Pressing Into the Kingdom
Prior to his missionary work in China, William Chalmers Burns was a beloved preacher throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada. Notably, his preaching in Kilsyth sparked a revival, and this 1840 sermon, preached at St. Leonard’s in Perth, bears much of that revival urgency.
“Pressing into the Kingdom” impresses for two reasons: First, it imparts a sense of Burns’s desire to see conversions made not just as “decisions for Christ,” but in a spirit of earnest intent to enter Christ’s kingdom by any means necessary. Surely, this must have bent his heart toward the unreached whom he would carry this message to later in the decade. Second, it makes an excellent case for sending gifted preachers to the mission field—although it was difficult for many in Scotland to part with this caliber of preacher, it was a decision which bore unmistakable fruit for Christ.
This following is a modernized excerpt of “Pressing into the Kingdom.” The full text of Burns’s sermon is available online.
“The kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” (Luke 16:16, KJV)
…You know what it is to press into any place where there is a great crowd; you do not stand listless at the door, you push your way, you press in and you enter. So it is with the kingdom of Christ; you see and feel that you must be in or you are lost, out forever, banished to eternal darkness and torment, and therefore you press, you fight, till divine grace has subdued your proud spirit, and made you to enter into Christ’s kingdom by Christ, the way, the truth, the life.
All or Nothing
We shall now mention one or two things which ever distinguish this pressing into the kingdom. First, there is a supreme desire to enter. The Christian has many pursuits in which he must engage; but when a man begins to feel the necessity of being into the kingdom, these at once take a subordinate place, and become of very second-rate importance. His choice is to be saved, to enter, to belong to Christ.
Many make this a desire among other desires. They say, “Well, we wish to be saved, we wish to get an interest in Christ;” but then that is not their only wish. They wish to be rich and great, to be esteemed and honored, and—they wish to have Christ too. Dear friends, that will not do. No, if you wish to have all these things, and after them to have Christ, or if you wish to have Christ just in the same proportion, or even still, if you wish to have Christ as a first object, but must have these other things along with Him, Christ will never be yours. You must either desire to have Christ before all, above all, alone, or you must be content to do without Him altogether. Now, I am sure there are some of you, who, if you could get a half Christ, Christ’s merits, and a few of your own along with them; if Christ would but take a middle place, would consent to reign with other kings, to divide the government with Satan, with riches, with man’s good opinion, or even with your own, you would have Him, and gladly give Him a second, or even an equal place in your heart with the world and vanity. Christ will not consent to this. He must be all or nothing: king, sovereign, ruler, governor, or absent altogether. Now, what is He to you? Is He on the throne? or only on the footstool? This is a question which may show you whether you are really pressing in.
Would you be content to give up all for Christ, and take Him alone? If possessing Him were to deprive you of all you have, and all you hope for, would you bid adieu to that all—and to the Christian it is a little all—and say, “Come, Lord Jesus, Thine be the kingdom?” If not, it is because you know nothing of Christ, His character, His person, or His love. He is nothing to you. The believer, who has begun to learn the value of Christ, does not find difficulty in determining whether to give up one thing, or two things, or many things for Christ, and whether he should still be repaid for so doing. He is not always hesitating and calculating whether Christ will make this or that loss to him. He has Christ, thrice blessed portion, and in Him, all. He would not seek earthly riches or honors, even if he could get them. All he has, all he is, is already Christ’s—by purchase—by free surrender—and by wonderful, glorious exchange. All that Christ has is his too, he is a joint-heir with Christ. He gets all from heaven, returns all to heaven, and the heart that is already at home there, has not much time for earthly pleasure.
Master or Servant
We do not mean to say that the Christian refuses this world’s comforts or enjoyments when they come in his way. They, too, are sweet, and why? Because they are a proof of Christ’s goodness, love, and tender care. But we do say that the believer will not be very anxious or careful about them; nor will he have either pleasures or profits which Christ does not give him. He will not receive gains in a business unlawful, or in ways disapproved by the Lord. He asks for nothing, but what Thou wilt; can enjoy nothing, but what he can enjoy in Christ, because without Christ it were no enjoyment to him. Does he receive any temporal gift—an estate for instance—he does not rashly give it up, he takes it back to Christ, and says, “Thou hast sent this, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do with it?”
The difference between his unconverted and converted state lies here. Before, he considered himself master of all he possessed. “I have earned this; I have labored for it, I have got it, and it is mine, for my gratification, my amusement, my use.” But now, he is changed from a master into a servant, he looks on himself merely as a steward, who has received so much, whether it be fortune, time, or talents, from Christ, to be used for His glory; and his only wish is to be a faithful, prudent steward, serving Christ in all things. “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee?”
And now, no false friend, no open enemy, neither a lying devil, nor a hostile world, neither terror without, nor treachery within, shall be able to take Christ out of your heart, nor to prevent your entrance into the celestial city.
Choose Him alone. This is what Enoch did, what David did, for he desired none in heaven but Him, what Peter did, for he said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” What every saint is joyfully constrained by his love to do. Some would take Christ if they might even be allowed to choose the time when he should be their all, if they might do it in the church and the closet, but not in the world. But if you are His, you will choose Christ tonight, Christ tomorrow, Christ for ever; Christ in the closet, and in the family; Christ in the shop, and in the market; Christ in the church and in the world; Christ when you are with the godly; Christ when with the ungodly and profane; Christ in the hour of prosperity, Christ in the hour of adversity; Christ, when the world smiles, and says, as it sometimes seems to do, that Christ is good; and Christ when the world frowns, and says that Christians are mad, and that Christ hath a devil. You will take Christ with you to the humble cottage, and to the lordly mansion; Christ among your poor and despised fellow-sinners; Christ with the nobles of the land; Christ in the drawing-room—I do not say Christ in the ball-room, for if you go there, you must leave Christ behind—I do not say Christ in the theatre, for you must get Satan to go with you there—but Christ in life, Christ in death, Christ in the day of judgment, and then—ineffably glorious hope—Christ to all eternity.
A Firm Resolution
We have tried to show you that to have Jesus for a portion is the believer’s ruling desire. Secondly, a firm resolution is necessary to the attainment of this, as well as of every other great object. When a crowd is rushing into this church, for instance, and you stand aloof, and make no exertion, you must remain without. But you try to be first, you force your way, you succeed, and secure a place. If you would enter by the golden gate of mercy, you must resolve to enter, and not to be disappointed. Some say, “I wish to get in, but I need not go to the entrance, it is closed up, there is one barrier, there is another impassable.” Now, such a wavering, doubting soul as that will never enter: that is not pressing into the kingdom. No obstacle must terrify you, or drive you back. They are not of His creating, whose it is to open and no man shutteth. Submit to Jehovah Jesus; will He disappoint you? No, He will direct your way, support, strengthen, comfort you. He will guide you through the narrow straits of repentance into the open sea of faith, with its widespread views, its gilded distance, its boundless prospects. Nor there will He leave you, but traversing its waters along with you, and pointing your course to yonder brilliant coast, He will at last bring your little bark into the haven of eternal rest…