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Hope
Unlimited
Chapter
16: The Fear of Final Falling
A DARK FEAR haunts the minds of many who are coming to Jesus; they
are afraid that they shall not persevere to the end. I have heard
the seeker say: "If I were to cast my soul upon Jesus, what if
I should perhaps grow cold? I have had good feelings before now, and
they have died away. At times, my goodness has been as the morning
cloud, and as the early dew - but it has come on a sudden, lasted
for a season, promised much, and then vanished away."
I believe that this
fear is often the father of the fact; and that some who have been
afraid to trust Jesus for all time, and for all eternity, have
failed because they had a temporary faith, which never went far
enough to save them. They set out trusting to Jesus in a measure,
but looking to themselves for continuance and perseverance in the
heavenward way; and so they set out in the wrong way, and, as a
natural consequence, turned back before long.
If we trust to
ourselves for our holding on we shall not hold on. Even though we
rest in Jesus for a part of our salvation, we shall fail if we trust
to self for anything. No chain is stronger than its weakest link: if
Jesus is our hope for everything, except one thing, we shall utterly
fail, because in that one point our faith will break.
Beware of mixing even
a little of self with the mortar with which you build, or you will
make weak mortar, and the stones will not hold together. If you look
to Jesus for your beginnings, beware of looking to yourself for your
endings. He is Alpha. See to it that you make Him Omega also. If you
begin in the Spirit you must not hope to be made perfect by the
flesh. Begin as you mean to go on, and go on as you began, and let
the Lord be all in all to you. Oh, that God, the Holy Spirit, may
give us a very clear idea of where the strength must come from that
will enable us to be preserved until the day of our Lord's
appearing!
Here is what Paul
once said upon this subject when he was writing to the Corinthians:
`He will keep you
strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his
Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.' (1Corinthians 1:8-9)
This language
silently admits a great need, by telling us how that need is
provided for. Wherever the Lord makes a provision, we are quite sure
that there was a need for that provision, for God would not encumber
the covenant of grace with unnecessary things. Golden shields hung
in Solomon's courts which were never used, but there are none such
in the armoury of God. What God has provided we shall surely need.
Between this hour and the completion of all things every promise of
God and every provision of the covenant of grace will be
utilized.
The urgent need of
the believing soul is assurance, continuance, final perseverance,
preservation to the end. This is the great necessity of even the
most advanced of believers. Writing to respected, experienced
believers at Corinth, Paul stated that he thanked God always on
their behalf for the unmerited favor that was continually given them
by Jesus. Yes, even the most experienced believer has daily need of
new grace if he is to hold on, and to hold out, and to come off a
conqueror at the last. If you were not believers you would have no
grace, and you would feel no need of grace; but because you are
people of God, therefore you are aware of the vacuum that God needs
to fill daily.
The marble statue
requires no food; but the living man hungers and thirsts, and he
rejoices that his bread and his water are made sure to him,
otherwise he would certainly faint by the way. The believer's
personal wants make it inevitable that he should daily draw from the
great source of all supplies; for what could he do if he could not
rely on his God?
This is true of the
most gifted of believers - even of those men at Corinth who were
blessed with all utterance and with all knowledge. They needed
assurance to the end, or else their gifts and attainments would
prove to be of no avail.
If we had the
tongues of men and of angels and we did not receive fresh grace from
God, where should we be? Even if through experience we attained a
place of respect in the church - and God had taught us to understand
all mysteries - we still could not live a single day without the
divine life flowing into us from God. How could we hope to hold on
for a single hour, to say nothing of a lifetime, unless the Lord
should hold on to us? He who began the good work in us must perform
it unto the day that Jesus comes again, or it will all prove to be a
painful failure.
In some there
is a painful fear that they shall not persevere in the faith because
they know their own fickleness. Certain persons are constitutionally
unstable. Some men are by nature conservative. Others are as
naturally variable and volatile. Like butterflies they flit from
flower to flower, till they visit all the beauties of the garden,
and settle upon none of them. They are never long enough in one
place to do any good; not even in their business nor in their
intellectual pursuits. Such persons may well be afraid that ten,
twenty, thirty, forty, perhaps fifty years of continuous religious
watchfulness will be a great deal too much for them. We see these
men joining first one church and then another - never remaining in
any one place for long. Such have double need to pray that they may
receive divine assurance, and may be made not only steadfast but
unmoveable, failing which they will not be found "always
abounding in the work of the Lord."
All of us, even if we
have no inborn temptation to fickleness, must feel our own weakness
if our spiritual life has been awakened by God. Dear reader, do you
not find enough in any one single day to make you stumble? You that
desire to walk in perfect holiness, as I trust you do; you that have
set before you a high standard of what a Christian should be - do
you not find that before the breakfast things are cleared away from
the table, you have displayed enough folly to make you ashamed of
yourselves?
If we were to shut
ourselves up in the lone cell of a hermit, temptation would follow
us; for as long as we cannot escape from ourselves we cannot escape
from the temptation to sin. This awareness should make us watchful
and humble before God. If he does not give us assurance, we are so
weak that we shall stumble and fall; not necessarily overturned by
an enemy, but by our own carelessness. Lord, be thou our strength.
We are weakness itself.
Besides that, there
is the weariness which comes with long life. When we begin our
Christian profession we mount up with wings as eagles, later we run
without weariness; and in our best and truest days we walk without
fainting. Yes, our pace might seem a little slower, but it is more
serviceable and better sustained. I pray God that the energy of our
youth may continue with us so far as it is the energy of the Spirit
and not the mere fermentation of proud flesh.
He that has long
been on the road to Heaven finds that there was good reason why it
was promised that his shoes should be iron and brass, for the road
is rough. He has discovered that there are Hills of Difficulty and
Valleys of Humiliation; that there is a Valley of the Shadow of
Death, and, worse still, a Vanity Fair - and all these have to be
crossed. If there are Delectable Mountains (and, thank God, there
are,) there are also Castles of Despair, the inside of which
pilgrims have too often seen. Considering all things, those who hold
out to the end in the way of holiness will be "men wondered
at."
"O world of
wonders, I can say no less." The days of a Christian's life are
like so many strands of mercy threaded upon the golden string of
divine faithfulness. In Heaven we shall tell to angels, and
principalities, and powers, the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ
which were spent upon us, and enjoyed by us while we were here
below. We have been kept alive on the brink of death. Our spiritual
life has been a flame burning on in the midst of the sea, a stone
that has remained suspended in the air. It will amaze the universe
to see us enter the pearly gate, blameless in the day of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We ought to be full of grateful wonder; and I trust
that we are.
If this were all,
there would be enough cause for anxiety; but there is far more. We
have to think of what a place we live in. The world is a howling
wilderness to many of God's people. Some of us are greatly indulged
in the providence of God, but for others of us life is a stern
battle. Some of us begin our day with prayer, and with holy song;
but many good people have scarcely risen from their knees in the
morning before they are saluted with blasphemy. They go out to work,
and all day long they are vexed with filthy conversation like
righteous Lot in Sodom. Can you even walk the open streets without
your ears being afflicted with foul language? The world is no friend
to the faithful. The best we can do with this world is to get
through it as quickly as we can, for we dwell in an enemy's country.
A robber lurks in every bush. Everywhere we need to travel with a
"drawn sword" in our hand, or at least with that weapon
which is called "prayer" ever at our side; for we have to
contend for every inch of our way. Make no mistake about this, or
you will be rudely shaken out of your fond delusion. O God, help us,
and confirm us to the end, or where shall we be?
True religion is
supernatural at its beginning, supernatural in its continuance, and
supernatural in its close. It is the work of God from first to last.
There is great need that the hand of the Lord should be stretched
out still. Are you, my dear reader, feeling that need now? I will be
glad if you are feeling it; for this will mean that you are looking
to the Lord alone for your preservation. He alone is able to keep
you from falling and from failing. He alone is able to glorify you
with His Son in whom is your assurance and hope.
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