Christ Restoring That Which He Took Not Away

BY THE LATE REV. DUNCAN CAMPBELL, KILTEARN.

LET us consider what it was Christ restored which He took not away.

1. He restored glory to God.
   The essential glory of God could suffer no diminution, but His declarative glory did, when His laws were trampled upon and His authority disregarded by man. Christ glorified God by His obedience and sufferings, “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified”—”I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work thou gavest me.” He came under the moral law as a man, under the ceremonial law as a Jew, under the mediatorial law as a Saviour. He yielded perfect obedience to the law in thought, word, and deed, thus restoring that which sin and Satan had taken away.

2. Christ restored peace between God and man.
   He partook of the nature of both parties, and was thus a suitable Mediator. In Him mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other. In consequence of His having magnified the law, God is in Him reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. There is no peace to the wicked—no true, stable peace apart from Christ’s finished work. There may be false peace, but it will not always endure. When the act of grace passed in heaven is made known in the court of conscience, then a peace is imparted which passeth understanding—the peace of God, and peace with God.

3. Christ restored happiness to man.
   All seek happiness, but as sin has blinded the understanding, they seek it where it is not to be found. They seek it in the pleasures of sin; in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Many say: “Who will show us any good?”—some created good. Nothing but God Himself, as the sole portion, can satisfy a rational creature: this is the light of His countenance which the godly so earnestly desire.

4. Christ restored to man the image of God.
   We now bear the image of the earthly Adam, and so we cannot restore ourselves to the favour, neither can we to the image of God. We have not even the desire. We would be free from the punishment. We would be free from the punishment of sin, but we have naturally no desire to be delivered from the bondage of sin. But Jesus Christ suffered the just for the unjust, that they might be renewed in the spirit of their mind—that they might be created anew. And the moment that they are restored to the favour of God, their restoration to the image of God begins. He is called Jesus because He saves His people from their sins, He is made of God to them sanctification. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ, whom He sends in the Father’s name. And when the Spirit is sent, conformity to the image of God begins, the outlines of the divine likeness are drawn upon the soul.

In conclusion, it will avail us nothing to hear that Christ restored that which He took away, unless we have an interest in Him by faith. It will avail us nothing to hear that He is the Saviour of the lost, unless He is our Saviour. All that we have learned of the Gospel of His grace will but aggravate our condemnation, if we do not enter in by the strait gate, and walk in the narrow way. If we are not justified by the blood and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, we have no part in Him, and we are still in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. Learn how deeply we are indebted to Christ for all our mercies. All the blessedness of all His people, not only in time but throughout eternity, is the fruit of His undertaking. If He had not restored them, no blessedness could have been our portion. We would have been miserable in time, miserable in death, and miserable throughout eternity.

Christian Meets Evangelist Again.

BY JOHN BUNYAN.

AND now he began to be sorry that he had taken Mr Worldly-Wiseman’s counsel. And wit that he saw Evangelist coming to meet him; at the sight also of whom he began to blush for shame. So Evangelist drew nearer and nearer; and coming up to him, he looked upon him with a severe and dreadful countenance, and thus began to reason with Christian:

Evangelist—What dost thou here, Christian? said he: at which words Christian knew not what to answer; wherefore at present he stood speechless before him. Then said Evangelist further, Art not thou the man that I found crying without the walls of the City of Destruction?

Christian—Yes, dear Sir, I am the man.

Evangelist—Did I not direct thee the way to the little-wicket gate?

Christian—Yes, dear Sir, said Christian.

Evangelist—How is it, then, that thou art so quickly turned aside? for thou art now out of the way.

Christian—I met with a gentleman so soon as I had got over the Slough of Despond, who persuaded me that I might, in the village before me, find a man that could take off my burden.

Evangelist—What was he?
Christian—He looked like a gentleman, and talked much to me, and got me at last to yield; so I came hither: but when I beheld this hill, and how it hangs over the way, I suddenly made a stand, lest it should fall on my head.

Evangelist—What said that gentleman to you?
Christian—Why, he asked me whither I was going: and I told him.

Evangelist—And what said he then?
Christian—He asked me if I had a family, and I told him: but, said I, I am so loaded with the burden that is on my back, that I cannot take pleasure in them as formerly.

Evangelist—And what said he then?
Christian—He bid me with speed get rid of my burden, and I told him it was ease that I sought: and, said I, I am therefore going to yonder Gate to receive further directions how I may get to the place of deliverance. So he said that he would show me a better way, and shorter, not so attended with difficulties as the way, Sir, that you set me in; which way, said he, will direct you to a gentleman’s house, that has skill to take off these burdens. So I believed him, and turned out of that way into this, if haply I might be soon eased of my burden: but when I came to this place, and beheld things as they are, I stopped for fear, as I said, of danger; but I now know not what to do.

Then said Evangelist, Stand still a little, that I may show thee the words of God. So he stood trembling. Then said Evangelist, “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh: for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.” He said, moreover, “Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” He also did thus apply them: Thou art the man that art running into this misery; thou hast begun to reject the counsel of the Most High, and to draw back thy foot from the way of peace, even almost to the hazarding of thy perdition.

Then Christian fell down at his feet as dead, crying, Woe is me, for I am undone! At the sight of which Evangelist caught him by the right hand, saying, “All manner of sin and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men: Be not faithless, but believing.” Then did Christian again a little revive, and stood up trembling, as at first, before Evangelist.

Then Evangelist proceeded, saying, Give more earnest heed to the things that I shall tell thee of. I will now show thee who it was that deluded thee, and who it was also to whom he sent thee. The man that met thee is one Worldly-Wiseman, and rightly is he so called; partly because he savoureth only of the doctrine of this world (therefore he always goes to the town of Morality to church); and partly, because he loveth that doctrine best, for it saveth him from the cross; and because he is of this carnal temper, therefore he seeketh to pervert my ways, though right. Now, there are three things in this man’s counsel that thou must utterly abhor:—1. His turning thee out of the way; 2. His labouring to render the cross odious to thee; 3. And his setting thy feet in that way that leadeth unto the ministration of death.

First, Thou must abhor his turning thee out of the way; yea, and thine own consenting thereto: because this is to reject the counsel of God, for the sake of the counsel of a Worldly-Wiseman. The Lord says, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (the Gate to which I send thee); “for strait is the gate that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” From this little Wicket-gate, and from the way thereto, hath this wicked man turned thee, to the bringing thee almost to destruction: hate therefore his turning thee out of the way, and abhor thyself for hearkening to him.

Secondly, Thou must abhor his labouring to render the cross odious unto thee; for thou art to prefer it before the “treasures in Egypt”: besides, the King of Glory hath told thee, that “he that will save his life shall lose it;” and, “he that comes after me, and hates not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, cannot be my disciple.” I say, therefore, for a man to labour to persuade thee that that shall be thy death, without which the Truth hath said, thou canst not have eternal life; this doctrine thou must abhor.

Thirdly, Thou must hate his setting of thy feet in the way that leadeth to the ministration of death. And for this thou must consider to whom he sent thee, and also how unable that person was to deliver thee from thy burden. He to whom thou wast sent for ease, being by name Legality, is the son of the bond-woman which now is, and is in bondage with her children; and is in a mystery this Mount Sinai, which thou hast feared will fall on thy head. Now if she with her children are in bondage, how canst thou expect by them to be made free? This Legality therefore is not able to set thee free from thy burden. No man was as yet ever rid of his burden by him; no, nor ever is like to be: Ye cannot be justified by the works of the law; for by the deeds of the law no man living can be rid of his burden. Therefore, Mr Worldly-Wiseman is a liar, and Mr Legality a cheat; as for his son Civility, notwithstanding his simpering looks, he is but a hypocrite, and cannot help thee. Believe me, there is nothing in all this noise that thou hast heard of these sottish men, but a design to beguile thee of thy salvation, by turning thee from the way in which I had set thee. After this Evangelist called aloud to the heavens for confirmation of what he had said; and with that there came words and fire out of the mountain under which poor Christian stood, that made the hair of his flesh stand up. The words were thus pronounced:—”As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

Now, Christian looked for nothing but death, and began to cry out lamentably, even cursing the time in which he met with Mr Worldly-Wiseman; still calling himself a thousand fools for hearkening to his counsel; he also was greatly ashamed to think that this gentleman’s arguments, flowing only from the flesh, should have the prevalency with him, as to cause him to forsake the right way. This done, he applied himself again to Evangelist in words and sense as follows:—

Sir, what think you? Is there any hope? May I now go back and go up to the Wicket-gate? Shall I not be abandoned for this, and sent back from thence ashamed? I am sorry I have hearkened to this man’s counsel; but may my sin be forgiven?—”Pilgrim’s Progress.”