Andrew Bonar (1810-1892) - Victory Over Sin

8/9/2019 Andrew Bonar (1810-1892) - Victory Over Sin

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m GLASGOWCHARLES GLASS e risen with Christ, seek thosethings

which are above, whereChrist sitteth at the right handof God. Set your affection on thingsabove, not on things on the earth. Forye are dead, and your life is hid withChrist in God. When Christ, who isour life, shall appear, then shall ye alsoappear with Him, in glory. MORTIFYTHEREFORE YOUR MEMBERS WHICH AREUPON THE EARTH; fornication, unclean-ness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry! What resolutions cannot do,what vows and prayers have failed toaccomplish, what self-denial and mortification and crosses have never succeeded in giving you, this plan of God


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VICTORY OVKR SIN. 5onormous mass of iron, subjected to intense heat, till it seems a mass of glowing fire. But all that might cool down,and would be only iron after all, if therewere not poured into it a small quantityofa liquid which alters every particle ofits chemical constitution, arid then itbecomes steel. Has such a changetaken place in your case : the turningthe iron into steel ? doctrine into experience ?We speak much of Christianity andChristians ; but union to Christ byfaith is the root of all ; and faith is asmuch Christ s hold of us, as ours ofHim. It implies our hold of the truth;but it also implies that the Spirit oftruthfrom Christ has taken hold of us. Baptism speaks, in a figure, of souls beingsaved in this way of union to the Lord:for the baptized one is represented asbaptized into Him/ The Lord s


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6 VICTORY OVER SIN.Supper proclaims in another formthis great truth of union to the Lord.And thus we are brought to ask allwho profess to be Christ s such questions as the following:J. To what does union to Christ call you ?

It calls you to make heavenly thingsyour business. If ye be risen withChrist, seek the things which are above,where Christ sitteth at the right handof God (Col. iii. 1.) Seek such things,pursue after them, make a business ofthem. The word is one that implies the soul s fixed aim andemployment, even as, Matt. vi. 33,Seek the kingdom of God. The moment Christ rose, says Bengel, He wasthinking of going upward (John xx17) ; and so it should be with us whohave risen with Him. The risen believer now carries on traffic with Him,


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VICTOKY OVER SIX. 7seeking spiritual gains. He trades foran absent Lord as eagerly as ever heonce traded for worldly gain. He isgrieved at spiritual losses as deeply ashe once was at losses in his business,when a ship was lost at sea, or a bankfailed, or some speculation proved ruinous. On the other hand, he rejoices inspiritual gains : when, for example, themist is cleared away from a truth, orwhen the excellency of some Scripturedoctrine shines into his soul, or whenhe gets some fresh view of Christ, andsome increase of faith, love, and hope.More specially still, he fixes his attention habitually upon Christ sitting atthe right hand ; for His being theretells so much about acceptance. His.sitting declares that He has finishedall His undertaking, and has no moretoil to undergo. His sitting at theright hand declares the Father s high


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b VICTORY OVER 8TN.approval, and delight, arid honour. Andso to this point he ever turns his eye,to this mountain of myrrh. And intruth he finds yet more there : he findsthat by virtue ofunion to Christhe is himself, in a sense, there also, sitting inheavenly places/ his toil done, his trialsover, his victory won, himself altogetherwell-pleasing to the Father, and lovedby the Father. The realization of thisprivilege has mighty power upon hissoul ; giving him wondrous liberty,helping his near communion, sendinghim forth to ever new and gratefulservice for One who so loves him.It calls on you to disentangle youraffection from earth. Set your affection on things above, not on things onthe earth (Col. iii. 2.) Make thethings above your care ; they are to bethe things which you mind, in oppo

sition to such men asthosespoken of(Puil.


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VICTORY OVER SIN. 9iii. 19,) who mind earthly things. Youwill not be content with making thesethings your business ; you will have ataste and relish for them, a real delightin them. Many men pursue businesswith little liking for the thing itself,and are glad when it is over. Manyan industrious and eager trader longsfor rest and retirement. But the believer risen with Christ loves his business, his whole heart is in it. Heminds, cares for, has affection fornot things on earth, such as to be rich,great, noble, enjoy pleasure, nor evendomestic comfort and personal ease.Hischiefend is not earthly prosperity,noris his highest bliss a few more acres thanother men ; but it is things above whichhe relishes so heartily and unieignedly.Heisathome among things above. Heislike the patriarchs, who left all theyhad in their native land, seeking a


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10 VJLTORY OVER .SIX.better, that is, a heavenly country.Suchmenmind God s favour,God s glory,God s love. And hence, their children ssalvation is more to them than theiraggrandisement in the world, and theconversion of souls than the news ofmines of gold discovered and secured.Do you bear the name of Christian?Is this, then, a fair account of you ?Speak not of difficulties ; for of coursethere are such in all pursuits; and hereall alleged hindrances are swept out ofthe way by that word : If ye be risenwith Christ. This word cuts the string,and the balloon ascends.

11. What does twion to Sbrist ensure to jjocr?It ensures many things ; but hereare some. It ensures your getting life

from Christ. For ye are dead, andyour life is hid with Christ in God


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VICTORY OVER SIX. 1J(Col. iii. 3.) You who are Christ s diedwith Him, and in that hour your formerlife passed away. You had lived itout; it was for ever over, and you wereloosed from all former things. Youdied. It was as if you had been carriedto the New Earth at once, to live evermore there amidst its holy scenes ; asif to you that day had come in whichChrist says, Behold I make all thingsnew. You became a new creature,part of a new creation, one with Christ,so that you lost your former separate-ness. And you found that,while you hadlost your old life, there was new lifelaid up for you. Life was hidfor youwith Christ in God. You got the beginnings of a far better life than evenunfallen Adam had, for you got life fromChrist. Christ s very life is yours; thevery sap of the vine-tree for you thebranch ; the same resurrection-life


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12 VICTORY OVKR SIX.which the Spirit poured into the manChrist Jesus, was now yours also.That holy power to love God andman, which was in Christ, you beganto receive. That holy joy and fullenergy of delight in God s favour,whichon earth was Christ s endowment,andeveris,became your portion. And you go onclaiming every da}T a share in his storesof grace, a share in his holiness, a sharein the Spirit s manifold blessings.Light, life, likeness, all are yours, bygift-The moment you believed, you wereunited to Christ; and that moment the.stone was rolled off the mouth of thewell; you began to get the new life, andyou had it more or less ever since. Butyou have as yet only the beginnings ofit. As when a father leaves for hisson, while yet a minor, only a portion ..r.A- ,f joy. What think you of any one arrestingthe current of his joy by the suggestion, "Areyou quite sure you are accepting the pardon]Is your act of acceptance complete andthorough?" No; the man is engrossed with thocertainties presented tolas thoughts, viz., whatthe king freely gives to him ; and these certainties convey their own impression to hissoul, to wit, the certainty of his pardon.Such is the direct way of Assurance. Wecalled it a short and an immediate way. Isit not so 1 We said, too, at the beginning,that it might turn out that, after all, we hada way ofknowing our pardon and acceptance,superior in many respects to that by whichon one occasion it was conveyed to Isaiah, andon another to Daniel, and on another to thepalsied man, and to the woman-sinner, andto the thief. We still adhere to our statement. For our way of knowing ouracceptance, you see, is one that rests ontmaltercMe fact*, tho significance of which


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\vn.\r oiviis ANM ;;ANV;:. J.)(ami"!

i>:ts.s a\vay or decay. It ll dcca_\ iVoiuour souls for a time, we can revive it again bya renewed study of the facts that produced itat the first. Whereas the one utterance thatassured Isaiah. Daniel, and those others mentioned, might in process of time he found tofade somewhat in its vividness

;and then the

individual might say to himself, "Ah, whatif I have over-estimated the meaning of theutterance ! or what if I have forgot it in part Ior what if my subsequent umvorthincss havecancelled the promise ?" In a dull, self-reproaching mood of mind, such a partialobliteration from the mind or memory of asingle, solitary announcement is quite a possibleoccurrence ; not to refer to other abatements,such as that the person in a case like Isaiah smight say to himself, "What if it referredonly to the past, but docs not include Avhatlias happened since then ?" l)ut, on the otherhand, our way of ascertaining now our pardon and acceptance rests on unchanging andunchangeable facts, facts for ever illustrious,facts for ever rich in meaning, facts for everuttering the same loud, distinct, full testimonyto the sinner s soul Yes, wo have an altar,and the voice from that alfar and its four


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2 (J V. iUT CTVF.s A-sriUNVK.hornsniaybe heard distinctly from .l;iy i:iy _as at first. Our altav is Christ ; and this1 1 1 i-i.st died, rose again, Avent hack to the

Father, is iutereeding \ \- us. These are thelour horns of our altar : 1 .et us take hold ofany one of them, and lo ! we see an acceptedsarrifico before us, a sacrifice that speakspeace, that leads our conscience to rest, andmakes our hearts leap for joy; for God iswell pleased. We have God s Avord reiterating in manifold -\vays a testimony to bobelieved ; and so we find security againstSatan s whispered suspicions.And should any one object, "Surely therehave been many, very many, good men andeminent men of God, who did not take thisvhort and direct wny ; " let us remind such;>.s may stumble at thi.s fact (for it is a fact)of an anecdote which good old Brooks * hasivi.:..>rdcd. A ministe; 1, who had great joy in

< lirist, said on his de/Uii-bed regarding hispeace and quietness of soul. " That he enjoyedthese not from having u jrcc lcr measure ofIrace than other Christians had, nor from anyspecial immediate witness1 of tho Spirit, but

* Caijir:c!, p. 113.


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WHAT GIVES ASSURANCE. 2

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Andrew Bonar (1810-1892) - Victory Over Sin