Part 82 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 83 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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(2.) Secondly, To provoke you to labor after higher degrees of holiness, consider that it is possible for you to attain to greater measures of holiness, than any you have yet reached unto. Though the work is hard—yet it is possible; and what great things won't men attempt upon the account of a possibility. Now that it is possible that you may attain to a greater perfection of holiness, I shall evidence these five ways:
[1.] First, By many precious PROMISES which are scattered up and down in the blessed Scriptures; as that Job 17:9, "The righteous shall hold on his way, and he who has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger;" or as the Hebrew has it, "he shall add strength," that is, he shall go on from one degree of spiritual strength to another, he shall go on from a lesser degree to a greater degree of spiritual strength, and from a lower degree to a higher degree of spiritual strength. A holy man shall not only have his spiritual strengthmaintained—but increased; he shall not only retain that spiritual strength he has—but he shall be still a-adding of strength to strength, Psalm 84:7. They go from strength to strength, or from power to power; or as the word may be read, from company to company, or from troop to troop—in allusion to the custom of the Jews, when all the males went up thrice a year to Jerusalem; now when they went up to Jerusalem, they went up with their flocks, and in troops. Now those who were lively, active, and strong—they overtook this company and that, and this troop and that—and so they went on, their power and strength increasing daily more and more, until they appeared before God in Zion. Look! as the bee goes from flower to flower to gather honey—just so, those who had a principle of grace and holiness in them, they went from one good company to another, from one troop of Christians to another—still gathering up heavenly honey as they went.
O sirs, there is no such way to perfect holiness, as to be still a-going on from duty to duty, and from ordinance to ordinance; from praying to hearing, and from hearing to praying; from reading to meditating, and from meditating to reading; from public duties to closet duties, and from closet duties to public duties, etc. Psalm 92:12-14, "But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. For they are transplanted into the Lord's own house. They flourish in the courts of our God. Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green." The promise of flourishing is repeated in these verses—to note the more than ordinary flourishing estate of the saints, even in their old age.
I have read of an old Christian, who being asked whether he grew in goodness or not, answered, "I believe I do, because the Lord has promised that his people shall bring forth fruit in old age." Pliny, writing of the crocodile, tells us that she grows to her dying day—just so, Christians who are rooted in Christ, and planted in the house of the Lord, they will be still growing up in grace and holiness even to their dying day. It is with real Christians as it is with wine—the older the better; or as it is with the sun—which shines most gloriously and amiably when it is near setting. Gracious souls are like an evergreen tree, whose leaves are always green, not only in the summer of youth—but also in the winter of old age. The palm-tree is always green, it never loses its leaves or fruit, and the more it is loaded the deeper it is rooted; and so it shall be with throughout Christians.
Just so, in Isaiah 46:3-4, God has promised to carry us on to old age, "Listen to me, all you who are left in Israel. I created you and I have cared for you since before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you." That God who begins a work of grace and holiness in his people's hearts—that God will perfect and carry on that work. Mothers express their tender care, love, and delight, by carrying their babes in their arms until they can walk alone. But God surpasses them in his love, care, tenderness, and divine fondness—for he will carry them even to old age. This word "I," which is six times repeated in the fourth verse, is doubtless of very great importance, and signifies not only God's eternal essence, and that he will be ever like himself—but also his unchangeableness in regard of us; for whatever our thoughts may be concerning God—yet we shall always find him one and the same; he will be as good to his people at last as he was at first, even to old age he will carry them.
Just so, in Proverbs 4:18, "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter until the full light of day." A holy man proceeds from grace to grace, from virtue to virtue; he goes from faith to faith, and from strength to strength—until at length he shines as the sun in his strength!
Just so, in Hosea 14:5-7, "I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. It will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon. Its branches will spread out like those of beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedar forests of Lebanon. My people will return again to the safety of their land. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon." The growth, the fruitfulness, and the flourishing estate of the saints in grace and holiness, is set forth by a sevenfold metaphor in these words. The similes are all plain and easy, and you may easily dilate upon them in your own thoughts; and therefore I shall pass them.
I shall conclude with that precious promise, John 4:14, "But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The Spirit in its gracious operations shall be a constant spring in believers' hearts, and it shall every day rise higher and higher, like the water in Ezekiel, until grace is swallowed up in glory! Ezek. 47:1-7. And thus you see by these choice promises, that it is possible for you to attain to a greater measure of holiness. But,
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Part 83 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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