Chapter 5: THE POWER OF APPROPRIATION.
Chapter 5: THE POWER OF APPROPRIATION.
Let me read from the third chapter of the Book of Acts: “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
“And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple: who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms.
“And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
“Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
“And all the people saw him walking and praising God: and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.
“And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, -and of Jacob, the God of our Fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let Him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you: and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”
IMAGINE A DOUBLE staircase of marble, rising to the first terrace for the women, the second terrace for the men. On the top stair of the second flight is the Beautiful Gate, so termed, made of Corinthian brass, so heavy that it took four men to open and close it at sunrise and sunset. It was exquisitely wrought of beaten work, and was counted one of the wonders of the world. Beyond it lay the altar, and the laver, and the temple, the court in which our Savior often walked, and in which the priests did their wonted work. There it stood, not unlike the gate into a whole life, because there was an old law in the book of Leviticus which enacted that any man that had a defect or deformity, though actually born with true Israelitish blood in his veins, was never to enter. He might go right up to that top stair, but there he must stop. No deformed or defective man might pass that limit. I think we may therefore take it now as being the gate into perfect soundness of life.
The man on whom our thought is to be concentrated was born lame. So far as I understand the narrative there was no malformation of the limb, but simply paralysis of the motor nerve. His ankle bones were perfectly formed. The hinge would work with perfect accuracy. The will might influence the nerve centers, and they might send an impulse through the spinal cord to the ankle bones, but what ever the impulse might be in the will, there was a paralysis which prevented it from being executed. And therefore four friends of his, kindly, honest-hearted men, made a point of coming for him in his humble dwelling-place every morning, to bear him up the double staircase, depositing him upon the highest stair; and then retiring to their avocations, returning to fetch him back at sunset with his scrip more or less full of the alms he had received.
Whether or not he was married we do not know. If he were, he would probably have a good deal to say to his wife and neighbors of what had transpired in the Temple that day. If anything should have happened in the temple courts, if there had been a riot or anything of the kind, or a new anthem in the Levite choirs, he would tell of it. If there had been an undue concourse of people he would speak of it. He was greatly interested in all that went on in the Temple. He lived upon the crumbs that fell there. His sustenance was derived from people who went to and fro, and dropped a pittance in his hand as they passed. He would have liked to have gone in himself, but he never could. He had not the power to do what he wished. He knew the way, but he could not do it.
Is not this a picture of yourself? Right against you stands the portal into soundness of life, where men may come to the altar of God with exceeding joy, and wash in the laver, and kindle the flame of the seven-branched candlestick, and worship within the vail. That is the perfect soundness of life where men leap and praise God, the ideal on which their mind is set, where there is power to serve God, to live for Him, and to become a whole burnt sacrifice. It is the gate of perfect faith, but you lie just outside, as near as ever you can, but there you stop. You are very glad to live on the alms of the people who go in, the little books they write, the addresses they deliver. It is a pity you do not go in, and get the best God has for you.
But you say, “That will never come to me. I am glad to hear what others have found out about God.”
There is not the slightest reason in the world why today you should not know and enjoy as much of God’s love as anyone else. The only lack is that somewhere in your nature there is a paralysis, a want of power. The good you would you do not, and the evil you would not you do. All you have to do today, in the simplest way possible, is to link your nature to that of Christ, the living, risen Lord. Let us follow THE STEPS THAT PETER TOOK, so that you may leap up and praise God, and go home never to be paralysed again.
First, He excited this man’s expectation. He said, “Look on us.”
He did look on them, and at first sight he was very much disappointed. As he reckoned them from head to foot he thought they were about as poorly dressed men as he had seen for a long time. Their costume indicated they came from Galilee, where people were mostly poor, and he thought to himself: “I shall not derive much assistance from you.” Peter knew from the look of disappointment that passed over his face what his thought was, and said:
“I have neither silver nor gold.”
When you are doing work for God with the souls of men you do not want the silver of eloquence, nor the gold of learning, because you have something better to give. So Peter turned the man’s expectation from himself.
If I were to try and appeal to your intellect or emotions you might begin to depend upon the Christian men, with whom I associate, or upon their books. As you did so they would intervene between you and the only thing that does abide and really help, and that is, the touch of the human spirit with the mediator in whom God dwells, and who is waiting to give Himself to you. He will go with you through the street. When you reach your lonely bedroom He will be there. When you awake tomorrow morning your first thought will be, He whom I found yesterday is present. You will no longer rely on the impulse of a human voice, which soon fades away upon the night wind, but you shall go in the strength of a nature which will always be yours, poured into your life, empowering and energizing you, from Jesus Christ.
So the first step is to turn people’s thoughts away from the speaker.
Secondly, Peter began to talk about his Master. And he did that wisely. If he had begun by talking about the man’s faith, the man would have looked at his faith. About the worst thing anybody can do is to talk about faith to people who do not believe. Whenever a minister talks about faith, his hearers begin to wonder if they have the right sort. The more you feel your pulse, the more you disturb your heart’s pulsations. The more you think if you are well, the more morbid you become. If you want people to believe do not talk about faith, talk about THE OBJECT OF FAITH and remove any moral hindrance to faith that there may be in the nature; because faith is not intellectual but moral, and unbelief is the result generally of some moral inaptitude, some delinquency, some sin that needs to be dealt with. When you have dealt with that and presented Christ, faith rises sweetly toward Him.
Do not tell people to-examine their faith, but lift up Christ. This is what Peter did. Only Christ! He held Him up before the man.
You will further notice, and this is a very important thing, he did not hold up facts about Christ, but Christ Himself Men are saved, not by the death of Christ (though it is often said so), but through faith in Him who died. They are not saved by the resurrection of Christ, but by Him who rose. Men tell me to go back to Christ. What is the use of going back eighteen hundred years? They tell me to go up to Christ. What is the use of going up? He is here, actually present, the same yesterday, today, and forever. I hear Him say:
“I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive, and with you Lo the end of the age.”
Men always think that heaven touches earth at the horizon, either at the east or west, and that the heaven about them is far away. But heaven is as near earth here and now, as at the horizon either of the long past or of the far future. Christ is here. He is moving amongst us, and we point you to the present Christ.
And Peter went further. He did not talk about Christ as a teacher, or miracle-worker, or perfect human example. He said, “He who died is glorified.”
What is glory? Glory is the breaking out and the manifestation of hidden quality. What is the glory of light? -The rainbow, because it reveals the hidden beauty and color of light. What is the glory of a seed? The flower, for the flower unfolds the aroma and beauty that lie folded in the seed. When is the beauty of the diamond seen, but when its facets are cut to reflect the light? And so what is the glory of Christ? That through’ death His true nature was revealed and set free, so that the nature of Jesus might permeate other natures. If the nature of Christ can pass freely into the nature of men they must become perfectly sound. In the death and resurrection and ascension of Christ, it has become possible for the nature of Christ to be all-pervasive. Therefore Peter began wisely enough to speak of that, and say:
“God hath glorified His Son Jesus, whom ye crucified.”
Then Peter went on to utter one more thought. He spoke of Christ as the Leader of life. He used a word which is used only four times in the Bible, the meaning of which is, the leader of a file of men. If I had a hundred men here and put the representative man first, you would see in him a specimen of the ninety-nine behind him. He would be the-file leader. Look at him, and understand the rest.
Peter said, “My Master is the leader of the file, the file-leader of life.”
It is a marvelous expression. The old version says, “the Prince of Life”; the revised version says, “the Author of life”; but the Greek says, “the file-leader of life.” Peter says in effect: “He does not lead cripples, He does not lead lame men, He does not lead a lot of decrepits that go on crutches; He leads a file of life. If you will fall in and follow, you will find that you will become as one of the file of living ones.”
Is not that a grand conception? It is as if when Christ rose from the dead He began to march, and Peter and John and Mary marched after, and the early church followed, and the martyrs fell in line, and all the holy ones that confessed Christ in the dark ages joined the file, and they are marching on today. I HEAR THEIR STEADY TRAMP through all the ages.
All who fall in behind Christ find Him the file-leader of life, perfect life. Fall in, lame man, and walk!
Oh, brothers and sisters, you and I are following after many who have gone through the beautiful gate where Jesus has gone before us. He is marching on into the everlasting glory, deeper and deeper into the heart of heaven, to the fountains of waters of life. He is leading, and we are following, and shall follow for evermore. He is the file-leader of living ones. Peter struck a spark when he said that.
But the man did not get up yet. He said, “I cannot.”
“Well,” said Peter, “He is the Author of life. His nature (that is, His name), through faith in His name, will make you strong.” Whenever in the Bible you encounter the word name, substitute nature; name is always nature. Peter said, “Man, your nature is paralyzed but His nature is strong. If, then, you can get His nature into you, especially to that part of your ankle bones which is paralyzed, He will make you strong just where you are weak. “
Is not that what you want? You want His nature where your nature is weak. You want Him to replace your paralysis by His strength. He is strong enough. His feet glow like coals of fire.
The man began to think about it. “Yes,” said he, in a flash, “if only His nature where it is strong, would come into my nature where it is weak, my ankle bones would receive strength. That is it.”
And the man received out of Christ by an act of faith the quality in which he was weak; or I might put it in this way, he took Christ’s nature to” be that quality in him in which he was deficient.
Now there is not one true believer on Christ that is not conscious of weakness. It is not that your judgment is wrong, or your knowledge of right and wrong defective, but you are paralyzed through some weakness of your moral nature, so that you cannot do what you would. This, however, shall be remedied, if from this lesson yore learn how to appropriate the fulness of Christ.
It was a revelation to me. I was staying with Canon Wilberforce one autumn. We had been for an afternoon walk near Southampton, with quite a number of clergymen and gentlemen, and had come in to an early cup of tea, and then to a twilight talk around the fire. He sat there, and addressing me, asked me to give a brief record of my religious experience. I said that I had lately given up something for Christ. An old clergyman on the other side of the room then got up, the light falling upon his reverend face. He said he was quite surprised to hear me talk about giving up. For his part he was always taking in. He said that formerly, when he was a very impetuous, impulsive man, he was about to lose his temper with a number of children, when suddenly he turned to Christ, and said, “Thy patience, Lord!” and instead of losing his temper he said he could have borne with twice the number of children, and twice the amount of noise, because he had met it by the nature of the risen Christ. He said that ever after that he acquired the habit, whenever the devil tempted him, of taking his cue from the devil, and getting an armful of the opposite grace from Christ. Hence what the devil meant to be his stumbling block he turned into A STEPPING-STONE.
I believe that is why God allows us to be tempted, because temptation may become such a means of grace, when we treat it so. In hours of impurity receive Jesus to be purity. In hours of irritability receive Jesus to be quietness, tranquillity. In hours of rush receive Jesus to be rest. In hours of weakness and moral cowardice receive Jesus to be strength.
You begin to understand my text now? His nature, through faith in His nature, makes men strong where they are weak, and their ankle bones receive strength.
Oh, that every body here would stop one moment and ask, “Where am I weak? Where do I fail?”, We all know where. When you have once broken your limb it is always weak at that spot. If a wall has been broken down you can always tell where it has been patched. You and I know where we have failed, failed, failed again.
Perhaps you say, “I am easily ruffled. I shall never get inside the Beautiful Gate.”
Yes, but if you can once receive the nature of Christ to take the place of the ruffling, so that when the suggestion of temptation for ruffling comes you meet it, not by your resolution not to be ruffled, hut by the peace and gentleness and sweetness of Christ, you will be able to walk, leap, and praise God. Your nature would fall within five minutes. Your resolution would carry you no further than the rush of an express train will carry a chip or straw which it catches up for a moment as it eddies over it, but it soon drops it down. But if you can once understand what it is to have the nature of Jesus pouring into you moment by moment, as the heat pours into the radiator when the valve is turned on, then you will never get cold and fall again. His nature through faith in His nature makes people strong.
But they must receive it. Here and now, without emotion, without feeling, without earnestness, only conscious that you need strength, I want you to draw out of Christ His nature, by an act of appropriating faith.
It carries me back to CHRISTMAS MORNING in the “auld lang syne” that will never come again, but the memory of which lingers ever fragrant m my heart like music in the dream, those happy, happy days which yet live on in one’s power to understand a child’s life. When Christmas morning came, the long-expected morning, the prayers seemed long, and the breakfast was hardly touched when the servant came to announce that all was ready, and father and mother let us helter-skelter in. I can see the table now covered with presents, and the tree in the middle. There was a great heap, and I did not need to ask” anybody for them, I just took them. Off the wrapping paper went, and on to the floor, one walked knee deep in waste paper; and when the paper was gone the presents were appropriated: this was mine and that Can you not imagine God lifting the cloth off a great table full of gifts? All is ready. Child, you have been waiting ten years for it, and the day has come, and there is your gift, and yours, and yours. What do you want? You have been praying for forgiveness. There it is! Now come up, and take it. You have been asking for the assurance of sonship. It is there! Take it. What do you want? Power over passionate thoughts and deliverance from an unholy appetite? Well, the purity of Christ will answer all that. What do you want? “I have a terrible temper, sir. I try to be pleasant at home, but when I am most determined I get easily put out, and I am ready to kill myself with remorse. If I could only keep my tongue still!” Well, here it is, the patience of Christ. What do you want? You have been asking for five years for the filling of the Holy Ghost. It is all ready, it has been here a long time but you have never come for it. Here it is. What is it you want? Strength in your ankle bones? You want to walk in God’s way, you want to leap a bit? Well, here it is, all the old, glad strength of earlier days, when you used to leap as the hart. It is here in Jesus Christ. He is the table, He is the gift, He is the cover too. His human nature, set free in death, is now glorified on His Father’s throne. Is not that enough for you? The Lord Jesus is the complement of your need.
Let me give you a lesson in mathematics. If I draw an arc of a circle, the rest of the circumference required to make it a. complete circle is called the complement. Complement is only an abbreviated form of completement. The bigger the arc the smaller the complement. Those who want most will get most out of the Complement Christ. Christ is the complement of human need, and so blind men took seeing out of Christ, and deaf men took hearing out of Christ, and dead men, (if I may so put it), took life out of Christ, and women who for twelve years had suffered much took virtue out of Christ. Everybody that wanted anything just took what they wanted, and He became the complement of their needs. His nature, through faith in His nature, made blind men see; and deaf men hear, and lame men walk, and dead men live. Everybody took out of Him just what they wanted; and He is here now, and you have only to take out what you need and go home with it, nay, go home with HIM.
Just once more. Peter said, “What I have I give.”
I could not make out for a long time what Peter did give. I may be wrong, but it seems to me the only thing he gave, next to his presentation of Christ, was HAND-HELP.
He took hold of the man and pulled him up, and the moment he did that it was as a sacrament, an outward and visible sign of a similar movement by his Master. What Peter did visibly, Christ did invisibly.
As I try to lift you to faith in Christ, it seems to me that the faith which is by Him will give you perfect soundness in the presence of all the angels. And then you must act faith.
Suppose that man, when Peter had spoken to him, had felt his ankles to determine whether anything had happened to them, do your think he would have been well? Suppose he had put them out to see whether he had any more power in them, do you think he would have been made well? He did not wait, but sprang up; “leaping up, he stood and began to walk.” That is, he acted faith. He did not feel well before he commenced to walk, but as he began to walk he felt he could walk. If Peter, on one memorable occasion, had put one foot over the boat’s side to see if the water would bear him, he would have got his feet wet, and he would never have walked a step. But Peter went clear over and he walked on the water.
Now, if a man says, “I am going to try this way of living, but I do not feel as though I have received anything, I do not feel different from what I felt when I came into the church, and therefore I have nothing,” that man will not be helped.
I have had in my own life for some time a great besetment. Two or three months ago I said to Christ: “I take Thee for that part of my nature where until now I have always been fearing to fall, that I may be perfectly sound.” I was sitting quietly in my room when I made the transfer. It was the quiet act of faith, but all my life has felt the effect of that Solemn moment. I have not feared the temptation since then, because I knew that Christ would meet it whenever it presented itself.
Do not only pray to Christ tomorrow morning that He would keep you, but say, “Jesus Christ, l claim from Thee now patience, sweetness, gentleness all day”; then take Him, and dare to believe that when there is any temptation to irritability or pride or passion, you may meet the temptation with the nature of Christ.
Years ago, in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, I heard Mr. Spurgeon tell an old story with new power. It was about the ship called the Central America. When the drinking-water had failed and the crew were in great need, they ran up a flag of distress. The flag was answered from another ship.
“What is the matter?” came through the speaking tube.
“Water! Water! we are dying for want of water!”
And the answer came back, “Dip it up then! You are in the mouth of the Amazon.”
The mighty Amazon was pouring a flood of fresh water far out to sea. They dipped it up. There was no need to ask further for drinking-water.
Men and women, you are in the estuary of the grace of God. The whole torrent of the Christ-nature that rises in the mountains of Deity is flowing down around your life. Do not go up to the mountains and plead, but dip down the bucket of your faith into Jesus Christ, and take up purity, peace, soundness. Dip it up, dip it up! His nature, through faith in His nature, will make you strong in the presence of all that know you.
May God help you to act now!