And do not be cast down that you have not received the fulness of blessing. Coley.Thuanus tells, that a Gallic lord being led forth to martyrdom in company with some equally faithful, though plebeian professors, saw that out of regard to his rank the officers put on him no chains, while each of his brethren bore them; upon which he cried, "Let me, I pray you, be clipped of none of my honours; I, too, for love of Jesus, would wear a chain!"(S. THE FELLOWSHIP of His sufferings. If his passions are unduly excited, it is his moral nature that feels the transgression. This is true of the roughnesses of life, its calumnies, its disappointments; of those trials which come through the affections, and those which come through the ambitions of our nature. Conformity to Christ's death is the deep calm of indifference to sin with all its allurements, ever setting in together with and over against the conflict. We have an illustration of 1. How does this principle die, so that we may be conformed to the death of Christ? (1) These principles are (a) That Jehovah is a just and holy Being, and that evil cannot dwell with Him. They were distinct in degree. In pro portion to the tide of new resurrection, life is strong in us. The crash which lights on a man and maims him, leaves him feeling for a moment unhurt. (2) Voluntary, whereas all ours are deserved being entailed by sin.2. Now may God, Charles Haddon SpurgeonSpurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864The Power of Christ Illustrated by the ResurrectionBeloved, how intimately is the whole of our life interwoven with the life of Christ! Our privilege of fellowship in the sufferings. So each of the brethren who are being made like Him are losing part and interest in sin, weaned from its power, alienated from its motives and objects; the distance ever widening between it and them; the breach becoming ever more and more irreconcilable.II. Without faith, the principles and motives which most powerfully prompt to holiness could not gain access to the mind: without holiness, there can be no genuine faith, for the graces of holiness are its effects and fruits.3. "In that He died He died unto sin." Conclusion: We must know this power, by being justified, etc., which is the moral proof of Christ's resurrection.(H. Margaret, the younger martyr, stands bound, a fair sacrifice, near by the shore. If we would come nearer Christ we must have His sufferings. A. Psalm 118:27, is prophetic of the passion. It assists our comprehension of Christ's love.3. The one seeks peace with God, the other His image. Raffles, D. D.I. It is a token of God's mercy as well as our infirmity that we are benumbed by pain. Is it not something that your thirst for God and righteousness makes you in a sense partaker of the sufferings of Jesus. Conformity to Christ's death is the deep calm of indifference to sin with all its allurements, ever setting in together with and over against the conflict. Oh to be partakers with Christ in the glory of that last cry, which is the triumphant issue of suffering. Once S. Paul declared with pride that he was a Roman citizen; and when the Chief Captain in surprise declared that he himself had purchased that privilege at a great price, the Apostle answered, "but I was free born." The nearer we approach in like ness to Him, the more will His enemies treat us as they treated Him. iii. Son, behold thy mother." He likes nothing better than to side-track one of God's express trains, sent on some blessed mission and filled with the fire of a holy purpose. 13). 13). Its stupendous responsibility, for some day we shall rise to receive the things done in our body that is, their results, whether they be good or bad.2. J. Gloag, D. D.1. A. It is because Christ loved me and gave himself for me that I want to know him; it is because he has shed his blood for me and has chosen me that I may be one with him for ever, that my soul desires a fuller acquaintance with him." A report of a report at second or third hand is no valid testimony. The suffering of the previous verse is a different thing from this, yet it co-exists with this in the spiritual life. By the cordial reception of the benefits secured to us by His sufferings in the exercise of a lively faith.(1)Pardon.(2)Purity. But that conflict with sin, with its assaults, wiles, contradictions, and perversenesses, temptations which He waged, every one of His servants must have his share, and that conflict means suffering, as every man who has had to do battle with a besetting sin will bear witness. IN OUR SANCTIFICATION. Even so, while there never was a time that the will of the Man Christ Jesus was opposed to the will of the Father, yet there was a time when its obedience was not completed, and thus He learnt obedience by the things which He suffered. No; in our Christian life, Christ is first and midst and last: and no mere moral strength or determination can be reckoned on as accessory to Him in his great work. We, too, may suffer beside Christ without suffering with Him.2. I. It signifies to consecrate, to separate from earth and common use, and to devote or dedicate to God and his service. Shall we dare to stretch out our trembling hand to grasp His cup?I. "That I May Know Him" (Phil. It was in this sort of life that trouble met Him (2 Corinthians 6:5). 13, 14. The child which has no one to suffer for it is a miserable wretch. We may avoid it, and live as we think a far more comfortable life. No. Shall the coming months be marked by a diligent, heart-searching application of "the rest of the oil," to the yet unoccupied possibilities of our life and service? (3) In capacity for suffering He surpassed us. We know the fact of an occurrence when we have handled the proofs which show that it really took place; when we know how it has been described, what were its several aspects; but we know of the "power" of the fact when we can trace what its effects have been, or what they might have been or might be. The first lesson of life is one of vicarious suffering. (1)For conversion.(2)Sanctification.(3)Enjoyment. How different it was when these very men saw things as in the light of the glory that burst from that broken tomb; then they began to understand all that Moses and the prophets had spoken, and their hearts burned within them as they began for the first time to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings. (a) He acquiesces in them as essential and worthy of God. A CONFIRMATION FOREVER OF THE CLAIMS OF JESUS OF NAZARETH. What would the Lord be at? There were sorrows into which we cannot follow Him, and His Spirit was so perfect that our imitation must be very imperfect. My friends, allow me to speak a few plain and honest words, ere we part, on a matter which is near to, and probably important to, many of us here. vi. Mr. Johnson, the missionary, meeting him, said, "You have had bad treatment today." The Christian should never end with Calvary, nor with the mortification of the body, nor with deadness to sin; but ever carry his thoughts onward to that blessed consummation, to which these are the entrance and necessary conditions. But that conflict with sin, with its assaults, wiles, contradictions, and perversenesses, temptations which He waged, every one of His servants must have his share, and that conflict means suffering, as every man who has had to do battle with a besetting sin will bear witness. So we are not only permitted to sympathize with Christ as the Man of sorrows, but that, just as two partners in a firm are both joint possessors of the capital which belongs to the firm, so that wondrous wealth of sorrow which belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ, so far as it is a source of wealth, belongs in a measure to us, who are partners with Him. He died to all human ambition. (a) He acquiesces in them as essential and worthy of God. In all ages and countries the human heart has had two questions to ask about it, which nothing but the resurrection can completely answer. 2. The same capacity for pain that marks the highest nature also shows its capacity for pleasure. Every man feels this in himself; one part of his being paying another's penalty. Paul has just been laying down a great principle--viz. Isaiah asks, What mean your sacrifices? We live still because he lives, and never is our life more joyous than when we look most steadily to him. (3)Happy believers. Iii. To suffer is to feel pain or distress. Did not this righteousness weigh much Hugh BinningThe Works of the Rev. He was forsaken in order that you and I might not be forsaken. What means this word? The resurrection was the proof to which they constantly pointed that our Lord was really what He claimed to be (Acts 17:18; Acts 2:22-24, 32),2. So we need not shrink from our sorrows if we but bear in mind the glory that shall follow.3. Text: Philippians 3, 17-21. THE METHOD BY WHICH THIS IS BROUGHT ABOUT.1. This is an important truth, and Paul emphasizes it elsewhere. Surely a very short bede-roll would contain their names; or would there be any other but the Name which is above every name upon it? To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe. Often in the course of mighty calamities the chief sufferer endures less than those who pity him. iii. no similar suffering? Christ never was sick or unwell. Is it not worth while to get rid of this with all its grievous bondage?3. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision: 3. We can add nothing. (c) He adores and admires the holiness as well as the love of Jehovah. If we would come nearer Christ we must have His sufferings. All his desires, interests, objects, were swallowed up in the living to Christ's glory. LET US FOLLOW OUT THIS CONFORMITY INTO SOME OF ITS ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES.1. It is true, thank God, that we are not now liable to sufferings of the same nature; but a man who maintains a high standard of religion, and condemns the world by his conduct, will meet with persecution in the way of petty annoyances, designed misconceptions, and coldness. Christ never was sick or unwell. But faith in what? In our justification. The resurrection as a fact operates upon the intellect and gives assurance of truth; as a doctrine it deepens the truth and touches consciences and expresses reconciliation with God; as a type, we rising from the dead and walking with Christ that is the developed experience of the Christian man in the life of God. He and the other apostles regarded it as a power.I. Beecher. B. SimpsonDays of Heaven Upon Earth Twenty Third Sunday after Trinity Enemies of the Cross of Christ and the Christian's Citizenship in Heaven. 1. He was forsaken in order that you and I might not be forsaken. (Dean Alford. Philippians 3:10 NKJV - that I may know Him and | Biblia For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is perdition, whose God is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. God will not have them. The most cool and calculating would be warmed with desires like these. How did He suffer? There, two women, each tied fast by their arms and limbs to a stake, stand within the sea mark; and many an earnest prayer is going up to heaven that Christ who bends from His throne to the sight would help them now in their dreadful hour of need. A strong loving grasp had gripped him in the midst of his career of persecution, and all that he had done was to yield to the grip, and not to wriggle out of it. We have ritualistic Christians, who stickle for the outward, but know not the power. How is human sorrow sanctified by such a revelation as this? (4)Dying saints.2. Thank God our thirst shall never be what His was. iii. I think the people would say in their own hearts, What means the prophet? We learn to value more highly what has been secured by Christ's suffering.4. THE UNITY OF DOCTRINE IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS IS ILLUSTRATED AND CONFIRMED.II. Imputed guilt crushed Him; shall actual guilt bring to us. (2) The poor may have fellowship with Him who had not where to lay His head. But here it is a real fellowship in positive pain to which he adverts.3. He exhorts them to be thus minded;17. and to imitate him,18. No man can make atonement for his own or others' sins. Yet had they no real fellowship in His sufferings, because they had not risen to the discovery of His design. His fervid faith caught fire when he turned to think of what he had lost, and how infinitely more he had gained in Alexander MaclarenExpositions of Holy ScriptureThe Race and the Goal'This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize.'--PHIL. He likes nothing better than to side-track one of God's express trains, sent on some blessed mission and filled with the fire of a holy purpose. LET US FOLLOW OUT THIS CONFORMITY INTO SOME OF ITS ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES.1. (4) The tempted likewise. IN RELATION TO PAIN.1. Suffering ceases to be sanctified when it is infected with mistrust.2. They may be ignoble and puerile, or they may be worthy and great. 1). But that conflict with sin, with its assaults, wiles, contradictions, and perversenesses, temptations which He waged, every one of His servants must have his share, and that conflict means suffering, as every man who has had to do battle with a besetting sin will bear witness. But here it is a real fellowship in positive pain to which he adverts.3. To Him the Spirit was given without measure for the perfect fulfilment of all His offices; and because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. )The fellowship of Christ's sufferingsBishop Magee.It seems an awful wish that any mortal should dare to aspire to share the sufferings of the Man of sorrows; stranger still when we remember the actual sufferings of that mortal; stranger still that He should tell us to wish it for ourselves.I. That is how Paul thinks of what we call his conversion. An inward and spiritual feeling of what we hear and believe, concerning Christ and His truths, whereby answerable impressions are made on our souls (Psalm 34:8; John 4:42).1. One is about pardon, and the other about righteousness. He bore the whole burden of human suffering. (6) "It is finished." (5)The despised. The state of the world around them, drunkenness, Sabbath profanation, etc., must be peculiarly afflictive. iii. And the resurrection is the power for both. In the midst of all His agony He found time to think upon the sorrows of His broken hearted mother and His lonely disciple, and to mingle their griefs with His own. Here is a text for us to try ourselves by. As we go to the ship to see friends depart, and leave them with cheers and benedictions, and wafted kisses; so, when a young spirit is about to be launched into this earthly life, one would think that troops of angels would attend it, and with hope and gladness see it on its way. Graham. All self-righteousness is nailed to the cross, His was the only meritorious death. AS MODELS, patterns which Jesus has left us to follow, showing us the path by which it is the good pleasure of the Father to conduct us to salvation. "Our light afflictions," etc. We can add nothing. no similar suffering? How potent are his forces when he crosses the line and lengthens the day! And as it was with them historically, so it seems to be doctrinally here. And so it will be with us. Yes, to those who have mistaken what religion is, to the selfish, the cowardly, and the slothful, whose religion is only a device for getting to heaven as comfortably as they can.II. Often in the course of mighty calamities the chief sufferer endures less than those who pity him. In (1)Unbelief. It will never die of its own accord, or of disease. THE MEANS.
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