The One Great Reality
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Louisa Clayton >> The One Great Reality
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8 Charles Aladrondo, Tiffany Vergon, Charles Bidwell, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team
THE ONE GREAT REALITY
By
LOUISA CLAYTON
Author of "Heart Lessons", "Loving Messages",
"Winning and Warning", "Wilderness Lessons", etc.
"I AM GOD, AND THERE IS NONE ELSE"--
Isa. xiv. 22.
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
to all my friends in Rusthall,
in loving remembrance
of our happy fellowship in the gospel
during the past thirty years,
with the earnest prayer
that the messages may be stored up
in their hearts
and bring forth fruit in their lives
when the voice
which delivered them is still.
3, Somerville Gardens,
Tunbridge Wells.
FOREWORD
In response to the request of an old and esteemed friend I gladly add a
Foreword to the collection of Addresses embodied in this volume.
I do so in recognition of the supreme importance of the great topics that
have been chosen, and also in appreciation of the clear and attractive way
in which the truth is set forth. May the messages find attentive and
receptive readers, and be followed by deep and abiding spiritual blessing.
EVAN H. HOPKINS.
Woburn Chase,
Addlestone, Surrey.
CONTENTS
I GOD, THE GREAT REALITY
II GOD, OUR FATHER
III THE SON OF GOD
IV THE SPIRIT OF GOD
V THE VOICE OF GOD
VI THE HANDS OF GOD
VII THE WORD OF GOD
VIII HAVE FAITH IN GOD
IX THE CHURCH OF GOD
X THE KINGDOM OF GOD
INDEX OF CONTENTS
ADDRESS I
GOD, THE GREAT REALITY
Personal knowledge of God, the secret of happiness--Realising His Presence
in prayer--Illustrations from the telephone and family life--God is our
Father, Saviour, Comforter--The Living God-knowing all, and controlling
everything--Illustrations from current events.
ADDRESS II
GOD, OUR FATHER
A Chinese convert--Christ's confidence in the Father--Christ reveals the
Father--Philip's prayer, "Show us the Father"--What God is to us as
Father--How the minister sang the Doxology in an empty flour barrel--The
glorious calling of the children of God.
ADDRESS III
THE SON OF GOD
Christ is the Son of God from Eternity--He is sent to be the Saviour of
the world--Three questions answered: Where did He come from? When did He
come? Why did He come?--A working-man's experience--The story of the pearl
necklace--Christ's work of redemption--Sir James Simpson's dying
testimony--Hymn, "He came and took me by the hand."
ADDRESS IV
THE SPIRIT OF GOD
God is a Spirit--True spiritual worship--The Spirit of God in Creation and
Salvation--The New Birth--The work of the Holy Spirit convincing of sin,
and revealing Christ--Searchlights--The loveliness of Christ--The Holy
Ghost like a Mother--The Comforter.
ADDRESS V
THE VOICE OF GOD
Jacob's ladder, a type of Christ--Jacob brought face to face with God--
What it is to hear the Voice of God--God's first call to man in the Garden
of Eden--A perfect link of communication between God and man--The Voice of
God speaking in His Word.
ADDRESS VI
THE HANDS OF GOD
Why St. John wrote his Gospel--The safety of the believer--God's hands in
Creation, Providence and Redemption--The "Scarred Hands"--The story of a
brave shepherd lad--The Hands of Jesus wounded for our transgressions--
The Three Crosses.
ADDRESS VII
THE WORD OF GOD
The Glory of God seen in Nature--The Glory of God revealed in the Bible--
The dying woman and her rich inheritance--God's Word brings wisdom,
conversion, joy and light to the heart of man--Spurgeon's text in the
Crystal Palace--A Chinese convert "behaving the Bible"--The Torch that
will light you home--A neglected Bible.
ADDRESS VIII
HAVE FAITH IN GOD
Abraham the Friend of God--The greatness of his faith--Faith the gate into
Life--Faith the link between the sinner and the Saviour--A missionary's
faith rewarded--Illustrations from the telegraph and electricity--The
wonders wrought by the touch of faith--Great faith brings Heaven into our
souls--The difference between believing and committing.
ADDRESS IX
THE CHURCH OF GOD
The Church of God: Past, Present, Future--Its Beginning and Growth--The
Church the Body of Christ, a Living Union--The Church the Bride of Christ,
a Loving Relationship--The Glory of this Union--Three Great Surprises--The
Old Man's Message; Love, Eternal Love--The Four Precious Words--"Labelled
and Ready"--The Glorious Future of the Church of God--The Church will show
forth God's Grace and Glory in the Ages to come.
ADDRESS X
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
"Bringing the King back"--One King, Jesus, His entrance into Jerusalem--
The Jews rejecting their King--His Kingdom in our hearts--Make Jesus
King--The Cross the Way to the Throne--The dying thief received into the
Kingdom--The King's Victory over the Powers of Darkness--The Coming King--
The Glory of the Lord revealed--Christ's Reign on Earth--Rutherford's
testimony--Miss Havergal's Prayer--The Eternal Kingdom.
ADDRESS I
GOD, THE GREAT REALITY
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE--Hebrews xi. 1-6.
God is the one great Reality. Will you close your eyes for a moment and
say those words over again very slowly so as to let them burn into your
inmost heart and soul. The Word of God tells us that "The Son of God is
come and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true": this means that we may personally know Him that is Reality. In the
wonder of that moment when we first know that God is real and that God is
near, then we cry out, "My God, how wonderful Thou art." To have personal
knowledge of God is the secret of assurance and happiness, and to put real
trust in Him changes our whole life, for then we can say, "I have a
wonderful God."
To know God is Eternal life; to know Him fully, brings "life more
abundantly"; to know Him with no veil between, is glory--life.
If you look again at the 6th verse of the 11th chapter of Hebrews you will
notice a very clear statement: it says, "He that cometh to God must
believe that He is," or to put it in other words, "the man who draws near
to God must believe that there is a God."
Do you believe in God? Is He real to you? Here is one test. When you pray
do you realise His Presence? Is He so close to you that it is like
speaking into His ear?
It was this text, "He that cometh to God must believe that He is," which
first awakened a worldly gentleman named Brownlow North to think about his
soul. God's Spirit showed him that he had never really believed in God and
that all his former religion was worthless, "for without faith it is
impossible to please God." As soon as he had really learnt to know God, he
devoted all his life to preaching the Gospel. He told every one that the
first thing we need is _to believe there is a God_. Many of his friends
who were rich and well educated were thus brought to a personal knowledge
of God for the first time. He that cometh to God must believe that He is
really there. Have you ever been conscious of the Presence of the living
God? You must make sure that He is near before you can really pray.
We have an illustration of this in the telephone. You first put the
speaking tube to your mouth and then you say "Are you there?" In any case
you make sure that the person to whom you wish to speak, is listening at
the other end. Although you cannot see any one, you know he is holding the
receiver so as to hear what you say.
When you begin to pray always pause for a moment and remember that you are
speaking to God. Do not say a word until the Holy Spirit puts you into
direct communication with God. The Psalmist was quite sure that God was
really listening to his prayer, for he says, "I love the Lord because He
hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His ear
unto me therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live." [Footnote: Ps.
cxvi. 1, 2.] And again, "I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God
with my voice, and He gave ear unto me." [Footnote: Ps. lxxvii. 1.] It is
in this way we realise that there is a God, a personal living God.
I asked a Christian man one day if he had prayed about some work which was
offered to him, and his reply was, "Yes: I am on the telephone." Can you
say the same? As soon as you have spoken through the telephone you put the
receiver to your ear to listen for the answer. Many people pray without
expecting to get an answer. They are like children who knock at a door and
then run away before it is opened. The prophet Micah says, "I will wait
for God, my God will answer me." [Footnote: Mic. vii. 7.] Yes, he expected
to get an answer.
The Lord Jesus says, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when
thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret."
[Footnote: St. Matt. vi. 6.] When a child wants to tell his father
something very private he whispers it in his ear. I daresay you have
noticed that the telephone at the General Post Office is enclosed in a
box, so that no one can overhear what is said. There are many things we
say into God's ear which we could not tell to any one else. It makes Him
very real to us, if we can say in our inmost hearts, "O God, Thou art my
God, my very own Father."
When we speak through the telephone we never say useless words, and our
Lord tells us to avoid needless repetitions when we pray, and He adds,
"for your Father knows what things you need before ever you ask Him." Just
as an earthly father delights to hear his children's, voices, so our
heavenly Father loves to hear us speaking to Him, for He says, "Put Me in
remembrance, let us plead together." [Footnote: Isa. xliii. 26.]
A child's intercourse with his father is quite simple and natural, he
talks freely about everything. When you speak to God, is it an effort, or
do you look up into His face with confidence and tell Him all? A child
expects his father to supply all his wants and to be equal to every
emergency, but we seem to have lost sight of the Father in heaven who is
pledged to "supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus." [Footnote: Phil. iv. 13.]
We must not be disappointed if we do not get all we want, because God's
promise is to supply what we _need_. We often wish for things which we do
not really need.
If ever you lose sight of _God_, think of the wonderful lesson which Jesus
teaches when He says, "If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts
unto your children," and you, fathers, always get the best you can for
them, "how much more" (wonderful words), "how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him." [Footnote: St.
Matt. vii. 11.] Have you ever heard God's voice saying to you, I am your
Father; love Me, look to Me, trust Me, worship Me: "Open thy mouth wide
and I will fill it." [Footnote: Ps. lxxxi. 10.]
A godly man who was a servant used to say, "There is not in the world a
kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual
conversation with God." He felt that God was nearer and dearer to him than
any one else. This is what makes God real to us when we feel that He is
_near and dear_.
"Only to sit and think of God,
Oh! what a joy it is!"
It is just the same with your children if you are a really good, loving
father, they are quite happy if they can sit close to you. Your very
presence makes a great impression on them, even if you do not say a word.
Is God's presence so real to you that it makes you control your temper and
keeps you from saying unkind things?
A boy may be troublesome sometimes, but he never really doubts his
father's love for him. Do you ever doubt God's love? Oh, yes: you say, I
often murmur. Then this shows that in a sense you have never really known
God. People would not speak as they do about God, I mean even Christians
would not talk as they do if they really knew God. We often hear people
say, "I hope God will be good to us," or, "I think it very hard God does
not answer my prayer." This shows they have never personally known Him.
Their thoughts about God are so contrary to what they sing. For example,
how much do we really mean of that sweet hymn--
"Precious thought--my Father knoweth,
In His love I rest;
For whate'er my Father doeth.
Must be always best.
Well I know the heart that planneth
Nought but good for me;
Joy and sorrow interwoven,
Love in all I see."
Do you ever doubt His wisdom and think you might have been treated better?
When we really know our Father-God, then we see His wisdom even in the
things that are against us. We know and we feel that they have all been
working together for our good, "for He knows all."
This Book in my hand is The Word of God. It is a revelation of God, and
the glory of God Himself shines in every page. The first word in it is, In
the beginning _God_. Perhaps you ask me, "Who is God?" I will tell you.
"He is my Father." But you say, I am so sinful, I am not worthy to be
called His son. That is just what I felt, so sinful, and then He revealed
Himself to me as my Saviour. Ah! you say, but I am so far off, how can I
find my way to Him? And that was just like me till the Holy Spirit led me
to Him. When God reveals Himself to you as Father, Saviour, Comforter,
then you will know that _God_ Himself is dwelling in your heart. Perhaps
you ask, Will God really come and dwell in me for I am so unworthy? God
Himself answers that question; "Thus saith the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy
place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive
the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."
[Footnote: Isa. lvii. 15.] Every one is standing now in view of God and
Eternity.
A very long time ago the question was asked, "Canst thou by searching find
out God?" [Footnote: Job xi. 7.] The only way we can find Him is by our
spiritual necessities. If your soul needs life, you will find Him. If your
spirit needs reviving, you will find Him. As this text says, I come "to
revive the heart of the contrite ones."
When your children talk about their Father, he is a real Person to them;
that is what God wants to be to us, a real personal God. He says, "I will
be to them a God." [Footnote: Heb. viii. 10.] I know a little boy who
whispered to his aunt one night when she was giving him the goodnight
kiss, "Oh, Auntie, I sometimes wonder whether there is a God. Are you
quite sure?" "Yes," said the aunt very earnestly, "I am quite sure. You
see, I have known Him so long and He is so much to me, I am quite sure."
The child was satisfied.
If you will turn again to Psalm cxvi. you will see a wonderful unfolding
of the secret feelings of David's heart, and as we read it we cannot help
saying to ourselves, the man who wrote this experience had very close
dealings with some One about his soul. Who is this Some One? Do you know?
Perhaps you think your religion is good enough to take you to heaven when
you die, but alas! it begins and ends with the "Unknown God." How
different to David's experience when he says out of a full heart, "I love
the Lord," or as the word means, "I am full of love," and then he tells of
his confidence in God; "I believed, therefore I have spoken," as if he had
said, "God is so real to me now, I must tell others"; and he adds, "I will
walk before the Lord in the land of the living." We can walk with God in
our daily life just as Enoch did.
A good man said a short time ago, If ever I pass any one in the street
with a careworn, anxious face, I long to say to them, "There is _God_,"
"Have faith in God." St. John said, "We have known and believed the love
that God hath to us and in us--God is love." [Footnote: 1 John iv. 16.]
This is the central fact, the one great reality in life, and when once it
is grasped there is nothing to compare with it. Why is there so much
unrest, so much ungodliness, and lawlessness in our midst? We are
forgetting God. The only remedy is coming back to God.
A poor woman who has been a Christian for many years was telling me about
her mother's sudden death the week before, and then she added, "I have
never known God as I do now. The future used to look so dark, but now that
I know Him as the Living God, I can only see _life_. I cannot tell you
what He is to me." Her face, which bore traces of her recent sorrow, shone
with a new peace and a new joy, which made me rejoice. I was sure that God
had revealed Himself to her in her time of need. Those precious words had
come true in her case, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said,
I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes; even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." [Footnote: St. Luke x.
21.]
Are you saying, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the Living God"? Then you
will have a Personal revelation of God Himself, for that is the only way
the life of God can enter into your soul and mine. Are you longing to find
God? It is not that we find Him, but that He finds us, making Himself to
us the great Reality. We may know wonderful things _about_ Him, but that
is not enough. We must really know Him in our hearts!
The very longing which you have for this personal revelation of God comes
from the loving Father Himself, and He says, "I will give them a heart to
know Me": [Footnote: Jer. xxiv. 7.] so we need never think, ah! it is
beyond me, for He promises to _give_ us the heart to know Him.
I had a striking instance of this some years ago. A working man who could
not read or write told me that he had been converted at our meeting. He
died in the Union Infirmary, and I heard afterwards that he had been a
blessing to many in the ward. He said to me one day, "I want to tell you
_what God is to me_." In very simple words he described how he could see
it all plainly. How in the beginning, sin came into the Garden of Eden and
then God revealed Himself to the sinner so as to bring him back to
Himself. Again and again his simple testimony was, I must tell every one
_what God is to me_. This man had learnt to know God personally through
his own need as a sinner, so it is not by earthly education that we find
God, but through the Holy Spirit's teaching, and then in the Word He
reveals Himself more fully.
It is "through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord that grace and
peace are multiplied to us," [Footnote: 2 Pet. i. 2.] so if we have not
more and more grace and peace coming into our souls it is because we do
not really know God.
It makes all the difference in our life when we can say, God is now my
living Father; for it means God in His infinite love has taken my life
into His, and by this personal link of love I take His life into mine.
When He assures us that He is the Living God, it means that He lives and
cares for us. All things, great and small, are under His control. We have
an illustration of this in the present war. Think of our Navy, scattered
over seven oceans, yet all under the control of the Commander-in-Chief,
Sir John Jellicoe. Not one vessel can move without his orders, no ship can
be attacked without his knowledge; the wireless apparatus is at work night
and day communicating every detail. It brings Sir John word of any
submarine sighted, or of any movement in all the seas round our country,
and it carries his orders far and near.
When God tells us that He is the living God, we know that He cares for us
in the same way as a mother cares for her children. We had a touching
illustration of this about a year ago.
Do you remember how we were thrilled with horror when the Archduke Francis
Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria, was shot while driving through
the city? He expired in a few minutes, leaving three children. In those
few moments he turned to his wife who was seated by his side and said
these pathetic words, "Sophie, live for our children." He did not know
that she too had been mortally wounded and would be powerless to care for
their orphan children.
It is because our Father-God is the living God, that He can say to us to-
day just as He said to the Old Testament saints, "I am living for you,
caring for you, protecting you." "Even to your old age I am He; and even
to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made and I will bear, even I will
carry and will deliver you." [Footnote: Isa. xlvi. 4.] When He says to
you, "I am God and there is none else," [Footnote 2: Isa. xlv. 22.] does
your heart answer, Yes: "Even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art
God." [Footnote 3: Ps. xc. 2.]
ADDRESS II
GOD OUR FATHER
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE--Matthew vii 24-34.
In the chapter we have just read there is a great deal about our daily
home life, and the word "Father" is mentioned twelve times, so it shows
that God knows all about the everyday work. It is a grand thing when we
find this out.
A poor woman in China was converted, and very soon the lady missionary who
visited her noticed that now her house was very clean and tidy, and told
her how glad she was to see it.
The woman smiled, and said in her own simple way, "You see my Father God
and the Lord Jesus are constantly coming in and out, so I like to keep it
nice." She realised the Presence of God.
"The eyes of the Lord are in every place." [Footnote: Prov. xv. 3.]
If we do not find God _everywhere_ we practically end by finding
Him _nowhere_.
A busy Christian mother told me that she begins each day and lives all the
day long saying in her heart, "In Thy Presence and by Thy Power." We must
not only _say_ it, but act upon it as a _reality_, and then it will be our
daily experience to be in touch with God.
There was one word which was very precious to Christ and which was often
on His lips, and that was "Father." You remember how He stood one day at
the grave of His friend Lazarus. All the mourners were standing round Him.
Lazarus had been dead four days. It seemed utterly impossible that he
could be restored to life again. No one expected it.
What did Jesus do? "Jesus lifted up His eyes and said '_Father_.'"
[Footnote: St. John xi. 41.] Those eyes were still wet with tears, for a
few verses before we read "Jesus wept." Then He lifted up His eyes and
said "_Father_": that was enough. There is _everything_ in that word. It
just meant, "I have told Father all about it." He knows, He loves, He
cares, and all things are possible with Him. There is no limit to His
power and His love.
Then the command was given to those standing near--"Take ye away the
stone." Was Christ going into the cave? No, the dead man was to _come
out_. So we have first the wondrous name "Father," and then the loud cry,
"Lazarus, come forth," and he that was dead came out of the cold grave',
out of the region of death into the land of the living.
All through His life on earth our Lord always speaks to God as Father. One
verse especially brings out the perfect intimacy, the perfect confidence,
the perfect love between the Lord Jesus and the Father. Jesus says, "All
things are delivered unto Me of My Father, and no man knoweth the Son but
the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to
whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." [Footnote: St. Matt. xi 27.] The last
words of this verse are very precious, for they show that not only has the
Son perfect knowledge of the Father, but He reveals or makes known the
Father so that you and I may know Him as our Father.
You remember Philip prayed, "Lord, show us the Father, that is what we
want," [Footnote: St. John xiv. 8.] and Christ answered, "He who has seen
Me has seen the Father." Yes, "He is the image of the invisible God." God
said to Moses, "Thou canst not see My Face and live for there shall no man
see me and live," [Footnote: Exod. xxxiii. 20.] and for hundreds of years
no one saw God. Then came the wondrous gift and the wondrous revelation.
God gave His only Begotten Son, and _in Him_ we see the Father. Praise the
Lord! the glorious light has come to us in our darkness. For "God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God _in the face of Jesus
Christ._" [Footnote: Cor. iv. 6.] The Apostle John says, "We beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth."
"No man hath seen God at any time," [Footnote: St. John i. 18.] and before
Christ came the verse stopped there; but after He came, then God was fully
revealed; so the verse finishes with the words "the only begotten Son
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." Will you look
up now, and say, "Lord, show _me_ the Father," and He will reveal Him to
you, because this is what He promises to do. Look at the last line of the
27th verse of Matthew xi. where Christ says, "He to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him," and without a pause He adds the wonderful invitation,
"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest." It is to the weary and heavy laden that He reveals the Father. He
invites them to share the fellowship He has with the Father, the peace and
joy and rest of knowing the Father.
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