Private Judgment # 6

Private Judgment # 6

II. And now let me speak of the duty and necessity of keeping firm hold upon God's truth.

The words of the Apostle on this subject are pithy and forcible. "Hold fast," he says, "that which is good." It is as if he said to us, "When you have found the truth for yourself, and when you are satisfied that it is Christ's truth - that truth which the Scriptures set forth - then get a firm hold upon it, grasp it, keep it in your heart, never let it go."

Paul speaks as one who knew what the hearts of all Christians are. He knew that our grasp of the gospel, at our best, is very cold - that our love soon waxes feeble - that our faith soon wavers - that our zeal soon flags - that humility with Christ's truth often brings with it a species of contempt - that, like Israel, we are apt to be discouraged by the length of our journey - and, like Peter, we are not ready to "watch and pray." All this Paul remembered, and, like a faithful watchman, he cries by the Holy Spirit, "Hold fast that which is good!"

He speaks as if he foresaw by the Spirit that the good tidings of the Gospel would soon be corrupted, spoiled, and plucked away from the Church at Thessalonica. He speaks as one who foresaw that satan and all his agents labor hard to cast down Christ's truth. He writes as though he would forewarn men of this danger, and he cries, "Hold fast that which is good."

The advice is always needed - needed as long as the world stands. There is a tendency to decay in the very best of human institutions. The best visible Church of Christ is not free from a liability to degenerate. It is made up of fallible men. There is always in it a tendency to leave its first love. We see the leaven of evil creeping into many a church, even in the Apostle's time. There were evils in the Corinthian Church, evils in the Ephesian Church, evils in the Galatian Church. All these things are meant to be beacons in these latter times. All show the great necessity laid upon the Church to remember the Apostle's words: "Hold fast that which is good."

Many churches of Christ since then, have fallen away for the lack of remembering this principle. Their ministers and members forgot that satan is always laboring to bring in false doctrine. They forgot that he can transform himself into an angel of light; that he can make darkness appear to be light - and falsehood appear to be truth. If he cannot destroy Christianity, he ever tries to spoil it. if he cannot prevent the form of godliness, he endeavors to rob Churches of the power. No Church is ever safe that forgets these things, and does not bear in mind the Apostle's injunction, "Hold fast that which is good."

If ever there was a time in the world when Churches were put upon their trial, whether they would hold fast the truth or not - that time is the present time, and those Churches are the Protestant Churches of our own land. Popery, that old enemy of our nation, is coming in upon us in this day like a flood. We are assaulted by open enemies without, and betrayed continually by false friends within. The number of Roman Catholic churches, and chapels, and schools, and convents and monasteries, is continually increasing around us. Month after month brings tidings of some new defection from the ranks of the Church of England, to the ranks of the Church of Rome. Already the clergy of the Church of Rome are using great swelling words about things to come, and boasting that, sooner or later, England shall once more be brought back to the orbit of the Catholic church. Surely now or never, we ought all of us to awake, and "Hold fast that which is good."

If we love the open Bible - if we love the preaching of the gospel - if we love the privilege of reading that Bible, no man hindering us; and the opportunity of hearing that Gospel, no man forbidding us - if we love civil liberty - if we love religious liberty - if these things are precious to our souls, we must make up our minds to "hold fast," lest by and by we lose all.

If we mean to "hold fast" - then every parish, every congregation, every Christian man, and woman, must do their part in contending for the truth. Each one of us should work, and pray, and labor as if the preservation of the pure Gospel depended upon himself or herself, and upon no one else at all. We must all work. Every living soul has a sphere of influence. Let him see to it that he fills it. Every living soul can throw some weight into the scale of the Gospel. let him see to it that he cast it in. Let every one know his own individual responsibility in this matter, and all, by God's help, will be well.

~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 7)