'They that were ready went in with Him to the marriage.' Now faith
alone unites a man to Jesus Christ, and makes him an heir of
salvation. But faith alone, if that were possible, would not admit a
man to the marriage-feast. Of course the supposed case is an
impossible case, for as James has taught us in his plain moral way,
faith which is alone dies, or perhaps never lived. But what our Lord
tells us here is that moral character, which is of such a sort as to
shine in the world's darkness, is the condition of entrance. People
say that salvation is by faith. Yes, that is true; but salvation is
by works also, only that the works are made possible through faith.
In the very necessity and nature of things nothing but the readiness
which consists in continued Christ-like character will ever allow a
man to pass the threshold. Now do you believe that? Or are you
saying, 'I trust to Jesus Christ, and so I am sure I shall go to
Heaven.' No, you will not, unless your faith is making you heavenly,
in your temper and conduct. For to talk about the next world as a
place of retribution is but an imperfect statement of the case. It
is not a place of retribution so much as of outcome, and the apostle
gives a completer view when he says, 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap.' That future life is not the reward of goodness
so much as the necessary consequence of holiness. Holiness and
blessedness are, in some measure, separated here; there they are two
names for the one condition. 'No man shall see the Lord,' without
that holiness. 'They that were ready went in.' Of course they did.
Am I ready? That question means, Am I, by my faith in Jesus Christ,
receiving into my heart the anointing which that great anointed One
gives us? Am I living a life that is a light in the world? If so,
and not else, my entrance is sure.
We have seen what this readiness consists in, and how it is the
condition of entrance. There is one last thought--