The Life of Duty, v. 2: A year's plain sermons on the Gospels or EpistlesWilmot-Buxton, H. J. (Harry John)
Religion
The Life of Duty, v. 2: A year's plain sermons on the Gospels or Epistles
Wilmot-Buxton, H. J. (Harry John)
Bible. Epistles -- Commentaries; Bible. Gospels -- Commentaries; Sermons, English
"Walk in the Spirit."
The life of a Christian must be one of progress. S. Paul says, "_Walk_
in the Spirit;" he does not say, stand still. It is not enough for us
to have been born again of Water and the Holy Ghost, and to have
received the Gifts of the Spirit from time to time through the
different means of grace. We are bidden "to stir up the gift that is
in us;" we are told to "_grow_ in grace." God has set us upon our feet
in the right road. He has taken us by the hand, that is, the Holy
Spirit is our leader and guide; but we have something to do--we must
_walk_. There are some who tell us that everything has been done for
us in the past, and that everything will be done for us in the future;
and those who believe that doctrine never do a day's work for Jesus.
They never go into His vineyard; they never make any use of their five
talents, or even of one; they never put on the whole armour of God.
They tell us they have nothing to do, all is done for them. I should
be sorry to hold so selfish, idle, and unmanly a doctrine as that. I
know very well that God _has_ done, and is doing, for me what I could
not do for myself. I know how weak I am, and how much need I have of
God's guiding, strengthening Hand: but I know also that He expects
something from me. He bids me fight and struggle against temptation;
He tells me to press forward towards the mark--to go up higher, to seek
those things which are above, to forget those things which are behind.
He would have me labour and strive to enter in at the strait gate, and
to work out my own salvation. He commands me to take up my cross and
follow, and all this means work, struggle, _progress_. "Walk in the
Spirit." When Jesus had opened the eyes of the blind man, he did not
continue to sit by the wayside begging, he arose and followed Christ.
It is only blind folks, whose eyes Jesus has not yet opened, who are
content to sit by the roadside of life and do nothing. God says to
each one of us--"This is My way, walk ye in it." Let us see what this
walking means. First, I think it means _going forward_. There is no
standstill in God's natural world, nor is there in God's spiritual
world. If a child is healthy, he is growing: _getting on_, as the
phrase is. So a true child of God is getting on, making progress,
going forward every day. He goes on growing in grace till he comes of
age, then God takes him to His Home, and gives him his inheritance. If
you look at the tombs in a churchyard, you will see that those lying
there died at all kinds of ages. Here is the tiny grave of an infant,
snatched from its parents' arms almost as soon as the cross was written
on its brow. But in God's sight that little one had come of age, and
so was taken Home. Here is the grave of a child who had begun to do
some work for God, and was as sunshine in its home, and the joy of its
friends. When death took the child, people mourned because he died so
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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