Matthew 17:8

THE CATHOLIC FAITH

‘Jesus only.’

Matthew 17:8

I. The message of the Church.—In the midst of all our labour, in the midst of all our wonderful achievements, in the midst of all our fancy religions, in the midst of all our critical dissertations, in the midst of all our talking about religious things instead of being religious, in the midst of all our arguing and our restlessness, and our noise, the Church comes with her cry, with her warning, with her teaching, with her invitation, with her word, with her sacraments. And what is it? ‘Jesus only.’ Listen to no one else but Him.

II. Our responsibility for belief.—Our blessed Master reminded us of our great reponsibility for our belief. You live in an age when men are always trying to persuade you that it really hardly matters what you believe and what you do not. Do not believe them. Our blessed Lord has taught us the seriousness of belief.

III. Creed and life.—If you have wakened up at all to see how practical to each of you in all the changes and chances of your mortal life is ‘Jesus only,’ then remember that you have not only to hold your creed, but you have to live it. Our blessed Master has placed His cause in our hands. We may not be able to argue, we may not be able to write learned treatises, we may not be able to accommodate the faith to the last desire of the gallery, or the last wish of the man in the street, or the last convenience of the worldling, but we can live the lives of true Christians. ‘Jesus only!’ He will stand by you, for He will bring to you a passion for goodness, a hunger and thirst after righteousness. He will give you joy in forgetting self and living for others. ‘Jesus only!’ with all that He has said and done in His Church, is everything to you.

—Canon W. J. Knox Little.

Illustration

‘When Bishop Beveridge was on his death-bed his memory so failed that he did not know even his nearest relative. His chaplain said, “Do you know me?” “Who are you?” was the answer. His own wife asked him, “Do you know me?” “Who are you?” was the only answer. On being told that it was his wife he said that he did not know her. Then one standing by said, “Do you know Jesus Christ?” “Jesus Christ?” he replied, reviving as if the name acted on him like a cordial; “yes, I have known Him these forty years; He is my only hope.” ’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

NONE BUT CHRIST

‘Jesus only’ will be unreservedly the heart-utterance of all in glory, as their unwavering, enraptured gaze for ever rests on Him.

I. For salvation.—‘None but Jesus,’ as regards the foundation upon which we are resting for salvation, as regards a shelter from the wrath to come.

II. For refuge in trouble.—‘None but Jesus,’ as regards a refuge in trouble.

III. For personal enjoyment.—‘ None but Jesus,’ as regards our springs of enjoyment. Very many go into the world for enjoyment, for pleasure, for recreation. What a tale this tells! It tells how little the attractiveness of Jesus is perceived by His people.

IV. A life’s aim.—Let your life’s aim be His glory. Whatever you do, wherever you go, let your whole interest be centred in Him and in advancing His kingdom. Set your mind to live as a risen one, a blood-bought one. Let those around you see that yours are not cold principles, but that you, your tastes, your affections, and all things, are changed; that you can no longer enjoy anything that does not please Him.

—The Rev. F. Whitfield.

(THIRD OUTLINE)

ALL OF THEE

Every one will at least in theory admit that if all we read and profess to believe of Jesus is true, He must be all or He is nothing.

I. In salvation.—So long as you go on to combine anything with Jesus, in the way of your salvation, it may be Jesus, but it is a Jesus inoperative and unreal. So long as you allot a fraction of a fraction of the work to yourself, you will never have peace. It is all and only Jesus.

II. In sanctification.—What is to make us holy enough to stand before God’s greatness? The righteousness of Christ accounted to us; laid on us, like a robe. All that is of us, as regards our title and meetness for glory, is as though it were not. It passes away like the beauties of Tabor. We find it not. No believer sees it. He saw it once, and it is gone. He does not see it. He needs merit. He looks out for merit: and, Lo! ‘ Jesus only.’ ‘He perfects them that are sanctified.’ And, ‘He is made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.’

III. In the Church.—Or, if you look at the rich and hallowed things, with which God has provided and decked and endowed His Church, can we keep those externals? Can we set up our tabernacles in them, and say, ‘It is good to be here’? Will they last? Is not there a time coming to each one of us, when, in sickness, and lying on a dying bed, we must be separated from all? What then? What in that hour if we cannot turn—feeble and dissatisfied, to feel and know and rest on ‘Jesus only’!

IV. In times of trial.—Some are passing through trial. What shall they do? Tell it to Jesus, and they will prove the sufficiency of ‘Jesus only.’

V. An all-inclusive religion.—Are we to trust in nothing, think of nothing, love nothing, enjoy nothing, but Christ? Is religion such an exclusive thing as that? It is because religion is all-inclusive that I say it. I say that there may be, there is, a Jesus in everything, and that the Jesus Who is in everything, is its power and its deep joy; and that in proportion as you find Him in life, life will be true, happy, and satisfying.

The Rev. James Vaughan.