the greater the reason you should work hard. "Be ready in season and out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2). If we had hundreds behind us, we might say, "Let them do the work." But if we stand with only "a few," how much more should each of those few give their all!

Stir yourselves to the greatest effort, for truly there are only a few in Sardis who have not stained their garments. Above all, be prayerful. Cry out to God that He would multiply the faithful, that He would increase the number of those who stand firm, and that He would purify the Church.

Increase of Strength

The troubles that strike God's plants when they are saplings are quite small compared with those that blow against them when they become like cedars, strongly rooted. As our strength increases, so surely will our sufferings, trials, labors, or temptations multiply. God's power is never given to anyone to be stored away. The food given to strengthen us, like the manna gathered by the Israelites in the wilderness, is intended for immediate use. When the Lord puts on our feet the shoes of iron that He has promised us in the covenant, it is so that we may walk in them — not so that we may put them in a display case and admire them as curiosities. If He gives us a strong hand, it is because we have a strong enemy to fight. If He gives us a great meal, as He did Elijah, it is so that we may travel forty days in the strength of that meal.

The Triumphant Deliverance

When the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt, they took with them all of their possessions, according to the word of the Lord — "not a hoof shall be left behind" (Exodus 10:26). What does this teach us? Not only that all God's people will be saved, but that all which God's people ever had will be restored. Everything that Jacob ever took down to Egypt will be brought out again.

Have I lost a perfect righteousness in Adam? I will have a perfect righteousness in Christ. Have I lost happiness on earth in Adam? God will give me much happiness here below in Christ. Have I lost heaven in Adam? I will have heaven in Christ — for Christ came not only to seek and save the people who were lost, but that which was lost: all the inheritance as well as the people, all their property. Not the sheep merely, but the good pasture the sheep had lost. Not only the prodigal son, but all the prodigal son's estate. Everything was brought out of Egypt; not even Joseph's bones were left behind.

And when Christ has conquered all things for Himself, the Christian will not have lost one atom by the hardships of Egypt, but will be able to say, "O Death, where is your sting? O Grave, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). O Hell, where is your triumph? You do not have a single flag or banner to show of your victory. There is not a helmet left on the battlefield. There is not a single trophy you can raise up in scorn of Christ. He has not only delivered His people, but they have gone out with flying colors. Stand and admire and love the Lord, who delivers all His people in this way.

A Complete Savior

It would be inconsistent with the character of Him "by whom are all things" (Hebrews 2:10) if He had sent an incomplete Savior — that is, if He had left us to do part ourselves and for Christ to do the rest. Look at the sun. God made the sun to light the earth: does He ask the earth's darkness to contribute to the brightness? Does He consult the night, asking whether its dark shades have something to add to the light of noon? No — up rises the sun in the morning, like a giant to run his race, and the earth is made bright.

And shall God turn to the dark sinner and ask whether there is anything in him that might contribute to eternal light? No — Jesus rises as the Sun of Righteousness with healing under His wings, and darkness, at His coming, becomes light. He alone is "the light of the world." His own arm brought salvation. He asks no help from anyone, but gives all and does all of His own rich grace, and is a complete and perfect Savior.

Home-Mercies

When we realize that all our daily blessings come to us as the gifts of our Father in heaven, it makes them doubly precious. There is nothing that tastes as sweet to a boarding-school student as what comes from home. So with the Christian. All his blessings are sweeter because they are home-mercies — they come "from above." The land he lives in is not like the land of Egypt, fed by a river, but it "drinks water from the rain of heaven" (Deuteronomy 11:11).

Happy is the person who receives everything as coming from God and thanks his Father for it all! This thought makes anything sweet, when he knows it comes from heaven. This thought also keeps us from an excessive love of the world. The spies went to Eshcol and brought back an enormous cluster of grapes from there, but the people did not say, "The fruit we received from the promised land makes us content to stay in the wilderness." No — they saw that the grapes came from Canaan, and they said, "Let us go on and possess the land." And so, when we receive rich blessings, if we think they come only from the natural soil of this earth, we might well wish to stay here. But if we know they come from a heavenly source, we are naturally eager to go where our dear Lord keeps His vineyard and all the clusters grow.

Christian, rejoice in the thought that all you have comes from above. Your daily bread comes not so much from your hard work as from your heavenly Father's care. You see stamped on every blessing heaven's own mark, and every gift comes down to you perfumed with the fragrance of the heavenly palaces, from which God distributes His bounties.

Grace Abounds Much More

There has never been a time in this world's history when it was completely given over to sin. God has always had His servants on earth. At times they may have been hidden by fifties in caves, but they have never been utterly cut off. Grace may be low — the stream might be very shallow — but it has never been completely dry. The clouds have never been so universal as to hide the day.

But the time is fast approaching when grace will extend all over our world, and "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). "Grace abounds much more" (Romans 5:20), and whatever the world has lost through sin, it has gained far more through grace. It is true we have been expelled from a garden of delights where peace, love, and happiness found a glorious home, but through Jesus we have a fairer inheritance. The plains of heaven exceed the fields of paradise in the ever-new delights they offer, while the tree of life and the river from the throne make the citizens of the heavenly realm more than restored to paradise.

It is true that we have become subject to death through sin, yet has not grace revealed an immortality for the sake of which we are glad to die? Life lost in Adam is more than restored in Christ. Our original robes were torn apart by Adam, but Jesus has clothed us with a divine righteousness far exceeding in value even the spotless robes of created innocence. We mourn our low and miserable condition through sin, but we rejoice at the thought that we are now more secure than before we fell — brought into closer union with Jesus than our original standing could ever have achieved. O Jesus! You have won us an inheritance wider than Adam ever lost. You have filled our treasury with greater riches than our sin has ever wasted. You have loaded us with honors and given us privileges far more excellent than our natural birthright could have secured. Truly, truly, "grace abounds much more."

Unsubmissive Prayers

When we look at our prayers, we have much reason to regret the unsubmissive spirit that too often fills them. How often in our prayers have we not simply wrestled with God for a blessing — for that was acceptable — but we have stubbornly demanded it! We have not said, "Deny this to me, O my God, if it pleases You." We have not been ready to say, as the Redeemer did, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39). Instead, we have asked according to the blind impulse of our ignorance, as if we could tolerate no refusal from the all-knowing counsel of His will.

Forgetting a humble deference to our Lord's superior wisdom and grace, we have asked and declared that we would not be satisfied unless we received that particular thing our hearts were set on. Now, whenever we come to God and ask for anything we consider a genuine good, we have a right to plead earnestly. But we go wrong when we pass beyond earnestness and come to demand. It is ours to ask for a blessing, but not to dictate what the blessing should be. It is ours to place our head beneath the mighty hands of divine blessing, but it is not ours to rearrange those hands and say, "Not that way."

We must be content if He gives the blessing in an unexpected form — as content with His left hand on our head as His right. We must not intrude into God's storeroom, saying, "It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him" (1 Samuel 3:18). Prayer was never meant to be a chain on the sovereignty of God. We must always add at the bottom of every prayer this heavenly postscript: "Father, deny this if it would bring You more glory." Christ will have nothing to do with dictatorial prayers.

More Than Conquerors

The Christian is to be a conqueror at last. Do you think we are forever to be the slaves of sin, longing for freedom yet never able to escape its chains? No! Soon the chains that bind me will be broken, the doors of my prison will be opened, and I will rise to the glorious city, the home of holiness, where I will be entirely free from sin.

We who love the Lord are not destined to stay in this troubled land forever. The dust may soil our robes now, but the day is coming when we will rise and shake ourselves free from the dust and put on our beautiful garments. It is true we are now like Israel in Canaan — a land full of enemies. But the enemies shall and must be driven out, and the whole land from end to end will be the Lord's.

Christians, rejoice! You are soon to be perfect — soon to be free from sin, without one wrong desire, one evil inclination. You are soon to be as pure as the angels in light. No — more than that — with your Master's garments on, you are to be "holy as the Holy One." Can you imagine that? Is it not the very essence of heaven, the height of joy, the greatest song on the hilltops of glory — that you are to be perfect? No temptation will reach you, and even if it could, there will be nothing in you to feed it. It would be like a spark falling on the ocean — your holiness would quench it in a moment. Yes, washed in the blood of Jesus, you are soon to walk the golden streets, white-robed and pure-hearted too. Rejoice in the coming reality, and let it strengthen you for the present fight.

Christian Gladness

David was as famous for the joyfulness and gladness of his heart as he was for his godliness. Worldly people often think that focusing on divine things tends to depress the spirits. There is no greater mistake. No one is so happy that he would not be happier still with the grace of God in his heart. The person who has a full measure of earthly pleasure would not lose any of his happiness by having faith — rather, that joy would add sweetness to all his prosperity, strain off many of the bitter dregs from his cup, and show him how to extract more honey from the honeycomb.

Godliness can make the most melancholy joyful, while it can make the joyous ones more joyful still — lighting up the face with a heavenly gladness and making the eyes sparkle with tenfold more brilliance. However happy the worldly person may be, he will find that there is sweeter refreshment than he has ever tasted before, if he comes to the fountain of atoning mercy — if he knows that his name is recorded in the book of everlasting life. Everyday blessings will then have the charm of redemption to enhance them. They will no longer be shadowy visions that dance for a passing hour in the sunlight. While goodness and mercy follow him all the days of his life, he will be able to stretch forth his grateful anticipation to the future, when he will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, and say with the Psalmist, "You have made me most blessed forever; You have made me exceedingly glad with Your presence" (Psalm 21:6).

The Condescension of Christ

When the Savior appeared among people, it was not as one lifted up from the ranks to gain position for Himself, but as one who descended from the heavens to bring blessings to the people. The uneducated and the ordinary find in Him their best friend. He is no stern lawgiver who, wrapped up in His own righteousness, looks upon the lawbreaker with the eye of justice. Neither is He simply the bold announcer of penalty and punishment, nor the merciless denouncer of crime and wickedness. He is the gentle lover of our souls — the good Shepherd coming out, not so much to kill the wolf, as to save the sheep.

As the nurse tenderly watches over her child, so He watches for the souls of people. And as a father has compassion on his children, so Jesus has compassion on poor sinners. It is not so much drawing sinners up to Him as coming down to them. Not standing on the mountaintop and telling them to climb, but coming down from the mountain and walking among them. Coming down from the high pastures after His sheep in the valleys and the ravines, so that He may take hold of them, lift them on His mighty shoulders, and carry them up to the place where He will keep them in purity, bless them with all grace, and preserve them for future glory.

All of Grace

God's people, after they are called by grace, are preserved in Christ Jesus. They are "kept by the power of God through faith for salvation" (1 Peter 1:5). They are not permitted to sin away their eternal inheritance. As temptations arise, they are given strength to face them; and as sin stains them, they are washed afresh and cleansed again. But notice: the reason God keeps His people is the same as what made them His people in the first place — His own free, sovereign grace.

If you have been delivered in the hour of temptation, pause and remember that you were not delivered for your own sake. There was nothing in you that deserved the deliverance. If you have been fed and provided for in your hour of need, it is not because you have been a faithful servant of God or a prayerful Christian. It is simply and only because of God's mercy. He is not motivated to do anything for you by anything you do for Him. His reason for blessing you lies wholly and entirely in the depths of His own heart.

Blessed be God — His people will be kept. But why? Because they are holy? Because they are sanctified? Because they serve God with good works? No — but because He, in His sovereign grace, has loved them, does love them, and will love them to the end. Thus, salvation from first to last is all of grace. Then how humble a Christian ought to be! We have nothing whatever to do with our salvation; God has done it all. It is mercy undeserved which we have received. It is His boundless, fathomless love which has led Him to save us; and it is the same love and mercy which upholds us now. To Him be glory!

This Man Receives Sinners

"This Man receives sinners" (Luke 15:2). Poor, sin-sick sinner, what a sweet word this is for you! Respond to it and say, "Surely, then, He will not reject me." Let me encourage you to come to my Master, that you might receive His great atonement and be clothed with all His righteousness.

Those I address are the genuine, real, actual sinners — not those who only say they are sinners with a vague confession, but those who feel their lost, ruined, hopeless condition. All these are freely and frankly invited to come to Jesus Christ and be saved by Him.

Come, poor sinner, come. Come, because He has said He will receive you. I know your fears. I know you say in your heart, "He will reject me. If I pray, He will not hear me. I have been so great a sinner that He will never take me into His house." Poor sinner! Do not say so. He has published the decree. Is this not enough? He has said, "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out" (John 6:37). Will you not trust that promise? Would you not set sail in a ship as strong as this? He has said it. It has often been the only comfort of the saints; on this they have lived, on this they have died. He has said it.

What — do you think Christ would tell you He will receive you and then not do it? Would He say, "Come to the supper" and then shut the door on you? No. If He has said He will cast out no one who comes to Him, rest assured — He cannot, He will not cast you out. Come, then. Test His love on this ground: that He has said it. Come, and do not be afraid, because remember — if you feel yourself to be a sinner, that feeling is God's gift. Therefore you may safely come to One who has already done so much to draw you. If you feel your need of a Savior, Christ gave you that feeling. If you have a wish to come to Christ, Christ gave you that wish. If you have any desire for God, God gave you that desire. If you can sigh for Christ, Christ made you sigh. If you can weep for Christ, Christ made you weep. Yes — if you can only wish for Him with the strong wish of one who fears he can never find Him, yet hopes he may — if you can even just hope for Him, He has given you that hope.

Will you not come to Him? You have some of the King's gifts about you now. Come and plead what He has done. There is no case that can ever fail with God when you plead this. Come to Him, and you will find it is true what is written: "This Man receives sinners."

Greatly Rejoicing

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials" (1 Peter 1:6). And can a Christian "greatly rejoice" while he is "grieved"? Yes, most certainly he can. Sailors tell us that there are some parts of the sea where there is a strong current on the surface going one way, while down in the depths there is a strong current running the other way. The two do not interfere with each other — one stream of water on the surface flows in one direction, and another below in the opposite direction.

Now, the Christian is like that. On the surface there is a stream of heaviness rolling in dark waves, but down in the depths there is a strong undercurrent of great rejoicing always flowing there.

Do you ask what causes this great rejoicing? The apostle tells us. He is writing "to the strangers scattered throughout" the world. And the first thing he says to them is that they are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God" (1 Peter 1:2). This is something in which you may greatly rejoice. Even when the Christian is most "in heaviness through various trials," what a mercy it is that he can know he is still chosen by God! Anyone who is assured that God "has chosen him from before the foundation of the world" may well say, "In this I greatly rejoice."

Let us reflect on this. Before God made the heavens and the earth, or set the pillars of the sky in their golden foundations, He set His love upon me. On the breastplate of the great High Priest He wrote my name, and in His everlasting book it stands, never to be erased — "elect according to the foreknowledge of God." This may make a person's soul leap within him, and all the heaviness that the weakness of the body may bring shall be as nothing. This tremendous current of overflowing joy will sweep away the dam of his grief. Bursting and leaping over every obstacle, it will flood all his sorrows until they are drowned and covered up and will not be mentioned anymore forever.

Changefulness

How varied is the experience of the believer in the spiritual life! What changes there are in the weather of the soul! What bright, sunlit days! What dark, cloudy nights! What calm, as though life were a sea of glass! What terrible trials, as though life were a stormy ocean! One time we find ourselves crying, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" and soon after we sing, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!" One hour we hear ourselves sighing, "I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold," and then we find ourselves declaring, "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1).

How wondrously we rise to heaven, and how terribly we plunge into the deep! Surely those of us who have known anything of the spiritual and inner life do not marvel at this, for we have felt these changes. What a contrast between the sin that so easily trips us up and the grace that enables us to sit in heavenly places! How different the sorrow of faithless distrust, which breaks us like a harsh east wind, and the joy of holy confidence, which carries us to heaven like a favorable breeze! What changes — walking with God today, and falling into the mire tomorrow; triumphing over sin, death, and hell yesterday, and today led captive by the desires of the flesh and the mind.

Truly, we cannot understand ourselves. A description that would fit us at one time would be completely wrong at another. Our experience is changeable indeed. But oh, what a mercy that Christ does not change! However varied our experience may be, His grace is varied to meet it. He has grace to help us in every time of need, and with infinite and unfailing goodwill supplies us with strength proportioned to our day.

Thoughts of Christ

Jesus! What infinite sweetness in His name! Our impressions on studying Him may be compared to one of those crystals you have seen, which you may pick up and hold one way, and you see one color, and another way, and you see another, and whichever way you turn it, you always see some precious sparkle of light and some new color appearing. Take Jesus for your theme; consider Him; think of His relationship to your own soul, and you will never exhaust that one subject.

Think of His eternal relationship to you, and also of the relationship you have known since He called you by His grace. Think how He has become your brother — how His heart has beaten in sympathy with yours, how He has kissed you with the kisses of His love, and His love has been sweeter to you than wine. Look back on some happy, sunlit moments in your history, where Jesus has whispered, "I am yours," and you have said, "My Beloved is mine."

Think of some choice moments when an angel seemed to stoop from heaven, take you up on his wings, and carry you to sit in heavenly places where Jesus sits, so that you might commune with Him. Or think of some times when you have had what Paul valued so highly — fellowship with Christ in His sufferings — when you felt that you could die for Christ, even as in the rich experience of your baptism you died with Him and rose with Him.

Think of your relationship to Christ that is yet to unfold in heaven. Imagine the hour when you will greet Him on the eternal shore, and the Lord Jesus will welcome you as "more than a conqueror" and place a crown upon your head more glittering than the stars. Take Jesus for your constant theme, and you will every day find fresh thoughts arising from His grace, His beauty, His glory. In Him you have an unfailing subject of delight, an unfading object of attraction, and an unchanging center of love.

A Lesson of Humility

When Jesus sent out His seventy disciples, endowed with miraculous powers, they performed great wonders and naturally were somewhat excited. In their words — "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!" (Luke 10:17) — Jesus noticed their tendency toward pride and self-congratulation. And what was the sacred lesson He taught to prevent them from becoming exalted beyond measure? "Nevertheless," He said, "do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).

The assurance of our place in Christ will tend to keep us humble in the day of our success. It will act as a secret anchor to know that we have something better than these earthly blessings — and therefore we must not set our hearts on the things of earth, but let our hearts be where our greatest treasure is. Better than any medicine for the fever of our pride is this most precious and sacred truth of the covenant — a remembrance of our safety in Christ. This, opened up to us by the Spirit, will be enough to keep us in that happy lowliness which is our true position.

But when at any time we are cast down with multiplied troubles, the very same truth that kept us humble in prosperity will preserve us from despair in adversity. For the apostle Paul was surrounded by a great fight of affliction, and yet he could say, "Nevertheless I am not ashamed." But what preserved him from sinking? The same truth that kept the ancient disciples from excessive pride. It was the sweet certainty of his place in Christ: "For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day" (2 Timothy 1:12). Then let us earnestly seek to obtain this full assurance of faith, for it will help us in every situation. Let us not rest content until we can say with Paul, "I know whom I have believed."

Promises and Precepts

If you want the promises fulfilled for you, make sure you comply with the command attached to the promise. Follow the example of Moses. Moses knew there was a promise given to the people of Israel, that they should be the world's blessing. But to obtain it, he had to practice self-denial, and therefore he "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin" (Hebrews 11:24–25). If the promise calls you to deny yourself, you cannot receive it without doing so. Obey, and you will have its fulfillment.

Does the promise require courage? Be courageous. Does the promise require obedience? Be obedient. Remember how Rahab hung out from her window the scarlet cord, because that was the test of her faith. So do the same. Whatever Christ has told you, do it. Neglect no command, however small it may seem. Do what your Master tells you, asking no questions, for a poor servant is the one who questions his lord's command.

Without a doubt, you too, like the Ethiopian official, will go on your way rejoicing when you have been obedient (Acts 8:39). Or is the promise made to those who bear "a good report" of the land? Remember, Caleb and Joshua were the only two who obtained the promise, because they alone honored God. So honor God. Let a scoffing world hear your unwavering testimony that your God is good and true. Let not your complaints and grumbling make people suspect that you have a hard master, and that His servants have no joys, no comforts, no delights. Let it be known that He whom you serve is no harsh taskmaster — His yoke is easy, His service a pleasure, His reward beyond description. "Those who honor Me I will honor" (1 Samuel 2:30). Be careful to obey the commands, and God will fulfill the promises for you.

Sweetness in Sorrow

Do you not feel, looking back on seasons of affliction, that they have been times when — despite the trials — you have had unusual peace and happiness in your heart? There is a sweet joy that comes to us through sorrow. The bitter wine of sorrow acts like a tonic on the whole system. The sweet cup of prosperity often leaves a bitterness in the taste, but the bitter cup of affliction, when sanctified, always leaves a sweet flavor in the mouth.

There is joy in sorrow. There is music in this harp with its strings all loosened and broken. There are notes we hear from this mournful instrument that we never get from the loud-sounding trumpet. We find a softness and melody in the wail of sorrow that we never get from the song of joy.

Must we not explain this by the fact that in our troubles we live nearer to God? Our joy is like the wave as it crashes upon the shore — it throws us onto the earth. But our sorrows are like that receding wave which draws us back into the great depth of God. We would have been stranded and left high and dry upon the shore if it had not been for that retreating wave — that ebbing of our prosperity — which carried us back to our Father and to our God again.

Blessed affliction! It has brought us to the mercy seat, given life to prayer, kindled love, strengthened faith, brought Christ into the furnace with us, and then brought us out of the furnace to live with Christ more joyfully than before.

Little-Faith

One problem with "little faith" is that while it is always sure of heaven, it very seldom thinks so. Little-faith is just as safe for heaven as Great-faith. When Jesus Christ counts up His jewels on the last day, He will take the small pearls as well as the great ones. If a diamond is ever so small, it is still precious because it is a diamond. So faith, however little, if it is genuine faith, is "like precious" with that which the apostles themselves obtained. Christ will never lose even the smallest jewel of His crown.

Little-faith is always safe for heaven because the name of Little-faith is in the book of eternal life. Little-faith was chosen by God before the foundation of the world. Little-faith was bought with the blood of Christ — and he cost exactly the same as Great-faith. "For every man a shekel" was the price of redemption. Everyone, whether great or small, prince or peasant, was redeemed with the same most precious blood. Little-faith is always secure because God has begun the work in him and He will carry it on. God loves him and will love him to the end. God has prepared a crown for him and will not let the crown hang there unused. He has built for him a mansion in heaven and will not let the mansion stand empty forever.

Little-faith is always safe — but he very seldom knows it. If you meet him, he is sometimes afraid of hell, and very often afraid that the wrath of God remains on him. He will tell you that the country on the other side of the river can never belong to someone as unworthy as himself. Sometimes it is because he feels so undeserving; another time it is because the things of God are too good to be true, he says — or he cannot believe they can be true for someone like him. Sometimes he is afraid he is not chosen; another time he fears he has not been called the right way, or that he has not come to Christ the right way. Then his fears turn to whether he will hold on to the end, whether he can persevere. And if you kill a thousand of his fears, he is sure to have a new army of them by tomorrow, for unbelief is one of those things you cannot destroy. You may kill it over and over, but it still lives. It is one of those stubborn weeds that sleep in the soil even after it has been burned, and it only needs a little encouragement, or a little neglect, and it will sprout up again.

Now, Great-faith is sure of heaven and knows it. He climbs the mountain and surveys the landscape ahead. He tastes the sweetness of paradise before he enters within the pearly gates. He sees the streets paved with gold. He hears the heavenly music of the glorified and begins to catch on earth the perfumes of heaven. But poor Little-faith can scarcely look at the sun. He very seldom sees the light. He gropes in the valley, and while all is safe, he always thinks himself unsafe.

To Be with Christ

"To be with Christ." Who can understand this but the Christian? It is a heaven that worldly people do not care about. They do not know what a wealth of glory is packed into that one sentence: "To be with Christ." But to the believer, the words are a concentration of happiness.

Take only one of the many precious thoughts these words suggest — the sight of Christ. "Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty" (Isaiah 33:17). We have heard of Him, and can say, "Whom having not seen you love" (1 Peter 1:8). But then we "shall see Him." Yes, we shall actually gaze upon the exalted Redeemer. Let the thought become real to you. You will see the hands that were nailed to the cross for you. You will see the thorn-crowned head. And with all the blood-washed multitude, you will bow with humble reverence before Him, who bowed in humble suffering for you.

Faith is precious, but what must sight be? To see Jesus as the Lamb of God through the lens of faith makes the soul rejoice with joy unspeakable. But oh, to see Him face to face — to look into those eyes, to hear that voice — joy begins at the very mention of it! If even thinking about it is so sweet, what must the reality be, when we shall talk with Him "as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11)? For the vision of Christ means communion. All that the bride desired in the Song of Solomon, we will have, and ten thousand times more.

Then the prayer will be fulfilled: "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth, for Your love is better than wine" (Song of Solomon 1:2). Then we shall experience the promise: "They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy" (Revelation 3:4). And then we will pour out the song of gratitude — a song such as we have never sung on earth — tuneful, sweet, pure, full of calm and joy, with no discord to spoil its melody. A song of pure worship. Happy day, when vision and communion will be ours in fullness — when we shall know even as we are known!