Part 15 (1/2)

Yes, my friends, this is our gospel, our good news, that there is a G.o.d whose Spirit strives with sinners to change them into His own likeness. A G.o.d who is no dark, obstinate, inexorable Fate, whose arbitrary decrees must come to pa.s.s; but a loving and merciful G.o.d, long-suffering, and who repenteth Him of the evil; who repents Him of the evil which is in man, and hates it, and has sworn to Himself to fight against it, till He has put all enemies under His foot, and cast out of His kingdom all things which offend. Who repents Him of the evil in man: but who will never again repent Him of having made man, for then He would repent of having become man; He would repent of having been conceived of the Holy Ghost; He would repent of having been born of the Virgin Mary; He would repent of having been crucified, dead, and buried; He would repent of having risen from the dead, and ascended up into heaven in His man's body, and soul, and spirit; He would repent of sitting on the right hand of G.o.d; He would repent of coming to judge the quick and the dead; He would repent of having done His Father's will on earth, even as He did it from all eternity in the bosom of the Father. For He is a man; and even as the reasonable soul and body are one man, so G.o.d and man are one Christ. As man, He did His Father's will in Judaea of old; as man, He will judge the world; as man He rules it now; as man, St. John saw Him fifty years after He ascended to heaven, and His eyes were like a flame of fire, and His hair like fine wool, and He was girt under the bosom with a golden girdle, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; as man, He said: ”Fear not: I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of death and h.e.l.l.” Yes. This is the gospel, the good news for fallen man, that there is a Man in the midst of the throne of G.o.d, to whom all power is given in heaven and earth; that the fate of the world, and all that is therein--the fate of suns and stars--the fate of kings and nations--the fate of every publican and harlot, and heathen and outcast--the fate of all who are in death and h.e.l.l, depends alike upon the sacred heart of Jesus; the heart which groaned at the tomb of Lazarus His friend; the heart which wept over Jerusalem; the heart which said to the blessed Magdalene, the woman who was a sinner: ”Go in peace; thy sins are forgiven thee;” the heart which now yearns after every sinful and wandering soul in His church, and all over the earth of G.o.d, crying to you all: ”Why will ye die? Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord, and not rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live? Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Oh, my friends, wonderful as my words are--as wonderful to me who speak them as they can be to you who hear them--yet they are true. True; for on that table stand the bread and wine whereof He Himself said, standing upon this very earth which He Himself had made: ”This is my body which is given for you; this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which I will give for the life of the world.”

x.x.xVII--THE KINGDOM OF G.o.d

The kingdom of G.o.d is within you.--LUKE xvii. 21.

These words are in the second lesson for this morning's service. Let us think a little about them.

What they mean must depend on what the kingdom of G.o.d means; for that is the one thing about which they speak.

Now, the kingdom of G.o.d is very often spoken of in the New Testament.

Indeed, it is the thing it speaks of above all others. It was the thing which our Lord went about preaching. It was the thing of which He spoke in His parables, likening the kingdom of G.o.d first to one thing, then to another, that He might make men understand what it was like.

Now, it is worth remarking that we--I mean even religious people-- speak very little about the kingdom of G.o.d nowadays. One hears less about it than about any other words, almost, which stand in the New Testament. Both in sermons and in religious books, and in the talk of G.o.dly people, one hears the kingdom of G.o.d spoken of very seldom.

One hears words about the Church, which are very good and true; but very little, if anything, about the kingdom of G.o.d, though both St.

Paul, and St. John, and the blessed Lord Himself, speak of the two together, as if they could not be parted; as if one could not think of the one without thinking of the other. And we hear words about the gospel, too, some of them very good and true, and others, I am sorry to say, very bad and false: but, true or false, they are not often joined now in men's minds, or mouths, or books, with the kingdom of G.o.d. But the New Testament joins them almost always. It says that gospel must be good news. Therefore the gospel must be good news about something. But about what? We hear all manner of answers nowadays; but we hear the right one very seldom. People talk of the gospel as if it only meant the good news that one man can be saved here, and another man can be saved there. And that is good news, certainly. It is good and blessed news to hear that any one poor sinner can be saved from sin, and from the wages of sin. But the holy scriptures, when they talk of the gospel, call it the gospel of the kingdom of G.o.d. And I think it best and wisest to call it oftenest, what the holy scripture calls it oftenest, and to try and understand, first of all, what that means, what the good news of the kingdom of G.o.d is: and to understand that, we must first understand what the kingdom of G.o.d is.

But some may answer, holy scripture speaks of the gospel of salvation. True, it does, once or twice. But what does that show?

Is that a different gospel from the gospel of the kingdom of G.o.d?

Are there two gospels? Surely not. Else why would holy scripture speak so often of ”the gospel”--”the good news,” by itself, without any word after to show what it was about? It says often simply ”the gospel;” because there is but one gospel; and, as St. Paul says, if any man or angel preach any other than that one, ”Let him be anathema.”

Therefore the gospel of salvation must be the same as the gospel of the kingdom of G.o.d; and, therefore, it seems to me, that salvation and the kingdom of G.o.d must be one and the same thing.

Now, do you think so? When I say ”The kingdom of G.o.d is salvation,”

do you think it is? Have you even any clear notion of what I mean when I say it? Some of you have not, I am afraid; you cannot see at first sight what salvation and the kingdom of G.o.d have to do with each other. And why? You think salvation means being saved from h.e.l.l, and going to heaven, when you die. And so it does: but I trust in G.o.d and in G.o.d's holy scripture, that it means a great deal more; for I think it means being unfit for h.e.l.l, and fit for heaven, before we die. At least, so says the Church Catechism, which teaches every little child to thank his Heavenly Father for having brought him into such a state of salvation in this life, even while he is young. Thanks be to The Spirit of G.o.d which taught our fore-fathers to put these precious words into the Church Catechism, to guard us against falling into the very same mistake as the Pharisees of old fell into, when they asked our Lord when the kingdom of G.o.d was to come. And, believe me, it is easy enough and common enough to fall into the same mistake.

For what was their mistake? They fancied that the kingdom of G.o.d was not yet come. And do not most of you think the same? They did not deny, of course, that G.o.d was almighty, and could rule and govern all mankind if He chose so to do. But they did not believe that He was ruling and governing all mankind then, because they did not know what His rule and government were like. Now, St. Paul tells us what G.o.d's kingdom is like. The kingdom of G.o.d, he says, is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So wherever there is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, there the kingdom of G.o.d is. But His kingdom over what? Over dumb animals, or over men? Over men, certainly; for dumb animals cannot have righteousness, or joy in the Holy Spirit. But over what part of a man? Over his body or over his spirit, as we call it nowadays? Over his spirit, certainly; for it is only our spirits which can be righteous, or peaceful, or joyful in G.o.d's Spirit. Therefore G.o.d's kingdom, of which St. Paul speaks, is a kingdom, a government over the souls, the spirits of men. Now, are our spirits the inward part of us, or our bodies? Our spirits, certainly. We all say, and say rightly, that our bodies are the outward part of us, and that our spirits are within us. Now, do you not see how that agrees exactly with the blessed Lord's saying in the text, ”Behold, the kingdom of G.o.d is within you”--that is, in your spirits, because it is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; and these are things which only our souls, not our bodies at all, can have.

But these Pharisees were not righteous; they were wicked and hypocritical men. Was the kingdom of G.o.d within them? The blessed Lord said plainly that it was. He said not, ”The kingdom of G.o.d is within some people's hearts;” or, ”The kingdom of G.o.d is within the hearts of believers;” or, ”The kingdom of G.o.d might be within you if you liked.” But He said that the kingdom of G.o.d was then and there within the hearts of those wicked and unbelieving Pharisees.

Now, how could that be? In the same way that some time before that, as St. Luke tells us, the power of the Lord was present to heal those same Pharisees; and they were for the time amazed, and glorified G.o.d, and were filled with fear at His mighty works; but not healed. Their souls were not cured of their sin and folly by any means; for we find in the very next chapter, that because Jesus cured a palsied man on the Sabbath-day they were filled with madness, and consulted together how to kill Him.

For, my friends, as it was with them, so it is with us. G.o.d's kingdom is within every one of us; but it may make us worse, as well as make us better. It may fill us with righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; or it may fill us, as it filled the Pharisees, with madness, and hatred of religion and of goodness; as it is written, that the gospel may be a savour of death unto death to us, as well as a savour of life unto life. And it depends on us which it shall be.

This is what I mean: G.o.d's kingdom is within each of us. G.o.d is the King of our hearts and souls; our baptism tells us so; and it tells us truly. And because G.o.d is the King of each of our hearts, He comes everlastingly to take possession of our hearts, and continues claiming our souls for His own. He speaks in our hearts day and night; whenever we have a good thought, He speaks in our hearts, and says to us: ”I am the King of your spirit. It must obey me. I put this good thought into your hearts, and you are bound to follow that good thought, because it is a law of my kingdom.” Or again, G.o.d speaks in our hearts, and says to us: ”You have done this wrong thing. You know that it is wrong. You know that it is an offence against my law. Why have you rebelled against me?” Or again, when we see anyone do a good, a loving, or a n.o.ble action; or when we read of the lives of good and n.o.ble men and women; above all, when we read or hear of the character and doings of the blessed Lord Jesus, then and there G.o.d speaks in our hearts, and stirs us up to love and admire these n.o.ble and blessed examples, and says to us: ”That is right. That is beautiful. That is what men should do. That is what you should do. Why are you not like that man? Why are you not like my saints? Why are you not like me, the Lord Jesus Christ?”

You all surely know what I mean. You know that I do not mean that you hear a voice speaking to your ears, but that thoughts and feelings come into your heart, without you putting them there: ay, often enough, in spite of your trying to drive them away. Now, those right thoughts are the kingdom of G.o.d within you. They are the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking by His Holy Spirit to your spirit, and telling you that He is your King, and that you ought to obey Him; and that obeying Him means being righteous and good, as He is righteous and good; and calling on you to give up your own wills and fancies, and to do His will, and let Him make you holy, even as He is holy. That, I say, is the kingdom of G.o.d showing itself within you, telling you that G.o.d is your King, and telling you how to obey Him.

But what if a man will not hear that voice? What if a man rebels proudly against the good thoughts that rise in his mind, and tries to forget them, and grows angry with them, angry with the preacher, the Church Service, the Bible itself, because they WILL go on reminding him of what he knows in his heart to be right? What if those good thoughts only make him the more stubborn and determined to do his own pleasure, and follow his own interests, and do his own will?

Do you not see that to that man G.o.d's kingdom over his heart is a savour of death unto death--that his finding out that G.o.d is his Lord only makes him more rebellious--that G.o.d's Spirit striving with his heart to bring it right, only stirs up his stubbornness and self- will, and makes him go the more obstinately wrong?

Oh, my friends, this is a fearful thought! That man can become worse by G.o.d's loving desire to make him better! But so it is. So it was with Pharaoh of old. All G.o.d's pleading with him by the message of Moses and Aaron, by the mighty plagues which G.o.d sent on Egypt, only hardened Pharaoh's heart. The Lord G.o.d spoke to him, and his message only lashed Pharaoh's proud and wicked will into greater fury and rebellion, as a vicious horse becomes the more unmanageable the more you punish it. Therefore, it is said plainly in scripture, that THE LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart; not as some fancy, that the Lord's will was to make Pharaoh hard-hearted and wicked. G.o.d forbid. The Lord is the fountain of good only, and not He, but we and the devil, make evil. But the more the Lord pleaded with Pharaoh, and tried to bend his will, the more self-willed he became. The more the Lord showed Pharaoh that the Lord was King, the more he hated the kingdom and will of G.o.d, the more he determined to be king himself, and to obey no law but his own wicked fancies and pleasures, and asked: ”Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?”

And so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out that the kingdom of G.o.d was within them, that G.o.d was the King of their hearts and minds, and was trying to change their feelings and alter their opinions, it only maddened them. They were determined not to change.