Christ will appear, 'and that when He who is our life shall appear, we
also shall appear with Him in glory,' then we may go to work in keeping
ourselves steadfast in Him, with cheery hearts, and with full assurance
that what we have been doing will have a great result.

You have read, no doubt, about some little force in North-West India,
hemmed in by enemies. They may well hold out resolutely and hopefully
when they know that three relieving armies are converging upon their
stronghold. And we, too, know that our Emperor is coming to raise the
siege. We may well stand fast with such a prospect. We may well work at
our own sanctifying when we know that our Lord Himself--like some
master-sculptor who comes to his pupil's imperfectly blocked-out work,
and takes his chisel in his hand, and with a touch or two completes
it--will come and finish what we, by His grace, imperfectly began. 'So
stand fast in the Lord,' because you have hope that the Lord is about to
come, and that when He comes you will be like Him.

One last word. That steadfastness is the condition without which we have
no right to entertain that hope.

If we keep ourselves near Christ, and if by keeping ourselves near Him,
we are becoming day by day liker Him, then we may have calm confidence
that He will perfect that which concerns us. But I, for my part, can
find nothing, either in Scripture or in the analogy of God's moral
dealings with us in the world, to warrant the holding out of the
expectation to a man that, if he has kept himself apart from Jesus
Christ and his quickening and cleansing power all his life long, Jesus
Christ will take him in hand after he dies, and change him into His
likeness. Don't you risk it! Begin by 'standing fast in the Lord.' He
will do the rest then, not else. The cloth must be dipped into the
dyer's vat, and lie there, if it is to be tinged with the colour. The
sensitive plate must be patiently kept in position for many hours, if
invisible stars are to photograph themselves upon it. The vase must be
held with a steady hand beneath the fountain, if it is to be filled.
Keep yourselves in Jesus Christ. Then here you will begin to be changed
into the same image, and when He comes He will come as your Saviour, and
complete your uncompleted work, and make you altogether like Himself.

'Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and
crown, so stand fast in the Lord, dearly beloved.'

NAMES IN THE BOOK OF