Quiet Talks on Power | Page 4

brief record of this
man Joseph in John's account: "A disciple secretly for fear of the
Jews." If we may fairly presume that it was Nicodemus' influence that
led his friend Joseph to follow Jesus, yet he had led him no nearer than
he himself had gone! He could lead him no higher or nearer than that.
John in his gospel makes plain the fact that Jesus suffered much from
these secret, timid, cowardly disciples whose fear of men gripped them
as in a vise. Five times he makes special mention of these people who
believed Jesus, but cravenly feared to line up with Him.[1] He even
says that many of the rulers--the very class that plotted and voted His
death--believed Jesus, but that fear of the others shut their lips and
drove them into the shadow when they could have helped Him most.
These people seem to have left numerous descendants, many of whom
continue with us unto this day.
Tightly Tied Up.
Turn now to the eleventh chapter and you will find another pictorial
suggestion of this same sort of powerless christian, though in this
instance made so by another reason. It is the Bethany Chapter, the
Lazarus Chapter. The scene is just out of Bethany village. There is a
man lying dead in the cave yonder. Here stands Jesus. There are the
disciples, and Martha, and Mary, and the villagers, and a crowd from
Jerusalem. The Master is speaking. His voice rings out clear and
commanding--"Lazarus, come forth"--speaking to a dead man. And the
simple record runs, "He that was dead"--life comes between those two
lines of the record--"came forth, bound hand and foot with
grave-clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin." Will you
please take a look at Lazarus as he steps from the tomb? Do you think

his eyes are dull, or his cheeks hollow and pale? I think not! When
Jesus, the Lord of life, gives life, either physical or spiritual, He gives
abundant life. That face may have been a bit spare. There had been no
food for at least four days and likely longer. But there is the flash of
health in his eye and the ruddy hue of good blood in his cheek. He has
life. But look closer. He is bound hand and foot and face. He can
neither walk nor work nor speak.
I have met some christian people who reminded me forcibly of that
scene. They are christians. The Master has spoken life, and they have
responded to His word. But they are so tied up with the grave-clothes
of the old life that there can be none of the power of free action in life
or service. May I ask you very kindly, but very plainly, are you like
that? Is that the reason you have so little power with God, and for God?
Perhaps some one would say, "Just what do you mean?" I mean this:
that there may be some personal habit of yours, or perhaps some
society custom which you practice, or it may be some business method,
or possibly an old friendship which you have carried over into the new
life from the old that is seriously hindering your christian life. It may be
something that goes into your mouth or comes out of it that prevents
those lips speaking for the Master. Perhaps it is some organization you
belong to. If there is lack of freedom and power for Christ you may be
sure there is something that is blighting your life and dwarfing your
usefulness. It may possibly be that practically in your daily life you are
exerting no more power for God than a dead man! A christian, indeed,
but without power because of compromise with something questionable
or outrightly wrong! Is that so with you? I do not say it is, for I do not
know. But you know. The hungry, critical world knows. Subtle, keen
Satan knows. The Lord Jesus knows. Do you know if that describes
you? You may know with certainty within twenty-four hours if you
wish to and will to. May we be willing to have the Spirit's searchlight
turned in upon us to-night.
The Master's Ideal.
There is another kind of christian, an utterly different kind, spoken of
and illustrated in this same Gospel of John, and I doubt not many of

them also are here. It is Jesus' ideal of what a christian should be. Have
you sometimes wished you could have a few minutes of quiet talk with
Jesus? I mean face to face, as two of us might sit and talk together. You
have thought you would ask Him to say very simply and plainly just
what He expects of you. Well, I believe He would answer in words
something