The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 300

we have nlrefldy done in the days of our childhood, on a smaller and earthly plane. 2. Service. "Whom I serve." This service (1) begins with the grateful and cordifll acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour of the soul: "This is [to do] tho work of God, that ye believe on him whom he bath sent" (John vi. 29; see 1 John iii. 23) ; (2) continues through life in the endeavour to please Christ in everything, to adorn his doctrine, to exalt his Name and extend his kingdom; (3) is consummated in the heavenly service of the future life. Then, there, in very deed and truth, with undimmed and untiring devotion, "his servants shall serve him" (Rev. xxii. 3).-C. Vars. 24, 31.-The Divine and the human wi'll. These two verses have an appearance of inconsistency. How, it may be asked, can both be true? If God had given Paul "all them that sailed with him," and this so certainly that the apostle could say without qualification, "There shall be no loss of any man's life" (ver. 22), how could the desertion of the shipmen (ver. 31) have imperilled the safety of the passengers so that Pa11l exclaimed, "Except these abide," etc.? The answer to this question is found in the truth that God's promises to his children are always conditional on their obedience to his will. So truly is this the case, and so practically, that it is not only possible we may bring about the non-fulfilment of the Divine promise, but certain that we shall do so, if we do not comply with the conditions which are expressed or understood. We may find- I. H:rsTOBIOAL ILLUSTRATIONS of this principle. 1. Gen. i. 26-31 and vi. 5-7. 2. Exod. iii. 7-8 and Numb. xiv. 28-34. 3. 2 Sam. vii. 12-16 and 1 Kings xi.11- 13, with 1 Kings xii. 16. II. INDIVIDUAL ILLUSTRATIONS of it. 1. Our entrance into the kingdom of Christ. We know that it is the will of God that all who hear the gospel should be saved by it (1 Tim. ii. 4; 2 Pet. iii. 9; Ezek. x.xxiii. 11). But we also know that those will never enter the kingdom who will not repent and believe (John iii. 36; v. 40; eh. xiii. 46). 2. Our progress in the Christian race. God wills our sanctification; he has arranged that they who enter into life by faith in Jesus Christ shall grow in grace, in strength, in virtue (1 Tbess. iv. 3; Eph. v. 26, 27; 2 Pet. i. 5-8, etc.). But it is certain that if we neglect the means of grace and growth we shall not advance, but recede (John xv. 4, 6; Heb. L 23-25). 3. Our admission to the heavenly kingdom. God promises his children a place in his eternal home (John xiv. 2, 3; 2 Tim. iv. 8). But the crown of life will only he given to those who are faithful unto death (Rev. ii. 10). It is only he that overcometh that will" eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (Rev. ii. 7), and who will be made " a pillar in the temple, ... to go no more out" (Rev. iii. 12). It is only they who have put out their talents to whom the" Well done" of the Divine Lord will be addressed (Matt. xxv. 14--30). "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it" (Heh. iv. 1).-C. • Ver. 41.-The shipwreck of the soul. We are familiar with scenes of shipwreck; the stories read in childhood and the stem facts of later years bring them vividly before our minds. We see the gallant vessel, well rigged and fitted from stem to stem, sailing forth on her mission of transport or merchandise, moving along under favour- able breezes, seeming likely to make the port where she is due ; we see her overtaken by the storm, admitting the water which gains hour by hour upon her, sinking lower and lower, :finally going down beneath the waves. But sad as this story is, there is a far more profound and pathetic sadnoss in the history, only too often to be told, of the shipwreck of a human soul. Bravely setting forth on the voyage of life, hope- fully speeding on its course with helpful influences, promising to make its port on the other strand, we see it overtaken by the storm of some mastering temptation or falling into the irresistible current of some adverse spiritual force, and it makes melancholy shipwreck; instead of reaching its Fair Haven, it goes down into the waters of destruction. Some are wrecked in- I. 'l'HEm RELIGIOUS FAITH. 'l'hey start on the voyage of life with that one chart in hand which alone can take them safely to their journey's end-the Word of the living God. Then they come into contact with fascinating but unbelieving companions; or they meet with a number of specious but shallow objections; or they look, with foolish and cruel persistency, on the one side of the difficulties, neglecting to pay pro- 808 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [cH. xxvn. 1-44-.