We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
The impotence of revolt against the truth
I. The futility of revolt against the truth.
1. There are two great truths against which the world has been in perpetual revolt.
(1) The moral truth of God’s government. This means that there is a living and a righteous God; that He will reward righteousness and punish evil. That is the sublime belief uttered in every page of the Bible. By that belief the noblest nations have lived, and the noblest periods of history been shaped. Denying that truth, the world becomes a fathomless and maddening problem. It becomes what Carlyle said the materialists made it, “A mill without a miller,” whose wheels turn endlessly in the tide of the ages, but without purpose or result. Such revolt is the madness of an empty pride, and is as futile as it is wicked.
(2) The spiritual truth of God’s government by Jesus Christ. Christ stands before men as the embodied holiness of God, and His law of life is the law by which human holiness is attained. Against that Divine Presence the world has been in perpetual revolt. The past sign of that revolt is Calvary; its present sign is the selfishness and un-Christliness of human life. But long since, on the steep stairs of sacrifice, Christ has ascended into universal supremacy. The Pharisees had hated Him living, and they feared Him dead. And so they came to Pilate, who said, “Ye have a watch”--set it; seal the tomb; “make it as sure as ye can.” How sure was that? Was it prophecy or irony which animated Pilate’s speech? The revolt against Him was futile then, and it is futile now. He being “lifted up,” is drawing all men unto Him. There are those who resist that infinite attraction. Some of you have done it. But again the voice of Paul speaks, and eighteen centuries have only added victorious confirmation to his words, “We can do nothing against the truth.”
2. But it may be said, where is the proof? One proof of truth, at least, is found in the eternity of its life. Error carries the seeds of its own death with it. It is error that changes; truth abides. The history of civilisation is a history of the slow but certain conquests of truth. There have been periods when the world has seemed to have fallen asleep. But at length from that vast slumbering host one man has seen a new light kindling in the far firmament. He has risen and announced his great discovery, and called on men to believe in it. Such men have always been disbelieved, persecuted. But time has tried them and the truth has proved itself truth by living and triumphing. Astrology and alchemy have perished, but astronomy and chemistry survive. The scientific heresies of one age have become the commonplaces of the next. Time has threshed out the wheat from the chaff, annihilating the false and keeping the eternal truths.
(1) One proof of the moral government of God is, that the centuries assert it. Think how many great monarchies have arisen and covered the world with empire, and where are they now? Did ever empire seem more likely to endure than the Roman? What does the philosophic historian say about France? “France slit her own veins and let her own life-blood out on the day of St. Bartholomew, and has been perishing of exhaustion ever since.” On allnations which have become corrupt, the same fate has fallen sooner or later. And what does all this mean, but that there is an avenging holiness in the world?
(2) And how is it that the spiritual empire of Jesus Christ has survived? The world has been leagued against it from the beginning. The key-note of revolt and hatred struck on Calvary has echoed through the ages. Yet the kingdom survives, and the fiery waves have fallen back quenched and impotent, and the wrath of man has passed like a waft of smoke. The Christ survives, and is the moral Emperor of the universe to-day. What does it all mean? It means that the kingdom of God in Christ is a fact, and cannot be destroyed. The whole rebellion of man against God is one wild spasm of despair; “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.”
3. You can, of course, deny the truth and defy it. So, too, you may deny the law of gravitation, but if you defy it and leap from yonder steeple, there is one sure result--the law triumphs and the man is slain. You can deny the penalties of vice, but if you defy them the slow poison will eat the heart out notwithstanding. There are certain things which have long since been lifted out of the realm of speculation into certitude. Why is it no one doubts? It is because we have discovered certain laws of the universe which are subject to no caprice, open to no revisal. And so in the spiritual universe. When we see the same cause producing the same effect through the long course of various centuries, we know we have found a truth. And when we see through all the faded past of human history, Christ’s love inspiring love, and Christ’s light bestowing light, and Christ’s life imparting life, we know that we are dealing with an unchangeable force, and can forecast the spiritual future of the world with unerring accuracy.
II. The truth even prospers on opposition. “But for the truth.”
1. It has always been so in the day of persecution. The hurricane has carried the seed of truth afar; the fire has purged the hearts of men; the storm has destroyed the old building, only that it shall be replaced by a nobler and more stable structure. It is the very irony of victory! God indeed holds His enemies in derision when their best-planned revolt crowns His arms with new glory, and the very ingenuity of their hatred helps on His sovereign purpose.
2. But impotent as we are to assail the truth, we are all able to assist it. You cannot revoke the laws of science; they are the same to-day as when the dawn of the world broke: but they lurk in silence, and wait the approach of the intellect of man, and the demand of his noble curiosity. You can destroy none of these forces; but how much you can do for them! It is even so with the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
3. Let our hearts rejoice, then: Christ’s kingdom cannot be shaken. Think of the continuity of faith which has run through all the ages, of Christian saints in every century, and then ask: Is it possible that all these believed in vain? To-morrow the sceptic will propose his question; you propose yours, Is it probable that all the ages have been wrong, that at last Herbert Spencer and his little following should be right? I prefer to believe that vast anthem of certitude which rolls upward from the saintliest and noblest hearts of all the world’s great past: “I know whom I have believed,” etc. Conclusion: The text is a call
1. To loyal submission and noble service. Cease from a revolt which is impotent, enter into that allegiance with God from which shall issue peace and victory.
2. To increased faith in the victory of the kingdom of Christ. It has triumphed over greater odds than any now arrayed against it. Picture the young convert of Paul’s day as he enters some great Pagan city. On every side he sees the pomp of martial power, the luxury of sensuous life. Vast temples rise, and there philosophers dispute. But to him, poor youth, all this seems strange, sad, hateful. Is it possible all this can be changed? But he turns aside into some lowly street, and amid the humblest people begins to preach that strange gospel of Jesus Christ. And in three centuries not a heathen temple is left in Rome.
3. To new and nobler enthusiasm for this kingdom. Enthusiasm is the true fire of manhood, and when that leaves a man, a church, a nation, its true glory is departed. We want the enthusiasm of that young minister who refused a hard and poor station, but that same night heard Bishop Simpson preach, and at last sprang to his feet and cried, “Bishop, I will go anywhere for Christ now!” We want the enthusiasm which shames men of their niggard gifts, and counts no box of frankincense too precious for that Head which bowed in death for us.
4. To new and nobler effort for this kingdom. Enthusiasm is much, but action is more. Fix it in your minds; you can help the truth. You, bright youth, with all the unused powers of heart and intellect; you, poor widow, with the few coppers in your worn purse; you, rich man, with your social position and wealth. If you have ever gazed upon the Matterhorn, you will have thought that if ever there was a type of majestic strength it is standing there. But ask science how the Matterhorn was made, and it will tell you how, ages upon ages since, there were drifting mica-flakes floating in an abysmal sea, and one by one they came together, and were beaten into hardness and consistence, and grew in bulk and steadfastness, until at last the waters rolled back, and there was uncovered that vast Alpine tower. And even so Christ’s kingdom is built up. Little by little, life by life, the kingdom grows. It is built up inch by inch, until at last it rises mighty, impregnable, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Shall our lives be added, as living stones, to this growing grandeur? Shall they be fretted out in blind rebellion against this rock against which men are broken, and which when it falls crushes men to powder? For, or against? But before we answer, the decree is fixed: “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” (W. J. Dawson.)
The impotence of man in antagonism to the truth
Truth is reality--that which is; falsehood is non-entity--that which may seem to be but is not. We may illustrate Paul’s maxim in reference to--
I. Human science.
1. In the region of the material, that which has been established is true, has being. To fight against it, to be frightened at it, is not rational, is not reverent. Unless you can disprove it, it is as much a part of the truth as anything else that God has done or spoken.
(1) There are those who cannot accept this. Investigation is viewed with suspicion. At the exact point where knowledge stood when they were in the cradle, there it must remain at least till they are in the grave.
(2) What calmness, what dignity, would it give to the Christian if he were to say, truth and the truth can never really be at variance. The God of the Bible is the God also of nature, and the one cannot contradict the other. Therefore I wait, rest, and trust.
(3) It is otherwise with human theories. They are not yet, and may never be parts of the truth. It is by no means true that men can do nothing against them, for they have been disproved and displaced all along the ages. But facts, once proved, are a part of the truth, and we can do nothing against that.
2. What can we do for it? We may help the onward march of truth by an attitude towards it of respect, interest, and gratitude. We can assure the toilers in the field of science that, so far from dreading and disparaging the results of their labour, we recognise in them fellow-workers in the cause of God and man. And of them the Christian asks for the truth’s sake--
(1) That science will worship while she explores.
(2) That she will exercise towards workers in other fields that forbearance and respectfulness which they manifest towards her; that she will never allow herself to speak as though there were no vast region within which telescope and microscope give no vision. Science is a fighter against the truth when she arrogates to herself the whole of it.
II. Life and conduct. There are such things as reality and unreality, truth and falsehood, in the realm of action. We speak, e.g., of a true man and a false man. Good itself is truth, in contrast with evil, which is always hollow and evanescent.
1. There are men who have thought, in this sense, to do something against the truth. Men have defied morality and hoped by the force of position, or genius, to put down virtue herself. Have they succeeded? Has not the judgment of the next generation, nay, even of their own, gone against them? In nothing has the application of the word “truth” to morals been more powerfully attested, than in the failure of these champions of a new licence, to move from its firm base by one hair’s breadth the impregnable rock of the human instinct as to the virtuous and the vile. But for one man who attempts this audacious enterprise, tens of thousands have hoped to do something on a smaller scale. Then the appeal lies to all of us. And it is this--Did you find by sinning that you were able, practically, to do anything against the truth? Was it happiness while the sin reigned in you? No man grown to man’s estate will feel the slightest disposition to gainsay the old utterance, There is no doubt on which side God is in the great world-wide and age-long war between vice and virtue.
2. We can do nothing against virtue. Can we do something for it? I address the young. It is comparatively little to see an old man, or a family man, or a clergyman, virtuous. It is expected of him. But who shall speak of the “power for the truth” which is yours? Just in proportion as the life is young, and the snares many, is the admiration if you stand steadfast. Then can you plead for truth against the lie, and be listened to. Then can you influence one or two of your nearest and dearest to walk with you in the way of purity and peace.
III. The gospel, which Paul had in his mind.
1. Many think or thought that they could do something against the gospel. Outspoken infidels and false brethren have tried to bring the faith of Christ into disrepute. Now and then they have even seemed, in some corner of the field, to have gained a victory. But look again, is the truth overborne? Is the gospel weaker to-day than it was five, ten, fifteen centuries afore-time? Were there ever more diligent students of the Bible, more earnest men of prayer, more holy lives, more Christian deaths than is this age? Are the impugners of the faith satisfied? Do you hear no laments over their own departed days of believing and worshipping--no envious lookings upon men that have hope and can give reason for it? We do not deny that it is in the power of any man to be an antagonist of the gospel. Any fool can parody verses of the Bible; can say smart things against creeds. And some of these things will stay by us, and make it harder to be good than it need have been. It is quite possible to make a believer into an infidel and have the misery of hearing, late on in life, that an associate of yours has lived without God and died without hope. Thus far can we go, and no further. But against the gospel you have no power.
2. Can we do nothing for it? The gospel seeks not yours but you. It does not want your help--it wants your happiness. Not till you have embraced it will it accept anything of you. But when this is done we can add one little chapter to its evidences and show, by our example, that its whole tendency is good. So, when the last day of life comes, your last breath shall be drawn, not in the disconsolate cry, “O Galilean, Thou hast conquered!” but in the confiding utterance, “I know whom I have believed; Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (DeanVaughan.)
Christ’s truth uninjurable
The text may be taken--
1. As expressing the strong disposition of a truth loving man.
2. As a statement of a universal fact. The religion of Christ--
I. Is truth.
1. Religion is not to be understood either as theology, ecclesiasticism, or ritualities, but as those eternal principles that are hungered after and agree with the reason, intuitions, and wants of humanity.
2. The great cardinal principles of all the religions of the world are more or less identical with those of Christ. They all involve--
(1) Absolute dependence upon the Supreme Being.
(2) The obligation of the highest love and devotion to Him.
(3) The duty of exercising justice and beneficence towards men.
(4) The existence of a future state of retribution.
(5) The idea of mediation.
3. These principles are therefore the truth, the reality. Christ brought them out in His life and teaching in a form more perfect and powerful than they were ever brought forth before. He is their exponent, their incarnation, Hence Paul speaks of the truth that is “in Jesus Christ.” He says Himself, “I am the truth.”
II. Is indestructible.
1. Man can do much against the theology or theory of truth.
2. Man can do much against conventional manifestations of the truth. Christendom calls Christ Master and Lord, but many deny Him in their daily life.
3. Man can do much against its ecclesiastical representation.
4. But whilst man can do much against all these things he can do nothing against the truth. The truth that Christ taught and incarnated is independent of these. Conclusion: Whilst you can do nothing against the truth, remember that in opposing the truth you may do much against yourselves. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
