to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light.
4. You have the duty of all believers who know the time. They ought to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light.
Upon each of these four points I have something to say.
First of all, let us consider the present condition of the world. The Apostle Paul calls it "night." "The night," he says, "is far spent." I have no doubt, that word seems strange to some people. They think it surprising that our present time should be called "night." They are living in days of learning, science, civilization, commerce, freedom, and knowledge. They see around them things which their forefathers never dreamed of — railways, manufacturing plants, gas, electricity, steam engines, education for all, and inexpensive books. I know it all, and am thankful for it.
Nevertheless I say that in the things of God, the world is still in a state of "night." I believe that God looks down on this globe of ours as it rolls round the sun, and as He looks upon it, He pronounces it "very dark!" I believe that the angels go to and fro, and make report of all they see on our earth, and their constant report is, "very dark!" And I am sure that believers in the Lord Jesus in every land are of one mind on this subject. They cry and sigh because of the abominations they see around them. To them the world appears "very dark!"
Is it not dark in heathen lands? There are two-thirds of the whole world in open rebellion against God and His Christ. Two out of every three inhabitants of the globe have no Bible, no Gospel, no knowledge, no faith, no hope! They are cruel, deceitful, immoral, earthly sensual, devilish, idolatrous, superstitious! Surely that is night!
Is it not dark in many professedly Christian countries? There are two-thirds of all the professing Christians on earth who are unsound in the faith. Their religion simply is not Scriptural. They have added to it many things which are not to be found in the Bible. They have
left out of it many things which the Bible has plainly commanded. There are millions who give honor to the Virgin Mary and dead saints — instead of Christ. There are millions of baptized people who know nothing of the Bible, and have not the slightest idea of the salvation contained in the Gospel. Surely that is night!
Is it not dark in our own country at this present day? How much of sin there is in Protestant Britain — and how little of God! How much of open infidelity, heathenish ignorance, drunkenness, swearing, cheating, lying, covetousness — is weekly crying against us before the Lord Almighty! How many people in Great Britain go to no place of worship at all! How many go to church and chapel merely as a matter of form! How few are really in earnest about the salvation of their souls! How few have any evidence to show of a saving faith in Christ and a real work of the Spirit in their hearts! Surely even among ourselves it is night.
Is there not much darkness under the eyes of every true believer? Go to the most godly, quiet, and orderly parish in our land at this moment. Ask any well-informed child of God residing in it how many true Christians it contains, and what is the proportion of the converted to the unconverted. Mark well the answer he will give. I doubt if you will find a parish in Great Britain where one third of the people are converted! And if such be the report of parishes which are like the green tree, what must be the state of things in the dry? Surely it is night!
Reader, it is useless to deny these things. As humbling as it may be to the pride of human nature, the word of the Apostle is strictly true — the time present is night! An unconverted man may not perceive it. A graceless man may not comprehend it. The blind eye sees no difference between noon and midnight. The deaf ear makes no distinction between discord and sweet music. The mortified limb has no feeling either of heat or cold.
But I do believe that God's children can enter into the meaning of the expression. The people of the Lord Jesus Christ find by experience, that it is night.
It is a cold time to believers. They meet with much to chill and dampen their zeal — and little to cheer and warm their hearts. They have to put up with many crosses and disappointments. They see iniquity abounding, and their own love is apt to become cold. And why? It is night!
It is a lonely time to believers. They find little company on the way that leads to Heaven. Here and there they fall in with one who loves the Lord Jesus and lives by faith. A few of God's children may be found in one town, and a few in another. But on the whole, the children of the world seem like the Syrian army, which filled and country — and the children of God are like a few scattered sheep in a wilderness! And why? It is night.
It is a dangerous time to believers. They often stumble and scarcely discern their path. They often stand in doubt and know not which way to turn. They sometimes are unable to see their tokens and lose sight of their landmarks. At best they travel on in continual fear of enemies. And why? It is night.
Reader, I ask you to ponder these things. If time present be night, you will not wonder if we ministers warn Christians to watch and pray. You will count it no strange thing if we tell you to live like soldiers in an enemy's country, and to be always on your guard.
Reader, sit down and ask yourself whether you find this world in which you live to be night or day. Is time present, a time of conflict — or a time of ease? Do you feel that your best things are here in this life — or that your best things are yet to come? I offer these questions to you as a test of your spiritual state. I place them before you as a gauge and measure of your soul's condition. I tell you plainly, if you
never found this world a wilderness and place of darkness — it is a bad sign of your state in the sight of God!
The true believer will find the words of his crucified Lord to be strictly true, "In the world you shall have tribulation" (John 16:33). The true believer, like his Lord and Master, will be made "perfect through sufferings." The true believer will mourn over the world he lives in, as a world in rebellion against its rightful king. Sin will grieve him. Ungodliness will make him heavy of heart. Like Lot in Sodom, his righteous soul will be daily vexed with much that he sees and hears. He will long for the time when the day shall dawn, and the shadows flee away. For the present he will feel it is night.
Reader, is it your night or day?
Let us consider, in the second place, the condition of the world which is yet to come. The Apostle Paul calls it "day." "The day is at hand." The time here spoken of is the time to which every true Christian ought to look forward it is the time when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again. The present state of things in the Church of Christ shall undergo a mighty change — a change so great that it shall be like the turning of night into day.
The world we live in is not to go on always as it does now. The darkness of sin, ignorance, and superstition is not always to cover the earth. The sun of righteousness shall one day rise with healing in his wings. The Lord Jesus shall come again with power and great glory. He shall return as a morning without clouds, and then it shall be "day." There is a time coming when the devil shall be bound and shall no longer rule in this world (Rev. 20:1, etc.). Sin and all its consequences shall be cast out. The groaning creation shall at length be refreshed (Acts 3:19). The wicked shall be shut up forever in their own place, Hell. The saints of the Most High shall at length possess Heaven. There shall be a new Heaven and a new earth, wherein shall dwell righteousness. Surely that will be "day."
There is a time coming, when believers shall have joy and gladness — and sorrow and sighing shall flee far away. Every tear shall be wiped away, every cross laid down, every anxiety removed, every bitter cup taken away!
Persecution, temptation, sickness, mourning, parting, separation, and death — shall be at end! Surely that will be sunshine. It will be "day."
There is a time coming when the whole family of Christ shall be gathered together. They shall rise from their narrow beds and each put on a glorious body. They shall awake from their long sleep refreshed, strengthened, and far more beautiful than when they lay down. They shall leave behind them in their graves, every imperfection, and meet without spot or wrinkle, to part no more. Surely that will be a joyful morning. It will be "day."
There is a time coming when believers shall no longer see through a glass darkly — but face to face. They shall see as they have been seen, and know as they have been known. They shall cease to wrangle and dispute about outward matters, and shall think of nothing but eternal realities. They shall behold their crucified Lord and Savior with the eye of sense — and no longer follow Him by faith. They shall see one another free from all corruption, and misunderstand one another's motives and conduct no more. Surely that will be "day."
I see here great comfort for every believer in Christ who reads these pages. There is a day before you — a glorious day. You sometimes feel now as if you walked in darkness and had no light. You have often a hard battle to fight with the world, the flesh, and the devil. You sometimes imagine that you will never win your way home, and must faint along the way. Your flesh and heart are ready to fail. You are sorely tempted to give up and to sit down in despair. But take
comfort in the thought of things yet to come. There is a good time before you. Your day has yet to dawn.
I see here great reason why many professing Christians should tremble and be afraid. There are many, too many I fear, to whom the time to come will be anything but day. There are many . . . whose happiness is evidently all below, whose treasure is all on earth, whose brightest time is now, and whose gloomiest prospects are hereafter.
The further they look onward — the darker everything appears! Old age looks dark; sickness looks darker still; death and judgment look darkest of all!
Beloved reader, if this is your case, I warn you plainly there must be a change. Your views, your tastes, your inclinations, your affections — must be renewed and transformed. You must learn to view the world that now is, and that which is to come — in a very different light. Go and sit at the feet of Jesus, and ask Him to teach you this lesson. Ask for the enlightening Spirit to anoint your eyes that you may see. Ask for the veil to be taken away, that you may behold everything in its true colors.
I know well that Satan labors hard to prevent men thinking of a better world than that in which we now live. He strives to turn away their eyes from the coming day. He would gladly persuade them that it is impossible to do their duty in this life — and at the same time to set their affections on things above. He whispers to people that we ministers want them to become gloomy hermits, or fanatical haters of mankind — and that if they listen to us they will become unfit for all the relations of life. Against all suggestions of Satan — I warn every reader to be on his guard. I bid no one neglect the duties of his station, or forsake the post which God has called him to fill. I encourage no one in moroseness and churlishness — as if there was
nothing to be thankful for in this world. I praise no one who refuses his affections to those with whom he is united by love, friendship, and relationship.
I only ask that the believer in the New Testament should live by a New Testament standard — that he should look for the coming of the day of God, and wait for the Son of God from Heaven, and love his Lord's appearing.
Reader, I abhor all extravagance and fanaticism on the subject of things to come. I have no good opinion of any religion which makes a man neglect his business or cease to love wife, children, relatives, and friends. I only ask that we should take scriptural views of things as they are — and things as they yet will be. I ask that we should see our present evils — and mourn over them; that we should see our future good things — and long for them. Let us honestly confess that sin is around us — and long to be delivered from its presence. Let us honestly confess that holiness is one day to spread over the earth — and long for it to come. Let us never be ashamed to allow that it is "night" and that we want it to be "day."
Tell me, can that man really hate sin — who does not desire to see it swept away from the earth? Can that man love holiness — who does not long for the time when all shall know the Lord? Can that man be truly united to Christ by faith — who does not wish to see Christ and to be with Him? Can that man be a saint — who does not thirst after the unmixed company of just men made perfect? Can that man be in earnest who daily prays "May Your kingdom come" — and yet is content that the world should go on as it is without any change? Oh, no! no! These things are impossible! God's true children will want to be at home. They will wish for the day.
Reader, if you mean to be saved, you must learn to view time present as "night" — and time to come as "day." You must learn to regard the other side of Death — as the home of your soul; and this side — as a desert land. Time present must be your wilderness, your battlefield,
your place of trial. Time to come must be your Canaan, your rest, your Father's house — or else you had better never have been born.
In the third place, let us consider the particular times in which our lot is cast. The Apostle Paul tells us, when he says, "The night is far spent, and the day is at hand." I believe these words mean that the last order of things has arrived — the last stage in the history of the Church has come. The law and the prophets have done their work. The Messiah promised at the fall, has appeared and provided a complete salvation. The last revelation of God's will has been made. The way of life has been laid open to all mankind. No further message from Heaven to earth is to be expected before the end. No more books of Scripture are to be written. We have reached the last watch of the night. We have nothing to expect now, but the sunrise and the morning!
Reader, these words, which were true eighteen hundred years ago, are, if possible — more true at the present time. They are words which should come home with increasing power to the Church of Christ every year. "The night is far spent — the day is at hand."
I am one of those who think "the day" may not be so far off as some seem to suppose. I am unable to put away the idea of the Lord's return in glory, as an event which "of course" cannot be in our times, as some men say. I rather think I see tokens of the sun being near the horizon. At all events, I desire to keep in special remembrance James' words, "The Judge stands before the door!" "The coming of the Lord draws near!" And Peter's words, "The end of all things is at hand!" (James 5:8,9; 1 Peter 4:7).
I am no prophet, and may easily be mistaken. I may die, and you may die, before Christ comes and the day dawns. But I appeal to every thinking man, whether there are not "signs of the times" which deserve serious attention. I ask him to notice the things going on in the world, and to consider well what they are intended to teach.