Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? Sermons
I. IT IS SOMETIMES THE DUTY OF THE PREACHER TO TELL UNPLEASANT TRUTHS. It is a mistake to suppose that because he has a gospel to declare he must let only honied phrases fall from his lips. Jeremiah set up the prophesying of smooth things as the one sure test of a false prophet (Jeremiah 28:8, 9). John the Baptist prepared for the gospel by denouncing the sins of his fellow-countrymen. Christ uttered some of the most terrible words ever spoken (e.g. Matthew 23:33). The Church has been too much pampered with comforting words. We need more preaching to the conscience. 1. There are unpleasant truths. Nature is not all roses and lilies; nettles and vipers exist. The page of history is blotted with tears and blood. There are many ugly facts in our own past experience. 2. The great ground on which the preacher is required to utter unpleasant truths is that we are all sinners. The doctor who describes the eases in a hospital must say much about terrible diseases. 3. The purpose for which it is necessary to utter painful truths is to lead to repentance. It is not done merely to give pain nor to drive to despair. The lightning flash reveals the precipice that the unwary traveller may start back from destruction. Until we know ourselves to be in the wrong way we shall not turn to a better. II. THE PREACHER OF UNPLEASANT TRUTHS MUST EXPECT TO BE TREATED AS AN ENEMY BY THE VERY MEN HE IS TRYING TO HELP. This has been the case all the world over with the prophets of Israel, John the Baptist, the apostles, reformers in every age, and, above all, Christ himself, who was crucified simply because he told truths that stung the Jews to madness. The noblest heroes of the "noble army of martyrs" suffered on this account. It is well to understand and be ready for such treatment even in the milder form which it generally assumes in our own day. it can be explained, though of course it cannot be justified. It may be traced to the following causes: - 1. The influences of association. The messenger of ill tidings is hated for his message. Milton calls the bird that foretells "a hapless doom" "a rude bird of hate." 2. Misinterpretation. It is assumed that the preacher wishes trouble because he predicts it, that he has pleasure in humiliating us by revealing our faults. 3. A corrupt conscience. Men often refuse to admit unpleasant truths about themselves, treat them as libels and the preachers of them as libellers of the race. III. IT IS A GREAT BLUNDER TO TREAT THE PREACHER OF UNPLEASANT TRUTHS AS AN ENEMY. 1. It is foolish. Truth is not the less true because we are blind to it. The revelation of its existence is not the creation of it. 2. It is unjust. The faithful servant of Christ, like his Master, will wish nothing but good to those whose guilt he denounces. He is the enemy of the sin just because he is the Friend of the sinner. 3. It is ungenerous. It is always a thankless task to tell unpleasant truths. For a man of kindly disposition it is a most painful task. Be undertakes it for the good of his friends. It would have been much more pleasant for St. Paul to have retained his popularity at the expense of the Church's welfare. He is an ungrateful patient who treats as an enemy the surgeon who hurts only that he may heal. - W.F.A.
Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? — I. THEIR PAST RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE WAS ONE OF BLESSEDNESS. 1. Blessedness is one of the earliest notes of religious life. Christ's first miracle was at Cana: amongst His first words were the beatitudes. The earliest religious experience is that known as "first love." 2. There is a danger of this being lost through the truth on which it is based losing its freshness. The vision of Christ crucified had faded, and the Galatians were now seeking perfection in another way than that by which they had attained blessedness. 3. Blessedness can only be maintained by the constant realization of Christ as Saviour. II. THEIR PRESENT EXAMPLE IS ONE OF RELIGIOUS INSTABILITY. 1. They were of a fickle and changeable temperament. 2. Religion had entered them chiefly through the emotions. They had not fairly grasped the doctrines of Christianity. Hence they became an easy prey to false teachers. 3. They regarded the teacher rather than the truth he taught. 4. Influences were at work calculated to draw them away from their faith. (1) (2) (3) III. THE REMEDY. 1. Recognize the evil. 2. Return to Christ. (S. Pearson, M. A.) 1. Nothing is easier than to show that blessedness is the privilege of every Christian.2. But where is it in many an average Christian life? 3. If it be amissing, something must be wrong. 4. Its sole source is God, but it is dispensed at sundry places and by sundry channels. I. THE CROSS OF CHRIST. By this (1) (2) II. THE THRONE OF GRACE. 1. A reconciled God 2. A sympathetic High Priest. III. THE WELLS OF SALVATION. 1. The Bible. 2. The Lord's Supper. IV. THE WAYS OF CHRISTIAN GOOD-DOING (Acts 20:35). V. MOUNT PISGAH, with its views of the promised land. When all is gloomy elsewhere, all is bright there (John 14:1-3; Romans 8:18-21; Hebrews 12:22-24; Revelation 22:1-5). In conclusion, where is this blessedness? 1. How strange not to have it! 2. Stranger still to have had it and lost it. (Norman Macleod, D. D.) I. TO MAKE HAPPINESS THE CHIEF END OF LIFE IS A MISTAKE AS WELL AS A SIN, for it must meet with failure.II. THE END OF OUR BEING IS HOLINESS: and when this is attained, happiness is the certain result. III. THE BLESSEDNESS OF RELIGION IS THE OUTWARD AND VISIBLE SIGN OF THE INWARD AND INVISIBLE GRACE, just as good health is a token that our physical employments are conducive to our well being, 1. Those forms of religion which induce melancholy bear no stamp of Divine origin. 2. Man's greatest miseries have been produced by such a religion. 3. Happiness shows the worth of true religion, for "the fruit of the Spirit is joy." (S. Pearson, M. A.) is not the foundation or warrant of Christian life, but its crown and glory, like the tuft of green that adorns the palm tree: like the rich capital that wreathes the Corinthian column; like the crown that sparkles on the brow of a king. Without it the Christian is like a king without a crown, a column without a capital, a palm tree with a headless stem, (N. Macleod, D. D.)Feeling, even when directed to heavenly objects, may be in its substance partly physical; and there is no necessary connection between feeling so originating and moral earnestness or right morality. Nay, it is very possible for those who feel warmly to imagine, mistakenly enough, that warm feeling is the same thing as, or an adequate substitute for, acting rightly. He who said, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments," implied that there are forms of religious passion which may co-exist with disobedience, and may even appear to compensate for it. The Galatians had not been less willing to "pluck out their own eyes" out of devotion to St. Paul, at the time of their conversion, because they afterwards looked on him as a personal enemy for telling them the truth about the Judaizers. The apostle was not insincere who protested, "Though I should die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee;" albeit a few hours later, at the crisis of danger, he could exclaim, "I know not the man." Feeling is not necessarily moral purpose; and its possible deficiencies show that we cannot regard it as alone forming the material of Christian life.(Canon Liddon.) Feeling is of as much use in religion as steam is in an engine — if it drives the engine it is good; but if it does not it is no good for anything but to fizz and hiss and buzz.(J. Parker, D. D.) At the Governor's banquet in California State, where wine was flowing freely, one of the speakers, while making an excited speech, said: "If there is any one present who was ever happier in his life than he is here to-night, I call upon him at once to arise and say so." A young man sprang to his feet and said: "I was very much happier in one of Mr. Hammond's meetings than I am here." it produced a profound impression upon that gay audience.A number of persons were once relating their misfortunes to each other. One told of his whole substance entrusted to one vessel, having perished in the ocean; another of an only and beloved daughter recently ]aid in the grave; another of a son breaking loose from restraint, and plunging like the prodigal into the wickedness of a great city. It was agreed that these were sore afflictions, and it was wondered whether any could produce sorer. One who had hitherto been silent now spoke. "Yes," said he, "I can tell of something sadder than all these, a believing heart has gone from me." There followed deep silence at thess words, and when the little group spoke again it was agreed that the last was the heaviest sorrow; that there was no calamity like it.(British Messenger.) People Agar, Galatians, Hagar, Isaac, PaulPlaces Galatia, Jerusalem, Mount SinaiTopics Enemy, Friend, Longer, Speaking, Telling, TruthOutline 1. We were under the law till Christ came, as the heir is under the guardian till he be of age.5. But Christ freed us from the law; 7. therefore we are servants no longer to it. 14. Paul remembers the Galatians' good will to him, and his to them; 22. and shows that we are the sons of Abraham by the freewoman. Dictionary of Bible Themes Galatians 4:16 1462 truth, in NT Library May 7. "I Travail in Birth Again Until Christ be Formed in You" (Gal. Iv. 19). "I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. iv. 19). It is a blessed moment when we are born again and a new heart is created in us after the image of God. It is a more blessed moment when in this new heart Christ Himself is born and the Christmas time is reproduced in us as we, in some real sense, become incarnations of the living Christ. 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