Dr. Torrey Preacked this Sermon June 23 , igi 8 , to tke Class that graduated from the Bible Institute at tke close of tke Summer Term. Printed at tke request of many
JF You will find our text this morning in John 17:4: “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” (John 17:4). In these words our Lord Jestfs a few hours before His death sums up His whole life. It is a wonderful summing up, a glorious summing up. It is a glorious thing to be able to say to God at the close of our life, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work thou gavest me to do.” I. The Solemn Duty of Each One of Us to Glorify God by Finishing the Work Which He has Given Us to- Do. It should be the aim of each one of us to so live and so be that at the close of our life we could say, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Of course the work God gave our Lord Jesus to do was an altogether unique work, a work that He alone could accom plish. God laid upon the Lord Jesus the work of making a perfect atonement for sin, the work of undoing the ruin that Adam had brought upon the human race by sin; and no one can share in that work. It was necessary, that the Lord Jesus tread the winepress of God’s wrath against sin alone. But God has given each of us also a work to do. It is a small work indeed compared with the work He gave the Lord Jesus to do. It may be a small work even compared with that of many of our fellowmen. It may be a very small work. It may be a work that very few will ever see or hear of, but it should be our aim to do
that work, to do it well, to do it thor oughly, to so do it that we can say at the close of our life: “I have finished (i. e., completed, “accomplished,” perfected, or brought to full fruition), the work which thou gavest me to do.” To look at life in this way, as presenting a work that God the Father has given us to do, gives great importance and dignity to life. No matter how apparently insig nificant and obscure the work may be that God has given to us to do, neverthe less it is God-given and therefore import ant, immeasurably important, as import ant in its place as the work of the great est man or woman. It may be the work of being a wife or a mother, but it is important as that of the woman who is called to travel far and wide and move thousands of men and women for right eousness., It may be the work of a hum ble toiler. It is as important in its place as that of the great leader or teacher or preacher. Horace Bushnell once preached a sermon on the subject of “Every man’s life a plan of God.” It was a great thought and it is a true thought. There is a work for each of us to do that no one else can do; and, if we do not do it, it will not be done. There are souls for each of us to save, that we alone can save; and, if we do not save them, they will not be saved. To me that is an overwhelmingly solemn thought. In Mr. Moody’s evangelistic campaign in New Haven at the close of my senior year in the Theological Sem inary, I saw a young lady in the inquiry
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