III. In its application to the conduct.—“That ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (ver. 10).

1. An inward state.—Sincerity, transparency of character.

2. An outward walk.—Inoffensiveness of conduct. Not designedly giving offence; sacrificing everything but principle rather than grieve or mislead a weak brother.

3. Perseverance in an upright life.—“Till the day of Christ.” This is the scorner’s day; the good are hated and despised; but the day of Christ is coming, and will rectify all wrongs. A day of blessing and honour to the good, of confusion and punishment to the wicked; of approval to the one, of condemnation to the other.

Ver. 9. “And this I pray.” Definiteness in Prayer—

  1. Implies a deep consciousness of an intelligently apprehended need.
  2. Becoming, when an intelligent being addresses the Divine Intelligence.
  3. Essential from the very nature of prayer.
  4. Affords a fixed ground from the exercise of faith.
  5. Emboldens supplication.
  6. Inspires hope of a definite response.—Lay Preacher.

Ver. 10. “That ye may approve things that are excellent.” Spiritual Discrimination—

  1. Demands the exercise of the most intelligent and sensitive charity.
  2. Commands a wide field of effort—the bad, the good, the better, the best—in character, life, doctrine, practice, enjoyment, attainment.
  3. Implies the admission and use of a noble liberty of thought, judgment, and action.
  4. Involves a weighty and far-reaching responsibility.
  5. Is essential to a pure and blameless life.—Ibid.

“That ye may be sincere.” The Value of Sincerity in Youth.

There is a false sincerity which is a compound of ignorance and obstinacy. The heathen may be devout and sincere in his idolatry, but he is a heathen still. The Mahometan may be devout and sincere in his worship of the one God, but he rejects the Christ who is the source and substance of all true religion. The sceptic may be devout and earnest in his investigation of the facts of the universe; but he ignores the great moral truths on which he stumbles in the course of his inquiries, and refuses to accept and be influenced by them. There is no craze of the wildest fanatic that may not be adopted as an article of faith, if apparent sincerity is to be the test of its genuineness. The fact is, a man may be sincere, but grossly mistaken. A sincere heart is that through which the light of God shines, unimpeded by duplicity and sin, and is a condition of heart obtained only by living much in the presence and light of God.