An Extract.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” &c—EPH 1.
I REFER to this to show the condition, as also the spirit, which alone produces worship. Is it any wonder that one cannot get the world to worship? It is not a question of educating men up to the point. The question is, When are people brought into the Christian state? It is then incumbent on them to worship in spirit and in truth. You see the same relationship here— “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings.” He is not merely going to bless. A man who is waiting to be blessed may be a hopeful person; but he is not yet set free, as in Romans 8:2,2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2) &c.
I remember well, some time ago, during the revival movement, being often pained by rash expressions from men talking lightly upon the grace of God. The truth is that bringing a man from darkness to light, from Satan’s power to God’s, is a serious thing; but I do not believe its reality unless there be a true (I do not say a deep) work in the conscience of the individual. I see this in the case of the woman of Samaria. Christ brought the whole truth of her life into the light. She was convicted. There is no grace unless faith be connected with repentance. Here we see all their blessings; but the point I refer to is that it is a present reality. When the children of God have the Spirit as a well within according to His word, then we have Christian worship.
Take another passage from Scripture, the Colossians. The apostle says, in chapter 1, “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, and to all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Now, just contrast these words with any liturgy that was ever invented— “which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light!” Do ye think that those persons who believe it would be very much afraid of sudden death? that is, of a speedy going to heaven to be with Christ? Why is it that professing Christians are in such dread of sudden death? It is because they think of a needful preparation for death. It all arises from an uncertainty about the Christian deliverance already effected. What is wanted, even by real children of God, is a better, a truer, knowledge of what salvation is—not a state we are hoping for, but in which we stand virtually now. The Old Testament speaks not of the Father and the Son as the New, or of salvation in the Christian sense of the word; but the one does not set aside the other; they are the complement of each other. In the Epistle to the Ephesians referred to, salvation is always spoken of as past and present. It is a state that flows from what has been done by and in Christ. But then, quite in another way, we are waiting for salvation. We have got the salvation of our souls, we are waiting for the salvation of our bodies. But the salvation of the soul is as completely effected as it can be; redemption is wrought by Christ and accepted of God, and the Holy Ghost is already poured out on man. It is a solemn thing to affirm the possession of the Holy Ghost, but at the same time nothing is more sweet. Yet, let me tell you, that many good men are mistaken by founding the basis of it in something in themselves, instead of what Christ has done, sealed by the Holy Ghost. He never sealed until the work of redemption was done. In the Old Testament times, there was never any saint without being quickened by the Spirit of God; but they could not have His seal until redemption was accomplished, as in Ephesians 1. So here we see saints described as “giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.”