Christ, the Only Hope

‘’Lord, to whom shall we ^o/” — John vL 68.

THERE are many pathetic situations revealed to us in the reading of the earthly ministry of Jesus. I recall that incident where the angry Jews following after Him, with stones in their hands, awaited the first opportunity to hurl the stones at Him, and at last the more excited of the company perhaps did stone Him, when He with infinite pathos exclaimed, “Many good works have I shown you from my Father. For which of these do you stone me?” I also remember that time in His earthly experience when hungry for confession He said to His disciples, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” And when they gave Him the opinions which had been variously expressed, the general confession did not seem to be enough and He said, “But whom do ye say that I am?” And there is to me a great exhibition of pathos in this hearthunger of His for an acknowledgment of Himself on the part of His disciples. But of all the situations the setting of the text appears to me the most pathetic. We must remember that He began His ministry in Judea, but so great was the charm of His personality and the attractiveness of His teaching that the multitudes tUrongea Him and when there was danger of His failing to impress upon them the heart of His ministry because the crowds about Him were so great, He turned away from Judea and went into GaHIee. But He was the same in GaUIee as in Judea, and as He has ever been. And so the multitudes again crowded about Him, when in order to scatter them He gave them some sharp teaching concerning His ministry and His ultimate departure. The crowds at once began, to leave Him. They moved away by twos and by fours and then in larger companies, until at last only the twelve were left. Then Jesus turned to them, saying, “Will ye also go away?” And Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

There have been different renderings of this expression, “Will ye also go away?” Someone has translated it, “Yet cannot wish to go away, can ye?” And still another has made it read, “Ye may go away if ye wish,” implying that the going away is possible but highly incredible. But in spite of the suggestion the twelve remain by His side, for when once one has actually seen Jesus he can have eyes for no one else, and when once his heart has been filled with the presence of Jesus, everything else will fail to satisfy.

In all the ages there has been a sifting of those who have been the followers after God and the seekers after light. There are different experiences which have tested men’s attachment to Christ.

Sometimes intellectual difficulties are the means of testing, and yet suppose we should give up hope in Christ. What is there for us then? What if we are disposed to question certain mysteries, what can we gain if we turn away from One who has ever led men out of bondage into freedom and out of darkness into light? Someone has said, “It is easier to spoil a picture than to paint one, to pluck a flower than to put it back on its stem, to demolish a statue rather than release it from its imprisonment in the marble.” Everything in our religion appeals to reason if rightly considered. Joseph Parker used to say,” Religion is reason on her knees. Faith is reason on wings. Christianity is reason on the cross on the way to the crown.’* And if there should be intellectual difficulties to-day in the mind of anyone, do not leave Him because you cannot understand Him, but wait and trust. I remember rising from my bed when a student in the seminary determined to put all thought of the ministry out of my mind and to give up the church, for one of the doctrines of the Church was to me not only inexplicable but distasteful, but suddenly it came to me that this same doctrine had been believed by men the latchet of whose shoes I was not worthy to imloose, and so I determined to wait for light from above. And if there is any doctrine more than another in which I believe to-day, which has given me greater desire to preach than I had before, a greater love for the Bible and a greater conception of God’s majesty and power, it is this same doctrine from which I would once have turned away, but which now I believe with all my heart.

Sometimes trial is the means of testing, but it is inconceivable to me that men should turn away from Christ because suffering must be faced. Let us be reasonable people. Great souls have always graduated at the College of Hard Knocks. But if the heart-strings have abnost snapped, it is but the tuning of the instrument by the Master hand for sweeter music. What if the night has seemed to be interminable. We would not appreciate the sun but for the lowering of the curtain of darkness. What if our plans have been changed, our hopes blighted, our distress indescribable, we need not forsake Christ; for to whom should we go if we departed from Him?

Sometimes sin is the testing influence. Slowly yet surely the cord of fellowship has been strained almost to the snapping. It was in the beginning but one brief moment of entrancing pleasure, but in the pursuit of it we sold our birthright, and if we should go on in sin and away from Christ, what could we gain? Nothing but an accusing conscience, long sleepless nights, distressing days and an awful experience in the end. What an old sin backsliding is, for when we use this name we understand that it describes the condition of one who has in practice at least turned away from Him. It began in the days of Adam, continued until the time of the flood, and broke forth in Israel’s days with increasing force. Nothing could be more pathetic than God’s cry over his wandering people when he exclaims, “How can I give you up?” We need not, therefore, be surprised if we see men drifting in these days, for if, in the Old Testament times, one like Enoch walked with God, — others lost step with Him, and if in the New Testament days when many were faithful, others denied Him, like Peter, and betrayed Him like Judas, it is not at all strange that there should be traitors in the camp at the present time.

Some have drifted from Christ because they have been deceived from the beginning. There is a counterfeit grace as well as a real religion. Someone has said, “All is not gold that glitters. All blossoms do not come to fruit All is not Israel that is called Israel.” Man may have the deepest of feelings and desires, the greatest of convictions and resolutions, and even the highest of hopes and some joys of service, and never have the grace of God. They may run well for a season and bid fair to reach heaven, then break down and go back to the world and end their lives like Demas of 6ld or even Judas Iscariot

How little some people profit from religiousrivi-’ leges! You will notice that the twelve tarried with Jesus, and one of the twelve was Judas. If ever a man had a great opportunity it was Judas. He was a chosen disciple, a constant attendant of the Master, a witness of His miracles, a hearer of His sermons as well as a preacher of the kingdom, a fellow and friend of Peter, James and John, and yet he was shipwrecked for time and eternity. However, his privileges were not greater than ours, with the memory of a great ancestry, the recollection of a noble father, and the tender memory of a perfect mother. Religious privileges are not enough, good birth is not enough, early training not enough. Do you really know God? If not sell all that you have and learn to know Him. No sacrifice is too great to make. To whom else could you go if not to Him?

Others lose fellowship with Christ because they follow Him afar off. Peace and power are gone. Fellowship is sacrificed. While it is true that there is a teal grace whicH is an everlasting possession and from which we never fall away, yet unconfessed or continually practised sin will rob us of fellowship with Christ. A neglect of the Bible will take the joy out of our experience. Indifference to the prayer life will take from us the power of holy living. A life of listless endeavour will rob us of joy and of blessing. It is a sad thing to turn away from Christ in our living. To whom else could we go if not to Him?

To what do we owe our association with Christ? I 3o not forget God’s sovereign grace in our present position, but I would speak of the other side about which there can be no discussion. We owe our position in part, and frequently very largely, to our birth. We have been brought into close touch and relationship with Christ because of some saintly mother or because of some godly father. It is said that when John McNeil, the great preacher, who had heard a minister preach and had determined to be a Christian, went to his home, he found his mother sleeping. Entering her room he aroused her and told her that he had become a Christian and that he hoped to preach. Putting her arms about his neck she said to him, “Johnny, my lad, I prayed for this before you were born.”

With some it is parental consecration; for many a: man must acknowledge to-day that he owes much to the fact that when he was but a child his parents placed him before God on the altar, and nothing could be more beautiful than the faith of our fathers in taking their hands off from our lives and asking Him to direct and control them. An evangelist was preaching to the Indians. He had made a strong appeal that assistance be given to other Indians, and a collection was to be taken. Through an interpreter he asked them to make the very best gift they had. When the baskets had been passed down the aisle there came to the front a big Indian, his wife walking by his side and a little bit of a boy between them. Securing the attention of the evangelist the Indian said, “You told us to give the very best we had to God. Our best is not money, but it is this little child.” And without the suggestion of a smile he said, “We could not put him into the basket, so we brought him to you. You may take him away if you please, and we will never see him again. Only remember he is God’s child.” There is many a life of blessing which if traced back to its source would come to such a place as this of parental consecration.

Some owe their position in Christ to the fact that like Peter of old they could find no one else to whom they could turn. They may have tried philosophy, and the world and pleasure and even sin, but they were forced at last to say, “What can wash away my sin?” and they had no answer but this, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Whatever it is that has l?d you to Christ, It is a sad thing to break step with Him, to sell what we have for less than a mess of pottage, to deny Him in the house of His friends, to crucify him afresh. “Ye cannot wish to go away, can ye?”

There are many reasons why we should stay. There are too many mysteries unsolved if we go away. We cannot account for creation except with Him. Astronomers tell us that in our firmament there are eighteen millions of stms, and another firmament above this.

and still another and still another, and I cannot think that they came by chance. It insults my reason to do this. I prefer rather to stand with Him; without Him there was not anything made that was made. For He who made the stars and telleth their number. He holdeth them in His hand.

I cannot account for suffering away from Him. It is all a mystery, but when I hear him say, as He does in Isaiah xliii. 2-3, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am Jehovah, thy God, the Holy one of Israel, thy Saviour; I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead,” — then I have light in the darkness.

I cannot account for disappointment away from Him; but with Him, with every hope shattered and every plan broken, I can hear Him say: “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” “All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness. Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees; and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed. Follow after peace with all men and the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord.” I have no answer for the thirsty soul away from Him, It is the deep-seated nature of man which manifests itself in the many forms of restless activity and the powerlessmess of the world to quench this thirst that indicates the divine origin of the soul. He who drinks of the cistern will find the cistern running dry, and he who quaffs at the water-pool will find it foul and turbid. He who seeks to quench his thirst at the sea will only find his thirst increased.

“The frail vessel Thou hast made
No hand but Thine can fill;
The waters of this ^orld have failed.
And I am thirsty still.”

But by His side I hear Him say, “Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life:” Without Him I have no help for the sinner. Away from Him it is the survival of the fittest; while with Him it is pardon, forgiveness, and justification for the vilest. There are too many witnesses in his favour for me to leave Him. Call the roll of philosophers; Bacon, Locke, Dr. Johnson, Edwards, Hopkins, McCosh. They were Christians, and it was Locke who said, “If I had my life to live over, I would spend it studying the Epistles of Paul and the Psalms.” Call the roll of astronomers: Copernicus, Kepler, Sir Isaac Newton. They were Christians, and it was Kepler who said, “I am thinking the thoughts of God. I am overawed with the sense of His majesty. In the firmament God is passing before me in the grandeur of His way.” Call the roll of scientists: Agassiz, Miller, Proctor, Guizot. They were Christians. Then add the name of

John George Romanes, who was an unbeliever, but became a devoted Christian, accepting the divinity of Jesus and the atonement of Christ, and died a triumphant death. The greatest historians, among whom were Bancroft, Ridpath, and Green, were Christians. The greatest discoverers, among whom were Raleigh, Livingstone, and Stanley, were Christians. The greatest statesmen, among whom were Constantine, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, iWebster, Gladstone, and Bismarck, were Christians. All the presidents of the United States save one have been believers. Jurists like Blackstone and Hale, including air the judges of the Supreme Court, have been Christians. This company is good enough for me; and where these men have travelled I am not afraid myself to go, for to Whom else could I go?

Let us imagine for a moment that’ we have departed from Him. Then the Bible describes us as without God and without hope in the world. If we have departed from Him, we have no Bible. The Bible says: “The Lord is my shepherd.” The man without the Bible is shepherdless. The Bible says, “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” but the man without the Bible will have his thirst unquenched. The Bible says, “The Lord is thy refuge,” but the man without the Bible is at the mercy of every wind that blows. The Bible says, “Come unto Me and I will give you rest,” but the man without the Bible exclaims, “O, that I knew where I might find peace.” The Bible says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” but the man without the Bible goes into a hopeless eternity with no refuge for his soul. If we have gone away from Him then we have no Saviour. Sin is everywhere with wrecking and ruining power, and we have no hope to present to the hopeless and helpless, while with Him there is no man so deep in sin and no woman so far from God but we may sound a note of cheer for them. If we have departed from Him, then we have no hope in death. You may hold the lifeless form of your child in your arms and in imbelief you carry it to the grave, roll the stone against the door and say good-bye forever, while faith bids you say farewell and not good-bye. It was in Him that the grave has lost its victory and death has lost its sting, and while the body of your loved one rests in the tomb, God will not be unmindful of it.

In the 8th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and the nth verse we read, “But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through His spirit that dwelleth in you.” Some years ago, seated in my home in the country, I read the explanation given of this verse by one of the great Bible teachers in our country. He said when one became a Christian the spirit of God entered into him, and so long as he lived he was the temple of the Holy Ghost. “But,” said he, “when he dies his spirit goes to the God who gave it and his body is placed in the tomb to await the coming of the Lord, and,” said he, “it has always been my thought that this same spirit of God keeps watch over that tomb until the resurrection mom, guarding it as a mother bird guards her little ones.” I could scarcely read the explanation for my tears, and I drove at once to the cemetery with my wife and we knelt beside the little grave where years before we had placed the body of our first-bom boy. It had always been a spot of gloom, especially for the mother, for in it she had buried her first hopes. But with this thought of the spirit of God keeping watch we had a new conception, and ever since the grave has lost its terror and ideath has been robbed of its gloom. So to Whom else could we go if we turned from Christ? He is the Resurrection and the Life, our joy here and our hope for an unending eternity.

He IS our only Hope for the future, but it is equally true that He is our only hope for to-day. Without Him life is hardly worth the living, while with Him it is a constantly unceasing joy.