Christ is ever the same--"the same
yesterday and today and forever." The gospel of Christ is
ever the same--the same yesterday and today and forever. The
gospel of Christ today is the same that it was eighteen hundred
and seventy years ago. Then it was "God manifest in the
flesh," and today it is the same--"God manifest in
the" same flesh, the flesh of sinful men, human flesh, just
as human nature is.
That gospel is "Christ in you, the
hope of glory,"--Christ in you just as you are, sins, sinfulness,
and all; for He gave Himself for our sins and for our sinfulness.
And you, just as you are, Christ has bought and God "hath
made accepted" in Him. He has received you just as you are
and the gospel, "Christ in you, the hope of glory,"
brings you under the reign of the grace of God and through the
Spirit of God makes you so subject to the power of Christ and
of God that "the fruit of the Spirit" appears in you
instead of "the works of the flesh."
And the fruit of the Spirit is--
LOVE-the love of God which is shed abroad
in the heart by the Spirit of God. And instead of hatred or any
of its kin ever being allowed, even in thought, no man can possibly
do anything to you that can cause you to do anything but love
him. For this love, being the love of God, is "the same
yesterday and today and forever" and loves not for reward
but for the mere sake of loving; it loves simply because it is
love and being only that, it cannot do anything else.
JOY is "ardent happiness arising
from present or expected good." But in this case, the alternative
"or" is excluded, for this joy is ardent happiness
arising from present AND expected good, for the cause of it is
eternal. Accordingly, it is everlastingly present and is everlastingly
to be expected. And therefore it is "exultant satisfaction."
PEACE--perfect peace that rules in the
heart--"the peace of God which passeth all understanding,"
and which "keeps the heart and mind"' of him who has
it.
LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH--This
faith-- pistis, Greek--is "firm persuasion; the conviction
which is based upon trust, NOT upon knowledge [the faith of "the
heart," not of the head; the faith of Christ, not of the
creed]; a firmly relying confidence cherished by conviction and
bidding defiance to opposing contradictions."
MEEKNESS, TEMPERANCE--Temperance is self-control.
Thus, the Spirit of God delivers the man from subject to his
passions, lusts and habits, and makes him a free man, master
of himself.
"Against such there is no law."
The law of God is against nothing but sin. In human lives the
law of God is against everything that is not the fruit of the
Spirit of God. Therefore it is certain that everything in human
life that is not the fruit of the Spirit of God is sin. And this
is but stating, in another way, the eternal truth that "whatsoever
is not of faith is sin."
Therefore "if we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit." And because we do live
in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, "let us not"--yea,
we shall not; yea, we cannot "be desirous of vainglory,
provoking one another, envying one another."
RH Oct. 2, 1900
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