Unless God had revealed Himself we could have guessed at hope, but the Scriptures are windows of hope to us, and reveal the God of hope to inspire us with hope. The Holy Spirit can. How much of religion is done as if it were performed by an automaton, or ground off by machinery.3. Holiness is the entirety of our manhood fully consecrated to the Lord and moulded to His will. Joy cries hosanna before the Well-beloved, but peace leans her head on His bosom. It is the law of Christ's vineyard that none shall work therein till first of all they know the flavour of the fruits which grow in the sacred enclosure. (2) Here is a trouble arising between different nations. Yes; but a man who is drowning may say that, but it is no solace to him as the billows close over him.
1. You open the door, and the daylight will come in. Because He was sent of God on purpose to save.
)A cheerful hopeJ. All things are his, not in possession, but in prospect. I can bring you all to the water, and a great many more; but I cannot make you drink; and I don't think a hundred ministers could. Some have the notion that as soon as they are saved they shall never have to fight.
"Fill you with all peace," etc. The Holy Spirit is absolutely needful to make everything that we do to be alive. Paul's making this state a subject of prayer implies that it is possible for it to be attained. The only way by which God can give any man joy and peace is by giving him Himself. What is the hope in which we are to rejoice and abound? The power of the Holy Ghost is manifested in —I. Some Christians, like birds in an eclipse of the sun, are sure that the shades betoken night. The reason is that there is a fire burning inside the one, but the other is untenanted. (3)The peace of an assured conscience.The apostle would have us filled with peace — the true peace — the peace which was the Father's token, the Son's legacy, the Spirit's seal and earnest unto the day of a complete redemption. Positively this hope is the assurance that there is place prepared for us by Christ in his heavenly glory, where we will be ever with the Lord in fellowship and holiness. And when Jesus was gone the master attestation of the Spirit was when He came like a rushing mighty wind, and cloven tongues. Because He was sent of God on purpose to save. )Joy essentialH. (2) In the relations in which He stands to us. (3) In what He has already done. True joy and peace may be very satisfactory evidences, but their absence, during certain seasons, can often be accounted for on some other hypothesis than that of the absence of faith.3. He can "Speak with that voice which wakes the dead."2. Faith is the hand which takes the blessing at God's hand.III. Why, we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God"; we "rejoice in hope of the glory" that shall be revealed. Examples of the latter are "the God of peace," "the God of patience," "the God of all consolation." True joy and peace may be very satisfactory evidences, but their absence, during certain seasons, can often be accounted for on some other hypothesis than that of the absence of faith.3. Suppose he said, "I feel sure that my money is safe, because I believe the bank is safe."
For example, people pay into a pension scheme with the hope that when they retire there will be a secure and acceptable pension to live on. How much of religion is done as if it were performed by an automaton, or ground off by machinery.3. As the Spirit is a quickener to make us and our work alive, so must He specially be with us to make those alive with whom we have to deal for Jesus.
Why, it is then that you begin the campaign. We might have expected "after ye have believed," as if joy and peace were net to be looked for at the outset of our Christian course, but the recompense of an advanced and established faith. Some have the notion that as soon as they are saved they shall never have to fight. If professors be not taught of the Spirit their ignorance will breed conceit, pride, unbelief. Because of the evident truthfulness of His character. Hope in this life always leaves the fear of something intervening to destroy the blessing that is hoped for. You are not able to reach the highest condition of which the human soul is capable. So, too, our fellowship with one another is always produced by the Spirit.2.
Sorrow too comes of ignorance. IV. He, too, welcomes the era when his fair dominions shall not he defiled with sin.
It is not his sense of safety that makes him safe. COMES "THROUGH JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING.". This peace and joy is found in the sense of the assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins, and that God looks in favour upon us as his children, and we feel his love flooding our hearts.
If there be a scanty supply in the higher reservoirs, there cannot be much overflow in the course of the river through Egypt. God sometimes permits the use of titles descriptive of what He is in Himself, and sometimes of names denoting His relation to His creatures. We find in this gracious operation our strength for the instruction of others; for how shall those teach who have never been taught? We begin with two observations —1. If He will but enlighten the Church thoroughly there will be an end of divisions. The reason is that there is a fire burning inside the one, but the other is untenanted. THE TEXT MAY BE USED TO CORRECT TWO COMMON AND DANGEROUS ERRORS.1. He means with the best and highest degree of joy, with as much of it as you can hold. Under the power of the Holy Ghost the uncivilised become civilised, the savage polite, the drunkard sober, etc.II. This prerogative is to be found in each of the three persons of the Trinity. But the fact is that as time goes on experiences in life can erode this glorious certainty, and Satan can introduce doubts which take away our joy.
Great attainments? We may not only be somewhat comforted, but we may be full of joy, etc. Now these are very hard to affect. Furthermore, when we come to deal with sinners we know that they must pray.
H. Suppose he said, "I feel sure that my money is safe, because I believe the bank is safe." But no; you should expect the blessing as you believe, and because you believe. It is the law of Christ's vineyard that none shall work therein till first of all they know the flavour of the fruits which grow in the sacred enclosure. Breathe about our wintry chills, scatter our darkness, raise our plane of thought and feeling! The hope is not dependent of anything that we do. This cheerful hope is the Christian's. Thus is it in the great battle of truth. I cannot save you, but I know my Master can.
This hope, therefore, is neither painted in water nor written in dust. And if a Church be destitute of holiness what effect can it have upon the world? Thus is it in the great battle of truth. I. This He has done by giving us His Word; but the Book, inspired though it be, is never spiritually understood by any man apart from His personal teaching. You have broken the alabaster vase; you may preserve the fragments, but you cannot make it whole again. To raise the dead. THE ONLY SOURCE OF TRUE JOY AND PEACE IS GOD HIMSELF. It is not his sense of safety that makes him safe. Because He rose again from the dead, and now He ever liveth to make intercession for us. Half of the heresy in the Church of God is not wilful error, but error which springs of not submitting the mind to the light of the Holy Ghost.
He is the Advocate of the Church — not with God, for there Christ is our sole Advocate, but with man. As that gospel rests on an accomplished propitiation, He is "the God of grace," "the Father of mercies"; as it displays its present effects in the soul, He is "the God of peace," and His name of names is love; as it reserves its blessedness for the future, He is "the God of hope," i.e., the Fountain of the entire Christian salvation as it is not yet revealed. Why, we "rejoice in hope of the glory of God"; we "rejoice in hope of the glory" that shall be revealed. Here we have set before us the abundance of peace, joy and hope as the result of the abounding power in us of the Holy Ghost.
And this is the teaching here, that if a man, trusting in God in Jesus Christ, has all this flood of sunny gladness lying quiet in his heart, there will be nothing in any future that can alarm. And all through the apostle's ministry "mighty signs and wonders were clone by the Holy Ghost, and many believed thereby.". And if a Church be destitute of holiness what effect can it have upon the world? —1. For the peace and joy that God gives bear witness in themselves to their own immortality. It is a good sign that the spring is come, that the weather is warm; but there are mild days in winter.
Here is a bankrupt: his plans are frustrated, his heart is bruised. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE TEXT IS OF CONSTANT APPLICATION : JOY AND PEACE ALWAYS COME THROUGH BELIEVING. Many a heart would break if the Spirit of God had not comforted it. If you want to get at them for any worldly object you can do it.
The Word cannot convert without the Spirit; and, as a rule, the Spirit does not convert without the Word. That same power which raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.Practical inferences:1. What would everything else be without this? You cannot get out of the Church what is not in it. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us …”, 2 Corinthians 3:12. H. Spurgeon(text, and ver. If I could have a stock of power all my own apart from the Spirit, I cannot suppose a greater temptation to pride and to living a distance from God.II. Some have the notion that as soon as they are saved they shall never have to fight. The heart can cherish no desire which is not abundantly spread out before him. If a man should say, "I have got a large estate in India, because I feel so happy in thinking about it," that is no proof whatever.
The Holy Ghost has a power over —1. THE CREATION IN BELIEVERS OF THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION.1. You tread upon the wild flower in the field, and for a time it is crushed; but ere the next morning comes, when the dew is on the grass, it stands erect again. There I expect to be happy." "joy and peace in believing.". But can we make the sinner pray?VI. As oil smooths the troubled waters, so the atonement of Christ calms the agitated breast.
Christian men may have a bad liver, or some trial, and then they get depressed. 1. For the believer in Jesus we have this hope of eternal glory in the presence of Christ. W. Beecher.Joy has been considered by Christian people very largely as an exceptional state; whereas sobriety — by which is meant severity of mind, or a non-enjoying state of mind — is supposed to be the normal condition. It is a Godlike hope — a hope which helps us to purify ourselves. Is He worthy of my trust?" The Spirit is very powerful, Christian! The expression is peculiar: He is termed the God of peace (ver.
The strength of a Church may pretty accurately be gauged by her prayerfulness. But... 2. We must ourselves drink of the living water till we are full, and then out of the midst of us shall flow rivers of living water.
2. All the evidences of the truth of Christianity which can be gathered from analogy, history, and external facts, are nothing whatever compared with the operations of the Spirit of God. (1)The peace of reconciliation with a God offended.