LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON,
OKLAHOMA
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HOMILY
42
1.
Take the example of a great city, but one that is deserted with the walls
crumbled—it has been captured by the enemies. Its greatness has no value.
Therefore, care must be taken in proportion to its greatness so that it has
strong walls in order that the enemies may not enter. In like manner souls,
adorned with knowledge and intelligence and sharpness of mind, are like great
cities. But it must be asked whether they are fortified by the power of the
Spirit so that the enemies may not enter and lay them desolate. For the wise of
the world, Aristotle or Plato or Socrates, who were skilled in knowledge, were
like great cities, but they were laid waste by the enemies because the Spirit of
God was not in them. 2.
But the many simple people who are participators of grace are like little cities
fortified by the power of the cross. They fall away from grace for two reasons
and perish: either because they do not persevere patiently in bearing
afflictions brought upon them, or they have tasted the pleasures of sin and
continued in them. Those who journey cannot go through without temptations. As
in giving birth, the beggar woman and the queen both have the same sufferings,
so likewise also the land of the rich and the poor man equally cannot produce
worthy fruit unless there be the necessary cultivation. So too in the working of
the soul, neither the wise man nor the rich man reigns in grace, unless it be
through patience and afflictions and many labors. For the life of Christians
ought to be of this sort. As honey is sweet and shows forth nothing of
bitterness or poisonous, so likewise such Christians as these show themselves
good to all who approach them, whether good or bad, as the Lord says, “Be
good, as your heavenly Father” (Luke 6:36; Matthew 5:48). For what injures and
corrupts a person is from within. “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts”
(Matthew 15:19), as the Lord says, because the things that corrupt man are
within. 3.
Therefore, from within is the spirit of evil, creeping and progressing in the
soul. It appeals to reason. It incites. It is as the veil of darkness, “the
old man” (2 Corinthians 5:17) whom those who have recourse to God must put off
and must put on the heavenly and new man that is Christ (Ephesians 4:22;
Colossians 3:8). Thus nothing of the things outside can harm man except the
spirit of darkness that dwells in the heart, alive and active. So therefore each
person in his thoughts must engage in the struggle in order that Christ may
shine in his heart, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
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