Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1751
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, November 18, 1883
“I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. Ihave written unto you, fathers, because you ha ve kno wn Him that is from the beginning.” 1 John 2:13,14.
OBSERVE the difference in the two verses—John first says, “I write,” and then, “I have written.” When in two former discourses I preached upon the beloved Apostle’s address to the young men and the children, [Sermon #1711—A Sermon to the Lord’s Little Childrei and Sermon #1715—A Description of Young Men in Christ] I gave you as full an interpretation of this difference as I could command—and I need not, now, repeat it. Certain additional thoughts occur to me, which I will give you, that the matter may be still clearer. The Apostle John says, “I write,” and, by-and-by, “I have written.” This shows, I think, the importance of his subject. If he has already written upon it, he must think it to be a very necessary and valuable Truth of God if he writes upon it yet again.
A man does not discourse repeatedly upon the same subject if he is a man full of matter, as this Inspired writer was, unless he feels that it is necessary that he returns, again and again, to his subject until he has impressed it upon the minds of his audience. Hence the Apostle is not ashamed to say, in effect—“I write this, though you need not remind me that I have written it before, for I feel it to be wise, so long as I am in this tabernacle, to put you in remembrance of what I have said unto you.” Nails which are important to a structure must be driven in with diligence. Foundation stones should be laid with scrupulous care and Truths of God which are fundamental, should be repeated by the teacher till the disciple has learned it beyond all fear of ever forgetting it.
This form of speech also reveals the unchanging conviction of the writer, who, having written once, is glad to write the same things again. This shows a mind made up and decided, from which proceeds consistent testimony. In these fickle times, certain of our public teachers must feel unable to say of any one subject, “I write,” and, “I have written,” for before the ink is dry they have need to blot out what they have put on paper and to write an amended version of their religious ideas! Scarcely for a month at a stretch do these loose thinkers abide in one place—they are such wandering stars that no chart could ever mark their position for three weeks together!
They might say, “I write, but bless you, dear people, I do not know what I wrote six months ago. Very probably my former opinion is not, now, true, for all things are flowing on and my head is swimming with the rest. I am a man of progress—forever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the Truth of God! Blot out what I wrote a year ago and read with care what I write today.” To which we reply—“Dear Sir, we cannot take much notice of what you write now, because, in all probability, in another week or two you will retract it all, or improve it from off the face of the earth! Neither shall we pay much attention to you, then, for you will probably be on the move as soon as ever you have said your say. We decline to learn what we shall have to unlearn! We will wait in our present knowledge until you have reached something certain for yourself. Perhaps in 20 years’ time, when you have pitched your gypsy tent, it may be worth our while to hear where it is, but we do not commit ourselves even to that promise—for as the progress you are now making is into deeper darkness, you will probably end in sevenfold night.”
I rejoice, dear Friends, in the solidness of the Christian’s faith! I know nothing of improvements and growths in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, which is summed up in these words, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” I believe that God the Holy Spirit has given us, in the Scriptures, a perfect and entire Revelation which is to be received by all Christians without addition or diminution. I do not believe that Apostles, martyrs, confessors and teachers have been living for these 1,900 years upon lies—I prefer the faith of saints in Glory to the daydreams of those whippersnap-pers who nowadays claim to lead us by their “thought.” Our mind is that of David when he said, “I hate vain thoughts.”
Well says the Scripture, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.” If it is a question of thinking, we can think as well as they can—then our thoughts about the modern theology are full of sorrowful contempt.
Perhaps the doctrine is new, though even this we doubt! But if it is new, it is not true, for the Truth of God must necessarily be as old as the everlasting hills! We observe that the word, “meditation,” is now seldom used and, “thought,” is the modern idol. Just so. We meditate on revealed Truths of God—this notion of “thought” sets aside the Truths of God and sets up mere fancy. We refuse to be of this vagrant party of thinkers! We are of the settled race of Believers. We can say what we have written, we still write. What we have preached, we still preach, for inasmuch as we have preached that which is revealed in Holy Scripture, to that Truth we stand and shall stand, God helping us. If we live a thousand years, at the close of life we shall have nothing more nor less to say than the fixed, Immutable, eternal Truth of God. We hope to understand the Truth better, but we shall never discover better Truth!