According to the right rendering the last clause is, as I have already
said, 'in which stand fast.' The translation in the Authorised Version,
'in which ye stand,' gives a true thought, though not the Apostle's
intention here. For, as a matter of fact, men cannot stand upright and
firm unless their feet are planted on the rock of that true grace of
God. If our heels are well fixed on it, then our goings will be
established. It is no use talking to men about steadfastness of purpose,
stability of life, erect independence, resistance to antagonistic
forces, and all the rest, unless you give them something to stand upon.
If you talk so to a man who has his foot upon shifting sands or slippery
clay; the more he tries the deeper will he sink into the one, or slide
the further upon the other. The best way to help men to stand fast is to
give them something to stand upon. And the only standing ground that
will never yield, nor collapse, nor, like the quicksand with the tide
round it, melt away, we do not know how, from beneath our feet, is 'the
grace of God.' Or, as Dr. Watts says, in one of his now old-fashioned
hymns:--
'Lo! on the solid Rock I stand,
And all beside is shifting sand.'
However, that is not what the Apostle Peter meant. He says, 'See that
you keep firmly your position in reference to this true grace of God.'
Now I am not going to talk to you about intellectual difficulties in the
way of hearty and whole-souled acceptance of the gospel
revelation--difficulties which are very real and very widespread in
these days, but which possibly very slightly affect us; at least I hope
so.
But whilst these slay their thousands, the difficulties that affect us
all in the way of keeping a firm hold on, or firm standing in (for the
two metaphors coalesce) the gospel, which is the true grace of God, are
those that arise from two causes working in combination. One is our own
poor weak hearts, wavering wills, strong passions, unbridled desires,
forgetful minds; and the other is all that army and babel of seductions
and inducements, in occupations legitimate and necessary, in enjoyments
which are in themselves pure and innocent, in family delights, in home
engagements, in pursuits of commerce or of daily business--all that
crowd of things that tempt us to forget the true grace and to wander
away in a foolish and vain search after vain and foolish substitutes.
Dear brethren, it is not so much because there are many adversaries in
the intellectual world as because we are such weak creatures ourselves,
and the world around us is so strong against us, that we need to say to
one another and to ourselves, over and over again, 'Stand ye fast
therein.' You cannot keep hold of a rope even, without the act of
grasping tending to relax, and there must be a conscious and repeated
tightening up of the muscles, or the very cord on which we hang for
safety will slip through our relaxed palms. And however we may be
convinced that there are no hope and no true blessedness for us except
in keeping hold of God, we need that grasp to be tightened up by daily
renewed efforts, or else it will certainly become slack, and we shall
lose the thing that we should hold fast. So my text exhorts us against
ourselves, and against the temptations of the world, which are always
present with us, and are far more operative in bringing down the
temperature of the Christian Church, and of its individual members,
than any chilling that arises from intellectual doubts.
And how are we to obey the exhortation? Well, plainly, if 'this' is the
revelation of God in Jesus Christ, 'the true grace of God' which alone
will give stability to our feet, then we 'shall not stand fast' in it
unless we make conscious efforts to apprehend, and comprehend, and keep
hold of it in our minds as well as in our hearts. May I say one very
plain word? I am very much afraid that people do not read their Bibles
very much now (or if they do read them, they do not study them), and
that anything like an intelligent familiarity with the whole sweep of
the great system (for it is a system) of Divine truth, evolved 'at
sundry times and in divers manners' in this Word, is a very rare thing
amongst even good people. They listen to sermons, with more or less
attention; they read newspapers, no doubt; they read good little books,
and magazines, and the like; and volumes that profess to be drawn from
Scripture. These are all right and good in their place. But sure I am
that a robust and firm grasp of the gospel, 'which is the grace of God,'
is not possible with a starvation diet of Scripture. And so I would say,
try to get hold of the depth and width of meaning in the Word.
Again, try to keep heart and mind in contact with it amidst distractions
and daily duties. Try to bring the principles of the New Testament
consciously to bear on the small details of everyday life. Do you look
at your day's work through these spectacles? Does it ever occur to you,
as you are going about your business, or your profession, or your
domestic work, to ask yourselves what bearing the gospel and its truths
have upon these? If my ordinary, so-called secular, avocations are
evacuated of reference to, and government by, the Word of God, I want
to know what of my life is left as the sphere in which it is to work.
There is no need that religion and daily life should be kept apart as
they are. There is no reason why the experience of to-day, in shop, and
counting-house, and kitchen, and study, should not cast light upon, and
make more real to me, 'the true grace of God.' Be sure that you desire,
and ask for, and put yourself in the attitude of receiving, the gifts of
that love, which are the graces of the Christian life. And when you have
got them, apply them, 'that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day; and, having done all, to stand.'