"Let no man beguile you of your reward."
Colossians 2:18
Let no man domineer over you, again,
by judging your motives. Men will always give as bad a reason as they can for a
good man's actions. It seems to be innate in human nature never to give a man
credit for being right if you can help it, and often tender minds have been greatly
wounded when they have been misrepresented, and their actions have been imputed
to sinister and selfish motives, when they have really desired to serve Christ.
But do not let your heart be broken about that. You will appear before the
judgment-seat of Christ: do not care about these petty judgments-seats of men.
Go on with your Master's work dauntlessly and fearlessly.
Let them say, as
David's brethren said of him, "Because of thy pride and the naughtiness of
thy heart to see the battle, art thou come." Go you and get Goliath's
head, and bring it back, and that shall be the best answer to these sneering
ones. When they see that God is with you, and that he has given you the
triumph, you shall have honour, even in the eyes of those who now ridicule you.
I think sometimes the Christian should have very much the same bravado against
the judgment of men as David had when Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out
and said, "How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered
himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants," and he said,
"It was before the Lord, and I will yet be more vile than thus." Let
your eye be to God, and forget the eyes of men. Live so that, whether they know
what you do, or do not know, you will not care, for your conduct will bear the
blaze of the great Judgment Day, and, therefore, the criticisms of earth do not
affect you. Let no man domineer over you.
So may I put it in another light--let
no man sway your conscience so as to lead you. I am always anxious, my dear hearers,
that, whatever respect I may ever win from you--and I trust I may have your
esteem and your affection--yet that you will never believe a doctrine simply
because I utter it, but unless I can confirm it from the Word of God, away with
it.
If it be not according to the teaching of the Lord and Master, I beseech
you follow me not. Follow me only as far as I follow Christ. And so with every
other man. Let it be God's truth, God's Word, the Holy Spirit's witness to that
Word in your soul, that you are seeking after, but rest, I pray you, never
short of that, for if you do your faith must stand merely in the wisdom of men,
and when the man who helped you to believe is gone, perhaps your faith may be
gone too, when most you need its comforting power. No; let no man domineer over
you, but press forward in the Christian race, looking unto Jesus, and looking
unto Jesus only.
But now a third meaning belongs to the
text. A happy circumstance it is, this dark night, that the preacher does not
need to use his manuscript, for if he did his sermon must certainly come to an
end now. But here is this point, "Let no man beguile you of your
reward." It may mean this:--
III. LET NO MAN ROB YOU OF THE PRESENT
REWARD WHICH YOU HAVE IN BEING A CHRISTIAN.
Let no man deprive you of the present
comfort which your faith should bring to you. Let me just for a few minutes
have your attention while I speak upon this. Dear brethren, you and I, if we
are believers in Christ, are this day completely pardoned. There is no sin in
God's book against us. We are wholly and completely justified. The
righteousness of Jesus Christ covers us from head to foot, and we stand before
God as if we had never sinned. Now let no man rob you of this reward. Do not be
tempted by anything that is said to doubt the completeness of a believer in
Christ. Hold this, and, as you hold it, enjoy it. Do not let the man, yourself,
whom you have most to fear, beguile you.
Even though conscience should upbraid
you, and you should have many grave reasons for doubt, as you imagine, yet if
you believe in Jesus, stand to it--"There is, therefore, now no
condemnation to me, for I am in Christ Jesus; he that believeth on him is not
condemned; I have believed,and I am not condemned, neither will he permit
condemnation to be thundered against me, for Christ has borne my sin for me,
and I am clear in him." Let no man beguile you of the reward of feeling
that you are complete in Christ.
Further, you who have believed in
Jesus Christ are safe in Christ. Because he lives, you shall live also. Who
shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? He
has said, "I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." Now there are some who will
tell you that you are not safe, and that it is dangerous for you to believe
that you are. Let no man beguile you of this reward. You are saved. If you are
believing on him, he will keep you, and you may sing, "Now unto him that
is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before his
presence with exceeding great joy, unto him be glory." Hold to that
blessed truth that you are in Jesus--safe in Jesus Christ.
There is a third blessed truth, that
not only are you pardoned and safe in Christ, but you are accepted at this
moment, in the Beloved. Your acceptance with God does not rest upon anything in
you. You are accepted because you are in Christ, accepted for Christ's sake.
Now sometimes you will get robbed of this reward if you listen to the voice
which says, "Why, there is sin in you still; your prayers are imperfect;
your actions are stained." Yes, but let no man beguile you of this
conviction that, sinner as you are, you are still accepted in Christ Jesus.
The Lord grant that you may feel this
within, and let no man beguile you of your reward as long as you live. May you
live and die in the enjoyment of it, beloved, for Christ's sake. Amen.
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