The lost crown

Front matter

EASTbi^ naZARENE college

I I

Works by Rev. J. Wilbur Chapman, D.D.

Preface

After much prayer and thoughtful consideration of the subject, this book is sent out with the hope that it may be both a warning and an inspiration to all who may take the time to read what is here written.

God forbid that any of us should miss our crown at the great day of awards! God grant that we may all receive the full reward!

No claim is made to literary excellence, but it is claimed:

ist, That in the presentation of these subjects to my own people, they were kind enough to say that they had been greatly quickened;

2nd, That these sermons, so far as they appeal to the unsaved, have been used of God to lead many to decide for Christ. To Him be all the praise!

The two companion books, “ And Peter ” and “ Kadesh-barnea,” have been so kindly received and so widely read that I am encouraged to believe that this book too may be helpful to many.

If one child of God be inspired to better service — if one poor lost sinner be led to Christ — I shall never cease to praise Him for the privilege He has given me of preparing these messages.

TABLE OF CONTENTS,

PAGE

I. God’s Plan for Us, 7

III. Rules for Service, 30

IV. A Note of Warning, 38

V. “Then Cometh the End,” 45

VI. The Holy Ghost and the Church, ... 51

VII. The Gospel in the Old Testament, ... 65

VIII. The Bow in the Cloud, 85

IX. Pilate’s Question, 95

X. “Now Peter,” 104

XI. A Vision of His Face,

CHAF1FR I.

god’s plan for us.

“ Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Philippians iii: 12.

God has a plan for every life, and when this plan is realized there is always in the experience of the believer both joy and peace, blessing and power. If anyone is having an up-and-down Christian experience, hot to-day and cold to-morrow, near enough to Christ to-day so that he may almost touch Him, and so far away to-morrow that he questions if he has ever been saved, this is a certain evidence that he has not allowed God to work out His plan for him; and there is yet much work to be accomplished by the Holy Spirit of God. An experience of unrest dishonors God, and when you find a heart in which there is this unrest and dissatisfaction, you always find a life in which God has not yet finished His work. “ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you,” was written for such an one, and is his inheritance. While it would be a most difficult thing to define peace , yet possibly the best definition would be to take its opposite, and so it would read like this: Peace is the opposite of unrest,

of confusion, of strife. This blessing is for every one of God’s children, if they will but claim it.

It is no more disastrous for one’s arm to be out of its socket than for one’s life to run contrary to the plan of God. Paul evidently had this in mind when he said: “ If I may apprehend that for which I am

also apprehended of Christ Jesus.” It would be no more disastrous for a planet to go swinging out of its orbit than for a life to run contrary to the plan of God. The fact is, our crosses in this world always come to us when our wills run contrary to the will of God. One piece of wood placed over another and running in the contrary direction always makes a cross. Our peace and joy come to us in this life when our wills run parallel to that of God. Though we may be obliged to live in poverty and meet with what this world calls disaster and failure, if we are perfectly sure we are doing according to God’s will we may say with the Apostle: “ All things work together for good.”

God has

A HIGH IDEAL FOR EVERY LIFE,

and we have but to read the Scriptures to find this to be true. We find in Romans i: 7 that we are called “ saints ”; this is our name. We learn in 1 Corinthians iii: 9 that we are “ laborers together with God.” We are told in 1 Corinthians 1 : 9 that it is our privilege to be in fellowship with God’s Son, and

GOD'S PLAN FOR US this word “ fellowship ” is literally “ partnership.” In Revelation ii: 17 God promises to give to us His own hidden manna to eat. Of this the world knows nothing— it can neither give it nor take it away. In the 25th Psalm, 14th verse, we have a pledge that God will tell to us His secrets, but it is not to be forgotten that we only tell secrets to those who are near to us. God never gives His secrets to those who are out of fellowship with Him, and every man is out of fellowship who has in his heart any unconfessed or unforgiven sin. In Philippians iii: 20 the conversation of the child of God is described. It is to be in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians ii: 10 the whole of the Christian character is described. We are told that we are His “ workmanship,” and the word workmanship is literally poem; so that in God’s plan we are all that is complete and beautiful.

We are very sure that we have not attained unto this plan.

We are likewise confident that falling short of it we are not satisfied, and our cry is that of the Apostle (Romans 7:24), “ Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? ”

We may have God’s power . 2 Cor. xii : 9 — “My

grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Let us therefore cease to speak of the presence of the Holy Ghost as an experience, and talk about the better Christian life as an “ it”; let us remember ever after this that Christ is the power of God. To exalt Him, to follow Him, to live His life, and to enthrone Him in our lives, is power always, and never can be anything else.

We may have God’s rest. Hebrews iv: i to 3— “ Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

It is most significant that in the tenth verse of this fourth chapter of Hebrews we read: “ For he that has entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own ivorks , as God did from His.” Oh, that we might all of us learn that it is when we cease to be self-centered and become Christ-centered, it is when we live lives of unselfishness and therefore for the glory of Christ, it is when we look up and not in — in a word, it is when we cease from our own works, that we enter into God’s rest.

We may have God’s holiness. Hebrews xii: 10 — “ For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. ” Not infrequently

GOD'S PLAN FOR US we find Christian people who are afraid of the word holinessy and yet the Bible has distinctly declared that without holiness no man shall see God. If we are shutting Him out of our lives, then we are depriving ourselves of our birthright as His children.

We might sum up God’s plan for our lives under three heads:

I . It is God’s will that we should be

REGENERATED.

Johni: 13, 14 — “ Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Regeneration is not a working-over of the old nature, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and never can be anything else. It may be educated flesh, cultured flesh, but after all it is flesh, and is displeasing to God. It does not come as the result of reformation, for while reformation may touch a man’s present and possibly his future, it has nothing to do with his past sins, which are like the sands of the sea in number. Environment has nothing to do with our passing from death unto life. If environment could save the soul or keep it, Adam never would have fallen, for he dwelt in paradise. Lot would have been a model citizen, for he abode in the fairest city of the then known world.

Regeneration is God’s breathing into man His own life — it is literally being born from above.

2. It is God’s will that we should be

SANCTIFIED.

I Thes. iv: 3 — “ For this is the will of God, even your sanctification. ”

Some people feel much prejudiced against the idea of sanctification, but it is in God’s Word, and it would be well for us to study it and realize it in our experience. To be sanctified is to be separated, and it is certainly the plan of God that His people shall be a separated people. While they are “ in the world,” they are to be in no sense “ of the world.” They are commanded even not to touch that which is unclean, and all the old law respecting the Nazarite is a law for the Christian, except that in the New Testament times that law has been intensified by the touch of the living and risen Christ.

If your life is not sanctified, you will live contrary to the will of God.

3. It is God’s will that we should be ultimately

GLORIFIED.

i Peter v: 10 — “ But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

Johnxvii: 24: — “ Father, I will that they also, whom

GOD'S PLAN FOR US thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.”

It is a good thing to turn again and again in this way to the Scriptures, to find what is the plan God has marked out for us, and then to square our lives according to this plan, to see wherein we have followed it or have failed. If the failure has been grievous, it is not necessary that we should go in mourning all the day long, for, just as a mother forgives the weakness of her child and forgets the many shortcomings, so God has promised again and again in His Word to blot out all our transgressions and to remember them no more against us forever.

It is not therefore a question as to whether we can keep from sinning ourselves — we know that we can not; but it is altogether a question as to whether Christ can keep us if we will but give Him the right to do so. I have no question but that one could walk from one corner of the street to the other with Christ so constantly before him that, in his own judgment at least, he would be overcoming sin. I am perfectly clear that he could increase his journey by many miles, and still be more than conqueror. I am absolutely confident that one could walk the whole day with Christ so vividly before him that it would be peace and joy. And what could be accomplished in one day could be made

THE RULE OF A MAN’S ENTIRE LIFE.

Chapter II. The Full Reward

The faithful student of the Word of God will find it dearly proven that one may be saved, and yet miss in this life very much of the peace and joy of God; and after living such a life he may be ushered into eternity just barely saved — as Paul puts it: “ So as

by fire,” or as Job describes it: “ Escaped by the

skin of the teeth.” This certainly can not be a very happy prospect, and God throws out danger-signals all along the way, that we may turn aside from such unholy living and be kept back from such an inglorious entrance into heaven.

The same student of the Bible will learn that it is possible to enter into His presence with fulness of joy, to be welcomed with the shouts of angels, to be saluted by the “ Well done, good and faithful servant ” of the Master Himself. Such an entrance into glory is certainly to be desired, and such a blissful experience may be given to every consistent follower of Christ.

After the return of Christ for His church, there is to be a great day of awards, when those who have been faithful shall receive recognition at the hands of the Lord Himself, in the presence of the assembled hosts in the skies. We can tell just what this reward is to be, and yet this needs a word of explanation. We can not give the exact description of the crowns we shall wear, nor can we estimate in human language their value in the opinion of men. But we know, after studying the New Testament, that it is to be according to our faith and in proportion to our faithfulness. It is in this way that every child of God may confidently say: “ I know what my award is to be.” He measured it himself. It is very true that one may stand before God and receive from Him only a measure of reward, and it is likewise true* that he might have a greater blessing from the hands of his Master. John speaks about “ a full reward,” as if there might be a reward that is not complete. Alas, this is only too true! But the opposite is also true, that one may have at that great day at the hands of God Himself a full reward. And the purpose of this book is to induce us to lay hold of the promises of God, so that our lives may be so shaped according to His will, that when that day comes we shall stand before Him with rejoicing and not with sorrow.

A crown is always a symbol of reward. Expressions containing the word are many times used in the New Testament. It is sometimes a “ crown of life,” again a “ crown that is incorruptible,” a “ crown of rejoicing,” a 11 crown of righteousness,” and a “ crown of glory.” But these names are given not simply for the sake of emphasis, as the change of a name might be emphatic, but because each crown means a certain kind of reward. So far as I have been able to see, there are but

FIVE CROWNS

in the New Testament Scriptures. Every Christian may have one, but oh, the joy of it ! every Christian may have five. But the message is still sweeter, for if we should receive from the hands of our glorified Lord the five crowns there would still be something in reserve. Of this we shall speak later.

Naturally, the crown that should come first in order would be the one mentioned in James i: 12 — “ Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive

THE CROWN OF LIFE,

which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him. ” This crown is also mentioned in Revelation ii: 10 — “ Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

It was to be given to the Church of Smyrna that suffered the most. I used to read the text — “ Be thou faithful until death,” and I supposed it meant simply that we needed to be faithful during life and that when death came our responsibility was at an end ; but the word is “ unto,” and means not simply that one should be faithful and willing to suffer for the Master, but to suffer and to die.

This leads me to say that the crown of life is undoubtedly the one to be given to the martyr — not simply the one who has died at the stake, or the woman who has been thrown to the wild beasts that they might devour her ; but the one who has suffered in body and mind unknown to fame, but suffered nevertheless, and suffered for the glory of God.

It is likewise the crown that is to be given to the one who is able to do only little things for Christ. So many seem to think that they can do but little for Christ, and therefore leave that little undone. This is a most serious error. “ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these ye have done it unto Me,” said Christ. A cup of cold water given in His name ; a word of cheer spoken for His glory; a warm hand-clasp that He may be exalted in the opinion of men — these little things win the eternal reward.

So many people are asking : “ What can I do to help on the cause of Christ, to assist my minister, or to help the church ? ” If I were to suggest one thing that would be most helpful, it would be the offering of unceasing prayer for the spread of Christ’s kingdom, and for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the man who preaches Christ at the sacred desk. I remember very well when I first became pastor of the church to which I now minister. After I had preached my first sermon, and the people had presented themselves to say words of cheer, an old man came walking down the aisle, leaning upon his staff because of his age, and he said to me :

“ I am afraid you will make it a failure.”

I did not consider that much of a word of cheer, and heartily wished he could have given it to me at another time.

Then, looking about the church, he added : “ We have always had a man of large experience, and the church is large.” Then he came nearer, and said: “ But I have made up my mind to help you.” I wondered in my own mind what he could do. He added : “ I have determined to pray for you every day that you are pastor of this church, and I have covenanted with two other men to pray for you.”

At this my heart was filled with joy, and I thanked God and took courage, feeling confident from the beginning that He had given me the victory. The three men soon grew to ten, and the ten to fifty, and the fifty to two hundred, until in these days from three hundred and fifty to five hundred consecrated men bow their heads in prayer with me every Sunday morning at 9:45, praying God’s blessing upon me as I preach, and upon the people as they listen. The most wonderful place in all the world to preach in is a church where the atmosphere is permeated with the petitions of faithful Christians for God’s blessing upon His ministers. And these are they who, upon the great day of awards, shall receive the crown of life. They do little things well, to the glory of God.

The second crown in order is

THE INCORRUPTIBLE CROWN.

I. Cor. ix: 25, 27 — “ Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. But I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

Paul, in the figure of speech, is on the race course. He is striving to reach the goal and win the prize. Here, therefore, it is not a question of life, but entirely a question of awards. He is not writing to the unregenerate, but to the children of God. He says: “ I will keep under my body, lest I shall become a castaway.” The word “ castaway ” in the Greek is literally “ disapproved .” Paul is teaching that even if he is to win the crown that is incorruptible, he must deny himself, he must put forth heroic effort, he must be faithful until the very end.

This spirit is needed in the church. If the first crown is for the passive Christian, the second is for the enthusiastic follower of Christ, and next to the baptism of the Holy Ghost the church to-day needs the baptism of enthusiasm. It is a great mistake for men to allow their prejudices to lead them against the methods of church work upon which God has set His seal. There is a cry to-day against new methods, and people say the need of the time is for the old methods of our fathers. There is some truth in this, but the trouble with the advocates of this proposition is that they do not make their methods old enough. We ought to go back to Pentecostal methods of givings for in those days the disciples gave all they had.

We ought to go back to Pentecostal methods of preaching: the early preachers had just two themes in mind — namely, Jesus and the Resurrection. We ought to go back to Pentecostal living , for in the olden times the disciples lived in the expectation that each new day would bring back the Lord Himself, and having this hope in Him their lives became pure and their testimonies powerful.

Every church ought to change its method every Sunday, if the methods in use do not compel the people to accept the gospel. We have no responsibility for conversion — the Spirit of God takes care of that; but we do have a tremendous responsibility resting upon us to make every man, woman and child understand that the Son of God died to set them free from the penalty of sin, and that He ever pleads at God’s right hand to liberate them from its power. The church is not an end, but rather a means to an end. If counted an end, the membership becomes satisfied with the church in itself, its preaching, its music, its social standing, its ability to influence the minds of the people; and in all seriousness I dare to say that such a church will be a curse to a community in the thought of God, rather than a blessing. We have this to remember: when counted as a means to an end, the church loses sight of herself and realizes that she is in existence only to bring to every lost sinner the message of the gospel. So long as there is one soul in the world unsaved, God calls His children to carry the message of peace and glad tidings of great joy to that one.

There is a Scriptural warrant for this frequent change of method. It is all summed up in one word: until. How long did the father wait for his son ? “ Until ” he returned. How long did the woman search for the lost piece of silver? “ Until” she found it. How long did the shepherd look for his sheep? “ Until ” he had it in his arms and was bearing it back with rejoicing to the fold. How often ought we to change our methods in the church ? “ Until ” we have

a method upon which God will set His seal, and to which the Holy Ghost will give His approval, because that method compels the people to hear the gospel and to know that Jesus Christ died to save all mankind.

Paul was willing to be counted a fool if only he might better influence men. To the wise he would be wise; to the ignorant he was willing to be counted ignorant; to the weak as a man of weakness — if only by all means he “ might save some.” May the Lord God fill the church with this spirit ! We could shake the cities and move the world with the power of God. And when the great day of awards should come, simply because we had been dead in earnest, had counted personal ease as nothing, had labored incessantly by day and by night, in heat and in cold, we should receive the crown that is incorruptible.

The third crown is

THE CROWN OF REJOICING.

I Thess. ii: 19 — “ For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming ? ”

When Paul remembers the Thessalonians whom he had won for Christ, he immediately replies: “ Ye are

our crown of rejoicing,” and so this third form of the reward is properly called the soul-winner’s crown.

Alas ! some who are born of the Spirit, who have been trained in the Christian church, or might have been, who have lived all their lives dead in sin, shall never wear it. But it is possible for everybody to receive it from the hands of the Master Himself.

This is the crown that the sainted Spurgeon is to wear. It is said that thirteen thousand people joined his church in his ministry, and this was only the beginning of the multitude of others that have been influenced by his life, the world around. It is the crown that Mr. Moody is to wear, because in all parts of the world he has pointed men to the crucified One. It is the crown that faithful Sunday school teachers and devoted workers are to wear.

I had in my home at one time a very celebrated Sunday school worker. He told me how he became a servant of Christ. He was converted as a boy before the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor was known. He wanted to do something for Christ, and all he could think of was to teach a Sunday school class. He went to the superintendent with a request that he might be made a teacher, and was refused. He went a second time, with a like result. He went a third time, and proposed to bring in a class from outside, and this time he secured the consent of the superintendent. When he went out to find boys, his first visit was to a great brown-stone mansion. He rang the bell and the servant opened the door. He asked if the lady of the house could be seen. He was shown into the parlor, and soon the mother of the boy entered.

He said: “ I have come to ask if your boy can come

to Sunday school.”

Her face flushed and her eyes flashed, as she replied: “ My child has been to Sunday-school, and

has had such miserable teaching that I have made up my mind that he shall not go again, until either I can teach him myself or get some one who can.”

After a little waiting, she asked: “ Suppose I should send him, who would teach him ?”

He became greatly embarrassed at this question, and thought that if ever he got out of the house he would never again think of any work in the church. But finally he replied:

“ Well, if he comes I will teach him myself.”

There was something in his frank statement — the ring of his voice — which touched the mother, and she said:

“ Next Sunday he will be there.”

He came — he was the only boy in the class — and when the young teacher told him the story of Jesus Christ he was converted.

As he told us the story, the tears were in his eyes, and he said:

“ Let me tell you the rest. Just before I left New York, I was called to the room of a man who was dying. As I entered he called me to his bedside, and said: 4 Come just as near as you can.* I took his

head and pillowed it on my arms, and we talked. He said: 'Teacher, has this not been a wonderful

work?* His voice was almost gone, but he still whispered. Finally, his wife sprang up and cried: 4 He is dying.' I held him closer and kissed him, for I loved him as though he had been my own child."