A CALL TO HOLY LIVING – Charles Spurgeon
The Expectation of Exact Obedience
Next, if I read from the 17th to the 20th verses, I am taught that our Lord expects from His people a more exact performance of the Divine Will than even the Pharisees pretend to give. Observe, He speaks here about jots and tittles never passing away, and about those who break the least of His Commandments and teach men so. I gather that He would have us observe the very least of His Words and treasure up His Commandments. Do you think, dear Brothers and Sisters, there would be so many sects among Christians if all Believers honestly wanted to know the Truth of God and to know Christ’s Will? I do not think there would be. I cannot think our Lord has written a Book so doubtful and ambiguous in its expressions that men need differ in interpreting it upon plain points. I am afraid we bring prejudice to it—the prejudice of our constitutional temperament, or of our parents, or of the church with which we are associated. We pay reverence to somebody else’s book, perhaps a catechism, perhaps the Book of Common Prayer, over and beyond the Bible itself! Now, this is all wrong, and we must purge ourselves of it and come to the Word of God itself!
And when we come to this Book, it must be candidly and humbly, with this feeling: “I desire now to unlearn the most precious Doctrine or practice I have ever learned, if the Lord will show me that it is inconsistent with His Will; and I desire to learn that Truth which will bring me most into derision, or that Ordinance which will submit me to the greatest inconvenience, if it is His Will, for I am His servant, and I desire nothing to support my own opinion or to be my own rule.” I think we shall all get pretty near together if, in the Spirit of God, we begin reading our Bibles in this way. Surely the Lord expects this of us.
The Misuse of Tradition and Prejudice
I do not think He expects this of some professors, for certainly, He will never get it. They are quite satisfied to say, “I attend my parish church, and that is the faith of our church”; or, “My grandmother joined the Dissenters, and, therefore I keep to them; and besides, after all, you know there are no sects in Heaven.” That last assertion is one of the shallowest pretenses ever designed on earth to excuse men from being scrupulously obedient to every Word of their Lord and Master! I do doubt, O Disciple, but what you will reach Heaven, even though you mistake some of the Master’s teaching, but I do doubt your ever reaching there if you willfully despise His Words or decline to learn what He came to teach! Our Lord has said unto us, “Go you, therefore, and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” and therefore if you will not become disciples and learn of Christ, we have not even begun with you; neither can you be baptized or bear the name of the Triune God. Jesus will have you obey His Will as well as trust His Grace. Mind that, Beloved. This demand for exact obedience is no word of mine, but of the Master.
Gentleness: A Mark of True Christians
Look again, from the 21st to the 26th verses, and though I do not pretend to expound every word, I remark that Christ would have His people excel all others in gentleness. Others will retaliate on those who vex them, and call them hard names, and will even go the length of saying, “Fool,” and perhaps go still further, even come to cursing and imprecating terrible judgments. A quarrelsome man, when he is in a quarrel with another, rather takes pleasure in it; he does not care how many hate him, or how many he hates; his religion is quite consistent with the worst temper. He can say his prayers or he can offer his gifts to his god, and yet be as malicious as he likes.
But with the Christian, it is not so, and must not be so; we are to bear a great deal of wrong before we make any reply whatever, and when we do give an answer, we must, if we would be like our Master, give a gentle one. Heaping coals of fire upon the head of our enemy by returning abundant kindness is the right revenge for a Christian, and all other revenge is denied to him. He is not to stand upon his rights. He is rather to say, “I know it is my right, but I will yield it sooner than I will contend; I know this man does me an injustice, but I will bear it sooner than my temper shall be ruffled, or my spirit shall be defiled by an evil thought.”
“Oh,” says one, “this is a hard measure.” Do you think it so? Are you a Christian, then? For while in my soul I feel it is difficult, my heart feels I desire to do it, and I love it, and aspire after it; and I think every real Christian, though by reason of infirmity he often breaks this blessed rule, yet sees the beauty of it and does not think it hard. No, rather the hard point to him is that he should fall so short of the gentle, loving Nature of his dear Lord and Master!
Purity and Holiness Beyond the External
But I must pass on, for the next point in which the Christian is to excel is in purity. Read from the 27th to the 32nd verse—I do not go into particulars, but purity is earnestly commanded. The ungodly man says, “Well, I do not commit any act of fornication; you do not hear me sing a lascivious song,” and saying that, he feels content. But the Christian’s Master expects us to carry the point a great deal farther. An unchaste look is a crime to us, and an evil thought is a sin; oh, it shocks me beyond measure when I hear of professedly Christian people who fall into the commission of immodest actions—not such as are called criminal in common society, but loose, fleshly, and full of lasciviousness.
I beseech you, all of you, in your conversation with one another, avoid anything which has the appearance of impurity in this respect. Looks and gestures, step by step, lead on to fouler things, and sport which begins in folly ends in lewdness; be chaste as the driven snow—let not an immodest glance defile you. We do not like to say much about these things, as they are so delicate, and we tremble lest we should suggest what we would prevent, but, oh, by the tears of Jesus, by the wounds of Jesus, by the death of Jesus, hate even the garment spotted by the flesh, and avoid everything that savors of unchastity.
Flee youthful lusts as Joseph did; run any risk sooner than fall into uncleanness, for it is a deep ditch, and the abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. Strong temptations lie in wait for the young in a great city like this, but let the young man learn of God to cleanse his way by taking heed according to His Word. May you all be kept from falling, and be presented faultless before the Presence of God with exceedingly great joy! You are not to be commonly chaste, you are to be much more than that: the very look and thought of impurity are to be hateful to you. Help us, O Spirit of God!
Truthfulness: Christians Must Excel
The Christian, next, is to be more than others in truthfulness. Read on from the 33rd to the 37th verses, and the gist of all is that whereas another man utters the truth because he swears, you are to speak the truth because you cannot do otherwise. Your ordinary word is to be as true as the extraordinary oath of the man who stands in the witness box in the court of justice; you are to avoid those evasions and modes of concealing the truth which are common enough in trade; you are to avoid those exaggerations, those lies which are a common nuisance.
Why, our advertisements swarm with lies! Our shop windows are daubed with them—such as, “tremendous sacrifices,” when the only sacrificed person is the customer! The entire world sees through puffery, and yet even professors go on puffing and exaggerating. Shun it, Christian. If you tell a man you sell him an article under cost, let it be under cost or do not say so. There are other modes of commending your wares which will be quite as effective as lies. Scorn to earn a farthing by uttering that which is not true, and what you might allow in your next-door neighbor, and say, “Well, he is under a different rule than I”—do not for a moment tolerate in yourself!
Forbearance and Love
The strict literal truth in all things should be the law of the child of God; let your “yes” be “yes,” and your “no” no. We have already touched upon the point which our Savior mentions from the 38th to the 42nd verses, namely, that the Christian should excel in forbearance. He should be ready to suffer wrong again and again sooner than be provoked to resistance, much less retaliation. That I have already spoken of, but may we excel in it.
And lastly, from the 42nd to the 48th verses, our Savior shows that He expects us to excel in love to all mankind and in the practical fruit of it in trying to do them good. We ought to be, above all others, the most loving people, and the most good-doing people. The man who buttons himself up within himself and says—“Well, let every man see to himself, that is what I say; every man for himself, and God for us all”; the man who goes through the world paying his way with strict justice, but all the while having no heart to feel for the sick, and the poor, and the needy; the man with no care about anybody else’s soul, his whole heart enclosed within his own ribs all buttoned up in his own broadcloth; such a man is very much like the devil; he is certainly not like Christ.
The Call to Live for Others
Our Lord Jesus Christ’s heart was expansive and unselfish; He gave Himself for His enemies, and died breathing a prayer over them; He never lived for Himself. You could not put your finger on one point of His life and say, “Here He lived for Himself alone.” His prayers, nor His preaching, nor His miracles, nor His sufferings, His woes, or His glories were with an eye to Himself; He saved others, but Himself He would not save. His followers must in this follow Him closely; selfishness is as foreign to Christianity as darkness to light! The true Christian lives to do good; he looks abroad to see whom he may serve, and with his eyes, he looks upon the wicked, upon the fallen, and the outcasts, seeking to reclaim them. Yes, he looks upon his personal enemies in the same way, and aims at winning them by repeated kindnesses. No nationality must confine his goodwill, no sect or clan monopolize his benevolence; no depravity of character or poverty of condition must sicken his loving-kindness, for Jesus received sinners, and ate with them.
A Call to Action
Our love must embrace those who lie hard by the gates of Hell, and we must endeavor with words of truth and deeds of love to bring them to Christ who can lift them up to Heaven. Oh that you may all be gentle, quiet, meek in spirit, but full of an ardent, burning affection towards your fellow men; so shall you be known to be Christ’s disciples!
“Oh,” you say, “these are great things.” Yes, but you have a Great Spirit to help you, and you owe a great deal to your precious Lord and Master. Did I hear one say, “I will avoid sin by being very retired; I will find out a quiet place where I shall not be tempted, and where I shall have few calls upon me.” Pretty soldier you are, who, when your Captain says, “Win the victory,” reply, “I will keep clear of the fight.” No, Christian, go about your trade; go into the busy mart; attend to your business; attend to your family, attend to those matters which God has allotted to you, and glorify God in the battle of life by doing more than others! May God enable you to do so.
Reasons for Doing More Than Others
III. Now, into about two minutes we must condense what ought to have occupied at least a quarter of an hour. The last head was to deal with REASONS FOR OUR DOING MORE THAN OTHERS. They were just these: First, by our fruits we are known. Men will never know us by our Faith, for that is within us; they know us by our works, which are visible to them. Bring forth, therefore, the fruits of Divine Grace, that the world may know you have been with Jesus.
Remember, also, that works are to be evidence at the last. It is consistent with the Gospel of Grace, no doubt, for it is a Truth of God clearly revealed, that we shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body, whether they are good or whether they are evil; and you know that when the Lord gave us the description of the Judgment, He did not say to His disciples, “You believed in Me,” or, “You loved Me”—these were secret matters—but He said, “I was hungry, and you gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was sick and in prison, and you visited Me.” It is by your works you will be judged! O Believers, may Grace enable you to abound in them!
It is by such works that the mouths of gainsayers are to be stopped. One Holy action is a better argument against blasphemers than a thousand eloquent discourses. You are our replies to skeptics—you who have been rescued from sin, maintain a life of Holiness. When they see the men who are healed, standing with Peter and John, they can say nothing against them. Oh, by your works confuse gainsayers!
These works, too, bring Glory to God. “That they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” And these works also ensure peace to your own conscience, and have much to do with your close communion with God. “How can two walk together except they are agreed?” If you walk contrary to Him, He will walk contrary to you; your sins will separate you and your God, but the Holy Spirit, where He maintains Holiness, maintains peace and communion in the soul. “If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.” “If you keep My commandments,” says the Savior, “You shall abide in My Love”—shall abide in the conscious fellowship of that Love, and in the enjoyment of it!
May God help you, may God help you, for His name’s sake! Look here, you who say you believe in Christ, but are living in sin—what does this make of your boasting? Look here, you who say, “I have only to believe by-and-by, and I may live as I like, and yet be saved.” Is it so? Is it so? “If the righteous scarcely are saved, where will the ungodly and the wicked appear?” As for those whose ungodly lives stare them in the face, so far from being saved by their pretended faith, they are trees twice dead, plucked up by the roots! If they say they continue in sin, that Grace may abound, their damnation is just!
The Salvation of Christ is not a Salvation in sin, but a Salvation from sin. They who would be saved by Him must come and trust Him just as they are, and He will enable them to forsake their sin; but while they continue to say, “We will take pleasure in sin,” there is no Salvation possible for them. God bring us to Christ, and nail our sins to His Cross, and give us Life in our Savior’s Life. Amen.