attitude for men, in the presence of a certain truth, is to
have a certitude of the truth. And these two things are, our Apostle
tells us, both given to us in and through Jesus Christ. Let me deal,
then, with these two sides.

I. First, God's certainties in Christ.

Of course the original reference of the text is to the whole series
of great promises given in the Old Testament. These, says Paul, are
sealed and confirmed to men by the revelation and work of Jesus
Christ, but it is obvious that the principle which is good in
reference to them is good on a wider field. I venture to take that
extension, and to ask you to think briefly about some of the things
that are made for us indubitably certain in Jesus Christ.

And, first of all, there is the certainty about God's heart.
Everywhere else we have only peradventures, hopes, fears, guesses
more or less doubtful, and roundabout inferences as to His
disposition and attitude towards us. As one of the old divines says
somewhere, 'All other ways of knowing God are like the bended bow,
Christ is the straight string.' The only means by which, indubitably,
as a matter of demonstration, men can be sure that God in the heavens
has a heart of love towards them is by Jesus Christ. For consider
what will make us sure of that. Nothing but facts; words are of
little use, arguments are of little use. A revelation, however
precious, which simply says to us, 'God is Love' is not sufficient
for our need. We want to see love in operation if we are to be sure
of it, and the only demonstration of the love of God is to witness
the love of God in actual working. And you get it--where? On the
Cross of Jesus Christ. I do not believe that anything else
irrefragably establishes the fact for the yearning hearts of us poor
men who want love, and yet cannot grope our way in amidst the
mysteries and the clouds in providence and nature, except
this--'Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us,
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.'

The question may arise in some minds, Is there any need for proving
God's love? The question never arose except within the limits of
Christianity. It is only men who have lived all their lives in an
atmosphere saturated by Christian sentiment and conviction that ever
come to the point of saying, 'We do not want historical revelation to
prove to us the fact of a loving God.' They would never have fancied
that they did not need the revelati