The Watchword for Today: Stand Fast
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
“For our conversation is
heaven: from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto
himself. Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and
crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.”--Philippians 3:20,21;
4:1
Every doctrine of the Word of God has its -
practical bearing. As each tree beareth seed after its kind, so doth every
truth of God bring forth practical virtues.
Hence. you find the apostle, Paul very full of therefores---his therefores
being the conclusions drawn from certain statements of divine truth. I marvel that our excellent translators
should have divided the argument from the conclusion by making a new chapter
where there is least reason for it.
Last Lord's-day I spoke with you concerning the
most sure and certain resurrection of our lord Jesus: now there is a practical
force in that which constitutes part of what is meant by “the power of his
resurrection." Since the Lord has risen, and will surely come a second
time, and will raise the bodies of his people at his coming, there is something
to wait for, and a grand reason for steadfastness while thus waiting. We are
looking for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from heaven, and
that he shall “fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed
to the body of his glory;” therefore let us stand fast in the position which
will secure us this honor. Let us keep
our posts until the coming of the great Captain shall release the sentinels. The glorious resurrection will abundantly
repay us for all the toil and travail we may have to undergo in the battle for
the Lord. The glory to be revealed even
now casts a light upon our path, and causes sunshine within our hearts. The hope of this happiness makes us even now
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Paul was deeply anxious that those in whom he
had been the means of kindling the heavenly hope might be preferred faithful
until the coming of Christ. He trembled
lest any of them should seem to draw back, and prove traitors to their
Lord. He dreaded lest he should lose
what he hoped he had gained, by their turning aside from the faith. Hence he "beseeches them to “stand
fast." He expressed in the sixth verse of the first chapter his conviction
that he who had begun a good work in them would perform it, but his intense
love made him exhort them, saying, "Stand fast in the Lord, my dearly
beloved." By such exhortations final perseverance is promoted and secured.
Paul has fought bravely; and in the case of the Philippian converts he believes
that he has secured the victory, and he fears lest it should yet be lost. He reminds me of the death of that British
hero, Wolfe, who on the heights of Quebec received a mortal wound. It was just at the moment when the enemy
fled, and when he knew that they were running, a smile was on his face, and he
cried, “Hold me up. Let not my brave
soldiers see me drop. The day is ours.
Oh, do keep it!” His sole anxiety was to make the victory sure. Thus warriors die, and thus Paul lived. His very soul seems to cry, “We have won the
day. “Oh, do keep it!” O my beloved hearers, I believe that many of you are
"in the Lord," but I entreat you to “stand fast in the Lord.” In your case also, the day is won; but oh,
do keep it! There is the pith of all I have
to say to you this morning: may God the Holy Spirit write it, on your
hearts! Having done all things well
hitherto, I entreat you to obey the injunction of Jude, to “keep yourselves in
the love of God," and to join with me. in adoring him who alone is able to
keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before his presence with
exceeding great joy. Unto him be glory for ever Amen.
In leading out your thoughts I will keep to the
following order:--
First, it seems to me from the text that the apostle
perceived that these Philippians Christians were in their right place: they
were “in the Lord,” and in such a position that he could safely bid them “stand
fast” in it. Secondly, he longed for them that they should keep their right
place--”Stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved”; and then, thirdly, he
urged the best motives for their keeping their place. These motives are
contained in the first two verses of our text, upon which we will enlarge
further on.
I. Paul joyfully perceived that HIS BELOVED
CONVERTS WERE IN THEIR RIGHT PLACE.
It is a very important thing indeed that we
should begin well. The start is not everything, but it is a great deal. It has
been said by the old proverb, that “Well begun is half done”; and it is
certainly so in the things of God. It
is a vitally important to enter in at the strait gate; to start on the heavenly
journey from the right point. I have no doubt that many slips and falls and
apostasies among professors are due to the fact that they were not right at
first: the foundation was always upon the sand, and when the house came down at
last, it was no more than might have been expected. A flaw in the foundation is
pretty sure to be followed by a crack in the super-structure. Do see to it that
you lay a good foundation. It is even better to have no repentance than a
repentance which needs to be repented of: it is better to have no faith than a
false faith: it is better to make no profession of religion than to make an
untruthful one. God give us grace that we may not make a mistake in learning
the alphabet of godliness, or else in all our learning we shall blunder on and
increase in error. We should early learn the difference between grace and
merit, between the purpose of God and the will of man, between trust in God and
confidence in the flesh. If we do not start aright, the further we go the
further we shall be from our desired end, and the more thoroughly in the wrong
shall we find ourselves. Yes, it is of prime importance that our new birth and
our first love should be genuine beyond all question.
The only position, however, in which we can
begin aright is to be “in the Lord.” This is to begin as we may safely go on.
This is the essential point. It is a very good thing for Christians to be in
the church; but if you are in the church before you are in the Lord you are out
of place. It is a good thing to be engaged in holy work; but if you are in holy
work before you are in the Lord you will have no heart for it, neither will the
Lord accept it. It is not essential that you should be in this church or in
that church; but it is essential that you should be “in the Lord”; it is not
essential that you should be in the Sabbath-school, nor in the Working Meeting,
nor in the Tract Society; but it is essential to the last degree that you
should be in the Lord. The apostle rejoiced over those that were converted at
Philippi because he knew they were in the Lord. They were where he wished them
to remain, therefore he said, “Stand fast in the Lord.”
What is it to be “in the Lord”? Well, brethren, we
are in the Lord vitally and evidently when we fly to the Lord Jesus by
repentance and faith, and make him to be our refuge and hiding-place. Is it
so with you? Have you fled out of self? Are you trusting in the Lord alone?
Have you come to Calvary, and beheld your Savior? As the doves build their
nests in the rock, have you thus made your home in Jesus? There is no shelter
for a guilty soul but in his wounded side. Have you come there? Are you in him?
Then keep there. You will never have a better refuge; in fact, there is no
other. No other name is given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.
I cannot tell you to stand fast in the Lord, unless you are there: hence my
first inquiry is--Are you in Christ? Is he your only confidence? In his life,
his death, and his resurrection do you find the grounds of your hope? Is he
himself all your salvation, and all your desire? If so, stand fast in him.
Next, these people, in addition to having fled
to Christ for refuge, were now in Christ as to their daily life. They
had heard him say, “Abide in me”; and therefore they remained in the daily
enjoyment of him, in reliance upon him, in obedience to him, and in the earnest
copying of his example. They were Christians, that is to say, persons upon whom
was named the name of Christ. They were endeavoring to realize the power of his
death and resurrection as a sanctifying influence killing their sins and
fostering their virtues. They were laboring to reproduce his image in
themselves, that so they might bring glory to his name. Their lives were spent
within the circle of their Savior’s influence. Are you so, my dear friends?
Then stand fast. You will never find a nobler example; you will never be
saturated with a diviner spirit than that of Christ Jesus your Lord. Whether we
eat or drink, whatsoever we do, let us do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and so live in him.
These Philippians had, moreover, realized that
they were in Christ by a real and vital union with him.
They had come to feel, not like separated
individualities, copying a model, but as members of a body made like to their
head. By a living, loving, lasting union they were joined to Christ as their
covenant head. They could say, “Who shall separate us from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?” Do you know what it is to feel that the
life which is in you is first in Christ and still flows from him, even as the
life of the branch is mainly in the stem. “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me.” This is to be in Christ. Are you in him in this sense? Forgive my
pressing the question. If you answer me in the affirmative, I shall then
entreat you to “stand fast” in him. It is in him, and in him only, that
spiritual life is to be sustained, even as only from him can it be received. To
be engrafted into Christ is salvation; but to abide in Christ is the full
enjoyment of it. True union to Christ is eternal life. Paul, therefore,
rejoiced over these Philippians, because they were joined unto the Lord in one
spirit.
This expression is very short, but very full.
“In Christ.” Does it not mean that we are in Christ as the birds are in the air
which buoys them up, and enables them to fly? Are we not in Christ as the fish
are in the sea? Our Lord has become our element, vital, and all
surrounding. In him we live, and move, and have our being. He is in us, and we are in him. We are
filled with all the fullness of God, because in Christ doth all fullness dwell,
and we dwell in him. Christ to us is all; he is in all; and he is all in all!
Jesus to us in everything in everything. Without him we can do nothing,
and we are nothing, and we are nothing. Thus are we emphatically
in him. If you have reached this point, “stand fast” in it. If you dwell in the
secret place of the tabernacles of the Most High, abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. Do you sit at his table, and eat of his dainties? Then prolong the
visit, and think not of removal. Say in your soul--
“Here would I find a
settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, or a
guest,
But like a child at
home.”
Has Jesus brought you into his green pastures?
Then lie down in them. Go no further, for you will never fare better. Stay with
your Lord, however long the night, for only in him have you hope of morning.
You see, then, that these people were where they
should be--in the Lord, and that this was the reason why the apostle took such
delight in them. Kindly read the first verse of the fourth chapter, and see how
he loves them, and joys over them. He
heaps up titles of love! Some dip their
morsel in vinegar, but Paul’s words were saturated with honey. Here we not only
have sweet words, but they mean something; his love was real and fervent. The
very heart of Paul is written out large in this verse--”Therefore, my brethren
dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my
dearly beloved.” Because they were in Christ, therefore first of all they were
Paul’s brethren. This was a new relationship, not earthly, but heavenly.
What did this Jew from Tarsus know about the Philippians? Many of them were
Gentiles. Time was when he would have called them dogs, and despised them as
the uncircumcised; but now he says, “My brethren.” That poor word has become
very hackneyed. We talk of brethren without particularly much of brotherly
love; but true brothers have a love for one another which is very unselfish and
admirable, and so there is between real Christians a brother-hood which they
will neither disown, nor dissemble, nor forget. It is said of our Lord, “For
this cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”; and surely they need never
be ashamed to call one another brethren. Paul, at any rate, looks at the
jailor, that jailor who had set his feet in the stocks, and he looks at the
jailor’s family, and at Lydia, and many others; in fact, as the whole company
that he had gathered at Philippi, and he salutes them lovingly as “My
brethren.” Their names were written in the same family register because they
were in Christ, and therefore had one Father in heaven.
Next, the apostle calls them “my dearly
beloved.” The verse almost begins with this word, and it quite finishes
with it. The repetition makes it mean, “My doubly dear ones.” Such is the love
which every true servant of Christ will have for those who have been begotten
to the faith of Christ by his means. Oh, yes if you are in Christ his ministers
must love you. How could there be a lack of affection in our hearts towards
you, since we have been the means of bringing you to Jesus? Without cant or
display we call you our “dearly beloved.”
Then the apostle calls them his “longed for,”
that is, his most desired ones. He first desired to see them converted; after
that he desired to see them baptized; then he desired to see them exhibiting
all the graces of Christians. When he saw holiness in them he desired to visit
them and commune with them. Their constant kindness created in him a strong
desire to speak with them face to face. He loved them, and desired their company,
because they were in Christ. So he speaks of them as those for whom he longed.
His delight was in thinking of them and in hoping to visit them.
Then, he adds, My joy and crown.” Paul had been
the means of their salvation, and when he thought of that blessed result he
never regretted all that he had suffered: his persecutions among the Gentiles
seemed light indeed since these priceless souls were his reward. Though he was
nothing but a poor prisoner of Christ, yet he talks in right royal style: they
are his crown. They were his stephanos, or crown given as a reward for
his life-race. This among the Greeks
was usually a wreath of flowers placed around the victor’s brow. Paul’s crown
would never fade. He writes as he felt the amaranth around his temples: even
now he looks upon the Philippians as his chaplet of honor: they were his joy
and his crown; he anticipated, I do not doubt, that throughout eternity it
would be a part of his heaven to see them amid their blessedness, and to know
that he helped to bring them to that felicity by leading them to Christ. O
beloved, it is indeed our highest joy that we have not run in vain, neither
labored in vain: you who have been snatched as “brands from the burning,” and
are now living to the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are our prize, our
crown, our joy.
These converts were all this to Paul simply
because they were “in Christ.” They had begun well, they were where they should
be, and he, therefore, rejoiced in them.
II. But secondly, it was for this reason that HE
LONGED THAT THEY SHOULD KEEP THERE.
He entreated them to stand fast. “So stand fast
in the Lord, my dearly beloved.” The beginning of religion is not the whole of
it. You must not suppose that the sum of godliness is contained within the
experience of a day or two, or a week, or a few months, or even a few years.
Precious are the feelings which attend conversion; but dream not that
repentance, faith, and so forth, are for a season, and then all is done, and
done with. I am afraid there are some who secretly say, “Everything is now
complete; I have experienced the necessary change, I have been to see the
elders and the pastor, and I have been baptized, and received into the church,
and now all is right for ever.” That is a false view of your condition. In
conversion you have started in the race, and you must run to the end of the
course. In your confession of Christ you have carried your tools into the
vineyard, but the day’s work now begins. Remember, “He that shall endure unto
the end, the same shall be saved.” Godliness is a life-long business. The
working out of the salvation which the Lord himself works in you is not a
matter of certain hours, and of a limited period of life. Salvation is unfolded
throughout all our sojourn here. We continue to repent and to believe, and even
the process of our conversion continues as we are changed more and more into
the image of our Lord. Final perseverance is the necessary evidence of genuine
conversion.
In the proportion as we rejoice over converts we
feel an intense bitterness when any disappoint us, and turn out to be merely
temporary camp-followers. We sigh over the seed which sprang up so speedily,
but which withers so soon because it has neither root nor depth of earth. We
were ready to say--”Ring the bells of heaven”; but the bells of heaven did not
ring because these people talked about Christ, and said they were in Christ;
but it was all a delusion. After a while, for one reason and another, they went
back; “they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of
us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they
might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” Our churches suffer most
seriously from the great numbers who drop out of their ranks, and either go
back to the world, or else must be pursuing a very secret and solitary path in
their way to heaven, for we hear no more of them. Our joy is turned to
disappointment, our crown of laurel becomes a circle of faded leaves, and we
are weary at the remembrance of it. With what earnestness, therefore, would we
say to you who are beginning the race, “Continue in your course. We beseech you
turn not aside, neither slacken your running, till you have won the prize”!
I heard an expression yesterday which pleased me
much. I spoke about the difficulty of keeping on. “Yes,” answered my friend,
“and it is still harder to keep on keeping on.” So it is. There is the pinch. I
know lots of fellows who are wonders at the start. What a rush they make! But
then there is not stay in them; they soon lose breath. The difference between
the spurious and the real Christian lies in this staying power. The real
Christian has a life within him which can never die, an incorruptible seed
which liveth and abideth for ever; but the spurious Christian begins after a
fashion, but ends almost as soon as he begins. He is esteemed a saint; but
turns out a hypocrite. He makes a fair show for a while, but soon he quits the
way of holiness, and makes his own damnation sure. God save you, dear friends,
from anything which looks like apostasy. Hence I would with all my might press
upon you these two most weighty words: “Stand fast.”
I will put the exhortation thus -- “Stand fast doctrinally.”
In this age all the ships in the waters are pulling up their anchors: they are
drifting with the tide; they are driven about with every wind. It is your
wisdom to put down more anchors. I have taken the precaution to cast four anchors
out of the stern, as well as to see that the great bower anchor is in its
proper place. I will not budge an inch from the old doctrine for any man. Now
that the cyclone is triumphant over many a bowing wall and tottering fence,
those who are built upon the one foundation must prove its value by standing
fast. We will hearken to no teaching but that of the Lord Jesus. If you see a truth to be in God’s word,
grasp it by your faith; and if it be unpopular, grapple it to you as with hook
of steel. If you are despised as a fool for holding it, hold it the more. Like
an oak, take deeper root, because the winds would tear you from your place.
Defy reproach and ridicule, and you have already vanquished it. Stand fast,
like the British squares in the olden times.
When force assaults were made upon them every man seemed transformed to
rock. We must have wandered from the ranks a little in more peaceful times, to
look after the fascinating flowers which grow on every side of our march; but,
now we know that the enemy surrounds us, we keep strictly to the line of march,
and tolerate no roaming. The watchword of the host of God just now is--”Stand
Fast!” Hold you to the faith once delivered to the saints. Hold fast the form
of sound words, and deviate not one jot or tittle therefrom. Doctrinally stand
fast!
Practically, also, abide firm in the right, the true,
the holy. This is of the utmost importance. The barriers are broken down; they
would amalgamate church and world: yes, even church and stage. It is proposed
to combine God and devil in one service; Christ and Belial are to perform on
one stage. Surely now is the time when the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and very dirty straw too. So they say; but I repeat to you this word, “Come out
from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing.” Write
“holiness unto the Lord” not only on your altars, but upon the bells of the
horses; let everything be done as before the living God. Do all things unto
holiness and edification. Strive together to maintain the purity of the
disciples of Christ; and take up your cross, and go without the camp bearing
his reproach. If you have already stood apart in your decision for the Lord,
continue to do so. Stand fast. In nothing moved by laxity of the aged, in nothing
affected by the current of modern opinion, say to yourself, “I will do as
Christ bids me to the utmost of my ability. I will follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth.” In these times of worldliness, impurity, self-indulgence,
and error, it becomes the Christian to gather up is skirts and keep his feet
and his garments clean from the pollution which lies all around him. We must be
more Puritanic and precise than we have been. Oh, for grace to stand fast!
Mind also that you stand fast experimentally.
Pray that your inward experience may be a close adhesion to your Master. Do not
go astray from his presence. Neither climb with those who dream of perfection
in the flesh, nor grovel with those who doubt the possibility of present
salvation. Take the Lord Jesus Christ to be your sole treasure, and let your
heart be ever with him. Stand fast in faith in his atonement, in confidence in
his Divinity, in assurance of his Second Advent. I pine to know within my soul
the power of his resurrection, and to have unbroken fellowship with him. In
communion with the Father and the Son let us stand fast. He shall fare well whose heart and soul,
affections and understanding are wrapped up in Christ Jesus, and in none
besides. Concerning your inward life, your secret prayer, your walk with God,
here is the watchword of the day--”Stand fast.”
To put it very plainly, “Stand fast in the
Lord,” without wishing for another trust. Do not desire to have any hope
but that which is in Christ. Do not entertain the proposition that you should
unite another confidence to your confidence in the Lord. Have no hankering
after any other fashion of faith except the faith of a sinner in his Savior.
All hope but that which is set before us in the gospel, and brought to us by
the Lord Jesus is a poisoned delicacy, highly colored, but by no means as
tasted by those who have been fed upon the bread of heaven. What need we more
than Jesus? What way of salvation do we seek but that of grace? What security
but the precious blood? Stand fast; and wish for no other rock of salvation
save the Lord Jesus.
Next, stand fast without wavering in our
trust. Permit no doubt to worry you.;
Know that Jesus can save you, and, what is more, know that he has saved
you. So commit yourself to his hands, that you are as sure of your salvation as
of your existence. The blood of Jesus Christ this day cleanseth us from all
sin; his righteousness covers us, and his life quickens us into newness of
life. Tolerate no doubt, mistrust, suspicion, or misgiving. Believe in Christ
up to the hilt. As for myself, I will yield to be lost for ever if Jesus does
not save me. I will have no other string to my bow, no second door of hope, or
way to retreat. I could risk a thousand souls on my Lord’s truth and feel no
risk. Stand fast, without wishing for another trust, and without wavering in
the trust you have.
Moreover, stand fast without wandering into
sin. You are tempted this way and that way: stand fast. Inward passions
rise; lust of the flesh rebel; the devil hurls his fearful suggestions; the men
of your won household tempt you: stand fast. Only so will you be preserved from
the torrents of iniquity. Keep close to the example and spirit of your Master;
and having done all, still stand.
As I have said, stand fast without wandering, so
next I must say stand fast without wearying. You are a little tired.
Never mind, take a little rest and brush up again. “Oh,” you say, “this toil is
so monotonous.” Do it better, and that will be a change. Your Savoir endured his
life and labor without this complaint, for zeal had eaten him up. “Alas!” you
cry, “I cannot see results.” Never mind; wait for results, even as the
husbandman waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth. “Oh sir, I plod along
and make no progress.” Never mind, you are a poor judge of your own success.
Work on, for in due season you shall reap in you faint not. Practice
perseverance. Remember that if you have work of faith and the labor of love,
you must complete the trio by adding the patience of hope. You cannot do
without this last. “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” I
am reminded of Sir Christopher Wren, when he cleared away old St. Paul’s to
make room for his splendid pile. He was compelled to use battering rams upon
the massive walls. The workmen kept on batter and batter. An enormous force was
brought to bear upon the walls for days and nights, but it did not appear to
have made the least impression upon the ancient masonry. Yet the great
architect knew what he was at: he bade them keep on incessantly, and the ram
fell again and again upon the rocky wall, till at length the whole mass was
disintegrating and coming apart; and then each stroke began to tell. At a blow
it reeled, at another in quivered, at another it moved visibly, at another it
fell over amid clouds of dust. These last strokes did the work. Do you think
so? No, it was the combination of blows, the first as truly as the last. Keep
on with the battering ram. I hope to keep on until I die. And, mark you, I may
die and I may not see the errors of the hour totter to their fall, but I shall
be perfectly content to sleep in Christ, for I have a sure expectation that
this work will succeed in the end. I shall be happy to have done my share of
the work, even if I personally see little apparent result. Lord, let thy work
appear unto thy servants, and we will be content that thy glory should be
reserved for our children. Stand fast, my brethren, in incessant labors, for
the end is sure.
And then in addition to stand fast in that
respect, stand fast without warping. Timber, when it is rather green, is
apt to go this way or that. The spiritual weather is very bad just now for
green wood: it is one day damp with superstition, and another day it is parched
with skepticism. Rationalism and Ritualism are both at work. I pray that you
may not warp. Keep straight, keep to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth; for in the Master’s name we bid you “Stand fast in the Lord.”
Stand fast, for there is great need. Many walk
of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the
enemies of the cross of Christ.
Paul urged them to stand fast because, even in
his own case, spiritual life was a struggle. Even Paul said, “Not as though I
had already attained.” He was pressing forward; he was straining his whole
energy by the power of the Holy Ghost. He did not expect to be carried to
heaven on a feather bed; he was warring and agonizing. You, beloved, must do the same. What a grand
example of perseverance did Paul set to us all! Nothing enticed him from his
steadfastness. “None of these things move me,” said he “neither count I my life
dear unto me.” He has entered into his rest, because the Lord his God helped
him to stand fast, even to the end. I wish I had power to put this more
earnestly, but my very soul goes forth with it. “Stand fast in the Lord, my
dearly beloved.”
III. Thirdly, THE APOSTLE URGED THE BEST MOTIVES
FOR THEIR STANDING FAST.
He says, “Stand fast because of your
citizenship.” Read the twentieth verse: “For our citizenship is in heaven.”
Now, if you are what you profess to be, if you are in Christ, you are citizens
of the New Jerusalem. Men ought to behave themselves according to their
citizenship, and not dishonor their city. When a man was a citizen of Athens,
in the olden time, he felt it incumbent upon him to be brave. Xerxes said,
“These Athenians are not ruled by kings: how will they fight?” “No,” said one, “but every man respects the
law, and each man is ready to die for his country.” Xerxes soon had to know
that the like obedience and respect of the law ruled the Spartans, and that
these, because they were of Sparta, were all brave as lions. He sends word to
Leonidas and his little troop to give up their arms. “Come and take them,” was
the courageous reply. The Persian king had myriads of soldiers with him, while
Leonidas had only three hundred Spartans at his side; yet they kept the pass,
and it cost the eastern despot many thousands of men to force a passage. The
sons of Sparta died rather than desert their post. Every citizen of Sparta felt
that he must stand fast: it was not for such a man as he to yield. I like the
spirit of Bayard, that “knight without fear and without reproach.” He knew not
what fear meant. In his last battle, his spine was broken, and he said to those
around him, “Place me up against a tree, so that I may sit up and die with my
face to the enemy.” Yes, if our back were broken, if we could no more bear the
shield or use the sword, it would be incumbent upon us, as citizens of the New
Jerusalem, to die with out faces toward the enemy. We must not yield, we dare
not yield, if we are of the city of the great King. The martyrs cry to us to
stand fast; the cloud of witnesses bending from their thrones above beseech us
to stand fast; yea, all the hosts of the shining ones cry to us, “Stand fast.”
Stand fast for God, and the truth, and holiness, and let no man take your
crown.
The next argument that Paul used was their
outlook. “Our conversation is in
heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Brethren, Jesus is coming. He is even now on the way. You have heard our
tidings till you scarcely credit us; but the word is true, and it will surely
be fulfilled before long. The lord is coming indeed. He promised to come to
die, and he kept his word: he now promises to come to reign, and be you sure
that he will keep his tryst with his people. He is coming. Ears of faith can
hear the sound of his chariot wheels: every moment of time, every event of
providence is bringing him nearer. Blessed are those servants who shall not be
sleeping when he comes, nor wandering from their posts of duty; happy shall
they be whom their Lord shall find faithfully watching, and standing fast in
that great day!
To us, beloved, he is coming, not as Judge and
Destroyer, but as Savior. We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, if we do look for him, let us “stand fast.” There must be no going into
sin, no forsaking the fellowship of the church, no leaving the truth, no trying
to play fast and loose with godliness, no running with the hare and hunting
with the hounds. Let us stand so fast in singleness of heart that, whenever
Jesus comes, we shall be able to say, “Welcome, welcome, Son of God!”
Sometimes I wait through the weary years with
great comfort. There was a ship some time ago outside a certain harbor. A heavy
sea made ship the roll fearfully. A dense fog blotted out all buoys and lights.
The captain never left the wheel. He could not tell his way into the harbor,
and no pilot could get out to him for a long time. Eager passengers urged him
to be courageous and make a dash for the harbor. He said, “No; it is not my
duty to run so great a risk. A pilot is required here, and I will wait for one
if I wait a week.” The truest courage is that which can bear to be charged with
cowardice. To wait is much wiser than when you cannot hear the foghorn and have
no pilot yet to steam on and wreck your vessel on the rocks. Our prudent
captain waited his time, and at last he espied the pilot’s boat coming to him
over the boiling sea. When the pilot was at his work the captain’s anxious
waiting was over. The Church is like that vessel, she is pitched to and fro in
the storm and the dark, and the pilot has not yet come. The weather is very
threatening. All around the darkness hangs like a pall. But Jesus will come,
walking on the water, before long; he will bring us safe to the desired haven.
Let us wait with patience. Stand fast! Stand fast! For Jesus is coming, and in
him is our sure hope.
Further, there was another motive. There was
an expectation. “He shall change our vile body,” or rather, “body of our
humiliation.” Only think of it, dear friends! No more headaches or heartaches,
no more feebleness and fainting, no more inward tumor or consumption; but the
Lord shall transfigure this body of our humiliation into the likeness of the
body of his glory. Our frame is now made up of decaying substances, it is of
the earth earthy. “So to the dust return we must.” This body groans, suffers,
becomes diseased, and dies: blessed be God, it shall be wonderfully changed,
and then there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain. The natural appetites of this body engender sad
tendencies to sin, and in this respect is a “vile body.” It shall not always be
so; the great change will deliver it from all that is gross and carnal. It
shall be pure as the Lord’s body! Whatever the body of Christ is now, our body
is to be like it. We spoke of it last Sunday, you know, when we heard him say,
“Handle me.” We are to have a real, corporeal body as he had for substance and
reality; and, like his body, it will be full of beauty, full of health and
strength; it will enjoy peculiar immunities from evil, and special adaptations
for good. That is what is going to happen to me and to you; therefore let us
stand fast. Let us not wilfully throw away our prospects of glory and
immortality. What! Relinquish resurrection? Relinquish glory? Relinquish
likeness to the risen Lord? O god, save us from such a terrible piece of
apostasy! Save us from such immeasurable folly! Suffer us not to turn our backs
in the day of battle, since that would be to run our backs from the crown of
life that fadeth not away.
Lastly, the apostle urges us to stand fast
because of our resources. Somebody may ask, “How can this body of yours
be transformed and transfigured until it becomes like the body of Christ?” I
cannot tell you anything about the process, it will all be accomplished in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. But I can tell you by what power it
will be accomplished. The Omnipotent Lord will lay bare his arm, and exercise
his might, “according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all
things unto himself.” O brethren, we may well stand fist since we have infinite
power at out backs. The Lord is with us with all his energy, even with his all-conquering
strength, which shall subdue all his foes. Do not let us imagine that any enemy
can be too strong for Christ’s arm. If he is able to subdue all things unto
himself, he can certainly bear us through all opposition. One glance of his eye
may wither all opposers, or better still, one word from his lips may turn them
into friends. The army of the Lord is strong in reserves. These reserves have
never yet been fully called out. We, who are in the field, are only a small
squadron; holding the fort; but our Lord has at his back ten thousands times
ten thousand who will carry war into the enemy’s camp. When the Captain of our
salvation comes to the front, he will bring his heavenly legions with him. Our
business is to watch until he appears upon the scene, for when he comes, his
infinite resources will be put in marching order. I like that speech of
Wellington (who was so calm amid the roar of Waterloo), when an officer sent
word, “Tell the Commander-in-chief that he must move me, I cannot hold my
position any longer, my numbers are so thinned.” “Tell him,” said the great
general, “he must hold the victory.” The officer read the command
to stand, and he did stand till the trumpet sounded victory. And so it is now.
My brethren, we must die where we are rather than yield to the enemy. If Jesus
tarries we must not desert our posts. Wellington knew that the heads of the
Prussian columns would soon be visible, coming in to ensure the victory; and so
by faith we can perceive the legions of our Lord approaching: in serried ranks
his angels fly through the opening heaven. The air is teeming with them. I hear
their silver trumpets. Behold, he cometh with clouds! When he cometh he will
abundantly recompense all who stood fast amid the rage of battle. Let us sing, “Hold the fort, for I am
coming.”
Added to Bible
Bulletin Board's "Spurgeon Collection" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986