Physical Blessing Followed by Religious Exhortation
Sin no more, lest a -worse thing come unto thee. — Johx v. 13.
Jesus went about doing good, — that is to say, he did not ever stand in one place waiting for people to come to Him, but He found out cases of need and proposed to undertake their relief and cure. He did so in this case. The impotent man did not go to Jesus; Jesus went to the impotent man. Thus Jesus worked in both ways: He stood still that people might come to Him and He went about that He might find the weary and the lost. The great act of Salvation is an act of approach on the part of God. ‘’ When there was no eye to pity/“* etc.; “God so loved the world, etc.;” The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.’
I. Sin no more, — it is cleae, then, that there is
A CONNECTION BETWEEN MOEAL LIFE AND PHYSICAL LIFE.
Jesus did not seek to change the mere habits of the sufferer. He did not give the man a scale of diet. Nothing is said as to sleeps exercise ablution or anyother physical discipline. The exhortation is profoundty religious — Sin no more! Where the spiritual is wrongs the physical cannot be right, — even when it is outwardly prosperous it is so but for a moment: its prosperity is threatened by a sword already poised. On the other hand physical discipline has a religious side. Cleanliness is a religious duty. Moderation is a command of God. Early rising may be necessary to the completion of the whole idea of worship. In a word, all oitr life is to he religious: ‘^ Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.^^
II. Sin no more, — it is possible, then, to leave
THE PAST, AND TO BE GOOD FOE THE FUTURE. A
solemn yet inspiring word is this! We may turn over a new leaf. We may bury our dead selves. In the face of this declaration made by the Son of God, what becomes of our excuses and pleas, such as “we cannot help it;^^ “circumstances are against us;” ‘^ the flesh is weak.” The first step to be taken is the formation of an earnest resolution. ‘^ Choose ye this day “Then will come all the helps of study, companionship, healthful service in the cause of goodness all conducted in a spirit of believing and hopeful prayer. But suppose we cannot reach, the sinless state in this life? Let that be granted still we may be moving in the right direction. “1 count not myself to have apprehended,, but this one thing I do I press toward the mark for a prize of our high calling in Christ Jesus,” As it is possible to sin tuith the will is it not also possible to sin against the will? God will judge the motive and His mercy will triumph wherever triumph is possible.
III. Sin no more — then it is possible to poeget
THE GEEATEST DELIVEEANCES AND BLESSINGS OF LIFE,
AND TO GO BACK TO SIN. The man had been healed. A mighty hand had lifted him out of the pit of despair and set him in the sweet light of hope: his youth had been renewed: his heart had gotten back all its best hopes; yet it was possible that all might be forgotten! The shipwrecked mariner may forget the agonies of the sea when his voice of prayer pierced the very storm, and forced itself into heaven. We say we shall never forget a mercy so great as this, yet behold in our prosperity we forget God! There is no spiritual eminence from which we cannot retire. There is a way back to hell even from the very thieshold of heaven!
IV. Lest a worse tiling come unto thee, — then it is right to appeal to fear in speaking religiously to men. This is distinctly an appeal to fear. Some men are inaccessible except through the mediam of terror, and they must be approached accordingly.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.^^ To those who have rejected the Gospel there is a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
Y. Lest a worse thing come unto thee, — then how
ma:ny must be the punishments which God can inflict!
Looking at this case one would have thought that
even the wrath of heaven had been exhausted. Recall
the facts: (1) Tioncj continued suffering, —” thirty and
eight years: ‘^ (2) friendlessness, —” I have no man: ‘^
(3) continuous disappointment, — ^’’another steppeth
down before me: ‘’ yet in view of all this, Jesus
speaks of the possibility of a “worse thing. ■’^ Who
can number the arrows of the Almighty? Who can
tell the temperature of His indignation? Who hath
sounded the pit of darkness so that he can suiely tell
the depth thereof? Cannot God go beyond our
imagination in the infliction of penalty? After He has
touched our skin with a loathsome disease, and made
our bones tremble; after He has sent a chill to our
marrow, and made our pulses stagger in their beat; after He lias struck us blind so that we cannot see the suUj and stopped our ears so that the storm cannot be heard; after He has loosened our ankle joints and taken the cunning from the hand of our power; after He has withdrawn the light from our eyes, and caused our brain to wither: is there more that He can do? Yea! No man can number all His weapons or tell where the confines of hell are set.
Ap^Dlication: — If we would sin no more ive must prcuj for a daily baptism of the Holy Ghost.