A Full Christ for Empty Sinners [Pamphlet]

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Rich thoughts from the Gospel of John.

John's gospel is bursting with the treasure of the person of Christ. In A Full Christ for Empty Sinners William Trotter brings out some of those treasures and shows their application to the needs of every man. If we've felt even a little bit of our need we can see the answer in One who had life in Himself and who is love. Trotter encourages us to come to that wonderful person to "eat" and benefit in a practical and very personal way.

Table of Contents

1.Full Christ for Empty Sinners, A: Part 1

2.Full Christ for Empty Sinners, A: Part 2

3.Full Christ for Empty Sinners, A: Part 3

4.Full Christ for Empty Sinners, A: Part 4

Excerpt: Well does the writer remember the effect on his own mind of the perusal, now many years ago, of a paper in the first volume of the “Christian Witness,” on “The distinct characters of the several writings of the New Testament.” if not the first, it was among the first means of leading him to read Scripture in the light of the characteristic subject and aim of each distinct portion of it. But, while leaning on God's grace as the only efficient cause of true instruction, every attempt to impart to others what has been so precious to his own soul, has served more deeply to convince him of the truth of one remark in the paper above referred to, viz., that, “The expression of one's own thoughts, and the acting so as to awaken similar thoughts in others, are two very different things; and the latter is a rarer and more self-denying attainment than the other.” It is not as attempting much more than the former, that the following thoughts are submitted to such as bring all they read and hear to the test of the word of God itself.

Much that at that time had to some of us all the vividness and freshness of truth newly discovered to the soul, has long, as to the letter of it, at least, been familiar to all who are likely to read these remarks. The way in which the same blessed Person is presented in Matthew as the Messiah of Israel; by Mark, in active service as the Minister of the word; by Luke, in the fullness of that grace, in which He, the Son of man, came to men as such, to seek and to save that which was lost; and by John as the Word which was in the beginning, which was with God, and was God, but which was made flesh, and dwelt among us; all this the reader has doubtless read and heard again and again, until the words remain in the memory, whether they be understood and enjoyed through divine teaching or not. The peculiar character of John's Gospel has been dwelt upon by many. Many have pointed out how the glory which passes before us in that Gospel is the glory of Christ in His highest divine titles and relations; “the glory of the Only—begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Sweetly has it been shown, moreover, that while no other Gospel so freely unfolds this highest Godhead—glory of Christ, no other shows the sinner in such immediate contact with Him, receiving of His fullness. These and other leading features of the book, though never losing their interest, have yet to numbers become familiar truth. What the writer would now suggest may bear no comparison in importance with these chief characteristics of this Gospel; but nothing is lost which contributes in ever so small a degree to acquaintance with the precious record of the glory of Him of whom it is said, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

In perusing any book, inspired or uninspired, if we find certain words occurring often enough to awaken attention to the fact, and then, on examination, discover that they are thus used throughout the book, we immediately conclude that they either express its great theme and object, or at least that which is very closely related thereto. Reading thus the Gospel of John, certain words can scarcely fail to impress the mind with the frequency of their use; while a comparison with the other Evangelists confirms the conviction that the words in question do really bring out what is in closest connection with the great leading subject. For instance, the word life meets the eye almost at the beginning of the book, reappears most prominently in chap. iii., and afterward, indeed with such frequency as to awaken the inquiry, Can this be one of the leading words in this Gospel? Can it have a characteristic force? Let us see.