1 Corinthians 10:12

THE CHRISTIAN’S WARNING

‘Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.’

1 Corinthians 10:12

At the time the Apostle wrote it was a very dangerous thing to profess oneself a Christian. It was very seldom that a Christian apostatised, but sometimes it did happen that the faith of one gave way, and whenever it did so it was generally because of this very reason St. Paul speaks of here, i.e. spiritual pride. None of us need fear being obliged by violence and torture to give up our faith.

I. What we have to fear is that we may be tempted to give it up willingly, to yield to the seductions of the world and the flesh. The world has bad customs, dishonest customs, selfish customs, and when we yield to those we fall from grace and stain our souls with sin. The body, too, has its own special temptations to greediness, to impatience, to impurity, and when we allow these to rule over us we fall from grace. We are tempted by these things constantly. Not a day passes without our being a hundred times tried by some of these things. The only safeguard against them lies in prayer and watchfulness and, above all, in constant humility of spirit. ‘Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.’ If we are presumptuous, we get tripped up by a temptation; if we are humble and look well to our conduct, then, by the grace of God, we avoid it. You know which of the two it is that stumbles—the man who holds his head high, too high to allow him to notice whither he is going and whether there is anything in his way, or the careful and modest person who looks upon the ground and takes notice where he puts his feet! Any stone or stick accidentally lying in the road will trip up the one, while the other sees each danger and avoids it.

II. Our safeguard is in being humble.—‘God resisteth the proud; but giveth grace unto the humble.’ There is surely enough to humble us in our nature and our circumstances. Sinful by nature; prone to the indulgence of all kinds of bad passions, subject to reverses of fortune, to attacks of sickness, to pain, and certain to die, there is enough to humble us surely in all these things. How should we be proud when there is not a day of our whole lives without sin? How should we be proud whom the next fever-breath of infection, coming we know not whence, may kill? Humility suits us best; humility is our safeguard.

III. We shall never indeed be able to fix the limits of God’s grace on the one hand, of man’s co-operation on the other, in the work of salvation. We cannot tell where the one begins and the other leaves off. But the less we attribute to ourselves of the work of salvation, and the more we attribute to God, the safer we shall be. God, we must never forget, provides the salvation by His Son Jesus Christ. God, we must never forget, works the work of salvation in our souls by His Holy Spirit. But yet the soul of man is a live thing, and cannot be saved without its own free will. It is like a live tree that has to be trained into the shape you wish, and not like a dead trunk that you can cut and carve into any shape you choose. It is gifted with the power of free choice and will, and the question is, in which way does that free will turn? Does the heart turn towards evil or towards good? Everything seems to depend upon that. Prayers, sacraments, ordinances, nothing will save a soul that keeps on persistently choosing evil in spite of these means of grace.

IV. The greater the pride, the surer is the destruction.—Let us ever think lowly of ourselves and our spiritual state. The more clearly we see our own sinfulness and imperfection, the more earnestly we shall cast ourselves at the foot of the Cross and trust ourselves to the merits of Our Saviour, Jesus Christ. In Him is all inspiration to a holy life; in Him all forgiveness for our transgression and sin; in Him all comfort and support when we lie upon the bed of death; by Him an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Illustration

‘Pray very specially for those who stand in prominent positions, for it is not easy to keep a clear head when one is upon the top of a pinnacle; but when you have prayed for them, pray also for yourselves. God can keep men in safety on the tops of pinnacles if He puts them there; but the men in the valley will fall if they think they can keep themselves securely. Mr. Spurgeon was talking once to a lady, who assured him again and again that she prayed daily for him that he might be kept humble. He told her that he should pray the same prayer for her; and when she said, “Oh, I am never tempted to be proud,” he replied, “Well, dear friend, I am afraid you are very far gone in that direction already, or else you would not talk as you do.” ’