Proverbs 4:13. The Hold Fast

A sermon (Number 1418) delivered on Lord's Day morning, June ninth, 1878, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon.

*"Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is your life."* -- Proverbs 4:13.

Faith may be well described as taking hold upon divine instruction. God has condescended to teach us, and it is ours to hear with attention and receive his words; and while we are hearing faith comes, even that faith which saves the soul. To take "fast hold" is an exhortation which concerns the strength, the reality, the heartiness, and the truthfulness of faith, and the more of these the better. If to take hold is good, to take fast hold is better. Even a touch of the hem of Christ's garment causes healing to come to us, but if we want the full riches which are treasured up in Christ we must not only touch but take hold; and if we would know from day to day to the very uttermost all the fullness of his grace, we must take fast hold, and so maintain a constant and close connection between our souls and the eternal fountain of life. It were well to give such a grip as a man gives to a plank when he seizes hold upon it for his very life--that is a fast hold indeed.

We are to take fast hold of instruction, and the best of instruction is that which comes from God; the truest wisdom is the revelation of God in Christ Jesus: of that therefore we are to take fast hold. The best understanding is obedience to the will of God and a diligent learning of those saving truths which God has set before us in his word: so that in effect we are exhorted to take hold of Christ Jesus our Lord, the incarnate wisdom in whom dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We are not to let him go but to keep him and hold him, for he is our life. Does not John in his gospel tell us that the Word is our light for instruction and at the same time our life? "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." The more we abide in the Lord Jesus and the more firmly we take hold upon him, the better will it be for us in a thousand ways. I intend at this time to speak as the Holy Spirit shall enable me upon this *fast-hold*; and I reckon that the subject is one of the most important which can occupy your attention at this particular crisis in the history of the church. Many there are around us who believe in Christ, but it is with a very trembling faith and their hold is unsteady; we need to have among us men of tighter grip, who really believe what they profess to believe, who know the truth in its living power, and are persuaded of its certainty, so that they cannot by any means be moved from their steadfastness. Among the vacillating crowd we long to see fast-holders who are pillars in the house of our God, whose grasp of divine truth is not that of babes or boys, but of men full grown and vigorous.

We shall handle our subject by speaking first upon *the method* by which we may take fast hold; then upon *the difficulties* which will lie in our way in so doing; thirdly, upon *the benefits* of such a firm grasp; and lastly upon *the arguments* for our fast holding mentioned in the text.

1. First then, *the method* of taking fast hold upon true religion, upon the gospel, upon Christ in fact.

At the outset my brethren, much must depend upon the intense decision which a man feels in his soul with regard to eternal things. If he intends trifling he will trifle, but if he means taking fast hold he will, by God's grace, do so. Under God, this, in many cases, depends very much upon a man's individuality and force of character. Some men are naturally thorough and whole-hearted in all things upon which they enter, whether of this world or the next. When they serve the devil they are amongst his life guards, and they rush to the front in all kinds of iniquity. Among sinners they become the chief for they have no fear and no hesitancy; they are daredevils, defying both God and man, sinning greedily with both hands. Such men, when converted, often become eminent saints, being just as thorough and resolute in their following after God as they were in the pursuit of evil; they are determined to vindicate his holy cause and spread abroad the knowledge of his love. I must confess an earnest longing that many such may be brought into the church of Christ at this time to brace her up and inspire her with new energy. Many in our churches appear to have no depth of earth; with joy they receive the word from the very fact that they are so shallow, but as soon as the sun arises with burning heat it is discovered that they have no root, for they wither away. Others are truly religious, and probably will remain so, but they are not zealous; in fact they are not intense about anything, but are lukewarm, weak, and unstable. These are mere chips in the porridge, neither souring nor sweetening: they give forth no flavor, but they take the flavor of that which surrounds them; they are the creatures of circumstances, not helmsmen who avail themselves of stream and tide, but mere drift-wood carried along by any and every current which may take hold on them. They have no fullness of manhood about them, they are mere children; they resemble the sapling which can be bent and twisted, and not the oak which defies the storm. There are certain persons of this sort who in other matters have purpose enough, and strength of mind enough, but when they touch the things of God they are loose, flimsy, superficial, half-hearted. You see them earnest enough in hunting after wealth, but they show no such zeal in the pursuit of godliness. The force of their character comes out in a political debate, in the making of a bargain, in the arrangement of a social gathering, but you never see it in the work of the Lord. The young man comes to the front as a volunteer, or as a member of a club, or in the house of business, but who ever hears of him in the Sabbath school, the prayer-meeting, or the home mission? In the things of God such persons owe any measure of progress which they make to the influence of their fellows who bear them along as so much dead weight, they themselves never throwing enough weight into the matter to add a single half-ounce of spiritual power to the church. Now, all this is mischievous and wrong.

My dear friends, we must all confess that if the religion of Christ is true it deserves that we should give our whole selves to it. If it is a lie let it be scoured from creation; but if it is true, it is a matter concerning which we cannot be neutral or lukewarm, for it demands our soul, our life, our all, and its claim cannot be denied. There must be a determination wrought in our souls by the Holy Spirit to be upright and downright in the work of the Lord, or else we shall be little worth.

We come however to closer matters of fact when we observe next that our taking fast hold of the things of God must depend upon the thoroughness of our conversion. In this church we try, as far as we can, in receiving church members, to receive none but those who give clear evidence of a change of heart; but this evidence can be imitated so skillfully that the best examination and the most earnest judgment cannot prevent self-deceived persons from making a profession of religion. This we cannot help, but woe to those who willfully deceive. Many exhibit flowers and fruits which never grew in their own gardens; their experience is borrowed and does not spring from the essential root of the Holy Spirit's work within their souls: this is sad indeed. Our condition before God is a personal matter and can never be settled by the judgment of our fellows, for what can others know of the workings of our hearts? Each man must judge himself and examine himself, for whatever a church may attempt in its zeal for purity, it can never take the responsibility of his own sincerity from any man. We do not pretend to give certificates of salvation, and if we did they would be worthless; you must yourselves know the Lord and be really converted, or else your profession is a forgery and you yourselves are counterfeits. If a man shall in after life hold fast the things of God he must be soundly converted at first. Very much of his after life depends upon the thoroughness of his beginning. There must at the very first be a deep sense of sin, a consciousness of guilt, a holy horror of evil, or he will never make much of a Christian. I do not say that all or even any of those doubts and temptations and Satanic suggestions which some have had to struggle with, are necessary to make a true conversion; but I must confess that I am not at all displeased when I meet with a good deal of battling and struggling in the experience of the newly awakened. It is not pleasant for them, but we hope it will be profitable. Those whose souls are plowed and plowed and plowed again before the seed is sown upon them, often yield the best crop. John Bunyan's "Grace Abounding" very much accounts for John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." If it had not been for his terrible conflicts of soul he might not have known how to hold fast his confidence when shut up for twelve years in prison, nor would he have seen visions of the celestial city when all around him was as the valley of the shadow of death. I do not wish to see seeking souls distressed by Satan, but I do press for this--that there shall be an end of self-trust, a total destruction of self-righteousness, a complete giving up of all legal and carnal hopes, or else the conversion will be a mere show and he who is the subject of it will be like Ephraim, a silly dove without heart. Unless repentance of sin is real in you, you will never take fast hold of the truth of God.

And there must be, dear friends, a very sincere laying hold upon Christ Jesus. If you have any doubt about the doctrine of atonement I do not wonder if your religion soon wears into shreds. No, you must without question accept the substitutionary sacrifice; your soul must feel that the precious blood is her only hope, that this and this alone can make her clean before the living God. You must fly to Christ in desperation, and cling to him as all your salvation and all your desire; there must be no hesitancy here. At the very outset of the Christian life these two things should be very distinct with you—sin which has ruined you, and Christ who has saved you. Make a muddle at first and your life will be a tangle. Some tradesmen never carry on their business well, they evidently do not more than half understand it and are mere bunglers. Now, if you come to enquire you will find that they were never thoroughly grounded in their calling; either they never served an apprenticeship, or else they were lazy lads and never became masters of their trade, and this bad commencement sticks to them all their lives. It is the same with the higher learning. A man may go a long way in the classics, but if he was not grounded in the grammar he will be everlastingly making mistakes which a sound scholar will soon discover. Every teacher must work hard at the elements if his pupils are to succeed. Whatever you do with the higher forms, do teach that little boy his grammar, ground him in the rudiments, or he will be injured for life. To borrow another illustration, we have heard of a bridge which spanned a stream and for some years stood well enough, but by-and-by through the force of the current, it began to show signs of giving way. When it came to be examined it was soon seen that the builders never went deep enough with the foundations. There is the mischief of thousands of other things besides bridges. We must have good and deep foundations or otherwise the higher we build the sooner the fabric will fall. Look at many of the wretched houses in the streets around us, they are the disgrace of the city; you will see settlements and cracks everywhere because of bad foundations and bad materials. The same is true in the characters of many professed Christians; for want of a good commencement you can see flaws and cracks innumerable and you wonder that they do not come down in sudden ruin. So indeed they would, but like those wretched houses they hold one another up. Many professors only keep upright because they stand in a row and derive support from their associations. I wish we could see more Christian men of the sort who dare to stand alone, like those old family mansions which stand each one in its own garden, so well built that when we begin to take them down each brick is found to be solid as granite, and the mortar is as hard as a rock. Such buildings and such men become every day more rare, but we must come back to the old style, and the sooner the better. Those of you who are yet in the early days of your piety should see to this. See that you are right, and sound, and thorough, and take fast hold of truth in the days of your first love, or yours will be but a sickly life in years to come.

This being taken for granted, the next help to a fast hold of Christ is hearty discipleship. Brethren, as soon as you are converted you become the disciples of Jesus, and if you are to become fast-holding Christians you must acknowledge him to be your Master, Teacher, and Lord in all things, and resolve to be good scholars in his school. He will be the best Christian who has Christ for his Master and truly follows him. Some are disciples of the church, others are disciples of the minister, and a third sort are disciples of their own thoughts; he is the wise man who sits at Jesus' feet and learns of him with the resolve to follow his teaching and imitate his example. He who tries to learn of Jesus himself, taking the very words from the Lord's own lips, binding himself to believe whatsoever the Lord hath taught and to do whatsoever he hath commanded—he I say, is the stable Christian. Follow Jesus my brethren and not the church, for our Lord has never said to his disciples, “Follow your brethren,” but he has said “Follow me.” He has not said, “Abide by the denominational confession,” but he has said, “Abide in me.” Nothing must come in between our souls and our Lord. What if fidelity to Jesus should sometimes lead us to differ from our brethren? What matters it so long as we do not differ from our Master? Crochets and quibbles are evil things, but a keenly sensitive conscientiousness is invaluable. Be true disciples of Christ and let his least word be precious to you. Remember that if a man love him he will keep his words; and he hath said, “he that shall break one of the least of these my commandments and shall teach men so, the same shall be least in the kingdom of heaven.” Shun all compromises and abatements of truth, but be thorough and determined, holding fast your Savior's words. Follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. If such be your resolve by the grace of God, you will take fast hold of instruction and will never let it go.

It will much help you to this if in the next place you have a studious consideration of the Word of God, and meditate much upon the truth which you have received. There is too little studying of the Scriptures nowadays, I am persuaded. Books, magazines, papers, and the like bury the Bible under heaps of rubbish; but he who means to be a man of God to the fullness of his manhood will feed upon the word of God at first hand. Like the Bereans he will be of a noble spirit, and he will search the Scriptures daily. “I want,” says he, “to obtain my creed, not at second hand from others, but directly for myself from the very word of God itself—the pure well of gospel undefiled.” This is a very important point. I have heard often of late a misused expression—“I do my own thinking:” let us correct it and then adopt it by saying, “I do my own searching of the word of God.” Remember, we are not called to think out a new gospel, as some imagine, but we are called to be thinkers upon the old gospel, that we may know and understand its principles and its bearings and become confirmed in the belief of it. We need to think over the word till we are thoroughly imbued with it. The silk of certain insects takes its color from the leaves on which they feed, and a Christian man's life will always take its color from that which his soul feeds upon. Oh, to live upon the word of God, even upon the deep things of God, for so shall we be rooted and grounded in the faith and shall take fast hold of eternal wisdom.

An established Christian is one who not only knows the doctrine but who also knows the authority for it, having looked around it and pondered it in his heart. By careful meditation he is taught in the truth and is able to give a reason for the hope that is in him with meekness and fear. Nor is he merely a man of the letter; his study in the power of the Holy Spirit has carried him into the essence of the word. He has asked the Spirit of God to make him acquainted with divine truth, so that he has not only read of it but he has communed with it, and now he lives upon it, eats it, drinks it, receives it into the inward parts of his soul, and retains it there as a living and incorruptible seed. Now a man who does this year after year is the kind of man who, by God's grace, will take fast hold of instruction, and will prove a faithful witness for his Lord.

Add to this also an earnest seriousness of character, and you go a long way towards maintaining a fast hold of Christ. We do not mean by this that we are to dismiss cheerfulness—the Lord give us more of it, for it is as oil to the wheels, and is a high recommendation of religion to the unconverted. There are some who are a deal too gloomy in their religion, and seem to think that the grace of God is never displayed by them unless they are sullen and doleful. But at the same time there is a flippancy which is not commendable, and a levity which is far apart from the mind of Christ. Christian life is not child's play; we above all men ought to make our lives sublime, and not ridiculous. We are not called into this world to trifle away the hours and kill time in doing nothing; for this life links itself to eternity, and that eternity, in spite of all that is said to the contrary, will be one of endless misery or of endless joy; it is therefore no small thing to possess an immortal mind and to be responsible before God. Sin is no trifle, pardon is no trifle, and condemnation is no trifle. Eternal life is precious beyond all things, and to lie under the wrath of God is dreadful beyond conception. I love to see, especially in young Christians, with regard to the things of God, deep seriousness of purpose and spirit, showing that they feel it to be a weighty thing to be a Christian, and that they cannot afford to have their Christianity put under the shadow of suspicion, nor dare they even appear to be mere players upon a stage, for they fear and tremble at his word.

Now, if all these things be in you and abound, there will grow around them an experimental verification of the things of God. I mean that you will not only read of the love of God, but you will feel it from day to day, and so be assured of it. You read in the Scriptures of the power of sin and you believe what you read, but to this will be added the confirmatory fact that you feel it in your members, and therefore cannot doubt it. You read of the efficacy of the precious blood of Jesus; but you do more, for you feel its cleansing power upon your heart and its consoling influence over your conscience, and so you are established in the blessed truth. We hardly know anything till we have lived it. You must get truth burnt into you with the hot iron of experience or you will forget it. I believe that the pains and griefs and afflictions of many of God's children have been absolutely necessary to establish them in the faith; and I can only hope that you who are the children of joy may derive as much benefit from your gladness, as mourners have found in their sorrows; it might be so and should be so, but I fear it seldom is. The whole of our life should be a daily testing of the gospel, and a continuous verification of the eternal truth thereof. Our life should agree with this Book of life: just as the book of nature, being written by the same author as the book of revelation, shows the same hand and style; so the book of the new creation within us; being inscribed by the same Spirit who has written these Scriptures, will display the same style and manner; and we shall thus be growingly assured of the things which are verily revealed to us of God. Go on, dear friends, and may the Lord grant that whatever your experience may be, whether it shall abound in bitterness or in sweetness, the testimony of God may be confirmed in you, and your grip of it may be intensified by every year's experience.

I must add one other word. I believe that in the mode of taking fast hold upon the gospel, practical Christianity has a great influence; I refer especially to practical usefulness. Some members enter the church and never do a hand's turn. We have the distinguished privilege of seeing them sit in their pews, and that is all we know about them. We cannot bring them under church censure, for they are punctual in religious observances; but they are barren boughs. Give me the young man who, when he joins the church, says, "I shall take a little time to study the gospel till I know more of it by the teaching of God's Spirit;" and then, having done so, says, "I have not learned this for myself. There is something for me to do in connection with the church of God and I am determined to find out what it is and to do it." You see such a young believer going to the Sabbath school, or you find him beginning to speak in a cottage, or becoming a visitor, and seeking to speak personally to individuals about their souls. If he is a man of the right kind his work will be another hold-fast to his mind. Look at him, how he keeps to the gospel: how he clings to the old, old truth. He is not the man to run after new theories and modern doubts for he is helped to keep right by his practical connection with spiritual disease and its remedy. Go into the back slums of London and see if you will doubt the doctrine of human depravity. Oh no, it is your ladies and gentlemen that wear lavender kid gloves who doubt that doctrine. Try to rescue a harlot from her sin, and if you are enabled to lead her to Jesus you cannot doubt the power of the precious blood of Jesus to cleanse the heart. Not those who battle with vice but those who practice it themselves are found caviling at the doctrine of atonement. Those who are busy plucking brands out of the fire are little given to speculation, but are firm abiders in the gospel. I think there are few exceptions to the rule that the "advanced thought" gentlemen are not engaged in practical work for the salvation of souls. They are grand talkers but very poor workers. I am not hypercritical when I say that if you will mention a "modern thought" professor, it will generally turn out that he is not worth his salt as to practical usefulness: not he; he has the parrot-faculty of pulling things to pieces, but what positive work has he ever done? He may be a distinguished dignitary or a noble scholar, but as to actually grappling with the hearts and consciences of men and entering into the dark and troubled experience of tempted souls, he is quite at sea, for he knows nothing about it. He would talk after another fashion if his hand had ever been laid to hard work among sinful men and afflicted consciences. I tell you sirs that to argue with a poor distressed conscience and to try to bring it to peace in Christ soon lets you know the truth of the gospel. To stand by a dying bed and hear the holy triumph of even the most illiterate of the children of God, or what is equally efficacious, to watch the last sad hours of an impenitent sinner dying without hope, will make you know that there is a world to come, joyful or terrible as the case may be; and you will also learn that sin is a great evil, and that the atonement is a great reality. Young convert, if you want to be one of the firm holders of the gospel you must get to work as well as to study, for this by the overruling power of the Holy Ghost will strengthen you in the faith of God's elect. Thus I have brought forward the method: may it prove to be instructive.

2. Very briefly I want now to show *the difficulties* of taking fast hold of instruction, and every difficulty I mention will tend to show all the more clearly the necessity of it.

The first difficulty is that this is the age of questioning. Everybody questions now. Our friends over in Germany have pushed the questioning business to the furthest point, and in their thorough way they have produced its legitimate fruit in cold-blooded attempts to murder a venerable monarch. Professed ministers of the gospel have taught the German mind to doubt everything, and now the basis of society is shaken and law and order are undermined. What could they expect otherwise? He who does not fear God is not likely to honor the king. When men give up their Bibles they will care but little for human laws. We have plenty of the like evil leaven in England, and certain clergymen and dissenting divines are spreading it with hideous industry. Young gentlemen whose whiskers have not yet developed are authoritatively deciding that nothing can be decided, and dogmatically denouncing all dogmas. We meet them every day, and we notice that in proportion to their ignorance is their confidence in sneering at every holy thing. According to them nobody is sincere, nothing is sacred. These great men, who would never have been heard of if they had not been heretical, know better by far than God himself. As for apostles and prophets, they are just nothing at all to these infallibles; their own "thought" is more precious than inspiration itself. This conceited skepticism is in the air; everywhere it seems to be abroad and you cannot help encountering it; therefore let us be the more earnest to hold fast the faith.

Worse than this, this is an age of worldliness. Everybody wants to be rich, and nobody is rich now at the point at which his forefathers were content to stop. Our good old deacons and respected church members were content with very moderate incomes, they were satisfied and happy with thrift and prudence, and would have been deeply grieved with the extravagance which is seen on all sides at this time. They not only considered their shops and their fields, but they planned to have time to look after the Sunday schools in which they were proud to serve, and the prayer meetings which they delighted to attend. But, dear me, prayer meetings, lectures, sermons, Sunday schools, these are all despised now! If a man can make an extra guinea or two by putting himself where they are out of the question, he jumps at the chance. We must be rich, we must cut a dash, we must spend more than our neighbors, and for this the work of the church may go to the dogs. Oh for a few simple, earnest Christians who will judge their Lord and his cause to be worth some consideration, and will lay themselves out to serve his church. When worldliness is so predominant it becomes so much the harder to take fast hold of eternal things. One needs to hear the word, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you," for unless we do hear it we shall be tempted to take fast hold on the world, and let the things of eternity slip by us.

Then, besides, there is and always has been a great desire for novelty. We are all the subjects of it: we all like something fresh. But there are some who are sick of the changeable disease; you see them zealots for a creed today, but on a sudden you find them deeply immersed in the opposite teaching. Ah, now they have found out something very wonderful: just as the idiot who saw the rainbow, and believed that there was a jewel at the foot of it, ran for miles to seize a glittering sapphire and grasped a piece of glass bottle; so do they forever pursue and never attain. We have a few of these gentlemen in most of our churches, but you will find them nowhere long. Another inventor starts a new system and away they go, pining always to be the first disciples of each new prophet. May God save us from the Athenian spirit which forever hungers for something new.

Another difficulty, and the worst of all, is the corruption of our own hearts. "Take fast hold of instruction" says the text. "Why," I hear a brother say, "my dear sir, sometimes it is as much as I can do to take hold of it at all. I have to question whether I have been converted. I go down into such depths of despondency that unless the truth holds me, I shall never hold it." Well, but I hope this is all a means of helping you to hold it all the more firmly. You now see that salvation must be by grace from first to last. By this very process you will be compelled to hold the doctrines of grace the more intensely, because you are made to see how utterly unable you are, in and of yourselves to think a good thought, much less to remain steadfast in the whole truth of Christ.

And then there is Satan, too; how busy he is in trying to undermine the fundamentals of the faith! Has he not suggested to some of us all kinds of doubts? Yes. I said to a man one day who had uttered some blasphemy in my presence against a certain truth, "You think you stagger me! My dear man, I have had more doubts pass through my thoughts a great deal than you could tell me, or fifty like you." The doubts which the devil insinuates into the minds of the people of God are at times quite as horrible as any which a Voltaire or a Tom Paine was ever able to invent, and yet by God's grace we have not given up the gospel, nor shall we, though heaven and earth shall pass away. Because we are one with Christ, we shall live in the truth of Christ, for he will keep and preserve us even to the end.

3. Thirdly let us consider *the benefits* of taking fast hold. I wish I had an hour in which to dilate upon the benefit of so doing, but I must briefly say that it gives stability to the Christian character to have a firm grip of the gospel. Men who take fast hold are the backbone of a church. All through the dark reign of moderatism in Scotland, who kept up the testimony for truth? Why, those solid Christians who were known as "the men" who held the faith and walked with God in the power of it. These were men much in prayer and much in meditation, who lived on when all sound teaching had left the pulpits, because their souls were sustained by secret communion with God on the hillside. When the time came for pure truth to revive in Scotland these men came to the front and were honored as the men who had kept the flame alive in the land. What was it delivered our country in still earlier times from being altogether under the hoof of Rome? When prelates forsook Christ, and preachers by hundreds in Mary's day turned from Protestantism to Popery, the true faith lived on in the hearts of poor men and women, weavers and cobblers, who believed what they did believe and could not deny the truth. Everybody in the parish knew that they were "stubborn heretics" who could not be frightened or argued down. They knew, they were sure, they were confident, and therefore they spoke. It did not matter to them that they were in a minority, for they knew that a minority of one on God's side is a majority. "I Athanasius against the world," said that grand old confessor, when they told him everybody had gone over to Arianism, and that nobody believed in the deity of Christ. "The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved, I bear up the pillars of it," said one of old; and happy is that man to whom such an office is given.

A firm grip of the gospel will give you strength for service. The man who can "hold the fort" at one time is the very man who can capture a fort at another time. He who can stand well can march well. The hand of the church is made of the same material as its backbone. It is of no use sending poor hesitating professors into the field of holy labor. If you hardly know what you believe how can you teach other people? But when the truth is written upon your very soul and graven as with the point of a diamond upon your heart, you will speak with confidence; and there will be a power about your utterances which none shall be able to withstand or gainsay. For the sake then of your spiritual strength, I press the exhortation of the text, "Take fast hold of instruction."

And this, too, will bring you joy. The outskirts of our Jerusalem are dreary; her glory lies within. Where shines the brightest light? It is in the holy of holies, in the innermost shrine. The skin and husks of religion are poor things, but the juice, the life, the vital power of religion, — therein lies the sweetness. You must not be satisfied with the “name to live”; it will never comfort you, it will even distress you. The life of Christ mightily developed in you must be the joy of your heart. Multitudes of Christian professors get next to nothing out of Christianity. How can they? They hold their religion as some rich farmers hold “off-hand farms.” Nobody ever makes anything out of off-hand farms: the man who makes farming pay lives on the spot, and gives his whole time and energy to it. So is it in the things of God: if you make your minister your bailiff in religion you will get nothing out of it; you must live in it and upon it, and then you will prosper. I want you to say, “If there be anything in godliness I am going to know it; if prayer has power I am going to pray; if there be such a thing as communion with God I will enjoy it; if there be such a thing as likeness to Christ I will obtain it. Godliness shall not be an addition to my life, but it shall be my life itself.” Ah brother, you are the man of the shining countenance, you are the man of the sparkling eye; you drink deep, and you find that the deeper you drink the sweeter the draught becomes.

Lastly, with regard to this summary of benefits; — persons of this kind are the very glory of the church, they are the persons in whom true religion displays its brightest beams. They may be humble cottagers, or obscure members of a large church who are scarcely known, but those who live with them, those who are at all acquainted with them, say of them, “These men are a credit to the church and an honor to the name of Christianity.” Not your frothy talkers, not your flimsy professors, but your deep taught, grace-instructed men and women, these are they who are the beauty of the church and the glory of Christ. I would to God we had many more such. I look around and see that the cause does not prosper as I could wish throughout the land, and then I recollect in one spot an earnest village preacher, in another a holy laborious deacon, in a third a gracious woman, zealous in every good work, and I am comforted. Thank God, there is life in the old church yet. There is hope for her yet because of her fast-holding people. If I study the statistics of the churches, I have to say, “What is the good of these figures? Probably a church of two hundred members might be cut down to twenty earnest effectives.” For my part, I would sooner stand on this platform with twelve holy men and women to back me up than with twelve thousand mere pretenders to religion, such as can be found in crowds anywhere. No, it is the fast grip of faith, it is vital godliness which makes a man to be a real power in the church.

4. Now lastly I have to mention *the arguments* of the text, which are three. All through the sermon I have been using argument, therefore I shall be the more brief and draw to a close.

The first argument is, take fast hold of true religion because it is your best friend. Read the text: “Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go.” You cannot find your way to heaven without this guide, therefore do not suffer it to leave you. Do as Moses did, who when his father-in-law, Hobab, was with him, would not suffer him to depart, “for” he said, “thou shalt be to us instead of eyes, for thou knowest where to encamp in the wilderness.” As Moses kept Hobab, so do you keep the faith, for you cannot find your road except by holding the true gospel with a true heart. What a sweet companion the gospel is! How often it has cheered you! How easy has the road become while you have been in intercourse with it. Do what the disciples at Emmaus did when Jesus talked with them: they constrained him, saying “Abide with us.” Do not let him go; you will be a lonely pilgrim if you do. No, if you could be led by an angel but must lose the presence of your God, you would be wise to cry out against such an evil, and like Moses plead: “If thy Spirit go not with us, carry us not up hence.”

The next argument is that true godliness should be held fast, for it is your treasure. “Keep it,” says our text. It is your best inheritance at the present moment, and it is to be your eternal inheritance: keep it then. Let everything else go, but do not part with a particle of truth. The slightest fragment of truth is more valuable than a diamond. Hold it then with all firmness. You are so much the richer by every truth you know; you will be so much the poorer by every truth you forget. Hold it then, and hide it in your heart. A certain king who had a rare diamond sent it to a foreign court, entrusting it to a very faithful servant. This servant was attacked however on the road by a band of robbers, and as they could not find the diamond, they drew their swords and killed him. He was found dead, but his master exclaimed, “He has not lost the diamond, I am sure!” He judged truly, for the trusty servant had swallowed the gem and so preserved it with his life. We also should thus place the truth in our inward parts, and then we shall never be deprived of it. A priest took a Testament from an Irish boy. “But” cried the boy, “you cannot take away those six chapters of Matthew that I learned by heart.” They may take away our books but they cannot take away what we have fed upon and made our own. “His flesh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed,” for when we have fed upon him our Lord Jesus remains in us the hope of glory. Hold fast the truth, O believers in Jesus, for it is your treasure.

Lastly, it is your “lift.” Mister Arnot, in his very beautiful book upon the Proverbs, tells a story to illustrate this text. He says that in the Southern seas an American vessel was attacked by a wounded whale. The huge monster ran out for the length of a mile from the ship, and then turned round, and with the whole force of its acquired speed struck the ship and made it leak at every timber, so as to begin to go down. The sailors got out all their boats, filled them as quickly as they could with the necessaries of life, and began to pull away from the ship. Just then two strong men might be seen leaping into the water who swam to the vessel, leaped on board, disappeared for a moment, and then came up bringing something in their hands. Just as they sprang into the sea, down went the vessel, and they were carried round in the vortex, but they were observed to be both of them swimming, not as if struggling to get away, but as if looking for something, which at last they both seized and carried to the boats. What was this treasure? What article could be so valued as to lead them to risk their lives? It was the ship's compass which had been left behind, without which they could not have found their way out of those lonely southern seas into the high road of commerce. That compass was life to them, and the gospel of the living God is the same to us. You and I must venture all for the gospel: this infallible word of God must be guarded to the death. Men may tell us what they please, and say what they will, but we will risk everything sooner than give up those eternal principles by which we have been saved. The Lord give all of us his abundant grace that we may take fast hold of divine instruction. Amen.

A sermon (Number 1418) delivered on Lord's Day morning, June ninth, 1878, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon.

"Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is your life." -- Proverbs 4:13.

Faith can be well described as taking hold of divine instruction. God has condescended to teach us, and it is our part to listen carefully and receive His words — and as we listen, faith comes, the very faith that saves the soul. The command to take "fast hold" speaks to the strength, reality, wholehearted sincerity, and truthfulness of faith — and the more of these qualities we have, the better. If simply taking hold is good, taking fast hold is even better. Even touching the hem of Christ's garment brings healing, but if we want the full riches stored up in Christ, we must do more than touch — we must take hold. And if we want to know, day after day, the full measure of His grace, we must take fast hold and maintain a constant, close connection between our souls and the eternal fountain of life. We should grip the gospel the way a man grips a plank when he seizes it for his very life — that is a fast hold indeed.

We are to take fast hold of instruction, and the best instruction comes from God. The truest wisdom is the revelation of God in Christ Jesus — and it is this we are to hold firmly. The best understanding is obedience to the will of God and diligent learning of the saving truths He has set before us in His word. In effect, we are urged to take hold of Christ Jesus our Lord, the incarnate wisdom in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge dwell. We are not to let Him go but to keep Him and hold Him, for He is our life. Does not John in his gospel tell us that the Word is both our light for instruction and our life? "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." The more we abide in the Lord Jesus and the more firmly we take hold of Him, the better it will be for us in a thousand ways. I intend at this time to speak, as the Holy Spirit enables me, on this fast hold — and I believe the subject is one of the most important that could occupy your attention at this particular moment in the history of the church. Many around us believe in Christ, but with a trembling, unsteady faith. We need men of tighter grip among us — people who truly believe what they profess, who know the truth in its living power, and are so persuaded of its certainty that nothing can move them from their steadfastness. Among a crowd of wavering believers, we long to see fast-holders who are like pillars in the house of God — whose grasp of divine truth is not that of babes or boys, but of fully grown and vigorous men.

We will handle our subject by speaking first on the method by which we may take fast hold, then on the difficulties that stand in the way, thirdly on the benefits of such a firm grasp, and finally on the arguments for holding fast that the text itself gives us.

First, then — the method of taking fast hold of true religion, the gospel, and Christ Himself.

To begin with, much depends on the depth of a man's personal resolve when it comes to eternal things. If he intends to trifle, he will trifle — but if he means to take fast hold, he will, by God's grace, do so. Under God, this often depends greatly on a man's individual character and strength of will. Some men are naturally thorough and wholehearted in everything they undertake, whether in the things of this world or the next. When such men served sin, they were among the devil's most devoted soldiers, rushing to the front in every kind of wickedness. Among sinners they became the chief — fearless and unhesitating, defying both God and man, sinning greedily with both hands. Yet when converted, such men often become outstanding saints, being just as thorough and determined in following God as they once were in pursuing evil. They are resolved to defend His holy cause and spread the knowledge of His love far and wide. I must confess a deep longing that many such men and women would be brought into the church of Christ right now, to strengthen it and fill it with fresh energy. Many in our churches seem to have no depth of soil. They receive the word with joy — precisely because they are so shallow — but when the sun rises with scorching heat, it becomes clear they have no root, and they wither away. Others are genuinely religious and will likely remain so, but they are not zealous — not intense about anything, but lukewarm, weak, and unstable. They are like chips floating in a pot of porridge: neither souring it nor sweetening it, giving off no flavor of their own but absorbing whatever surrounds them. They are creatures of circumstance, not helmsmen who use the current and tide to their advantage, but driftwood carried along by whatever current happens to take them. There is no fullness of maturity in them — they are like children, like a sapling that bends and twists, not like an oak that stands firm against the storm. Some of these people have enough purpose and strength of mind in other areas of life, but when they touch the things of God they become loose, flimsy, superficial, and half-hearted. You can see them earnestly chasing wealth, but no such zeal appears when it comes to godliness. Their strength of character shows up in political debates, in striking a business deal, in planning a social event — but never in the work of the Lord. A young man steps forward eagerly to volunteer for a club or to advance in business — but who ever hears of him in the Sunday school, the prayer meeting, or the home mission? In the things of God, such people owe whatever progress they make entirely to the influence of others who carry them along like dead weight — they themselves never adding so much as a half-ounce of spiritual power to the church. All of this is harmful and wrong.

My dear friends, we must all confess that if the religion of Christ is true, it deserves our entire selves. If it is a lie, let it be swept from existence — but if it is true, it is a matter on which we cannot be neutral or lukewarm, for it demands our soul, our life, our all, and that claim cannot be denied. There must be a determination worked into our souls by the Holy Spirit to be fully and completely committed to the work of the Lord, or we will be of little worth.

We come, however, to more concrete matters when we observe that our ability to take fast hold of the things of God depends greatly on the thoroughness of our conversion. In this church, we do our best to receive only those members who give clear evidence of a changed heart. But this evidence can be imitated so skillfully that even the most careful examination cannot prevent self-deceived people from making a profession of faith. We cannot help this — but those who willfully deceive will answer for it. Many display flowers and fruits that never grew in their own gardens; their testimony is borrowed rather than rooted in the genuine work of the Holy Spirit within their souls — and that is a sad thing indeed. Our standing before God is a personal matter that can never be settled by the judgment of others, for what can anyone else know about the workings of our hearts? Every person must examine himself, because no matter how zealously a church pursues purity, it can never take on the responsibility of any individual's sincerity. We do not claim to issue certificates of salvation — and if we did, they would be worthless. You must know the Lord for yourself and be truly converted, or your profession is a forgery and you yourself are a counterfeit. If a man is to hold fast to the things of God in later life, he must be genuinely converted from the start. Much of what follows in a person's life depends on how thoroughly it began. There must be, at the very first, a deep sense of sin, a consciousness of guilt, and a holy horror of evil — or that person will never become much of a Christian. I do not say that all the doubts, temptations, and suggestions of Satan that some people have had to wrestle with are necessary for a true conversion — but I must confess that I am not at all troubled when I see a good deal of battling and struggling in the experience of those who are newly awakened. It is not pleasant for them, but we hope it will prove profitable. The souls that are plowed and plowed and plowed again before the seed is sown often yield the best harvest. John Bunyan's "Grace Abounding" goes a long way toward explaining John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress." If it had not been for his terrible inner conflicts, he might not have known how to hold fast his confidence during twelve years in prison, nor would he have seen visions of the celestial city while surrounded by what felt like the valley of the shadow of death. I do not wish to see people in distress at the hands of Satan, but I do insist on this: there must be an end to self-trust, a complete destruction of self-righteousness, and a full surrender of all legal and fleshly hopes — or the conversion will be a mere show, and the one who experiences it will be like Ephraim, described as a foolish dove without sense. Unless your repentance from sin is real, you will never take fast hold of the truth of God.

Dear friends, there must also be a sincere laying hold of Christ Jesus. If you have any doubt about the doctrine of atonement, it is no surprise if your religion soon wears into shreds. You must accept the substitutionary sacrifice without reservation. Your soul must be convinced that the precious blood is her only hope — the one thing alone that can make her clean before the living God. You must flee to Christ in desperation and cling to Him as all your salvation and all your desire, with no hesitation whatsoever. At the very beginning of the Christian life, two things should be absolutely clear to you: the sin that has ruined you, and the Christ who has saved you. Start with confusion and your whole life will be a tangle. Some tradesmen never run their businesses well — it is obvious they barely understand their own work and are just muddling through. If you look into why, you will find they were never properly grounded in their trade. Either they never served an apprenticeship, or they were lazy students who never truly mastered the craft — and that poor start follows them their entire lives. The same is true of the higher learning. A man may advance far in classical studies, but if he was never grounded in grammar, he will keep making mistakes that any solid scholar will quickly spot. Every teacher must work hard on the fundamentals if his students are to succeed. Whatever you do with the more advanced students, make sure that young boy learns his grammar thoroughly — ground him in the basics, or he will be held back for life. To borrow another illustration: there was a bridge that spanned a stream and stood well enough for some years, but eventually, under the force of the current, it began to show signs of giving way. When it was examined, the problem was plain — the builders had not gone deep enough with the foundations. That is the trouble with thousands of other things besides bridges. Without good, deep foundations, the higher you build, the sooner the structure will fall. Look at many of the poorly built houses in the streets around us — they are a disgrace to the city. You can see cracks and settling everywhere because of bad foundations and bad materials. The same is true in the characters of many professing Christians: for lack of a solid beginning, you can see flaws and cracks everywhere, and you wonder they do not come down in sudden ruin. And so they would — except that, like those poorly built houses, they hold one another up. Many professing Christians stay upright only because they stand in a row and lean on the support of their associations. I wish we could see more Christian men of the sort who dare to stand alone — like those old family mansions that each stand in their own grounds, so solidly built that when you begin to take them apart, every brick is as solid as granite and the mortar as hard as rock. Such buildings and such men grow rarer every day, but we must return to the old standard, and the sooner the better. Those of you who are still in the early days of your faith should take this to heart. Make sure you are sound, honest, and thorough in your walk with God, and take fast hold of truth in the days of your first love — or yours will be a sickly spiritual life in the years to come.

Taking all of that for granted, the next key to holding fast to Christ is wholehearted discipleship. Brothers and sisters, from the moment you are converted you become the disciples of Jesus. If you are to become fast-holding Christians, you must acknowledge Him as your Master, Teacher, and Lord in all things, and resolve to be good students in His school. The best Christian is the one who has Christ as his Master and truly follows Him. Some are disciples of the church, others of the minister, and a third kind are disciples of their own opinions — but the wise person sits at Jesus' feet and learns from Him, resolved to follow His teaching and imitate His example. The one who tries to learn from Jesus directly — taking the words from the Lord's own lips, binding himself to believe whatever the Lord has taught and to do whatever He has commanded — that person is the stable Christian. Follow Jesus, brothers and sisters, and not the church — for our Lord has never said to His disciples, "Follow your brothers," but He has said, "Follow Me." He has not said, "Abide by the denominational confession," but He has said, "Abide in Me." Nothing must come between our souls and our Lord. What if fidelity to Jesus sometimes leads us to differ from our fellow believers? What does it matter, as long as we do not differ from our Master? Petty quirks and quibbles are harmful things, but a keenly sensitive conscience is invaluable. Be true disciples of Christ and let His least word be precious to you. Remember that if a man loves Him, he will keep His words — and He has said, "Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven." Reject all compromises and watering down of truth. Be thorough and determined, holding fast to your Savior's words. Follow the Lamb wherever He goes. If this is your resolve by the grace of God, you will take fast hold of instruction and will never let it go.

A great help toward holding fast comes from careful, ongoing study of the word of God and deep meditation on the truth you have received. I am convinced there is far too little Scripture study today. Books, magazines, newspapers, and the like bury the Bible under heaps of lesser material — but the person who is determined to be a man of God to the full measure of his potential will feed on the word of God firsthand. Like the Bereans, he will be of a noble spirit and will search the Scriptures daily. "I want," he says, "to get my beliefs not secondhand from others, but directly for myself from the very word of God — the pure, uncorrupted well of the gospel." This is a crucial point. I have often heard a misused phrase lately: "I do my own thinking." Let us correct it and then embrace it by saying instead, "I do my own searching of the word of God." We are not called to think up a new gospel, as some imagine, but to think deeply about the old gospel — so that we come to know and understand its principles and implications and are confirmed in our belief of it. We need to meditate on the word until we are thoroughly saturated with it. The silk of certain insects takes its color from the leaves they feed on — and a Christian's life will always take its color from what the soul feeds upon. May we live on the word of God — even the deep things of God — for in doing so we will be rooted and grounded in the faith and will take fast hold of eternal wisdom.

A firmly established Christian is one who not only knows the doctrine but also knows the basis for it, having examined it carefully and pondered it in his heart. Through careful meditation, he has been instructed in the truth and is able to give a reason for the hope within him, with humility and reverence. He is not merely a student of words on a page — his study, carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit, has brought him into the very heart of the word. He has asked the Spirit of God to make him truly acquainted with divine truth, so that he has not merely read about it but has communed with it. Now he lives on it, eats it, drinks it, receives it into the deepest parts of his soul, and keeps it there as a living and incorruptible seed. A man who does this year after year is the kind of man who, by God's grace, will take fast hold of instruction and prove a faithful witness for his Lord.

Add to this a genuine seriousness of character, and you go a long way toward maintaining a fast hold of Christ. This does not mean dismissing cheerfulness — may the Lord give us more of it, for it is like oil to the wheels of life and a powerful commendation of religion to those who are not yet converted. Some are far too gloomy in their religion and seem to think that God's grace is never on display unless they are sullen and downcast. But there is also a flippancy that is not commendable, and a casual lightness that is far removed from the mind of Christ. The Christian life is not child's play. We of all people ought to make our lives meaningful and serious, not trivial and ridiculous. We are not called into this world to waste hours and kill time doing nothing — for this life is connected to eternity, and that eternity, despite all that is said to the contrary, will be one of endless misery or endless joy. It is therefore no small thing to possess an immortal soul and to be accountable before God. Sin is no trifle, pardon is no trifle, and condemnation is no trifle. Eternal life is precious beyond all things, and to lie under the wrath of God is dreadful beyond imagination. I love to see in young Christians especially — when it comes to the things of God — a deep seriousness of purpose and spirit, showing that they understand the weight of being a Christian and that they cannot afford to have their faith put under suspicion, nor are they willing to appear as mere performers on a stage, for they genuinely fear and tremble before His word.

When all these things are present in you and growing, something else will develop alongside them — an experimental confirmation of the things of God. I mean that you will not only read about the love of God, but you will feel it day after day, and so become assured of it. You read in the Scriptures about the power of sin and you believe what you read — but to this will be added the confirming reality that you feel it in your own flesh, and therefore cannot doubt it. You read about the power of the precious blood of Jesus, but you do more than read — you feel its cleansing power on your heart and its comforting influence on your conscience, and so you are established in that blessed truth. We hardly truly know anything until we have lived it. Truth must be burned into you with the hot iron of experience, or you will forget it. I believe the pains, griefs, and afflictions of many of God's children have been absolutely necessary to establish them in the faith. I can only hope that those of you who walk in joy may derive as much benefit from your gladness as mourners have found in their sorrows — it could be so and should be so, but I fear it rarely is. All of our life should be a daily testing of the gospel and a continuous confirmation of its eternal truth. Our life should agree with this Book of life — just as the book of nature, written by the same Author as the book of revelation, shows the same hand and style, so the book of the new creation within us, inscribed by the same Spirit who has written these Scriptures, will display the same character and manner. We will thus grow increasingly assured of the things that God has truly revealed to us. Press on, dear friends — and may the Lord grant that whatever your experience brings, whether bitterness or sweetness, the testimony of God may be confirmed in you, and your grip on it strengthened with every passing year.

I must add one more word. I believe that practical Christianity — especially practical usefulness — has a great influence on the way we take fast hold of the gospel. Some members join the church and never lift a finger. We have the privilege of seeing them sit in their pews, and that is all we ever know of them. We cannot bring them under church discipline, for they are regular in attending religious services — but they are fruitless branches. Give me the young man who, when he joins the church, says, "I will take some time to study the gospel until I know more of it through the teaching of God's Spirit" — and then, having done so, says, "I have not learned this for myself alone. There is something for me to do in connection with the church of God, and I am determined to find out what it is and to do it." You see such a young believer heading to the Sunday school, or you find him beginning to speak at a cottage meeting, or becoming a visitor and seeking to speak personally with individuals about their souls. If he is the right kind of person, his work will become another hold-fast for his mind. Watch how he keeps to the gospel — how he clings to the old, old truth. He is not the man to go chasing new theories and modern doubts, because his practical engagement with spiritual disease and its remedy helps keep him on solid ground. Go into the back slums of London and see if you can doubt the doctrine of human depravity. No — it is the ladies and gentlemen who wear lavender kid gloves who doubt that doctrine. Try to rescue a woman from her sin, and if you are enabled to lead her to Jesus, you cannot doubt the power of the precious blood of Jesus to cleanse the heart. It is not those who battle against vice but those who practice it themselves who are found challenging the doctrine of atonement. Those who are busy pulling people back from the edge of destruction have little interest in speculation — they are firm believers in the gospel. I think there are few exceptions to the rule that those who promote "advanced thought" are not engaged in practical work for the salvation of souls. They are great talkers but very poor workers. I am not being unfairly critical when I say that if you name a "modern thought" professor, it will generally turn out that he is not worth his salt in terms of practical usefulness. He has the talent for pulling things apart, but what positive work has he ever done? He may be a distinguished dignitary or a notable scholar, but when it comes to actually wrestling with the hearts and consciences of real people and entering into the dark, troubled experience of tempted souls, he is completely out of his depth — he knows nothing about it. He would speak very differently if his hands had ever been put to hard work among sinful people and burdened consciences. I tell you that to reason with a distressed conscience and try to bring it to peace in Christ will quickly teach you the truth of the gospel. To stand at a dying bed and hear the triumphant testimony of even the most uneducated of God's children — or, equally powerful, to watch the final sad hours of an unrepentant sinner dying without hope — will make you certain that there is a world to come, joyful or terrible as the case may be. And you will also learn that sin is a great evil and that the atonement is a great reality. Young convert, if you want to be one of those who holds the gospel firmly, you must get to work as well as to study — for this, by the overruling power of the Holy Spirit, will strengthen you in the faith of God's elect. So I have laid out the method — may it prove useful.

Second, let me briefly address the difficulties of taking fast hold of instruction — and every difficulty I mention will only make the necessity of it all the clearer.

The first difficulty is that this is an age of questioning. Everyone questions now. Our friends in Germany have taken the questioning impulse to its furthest extreme, and in their thorough way have produced its natural fruit — cold-blooded attempts to assassinate a venerable monarch. Professing ministers of the gospel have trained the German mind to doubt everything, and now the foundations of society are shaken, with law and order undermined. What else could they have expected? A man who does not fear God is not likely to honor the king. When men give up their Bibles, they will care little for human laws. We have plenty of this same poisonous influence in England, and certain clergymen and dissenting ministers are spreading it with alarming energy. Young men whose beards have barely appeared are pronouncing with great authority that nothing can be decided — and dogmatically denouncing all dogma. We meet them every day, and we notice that the depth of their ignorance is matched only by the confidence of their sneering at every holy thing. According to them, nobody is sincere and nothing is sacred. These great men, who would never have been heard of if they had not been heretics, think they know far better than God Himself. As for apostles and prophets, they are nothing at all to these self-appointed authorities — their own "thought" is more precious to them than inspired Scripture itself. This conceited skepticism is in the air; it is everywhere, and you cannot avoid encountering it. Therefore, let us be all the more earnest to hold fast the faith.

Worse than this, ours is an age of worldliness. Everyone wants to be rich — and no one today is satisfied at the point where their parents were content to stop. Our respected deacons and church members of former generations were content with modest incomes; they were satisfied and happy with thrift and prudence, and they would have been deeply grieved by the extravagance visible on every side today. They not only took care of their shops and their fields — they also made time to serve in Sunday schools, which they were proud to do, and to attend prayer meetings, which they genuinely loved. But now, prayer meetings, lectures, sermons, Sunday schools — all of these are despised! If a man can make an extra pound or two by putting himself in a place where these things are out of the question, he jumps at the chance. We must be rich, we must make a show, we must outspend our neighbors — and for this, the work of the church may go to ruin. Oh, for a few simple, earnest Christians who will judge their Lord and His cause worthy of real attention and will give themselves to serve His church! When worldliness is so dominant, it becomes that much harder to take fast hold of eternal things. We need to hear the word: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" — for without hearing it, we will be tempted to take fast hold of the world and let the things of eternity slip away from us.

Beyond this, there has always been a powerful desire for novelty. We are all subject to it — we all like something fresh. But some people are thoroughly infected with the love of change. You see them today as zealots for one belief, and then suddenly you find them deeply absorbed in the exact opposite teaching. They think they have discovered something wonderful — like the fool who saw a rainbow and believed there was a jewel at its foot, then ran for miles to seize a glittering sapphire and grasped only a piece of broken glass bottle. So do these people forever pursue and never attain. You find a few of them in most of our churches, but they never stay long anywhere. As soon as another innovator launches a new system, off they go — always eager to be the first disciples of each new teacher. May God save us from the Athenian spirit that forever hungers for something new.

Another difficulty — and the worst of all — is the corruption of our own hearts. "Take fast hold of instruction," says the text. "Why," I hear a brother say, "my dear friend, sometimes it is all I can do to take hold of it at all. I have to question whether I have even been converted. I sink into such depths of despair that unless the truth holds me, I will never be able to hold it." Well, I hope that this very struggle is a means of helping you to hold it all the more firmly. You now see that salvation must be by grace from first to last. Through this very process you will be driven to hold the doctrines of grace all the more intensely, because you have been made to see how utterly unable you are, in and of yourself, to think a good thought — much less to remain steadfast in the whole truth of Christ.

And then there is Satan — how busy he is in trying to undermine the foundations of the faith! Has he not suggested all kinds of doubts to some of us? Yes. I said to a man one day who had spoken some blasphemy against a certain truth in my presence, "You think you've shaken me! My dear man, I have had far more doubts pass through my mind than you or fifty like you could ever name." The doubts that the devil injects into the minds of God's people are at times just as terrible as anything a Voltaire or a Tom Paine ever invented — and yet, by God's grace, we have not surrendered the gospel, nor shall we, though heaven and earth pass away. Because we are one with Christ, we will live in the truth of Christ, for He will keep and preserve us to the very end.

Third, let us consider the benefits of taking fast hold. I wish I had an hour to expand on this, but I must briefly say that holding the gospel firmly gives stability to the Christian character. People who take fast hold are the backbone of a church. All through the dark period of spiritual decline in Scotland, who kept up the testimony for truth? It was those solid Christians known as "the men" — who held the faith and walked with God in its power. These were men much given to prayer and meditation, who endured when all sound teaching had vanished from the pulpits, because their souls were sustained by private communion with God on the hillsides. When the time came for pure truth to revive in Scotland, these men stepped forward and were honored as those who had kept the flame alive in the land. What was it that delivered our country, in even earlier times, from falling entirely under the authority of Rome? When bishops abandoned Christ and hundreds of preachers in Queen Mary's day turned from Protestantism to Catholicism, the true faith lived on in the hearts of poor men and women — weavers and cobblers — who believed what they believed and could not deny the truth. Everyone in the parish knew them as "stubborn heretics" who could not be frightened or argued down. They knew; they were certain; they were confident — and so they spoke. It did not matter to them that they were in the minority, for they knew that a minority of one on God's side is a majority. "I, Athanasius, against the world," said that great confessor, when they told him that everyone had gone over to Arianism and that no one believed in the deity of Christ. "The earth and all its inhabitants are shaken; I bear up its pillars," said one of old — and blessed is the man to whom such an office is given.

A firm grip on the gospel will also give you strength for service. The man who can hold the fort in one situation is the very same man who can capture a fort in another. The one who stands firm can also march well. The hands of the church are made of the same material as its backbone. It is no use sending hesitating, uncertain believers into the field of holy labor. If you barely know what you believe, how can you teach anyone else? But when the truth is written on your very soul and engraved as with a diamond point on your heart, you will speak with confidence — and your words will carry a power that no one can successfully resist or refute. For the sake of your spiritual strength, then, I press upon you the command of the text: "Take fast hold of instruction."

A firm hold on the gospel will also bring you joy. The outer edges of our Jerusalem are dreary — her glory lies within. Where does the brightest light shine? In the holy of holies, in the innermost sanctuary. The outer shell of religion is a poor thing, but the juice, the life, the vital power of religion — that is where the sweetness lies. You must not be satisfied with merely having a reputation for life — it will never bring you comfort; it will only distress you. The life of Christ, powerfully developed in you, must be the joy of your heart. Multitudes of professing Christians get almost nothing out of Christianity. How could they? They hold their religion the way some wealthy farmers hold properties they never actually work — managing them at a distance. Nobody ever prospers with a farm run from a distance; the farmer who makes it pay lives on the land and gives his whole time and energy to it. So it is with the things of God: if you make your minister your agent in religion, you will get nothing out of it. You must live in it and upon it — and then you will flourish. I want you to say, "If there is anything in godliness, I am going to discover it; if prayer has power, I am going to pray; if there is such a thing as communion with God, I will enjoy it; if there is such a thing as likeness to Christ, I will pursue it. Godliness will not be an addition to my life — it will be my life itself." Ah, friend, you are the man of the shining face, the man with the bright eyes. You drink deep, and you find that the deeper you drink, the sweeter the water becomes.

Finally, on this summary of benefits: people of this kind are the very glory of the church — those in whom true religion displays its brightest light. They may be humble cottagers or little-known members of a large church, but those who live near them and know them at all will say, "These men and women are a credit to the church and an honor to the name of Christianity." Not your frothy talkers, not your flimsy professors — but your deeply taught, grace-instructed men and women: these are the beauty of the church and the glory of Christ. I wish to God we had many more of them. When I look around and see that the cause of Christ is not prospering as I wish throughout the land, I remember one faithful village preacher here, one holy and hardworking deacon there, one devoted woman zealous in every good work elsewhere — and I am comforted. Thank God, there is still life in the old church. There is still hope for her, because of her fast-holding people. When I study the statistics of our churches, I have to ask myself, "What is the use of these numbers? Probably a church of two hundred members could be reduced to twenty genuinely committed believers." For my part, I would rather stand on this platform with twelve holy men and women behind me than with twelve thousand mere pretenders to religion, of the kind that can be found in crowds anywhere. No — it is the firm grip of faith, it is vital godliness, that makes a person a real force in the church.

Fourth, and finally, I want to mention the arguments the text itself gives us — three of them. Throughout this sermon I have already been making arguments, so I will be brief and draw toward a close.

The first argument is this: take fast hold of true religion because it is your best friend. Read the text: "Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go." You cannot find your way to heaven without this guide, so do not let it leave you. Do as Moses did — when his father-in-law Hobab was with him, Moses would not let him leave, saying, "You will be our guide, for you know where to camp in the wilderness." As Moses kept Hobab, so keep the faith — for you cannot find your road except by holding the true gospel with a true heart. What a sweet companion the gospel is! How often it has cheered you! How much easier the road has become as you have walked in fellowship with it. Do what the disciples at Emmaus did when Jesus talked with them: they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us." Do not let Him go — you will be a lonely pilgrim if you do. Even if you were offered the guidance of an angel at the cost of losing the presence of your God, you would be wise to cry out against such an exchange — and, like Moses, plead: "If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here."

The next argument is that true godliness should be held fast because it is your treasure. "Keep it," says our text. It is your best inheritance right now, and it will be your eternal inheritance — keep it, then. Let everything else go, but do not give up even a particle of truth. The smallest fragment of truth is more valuable than a diamond. Hold it firmly. You are richer by every truth you know; you will be poorer by every truth you forget. Hold it fast and hide it in your heart. A certain king who possessed a rare diamond sent it to a foreign court, entrusting it to a very faithful servant. On the road, however, this servant was attacked by a band of robbers. When they could not find the diamond, they drew their swords and killed him. He was found dead — but his master exclaimed, "He has not lost the diamond, I am sure!" He was right, for the trusty servant had swallowed the gem and so preserved it with his life. We too should place truth in our innermost parts — and then no one will ever be able to take it from us. A priest once took a Bible from an Irish boy. "But," cried the boy, "you cannot take away those six chapters of Matthew that I learned by heart." They may take away our books, but they cannot take away what we have fed on and made our own. "His flesh is food indeed, His blood is drink indeed" — for when we have fed on our Lord Jesus, He remains in us as the hope of glory. Hold fast the truth, believers in Jesus — for it is your treasure.

Finally, the truth is your life. Mr. Arnot, in his beautiful book on the Proverbs, tells a story to illustrate this text. He says that in the Southern seas, an American vessel was attacked by a wounded whale. The massive creature ran out for about a mile from the ship, then turned around and, with the full force of its accumulated speed, struck the ship and caused it to spring leaks at every timber, so that it began to sink. The sailors got out all their boats, loaded them as quickly as they could with the necessities of life, and began to pull away from the ship. Just then, two strong men were seen leaping into the water and swimming back to the vessel. They climbed on board, disappeared below for a moment, and then came up carrying something in their hands. As they plunged back into the sea, the vessel went down, and they were pulled around in the swirling vortex — but they were seen swimming, not as if struggling to escape, but as if searching for something, which they both at last seized and carried to the boats. What was this treasure? What could be so valuable as to make them risk their lives? It was the ship's compass, which had been left behind — without it, they could not have found their way out of those remote southern seas back into the shipping lanes. That compass was life to them — and the gospel of the living God is the same to us. You and I must venture everything for the gospel: this infallible word of God must be guarded to the death. Men may say whatever they please, but we will risk everything rather than surrender those eternal principles by which we have been saved. May the Lord grant to all of us His abundant grace, that we may take fast hold of divine instruction. Amen.