109SermonsbyJCRyle (continued)
6. We must think of Him as the Prophet who would come, foretold by Moses shortly before his death, who has shown to mankind the way of salvation, who has clearly explained how God's mercy and God's justice can be reconciled when sinners are accounted righteous, who has taught us how God would have men to live, and has placed duties and morality upon their right foundation, and these are the inward motives and the heart.
7. Lastly, we must think of Him as the great Example, who has left men a pattern that they should walk in His steps, who has given them, in His own person and behavior, a model of conduct in nearly every department of life which they cannot strive too much to imitate.
Now, I doubt not the greater part of you will feel disposed to say, "Do we not certainly know all these things? We have learned them long ago; we have heard them continually in church; if this is all you mean by thinking rightly of Christ, none may feel more comfortable than we do in answering the question of your text."
Yes, beloved—but this is not all. This is the point at which so many members of the Church of England stop short; here lies the snare into which so many of you fall; hitherto the devil himself will accompany you, and perhaps go further, for he believes, he trembles, he confesses Jesus to be the Holy One of God. Hearken, therefore, I beseech you, and understand that there are two ways of thinking about Christ; both indeed are necessary to salvation—but one, alas, is very often found to exist without the other. It is one thing to think of Him with the head, and another to think of Him with the heart; it is one to think about His offices as a matter of opinion, it is another to rejoice in them as infinitely important to your own soul; it is one to know these things correctly, it is another to live as if you felt them; it is one to acknowledge that Christ is a mighty gift to ruined man, it is quite another to apply this healing medicine to your own case.