Experimental Preaching. 5

The duty of God's servants is clearly enough defined in this respect, "They shall teach My people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean" (Ezek. 44:23). Surely it is of vast importance that a deeply exercised soul should know whether or not his sins have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. But for that, teaching is necessary, teaching from a Divinely-qualified teacher; for if an inexperienced "novice" lays his hand to such a task he will only make bad matters worse, and add to the fearful confusion which now prevails on every side.

Only one who has himself sailed much in these deep waters—is fitted to serve as pilot to floundering ships; none but one who had been harassed by Satan as Bunyan had, could have written "The Pilgrim's Progress." "That we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Cor. 1:4) states the principle. One who has actually suffered from a serious disease is best fitted to recognize symptoms of it in others and recommend the remedies which he found most efficacious. Furthermore, one must be personally taught by the Spirit before he can explain to sin-sick and Satan tormented souls, the "mystery of the Gospel"—the strange paradoxes of the Christian life.

It is one thing to read "for when I am weak—then am I strong" (2 Cor. 12:10), it is quite another matter to prove the truth of it in actual experience. Nor is that statement any more paradoxical than the fact that it is the spiritually "poor" who are spiritually rich (Matt. 5:3). And equally true is it that those who most clearly perceive their filthiness and mourn over their pollution—are those who have the best evidence that their sins have been washed away; as the most humble souls are the ones who most bewail their pride.

It is by no means easy to combine tenderness—with faithfulness, sympathy for doubting ones—with a deep concern for the honor of God. Of old the Lord complained, "For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace" (Jer. 8:11). We have personally met not a few who were pitying themselves when they should have been condemning themselves, hugging their doubts instead of contritely confessing them to God. Unbelief is not a virtue—but a heinous sin; it is to be reproved, and never excused. There is no real relief for a badly festered limb by scratching the skin—the lancet must pierce right down to the seat of the trouble, if the poisonous matter is to be pressed out. Self-love, self-delight, self-righteousness must be thoroughly probed by the knife of the Word—before the heart will be broken before God.

The great issue between God and man is SIN, and salvation is deliverance from sin.

True, that in the fullest meaning of the term, salvation is not complete in this life, for glorification is included within its scope; nevertheless there is a very real sense in which the believer is initially saved even now. In other words, there is a present aspect of salvation, as well as a future; and that present salvation is an experimental thing, as well as judicial.

But it is just at this point, that the conscientious Christian confronts his most acute problem—how dare he profess to be saved from sin, or even regard himself as now being saved from it, when sin rages so fiercely within and so often gets the upper hand of him? Here, again, the business of the preacher is to throw light upon this problem. First, by showing that the believer is not yet saved from the presence of sin, for it still indwells him; nor is he saved from the power of sin, except relatively, for it is still a mighty force within him, utterly beyond his control. Second, by showing that the believer is now saved from the love of sin. THAT is the essence of the matter. The thrice holy God is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and can not look on iniquity" (Hab. 1:13), and therefore He abhors all sin, saying, "Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate" (Jer. 44:4). But man by nature loves sin, therefore the first thing God does in salvation is to put within His people a principle or nature that hates sin.

But here, too, we must pass from generalities and get down to details. The honest soul will at once ask, If I really hate sin—then why do I so often yield to it? If I have been delivered from the love of sin, why can Satan's temptations still appeal to me? The answer is, because the "flesh" is still left in you, and it remains unholy to the end of its history. Our responsibility is to "make no provision for the flesh" (Romans 13:14), to "mortify" its members (Col. 3:5), to unsparingly judge it, root and branch (1 Cor. 11:31, 32), to confess its evil works (1 John 1:9). The fact that the believer resists sin, prays and strives against it, mourns and groans over it, loathes himself for it—are so many proofs that he no longer loves it as he once did.

Here, then, is the task of experimental preaching, to make clear what salvation is—and what it is not; to trace out the heart's history of one who is being saved, and this in such a way that the unregenerate are not emboldened in their sins, nor the regenerate crushed by their defeats. There is urgent need to show what the love of sin consists of, and then to describe how a holy hatred of sin may be recognized, and what is compatible and what is not compatible with this hatred.

Our principle object in these articles is, under God, to open the eyes of preachers (to quite a number of whom this magazine is sent) to see the necessity and importance of taking up some of the soul-exercises which occasion so much concern to their most interested hearers, and to offer some suggestions along what lines this may be accomplished.

Incidentally, we are endeavoring to make them of interest and profit to the general reader as well. Much skill and spiritual wisdom are required to speak on those subjects which more immediately affect the experience of Christians, and those are acquired only by the anointing of the Spirit and a careful analysis and diagnosis of our own inward life.

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