Our
hopes and comforts rise or fall, according to our conceptions and
belief of what Christ is in Himself, and what He is to us. Attend to
this. You will find this true in your experience. Therefore it is of no
small moment, whether you believe Christ to be God over all, or only a
mere man. Yea, it is of the utmost importance: it enters into the very
life, peace, and joy of your soul. Our Lord here puts this beyond a
doubt. None but God is, at one and the same time, in more places than
one. But Christ declares, “Wherever My disciples are gathered together
in My name, there am I.” Therefore Christ is the omnipresent God. This
is the joy of our faith; this, the glory of our souls. Now, it should be
our grand concern to bring this into experience and practice.
(1st.)
Remember “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil
and the good” (Proverbs 15:3.) O, soul! what have you to do at places
devoted to sin and vanity? Know, the eyes of the Lord are there. If He
sees you there, He will surely make you smart for it.
But, (2d.) Our
Lord delights in the assembling of His disciples in His name. If but two
or three, no matter where. O! let this call up your attention to His
name. Let this reprove professors, that they do not always meet in
Christ’s name, speak to each other more of His glorious person, and
precious salvation: this is the way to be helpers of each other’s faith,
hope, and love in the Lord. Be ashamed of yourselves, ye
frozen-hearted, tongue-tied professors! who can be all talk for the
things of the world, but dumb when precious Jesus is the theme. What!
can you go, day after day, without calling your family together, to
speak a word of Jesus to them, and to Jesus for them? O, what seasons of
peace, comfort, and heavenly mindedness do you abridge yourselves of!
The presence of a king makes a court. The King of kings makes a court, a
temple in your houses; yea, in your hearts, when you assemble in His
name.
(3d.) Let this precious word encourage you to this. “There am I in
the midst of them.” Have you not found it so? the unworthiest of all
has. “There am I!” as thought Christ was first there, waiting for us.
Can His presence be with us, without shedding His light, life, liberty,
and power among us? No: no more than the sun can shine in its meridian
splendour, without darting light and heat.
(4th.) Remember two or three
are within the compass of the promise. Not angels, not sinless men; but
poor, miserable sinners, Christ delights to be in the midst of. O! love
and praise our dear Lord, for His marvellous condescension, and this
precious declaration. Study more and more to improve it, to build up
each other’s souls in them, and to glorify His precious name. See His
affectionate notice of such. -Malachi 3:16, 17
-preacher Wm. Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)
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