Chapter 5: The Word and the Way

Obedience to God's Will

To the Christian there is no argument so powerful as God's will. God's will is the believer's law. He does not ask what it will profit him, or what good effect it will have on others. He simply says, "Does my Father command it?" And his prayer is, "O Holy Spirit, help me to obey — not because I see how it will be good for me, but simply because You command it." It is the Christian's privilege to do God's commandments, "obeying the voice of His word" (Psalm 103:20).

The Gospel

There is everything in the gospel that you need. Do you need something to sustain you in trouble? It is in the gospel: "As your days, so shall your strength be" (Deuteronomy 33:25). Do you need something to strengthen you for duty? There is grace all-sufficient for everything God calls you to endure or to accomplish. Do you need something to light up the eye of your hope? There are flashes of joy in the gospel that make your eye spark back with the immortal fires of heaven. Do you need something to make you stand firm in the middle of temptation? In the gospel there is what can make you unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

There is no passion, no affection, no thought, no desire, no faculty that the gospel has not filled to the very brim. The gospel was clearly made for humanity: it fits us in every part. There is knowledge for the mind, love for the heart, and guidance for the feet.

Believing Prayer

Prayers are heard in heaven very much in proportion to our faith. Little faith will receive very great mercies, but great faith receives still greater. It was the custom in old times for all the poor in the parish to call at every house with bowls for food, and whatever size the bowl was, every generous person would fill it. Faith is our bowl: if we have only "little faith," we will get that filled. But if we have "great faith," we will have that filled also. Little faith receives much, but great faith is a noble and princely trader, doing business on a grand scale — it gains millions where little faith gains only hundreds. Great faith lays hold of God's treasure.

Warfare against Sin

Christian, never take hold of sin except with armored hands. Never approach it with the velvet glove of friendship. Never speak delicately of it. Always hate it in every form. If it comes to you as a little fox, beware — for it will ruin the vineyard. Whether it charges at you as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, or approaches in an attractive form with a charming appearance, trying through pretended affection to lure you into sin — beware, for its embrace is death, and its grip is destruction.

You are to wage war against sin of every kind — of the lips, of the hand, of the heart. However gilded with profit, however polished with the appearance of respectability, however praised by the powerful, or however popular with the crowd — you are to hate sin everywhere, in all its disguises, at every time, and in every place. Not one sin is to be spared. Against every last one, an utter and complete war of extermination must be declared.

How to Read the Bible

You may read the Bible continuously and yet never learn anything from it unless it is illuminated by the Spirit. But when it is, the words shine like stars. The book seems made of gold leaf; every single letter glitters like a diamond. It is a blessed thing to read an illuminated Bible, lit up by the radiance of the Holy Spirit.

Have you read the Bible and yet have your eyes remained in the dark? Go and say, "O Lord, illuminate it. Shine upon it, for I cannot read it profitably unless You give me light." Blind people may read the Bible with their fingers, but blind souls cannot. We need a light to read the Bible by — there is no reading it in the dark.

A View of Christ

A view of Christ is always beneficial to a Christian — we can never have too much of Christ. There is no repetition where His name is mentioned. Give us Christ always, Christ forever. The "monotony" of Christ is sweet variety, and even the unity of Christ contains every element of harmony. Christ on His cross and on His throne, in the manger and in the tomb — Christ everywhere is sweet to us. We love His name, we adore His person, we delight to hear of His works — the subject is ever new.

There are some who complain that their love for the Savior is faint and cold. But this would not be the case if they spent more time with Jesus. The closer you live to Christ, and the more you know Him, the better you will love Him. Do not try to produce in yourself a certain degree of love for Christ by some extraordinary effort. Instead, go into His presence, meditate on Him continually, picture His sufferings for you, and then you will love Him — it will become natural, for He will draw your heart closer to Himself as you think about Him. And your love for Him will grow in direct proportion to how much you grasp His love for you.

The Author and Finisher of Faith

O Lord! How small the best of us are without You! How high we rise when You lift us up! How low we fall if You withdraw Your hand! It is our joy, in the midst of distress, when You enable us to say, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). But if You take away Your Spirit, we cannot even trust You on the brightest day. When storms gather around us, we can smile at them if You are with us. But on the fairest morning that ever shone on a human heart, we doubt and we fail if You are not with us still — to preserve and strengthen the faith that You Yourself have given.

The Glad Command

"Delight yourself also in the LORD" (Psalm 37:4). This single command is no harsh law to be carved on tablets of stone. It contains a commandment so bright it is worthy to be written on jewels and pearls. "Delight yourself also in the LORD." When delight becomes a duty, duty must certainly be a delight. When it becomes my obligation to be happy, and I have an express command to be glad, I must indeed be foolish if I refuse my own joy and turn away from my own happiness.

What a God we have, who has made it our duty to be happy! What a gracious God, who considers no obedience so worthy of His acceptance as the glad obedience of a joyous heart. "Delight yourself also in the LORD."

Untiring Delight

Who ever called the sea monotonous? Even to the sailor, traveling over it sometimes for a year at a stretch, there is always a freshness in the roll of the waves, the whiteness of the foam, the curl of the crested surge, and the playful chase of every wave by its long train of followers. Which of us has ever complained that the sun gave us too little variety? Though at dawn he harnesses the same horses and flashes from his chariot the same golden glory, climbs the summit of the sky, then drives his chariot downward and dips below the western horizon — who grows tired of it? Or who among us would complain of the bread we eat, that it has grown tiresome? We eat it today, tomorrow, the next day. We have eaten it for years — and still the one unchanging food is set upon the table, and bread remains the staff of life.

Translate these earthly experiences into heavenly realities. If Christ is your food, your spiritual bread; if Christ is your sun, your heavenly light; if Christ is the sea of love in which your passions swim and all your joys are found — it is not possible that you, as a Christian, should complain of monotony in Him. "He is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8), and yet He has the "dew of His youth." He is like the manna in the golden pot, which was always the same; but He is also like the manna that came down from heaven, every morning new. He is like the rod of Moses, which was dry and did not change its shape; but He is also to us like the rod of Aaron, which budded, and blossomed, and brought forth almonds.

Divine Teaching

In the depths of trouble we learn the sufficiency of grace. Well may they "glory in tribulations also" (Romans 5:3), who have learned in them the most profitable lessons of grace — proved in them how ample the provision of grace is, and realized in them the certainty of the triumph of grace.

I do not know whether all soldiers love the thought of war — some do. There are many who long for action. How often a junior officer has muttered, "There is no promotion, no hope of advancement, no honors, no reward — as if we had a battle to fight. If we could rush to the front lines, there would be some prospect of rising through the ranks." People earn few medals who never experience combat. The brave days of Nelson and Trafalgar have passed, and we thank God for it. Still, we do not expect to see such tough old veterans produced by this age as those who survived the old campaigns. No — we must have trials if we are to grow. Young sailors do not become experienced just by training on dry land; they must go out to sea. We must do business in deep waters. We must actually be on the deck in a storm if we would see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep.

We must have stood side by side with King David. We must have gone down into the pit to kill the lion, or lifted up the spear against the hundreds, if we would know the saving strength of God's right hand. Conflicts bring experience, and experience brings that growth in grace which cannot be gained by any other means.

Seeking Christ

Consider, waiting soul, that the mercy is worth waiting for. Is it not salvation — your soul's deliverance from hell? A long wait at the gate of mercy will be well repaid if the King at last gives you this jewel of surpassing price.

Think also how utterly unworthy you are of the mercy. Therefore, do not be reluctant to humble yourself, or to patiently accept the sovereign will of the Lord. Proud people must be noticed at once or they will leave — but you have nothing to boast about, and should feel that even if He disregarded you for a long season, your unworthiness could demand no explanation for the delay.

Moreover, remember that He will hear at last. His promise would be broken if one praying soul could perish, for He has said, "Seek, and you will find" (Matthew 7:7) — "Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). The delay may be for your good — to lay you lower in humility, or to make you more earnest for the blessing. Perhaps the Lord intends to test your faith, so that, like the Syrophoenician woman, you may bring Him honor by your confidence in Him. Pray on, for "the LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him" (Lamentations 3:25).

Christ in You

What does it mean to have "Christ in you"? The Catholic in the outward sense hangs the cross on his chest; the true Christian carries the cross in his heart. And a cross inside the heart is one of the best cures for a cross on the back. If you have a cross in your heart — Christ crucified in you, the hope of glory — the cross of this world's troubles will seem light enough, and you will easily be able to bear it.

Christ in the heart means Christ believed in, Christ beloved, Christ trusted, Christ embraced, Christ communed with, Christ as our daily food, and ourselves as the temple and palace where Jesus Christ walks every day. There are many who are total strangers to the meaning of this phrase. They do not know what it is to have Jesus Christ in them. Though they know a little about Christ on Calvary, they know nothing about Christ in the heart.

Now, remember: Christ on Calvary will save no one unless Christ is also in the heart. The Son of Mary, born in the manger, will not save you unless He is also born in your heart and lives there — your joy, your strength, and your comfort.