II I. THESE RWDRANCES MAY DE REMOVED. Here is consolation for great sinners- and who are small ones? When a man is deeply convinced of sin he is often tempted to despair. Can I, the unclean, the immoral, the foul-mouthed, the foul-hearted, enter into the kingdom of ineffable holiness? It seems impossible. But aFter detailing sorr:e of the vilest acts of which hllmanity can be guilty, the apostle turns upon the Corinthians and says, "And such were some of you." Of greatest sinners God has sometimes ma<l•J greatest saints. If the heart be contrite, there is no canse for the abandonment of hope. '!.'he barriers which are insuperable to man can be cast clown by the might of God. In our sin we need look to God, for none besides can aid us. Our sickness is beyond all skill save that of the great Physician. . IV. THE MANNEU OF REMOVAL. • The apostle speaka of" washing "-the great need 0f the defiletl-and then directs attention to its twofold character. That the impure may enter into the all-pure kingdom or God, two things are necessary. 1. Justificativn -which we receive through Christ (ver. 11 ). He took our place; he bore our sins; he made atonement for us. Our sins are imputed to him; his righteousness is imputed to us. Through him God can be just and yet the Justifier of the ungodly. "With his :stripes we are healed;" "The blood or Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John i. 7); he is able to save "to the uttermost;" "Though your sins be as scarlet., they shall be as white as snow" (Isa. i. 18). 2. Sanctification-which we receive through the operation of "the Spirit of our God" (ver. 11), the Holy Ghost. Justification is that which is done for us; sanctification is that which is done in us. Yet one is not without the other. By the Divine Spirit we become "born again," "born of the Spirit," made pure inwardly; our affections purged, our desires corrected, our spiritual being controlled and purified (see John iii. 3). V. A CAUTION IMPLIED. "And such were some of you." Are ye becoming so again? '\Ve need beware of "going back" to those things which once barred our access to the kingdom of God, and which will do so again ifiudulged in. Our great inheritance may be lost after all! It will be, unless we "endure to the end." How earnest, anxious, 1irayerful, watchful should we be lest we "come short"! There is Oue who is "able to keep us from falling" (Jude 24). "Cleave unto the Lord your God" (Josh. xxiii. 8).-H. Ver. 12.-The la11f1tl and the expedient. I. IT IS IMPORTANT TO ASCERTAIN WHAT ·IS LAWFUL FOR us IN LIFE. All things indifferent (i.e. not evil in themselves) are lawful for the Christian. He has the widest liberty. He is not uncier the restriction of the older economy. 'l'o him "every creature of God is good" (1 'l'im. iv. 4), anti to be received with thanksgiving. The Christian must abide within the limits of the lawful. Nothing that seems expedient outside of the lawrul must be touched by him. He is ·under the rule of righteousness, and must not allow himself in aught that is unright- eous. Note: Nothing is really expedient outside of the limits of the lawful, but many things may appear to be so. II. BUT ANOTHER QUES'l'ION RAS TO DE ANSWERED DEFORE CONDUCT CAN DE DETERMINED, VIZ.-\VHAT IS EXPEDIENT wn·mN THE LIMITS OF THE LAWFUL'! 'l'he Christian must not use his liberty indiscriminately; he must consider probable results. The end does not jnstify the means, but the end often determines whether means (justifiable in themselves) shall be used or not. M:eans, good enough in themselves, may under certain conditions lead to most undesirable ends; those enrls foreseen determine for the believer that those means shall not be employed. The Christian has to select the truly expedient out of the truly lawful. It has been well mid, "Unlawful things ruin thousantls, lawful things (unlawfully used) ten thousands." A.nd also, "Nowhere does the devil build his little chapels more cunningly than •ight by the side of the temple of Christian liberty." A Christian, before availing ~imself of his liberty, had need ask such questions as the following :-1. H'hat wilt lie the effect upon myself 1 Shall I be made less spiritual, less userul, less pleasing to -Uod? All that we do we do more or less" unto ourselves." We mould ourselves very largely by what we allow to ourselves. 2. What will be the effect upon my liberty t Liberty may commit suicide. Undue indulgence of liberty results in slavery. Paul was intensely anxious" not to be brought under the power of any," even lawful, thing. '1t is of the greatest importanco to the moral health and needful free<lom of the soul I. CO!ll::S-THIANS, l' 210 'l'IIE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cu. VI. 1-20.
that it should not be in subjection to any appetite or desire, however innocent. 3. W7iaC will be the e.ffect upon my fellows 1 Will it aid or hinder them? "No man liveth, unto himself." Every Jllan is "a man of influence." Innocent things to us may be by no means innocent things to others. Ily example we may lead men to destruction~ whilst we withal escape. "If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while t.he world standeth" ( eh. viii. 13). 4. How will my conduct appear to God 1 Is- this that I propose to do, not only good in itself, but the best thing for me to do at this time? Whatever the Christian does, he is to do to the glory of God, even in matters of eating and drinking. Can I do this to the glory of God? The familiar question,, "Is it wrong to do this or to go thither?" is often both misleadin" and utterly irrelevant.. 'fhe answer to the question may be "No." Then the fallacious "reasoning follows, "If it is not wrong, I may do it without sin." Stop! that is unsound logic. The thing: thoi·oughly right may be unutterably wrong! "All things are lawful unto me, but.. all things are not expedient," and the Christian is bound by every oblicration to do that which is expedient within the realms of the lawful. He must do wh7i.t is best; to do, aught else is to sin. What be ought to do, and what he may do lawfully, are often two very different things. "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price" (vers. 19, 20).-H.