FAITHFUL WORDS.

BY

JOHN OFFORD,

OP PALACE GARDENS CHAPEL, KENSINGTON.

LIGHT THE SPHERE OF FELLOWSHIP.

"If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."-1 JOHN i. 7.

"YE were sometimes darkness," is the emphatic word of divine inspiration concerning the natural state of man. This dense darkness enshrouds his mind, causing the entire lack of true spiritual knowledge; for it is written, "Having the understanding darkened." The monster sin broods over the mental faculties, impregnating them with total blindness in reference to the things of God. Nor is the natural heart less under the baleful influence of sin; for it is also written, "Their foolish heart was darkened : and Jesus said “men loved darkness." Thus has sin wholly estranged the affections of man from God, and fixed them on this present evil world. Moreover, the very element in which the natural mind thinks, and the natural heart loves, and the natural soul feels, is one of spiritual night; for it is written, "The people that walked in darkness"-walking being characteristic of the whole course of human thought, feeling, and action. It is no marvel, therefore, that

the offspring of man's benighted mind and alienated heart should be denominated "the unfruitful works of darkness." It is, too, a sad and solemn truth, that over this midnight of the soul there presides a power, called by God "the power of darkness"-a power wielded by "the rulers of the darkness of this world." Men who walk in darkness walk in the flesh, with the world, and under the guidance of Satan, the end of which course is "outer darkness-the blackness of darkness for ever." What hand could trace these words without trembling? what heart can contemplate these awful facts, unmoved with deepest grief for the sin and misery of man? But the sons of God are not in darkness: they have been called into marvellous light; they have become the children of light and of the day. It is theirs to cast off the works of darkness, and to walk in the light, which is the sphere of fellowship with the Father and the Son, and the sphere of the fellowship of the sons of light with each other, in the Father and in the Son.

The word light is used metaphorically in Scripture to express three things-truth, favour, and holiness. Truth in contrast with error; favour in contrast with displeasure; and holiness as opposed to sin and impurity.

I. To walk in the light is to walk in the truth. Light, shedding its bright and searching rays over the face of the earth, strikingly illustrates the nature of divine truth. Hence God, who is the source of all truth, is called the Sun and the Light of his people. The word of God, which is the revelation of truth, is a lamp to the feet and a light to the path of the child of God; and the entrance of that

word into the heart giveth light. Jesus, who is the truth itself, is the light of the world-the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The Holy Ghost, who is the Spirit of truth, and who guideth into all truth, revealeth the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, by means of the Gospel, thereby enlightening the minds of men, and causing them to see light in God's light. And whoso speaketh not according to the word of God, it is because there is no light in him. Thus we see that light is synonymous with truth.

Now, the knowledge of the truth is essential to acquaintance with God; and walking in the truth is equally essential to fellowship with God. Nature reveals the invisible things of God, such as his eternal power and Godhead; but the word of truth reveals God himself-his mind, his heart, his thoughts, his affections. Truth is the unfolding of that which God is in Christ, of all that he is to needy, sinful, redeemed men. Apart from truth—and truth, too, as applied by the Holy Ghost-man knows not God. So also all communion with God must be in the truth. The love and grace of God to usward are according to truth. Every word spoken by him to us is truth. All acceptable thoughts, feelings, and words arising from us to God must spring from and accord with his truth. The truth which is in Jesus is and ever must be the medium, as Jesus himself is and ever must be the Mediator, of the intercourse of man with his God. Hence none but those who walk in the truth can walk in fellowship with the Father and the Son. What, then, is it to walk in the truth? It is to bow the sanctified reason in implicit

faith to the grand teachings of God's holy word. It is to receive into the depths of the soul, there to ponder, to cherish, and to digest, and so to experience and enjoy, the living verities of the Christian faith. It is to embrace the truth in the love of it, with the heart and the conscience, in the spirit of him who said, "Thy testimonies are my delight: behold, I have longed after thy precepts, I will delight myself in thy commandments. Oh, how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." The mind, with all its faculties of thought; the heart, with all its affections; the soul, with all its powers of feeling, must be engaged in and for the truth; that is, we must think and love, we must feel and speak and act according to the truth, if we would walk in the truth, and so walk in fellowship with God. Let us, then, seek to be guided by the hand of the Spirit of truth into all the ways of Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Let us, led and upheld by that divine hand, track the footsteps of Jesus through this dark world, which steps are the footprints of heavenly light, discernible only by the eye of submissive faith and love. For Jesus, speaking as the truth, said, “I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not abide in darkness, but shall have the light of life." And, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." To keep the words of Jesus is for the truth to abide in us, and for us to abide and walk in the truth; and our blessed Lord declares that such shall be loved of the Father, and that with them he and the Father will make their abode. Nothing

short of this can secure the fellowship which the Father and the Son alike rejoice to have with redeemed and sanctified men. Wherefore the apostle John writes to the elect lady and to the beloved Gaius, "I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in the truth; and I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." While he also gives the solemn word of warning: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." The word of God, then, revealing the person, the work, the sufferings, and the glories of the eternal Son, in him unfolds to us the principles of eternal truth, in the knowledge, experience, and practice whereof we are brought into fellowship with the mind and heart of God.

II. To walk in the light is to walk in the favour of God. Light, diffusing its benign and peaceful influences over the face of creation, sweetly illustrates the lovingkindness of God, beaming upon the spirits of his children, and filling their hearts with gladness and repose. Hence, light has ever been the chosen symbol of the inspired writers to set forth the blessedness of the divine favour and goodness towards men. Speaking of the entrance of God's people into the promised inheritance, the Psalmist declares, "They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them." And anon we hear the Church, in the gloom and sadness of her captive state, reiterating the earnest cry, "Turn us again, O God of