1. This glorious sight will perfect our likeness.
2. This will be the result of our being like him.
3. This will be evidence of our being like him, since none but the pure in heart can see God.

• The sight will be ravishing.
• The sight will be transforming and transfiguring.
• The sight will be abiding, and a source of bliss for ever.

Behold what glories come out of our being the sons of God!
Let us not rest till by faith in Jesus we receive power to become sons of God, and then let us go on to enjoy the privileges of sonship.

Lights

God showed power in making us creatures, but love in making us sons. Plato gave God thanks that he had made him a man, and not a beast; but what cause have they to adore God's love, who hath made them children! The apostle puts an ecce to it, Behold! — Thomas Watson

And here, reader, wonder not if I be at a loss, and if my apprehensions receive but little of that which is in my expressions. If to the beloved disciple that durst speak and inquire into Christ's secrets, and was filled with his revelations, and saw the New Jerusalem in her glory, and had seen Christ, Moses, and Elias in part of theirs, if it did not appear to him what we shall be, but only in general, that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, no wonder if I know little. — Richard Baxter, in "The Saint's Everlasting Rest"

Such divine, God-given glimpses into the future reveal to us more than all our thinking. What intense truth, what divine meaning there is in God's creative word: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness? To show forth the likeness of the Invisible, to be partaker of the divine nature, to share with God his rule of the universe, is man's destiny. His place is indeed one of unspeakable glory. Standing between two eternities, the eternal purpose in which we were predestined to be conformed to the image of the first-born Son, and the eternal realization of that purpose when we shall be like him in his glory. We hear the voice from every side: O ye image-bearers of God! on the way to share the glory of God and of Christ, live a Godlike, live a Christlike life! — Andrew Murray

A converted blind man once said, "Jesus Christ will be the first person I shall ever see, for my eyes will be opened in heaven."
Then shall we see Thee as Thou art,
For ever fixed in no unfruitful gaze,
But such as lifts the new-created heart,
Age after age, in worthier love and praise.
— John Keble

"You are going to be with Jesus, and to see him as he is," said a friend to Rowland Hill on his deathbed. "Yes," replied Mr. Hill with emphasis, "and I shall be like him; that is the crowning point."
To see him as he is, and in himself, is reserved till we shall have better eyes: these eyes we have are carnal and corruptible, and cannot see God till they have put on incorruption. — Sir Richard Baker

One view of Jesus as he is
Will strike all sin for ever dead.
— W. Cowper
Charles Hadden Spurgeon

1. We love them for Christ's sake.
2. We love them for the truth's sake.
3. We love them for their own sake.
4. We love them when the world hates them.
5. We love their company, their example, their exhortations.
6. We love them despite the drawbacks of infirmity, inferiority, etc.

Let us prove our love by our generosity.
Thus shall we supply ourselves with growing evidences of grace.

Love-Lines

Just as in his gospel he rescues the word logos from antichristian uses, so in this Epistle he rescues the word "know," and aims at making his "little children" Gnostics in the divine sense. Knowledge is excellent, but the path to it is not through intellectual speculation, however keen and subtle, but through faith in Jesus Christ and subjection to him, according to those most Johannine words in the Gospel of Matthew: "Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." — Dr. Culross

The Christian apologist never further misses the mark than when he refuses the testimony of the Agnostic to himself. When the Agnostic tells me he is blind and deal dumb, torpid, and dead to the spiritual world, I must believe him. Jesus tells me that. Paul tells me that. Science tells me that. He knows nothing of this outermost circle; and we are compelled to trust his sincerity as readily when he deplores it as if, being a man without an ear, he professed to know nothing of a musical world, or being without taste, of a world of art. The nescience of the Agnostic philosophy is the proof from experience that to be carnally minded is death. — Professor Henry Drummond

The world always loves to believe that it is impossible to know that we are converted. If you ask them, they will say, "I am not sure; I cannot tell," but the whole Bible declares we may receive, and know that we have received, the forgiveness of sins. — R. M. McCheyne

In the writings of Paul, "Faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints;' constitute a well-understood and oft-recurring sequence. It is a straitening about that upper spring of faith that makes the streams of love fail in their channels. — W. Arnot

No outward mark have we to know
Who thine, O Christ, may be,
Until a Christian love doth show
Who appertains to thee:
For knowledge may be reached unto,
And formal justice gained,
But till each other love we doe,
Both faith and workes are feigned.
— George Wither, 1588-1667

Yes, brethren in Christ have all one common Father, one common likeness, one object of faith, love, and adoration, one blessed hope, one present employment, alike in trials, alike in prayer. They lean upon the same hand, appear daily before the same mercy-seat, feed at the same table. How much all these things link them together, not in profession only, but in heart! Hence this is a decisive test: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." — D. Katterns

In the early days of Christianity, when it triumphed over the old heathenism of the Roman world, it founded a new society bound together by this holy mutual love. The catacombs of Rome bear remarkable testimony to this gracious brotherhood. There were laid the bodies of members of the highest Roman aristocracy, some even of the family of the Caesars, side by side with the remains of obscure slaves and laborers. And in the case of the earliest graves the inscriptions are without a single allusion to the position in society of him who was buried there: they did not trouble themselves whether he had been a consul or a slave, a tribune of the legion or a common soldier, a patrician or an artisan. It sufficed that they knew him to have been a believer in Christ, a man who feared God. They cared not to perpetuate in death the vain distinctions of the world; they had mastered the glorious teaching of the Lord, "One is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." — E. De Pressense
Charles Hadden Spurgeon

在保羅的書信中，「信靠主耶穌」與「愛眾聖徒」是一個反覆出現、眾所周知的連結。當信心的泉源受阻，愛的溪流也就乾涸。
——W．阿諾特（W. Arnot）

我們沒有外在記號可分辨誰屬於祢，主啊，
除非基督徒的愛顯明誰真屬於祢；
因為知識可得，形式的義也可有，
但若彼此不相愛，信心與行為都是虛假。
——喬治．威瑟（George Wither）

基督裡的弟兄有同一位父、同一形像、同一信仰的對象、同一愛與敬拜、同一蒙福的盼望、同一現今的事奉；在試煉中相同，在禱告中相同，在同一施恩座前，在同一桌前得糧。這一切何等緊密地把他們連結在一起，不僅在信仰上，更在心靈中！因此，這就是一個決定性的試驗：「我們因為愛弟兄，就曉得是已經出死入生了。」
——D．卡特恩斯（D. Katterns）

在基督教初期，當它勝過羅馬世界古老的異教信仰時，便建立了一個由聖潔彼此相愛所聯結的新社群 。羅馬的地下墓穴（catacombs）為這種恩典中的弟兄情誼作了極其動人的見證。在那裡，最高等級的羅馬貴族 ——甚至包括凱撒家族中的成員——與卑微的奴隸和勞工 的遺體並排安放。同樣值得注意的是，在最早期的墓誌銘上，完全沒有提及死者在世時的社會地位 ；他們不在乎那人是執政官還是奴隸，是軍團的將官還是普通士兵，是貴族還是工匠。只要知道他是信靠基督的人，是敬畏神的人 ，就已足夠。他們不願在死亡中延續世俗虛空的分別，因為他們已深深領會了主那榮耀的教訓：

1. A deceived heart may refuse to condemn, but God will judge us all the same. He will not allow self-conceit to stand.
2. A false heart may acquit, but this gives no confidence Godward.
3. A deceitful heart pretends to acquit while in its center it condemns.

If we shrink now, what shall we do in judgment?
What a waking, to find ourselves condemned at the last!

Quotations

When Sir Walter Raleigh had laid his head upon the block, says an eloquent divine, he was asked by the executioner whether it lay aright. Whereupon, with the calmness of a hero and the faith of a Christian, he returned an answer, the power of which we all shall feel when our head is tossing and turning on death's uneasy pillow: "It matters little, my friend, how the head lies, providing the heart be right." — Steele

As Luther says— "Though conscience weigh us down and tell us God is angry, yet God is greater than our heart. The conscience is but one drop; the reconciled God is an ocean of consolation." — Critical English Testament

A seared conscience thinks better of itself, a wounded worse than it ought; the former may account all sin a sport, the latter all sport a sin; melancholy men, when sick, are ready to conceive any cold to be the cough of the lungs, and an ordinary pustule to be no less than a plaguesore. So wounded consciences conceive sins of infirmity to be sins of presumption, sins of ignorance to be sins of knowledge, apprehending their case to be far more dangerous than it is indeed. — Thomas Fuller

Conscience works after the manner so beautifully set forth in the ring that a great magician, according to an Eastern tale, presented to his prince. The gift was of inestimable value, not for the diamonds and rubies and pearls that gemmed it, but for a rare and mystic property in the metal. It sat easily enough on the finger in ordinary circumstances, but as soon as its wearer formed a bad thought, designed or committed a bad action, the ring became a monitor. Suddenly contracting, it pressed painfully on his finger, warning him of sin. Such a ring, thank God, is not the peculiar property of kings; the poorest of us, those that wear none other, may possess and wear this inestimable jewel; for the ring of the fable is just that conscience which is the voice of God within us, which is his law, engraved by the finger of God, not on Sinai's granite tables, but on the fleshy tablets of the heart, which, enthroned as a sovereign in every bosom, commends us when we do right, and condemns us when we do wrong. — Dr. Guthrie

The spirit of man, that candle of the Lord, often gives but a faint and glimmering light; but the Spirit of God snuffs it, that it may burn brighter. — Benjamin Beddome
Charles Hadden Spurgeon

1. For salvation, finding the rest of faith.
2. For imitation, finding the wisdom of Jesus, the Son of God.
3. For consolation, seeing victory secured to us in Jesus.
Behold your conflict: born to battle.
Behold your triumph: bound to conquer.

War Cries

When a traveler was asked whether he did not admire the admirable structure of some stately building, "No," said he, "for I have been at Rome where better are to be seen every, day," O believer, if the world tempt thee with its rare sights and curious prospects, thou mayst well scorn them, having been by contemplation in heaven, and being able by faith to see infinitely better delights every hour of the day! "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." — Feathers for Arrows

The danger to which Christians are exposed from the influence of the visible course of thngs, or the world (as it is called in Scripture), is a principal subject of St. John's General Epistle. He seems to speak of the world as some False Prophet, promising what it cannot fulfill, and gaining credit by its confident tone. Viewing it as resisting Christianity, he calls it the "Spirit of Antichrist;' the parent of a numerous progeny of evil, false spirits like itself, the teachers of all lying doctrines, by which the multitude of men are led captive. The antagonist of this great tempter is the Spirit of Truth, which is "greater than he that is in the world;" its victorious antagonist, because gifted with those piercing Eyes of Faith which are able to scan the world's shallowness, and to see through the mists of error into the glorious kingdom of God beyond them. "This is the victory that overcometh the world," says the text, "even our faith." — J. H. Newman

The believer not only overcomes the world in its deformities, but in its seeming excellences. Not in the way that Alexander and other conquerors overcame it, but in a much nobler way; for they, so far from overcoming the world, were slaves to the world. The man who puts ten thousand other men to death does not overcome the world. The true conqueror is he who can say with Paul, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ;' and, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? etc." "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us." Such a one has recourse, by faith, to an infallible standard: the Word of God: indeed, there is no other. He detects the world, and will not be imposed upon by it. When he is tempted to take the world's good things as his portion, he rejects them; because he has something better in hand. Thus, faith in Christ overcometh the corrupt influence, the inordinate love, the slavish fear, the idolatry, the friendship, the false wisdom, and the maxims of the world: it overcometh not only the folly, but the very religion of the world, as far as it is a false religion. The Christian has hold of a superior influence, and engages superior strength. Doubtless, says he, I have great enemies to attack, but greater is he that is with me than he that is in the world. — Richard Cecil

It is asserted of this elegant creature (the Bird of Paradise) that it always flies against the wind; as, otherwise, its beautiful but delicate plumage would be ruffled and spoiled. Those only are Birds of Paradise, in a spiritual sense, who make good their way against the wind of worldliness; a wind always blowing in an opposite direction to that of heaven. — J. D. Hull

Believers, forget it not I you are the soldiers of the Overcomer. — J. H. Evans
Charles Hadden Spurgeon

二、得勝的生命：「凡從神生的」

1. 唯此生命願意投身與世界的爭戰；
2. 唯此生命能持續爭戰——其他皆會在衝突中疲乏；
3. 此生命生而為勝：神是主，從祂而生的具有尊貴統治的權能。

• 這不是對舊造生命的改良，
• 甚至不是與創造者無關的新造；而是從神而生，有尊貴的源頭，注入相似的本性，並賦予繼承的權柄。
• 創造者不能被勝過，從祂而生的亦然。
• 首生的耶穌從未失敗，與祂聯合的也必終得勝。
• 內住的聖靈必得勝——祂豈能被征服？此念無異於褻瀆。

Brother Christian, is it a small matter to be weak and feeble? Thou needest all thy vigor. Go to Calvary, and recruit thyself.
Sinner, thou art dead, but life and health are in Christi Nota Medica

An ancient Roman wished that he had a window in his breast that all might see his heart, but a sage suggested that in such a case he would have urgent need of shutters, and would keep them closed. We could not afford to wear the signs of our spiritual condition where all could see. We should then need all our blood for blushing. C. H. S.
Sin is called in Scripture by the names of diseases. It is called the plague of the heart: I Kings 8:38. There are as many diseases of the soul as there are of the body. Drunkenness is a spiritual dropsy; security is a spiritual lethargy; envy is a spiritual canker; lust is a spiritual fever (Hosea 7:4). Apostasy or backsliding is the spiritual falling sickness; hardness of heart is the spiritual stone; seared-ness of conscience is a spiritual apoplexy; unsettledness of judgment is a spiritual palsy; pride a spiritual tumor; vainglory a spiritual itch. There is not any sickness of the body but there is some distemper of the soul that might be paralleled with it, and bear the name of it. — Ralph Robinson
The fact of the Scriptures furnishing nutriment and upbuilding to the soul is the most real experience of which we have knowledge. None of us, "by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature:" But how many, by taking in God's great thoughts, feeding on them, and inwardly digesting them, have added vastly to their spiritual stature! — A. J. Gordon, D.D.
If a portrait were taken of a person in strong, vigorous health, and another was taken of the same man after a severe illness, or when he had been almost starved to death, or weakened by confinement, we should scarcely recognize them as the likeness of the same man, the dear old friend we loved! Still greater would be the change could we draw the spiritual portrait of many a once hearty, vigorous saint of God, whose soul has been starved for want of the proper spiritual nourishment, or by feeding upon "ashes" instead of bread. — G. S. Bowes
Oh, that our friends were well in soul! We are not sufficiently concerned bout this best of health! When they are well in soul we are grieved to see them ailing in body; and yet this is often the case. The soul is healed, and the body is still suffering! Well, it is by far the smaller evil of the two! If I must be sick, Lord, let the mischief light on my coarser nature, and not on my higher and diviner part! C.H.S.
Charles Hadden Spurgeon

5. 普遍昏沉：不願參與聖工，缺乏心志等。
6. 渴求有害之物：如有些人食土吞灰；有些信徒亦患此病，追求卑下的娛樂與目標。