Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIVMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIV
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
I sometimes wish we had never heard that word 'faith.' For as soon as
we begin to talk about 'faith,' people begin to think that we are away
up in some theological region far above everyday life. Suppose we try
to bring it down a little nearer to our businesses and bosoms, and
instead of using a word that is kept sacred for employment in religious
matters, and saying 'faith,' we say 'trust.' That is what you give to
your wives and husbands, is it not? And that is exactly what you have
to give to Jesus Christ, simply to lay hold of Him as a man lays hold
of the heart that loves him, and leans his whole weight upon it. Lean
hard on Him, hang on Him, or, to take the other metaphor that is one of
the Old Testament words for trust, 'flee for refuge' to Him. Fancy a
man with the avenger of blood at his back, and the point of the
pursuer's spear almost pricking his spine—don't you think he would make
for the City of Refuge with some speed? That is what you have to do. He
that believeth, and by trust lays hold of the Hand that holds him up,
will never fall; and he that does not lay hold of that Hand will never
stand, to say nothing of rising. And so by these two links God's love
of the world is connected with the salvation of the world.
IV. The draught.
Finally, we have here the draught of living water. Did you ever think
why our text puts 'should not perish' first? Is it not because, unless
we put our trust in Him, we shall certainly perish, and because,
therefore, that certainty of perishing must be averted before we can
have 'everlasting life'?
Now I am not going to enlarge on these two solemn expressions,
'perishing' and 'everlasting life.' I only say this: men do not need to
wait until they die before they 'perish.' There are men and women here
now who are dead—dead while they live, and when they come to die, the
perishing, which is condemnation and ruin, will only be the making
visible, in another condition of life, of what is the fact to-day. Dear
brethren, you do not need to die in order to perish in your sins, and,
blessed be God, you can have everlasting life before you die. You can
have it now, and there is only one way to have it, and that is to lay
hold of Him who is the Life. And when you have Jesus Christ in your
heart, whom you will be sure to have if you trust Him, then you will
have life—life eternal, here and now, and death will only make manifest
the eternal life which you had while you were alive here, and will
perfect it in fashions that we do not yet know anything about.
Only remember, as I have been trying to show you, the order that runs
through this text. Remember the order of these last words, and that we
must first of all be delivered from eternal and utter death, before we
can be invested with the eternal and absolute life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account