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Text: —“Abide.” —John 15: 9.
T
HE WORD which I use for a text is a
part of a verse which you are all very
familiar with. “Abide ye in my love.”
Jesus had been talking to His disciples
about love, and He now exhorts them
to abide in His love. But I want to
take the one word, “Abide,” as a
basis for some suggestions in the way
of helping you to gather up the frag-
ments that remain from our recent Bible Conference.
I suppose I need not say to you who have been
privileged to attend these meetings that we have
just closed the greatest Conference that we have
ever held.
During this time many of us have had the privi
lege of climbing the mountain heights of grace and
glory and getting a vision in spiritual things that
we had never seen before. But I have been think
ing since the Conference adjourned, and indeed
during those days of privilege, of the time when we
would, of necessity, settle down to the everyday
work of life, and I have wondered how much of
this Conference teaching, delightful as it has been,
would actually and really abide; and that is the
question that I bring to you this morning.
NEVER SATISFIED.
First of all let me say that if the blessings of
this Conference teaching are to abide, we must
not be satisfied with past achievements. This is
true from two standpoints. First, because there is
more than that yet to come.
There is no such thing in the spiritual life as a
stand still. Indeed, there is no such thing in life of
any kind.
Physiologists say that the moment the body
ceases to grow, that moment it begins to die. The
same thing is seen in the vegetable kingdom. The
botanist tells us that when the tree ceases to grow,
it begins to die.
This is just as true in relig'on as elsewhere. The
Apostle Paul’s injunction to be perfect is never to
be understood as holding up to the world the idea
of reaching a state of maturity in spiritual things.
He does not speak of the maturity of perfection,
or the perfection of maturity; indeed he disclaims
any such thing, and argues against it; but he does
speak, and does argue for the perfection of state;
a life where one is absorbing everything that God
gives for the development and enlargement of his
spiritual life.
We walk out and see the fruit lying at the base
of a cluster of beautiful petals. It is a very small
thing, but it is absolutely perfect. But it is not
perfected. It has not reached the perfection of
maturity until after awhile, when that fruit grows
and enlarges and ripens and falls; then it is per
fected. Then it has reached the perfection of ma
turity, and only then.
Just so it is in Christian experience. There is
no such thing as reaching a place where there is
no possibility of getting any h’gher. There is no
such thing as getting so perfect in spirit, soul and
body as that there is no chance to get any more
perfect. After awhile, when this life has ripened
and drops from its mortal twig, then, and not until
then, shall we know what it is to be perfected.
And so I want this morning to admonish you; I
want to urge you to look ahead and realize that
there are blessings which we have never dreamed
of.
And then it is true, because to be satisfied with
present achievements means to die. Absolutely,
to die, and that we cannot afford to do.
The apostle lays great stress upon Christian
growth: “Growth in grace and the knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ.” “As new-born babes, de
sire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow
thereby.”
It is not only a privilege and a command to
grow, but it is a necessity. A man must grow in
his spiritual life, or he must die. We cannot afford
to die. We have had too many good things to fold
our arms and sit dow.n, and become drones in the
religious world.
ABIDING IN THE ‘BLESSING
Tabernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G. nroughton, D. T).
Stenographically reported for The Golden Age.—Copyright applied for.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE COMMONPLACE.
Then, again, I want to say, we are not to let past
blessings of a spiritual character, such as we have
had, in any sense, cover up or allow us to under
estimate or undervalue the commonplace things,
which are very essential. We must understand that
it is by reason of the commonplace that we have
had great privileges. If there were no commonplace
there would be no delectable mountains for us to
climb.
Whenever you read the history of a great move
ment oi' a great man, you may well understand that
there is a vast deal more unwritten history than
there is of written history. The writer of history
usually proclaims those things that appear to be
great and spectacular; those things that shine out;
but you must understand that back of all that
Which shines, there is a vast deal of commonplace
that the world knows nothing about.
And so, I am sure, it is with respect to the bless
. ings which we have just experienced. If it had not
been for the commonplace, there would never have
been any Bible Conference. If it had not been for
the commonplace work of this church, the Bible
Conference movement would not have come to pass,
and every man and woman who has contributed to
the focusing of the great days of this work, has con
tributed to the enlargement of the blessings that
have come to the world through these conferences.
Every single act that has contributed to the making
of this plant has contributed to the focusing of the
great days, of the Conference, and all the blessings
in any way connected with it. »
I say, again, if there had never been any com
monplace, there never would have been any Con
ference. If there had been no one to do the drudg
ery, there could not have been the great outpour
ing of blessing. I mention this for the comfort of
many of you whose names, perhaps, do not appear
in public print in managing affairs. I say to you
that you, in your sphere, working at your work, that
work which is given of God, as much as the work
of standing on this pulpit and preaching, have
helped to bring all these blessings.
Then, too, I want to say that through the com
monplace affairs of life one has a chance, and, I may
say the only chance, of maintaining his own spiritual
welfare. It is through the exercise of the common
place that the world judges us. It is through the
exercise of the commonplace that we judge our
selves.
A man came to my study once and said to me, “I
believe I have been mistaken about being a Chris
tian.”
“Why?” I said.
“Well, I find that I cannot control my temper in
my business. I will fly off and say things that are
a reproach to the cause of Christ. I believe if I
were converted I would not do such things.”
He was getting up an estimate of himself upon
the ordinary, everyday, commonplace things of his
life, and while that is true of the individual judging
himself, it is true of the church also. The world
judges the church according to the faithfulness with
which it discharges the duties of the commonplace.
It is a very delightful sensation that we have when
we are privileged to walk upon the mountain peaks
and drink in the ozone and ether of the skies. It
produces a kind of exhilaration, but no man can
live up there forever. There is nothing up there for
him to do. He could not stay there and drink that
in forever, for he would die. We must remember
that it is down in the valley that the work is going
on; and that is true with us in respect to our reli
gion. It is very refreshing, very delightful, very
stimulating, very necessary—and I thank God that
He has provided for us now and again to get up on
the highest peaks in religious experience; but it is
down here, where people move, where the world is
in action, that we have got to live, and here is where
we have got to do our work.
AFTER THE TRANSFIGURATION.
Jesus Christ, it seems to me, clearly illustrates
this fact in connection with the transfiguration.
The Golden Age for June 23, 1210.
There He was on the Mount of Transfiguration,
surrounded by Peter, James and John, and after
prayer, the glory of God, the Shekinah of Heaven
fell upon Him; and when Peter, James and John
looked up into His face it was as bright as the sun,
they were fired with the glory of it! And when they
saw Moses and Elijah standing, holding conversa
tion with Him, they were so enraptured and en
thused as to want to stay there forever; and that
they might stay there and worship under these mag
nificent circumstances, they proposed to build three
tabernacles; one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one
for Elijah, and just worship in His shining presence
forever. But Jesus knew that this was not the way
to do it.
He, at the time when His head was covered with
the glory of heaven, saw great crowds of people
gathering around the base of the mountain, and in
that crowd He saw one man, and that man was pos
sessed of a devil, and so long as there was one man
possessed of a devil, He could not stay upon the
delectable mountain. He must come down to cast
the devil out of that man.
He could not stay on the mount of transfigura
tion so long as there was one man in all that great
crowd possessed of a devil. But that was not all
He found necessary to be done. He could have
gone back if that had been all, but He found when
He came down there that His disciples had actually
so far forgotten their spiritual ecstasy as to imme
mediately begin to fuss and quarrel in the very
presence of the glory which had not yet faded. And
what were they quarreling about? They were quar
reling about who should have the h’ghest place.
What a contrast! Jesus was talking to them
about His death; about giving His life for them, and
while He was talking about His great sacrifice, a
sacrifice which He did not have to make except for
His love for man; while He was talking to them
about His awful sacrifice, of His death on the Cross,
the most agonizing of all deaths, they were quar
reling about who should have the highest place.
But that was not all: On and on, even to the
cross, Jesus had His hands full of work for needy
men. And so, my brethren, I want to assure you
that it is not God’s plan for us to live feasting and
feeding on the delightful things of the Bible Con
ference, or any other similar blessing. It is the
plan of God to take us up now and then upon these
glorified peaks that we may catch a bit of a vision
of what is to be, and then to bring us back down
upon the earth where we have gbt to come in con
tact with the heart-throbs and the brain-throbs, and
tears and sin and wickedness here among men, our
fellows. Here is where we have got to put in our
licks for God.
Oh, how many of us would be glad to have the
blessings of our Father! How many of us like the
glory of our Father! The places of security; the
place of blessing; bqt we must remember that the
glory comprehends the suffering.
How many of us are willing to serve in the
kitchen? We are very anxious to say amen in
the meeting, but yonder in the kitchen is a place
of service, and those faithful women that served
during those days of the Conference, and made it
possible for the men and women to stay and take
in the blessings provided for them; I say to you
that in that respect they showed the spirit of the
Master.
Oh, that the church would wake up to the realiza
tion of the fact that it is those that seek for the
hard places and serve in the obscure corners that
bring the greatest blessings to the world!
A FORETASTE OF THE FUTURE.
Then, again, I want to say that we are to ac
cept our past blessings only as a foretaste of what
is to be when that which is imperfect is done away,
and that which is perfect is come.
At this point I want to give you a vision. I do
not have visions often. I sometimes have aircastle
visions, but this was not that kind.
I sat here one morning when Gipsy Smith was
preaching. The house was crowded, and on this
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