__________________________________________________________________ Title: Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 11: 1865 Creator(s): Spurgeon, Charles Haddon (1834-1892) CCEL Subjects: All; Sermons; LC Call no: BV42 LC Subjects: Practical theology Worship (Public and Private) Including the church year, Christian symbols, liturgy, prayer, hymnology Times and Seasons. The church year __________________________________________________________________ True Unity Promoted DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 1, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Endea voring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:3. YOU will remember that for several years I have received my morning's text for the first Sunday in the year from an esteemed Brother, a clergyman of the Church of England. This year he very kindly sends me this verse, which I hope will be useful to us all, reminding us of our former faults and of our present duty in the matter of "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." The Pope has lately been most lustily cursing us all. According to his nature, of course, must be his utterances. We could not expect a blessing where no blessing abides. And if we get a curse we only receive a polluted stream from a polluted fountain. It is an old saying that England never prospers so well as when the Pope curses her. I hope to see a year of great prosperity this year! Let the poor deluded priest curse as long as he will, our God shall turn it into a blessing. In former days, when some of the Churches of Christ began to shake off the yoke of Popedom from their necks, the plea urged against reformation was the necessity of maintaining unity. "You must bear with this ceremony and that dogma no matter how antichristian and unholy, you must bear with it, 'endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' " So spoke the old serpent in those early days. "The Church is one, woe unto those who shall create schism! It may be true that Mary is set up in the place of Christ, that images are worshipped, sticks and rotten rags adored and pardons bought and sold for crimes of every kind. It may be that the so-called church has become an abomination and a nuisance upon the face of the earth, but still, 'endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,' you must lie down, restrain the testimony of the Spirit of God within you, keep His Truth under a bushel and let the lie prevail." This was the grand sophistry of the church of Rome. When, however, she could not seduce men by talking of love and union, she took upon herself to use her natural tone of voice and cursed right and left right heartily--and so let her curse till she expires! Brethren, there was no reason in the argument of the Papist! If you will look at the text for a moment, you will see the text bids us endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit--but it does not tell us to endeavor to maintain the unity of evil, the unity of superstition--or the unity of spiritual tyranny! The unity of error, of false doctrine, of priestcraft may have in it the spirit of Satan--we do not doubt that--but that it is the unity of the Spirit of God we do utterly deny! The unity of evil we are to break down by every weapon which our hands can grasp--the unity of the Spirit which we are to maintain and foster is quite another thing. Remember that we are forbidden to do evil that good may come. And it is evil to restrain the witness of the Spirit of God within us! To conceal any Truth of God which we have learned by revelation of God is evil! To hold back from testifying for God's Truth and Word--against the sin and folly of man's inventions--would be sin of the blackest hue. We dare not commit the sin of quenching the Holy Spirit even though it were with the view of promoting unity! The unity of the Spirit never requires any sinful support--that is maintained not by suppressing the Truth of God, but by publishing it abroad. The unity of the Spirit has for its pillars, among other things, the witnessing of spiritually enlightened saints to the one faith which God has revealed in His Word. That is quite another unity which would gag our mouths and turn us all into dumb driven cattle to be fed or slaughtered at the will of priestly masters. Dr. McNeil has, very properly, said that a man can scarcely be an earnest Christian in the recent day without being a controversialist. We are sent forth today as sheep in the midst of wolves--can there be agreement? We are kindled as lamps in the midst of darkness--can there be concord? Has not Christ Himself said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword"? You understand how all this is the truest method of endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit, for Christ, the Man of War, is Jesus the Peacemaker. But in order to the creation of lasting, spiritual peace, the phalanx of evil must be broken and the unity of darkness dashed to shivers. I pray God evermore to preserve us from a unity in which Truth shall be considered valueless! In which principle gives place to policy! In which the noble and masculine virtues which adorn the Christian hero are to be supplemented by an effeminate affectation of charity! May the Lord deliver us from indifference to His Word and will! This only creates the cold unity of masses of ice frozen into an iceberg chilling the air for miles around--the unity of the dead as they sleep in their graves, contending for nothing--because they have neither part nor lot in all that belongs to living men. There is a unity which is seldom broken--the unity of devils, who, under the service of their great liege master, never disagree and quarrel! From this terrible unity keep us, O God of Heaven! The unity of locusts have one common object-- the glutting of themselves to the ruin of all around! The unity of the waves of Tophet's fire, sweeping myriads into deeper misery--from this also, O King of Heaven, save us forevermore! May God perpetually send some Prophet who shall cry aloud to the world, "Your covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with Hell shall not stand." May there ever be found some men, though they are rough as Amos, or stern as Haggai, who shall denounce again and again all league with error and all compromise with sin and declare that these are the abhorrence of God! Never dream that holy contention is at all a violation of my text. The destruction of every sort of union which is not based on the Truth of God is a preliminary to the edification of the unity of the Spirit. We must first sweep away these walls of untempered mortar--these tottering fences of man's building--before there can be room to lay the goodly stones of Jerusalem's walls one upon the other for lasting and enduring prosperity! In this spirit have I spoken to clear a way to reach my text. It is clear from the text that there is a unity of the Spirit to be kept. Secondly that it needs keeping. And thirdly, that a bond is to be used. When we have enlarged upon these points we shall use the text in its practical application--first to Christians in their connection with other churches and then to members of the same Church in their connection with each other. I. First, THERE IS A UNITY OF THE SPIRIT OF WHICH THE TEXT SPEAKS WHICH IS WORTHY TO BE KEPT. You will observe it is not an ecclesiastical unity. It is not endeavoring to keep the unity of the denomination, the community, the diocese, the parish--no, it is "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit." Men speak of the Episcopal Church, the Wesleyan Church, or the Presbyterian Church. Now I hesitate not to say that there is nothing whatever in Scripture at all parallel to such language, for there I read of the seven Churches in Asia, the Church in Corinth, Philippi, Antioch, etc. In England, if I speak according to the Word of God, there are some thousands of churches holding the Episcopal form of government. In Scotland, some thousands of godly churches are ordered according to Presbyterian rule. Among the Wesleyans, there are churches adhering to the form of government first carried out by Mr. Wesley. But it is not according to the method of Scripture, but only according to human invention to speak of a whole cluster of churches as one church. Although I myself am much inclined to a Presbyterian union among our churches, I cannot but perceive in Holy Scripture that each church is separate and distinct from every other church. The whole being is connected by those different bonds and ligaments which keep all the separate members together--but not so connected as to run into one another to lose their separateness and individuality. There is nothing in Scripture which says, "Endeavoring to keep up your ecclesiastical arrangements for centralization." The exhortation runs thus--"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit." Again, you will observe it does not say, "Endeavoring to keep the uniformity of the Spirit." The Spirit does not recognize uniformity. The analogy of His work in nature is against it. The flowers are not all tinted with the same hue, nor do they exhale the same odors. There is variety everywhere in the work of God. If I glance at Providence, I do not perceive that any two events happen after the same form--the page of history is varied. If, therefore, I look into the Church of God, I do not expect to find that all Christians pronounce the same shibboleth, or see with the same eyes. The same, "one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all," we rejoice to recognize. But as to uniformity of dress, liturgical verbiage, or form of worship, I find nothing of it in Scripture. Men may pray acceptably standing, sitting, kneeling, or lying with their faces upon the earth. They may meet with Jesus by the river's side, in the temple porch, in a prison, or in a private house. And they may be one in the same Spirit although the one regards a day and the other regards it not. So what is this unity of the Spirit? I trust, dear Brothers and Sisters, that we know it by having it in possession. It is most certain that we cannot keep the unity of the Spirit if we don't already have it! Let us ask ourselves the question, "Have we the unity of the Spirit?" None can have it but those who have the Spirit and the Spirit dwells only in new-born believing souls. By virtue of his having the Spirit, the Believer is in union with every other spiritual man and this is the unity which he is to endeavor to keep. This unity of the Spirit is manifested in love. A husband and wife may be, through Providence, cast hundreds of miles from one another--but there is a unity of spirit in them because their hearts are one. We, Brethren, are divided many thousands of miles from the saints in Australia, America and the South Seas--but loving as Brethren--we feel the unity of the Spirit. I was never a member of a Church meeting in the backwoods of America. I never worshipped God with the Samoans, or with my Brethren in New Zealand--but notwithstanding all this, I feel the unity of the Spirit in my soul with them and everything which concerns their spiritual welfare is interesting to me. This unity of the Spirit is caused by a similarity of nature. Find a drop of water glittering in the rainbow, leaping in the waterfall, rippling in the rivulet, lying silent in the stagnant pool or dashing in spray against the vessel's side--that water claims kinship with every drop of water the wide world over because it is the same in its elements. And even so there is a unity of the Spirit which we cannot imitate which consists in our being "begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." We bear in us the Holy Spirit as our daily Quickener and walk in the path of faith in the living God. Here is the unity of spirit, a unity of life working itself out in love. This is sustained daily by the Spirit of God. He who makes us one, keeps us one. Every member of my body must have a communion with every other member of my body. I say must. The question never arises, that I know of, between the members of my body whether they will do so or not. As long as there is life in my frame, every separate portion of my body must have communion with every other portion of it. Here is my finger--I may discolor it with some noxious drug. My head may not approve of the staining of my finger--it may suggest a thousand ways by which that finger ought to be put through a purgation and this may be all right and proper--but my head never says, "I will cut off that finger from communion." My tongue speaks loudly against the noxious fluid which has done my finger mischief and has blistered it so as to cause pain to the whole body, yet the head cannot say, "I will have that finger cut off," unless the body is willing to be forever mutilated and incomplete. Now, it is not possible to mutilate the body of Christ. Christ does not lose His members or cast off parts of His mystical body. And therefore it never ought to enter the head of any Christian whether or not he shall have communion in spirit with any other Christian, for he cannot do without it--as long as he lives he must have it. This does not stop him in boldly denouncing the error into which his Brother may have fallen, or in avoiding his intimate acquaintance while he continues to sin. But it does forbid the thought that we can ever really sever any true Believer from Christ, or even from us, if we are in Christ Jesus. The unity of the Spirit is preserved, then, by the Holy Spirit infusing daily life-floods into the one mystical body. And in proportion as the life-floods become more strong, that union becomes more manifest. Let a spirit of prayer be poured out on all our churches and conventionalities will be dashed down--divisions will be forgotten and locked in each others arms--the people of God will show to the world that they are one in Christ Jesus! There are some points in which this unity of the Spirit is certain to discover itself. In prayer, how truly does Montgomery put it-- "The saints in prayer appear as one In word and deed and mind, While with the Father and the Son, Sweet fellowship they find." There is a unity of praise, too. Our hymn books differ, after all, very little. We still sing the same songs and praise the same Savior. This unity will soon discover itself in co-working--they have a union in their conflict with the common foe and in their contention for the common Truth of God. This will lead to communion--I do not mean sitting down to the same table to eat bread and drink wine--that is only the outward union--but I mean that communion which consists in heart beating true to heart and in the feeling that they are one in Christ Jesus. It was a motto with Bucer, "To love all in whom he could see anything of Christ Jesus." Be this your motto, Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Make not your love an excuse for not offering stern rebuke, but rebuke because you love! Some persons think that unless you smooth your tongue and cover your words with sugar, no matter though it may be sugar of lead--unless you cringe and compliment and conceal--there is no love in your heart. But I trust it will be our privilege to show in our own persons, some of us, how sternly we can dissent and yet love. How truly be Nonconformists to our Brethren's error and yet in our very nonconformity prove our affection to them and to our common Master. It is said of some men that they appear to have been born upon the mountains of Bether, for they do nothing but cause division. And baptized in the waters of Meribah, for they delight in causing strife. This is not the case with the genuine Christian--he cares only for the Truth, for his Master, for the love of souls--and when these things are not imperiled, his own private likes or dislikes never affect him. He loves as much to see another Church prosper as his own--so long as he can know that Christ is glorified, it is a matter of comparative indifference to him by what minister God's arm is made bare, in what place souls are converted, or to what particular form of worship men addict themselves. Yet ever does he hold to this--that there is no unity of the Spirit where there is a lie in the teaching--that where the souls of men are concerned he would be a traitor to God if he did not bear witness against the error which damns, and testify to the Truth which saves. And where the crown jewels of his Master's kingdom are concerned he dares not traitorously hold his tongue. And though his fellow subjects cast his name out as evil, he counts it all joy so long as he is faithful to his Master and discharges his conscience as before the Judge of the quick and the dead. II. Secondly, THIS UNITY NEEDS KEEPING. It is a very difficult thing to maintain and that for several reasons. Our sins would, very naturally, break it. If we were all angels we should keep the unity of the Spirit and not need even the exhortation to do so. But, alas, we are proud, and pride is the mother of division! Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence, is very sure to head a faction. Envy, too, how that separates friends! When I cannot be satisfied with anything which is not hammered on my anvil or run in my mold. When another man's candle grieves me because it gives more light than mine. And when another man troubles me because he has more Divine Grace than I have--oh, there is no unity in this case! Anger--what a deadly foe is that to unity! When we cannot take the smallest disrespect--when the slightest thing brings the blood into our face-- when we speak unadvisedly with our lips--but surely I need not read the long list of sins which spoil this unity of the Spirit, for they are legion! O, may God cast them out from us, for only so can we keep the unity of the Spirit! But, Beloved, our very virtues may make it difficult for us to keep this unity. Luther is brave and bold, hot and impetuous. He is just the man to lead the van and clear the way for the Reformation. Calvin is logical, clear, cool, precise-- he seldom speaks rashly. It is not in the order of things that Luther and Calvin should always agree. Their very virtues cause them to fall out and, consequently, Luther, in a bad temper, calls Calvin a pig and a devil. And, albeit, Calvin once replied, "Luther may call me what he will, but I will always call him a dear servant of Christ." Yet John Calvin knew how to pierce Luther under the fifth rib when he was in humor. In those days the courtesies of Christians to one another were generally of the iron-gauntlet order rather than the naked hand. All were so much called to war for the sake of the Truth of God that even their fellow soldiers were treated with suspicion. And it may be with us that the very watchfulness of Truth, which is so valuable, may make us suspect where there is no need for suspicion and our courage may take us as sometimes a fiery horse has carried a young warrior beyond where he intended to have rid-den--where he may be taken prisoner to his own damage. We must watch--the best of us must watch--lest we fight the Lord's battles with Satan's weapons and so even from love to God and His Truth violate the unity of the Spirit. The unity of the Spirit ought to be kept, dear Friends, because Satan is so busy to mar it. He knows that the greatest Glory of Christ will spring from the unity of His Church. "That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You. That they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that You have sent Me." There is no Church happiness where there is not Church unity. Let a Church be disaffected and divided, the schism in the body is death to all hallowed fellowship. We cannot enjoy communion with each other unless our hearts are one. Our work for God--how feebly it is done when we are not agreed! The enemy cannot desire a better ally than strife in the midst of our camp. "Can you not agree," said a warrior of old, "when your enemy is in sight?" Christians, can you not agree to keep the unity of the Spirit when a destroying Satan is ever on the watch seeking to drag immortal souls down to perdition? We must be more diligent in this matter! We must seek to purge out from ourselves everything which would divide and to have in our hearts every holy thought which would tend to unite us with our Brethren. I am not, when I join a Christian Church, to say, "I am quite certain I shall never break its unity." I am to suspect myself of a liability to that evil and I am to watch with all diligence that I keep the unity of the Spirit. III. In the third place, in order to the keeping of this, THERE IS A BOND PROVIDED, THE BOND OF PEACE. Beloved, there should be much peace, perfect peace, unbounded peace between the people of God. We are not aliens. We are "fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God." Realize your fellow citizenship! Treat not Christian people as foreigners and this bond of fellow citizenship will be one bond of peace. You are not enemies. Men may be fellow citizens and yet hate one another, but you are friends, you are all friends to Christ and in Him you are all friends to one another. Let that be another bond. But you go farther--you are not mere friends, you are Brethren born of the same parent--filled with the same life. And shall not this be a bond? See that you fall not out by the way. Strive not one with another, for you are Brethren. This is not all. You are closer than this--you are members of the same body. Shall this mysterious union fail to be a bond of peace to you? Will you, being the foot, contend with the eye? Or will you, being the eye, contend with the hand and say, "I have no need of you"? If it is, indeed, the Truth of God and not a fiction that we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones-- because the joints and bones in other men's bodies may not agree--let it never be said of the mystical body of our blessed Lord that there was such a monstrous thing in it! Let it never be said that the various parts would not co-work but fell to battling with another! I believe I have brought out the meaning of the text. There is a unity of the Spirit which is worthy to be kept--we ought to keep it--we must try to keep it in the bond of peace. To come to the practical conclusion of the subject. First, in the connection of one Church with another. And secondly, in the connection of one Church member with another. It is not a desirable thing that all churches should melt into one another and become one. The complete fusion of all churches into one ecclesiastical corporation would inevitably produce another form of Popery since history teaches us that large ecclesiastical bodies grow more or less corrupt as a matter of course. Huge spiritual corporations are, as a whole, the strongholds of tyranny and the refuges of abuse. And it is only a matter of time when they shall break to pieces. Disruption and secession must occur and will occur where a unity is attempted which is not meant in God's Word. But it will be a blessed thing when all the churches walk together in the unity of the Spirit! When this Church, although it has been baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ and laments the neglect of that ordinance by others, yet feels that the unity of the Spirit is not to be broken and holds out its right hand to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. When yonder Church, governed by its elders, feels a unity with another Church which is presided over by its bishop. When a certain Church, which holds with mutual edification and no ministry, is yet not quarrelsome towards those who love the ministry of the Word! When, in fact, we have agreed in this one thing--that we will search the Word independently and act out according to our light what we find to be true--but having so done we will keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I say this is most desirable and this, it is, that we are to seek after--not the fusion of all into one denomination! But the keeping of each Church in its own distinct independent testimony in love with every other Church that is doing the same. Now, in order to this, I have a few suggestions to offer. It is quite certain we shall never keep the unity of the Spirit if this Church shall declare that it is superior to every other. If there is a Church which says, "We are the Church and all others are mere sects. We are established and others are only tolerated," then it is a troubler in Israel and must hide its head when the unity of the Spirit is so much as hinted at! Any Church which lifts up its head on high and boasts over other churches has violated the unity of the Spirit. If other churches reply, "One is our Master and all we are Brethren," they do not violate the unity of the Spirit, for they simply claim their rights and speak the Truth of God. That other Church which forgets its true position as one in the family and begins to set itself up as mistress and claim pre-eminence over its fellow servants has put it out of its own power to keep the unity of the Spirit, for it has violated it once and for all. A Church that would keep the unity of the Spirit, again, must not consider itself to be so infallible that not to belong to its membership is sin. What right has any one Church to set itself up as the standard, so that those who do not join it are necessarily Dissenters? It is true my Episcopal brother is a Dissenter--he dissents from me! It is true he is a Nonconformist, for he does not conform to me--I would not, however, call him by such names lest I should arrogate to my own Church to be the one true church and so should break the unity of the Spirit. If I turn to history I may believe that my Church can claim a long line of ancestors descending from the Apostles, without ever running through the Church of Rome. But shall I therefore call a Brother who does not quite see this succession, a schismatic and denominate his assembly illegal? If he is a schismatic because he does not come to my place, why am I not a schismatic because I do not go to his? Well, but he divides the church! He ought to come and worship with me. Ought I not to go and worship with him? Ah, but we are the larger number! Are Divine things to be ruled by the majority? Where would the Church of God be any day if it came to polling? I am afraid the devil would always be at the head of the poll. We wish to keep the unity of the Spirit and if we have a little sister, we will treat her all the more kindly, owing to the fewness of her members. If I want to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace," I must never call in the magistrate to force my Brother to pay for washing my surplice, ringing my bell and winding up my clock. I must not tell my Brother that he is bound to pay for the support of my worship. "Oh," he says, "my dear Friend, I pay for the maintenance of the worship which I believe to be correct and I am quite willing that you should do the same for yours." I would voluntarily assist you if you were poor. But you tell me you will put me in prison if I do not pay and yet tell me to keep the unity of the Spirit? My dear Friend, it is not keeping the unity of the Spirit to take away my stool and my table and my candlestick, and say you will put me in "limbo," or hail me before an ecclesiastical court. You send the constable after me. And then if I say a word about it, you say, "Charity hopes all things." Yes, among the rest it hopes that you will give up your sin in this matter. If we should stand possessed of a piece of ground where we bury our dead, and if there should happen to come a member of another Christian Church who would wish to lay his poor dead baby in our ground, there being no other convenient spot anywhere and he asks the favor, I think we can hardly be thought to keep the unity of the Spirit if we tell him, "No, nothing of the kind! You had your child sprinkled, therefore it cannot be buried with us Christians! We will not have your sprinkled baby lying alongside our baptized dead." I do not think that is keeping the unity of the Spirit. And I do not think when some churches have turned from their graveyard gate the mourners who have brought an unbaptized infant--and the mourners have gone back weeping to their homes--I do not think such churches have been endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Again, if churches are to agree one with another they must not make rules that ministers who are not of their own denomination shall not occupy their pulpits. I should be ashamed of you, if you passed a resolution that no one dissenting from us should stand in my pulpit. But we know a church which says, "No matter how good a man may be. He may be a man as venerated as John Angell James, or he may have all the excellencies of a William Jay--we would not, perhaps, mind hearing him in a Town Hall--but into the sacredness of our particular rostrum these interlopers must not intrude." For, says this church, "Ours are ministers, yours are only lay teachers. Ours are sacraments--the cup of blessing which we bless is the blood of Christ and the bread which we break is the body of Christ--you have no sacramental efficacy with you. In fact, you are not a church, but only a body of schismatics meeting together to carry out what you think to be right. We tolerate you, but that is all we can do." Where is the unity of the Spirit there? My dear Friends, I received this text from one of the most holy men in the Church of England--if I expound it slightly for her benefit, he will, I trust, excuse me, for I do so in all honesty, desiring to aid him and many others in revision and reform. If this Church were in the same condition as the Church of England I would pray to be as plain in my remarks. I say it is an anachronism! It is a thing out of date for the nineteenth century for any one church in this land and that church the only one which defiles her hand by taking State pay, to stand up and say, "We are the church! Our ministers are the ministers! Our people are the people! And now, dear Brethren, shake hands and endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit of God." Why, it is preposterous! Let us meet on equal ground! Let us lay aside all pretences to superiority! Let us really aid and not oppress each other! Let us mingle in prayer. Let us unite in confession of sin. Let us join heartily in reforming our errors and a true Evangelical Alliance will cover our land! If any church will take the Bible as its standard and in the power of the Spirit of God preach the name of Jesus, there are thousands of us who will rejoice to give the right hand of fellowship with a hearty greeting to all such! We are striving every day to get other churches and ourselves more and more into that condition in which, while holding our own, we can yet keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace! Now, a few words to you in regard to your relationship to one another as members of the same church. If we are to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in the same church, then we must avoid everything that would mar it. Gossip--gossip is a very ready means of separating friends from one another. Let us endeavor to talk of something better than each other's characters. Dionysius went down to the Academy to Plato. Plato asked what he came for. "Why," said Dionysius, "I thought that you, Plato, would be talking against me to your students." Plato made this answer--"Do you think, Dionysius, we are so destitute of matter to converse upon that we talk of you?" Truly we must be very short of subjects when we begin to talk of one another. It is better far that we magnify Christ than detract from the honor of His members. We must lay aside all envy. Multitudes of good people liked the Reformation, but they said they did not like the idea of its being done by a poor miserable monk like Martin Luther. And so there are many who like to see good things done and good works carried on, but do not care to see it done by that upstart young Brother, or that poor man, or that woman who has no particular rank or state. As a Church let us shake off envy! Let us all rejoice in God's light. And as for pride--if any of you have grown vainglorious of late, shake it off. I hope to exercise a ministry in this place which will drive out those of you who will not acknowledge your Brethren when they are poorer or of less education than yourselves. What if the man does mar the Queen's English when he talks--what does that matter, so long as his heart is right? As long as you can feel he loves the Master, surely you can put up with his faults of language--if he can put up with your faults of action. Then let us cultivate everything that would tend to unity. Are any sick? Let us care for them. Are any suffering? Let us weep with them. Do we know one who has less love than others? Then let us have more, so as to make up the deficiency. Do we perceive faults in a Brother? Let us admonish him in love and affection. I pray you be peacemakers, every one of you! Let this Church go on as it has done for the last eleven years in holy concord and blessed unity. Let us remember that we cannot keep the unity of the Spirit unless we all believe the Truth of God. Let us search our Bibles, therefore, and conform our views and sentiments to the teaching of God's Word. I have already told you that unity in error is unity in ruin. We want unity in the Truth of God through the Spirit of God. This let us seek after it! Let us live near to Christ, for this is the best way of promoting unity. Divisions in churches never begin with those full of love to the Savior. Cold hearts, unholy lives, inconsistent actions, neglected closets--these are the seeds which sow schisms in the body! But he who lives near to Jesus--wears His likeness and copies His example--will be, wherever he goes, a sacred bond, a holy link to bind the Church together more closely than ever. May God give us this and from now on let us endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I commend the text to all Believers to be practiced through the coming year. And to those who are not Believers, what can I say but that I trust their unity and their peace may be broken forever and that they may be led to Christ Jesus to find peace in His death! May faith be given and then love and every Divine Grace will follow, so that they may be one with us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ A Discourse For A Revival Season DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 8TH, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people because of them that dwell in a far country, Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities? The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved." Jeremiah 8:19,20. THESE words, as they stand in the book of Jeremiah, were probably meant to set forth the sin of Israel. The Prophet's heart is very full of sadness--he can hear the shrieks and cries of the people in the streets of Jerusalem. They are moaning for sorrow because of the oppression of the Chaldeans--the nation that dwelt afar off. And in the midst of their bitterness and woe they remember the God whom they had forgotten in their prosperity--but this remembrance is not a gracious one. They do not remember Him to humble themselves before Him, but to bring accusations against Him! They enquire, "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her?" As if they felt, "The people of the Lord, the people of the Lord are we, and therefore He is bound to send us a deliverance." They question the faithfulness of Jehovah because He justly suffers them to be downtrodden for their sins. Then the Lord, speaking by the Prophet, tells them the reason why, although present among them, He did not help them--"Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities?" If they believed Him to be present, why did they set up false gods? If they considered Him to be their God, why did they turn aside to the vanities of the heathen? His Presence among them had been the occasion of greater provocation since they had mocked Him to His face and set up idols in His own temple! In the twentieth verse the Prophet represents the people as breaking forth into another dolorous and lamentable cry, "We thought that God would help us in the days of harvest--but the harvest is past. We dreamed that He would chase away our enemies when the summer months had come--but the summer is ended and still Chaldea has her foot upon Judea's neck--still we drink the wormwood and the gall and our enemies open their mouths at us. The harvest is past and the summer is ended and we are not saved." We find in the New Testament that sometimes the Apostles used the language of the Prophets in other than the original sense. Finding the Prophetic words to be expressive of a sense which they themselves wished to convey to the people, they did, as it were, take the horses and chariot of the Prophet and drive them in another direction. So I intend to do this morning. It strikes me that there is no text in Scripture more applicable to our present condition than this. "Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people because of them that dwell in a far country." We have been crying and pleading with God for the multitude of far-off sinners who know nothing of Him. We will begin, therefore, by dwelling upon the cry. Then comes a question, a question much requiring earnest thought at pre-sent--"Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her?" Then we have another question which may cause searching of heart both among saints and sinners--"Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities?" And our text concludes with another cry, not the cry of gracious souls for others, but the cry of graceless sinners for themselves, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved." I. At the outset we have in the text A CRY. Observe the word, "Behold." I have told you many times that wherever the word, "behold," occurs in Scripture, it is a sort of signpost to show that there is good entertainment within. God puts this, "N.B.," in the margin that we may observe well what it is that He is saying to us. The "behold" here is the mark of astonishment. We are to "Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people" as an unusual thing. So seldom does Israel cry unto the Lord--she is so negligent of prayer, she is so silent when she ought to be incessant in her petitions--that when at last she does cry, her voice is a wonder in God's ears! I have felt, this week, in the state of mind which is indicated by that interjection, "Behold!" When I sat on this platform on Monday night and marked your sobs and tears and heard the suppressed sighs and groans of the great multitude then assembled, I could not but say, "Behold!" And yet it ought not to be a wonder, it ought not to be a strange thing for God's people to be in earnest, or for sinners to feel brokenness of heart! If prayer is the Christian's breath, why then, to see a multitude breathing should never be a spectacle! If to pray unto God is the Christian's daily privilege, then to approach the Throne of God with prevalent earnestness should never be looked upon with astonishment! Yet, Brothers and Sisters, we must frankly confess that it is so. True prayer is an astonishing thing! Prevalent intercession is an amazing thing--and if you want to see something that will really thrill you with a holy wonder, attend a Prayer Meeting where the Holy Spirit is present in the fullness of His power and where the Brethren pray not as a mere matter of form, but as if filled with all the fullness of God! Such meetings as we have had during the past week are things to marvel at! Behold! It has become a wonder for God's people to really cry. Ah, there are some of you to whom weeping over sinners would be a novelty. To some of you professors agonizing for souls would be a new thing--you pray for sinners in your usual prayers--but you do not know what it is to travail in birth for souls. You never feel as if your hearts would break if souls are not saved. You do not feel the burden of the Lord laid upon you till you are crushed in the dust and made to groan out, "God have mercy upon these poor perishing souls." With some of you it would be a great wonder to be really on fire in prayer. And if we heard you cry, we should be compelled to say, "Behold the voice of the cry of My people." Notice how this prayer is described. It is a cry--"Behold the cry." A cry is the most natural form of utterance. It is a natural expression made up of pain and desire for relief. A cry is the first sign of human life--as if to indicate that we are most alive when most we cry. As if a cry were the way to life and the path to higher life ever afterwards. A cry! There is something cutting and piercing in it. It cleaves its way up to the Throne of God. A spiritual cry! It is born in the heart, down deep in the inner recesses of regenerate nature. It is not a mere lip-worship, it is not a thing of the tongue and of the jaw. A cry! It comes from the very soul and therefore it reaches to God's ear and God's heart. A cry! It is a plaintive, bitter, painful thing--and, mark you--God's people seldom get a blessing in the conversion of souls till their prayer turns into a cry mingled with weeping. And if there is sobbing and groaning, it is none the worse. Do you know, dear Friends, the difference between the prayers which are not cries and those which are? When a Brother merely prays what we call prayer, he stands up and utters very proper words, very edifying, very suitable, no doubt, and then he is done. Another Brother comes forward--he wants a blessing--he tells the Lord what he desires. He takes the promises. He wrestles with God and then he seems to say, "I will not let You go except You bless me." He cannot be satisfied till, with the cry of, "Abba, Father," he has come before the Throne of God and really obtained an audience with the Most High. Note again, for every word of our text is suggestive--it is, "Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of My people." It is not enough to be earnest! You must know what you are earnest about! The cry must have a voice which is as far as possible understood by yourself and a voice which has a meaning in it before God. I am afraid there have been some meetings against which the charge of fanaticism might be very fairly brought, because, while there was an admirable earnestness which it were well for colder Christians to copy, there was a lack of understanding--a want of really knowing what they wanted. Beloved, we must be clear when we come before God that we really are asking for something. Our soul must prepare itself by meditation upon its own needs and upon the needs of the people to express an intelligent desire before God. Cry! Cry aloud as much as you will! But remember, when the voice said cry, the Prophet said, "What shall I cry?" And so when I come before God in prayer, I must ask Him, "What shall I cry?" And I must get a clear sense of what it is at which I am driving. For if an archer takes no aim, he may pull his bow with all his might, but he certainly is not likely to succeed. I must direct my prayer unto God as David says--pull my bow, direct the arrow, take aim at the center of the target--and then when the arrow flies it is likely to reach its place. "In the morning will I direct my prayer unto You and will look up." What a mercy it is that our cries have a voice with God! Why sometimes, when our cries have no voice for us, they have a voice with God. "The Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." When my desires are such that there are no words in any human language which could possibly express them, my heart does but let fall a tear, or lift a glance to Heaven and there is a voice in my cry. "Lord, take the meaning, take the meaning," said a poor man in an earnest prayer, to which I remember to have once listened--"I cannot tell You, Lord, what I want, but take the meaning, take the meaning of my poor stammering words." There is a voice in our prayers as a Church and I think it is, "Father, have mercy upon souls! Father, arise and let Your kingdom come, and let the name of Your Son Jesus be honored in the hearts of many! Father, let the Spirit who dwells in His Church, now work mightily and get to Your name great renown in the midst of the dense crowd among whom we dwell." O God, this is the voice of the cry of Your people! Further, study the matter of the voice--it was, "for them that dwell in a far country." In what a far country does every sinner dwell! "He took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living." The sinner who is nearest to God is still in a far country. You moralists, how far off you are from God! Dear Mr. Offord said the other night, "Can any of you tell how far off God is from the unpardoned sinner? Remember, you are on this side of sin and God is on the other side of it--but can anyone tell how far God is from the other side of sin! His pure and holy eyes cannot even look on it! Then how far must He be from it! You are just so far off from God as God is from sin, added to the breadth and length of sin itself. See your sin towering like a stupendous Alp! You cannot cross that barrier and God is far away on the other side of that mountain. This is your wretched position afar off from God." Now, the prayers, I hope, of God's people have been going up for all the far-off ones, that infinite mercy would make them near by the blood of Christ. There are certain special far-off ones whom we ought to mention in our prayers and whom we ought to labor after in our Christian efforts. Do not forget the harlot when you pray--illustrious trophies of Divine Grace have been snatched from the kennel and the pavement. Do not forget the poorest of the poor, the vilest of the vile--and those who dwell in haunts where theft, ignorance and crime do fester. Pray for these most. They most need your entreaties--and let your prayer be a cry--a cry like that of Jesus when He wept over Jerusalem. It would be one of the healthiest things in all the world for you Christian people, if you were to spend a day with City Missionaries and Bible Women in the very worst of our back slums. If your cry did not come up, then, for those who dwell in a far country, I despair of your knowing what true religion means! The fact is we do not face the sin of London. We, like the ostrich, bury our heads and shut our eyes so as to avoid seeing the evil. We can so easily get to our places of worship along the front streets in which there is a fringe of respectability and order and so on, that we forget the dark lanes, the blind alleys, the dingy courts, the places where poverty, suffering, sin and ignorance abound. O dear Friends, if we do not go further, if we do not think of foreign lands, we have still reason enough for putting up the voice of our cry for those who are, "in a far country," and yet dwell at home in England! Still, I must have you remark another word in the text--for, "those that dwell in a far country"--there are some of you who make a long abode in a far country. You were afar off from God eleven years ago. I preached at you then. You were afar off from God five or six years ago, when revivals were frequent. When this Tabernacle was opened you came here and took your seat and you were afar off from God then--and you are afar off now. The fact is, you have taken up your dwellings--you have made a settlement in one of the parishes of the City of Destruction! You are making out a claim to be enrolled in the devil's register. You dwell in the far-off land. If you were uneasy and felt yourselves to be strangers and foreigners in the land of destruction, how would I clap my hands for joy, for you would soon be rid of your old master if you once felt sick of him. But no! You dwell in that country and I suppose some of you always will, till you are taken from it to make your lodging place in the flames of Hell forever! O, may God prevent it! But I fear it of some of you. There are some who listen to my words who are made to feel under them. I heard but the other day of one who was set a trembling and shivering under the Gospel. He could not but come and hear though it was always like a great hammer to him. His friends and companions, by much persevering effort, laughed him out of coming here. They could not bear that he should come to hear the despised preacher. Though he had been a dreadful drunkard and swearer before and was then sober, yet they preferred his drunkenness to his coming here! Bitterly have they had to regret it--for he went back to his sins and became as gross a sinner as before. And then when he was killing himself with sin, they began to wish him to come here again--but it was too late--he would not come again. Perhaps he dared not. A dreadful remorse settled upon him and under its influence he put an end to his own existence. Take care, any of you who hate the Gospel, that you do not laugh at other men's convictions. And when the Gospel does come home with power to any, do not be the devil's advocate and stand up and plead against God. God forgive those who do this and may none of us be guilty of it! But oh, you dwell in this far country, some of you. You are in a state of danger and condemnation. It was only the other night, when we met at St. John's Wood, that a man came into the vestry made broken-hearted through the address of the evening. My dear Brother Stott soon had him on his knees and began to pray with him. And to my grief this man said he used to hear me at Exeter Hall and was much better in his outward life. While hearing me he thought of religion and lived soberly--but the Tabernacle was too far for him to come to and he would not go anywhere else--and therefore he went back to the world and what seemed to be like a work of Divine Grace proved to be only a work of nature. Let us be anxious concerning those who dwell in the far country and are only, for a time, as it were, taken out as on an excursion into the land of light. They still have their parish settlement in the far country and are numbered among the citizens of the City of Destruction and are not among the people of God. O, for a cry this morning, another cry from God's people for those who dwell in a far country! One very consoling thought is in the text. I must only hint at it. The cry is, "The cry of the daughter of My people." O beloved, it is so sweet to think that our prayers, poor as they are, are the prayers of God's own people, and therefore they must be heard. You will say, "Is that a right argument?" Oh, yes it is! "If you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children." Remember that is how Christ puts it. You are the Lord's children, therefore He will hear you. If you were strangers it might be a different thing. Our prayers might very readily be pulled to pieces by critics, but our Father will not criticize them because they are the cries of His own children. I do not think we set such store by Believer's prayers as we ought to do. Would you let your child constantly cry to you and not answer him? I know you would not. Put it differently--would you let your Brother in Christ plead with you and not grant him his desire if you could grant it? You have not a Christian's heart if you would. Or I will touch you more closely. We love our wives--if your wife should ask for anything that would be for her good and you could give it, would you refuse it? Husband, would you refuse it? You are no husband if you did! Look at Christ, the Husband of the Church--do you think He will refuse the cry of His own spouse? What? Shall His own dear bride come before Him and embrace His feet and say, "I will not let You go except You bless me"--and shall He who has espoused her unto Himself in faithfulness, say to her, "I have bid you seek Me, but I will not be found of you. I have commanded you to knock, but the door shall not be opened. I have told you to ask, but you shall not receive"? O, slander not my loving Lord like this-- "He feels at His heart all our sighs and our groans, For we are most near Him, His flesh and His bones." Let us rejoice together in the spirit of prayer which God has given us. Let us try to foster it. Let us be much in the exercise of it. During the coming week let us still continue to meet together to intercede at the Throne of Grace. And this is my reason for urging it upon you--God has promised that when we cry, He will hear us--"He shall call upon Me and I will answer him." "Whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you." "With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation." II. We will now turn to the QUESTION--"Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her?" I will answer that question at once in the affirmative. "The Lord is in Zion. Her king is in the midst of her." Having answered this question, it suggests many more. Let me put them to you. If the Lord is, indeed, in Zion and the king is in the midst of her, why do we pray as if He were not? I find no fault with the prayers of my Brothers and Sisters when they ask for an outpouring of the Spirit--what they mean by their prayers is a very proper thing. But I am not certain that the expression is altogether the best that might be used. The Spirit of God is with His people. I could not, last Monday night, ask to have the Spirit of God poured out, for He was there. If at any time the Holy Spirit was with any men on earth, even at Pentecost, He was here last Monday night, as those present must have felt. We had not so much to ask for it as to be thankful for it. When two or three of you meet together in Christ's name, do not meet unbelievingly. Remember that He has said, "There am I in the midst of you." Be content with that assurance. You have not, as it were, to mount up to Heaven, that is, to bring Christ down--nor to descend into the earth, that is, to bring Him up from the depths--He is with you! "Know you not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit?" "God dwells in you." The Holy Spirit is given to the Church as a perpetual and abiding Comforter. And in the Church the Spirit of God always dwells. Do not pray, therefore, dear friends, as if God were not with you. "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?" Do not pray, therefore, like the priests of Baal, as though your God were on a journey or needed to be awakened out of sleep. He is with you, ready to answer by fire, if, like Elijah, you have but faith with which to challenge His promise and His power. Is the Lord with you? Then in the next place, let me ask you this question. Why do you despond because of your own weakness? "We have not a sufficient number of ministers. We have little wealth. We have few places of public worship. We have few gifted members," and so on. So some unbelievingly talk. "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?" What more do you want? "Oh, we would like to be strong." Why would you be strong? That you must be disqualified to be used by God? "No," you say. Well, but you would be! What did the Lord say by the mouth of His servant Gideon? "The people are too many for Me." I never heard that the Lord said, "The people are too few"--never! "The people are too many." If Samson had the choice of weapons with which to rout his enemies--if he wished to do it in such a way as to make the feat illustrious, if there were before him a cannon, a fifty-pounder and the jawbone of an ass--which would he take? Why, any fool can kill the enemy with a cannon, but it takes a Samson to smite them with the jawbone of an ass! And so, when God has the choice of weapons and He always has, He chooses the weaker weapon that He may get for Himself the greater renown. My Brothers and Sisters, glory in your infirmities--thank God for your weaknesses! There is room for God when you are empty! But when you are so full and so strong and have such excellent machinery and can do the work so well, why then you will attempt to do without your God and a failure will be the result. But, O Beloved-- "When I am weak, then am I strong, Grace is my shield and Christ my song." Let this silence forever all your raving about weakness in Christian duty! "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?" Did I hear you say, "I am a feeble woman and I have too much work to do for God. I had better, perhaps, curtail it, or give it up"? My Sister, now that you are weaker, try to do more! Now there is more room for your God. "Oh, I am a trembling, humble, unknown man with but little talent and what I have done has been about as much as I can do--I am afraid to venture more." My Brother, venture more! Get onto the ground of, "I cannot, but God can." That is safe ground. "I can" is like the ice on which the boy tries to slide and it swallows him up. "I cannot, but God can," is terra firma--stand there and you stand safely. There can never come a shock to the man who rests on the Eternal Rock--God all-sufficient. Rest on that and be glad. Again, this question provokes another one. If God IS with us, why these great fears about the prosperity of the Church? "Dr. Colenso becomes an Infidel. Stanley becomes something very suspicious. Multitudes of ministers, so called, become Puseyites--what will become of the Church of Christ?" What will become of her? She will nestle where she always did nestle--beneath the eternal wings! And the more she gets rid of all her carnal confidences the better for her! "Oh what will become of true religion?" Beloved, become of true religion? It will go on winning and conquering, and with Christ upon the white horse of victory, riding in her forefront, the Truth of God shall march on conquering and to conquer till He shall come whose right it is to reign. Be not discouraged, "Is not her King in the midst of her?" Every now and then, when we try a new scheme, certain prudent Brethren come and pull our ears a bit and they say, "It is more than you can do. You must be prudent." Yes, we are prudent. We claim to be prudent. We claim to have the highest prudence. For we reckon it always prudent to believe God and always prudent to act upon God's promise and not according to carnal policy, nor the judgments of our proud, self-conceited, ignorant flesh. Brethren, if the King is in the midst of her, let us go on and conquer! You think you will never see such days as Pentecost? Why not? "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?" You fear you will never see such wonders as were worked by Whitfield and Wesley? "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in her?" You fancy that Ireland will never receive the Gospel? You think that heathen nations will never lay aside their idolatry? "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?" You conceive that this is not the age of miracles and you condemn us to go on in the everlasting jog-trot of propriety, in the do-nothing style of prescription, keeping in the perpetual cart-rut of conventionality and never daring to blaze out a path for ourselves? "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?" You do not believe there will be a thousand souls converted under one sermon? You do not think it is likely that the Church will be increased by hundreds in a day, or in a month? "Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her King in the midst of her?" Dear brethren, the God of Zion is here! The King of Zion is here! I grant you, we do not sufficiently recognize His Presence. We are not, as we should be, obedient to His commands. But I charge you, O you soldiers of the Cross, believe in the Presence of your Captain and press where you see His helmet amidst the din of war! His Cross is the great emblazoned banner which leads you on to Glory. Press forward to suffer, to deny yourselves, to bear witness for Christ--the battle is the Lord's and the King Himself fights in the van. "Her King is in the midst of her." I want to see you trying deeds of daring! Noble deeds of consecration, generous gifts of liberality! I want you to be more earnest in prayer, more incessant in supplication--but, at the same time--more venturesome in your actions, more daring in your devotedness to Christ. The King is in the midst of her! The Lord is in Zion still! Sinner, I must leave this point, but there is one word of encouragement for you-- "Jesussits on Zion's hill, He receives poor sinners still." He is in Zion, not on Sinai. Come to Him just as you are! Come to Him for He is ready to accept you. The King with the silver scepter in His hand holds it out to every broken-hearted sinner. Come and touch it--He will give you perfect pardon in an instant, if your soul does but touch the silver scepter of His Grace presented to you in Christ Jesus. III. Time, however, will not stop for me and therefore let us go on to the third point. That is, ANOTHER QUESTION. "Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities?" Here is a question for the Lord's people. It becomes a very solemn thing when God is in His Church how that Church behaves herself. Suppose that Church to set up false principles--if her King were not there she might take the kings of the earth to be her head. But dare she do that when her King Himself is there? She might begin to lean upon the civil arm if her God were not in her! But if her God is in her--will she venture to do that in the face of the Presence of God? Will she build up with untempered mortar the walls of human confidence and rest upon an arm of flesh when Jehovah is looking on? In the matter of Gospel ordinances it is a very important thing that we keep these ordinances as they were delivered. If the King were not in Zion it would not matter whether I practiced Believers' Baptism or unbelievers' Baptism! But if He has commanded Believers' Baptism how dare I baptize unbelievers in the Presence of the King in Zion? How dare I profane His own ordinance to what it was never intended? It therefore becomes a solemn question. If the King is in Zion, I must mind what doctrines I preach. The king is there to hear me. God is there to observe me. If God is in Zion, again, we must take care no wrong principles are let in. What? Shall I allow the King's enemies to eat and drink before the King's own Throne? Shall I wait upon the King's foes and treat them as my friends when He is looking upon me with eyes of love? Let me take heed lest I prove a hypocrite and receive anger instead of love! Certainly He will look upon my sins with increased wrath if I indulge them in His Presence. Is God in Zion? Beloved Christian Brothers and Sisters, how dare you set up that idol in your heart? Is it your child? Your spouse? What is it? Can you worship idols when the King is in Zion--when God is in the midst of her? My dear Friend, how can you be so worldly, so money-grasping? How is it that you can make wealth the main object of your life when the King is in Zion? If He did not know about your worldliness. If He did not know about your coldness of heart. If He did not mark your inconsistency--if He could not see you in the path of sin--then I might not plead with you! But. O Christian men and women, when God is present, how careful should we be! And He is present in His Church! Judas, where are you this morning? The Lord Jehovah is here in Zion! He has come to search Jerusalem with candles and to punish the men who are settled upon their lees! What will He do with you? You think it a good thing to have God in Zion, but you have desired in this, as far as you are concerned, a day of darkness and not of light--for when He comes, He shall be as a consuming fire and as fullers' soap! The Lord's special Presence in His Church always involves a season of purification. A Church may go on with dead members for twenty years, but when the Lord comes, as soon as the wind sweeps through the forest, the dead branches crack and fall from the tree. A visitation from God to this Church will try you--it is all a blessing, but partly a trial. I believe that in every society and every Church where the Presence of God comes, instead of the dead calm which they formerly enjoyed, there usually comes some outbreak on the part of the flesh against the powers or the Spirit. And they are discovered to be hypocrites who otherwise might have gone on the whole of their lives with their vain profession--boasting in what they did not possess. Well, we must prepare for this ordeal. If God is in Zion, let us not provoke Him to anger with our idolatry, nor with our strange vanities. Let us purge and humble ourselves before Him! But this text has a particular voice to sinners. I want you to listen to me, you who are unconverted, while I just read this text slowly. You have been saying, "God is in the midst of His people--how is it I have not had a blessing?" I will ask you this question, "Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities?" I will turn that enquiry into English--it is in Hebrew now--"Why have you provoked Me to anger with your drunkenness and with your mixing with vain companions? Do not ask why I have not called you by My Divine Grace--do not ask why you are not among the people of God. Answer My question--Why have you provoked Me to anger by indulging the lusts of the flesh--by leaving the paths of chastity and virtue--when you knew the right and chose the wrong? "Do not ask why the Word is not blessed to you! Do not ask why you do not enjoy the Prayer Meeting--answer My question first. Why have you provoked Me to anger with your tricks in trade, with your Sabbath-breaking, with your lying, with your loose songs, with your mixing up with worldly company, with your profanity? Do not ask Me why the holy dew has not dropped on you! Do not ask Me why the Holy Spirit has not come to quicken you, but answer this, 'Why have you provoked Me to anger with your sins?' " Why, some of you have provoked God to anger these twenty or thirty years! I hear of you every now and then. You love me, I know you do and you dare not leave my ministry! You cannot leave it though it is often a heart-searching ministry to you. God make it more so! But every now and then there comes an outbreak with you undecided ones. You must have the drink again, or you must go forth to lechery or sin. So it is with you--you would be saved, but you must be damned! You would have Christ, but you must have your sins! You would like to go to Heaven, but you want to taste the sweets of damnation's dainties on the road! How is it you will be such fools as to keep your filthy idols? My God, take the hammer and break their idols! O my God, be the great Iconoclast and dash down the altars of their lusts and clear a temple for Yourself! You say, "Amen," to that--I hope you do. Then God hear your cry this morning! Through the eternal Savior who drove the buyers and the sellers out of the temple with a scourge of small cords and overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold doves and said, "Take these things away"--this day may He come into your heart and overturn your sins! And may He say, "Take these things away--I have bought that man with blood! I have loved him with an everlasting love! I have brought him under the sound of the ministry! I purpose to bring him to Myself! I have ordained him to wear a crown and wave a palm and be wrapped about with the fair white linen of the righteousness of saints! He shall be Mine when I make up My jewels. Out with you, intruders! Away, you devils! Away, you lusts! You may be called Legion, but I, Jehovah-Jesus, cast you out, for this man is Mine." Lord, do it! Do it this morning! The voice of the cry of Your people comes up for those who are afar off, that their vanities may be given up and their sins may be dashed in pieces--that they may be Yours forever and ever. IV. The last point is, ANOTHER CRY. I wish I might hear this cry this morning, for then I should not hear it in the world to come, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved." I have been talking to you. Now I want you to talk for yourselves in your heart to God. There came a harvest of souls to this Church, by His Grace, from the very day when first we began to preach the Gospel here. And we have gathered such numbers into the Church as probably never were received into any one Church in Europe in any age at one time except in the days of the Apostles. That harvest is only past so far as the blessing which we have received has been received--for the harvest still continues in all its fullness. But, ah, the harvest has missed jou! Some of you have had to move away, or the Word ceases to be a blessing to you as it once was. This voice has grown stale to you, has no trumpet-ringing clang about it as it once had-- "The harvest is past." Very blessed times have passed over this Church. We have had a summer--oh, what Divine warmth has been felt! The sun has shone strong in upon us and every plant has breathed forth its perfume--every plant that the Lord has planted. But many a Monday night--many a Prayer Meeting night has gone--the summer has ended and you are not saved! You are not saved! Do you remember, some of you, that sermon in the Music Hall, from the text, "Compel them to come in"? Then we had a harvest and then we had a summer--but you were not compelled to come in. You were not saved! You remember some Monday nights when we have been bowed down and broken in heart before God in prayer? We have then had harvests and summers--but you are not saved! And now, last Monday night what a visitation we had! What a harvest! What a summer! But you are not saved! I wish you would put up that cry, "Now, Lord, I am not saved! Lord I am not saved! I am not saved from my hard heart! I am not saved from my love of sin! I am not saved from the guilt of sin! I am without God, without Christ and a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel! I am not saved!" There are some of you I could speak to very specifically--we pray for you--but you are not saved! You have a brother who prays for you, a sister who prays for you, a father and mother who have prayed for you--but still you are not saved! Husband! You have a wife who never ceases to intercede for you--but you are not saved! We thought you would have been converted long ago! There have been many hopeful signs about you, but you have disappointed us--you are not saved! Take heed, take heed! There may be more in the words that I now speak than if they were my words, for, to this day, God sometimes speaks to men prophetically by His truly sent ministers. The day is near with some of you, if you do not repent, when, tossing upon the bed of sickness you will have to cry in the sight of the approach of death, "the harvest is past, the summer is ended and I am not saved!" You will look back upon these Sunday gatherings with a very different eye from that with which you look upon them now. You will remember your Gospel privileges and value them very differently from what you do now. When you seem to hear the tolling of your own death knell, then you will value the Sunday chime! And take heed yet a little further! There will come a day when you will lift up your eyes in Hell, some of you, being in torments--and then, as you look up and see the people of God glorified at God's right hand--you will have to say, "The harvest is past, and the summer is ended and I am not saved!" And let me tell you, those words will ring very differently then from what they do now, when you have-- "To linger in eternal pain, yet death forever fly," to have to say, "I am not saved," will be dreadful. Then the Lord will come. We are looking for His coming. And when He comes His people shall reign with Him. They shall rise from the dead in triumph. And when their days of earthly reign shall be over the great archangel shall sound the trumpet for the second resurrection--and when you wake up and find that the righteous have all risen before you and have received their crowns and their rewards--then, as you see the harvest of God borne by the angelic reapers up to the sky--as you see the brightness of the Glory of the new Jerusalem taken up into the clouds to be withdrawn from the place where men shall stand to be judged, you will say, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved!" Oh, then you will cry, "Rocks, hide us! Mountains, fall upon us! We are not saved!" Those mountains shall have no ears for you--those rocks shall have no heart of compassion for you--there shall only be a dread reverberation of your awful cry, "We are not saved! We are not saved!" And when Hell opens wide her jaws and her tongue of fire shall lick up the ungodly, then, "We are not saved! We are not saved! We are not saved!" will be in dolorous contrast to that ever-swelling, ever-increasing song, "We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!" Shall it be "Hallelujah," Sinner, or shall it be, "We are not saved"? May God's eternal Grace work in you to will and to do of His own good pleasure and so make you to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And then may the question be decided and may you not have to say forever, "We are not saved." May God bless these words for Christ Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Knowledge Commended DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 15, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "But the people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many." Daniel 11:32,33. THE uninspired book of the Maccabees is perhaps the best interpreter of this passage in Daniel. The Prophet, we think, refers to the great persecution under Antiochus, when the followers of Judas Maccabees, knowing their God and keeping close to Him amidst general defection, refused to bow before the idols of Syria. These were strong, by God's Divine Grace, and did great exploits--wonders of valor we read of in the history of Judas and his brethren, and wonders of heroic suffering never surpassed are recounted of the mother and sons and those other martyrs who, under tortures of the most amazing kind, held fast their faith even to the end. In that age there were some who were stoned, who were sawn asunder, who felt the violence of fire and yet were not separated from their God by all that the foe could do. We have a lesson to learn from the text before us, and we therefore leave the historical references and proceed to enter into the teaching of the text. It appears that the people who did all this were a knowing people and an understanding people. Those by whom the exploits were performed were not ignorant, but a people who knew their God. Those who helped to keep up the light of Israel in the midst of the thick darkness were not uninstructed, but were a people who understood. Our subject this morning is knowledge, and especially the knowledge of the things of God. The matter is very urgent and important at this season when we are receiving so many young converts into the Church--many of whom need much teaching in the things of God. It lies heavily on my heart that it is my bounden duty to urge these young ones, since they know the elements of the Christian faith, to strive with diligence to learn more and more of the higher Truths of God. And if they have received some insight into the wondrous revelation of Divine love, I must urge them to press forward till they comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. The question is often put to us in a very general and vague manner, "Is knowledge a good thing or not?" We are expected to give an answer promptly and without reserve. And if we do so we shall very likely be caught in a trap. "Knowledge--is it a good thing in itself or not?" That depends upon several things. You might as well ask me whether air is a good thing. Why, of course, speaking loosely, it is! But then there is much bad air in old wells and cellars and so on, which will destroy life--and therefore you cannot expect me to say at once, if I know you are trying to trick me--either "Yes," or "No." Air is a good thing as a general rule of thumb. The lungs require it, man must have it--it is a good thing. So is knowledge. Knowledge heaves the intellectual lungs--it is a good thing. But then there is noxious knowledge, which it were infinitely better for us never to receive, just as there is pestilential air. Is food a good thing? Yes. But if you are alluding to the decayed meat which was seized in the market, or to adulterated drinks, I am not in such a hurry to answer you. I want to know what sort of food you are alluding to. Food, in the abstract, is a good thing, but not food univer-sally--for putrid meats will engender disease and bring on ten thousand maladies and destroy the life which food is meant to sustain. So is it with knowledge. It is the food of the mind. And yet there is a knowledge which is deadly, poisonous, infectious, full of all manner of mischief and they who know nothing of it are wise. Is water a good thing? Again I answer, "Yes," in the abstract. So many watery particles are absolutely necessary to the building up and sustenance of the human frame that every thirsty man knows that water is good. Yet there is bad water. There have been poisoned wells--water stagnates and becomes putrid and injurious to life--water is good taken abstractedly. And there is a knowledge which, like stagnant or poisoned water, may destroy the soul. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood in Paradise-- mark that--but it ruined Paradise, mark that, too! A man may know much and he may still stand in his integrity--but the chances are that while men are what they are, there will be a serpent in the tree of knowledge, seeking the ruin of souls. If you want to judge concerning the good or evil of knowledge, you must ask yourself, What is its source? To have one's lips touched with a live coal is a choice blessing if the seraph brings that coal from off the altar of God. But there are tongues which are set on fire in Hell--and who desires to feel such accursed flame? You must know from where the coal comes before you may consent that it shall touch your lips. Knowledge may be tested by considering its character. Some knowledge is like the light of the moon--clear, cold, barren, if not injurious to health. But heavenly knowledge is fructifying, healthful and genial, chasing away disease like the warm rays of the sun. You may make knowledge good or evil by the way in which you use it. If it is a torch, you may carry it with you to kindle the flame of Tophet's fire, or, on the other hand, by that Heaven-lit torch you may, through Divine Grace, find your way to the gates of Paradise! Judge knowledge, therefore, with discretion and while you seek it as in the abstract an eminently good thing, yet be not in haste to plunge yourself into every abyss to find its bottom, nor into every burning crater to fathom its depth. I know enough of poison without drinking it and enough of sin without running into it. This much by way of introduction--we come now to the text. Here we have knowledge of a peculiar kind referred to. Then its happy influence--it makes men strong to do great exploits. Next, we shall consider the means of its attainment. Fourthly, just a hint as to its danger. And fifthly, the duty of spreading it, contained in the thirty-third verse, "They that understand among the people shall instruct many." I. First, then, there is A SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE REFERRED TO--"The people that know their God." To know God is the highest and best form of knowledge. But what can we know of God? Nothing but what He has been pleased to reveal to us. He has revealed something of Himself in the Book of Nature and muck more in the Book of Revelation. And He has been pleased to cast a vivid light upon the Book of Revelation by manifesting Himself unto His people as He does not unto the world. Those who know the Lord should believe in the unity of His Essence and Subsistence. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." There should be no mistaken notions here--the unity of the Godhead is fundamental and mistakes here are fatal. We should know the Lord in the plurality of His Persons. God said, "Let Us make man in our own image." Let not man be content until he knows something of the "Us" from whom his being was derived. Endeavor to know the Father. Bury your head in His bosom in deep repentance and confess that you are not worthy to be called His son. Receive the kiss of His love. Let the ring which is the token of His eternal faithfulness be on your finger. Sit at His table and let your heart make merry in His Grace. Seek to know much of the Son of God who is the brightness of His Father's Glory and the express image of His Person and yet in unspeakable condescension of Grace became Man for our sakes. Know Him in the singular complexity of His Nature--eternal God and yet suffering, finite Man. Follow Him as He walks the waters with the tread of Deity and as He sits upon the well in the weariness of humanity. Be not satisfied unless you know something of Jesus Christ as your Friend, your Brother, your Husband, your All. Forget not the Holy Spirit--endeavor to get as clear a view as you can of His Nature and Character, His attributes and His works. Behold that Spirit of the Lord who first of all moved upon chaos and brought forth order--who now visits the chaos of your soul and makes order there. Behold Him as the Lord and giver of spiritual life, the Illuminator, the Instructor, the Comforter and the Sanctifier. Behold Him as, like holy unction, He descends upon the head of Jesus and then afterwards rests upon you who are as the skirts of His garments. Get a clear idea, then, of the Trinity in Unity. Do not reason about it. Do not try to understand it--remember, it is not your duty to comprehend, but to apprehend such Truths of God as these--you are to believe, rather than to reason. One God in the Trinity of His Persons. Let us know Him and worship Him. Remember that those who do not now this, very seldom know much else about Divine things. It is a very remarkable fact that when the doctrine of the Trinity is given up, the other doctrines of the evangelical system are pretty sure to be cast to the winds. This doctrine of the Trinity in Unity seems to be the place of standing or falling with public teachers and private Believers. Let us study to be well instructed in the Divine attributes and ask for Grace to know them all. Be not like those who dream of a God who is all love, and nothing else. These persons talk in maudlin sentences, as if they believed in an effeminate God who winks at sin and is utterly destitute of one single atom of integrity or holiness. Believe God to be what He most certainly is--a God terrible as well as benevolent who will by no means spare the guilty--and yet passes by transgression, iniquity and sin. See God in the suffering body and soul of Christ Jesus upon Calvary and you will understand how He is severely just in punishing sin in Him upon whom sin was made to meet and yet supremely gracious in providing such a way of escape for guilty souls! Do not be content with a maimed and distorted view of God's attributes! Feel Him to be Omnipresent--let it be your delight to know that you have not to call upon Him as one who is afar off, but ever near at hand. Recognize Him as Omnipotent--know that there is nothing which He cannot do and therefore doubt Him not. Forget not His absolute Sovereignty, but meekly submit to it. The failure of many men in their ideas about God is that they imagine Him to be subject to Law instead of being the Source and Fountain of all Law. They arraign His actions at their bar and forget His terrible reply! "No but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?" They have not heard the solemn voice, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Although to perfection you cannot find out God, yet do not worship Him as did the Athenians under the title of "The Unknown God." Endeavor to understand how Love unbounded meets with Justice unlimited and Sovereignty without control--how "holiness becomes His house," and yet how tender-hearted affection towards His creatures ever dwells in Him. Do not worship ignorantly! Whatever else you do not know, do know the Character of your God. "They that know Your name will put their trust in You." Then labor to know God in His actions. Study well the past. Do not be ignorant of the great work of creation! If you have the skill, look at that creation in the light of modern science so far as that light is really derived from facts and not from conjectures. Pry into God's great works in Providence--begin your pilgrimage of study at the gates of Eden and travel onward to the present time. Float safely in your meditations with Noah in the ark! Study the wonderful justice of God in thus sweeping away the race of men. I have not time to linger on any one particular spot this morning--if I might, I should have selected the Red Sea. Remember what Jehovah did at the Red Sea and by the brooks of Arnon! Tell how He made bare His arm and swept away His foes! Take Miriam's timbrel and sing unto the Lord who triumphed gloriously! Or, if that contents you not, remember Og and Sihon, or exult over Sisera in Deborah's song--"Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak and lead your captivity captive, you son of Abinoam." Think of the deeds of God in later times when He smote Sennacherib and laid His hosts dead at midnight. Tell how He brought forth his People from the land of captivity with rejoicing and built up the walls of Jerusalem once more. Let, especially, the actions of God concerning Christ be very dear to you. Fly back to the eternal Council--you will not be intruding if your faith can enter that great council chamber of eternity. Think of the Covenant, the Suretyship, the provision, the Almighty decree! See Jesus Christ coming forth from the bosom of the Father, amid the song of angels, to hang upon a woman's breast. Trace the history of your Incarnate God--make the life of Christ be with you a household study--know every corner of it. Never let a question be asked of the youngest of you, concerning the life of Jesus, which you cannot answer! The rhetorician studies the classics. The old Roman orators were familiar with Demosthenes and the Greek poets-- so let the Christian make the life of Jesus his first study and with every single passage in it let him be familiar. Know the Savior from the weakness of the cradle to the triumph of His ascension, when, leading captivity captive, He mounted the Father's Throne to reign forever. If you have mastered all this, seek to know something of the teaching of the Spirit of God concerning the plan of salvation. Do not be content to be saved in the dark--try to find out how it is that you are saved. You are on a Rock--but look at the Rock and understand why it is a Rock and how you came to be standing on it. I believe that very much of current Arminianism is simply ignorance of Gospel doctrine. And if people began to study their Bibles and to take the Word of God as they find it, they must inevitably, if Believers, rise up to rejoice in the Doctrines of Grace. Bolingbroke was far gone in infidelity and yet when he met Mr. Whitfield one morning, he said to him, "Sir, if the Bible is true, Calvinistic doctrines such as you preach are most certainly taught in it. And though I neither receive the Bible nor Calvinistic doctrines--if you want to have these doctrines proved from the Bible at any time-- my pen is very much at your service. I am persuaded it is so." Dear Friends, I would not have you merely unite with the Christian Church and say, "Yes, I believe in Christ," but I want you--and here I speak to you who are lately added to the Church--I want you to know where this great scheme began! I want you to know how it is that the blood of Christ takes away sins. To know the fact is very precious, but to understand the reason of that fact is so comforting, so establishing, so every way to be desired that I would have you study much the Word of God till you get a clear view of the whole scheme. I want you to understand the reasons from election onward to final perseverance and from final perseverance to the second advent--the resurrection and the glories which shall follow--world without end! I have thus brought out what I think is the idea of the text about the people knowing their God. But we must not overlook that little word "their"--"They that know their God." It is not, "they that know God," but, "their God." To know anything of Him aright, you must get a firm hold of God--He must be your God. "There is no praying," said one old man who used to be much in prayer, "till you come to a close grip." There must be a blessed familiarity with God! You must know Him to be yours because He gave Himself to you in the Eternal Covenant--yours because He has promised Himself to you in His Word--yours because you take Him by an act of simple faith. You must know He is yours because you, every day, put yourself beneath His guidance and desire to be a soldier under His command. Yours to have and to hold through life, in death and in eternity, because He has laid hold of you and will hold you even to the end. "The people that know their God." Ah, that is one of the choicest things a human tongue can ever say, "My God! My God!" Ah, Thomas, you learned a great lesson when, with your hand in Jesus' side you could say not only, "Lord, God," but "My Lord and my God!" O, may you all be among the people who know their God! II. THE HAPPY INFLUENCE OF THIS KIND OF KNOWLEDGE next requires our notice. The text shows that it strengthens, gives courage, energy, vigor, resolution, daring, success. They who know their God are strong and do exploits. The Romish church thinks a great deal of implicit faith--of the faith which cannot apprehend what it believes. Now we agree with Romanists in this--that we are to believe what we cannot comprehend--but we do not agree with them in the other--that we are to believe what we cannot apprehend. You remember the faith of the coal miner? "What do you believe?" "I believe what the church believes." "But what does the church believe?" "Oh, the church believes as I believe." "Well, but what do you and the church believe?" "Why, we both believe the same thing." Now Romanists may set great store by that kind of faith and they go the right way to induce it very often by denying the Bible to the common people or by neglecting education so that the masses are unable to read the Word when they can get it. If you say, "You believe as I believe and I believe as you believe and we both believe the same thing," I tell you that you are no credit to your teacher, and the sooner you give up your faith the better! A man cannot believe what he does not apprehend. He may say, "I am prepared to believe it when I do apprehend it," but as to believing what he has never been told, it is quite impossible. If there are any dogmas of Mother Church which I have not heard of, I do not believe them and if I stand up and say I do, I am talking nonsense! If I say I am prepared to believe when I shall have been told, that may be--but I cannot already believe them--for belief must be parallel with apprehension! A man must apprehend a thing or he cannot believe it. Knowledge strengthens the spiritual man because, in the first place, it is that on which faith has to feed. Where there is faith, knowledge is a great gain. This will be clear to all of you who read attentively your Bible, because the words, "to know," and, "to believe," are frequently used in Scripture almost synonymously. If you turn to the tenth chapter of St. John's Gospel you will find at the thirty-eighth verse that the Savior said, "But if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in Him." And then in the first Epistle of St. John, in the second chapter, at the third verse, we have an expression which is tantamount to the one I have already referred to. "And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments." We are sure of our faith and of our knowledge by walking in obedience to Him. The source from which Christian faith comes proves the importance of knowledge. How does faith come to the Christian? By sitting still and looking at fifty or a hundred wax candles? By admiringly gazing upon a impassive Madonna at the corner of the street? By hearing language which I cannot comprehend repeated by men in a peculiar dress? Never, according to Scripture! How then? "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." There is the whole history of faith--the Word of God gives the teaching which blesses us with knowledge and then comes faith. The sight of the eye, religious awe, impressions of dread, emotions of wonder--these do not give faith--but hearing something which I can apprehend is the means of my believing! Believers are constantly spoken of in the Scriptures as being people who are enlightened and taught of the Lord. They are said to "have an unction from the Holy One," and it is the Spirit's peculiar office to lead them into all Truths of God and all this for the increase and the fostering of their faith. They are not kept in darkness that they may believe, but put into the light that they may believe! Here is the difference between the religion of Christ and the religion of antichrist. Moreover, there is provided in the Church of God an agency which proves that knowledge is to be the food of faith. To what end is the ministry ordained but this--"For the edification of the saints." Are we not called teachers? That preacher who does nothing but excite the people--who teaches nothing and declares no definite doctrine--had better lay aside his office and take to some honest employment where he may do no more mischief. Teaching is what we need--a true minister is a teacher to his people, a steward of God bringing forth things, "both new and old." You see, then, that if knowledge is under God the Holy Spirit, truly the food of faith, then in order to be strong--since faith is the very sinew of human strength--we must get much knowledge of the things of God. The people who know their God shall be strong in faith and shall do great exploits. Think again, dear Friends, of the influence of faith upon all the other Graces of God. Love is the sweetest of all-- but how can I love till knowledge gives me a view of Christ? Knowledge opens the door and then through that door I see my Savior. Or I may use another expression--knowledge takes the portrait of Christ and when I see that portrait, then I love Him. I cannot love a Christ I do not know, at least, in some degree! And if I know nothing about the excellencies of Christ--what He has done for me and what He is doing now--I cannot love Him! In Christ's case to know is to love and the more I know the more I shall love. Look at hope again. How can I hope for a thing if I do not know of its existence? Hope may be the telescope, but then. till I get knowledge of something in front of the glass, I can see nothing whatever. Knowledge takes away the impediment, and then when I look through the optic glass I can see the glory to be revealed. But I cannot hope for that of which I know nothing whatever! I must know there is a Heaven, or I cannot hope for it. Then, take patience. How shall I have patience unless I have heard, as James says, of the patience of Job? Unless I know something of the sympathy of Christ and understand the good which is to come out of the correction which my heavenly Father gives me? Knowledge gives me reasons for patience. I cannot stop on this point, but there is no one single grace of the Christian which, under God, will not be fostered and brought to perfection by holy knowledge. Knowledge becomes, then, of the highest importance. Again, from the connection of the text, it appears that many were led astray in the days of Antio-chus. "Such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that know their God shall be strong," and so on. It seems, then, that to know God is a means of steadfastness. Who are the people that are greatly troubled by new systems of philosophy and infidelity which are constantly springing up? Why, the people who do not know their God! Certain young folks say to me, "O Sir, I have read a new book--there is a great discovery made about development. Animals were not created separately, but grew out of one another by degrees of gradual improvement." Go and ask your grandmother about it! And what does she say as she takes off her spectacles? "Why," she says, "I was reading 'There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts.' " Say to her, "Do you not feel alarmed about your faith?" "No," she says, "if they were to discover fifty thousand things, it would not trouble me for, 'I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.' " You think she is a simpleton, perhaps--she might far more properly think you the same! Every now and then there comes up a heresy--some woman turns "prophetess" and raves! Or some lunatic gets the idea that God has inspired him and there are always fools ready to follow any impostor. Who are those that go after them? Those who do not know God! Those who do know Him, say-- "Should all the forms that men devise Assault my faith with treacherous art, I'd call them vanity and lies, And bind the Gospel to my heart." Brethren, if a truly godly minister has for six or seven years been teaching a people and he gives them the good, solid Truth of God and they receive it and understand it, I should not like to see the wolf come in! I do not believe he would do much mischief--for many strong men will be found to slay the intruder! But if there is a ministry which only consists of preaching up moral duties and creating the titillation of excitement, then, if the wolf comes, he may just glut himself with the blood of professors--for there is no strength in them to resist him! We want sound doctrine to give us stability. May God grant that we may be rooted and grounded in Christ, and that we may know the things which are revealed to us of God! Only once more and then we leave the second point. Knowledge will clearly be seen by you to be a great means for enabling you to do great exploits if you think of its bearing upon usefulness. A Christian without knowledge, for instance, is an admirable man in the holiness of his life. But to what other end, to what other purpose can you put him? He must not enter the pulpit--if he is already there, he had better retire. He must not be a Church officer. It would be foolish to choose the feeblest among us to be our leaders! He is scarcely of any use in the Sunday school class--he may manage to hear the children read and to wile away the time--but if he were a true Christian instructor, he would open up the Scriptures and explain them. Do not, any of you, feel grieved at what I am saying? I am speaking to those who have been lately converted! You are Believers--I am rejoicing in it--rejoicing that you are converted, however little your knowledge. But I want you to feel dissatisfied with your ignorance and to seek, in order to your usefulness, to know the ground and the reason for the things you believe and to understand, as far as you can, the deep things of God. Do not be content to be always chil-dren--you will never be men unless you are children first! Do not be content to be stunted in your understanding, but ask to grow in Divine Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for the sake of your own usefulness. III. We come, in the third place, TO NOTICE HOW THIS KNOWLEDGE MAY BE OBTAINED. Time has fled and therefore we will not enlarge, but just give the outline. Search the Scriptures! Do not merely read them--search them! Look at the parallel passages--collate them--try to get the meaning of the Spirit upon any one Truth by looking at all the texts which refer to it. Read the Bible consecutively--do not merely read a verse here and there--that is not fair. You would never know anything about John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress if you opened it every morning and read six lines in any part and then shut it up again--you must read it all through if you want to know anything about it. Get those books--say Mark or John. Read Mark right through from beginning to end. Do not stop with two or three verses, or a chapter--but try to know what Mark is aiming at. It is not fair to Paul to take his Epistle to the Romans and read one chapter--we are obliged to do it in public service--but if you want to get at Paul's meaning, read the whole Epistle through as you would another letter. Read the Bible in a common-sense way. Do not read it on your knees, as I have known some people do--it is an awkward posture--get into an easy chair and read it in comfort. Pray after you have read it as much as you like but do not make a penance of what ought to be a pleasure. And when you are reading it, if you come to a knotty point, do not skip it. You all have some Christian friend who knows more than you do--go to him and try to get the thing explained. Above all, when you have read any passage and understand it, act it out and ask the Spirit of God to burn the meaning into your conscience till it is written on the fleshy tables of your heart. Next, use good helps to your Bible. I do not know better helps for the common mass of people than, "The Confession of Faith," or the little Catechism. With the little Catechism and texts of Scripture, any Believer, however ignorant, can, in a very short time, get a good view of the things of God. I believe that the Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism has more divinity in it than nine out of ten of the modern printings. And if any person would know and understand that, he need not be afraid but what he will be able to give a reason for the hope that is in him, provided the hope is in him. Next, be sure to attend a teaching ministry. Do not be always after sweets. Do not be running after prophesying and novelties. Try to see the whole range of Scripture. Believe in Calvinism--but if there is a single Truth of God which only the Arminians hold, believe that, too. Do not put your feet into Chinese shoes to be squeezed after the current fashion into an orthodox shape! Be willing to have a broad understanding--receive anything which God has revealed and be content to take the whole of God's Truth, whether you can make it into a system or not. Then I should say, if you want to understand much, be much in prayer. Prayer cuts many a Gordian knot. Be much in communion with God. You cannot know God at a distance. Get close to Him--come to Him in the name of Jesus Christ--come very close to Him. The other night, in prayer, I remember, by mistake, quoting an old Scripture--that we might weep, like the priests, "between the porch and the altar"--and I was corrected by a Brother for it. He said, "We do not want to stand between the porch and the altar, because, in prayer, the proper place for a Christian is beyond the altar. The sacrifice is finished and we are to go through the court of the priests and enter into the Most Holy Place--into that which is within the veil, where our Forerunner entered for us." Endeavor, therefore, to get a good view of the types of Scripture. When you have made a mistake about them, be willing to be corrected, but try to understand the types by getting the substance in your own experience--that is the best way of knowing them. And, remember, there is one school to which you can all go--where you will all learn. Our Savior says, "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is of God or not." Practical holiness is a grammar school in which we may learn the Doctrines of Grace. IV. And now I want to say ONE WORD BY WAY OF CAUTION and it shall be scarcely more than a word. Remember that knowledge of itself--with all its excellencies and virtues when God blesses it--has a danger in it to you. "Knowledge," says the Apostle, "puffs up." So it does. You may get proud of what you know and then God forgive you and deliver you from it! And, moreover, you may get so positive about what you know that you may have made up your mind never to know any more. I know some of that kind--they know everything--every doctrine which is brought forward that they have not received already must be rejected because they have made up their minds that they have the whole of revelation by heart. They have "meted out Heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure," and think they know wisdom to perfection. Do not get into that state. Your knowledge may even make you haughty to the people of God. You may look down with contempt on some who do not know so much as you and yet they may have twice your holiness and be doing more service to God. Knowledge is, after all, but a talent and Divine Grace is always better than gifts. Try to get Divine Grace to make the gift right, and as you grow in knowledge which may prove to be the sails, humility will prove an admirable ballast. To this end I ask the help of the Holy Spirit, that what you know may be rightly known, for then it will not exalt you, but make you lie at the foot of the Cross. O that God might thus teach and thus instruct us all! V. And now to close--here is THE DUTY OF SPREADING THIS KNOWLEDGE WHEN WE HAVE IT. "They that understand among the people shall instruct many." It is a prophecy which is fulfilled, but it is also a suggestion of a duty which we have to carry out. Are we instructing many, those of us who know the Lord? "Well," says one, "I am. I am endeavoring to do my best in the Sunday school, in the catechumen class and so on." God speed you, dear Friend! God speed you in your good work! God speed you a thousand-fold more than you have yet learned to ask or even think! But there must be some here who are not teaching others. Of course our business is to begin with teaching our own children. When the services used to be in the morning and afternoon in the olden times, the evening was generally spent with the children in teaching and catechizing. I do not think we in London could go back to the old plan. But I am not sure that the present one is an improvement, whether the children might not learn much more if the parents did give the Sunday evening constantly to their instruction. At any rate, no mother, no father--especially no mother--should suffer a Sunday to pass over her head, if she knows the things of God, without having her little ones around her and teaching them what she herself knows. The Sunday school teacher does well, but he cannot relieve parents from the responsibility of teaching their own children. Others might take a wider range. Might you not get up Bible-readings at your house? If God has taught you a Truth which others do not know, could you not find others in your neighborhood who might be willing to come to your house and understand the things of God from you or someone else? If they will not come, have you not the instinct to get at them some other way? Cannot you so weave the common events of life into a means of Christian instruction that you are truly "all things to all men"? Put in words edgewise, so as to instruct casual visitors. We have not a system of class meetings as among our Wesleyan friends. It would be a great mercy if we had something like they had. And it would be a good thing if the elders of this Church would constantly look after the younger ones. Get seven, eight, or nine to meet you as a class. Get a textbook and study it by the light of the Word of God. We have some admirable teachers here, but I believe we have some who might teach a great deal more, who are not doing it. Some of you are living at a distance--your work cannot be very well carried on in connection with this place. What does that matter? I would as soon you taught elsewhere! So long as you are working for God, it does not matter whether it is here or there. If you are Christian people belonging to this Church, your first duty is here. But if from any other circumstance you cannot throw in your strength with us, why, do it elsewhere! If you want to go elsewhere, of course we are sorry to lose you, but, we say, go, by all means, if you can serve God better! If you feel you must attend our ministry because it suits your mind, then come among us and aid our efforts to do good. Do, at any rate, teach what God has told you! If God has lit your candle, try to shine and let other candles be lit by you. I have said much on this point and I close with this remark--there are some here who cannot be exhorted to learn and know much of God because they have not yet begun to know themselves. They do not know this simple Truth of God--"That Christ came into the world to save sinners." They know it from theory, but that is of very little use. May they know it in their heart by saying, "Jesus, I am a sinner! Since You came to save sinners, I give myself to You. O save me! I trust You to save me." God bring you to this state and when you have received Christ, then endeavor, as much as lies in you-- "To teach to sinners round, What a dear Savior you have found." May the Master bless these words, for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Great Need--Or, The Great Salvation A SERMON PREACHED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "O that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace would ha ve been like a river and your righteousness as the waves of the sea." Isaiah 48:18. FROM this verse we may learn that when God smites men on account of sin it gives Him no pleasure. The voice which speaks is not that of the seraphic Prophet, but it is the voice of the Lord God of the prophets Himself. The manner is not merely the majestic formula, "Thus says Jehovah," but it is supplemented with words intended to remind us of His graciousness and His goodwill. "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer," He who rescued you from perils past, "the Holy One of Israel," the faithful Promiser, who has shown you His counsels and His statutes. Moreover, He challenges attention with more simple, touching mementoes of His kindness when He adds, "I am the Lord your God which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go." As the Instructor of their childhood and the Guide of their riper years, He first expresses the most natural interest in their welfare and then pitifully bewails the folly of His children. Speaking after the manner of men, to chasten His own people is a pain and a grief to His heart--"Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him." John Knox said that he never chastised his children without tears in his own eyes. Jeremiah, in the bitterest chapter of his unparalleled Lamentations, bears this grateful witness to our Covenant God--"He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." And surely if in the gentler chastisement of His hands the Most High takes no pleasure, much less can He find delight in that withering curse which destroys the finally impenitent. Beloved, the eternal torment of men is no joy to God! The ruin of a sinner gives Him no satisfaction. While the calamity is such as He only can estimate, the warnings, expostulations and entreaties He has spoken furnish proof upon proof of His pity. Hear His own words, no, listen as He swears, listen to His own oath--"As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." Not vengeance, but mercy--to kiss the returning prodigal! To wash the feet of the guilty sinner! To press the rebel to His bosom and to adopt Him into His family--this is happiness to God! When, therefore, He rises to judgment and pronounces the fearful sentence, "Depart, you cursed," and casts down the transgressor to Hell and delivers him over to the tormentors--though He vindicates the justice of His Throne, it is--"His strange work, to bring to pass His act, His strange act." Even the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction have experience of God's longsuffering. How tardily He puts off the time! How often He tarries before He inflicts the stroke! How He hides His power while He unfolds His patience! He refrains the fierceness of His anger because He is "God, and not man!" "How shall I give you up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver you, Israel? How shall I make you as Admah? How shall I set you as Zeboim? My heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together." Let me appeal to you then, my Hearers, those of you who have entertained hard thoughts of God--correct them now--banish them from your breasts tonight! You may take pleasure in the damnation of your fellow men--my God has no such pleasure! You may find gratification in your sins, but He grieves over them, for as He sees your course, He foresees your end! Nor is this the only lesson which lays on the surface of the text. Still speaking after the manner of men, I beg you to observe that the Lord addresses words of poignant regret over the prize the sinner has lost, as well as the penalty he has incurred. So did Jesus Christ look upon Jerusalem. Musing on the desolation to which she should shortly come, He reflected on the preservation in which she might have safely stood. Just as little chickens cluster under the hen's wings, nestling there in genial warmth and peaceful security, so might Israel have found prosperity in her own borders and protection against foreign invaders under the shadow of the wings of the Lord God Almighty. You remember how He burst into tears? Can you ever forget that cry of His, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the Prophets and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings and you would not"? Such, too, are the words of my text--words which I pray God may rouse your thoughts and be engraved deeply on your hearts. God looks upon the "peace" you might enjoy and the "righteousness" that would enrich you--if you would just hearken to His commandments and obey His great mandate, "Believe and live." He sees you afar off from peace! He beholds what you cannot yet discern--the clouds gathering round your head. It may be you feel in a dead calm. He utters this pathetic exclamation, "O that you had hearkened to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness as the waves of the sea." Sinner! The eternal God weeps over you while you are utterly careless about yourself! The infinite heart of my Divine Master yearns over you! The voice which has often reproved you now mourns your hapless state in plaintive tones. I think I hear the chords of His heart in notes of pity far exceeding all that Prophets, Apostles and ministers could ever utter! "O that that sinner would believe in Jesus! O that He would give Me his heart! O that he would be obedient to My Word! Then his peace should flow in purity and fertility like a river. And then his righteousness should roll in boundless plenty and multiply its grand impressive witness like the waves of the sea." And now, instead of giving you the order of my sermon, let me speak straight on. How great is the Divine Grace which the sinner despises! He cannot tell the loss he suffers. And what sweet figures these are by which God has been pleased to set that Grace forth! Gladly would I woo you by their charms. But oh, how terrible the consequences of neglect! May God enable me to sound the warning faithfully in your ears this night! What loss do you think is that which God bewails on your account? It is not for you, O Sinner, to understand, or to appreciate such blessings as you have never known or possessed. We strive in vain to describe the blessing of sight to him who was born blind, or the sweetness of melody to the deaf. "Peace like a river," and "righteousness like the waves of the sea," are not within the limits of your comprehension. Be it so, then. There is a need which you unconsciously suffer. You are a stranger to peace. "There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked." David Hume used to say that Christians were melancholy people. But that was a happy retort in which somebody observed, "David Hume's opinion is not worth much, for he never saw many Christians. And when he did see any, there was enough to make them miserable in the sight of David Hume." The true Christian has a peace which is totally unknown to any other man! Yes, he has, "the peace of God which passes all understanding." There are, indeed, two kinds of peace into the secret satisfaction of which no unconverted person can enter--peace with God, and peace in the heart. Yet both of these are the inalienable right of the Believer! The peace which our Lord Jesus Christ made by the blood of His Cross has sealed his acceptance with the Father. And the peace which is produced in his conscience as the fruit of the Spirit calms the troubled passions of his breast. He enjoys peace with God. Happy soul! He says of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress: my God! In Him will I trust." The terrors of the Lord do not make him afraid. When he walks in the midst of God's works, this is his joy-- "My Father made them all." When he is on the deep and hoary sea, he says, "The deep is in the hollow of my Father's hand and were I to sink beneath its surging billows, I could only drop on to His bare arm." When the thunder is abroad and the lightning flashes dart across the jet-black sky, he trembles not--his lips do not grow pale, nor is his face all blanched with fear--they are but his Father's servants that do His pleasure, why should he be alarmed? Let sickness of body, or sorrow of mind, or any Providence, however calamitous come upon him--he bears it all with an equanimity which faith alone can beget-- because God has done it. He has perfect peace with God which the tribulations of the world cannot disturb. Between my soul and my God, if I am a Believer, there is no breach. No, there is friendship, love, union! The bonds which bind me to Him are the bonds of His own immutability and His Covenant love. This peace of God must transcend the strife of the elements which surround me, for-- "The hand that may ruffle the evening's calm, Bears Calvary's print on its bleeding palm." So, too, the Christian is at peace with himself. Self is an ugly enemy for a sinner to encounter. It is written in the Bible, "And David's heart smote him." Conscience strikes hard blows. A good conscience has a keen edge and severely cuts those who tamper with it. Bad men are sometimes afraid of evil spirits. We have heard of people shutting their doors to keep the devil out of their houses. But so long as the thing called, "Conscience," dwells in their breast, they will never be able to shut out a troublesome spirit. He carries a demon with him who has an unsatisfied conscience. Tell me not of the howling of the wolf, when, in the depths of winter--meager, gaunt and grim--it gets a smell of blood and speeds on in its ravenous career--conscience is infinitely more insatiable! The deep baying of the hounds of conscience is more terrible to a man than any sound except the voice of God. But the Christian is not afraid of himself. He can sit with himself in the hours of midnight, walk with himself in the lonely road and talk with himself in the still calm of his meditations--God has enabled him to shake hands with his conscience and they have become the best of friends!-- "Oh, lost to virtue, lost to manly thought, Lost to the noble sallies of the soul, Who think it solitude to be alone. Our reason, guardian angel and our God, Then nearest these when others most remote, And soon all shall be remote but these." This is a peace which no man can attain unto except the man who hearkens to the commandment, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." And if you hearken to that commandment and believe in the Son of God you shall have peace and that peace shall be like a river. The metaphor is full of beauty and not wanting in instructiveness either--by which peace is compared to a river. What does this mean? I think it may suggest several things. Peace, like a river, for continuance. Look at it, rising as a little brook among the shingles of that green hill, it comes dashing down a rugged waterfall--it flows along that valley yonder--where the red deer wanders and where the child loves to play. It turns the village mill--listen to its babblings as it flows onward, sometimes leaping down the wheel and at other times flinging carelessly its strength to the winds. Now it becomes broad and deep and many a large and heavy craft floats upon it. Then it swells its bosom--bridges with noble arches span it and it becomes an estuary like a great arm of the sea and pours its torrents into old father Ocean. It continues. It is not a thing of today which is gone tomorrow, but it proclaims its own constancy-- "Men may come and men may go, But I flow on forever." Forever! Throughout all generations the river speeds to its destined place. Such is the peace of the Christian. He is always at peace. He has not peace like a swollen torrent which is dried up under some hot sun of adversity, but his peace is with him at all times. Do you enquire for the Thames? You shall find it flowing in its own bed in the thick black night, as well as in the clear bright day. You shall discover the Thames when it mirrors the stars or sends back the sheen of the moon as well as when multitudes of eyes gaze upon it at midday. You shall see the Thames in the hour of tempest by the lightning's flash as well as in the day of calm when the sun shines brightly on it. Ever it is there. And such is the Christian's peace. Come night, come day, come sickness, come health, come what will--this peace which passes all understanding will keep the Christian's heart and mind, through Jesus Christ. Like a river it always flows on--no matter what the scenery on its banks, it does not stop. Here is a hill and there a dale, here the dry and thirsty sand and there, again, the fat and laughing fields--but the river is still the same. And so with the Christian. Today he abounds--tomorrow he is empty. One day he walks with manly stride, erect in health--another day he pines and tosses upon the bed of pain. Today men praise him and every man extols him in song--tomorrow he is the butt of ridicule and the subject of caricature--pointed at in the streets and despised. Today he lives--tomorrow he dies. But his peace is still the same. Like a river, no matter what the banks which overlook it, or what the weather which overcasts it--still it is the same. Such is the deep calm which pervades the Christian's spirit. It is a continual thing--a peace with which the world cannot market--a peace of which the world cannot deprive, but a peace, still, unto which the Christian is called and it abides with him forevermore. Since the day I learned to wear in my button hole the heart's-ease plucked from God's garden, my soul can laugh all men to scorn who find comfort elsewhere. And this peace is "peace like a river" for freshness, too. The water which runs down the Thames, say at Maidenhead, never was there before. It is fresh water, fresh from the hills today and tomorrow it is the same and the same the next day--ever fresh supplies from the heart of old England to keep her glorious river swelling and abounding. Now the peace which a Christian has is always fresh, always receiving fresh supplies. We found peace at first through the precious blood of Christ. We have sinned since then, but we have gone anew to the Fountain and have washed again and again. We have had doubts and fears. These at first were dispersed by a sight of Christ--we have fresh views of our glorious Savior and His completed work and so the river goes on receiving fresh supplies. The Spirit of God was our Comforter ten years ago. Ah, gray-headed man, he was your Comforter, perhaps, before I was born! Before this babbling tongue had touched any man's conscience, you had rested on the Cross of Christ and the Spirit had said, "Peace be unto you." The whole of these forty years you have had fresh anointings, fresh unction from on high and so your continued peace has been like a river. Do not suppose, O you who are strangers to these things--do not suppose that the Christian gets a peace like the striking of a match which goes out in a moment! Oh, no! It is the steady shining of a fixed star! Not the blaze of a meteor in an autumn evening, but the shining of the brightest lamp which never goes out and never goes down. Happy that Christian who has fresh floods of peace, peace like a river for the freshness of its streams! And you know, Brothers and Sisters, that a river increases in breadth and its waters augment their volume. You can leap across the Thames, say, at Cricklade, or Lechlade--it is so tiny a little brook you may almost take it up in a cup! There is a narrow plank across which laughing village girls go tripping over! But who thinks of laying down a plank across the Thames at Southend, or at Grays? Who would imagine that at Gravesend it might be crossed by the tripping girls, or by the skipping lambs? No, the river has grown--how deep! At the mouth of it, I suppose, comparable to the sea--how broad! It is a sort of ocean in miniature. There go the ships and leviathan might play there. Not even Behemoth himself, I think, would have the presumption to suppose that he could sniff up this Jordan at a draught, for it has grown too great for him! Such is the Christian's peace. Pure and perfect though it is at the first, little temptations seem to mar it and oftentimes the troubles of this life threaten to choke it. Not that they ever do-- "Men may come and men may go, But it flows on forever." True, it seems little at the point of its rise. But be not deceived. Wait. When the Christian is ten years older and has meandered a few more miles along the tortuous course of a gracious experience, his peace will be like a broad river! Wait twenty or thirty years--till he has traversed these rich lowlands of fellowship with Christ in His sufferings and conformity to His death--then his peace will be like a deep river, for he shall know the peace of God which passes all understanding! And he will have cast all his care upon God who cares for him. Thus that peace will go on increasing till it melts into the Infinite peace of the beatific vision, where-- "Not a wave of trouble rolls Across the peaceful breast." Well, therefore, may our peace be likened to a river for its perpetual increase! Yet once more, the peace of the Christian is like a river because of its joyful independence of man. We have heard the story of a simpleton who went to see the reputed source of the Thames. Putting his hand over the little rivulet that came trickling down the ditch, he stopped it and said, "I wonder what they are doing at London Bridge now that I have stopped the river?" His idea was that as he had stopped its flow, all the barges were high and dry, the steamers breaking their backs on the sandbanks and nobody knowing what consequences might ensue because he had stopped the Thames! But who knew the difference? A child takes into its hand its cup of water and blows it and the whole surface undulates with little waves--but where are the giant lips which could blow the Thames and cause waves upon its bosom? Steadily, pleasantly, laughingly, the river flows on, gliding beneath the majestic castle of monarchs and sporting past the bowers of the muses, careless altogether what men of might do, or men of intellect think! A whole Parliament could not make the Thames swell with waves and fifty Parliaments could not lessen the body of its waters. It were well, by the way, if they could preserve its streams from the pollution of those foul and putrid sewers constantly emptied into it! The rivers would be better without the interference of men. Such, then, is the Christian's peace. I have watched this river as it broke over the stones of adversity--and when the tide of earthly comfort ran low--it has seemed as if the flow of peace were clearer and more transparent than ever! Some of you may have said, "I wonder whether such a Brother or Sister will be as peaceful when he is lying on his sick bed, as he used to be when he joined our Sunday services." You go and you will find his peace abounds in the hour of need. Perhaps you hardly expected that another dear friend could bear the loss of his situation and thus come down, as it were, in the world--but to your amazement he tells you how he is just beginning to learn Habakkuk's song--"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls--yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." The devil cannot rob us of the peace which comes from God! Neither can the world take it away! O Christian, what a comfort it is for you to think that if all the powers of darkness should be in arms against you, they cannot destroy your peace which is in Christ Jesus the Lord! Only let God be with you and your peace of mind would still be like a river. It would still be like a sea of glass which is not to be ruffled at all. Glorious in deed and in truth is the Christian's independence. Some Christians call themselves "Independents." I believe we are all very dependent upon God, and therefore we shall never be Independents in that respect! But, at the same time, every Christian is so entirely independent of man when he leans upon his God that we may, every one of us, be Independents! We can afford to defy the world to do its best or its worst to stay the tide of our joy when He causes our peace to flow like a river! What would some of you give to have such a peace as this--that you could go to bed with peace and not be afraid of sleeping your last and wake up with peace fearing no ill? That you could go to business not afraid of evil tidings because your heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord? What would you give to have a great lump of sunshine put into your bosom which you might break up and sprinkle over all your days and nights? Yet such peace you shall have if you hearken to God's commands. That you have it not is our regret tonight. Alas! Alas, for you, that you have not listened to His commandment, which is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." If you had hearkened to it, then the blessing would be yours and the sweet enjoyment thereof would tranquil-ize your minds while it caused a tide of pleasure to stir up every grateful emotion of your heart! Time flies and I am still lingering upon the former of the two figures employed. I must pass on to notice the other figure which is used to express those good things which the sinner has missed--"YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS AS THE WAVES OF THE SEA!" Let us pause a moment and notice how this metaphor surpasses the previous one in dignity, if not in delicacy. Now we can all see a sort of comparison and yet at the same time a strong contrast between the water of an inland river and the collection of waters which make up the wide expanse of the sea. One, for the most part, is tran-quil--the other always heaving and surging to and fro. So I suppose, as the words were originally addressed to the Jewish nation and referred to their temporal welfare, the river would represent the beauty and happiness of their own land, like the garden of Eden watered by the river of God's pleasure. And the sea, with its waves rolling in majestically one after another in unbroken succession, would set forth that progress which is the renown of righteousness. Generation after generation would witness the rising tide of prosperity. Each chapter of their chronicles would lift its crested plume and tell of mighty acts and righteous deeds, till, like the roar of the ocean, the righteousness of Israel should proclaim the name of the Lord from the river even to the ends of the earth! Oh, what did that rebellious seed of Jacob lose by forsaking the Lord! This seems to me to be something like the meaning. But I want to apply this metaphor of the waves of the sea, like I have that of the flowing of the river, to the happiness of the Believer. Look, dear Friends, at this precious doctrine of the Gospel through the glass of that Old Testament symbol. The man who believes in Jesus Christ has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him, that is to say, the obedience of Christ is considered by God as his obedience. So if I believe in Christ, I am as much beloved and as much accepted as if I had been perfect in a moral uprightness of my own--for the righteousness of Christ becomes mine. But how is this righteousness like the waves of the sea? Well, first it is like the waves of the sea for multitude. You cannot count the waves of the sea, do what you will. And so is it with the righteousness of Christ--you cannot count its different forms and fashions. Let us tell you of some of these waves. I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity, but Christ is called, "that holy Thing" which is born of the Virgin and the holiness of Christ's birth takes away the unholiness of my nativity. I have committed sins in my childhood, sins against my parents. But Jesus Christ was a child full of the Spirit and grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor both with God and man--so Christ's childish perfection is imputed to me and hides my childish sins. I have to mourn over sins of thought because the imaginations and thoughts of my heart are evil. But Christ can say, "Your Law is My delight," and the thoughts of Christ's mind cover my thoughts. Sins of the tongue you have all had to lament--but Grace is poured into His lips and the graciousness of Christ's speech covers the gracelessness of yours. You have had heart-sins--but Christ has had heart-virtues. Your heart is hard. But He could say, "Reproach has broken My heart." Your heart was cold--but His fervor was constant, till He could say, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up." Your heart was proud, high and lofty--but Christ was humble and meek--He endured shame and spitting. You have had sins in worship--but Christ purged the temple and served the Father in perfection, yes, both in Spirit and in truth. We have sins in private prayer--but the cold mountaintops witnessed the fervor of His supplications. We have sinned against our fellow men. But He loved His neighbor better than Himself. We have many sins against God--but Christ loved the Lord His God with all His heart and it was His delight to do His Father's business. Keep on, Brethren, keep on--let the list of your sins be long, but the list of Christ's righteousness will be longer still, for it is like the waves of the sea! What are you--a servant? Well, if you have the sins of a servant, Christ has the virtues of a servant. Are you a master? Your sins as a master are covered by Christ's righteousness as a master. I am a minister. I feel my im-perfection--but my Lord was a perfect Shepherd of the flock--as He was a perfect Teacher, the perfection of His teach-ership belongs to me and I am covered with it. Oh, what a righteousness is this! It is like the waves of the sea, manifold. All that the Christian can want to satisfy the claims of the Divine Law is found in the righteousness of Christ! There is a moral grandeur in the picture here-- "Righteousness like the waves of the sea." The righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ is also like the waves of the sea for majesty. What an illustration of overwhelming power! There comes the rushing wave. The tide has determined to rise to such-and-such a point--who can keep it back? And ask now, Beloved, "Who can withstand the power of Christ's righteousness? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Whom Christ has justified, who shall condemn?" Rise, mighty tide of Righteousness, rise on, for none can stay You in Your course. Then it is majestic, because it is profound. Who can plumb the depth of the righteousness of Christ?--deep as the demands of the Law, deep as the miseries of Hell, deep as the thoughts of God! It is majestic, too, because of its ceaseless energy. Sit in the boat and see the waves as they go rolling by, following each other in endless succession. Never will the sea stop--it boils like a pot. Now, the righteousness of Christ has a ceaseless energy. Wave upon wave, it breaks upon the eternal shore of Divine justice, fulfilling the counsels of God, while it covers all the sins of His people! Beloved, that righteousness pleads tonight for every sinner who is resting on it and it brings to you and to me the countless mercies which we are privileged to enjoy. For majesty, then, the righteousness of Christ is like the waves of the sea. And the analogy may be traced still further if you reflect on the sufficiency of the one and the other. All over the world, at low water, you will find certain muddy creeks, bays and coves. How are all these to be covered? How will that swamp once more be made to look like a seabed? Who can do it? God can! And there is water enough in the sea to cover every cove and creek. And there is not a river which will have to say "We had no tide today." O careless Hearer, what shall I say to you to commend this righteousness of Christ? You may be the vilest sinner out of Hell, but there is enough righteousness in Christ to cover you! For every creek of sin, for every bay of blasphemy, for every cove of infamy here is a flood which will cover them all! The high-water mark of complete salvation shall be gained by every child of God. You cannot measure the all-sufficiency of the waves of the sea, much less can you find a gauge by which to estimate the all-sufficiency of the merit of Christ! Only once more, to make four points here, as we did in interpreting the river. The righteousness of Christ is like the waves of the sea for origin. Who is the father of those waves? Out of whose womb came that mighty company? Who is the joyous sire to whom these children may lift up their voices and say, "Here we are"? "God," let the torrents roar, "He has made us and not we ourselves. The holy hands of God poured us into the channels which He had dug and here we are, sometimes as a glass, that He may mirror His awful face in tempest, but ever His willing servants and His obedient sons." Now the righteousness of Christ comes not from man. No one adds a jot or tittle to it, but it is of the Lord and the Lord alone. Jehovah-Tsidkenu bared His mighty arm and stretched it to the work and with Him there was no man. When He worked out the salvation of His people He stood alone without a helper. "O" says one, "I wish I had that righteousness to cover all my sins and to take me to Heaven!" If you had hearkened to God's commands, you would have had it. Yes, Sinner, if you had believed in Christ, your peace would have been as a river and your righteousness as the waves of the sea. That you have it not is owing to this--that you have not listened to God. I will put it to you very affectionately, but with the utmost faithfulness. When the Gospel has been preached, have you listened attentively? Do you say, "Yes"? We will go farther, then. Have you listened in solemn earnestness, desiring that the Word might be blessed to you? Have you listened in prayerfulness, crying, "God be merciful to me, a sinner"? Have you hearkened with willingness, being willing to be obedient? Have you hearkened with resolve, determining to do what was commanded you? Have you listened with humility, feeling your own inability and did you beseech Him, the Lord, to help you? Have you listened with all the powers of your mind, calling upon your entire being and saying--"Now, Lord, here is my ear. Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears"? O my Friends, you have, many of you, listened to me, but you do not listen to my Master and even my poor word goes in one ear and out the other! You will go chatting home tonight and you will seek after your amusements tomorrow and all that the Word might have done will be thrown away upon you. I know how some of you hear--it is always with procrastination. You mean to hear, but you do not give heed with a present anxiety. You do not hear as that clock would bid you, for every tick of it seems to say, "Now, now, NOW." Do any of you remember the loss of that vessel they called the "Central America"? I suppose some of you do. She was in a bad state--she had sprung a leak and was going down and she hoisted a signal of distress. A ship came close to her, the captain of which asked, through the trumpet, "What is amiss?" "We are in bad repair and are going down. Lie by till morning," was the answer. But the captain on board the rescue ship said, "Let me take your passengers on board now." "Lie by till morning!" Was the message which came back. Once again, the captain cried, "You had better let me take your passengers on board now." "Lie by till morning," was the hoarse reply which came through the tempest. About an hour and-a-half after, the lights were missing and though no sound was heard, she and all on board had gone down to the fathomless abyss. Do not say, Sinner, "Lie by till morning!" For God's sake, do not say, "Lie by till morning!" Tonight, even tonight, hear the voice of God! O that the Spirit of my God might come upon you and open your ears to listen to His commandment, for, "now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." This is the commandment--"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." To believe, as you know, is to TRUST. It is, as it were, to fall flat down upon Christ--to let Him carry you to Heaven--to put yourself out of your own hands into Christ's hands! It is to have done with saving yourself and to believe that He who died upon the Cross has perfected your salvation. Trust Him and if you listen to His commandment, then your peace shall be as a river and your righteousness as the waves of the sea. The Lord grant that it may be so, for His name's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Zechariah'S Vision Of Joshua The High Priest DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 22, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a log plucked from the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And to him He said, Behold, I have removed your iniquity from you and I will clothe you with rich robes. And I said, Let them put a clean turban upon his head. So they put a clean turban upon his head and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by." Zechariah 3:1-5. THE original intention of this vision was to foretell the revival of the Jewish state after its long depression through the Babylonian captivity. Joshua, the high priest, with his tattered garments, must be looked upon as the type of the Jewish people in their deep distress. He was ministering before the Lord in worn and filthy garments, to show at once the sin of Israel and the poverty into which they had fallen. They were so poor that the service of God could not be conducted in suitable apparel, but the high priest himself appeared before the altar in robes unfit for his sacred work. The set time to favor Zion is according to the visions most near at hand. And Satan, the old adversary of the chosen race, bestirs himself to resist them and turn away the favor of God from them. But that same Angel of the Covenant who led the people through the wilderness and carried them all the days of old, stands before the Throne as their Advocate and at His request Jehovah rebukes Satan and begins to bless the people. Joshua, their representative, receives a change of clothes, in testimony that the people's sin is forgiven and that God accepts their worship. The vision then sweeps on to the day of the Lord Jesus and the heart of the Prophet Zechariah is cheered by a sight of the whole land restored to its former peace and happiness under the reign of the glorious One who is called, "My servant, THE BRANCH." While we have been interpreting the other visions of Zechariah, we have tried to derive present comfort and profit from them. We will endeavor to do so on this occasion. We may very properly take Joshua as a type of all the people of God as they stand in their sense of sin and natural faultiness, subject to the accusations of Satan, but delivered by their ever gracious Lord. And the change of clothing as setting forth the forgiveness of sin and the imputation of the Savior's righteousness, which is the joy of all Believers. Let us take each particular separately and may God the Holy Spirit shed a sacred light upon the vision and may we see in it more than Zechariah himself discovered! May we see Jehovah Jesus in all the glory of His love, manifesting Himself to His chosen as He does not unto the world. I. To begin, then, where the vision begins--with THE BELIEVER HIMSELF REPRESENTED BY JOSHUA. The Believer himself is described as a priest standing before the Angel of the Lord. Let us mark this. He is a priest. Who are the priests? Certain sons of Korah, who take too much upon them, say, "We are the priests, we are the legitimate descendants of the Apostles and a mysterious power distills from our priestly hands." We reply to them, it is impossible that you should be descendants of the Apostles and yet claim to possess priestly power, for the Apostles never claimed any peculiar priesthood for themselves above other Believers. They spoke of their Brethren, the Christians of their age, as being on a par with themselves in the matter of priesthood. "You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). If, then, these pretenders to priesthood are priests in any special sense, they certainly are not descendants of the Apostles--for the Apostles claimed no priority of priesthood beyond the rest of their brethren, but said of all the saints, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood." The fact is they are neither one nor the other--they are not descendants of the Apostles, for they preach not the Apostles' Gospel and know not their Spirit! Nor have they any priestly office, unless it is that the old Babylonian harlot accepts them as her foster children and gives them a name and a place among those who partake in her abominations. Who are the priests? Why, every humble man and woman that knows the power of Jesus Christ in his own soul to purge and cleanse him from dead works is appointed to serve as a priest unto God! I say every humble man and every humble woman, too, for in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female--we are all one in Him. We offer prayers to God knowing that they ascend to Heaven like sweet odors before the Throne! We offer praise, believing that "whoever offers praise, glorifies God." "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Jesus has made us priests and kings unto God and even here upon earth we exercise the priesthood of consecrated living and hallowed service and hope to exercise it till the Lord shall come. When I see, then, Joshua the high priest, I do but see a picture of each and every child of God who has been made near by the blood of Christ and has been taught to minister in holy things and enter into that which is within the veil. But observe where this high priest is--he is said to be "standing before the Angel of the Lord," that is, standing to minister. This should be the perpetual position of every true Believer. I have no business on the bed of sloth. I have no right to be wandering abroad after private business. I can claim no time which I may set apart to my own follies, or to my own aggrandizement. My true position as a Christian is to be always ministering to God--always standing before His altar. Do I hear you ask how this can be--with your farms and with your merchandise? Know you not, Brethren, that whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, you may do it all to the glory of God? Understand you not that every place is now God's temple and that everywhere is God's altar and that you can as truly serve Him in your daily callings as in the assemblies of the place of worship? You know not the true position of a Christian if you fancy that you are only priests on the Lord's Day and only to minister before God when you stand in the congregation of the faithful. You are appointed priests like your Lord--forever--and you are forever to be offering the sacrifice! By day and by night should your hearts be going up to Him. You should fall asleep with your Master's name upon your tongue and when you awake you should say with the Psalmist, "I am still with You." Happy Joshua! Notwithstanding the filthiness of his garments, he is to be commended because he keeps in the position to which he is called and like the servant whose ear was bored, he does not leave his master's house. Come, you that profess to be God's people--if you have been negligent in the duties of your high calling, and if your hearts at this moment are going after vanity--pray God the Holy Spirit to put you into a proper state to perform the functions of your holy office! And now in the courts of the Lord's House, stand like Joshua, with your hearts prepared by the Lord of Hosts to minister before the Lord. Yet, notice where it is that Joshua stands to minister. It is before the Angel of Jehovah. You and I can never stand to minister before Moses, the mediator under the Law--much less before Jehovah Himself. For our God is a consuming fire. It is only through a Mediator that we poor, defiled ones can ever become priests unto God. Perhaps some of God's people here may have forgotten this. You have been searching yourselves and trying your hearts as in the sight of God's Law and you feel very deeply that you are far behind what the glory of the God in the Law would ask of you. Therefore you begin foolishly to mistrust your Father's love and to think that your service before Him will not be heeded. Beloved, it is ill serving God in the light of the Law--but oh, how blessed is it to stand and minister before Christ and in Christ! Then, if I can bring Him nothing but my tears He will put them in His bottle, for He once wept. If I can bring Him nothing but my groans and sighs He will accept these as an acceptable sacrifice, for He once was broken in heart and sighed heavily in spirit. Gracious God, I bless You that I have not to present my sacrifice directly to Yourself, else you would consume my sacrifice and me with the flames of Your wrath! But I present what I have before Your Messenger, the Angel of the Covenant, the Lord Jesus! And through Him my prayers find acceptance wrapped up in His prayers! My praises become sweet as they are bound up with bundles of myrrh and aloes and cassia from Christ's own garden. Then I myself, standing in Him, am accepted in the Beloved. And all my poor, defiled, polluted works, though in themselves only objects of Divine abhorrence, are so accepted and received, that God smells a sweet savor. He is content and I am blessed. See, then, the position of the Christian as a priest--he is to stand before the Angel of the Lord. Now read the next word in the light of your own experience--"Clothed," it is said, "with filthy garments." Did you ever feel this when you have come to serve God? Perhaps it is at evening prayer--there has been something amiss in the family during the day and you know it-- perhaps, as the head of the household you have to conduct prayer and you feel, "O God, I cannot pray, I cannot pray as I would! I am Your priest in this house, I know, but how can I minister before You, for I have filthy garments on?" Possibly your business kept you up very late last night. Things are not going on as well as you wish in matters of trade and you have come here distracted. And while sitting in the pew listening to God's people as they praise the Lord, you have thought, "Ah, I have my filthy garments on. I cannot pray to Him. I cannot praise Him as I would." I know what it is to come and preach to you sometimes and to feel such an overwhelming sense of my own unworthi-ness, that, were it not, "Woe unto me if I do not preach the Gospel," I would not come on this platform again, for it is hard to feel that your garments are defiled while endeavoring to be God's mouth to men. Perhaps this afternoon, when you are going into your Sunday school class, you will feel much warmth of heart towards God. You will confess that you are not your own, but bought with a price. You will desire to live unto Him and honor Him. But, oh, that dread impediment of conscious guilt--it will make you cry out--"How can I stand before Him who charged His angels with folly and declares that the heavens are not pure in His sight? How can I hope to have a blessing on anything that I do when I feel a heart of unbelief departing from the living God? How can I give a blessing to His saints when I want a blessing myself? How shall I break the bread of Christ with unholy fingers and pour out the wine into His cup with a sinful hand?" But stop, Christian! Do not think of renouncing your priesthood! Do not let a sense of unfitness keep you from your service! Stand where you are--for remember, you are standing in the only place where pollution can be washed away-- you are standing before the Angel of the Covenant! It is before Christ that sin is to be confessed. Confess it anywhere else, your sorrow is not repentance, but remorse. "What is remorse?" says one. Remorse is repentance made out of sight of Jesus! True repentance is sorrow of sin in the Presence of Christ. Foul and filthy as you are, there is but one Voice which can speak you clean. Go not away from that Voice. There is but one Hand which can touch you and make you pure--stand where that Hand is close to you and still, filthy as your garments are, shun not the face of your best, your only Friend! And breathe out this prayer, "Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. Purge me, oh, purge me now, for Your love's sake." II. Let us turn to another individual who figures in the group. We have, in the second place, AN ADVERSARY. Satan stood before the Angel to resist Joshua. Does not his opposition seem superfluous? Poor Joshua feels enough the filth upon his garments without needing to have the devil to withstand him. And I, poor I, do often feel so much my own sinfulness that it seems a work of supererogation on the devil's part to lay accusations--conscience accuses enough without him! But yet, so cruel is he that he avails himself of the times of the weakness of God's people--then and there to resist them. Observe what he is called. He is called Satan, which signifies an adversary. He is an adversary and that by nature. His nature is now so vile that he cannot help being the adversary of everything that is good. From the day on which he was expelled from Heaven and dragged with him a third part of the stars of glory, he has been God's bitterest foe. And as to man, from the hour in which it was said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," he discovered in that humble creature, man, his great destroyer. And he has never ceased to nibble at the heel of the seed of the woman, foreknowing how terribly his head is to be bruised. There is something, however, very comforting in the thought that he is an adversary--I would sooner have him for an adversary than for a friend! O my Soul, it were dread work with you if Satan were a friend of yours, for then with him you must forever dwell in darkness and in the deeps--shut out from the friendship of God! But to have Satan for an adversary is a comfortable omen, for it looks as if God were our Friend and so far let us be comforted in this matter. Yet, remember, Satan is an adversary not to be despised. Of keen intellect, ripened by years of experience, with a fullness of cunning and craft which made even the serpent, when possessed by him, more subtle than any other beast of the field, he is an antagonist worthy of angelic might. Gabriel might lose in such a conflict if he did not stand clad in the golden armor of perfect innocence. We, so apt to sin, carrying about with us so much tinder, had need to fear the fiery sparks which he scatters. It is a dreadful thing to stand foot to foot with Apollyon. Read Bunyan's description of Christian's fight in the Valley of Humiliation and you have there a shadow of what the true conflict is. Better to endure all kinds of temporal pains and trials than to be beset by Satan. He who wins, gains nothing--and he who fails will find his weight full heavy when the dragon sets his foot upon his neck. You have a stern adversary here and one who will never cease to vex you till you shall be out of gunshot of him, in having crossed the river of death. Now you will perceive, if you look at the passage, that this adversary selected a most fitting place in which to do Joshua damage. He came to accuse him before the Angel--before God's own Son! Oh, if he could once make the Lord loose His hold of us, then we should soon be his prey! You perceive he does not attack Joshua first, but he comes before the Angel to prevent Joshua's being accepted. If Satan can once persuade you or me to think we are not God's children and not accepted, he knows that he has done us serious injury. In the arsenals of Hell there are great stores of "ifs"-- "ifs" are Satan's bombshells--"If you are the Son of God." If he can make you doubt, then he makes a breach in your wall. If you are strong enough to say, "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him," you will then come off more than conqueror! But the drift of Satan is to touch you just there, in that place where your strength lies. He is like Delilah--he feels that if he can cut off the locks of your faith, where your strength dwells--then he may put out your eyes and sell you to the Philistines forever. Take care, take care, when Satan comes to accuse you before the Angel and to make you doubt your interest in the Lord Jesus, that you at once leave the case in the Angel's hands--for your Advocate can plead better against the accuser than you can! And it is best for you to hold your peace and to let that great Advocate stand up and say, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!" You will agree with me that the adversary not only selected a very fit place by coming at once to the Throne to lay the accusation, but a very fit opportunity. Joshua had his filthy garments on. Satan is a great coward--he will generally meddle with God's people when they are down. I find that when I am in good physical health, I am not often tempted of Satan to despondency or doubt. But whenever I get depressed in spirit, or my liver is out of order, or my head aches--then comes the hissing serpent--"God has forsaken you! You are no child of God! You are unfaithful to your Master! You have no part in the blood of sprinkling," and such-like things. You old rascal! If you say as much as that to me in my days of health--when my blood is leaping in my veins--I shall be more than a match for you! But to meet me just then, when you understand that I am weak, yes, this is just like you, Satan. What a thorough devil our enemy is! I can call him by no worse name than his own! But if worse there were, richly would he deserve it. You must expect, Christian, when you have lost your sense of justification, when you are conscious of sin, when you feel unfit to minister before God--you must expect that just then he will come to accuse you. If Joshua's garment had been perfectly clean that morning when he went to minister as a priest, Satan would have let him alone. But see Joshua depressed in spirit and heavy in mind--weeping over his sins--then comes Satan and he says, "Now, I shall battle with him! God will hate Joshua, for He cannot bear filth. He will be sure to cast away the filthy priest. And Joshua is hating himself, too, and so I shall plunge him in despair and make an end of the man." Surely, so it would have been if the Angel had not been there! But the Angel of the Lord, by His Presence, is ever a wall of fire round about His people and a Glory in the midst! If the lion of Hell comes prowling forth to seize the very weakest lamb, the great Shepherd will deliver the lamb out of his teeth--nor shall the infernal lion rend the meanest of His sheep. Commentators have puzzled themselves to know what Satan would have to say against Joshua. As I read their conjectures I thought that it would never have puzzled me--for my question would be, in my own case--"Which one out of the fifty thousand things the devil would choose to bring?" Not what he could bring, but I ask which one out of fifty thousand things he would choose to bring? Truly, dear Friend, if Satan wants to accuse us--any page of our history--any hour of any day will furnish him material for his charges! Yesterday you were impatient. The day before you were proud. Another day you were slothful, on another, angry. Oh what a den of unclean birds the human heart is! I would to God we could wring their necks, but they are too many for any power less than Divine to destroy them all! One chirps at one time and one at another and between them they maintain a dolorous discord! Talk of perfection in the flesh? The man who dreams of it is either a fool or a knave, one of the two! He is either a fool and does not know his own heart, or else he is a knave before God and is dishonest and does not call that sin which is sin. Perfection in the flesh? Why, those Believers who live nearest to God and have the deepest experience of Divine things will tell you they have given up that dream long ago! They never expect to be perfect except in Christ Jesus and never to be complete in themselves but only to be complete in Him. If the old accuser wants reasons for accusation, he may, indeed, find as many as he wills and continue to accuse as long as ever he pleases--for we are altogether as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. I have heard of a certain Divine that he used always to carry about with him a little book. This little book had only three leaves in it and to tell the truth there was not a single word in the book. The first was a sheet of black paper, black as jet. The next was a sheet of red--scarlet. And the next was a sheet of white without spot. Day by day he used to take out this little book and at last he told some one the secret of what it meant. He said, "There is the black leaf--that is my sin and the wrath of God which my sin deserves. I look and look and think it is not black enough, though it is black as black can be. Then the next, that is the leaf of the atoning sacrifice, the precious blood--the red leaf--how I do delight to look at that and look and look again. Then there is the white leaf. That is my soul, as it is washed in Jesus' blood, made white as snow through the righteousness of Jesus Christ and washing in the fountain which Christ has filled from His own veins." Ah, that first black leaf! That black leaf! Surely, if Satan looks over it, it will be no puzzle to him to find something against you! He may continue to plead against you till doomsday and always find ground in your shortcomings for accusing you before the Angel of God! And what was it that Satan was after, after all, with Joshua? Was it that he hated Joshua's sins? Did he bring these before the Angel because he really was vexed that such a sinner as Joshua should defile the courts of God's House? Ah, not a bit of it! It is an edifying spectacle, certainly, to see Satan pleading against sin! It is sometimes good to turn the tables on Satan, as Martin Luther does and tell him, "Supposing I am all you say I am, yet what are you, that you should bring accusations against me? "I am no servant of yours, Satan. If my Master does not find fault with me, who am I that I should be afraid because you assail and accuse me? What are you, after all? You do but look round my castle wall and smile at every rift and so tell me where it needs mending! What are you but a fierce dog, keeping me awake by your howling? Better that I have you, than be without you, lest I fall into a deadly slumber and so sleep myself into carnal security and spiritual death. What are you after all, arch Fiend, but one who, like a terrible tempest, drives me nearer to my Savior and compels me to find a harbor in His bosom?" Satan aims at our destruction--that is the point at which he drives. He does not care for our pleasure--it is our total and eternal ruin. Let us know this and never be beguiled by him. In whatever way he puts sin, let us understand it to be sin, still, and therefore keep out of his clutches. When at the council of Basle, a certain cardinal had spoken very fairly about Protestants, the Emperor Sigismund rose and said, "Yes, he talks very prettily, but remember, he is a Roman--he is a Roman still." So when the adversary advances with his blandishments and temptations, remember he is a devil still, though dressed in his best robes! You can always detect him under any of his various disguises--for his desire is at all times and all seasons your total destruction! We have now a very gloomy picture before us. We have the poor Believer in Christ willing to minister unto the Lord, but quite unable to do so because of his filthy garments. And we have, at the same time, a clamorous accuser who is crying out before the bar ofjustice, "Condemn him! Condemn him! Condemn him!" And well may that poor Believer tremble from head to foot as he recollects how true the charge is! III. But stop! The picture changes now, for THE ANGEL SPEAKS! He has been silent till now, but now He comes into the foreground. "The Lord rebuke you Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a log plucked from the fire?" Take note that this rebuke comes at the right season. When Satan accuses, Christ pleads. He does not wait till the case has gone against us and then expresses His regret, but He is always a very present help in time of trouble. He knows the heart of Satan, being Omniscient God. And long before Satan can accuse He puts in the blessed plea on our behalf and delays the action till He gives an answer which silences forever every accusation. Do not think, Christian, that there will ever come a night so dark that there will be no light shining for you in it, or that Satan will be able to surprise the Savior and take you by storm! In the nick of time Christ will be sure to be your help. Observe that this rebuke also came from the very highest authority. He says, "Jehovah rebuke you, Satan." Christ does not merely rebuke Satan Himself, but He prays the Lord to do it. The eternal God, who is full of justice, says to the accuser, "I have justified, why do you accuse? I accepted My own dear Son in the place of the poor sinner with the filthy garments on--why do you accuse?" That is a joyous utterance of the Apostle, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies." If God justifies, that very act is a rebuke to all the accusations of the false Fiend! Courage, Christian! The Voice which silenced your cruel foe is the Voice that rolls the stars along--against which nothing can stand. You must not fail to observe, however, that this rebuke was founded upon electing love. You that deny the doctrine of election come here and read this verse--"Jehovah rebuke you, Satan! Even Jehovah who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!" If God has chosen His people, then it is of no use for Satan to attempt their overthrow. Christ does not here meet Satan with any, "ifs," "ands," 'buts," nor "perhapses." He does not meet him with those truths which are merely matters of experience and about which there may be a question--He meets him with the high mysterious Truth of God which was settled before the world was--He throws, as it were, this chain into his teeth and bids him champ that till he breaks his teeth. "God has chosen Jerusalem!" Let that be rebuke enough. I think your experience will bear out what I now say--that it is all very well to live on spoon victuals and on milk when you have no trials and troubles. But if it ever comes to a pinch between your soul and sin--if you are in the deep waters of conscious sinfulness and Satan is accusing you--nothing will do for your soul to meet the adversary with but the doctrines of Sovereign Grace. You may be an Arminian in the summer, but you must be a Calvinist in the roaring winds of winter. Arminianism is a very pretty sort of theology for a painted boat upon a glassy lake. But they that do business on deep waters, and weather storms and hurricanes must have a good substantial boat of everlasting immutable love! Otherwise, if the vessel is not staunchly and well built--its tacklings will become loose--and they cannot strengthen their mast and the vessel will drive upon the quicksands. Beloved, in my spiritual building I want to get more and more onto the rock, immediately on the rock. I know I am told that the rock does not yield a harvest--that election is not a practical truth--but after all, if I want a house built, let me have it on the rock, for if it does not yield me any present practical results, yet I must have some comfort--I must have some place to dwell in the storm! I can go out to other fields to sow my corn and reap my harvest, but for my everlasting confidence I want a rock. Rest assured that the doctrines commonly called Calvinistic are the only doctrines that can shut the mouths of devils and fill the mouths of saints in the day of famine and in the time of extremity. "The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!" When I am bowed down under sin, next to my Bible I love such books as "Elisha Coles on Divine Sovereignty," or "Dr. Crisp's Sermons." Albeit that they do not contain all the Truth of God, yet they teach very clearly that part of it which a troubled spirit needs. Does eternal love ordain sinners to eternal life irrespective of their works? Does the Lord absolutely, out of sovereign mercy, make men to be His children? Did God choose the chief of sinners and does He ever cast them away? Does He say, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy"? Does He declare that He is absolutely justified in doing whatever He wills with His own? Does He, on such terms as that, choose me? Then blessed be His name--such an election as this just suits my case! And I find that believing the doctrine in that light I can say to all my doubts and fears, "Jehovah who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!" The rebuke is forcibly applicable to the case in hand. He says, "Is this not a log plucked from the fire." Satan says, "The man's garments are filthy!" "Well," says Jesus, "how do you expect them to be otherwise? When you pull a log out of the fire, do you expect to find it milk-white or polished?" No, it had begun to crack and burn and though you have plucked it out of the fire, it is, in itself, still black and charred. So it is with the child of God. What is he at his best? Till he is taken up to Heaven, he is nothing but a log plucked out of the fire. It is his daily moan that he is a sinner. But Christ accepts him as he is--and He shuts the devil's mouth by telling him, "You say this man is black--of course he is--what did I think he was but that? He is a log plucked out of the fire! "I plucked him out of it. He was burning when he was in it--he is black now he is out of it. He was what I knew he would be--he is not what I mean to make him--but he is what I knew he would be. I have chosen him as a log plucked out of the fire. What have you to say to that?" Observe that this plea did not require a single word to be added to it from Joshua. If you look, Joshua did not say a solitary word. This so silenced the devil that he was speechless. How often Satan has been nonplussed! He has made up a very pretty case against us--he has caught us in our worst moments and he has thought, "I will sift him like wheat in my sieve." His plans would have succeeded, but there was a "but" in his way--(an unfortunate "but" for him, but a blessed "but" for us)! "But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not." Satan is something like Haman. What an admirable plot Haman had laid for the destruction of Mordecai and the Jews! Yes, but there was one little thing which he had not reckoned on--the Jews had a friend at court who lay in the bosom of the king. And so Satan has often a scheme for the destruction of God's people, but there is one thing which frustrates him, namely, that they have a dear Friend at Court who lies in the bosom of the Eternal King and who pleads for them! And while He is there poor Joshua shall never fail, for the great Joshua, even Jesus his near kinsman, says, "The Lord rebuke you Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a log plucked out of the fire?" IV. We have not yet entered into the soul of our text, but here it is--A MATCHLESS DEED OF GRACE. Thus said the Angel, "take away the filthy garments from him." Here is a picture of sin removed. Do you not think you see him? They have taken off his vestments, every single piece of the robe which was too defiled for him to wear has been taken away and there he stands! And as the Angel looks at him He sees the man's nakedness, but He cannot see any defilement, for the filth is all gone! So is every pardoned sinner! So am I this morning--so are you, dear Brothers and Sisters. God has commanded, "Take away his filthy garments from him," and as easily as we take off filthy robes, so easily does God take away sin through the Atonement of Christ. There is more than that here. The Lord does not only take away the sin itself, but He takes away the consciousness of it. You feel as if you could not serve God because sin is heavy on you. Look to Jesus, the Covenant Angel. Hear Him say, "It is finished," and if you can but lay hold on Him, in a moment you will lose all sense of sin! You will know yourself to be a sinner, but at the same time you will feel that you are a blood-washed sinner--a sinner saved by Divine Grace! And your soul, with your Savior's garments on--made holy as the Holy One--will venture close to the Throne and stand there unabashed. That is a delightful sentence where Paul speaks of "having our conscience purged from dead works." Not merely having the dead works forgiven, but having the conscience purged of them so that you have no more conscience of sin. Sin is gone! You do not stand, now, in God's sight as a sinner, but as one who is perfect in Christ Jesus! You have not a sin in God's book against you--you are absolved. Christ has said it, "Your sins, which are many, are forgiven you." You have an admirable picture of this in Joshua's losing his filthy garments. Nor was this all. The order was now given to clothe him--"I will clothe you with rich robes." Christ has performed complete obedience to the Divine Law. He had no need to do this for Himself, but He did it for His people. What He did is ours. The perfect obedience of Christ is imputed to every Believer! We wrap ourselves about with the garments of Christ, just as Jacob put on the robes of his brother Esau. And our Father gives us the blessing, because He finds us in our brother's clothes. Oh, this is gracious, because all the righteousness you and I could ever have if we had been perfect would only have been human--but this is Divine! Christ is the Lord our Righteousness and we are sumptuously arrayed in His seamless robe. Here let me remark that this is matter of experience, too, for the Believer gets to feel that he can now minister before God without trembling, because he wears Christ's garments. Oh, how delightful it is to preach dressed in the robes of Christ, or to pray when you feel you have Christ's vestments on! Oh, how fair a thing it is to minister at God's altar when you know that you are dressed in the white linen, the righteousness of Christ--so clean that even God's all-seeing eyes cannot detect so much as a spot or blemish on it. Pure, lovely, beautiful--without blemish from head to foot in the sight of God is every justified soul! Oh, Christian, never be satisfied unless you know this and live in the constant enjoyment of it. Notice one more thing and I will not keep you longer. The Prophet was so astonished to see the alteration which had taken place in Joshua dressed out in his new and sumptuous apparel that he broke in upon the vision, and spoke, himself! "And I said, Let them put a clean turban upon his head." I do not know what business Zechariah had to speak, but truly, if I had seen the vision, I must have done the same. Gazing through my tears, seeing the Lord's people thus transformed from filthiness to cleanliness and from shame to beauty, I think I should have said, "Now, Lord, finish the work. Make that servant of Yours to serve You. As he is perfectly clothed, now, Lord, put on the miter and make him fit to do your work." Some of God's people appear to me to forget this. They get as far as imputed righteousness and believe themselves to be accepted in the Beloved. There they are, content to tarry. But, ah, my soul desires even to say, "Lord, put a fair miter on the head of every one of Your saved ones." Some of you, I trust, are saved, but then how little you do for Christ! My prayer shall be for you--"Lord, put the miter on their heads! Make them priests--they ought to be such. You have washed them, cleansed them and clothed them on purpose that they may be such--but they have laid aside their miter--Lord, put it on their heads." I pray that you may have it on your head today! That you may in your family! In the Sunday school! Tomorrow in your business--in the street and in the shop! Go forth wearing the miter--ordained to be true priests unto God and exercising your functions! Do not lay aside your office! Some act with their miters as our kings and queens do with their crowns--they only put them on upon State occasions--they do not always wear them because they are too heavy. Oh Christian, your State occasion should be always! You are always dear to Christ and always near the Father's heart. Never take your miter off! Believers, put it on and go forth from this time forth praising and blessing the Covenant Angel who, in Jehovah's name, has taken away your filthy garments and who still stands by! I like that closing sentence--"And the angel of the Lord stood by." Oh, yes, we want Him always to stand by! When you have your new garments on, when you wear your miter, you still need His Presence. "Abide with us," must be our daily prayer. We still need His strength, His comfort, His smile--the help of His arm, the light of His countenance--for if we have Him not, we shall soon slip from our steadfastness and have reason to stand again, like Joshua, with filthy garments on. I have thus preached after a very feeble sort to God's people. There is this voice to sinners. Your case is like that of Joshua at first--for you have filthy garments on. Do not try to wash them. Nothing is said here about washing the garments, not a word! Do not try to make those old rags any better--there is nothing said about stitching or mending. Just confess that they are too bad to be mended, too filthy to be washed, and turn your eyes to Christ, the wounded Sufferer, and ask Him this morning to speak the word--"Take away the filthy garments from him. Clothe him with a change of raiment." I tell you, Sinner, what He did for Joshua, He will do for you! Oh seek His face and live! God help you to seek it and to find it this very morning and He shall have the praise forever and ever. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Jesus Washing His Disciples' Feet DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 29, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Then He came to Simon Peter: and Peter said unto Him, Lord, do You wash my feet?" John 13:6. OUR Savior had so steadfastly set His face towards the awful sufferings of His passion that when they actually approached He was not in the slightest degree disturbed or disconcerted. If you were perfectly aware that tomorrow morning, after a night of terrible agony, you would be led forth to a cruel and ignominious death you would probably feel like men distracted with terrible apprehensions. At any rate, if through Divine Grace you were able to be calm and peaceful, your mind would scarcely be in a fit state to minister consolation to others, or to conceive new methods of instruction for your friends. But behold your Lord and Master! It is eventide of the same night in which He was betrayed. He foreknows that the bloody sweat within an hour or two will crimson all His flesh. He is well aware that he who is eating bread with Him will that night betray Him. He foresees that He must feel the Roman scourge and be the victim of Jewish slander. He knows right well that He must bear all the wrath of God on the behalf of His people. And yet He sits at supper. He feasts as if no unusual cloud were lowering. And when the supper is over His inventive mind is fully at work with admirable plans of instruction for His disciples and among the rest He takes off His upper garment. He wraps Himself about the loins with a towel. He goes to them as they are reclining at full length around the table and coming behind them He begins to wash the feet of first one, and then another! What blessed calmness of mind! What hallowed serenity of spirit! O that our hearts were equally fixed on God in our days of trial and grief! Without question we may go further and take most solemn notice that there was in the near approach of death a joy in Jesus' heart into which no stranger could enter. Now was about to be accomplished that which He had longed for. Did He not say, "I have a Baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitened till it is accomplished. With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I die"? Did this account for His giving out a hymn of praise on that doleful night? "After supper they sang a hymn." Did that account for His adding these remarkable words--"Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in Him"? Did His joy in the prospect of what He was about to accomplish for His people swell to the very highest just about the time when the fountains of the depths of His griefs were about to be broken up and His spirit to be flooded in agony as He cried, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death"? O to know His joy--the joy of loving even unto death! Let us come at once to the teaching of the Savior and let it be surrounded with an unusual interest because of the fact that it is His dying teaching. Let us see Him as He girds Himself with the towel, remembering that He was soon to be girt with the bands of death! Let us see Him, I say, with a more profound interest because He is just upon the verge of these terrible depths where all the waves and billows of Jehovah's justice dashed over Him. His sermon beginning, "Let not your heart be troubled," is His swan song. These are the last drops of His life that He is now spending--at the supper table you have the wine which He keeps until now. As we see Him washing His disciples' feet we shall discover choice love worthy of the last solemn hour of departure. We shall take the text in four ways. First here is matter for enquiry, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" Secondly, here is matter for admiration--"Lord, do You wash my feet?" Thirdly, here is matter for gratitude. Fourthly, here is matter for imitation. I. HERE IS MATTER FOR ENQUIRY. We know that the Savior washed the feet of Peter, but does He wash our feet, also? We do not expect, of course, the literal transaction to take place. But is there anything in the conduct of Christ now analogous to His washing Peter's feet when on earth? He has washed all Believers, once and for all, in His most precious blood. But of this we do not speak this morning. Cleansing, as before the bar of justice, is completely accomplished forever for all the chosen by the great blood-shedding upon Calvary. That is a matter of the past--a thing for which to bless God for all eternity. "We are clean, through Jesus' blood we are clean." But here is another kind of washing--not of the entire man, but of the feet only. Not with blood, but with water--not in the fountain filled from the Savior's veins--but in a basin filled with water. Does our Lord Jesus do anything of this kind now? Doe He do anything so humbling to Himself and yet so needful for us? We answer, yes, He does. And, first, does not the Savior perform an action parallel with this when He watches over the temporal affairs of His people? You know, Beloved, that not a hair of your head falls to the ground without His care. In all your afflictions He is afflicted, and as the Angel of God's Presence, He saves you and carries you. Your most trifling trouble may be taken in prayer to Christ and spread before Him with as much certainty of deliverance as when Hezekiah spread Sennacherib's letter before the Lord--for Jesus waits to be gracious to His own. In every transaction we should adore the providential care of our great Shepherd and Friend for the government is upon His shoulders. Now, when Jesus thus superintends your mean affairs, looks to your family troubles and bears your household cares, saying unto you, "Cast all your care on Me, for I care for you," is He not, in effect, doing for you what He did for Peter? Is He not washing your feet--for He is caring for your lowest part and minding the poor dust-stained body. O King of Glory, the stars would not make a crown worthy of You! The tempest is but a poor chariot for Your Glory and the winds are but slow coursers to be harnessed to Your cart. And yet You stoop from all this greatness to observe man, who is less than a worm! To observe me--less than the least of all Your saints--and to care for me as a mother cares for her child! It is even so! He does do it--He does, in this sense, wash His people's feet! When Jesus Christ puts away from us day by day our daily infirmities and sins, does He not wash our feet? Last night, when you bowed the knee, you could not help confessing that there had been much in the week's transactions which was not worthy of your standing and profession. And even tonight, when the engagements of this day are over, you will have to mourn that you foolishly committed the very sins which you repented of weeks ago. You will have to admit that you have fallen again into the very sloughs of folly and sin from which special Grace delivered you long ago. And yet Jesus Christ will have great patience with you! He will hear your confession of sin! He will say, "I will, be you clean." He will again apply the blood of sprinkling--He will speak peace to your conscience and remove every spot. Oh, it is a great act of eternal love when Christ, once and for all absolves the sinner, takes him from under the dominion of the Law and puts him into the family of God! But what long-suffering and patience there is when the Savior, with much long-suffering, bears the daily follies of the recipient of so much mercy! Day by day and hour by hour He puts away the constant sin of the erring but yet beloved child! To dry up a flood of sin is something marvelous--but to endure the constant dropping of daily sins--to bear with that constant weary trying of patience, this is Divine, indeed! To blot out the whole of sin like a thick cloud is a great and matchless power, as well as Grace--but to remove the mist of every morning and the damp of every night--oh, this is condescension! I wish I could describe it--it is condescension well imaged in the washing of Peter's feet. Consider again. Our poor prayers which are very much the feet of our soul--since with them we climb to Heaven, with them we run after God--our poor prayers always need washing! It is oftentimes easier, Brothers and Sisters, to do a thing over at once than it is to mend and patch up a work which has been badly done by others. Then what patience it must require in Christ's case to take my poor, imperfect and polluted prayers and make them fit to be presented before His Father's face! There are His own prayers for me--I thank Him for them--for they prevail. But I cannot help also blessing Him that He should take my prayers and put them into the censer and offer them before His Father's face--for I am certain that before they can have been fit to offer they must have experienced a deal of washing. John tells us that He offers "the prayers of saints"--this is humbling Himself, indeed! Oh, how much of redundancy must have been taken away from our petitions when we have asked for what we ought not to have desired! How much of omission must have been made up when we have forgotten to ask for the things which we most needed! How much of unbelief He must take out of our prayers! How much coldness, deadness of heart! How much formality, wandering of thought! O how much holy life and unction, holy faith and holy joy, must the dear Redeemer infuse into our supplications before they are fit to come up before the ears of the Lord God of Hosts! Yes, in patiently bearing with my prayers He does daily wash my feet. Think again. Jesus makes our works acceptable. These may be compared to the soul's feet. It is by the feet that a man expresses his activity--the walk of a Christian--by this we mean the good works which the Christian performs for his Master. But look at our works! If Christ would simply throw all our good works into a heap and let them rot, that would be most deserving of them. If He would take our almsgiving, our preaching, our teaching of others, our prayers and thoughts and works all together and just cast them into Tophet's fire--how dare we complain? But instead of that He is not unrighteous to forget our work of faith and labor of love, but counts that here His Father is glorified in that we bear much fruit. We remember to have heard of someone who made sugar out of old rags. But then it was found that the sugar cost a great deal more than the sugar was worth. The manufacture cost was more than the goods were worth when produced. And judging from our point of view, this is something like our works. Jesus Christ makes sweetness out of the poor rags of our good works--surely I may say they cost Him more in the manufacturing than ever the raw material could have been worth, or the finished works themselves are worth, except in His esteem. Could He not, if He pleased, convert men without our preaching? But He will not do it! He would rather that they should be brought in by our imperfect preaching and therefore He washes our preaching--He washes our feet! Could He not save sinners without you, my Sister--without you, my Brother? And yet He sets you longing after souls and opens your mouth to speak a good word to them. And He accepts what you do! But oh, what condescension is there! What tenderness, what Divine stooping from His loftiness, that He should cleanse our works! It is more than He ever did for angels! When an angel had defiled his service, He banished him from Heaven. But with all the imperfection of our service, we expect that in Christ we shall be welcomed into Heaven with the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant." If you want other instances of the familiar condescension of Christ, let me remind you of how patiently He is content to suffer in His people's sufferings. Not a pang shoots through that head of yours but Jesus knows and feels it! Not a grief makes that bosom heave in which Christ is not a partaker. "I will make all their bed in their sickness." Oh, what a blessed text is that! As one old expositor says, "Not merely make their pillow, but their bolster and their bed and make all their bed, where their feet lie, where their head lies. All, all of it. I will come and I will have such sympathy with them in their entire grief, that from the beginning to the end of it I will make them happy in the midst of grief through My Divine consolations." "I will make all their bed in their sickness." Have you not had choice manifestations from Christ in your worst seasons--so exactly fitted to the peculiarity of your case--that you did not know which to admire most, the love which visited you, or the condescending care which so brought itself down to your case? He sat down at your bedside and put His loving care so entirely into your position that it felt as you felt and speak to you just the words which your case required. The Lord Jesus loves His people so, that every day He is washing their feet! Their poorest action He accepts. Their deepest sorrow He feels. Their smallest wish He hears and their greatest sin He forgives. He is still their servant as well as their friend--still He takes the basin--still He wears the towel. It is not only majestic deeds that He performs--as wearing the miter on His brow and the precious jewels glittering on His breastplate! He stands up to plead humbly, patiently--like a servant He goes about among His people--washing His disciples' feet. I would to God I could speak worthily on such a theme as this! But it is true, as your experience must tell you, that, "He remembers our low estate, for His mercy endures forever." Before I pass from this point, it is a matter of enquiry for some here--"Lord, do You wash my feet?" Some of you are not washed by Christ, for you live without thinking of Him. "I never did any harm," says one, "that I know of." I will ask you another question--what did you ever do for Christ? Can you answer that? You must reply "I have done nothing for Him whatever." Ah, then, if you have never been enabled to do anything for Him, I fear it is because you have lived thoughtlessly, without a care for Him. But, if He had ever washed your feet, you could not forget Him. And little as it might be, yet you would have done something and you would now be desiring to do more. Ah, my Hearers, some of you are so far from ever having your feet washed daily that you have never been washed at all! "There is a fountain filled with blood," but filled in vain, as far as you are concerned. There is a Savior, but you are unsaved. There is balm in Gilead, but you are not healed. There is a Physician there, but you are still sick! There is life in Christ, but you are dead! The bronze serpent is lifted up but you are dying of the fiery serpent's bite. One look at Jesus will save--but that look you have not given--you are without God, without Christ, without hope and "strangers from the commonwealth of Israel." May God the Holy Spirit visit you with His quickening power and convince you of your sin this morning! May He make you feel uneasy till you find Christ! May He give you a hunger and a thirst after Him that will never be satisfied till you clasp Him in your arms and say, "Christ is mine!" I would to God that I had not to make this remark, but I must make it in faithfulness to your souls. You are obliged to answer, "No, no, no. The Lord Jesus has never washed my feet." But then send up the prayer, "Lord, do it! Lord, do it now for Your love's sake." II. Our text is, in the second place, MATTER FOR ADMIRATION and that, too, in several respects. It is matter for admiration when we consider the freeness of the deed. "Lord, do You wash my feet?" It is perfectly wonderful that He should, for we have scarcely desired the mercy. If you look the chapter through, you do not find that Peter asked Christ to do it. Peter was lying down--he had just been eating at the supper--he had no thought of Christ's washing his feet! There was not one of the twelve that ever dreamed of such a thing! And when the Lord began to wash the feet of one, the others did not say, "Lord, come and do the same to me." No, it was unsolicited, unexpected! He comes, without any prayers or supplications on their part and He begins to wash their feet. Peter is surprised. It is great goodness on Christ's part to do what we ask Him to do--to hear our prayers when we really feel our need. But does He perform for us such menial, such generous acts, as to wash our feet without being asked? Oh, Beloved, if Christ did no more for us than we ask Him to do, we should perish forever! For nine out of ten of the things which He gives us, we never asked for! And what if I were to say that three out of four of them we scarcely know that we want? We do not know our own needs! We have a general view of our necessities, wholesale, as it were--but our daily needs, our daily wants--who among us can know them? Christ's sufferings are said, according to the Greek Liturgy, to have had unknown depths--"Your unknown sufferings." Were not those unknown sufferings endured for our unknown sins and to make a supply for our unknown wants--that we might have that multitude of mercies which we may style unknown mercies? We should not only bless God for the mercies which we have known, but for those which we have not known--for probably those make up the larger proportion. You that are Christians, some of you who have been believers in Christ ten or twenty years--have there not been many nights on which you have gone to bed without any particular sense of guilt and without any special intercession for peculiar cleansing? You have forgotten to ask for the cleansing, but He has never forgotten to give it! He has spontaneously washed your feet! You have risen in the morning--you were not aware that any special danger would come to you and you did not pray for special protection--but yet He knew it. And unasked and unsought for He has followed you, held the shield over you and kept you from danger. He has washed your feet without your having desired it, or having known that He had done it! Let His name be praised for this. These unsought favors of unspeakable love, these perpetual mercies of unslumbering carefulness--let them wake us now to gratitude and now may we exclaim with wonder, "Lord, is it so? Do You always continue thus to wash my feet?" The next subject of wonder is the Glory of the Person. "Lord! King! Master! God! Everlasting! Eternal! Almighty! King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Do you--do YOU wash my feet? You call the stars by their names and they shine by Your light! Mazzaroth comes forth in his season at Your bidding! You guide Arcturus with his sons! The heavens are Yours! The earth also is Yours! You sit upon the circle of the heavens and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers-- You hold the waters in the hollow of Your hand, You mete out Heaven with Your span--Lord, do You wash my feet? When You were on earth You tread the waters--the depths knew You and were like marble beneath Your feet. You frightened grim Death himself, for Lazarus came forth at Your bidding from the shades of the grave! Fevers knew You-- leprosy, paralysis, epilepsy--all diseases understood their Master's voice and fled at Your bidding. The winds were hushed at Your will--even the devils were subject to You! Though You were veiled in manhood Your creatures perceived Your greatness! Angels ministered unto You and the heavens were opened unto You. And do You wash my feet? my Brothers and Sisters, meditate on this! It is far more a theme for thought than for speech. He whom the angels worship takes a towel and girds Himself! Hark to the song, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth! Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Your Glory. All the earth does worship You, You eternal Son of the Father." "Lord, do You wash my feet?" Oh, think of this, spiritual men and women! Think till your hearts melt with love! No one else could cleanse us. The infinite God must take away the infinite blackness and filth of His people's sins! What a stoop is here! Let us lift up our eyes and wonder! Let us lift up our voices and praise His name that He should ever wash our feet! Change again the word. Observe the lowliness of the office. "Lord, do You wash my feet?" Here comes a traveler who has journeyed far. He is very weary. There is much dust upon his sandals and his feet are stained with travel. As soon as he treads the threshold of the hospitable house--a black slave, a servant, a hired servant--takes off his sandals, brings a basin, a pitcher full of water and begins to pour the water upon his feet, having first unloosed the latchets of his shoes and taken them off. The host does not stoop to this office! It is not the part of a master to wash feet! It is servile, menial, humiliating work. Yet this, which was the lowest of all offices in the East, is that which the Savior undertakes! Not in fiction and metaphor, but in reality, for every one of us! "Lord, do You wash my feet? To wash my head, Lord, is very gracious. To purge my mind from evil thoughts is very loving. To wash my hands, to take my heart and make that clean is very conde-scending--but do You absolutely do a slave's work and wash my feet? Lord, will You take the meanest part of me and wash that? I know You have said You will sanctify my spirit and my soul--there is much there--but will You sanctify my body, too? My feet, the lowest part of the man, the meanest part? Are You not content to leave spot or wrinkle upon me anywhere and therefore do You humble Yourself to the meanest, basest, lowest action of all--to wash my feet?" Truly, Beloved, this is subject of wonder! And yet the wonder is excelled if you remember that He shared a slave's death, as well as a slave's life. A slave's life--when He washed our feet! A slave's death--when they sold Him for thirty pieces of silver and afterwards pierced His hands and His feet. I put this deed of love in contrast. Conceive Him now in the highest heavens, with the keys of Heaven and earth and Hell swinging at His side. He is holding the silver scepter by which He governs all creation--can you imagine Him as every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father? And yet He, that same One, comes down from the grandeur of Heaven and the splendor of infinite honor and He washes, absolutely washes, in a slave's garb and after a menial manner, the feet of His disciples! Oh, that we felt a tender admiration worthy of this miracle of love! Once again, there is a note of wonder if you lay the stress upon the word "my"--"Lord, do you wash my feet?" Perhaps to some of you this will be the greatest marvel of all--the unworthiness of the object of this washing. "Do you wash my feet?" You have favored me with more mercies than the most of men! You have overwhelmed me with Your bounties. And yet my heart is hard towards You--I am often unbelieving, forgetful, slothful, careless. You might well cast me away forever! Because of my ingratitude You might well say, "Depart, I will have no more to do with you--I have had enough of patience. I cannot endure your ill manners!" Yet do You, Lord, absolutely condescend to wash my feet? "Here You have displayed Yourself more gloriously than ever--Your Grace has out-Graced itself." Thus would the preacher speak and he thinks he hears you follow him. "Lord," you say, "I once cursed You to Your face. There was a time when Your holy day was my best day of business--when Your House was a place which I abhorred! Your Book was unread. My knee was never bent to You--I boasted of my own righteousness! I was a sinner black and filthy--and do You wash my feet?!" 1 hear a Sister, with peculiar tenderness, say, "O Jesus, I would gladly wash Your feet with my tears and wipe them with the hair of my head, for I have been a sinner. And do You wash my feet?!" I think I hear another say, "Lord, I once denied You. I made a profession of Your faith, but in an evil hour I fell. I went into sin. I said, "I know not the Man!" And do You wash my feet?! I hear another say, "Lord, You know my private sins, my secret vices. I dare not tell into the ear of my fellow creature the faults into which I have fallen! I am only fit to be firewood in Hell-fire. There is nothing in me but what is not damnable! I am altogether as an unclean thing! And do You wash my feet?!" Oh, you that are the people of God, cannot you all find some special reason for wonder at this? There are some of you who are so poor that even some of your own Christian brethren are wicked enough to be half ashamed to own you! Yet Jesus Christ washes your feet! Your clothes would not sell for sixpence and yet He washes your feet! You scarcely have enough shoe leather to keep your feet from the cold and yet He washes them! You have been laughed at and despised and ridiculed and yet you have Christ to wash your feet! The moment your name is mentioned there are some ready at once to slander you and abuse you--yet so tenderly does Jesus love you that He washes your foulest part. However, I must leave you to think--for I cannot talk--I must leave you to think on such a precious passage as this. Certainly the angels of Heaven will never leave off wondering how it can be that their King, their Prince, their Leader, could so humble Himself as to become a Servant of servants--to take the very meanest of His people and declare that He will wash their feet--yes, and do it, too. One more subject for wonder. It is perfectly marvelous to remember that Christ does so completely wash our feet. "Do You wash my feet, Lord? Then there cannot be any filth on them. Do You wash my feet? Then they must be clean. It cannot be that You could wash and yet filth remain." When things are washed by careless servants, they need washing again--but when they are washed by the loving hands of Jesus--washed by Him who made Heaven and earth, surely they cannot be badly done! Come, then, you that feel you have been sinning the last week--you that are God's people, you that are resting on Christ but have a sense of guilt upon your consciences and cannot get rid of it and are sighing and crying--ask this question, "Lord, do You wash my feet? Then I will come to You. I will come with my feet all filthy if there is such a bath as this to be washed in. "If my sins are returned to me and appear to remain upon my conscience, if You wait, still, to wash me from present guilt and present depravity, then here I am--as at the first I came, I come again--nothing but Your merit do I rely upon! Nothing but Your love is my confidence! I give myself up to You--take me as I am and wash me clean." I say it is a subject for admiration, how thoroughly clean Christ does wash His people, so that they can really cry, "There is no spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing, even upon my feet! I shall be presented holy, unblamable and unreproveable in the sight of God, through Jesus Christ my Lord." III. Now we will turn from admiration to what may be more practical--to GRATITUDE. I hope we already feel that Heaven-born flame glowing in our souls. Here is matter for gratitude, then. I heard the other day of a meeting for prayer at which my dear Brother Offord--who so marvelously made confession of sin at our great Prayer Meeting in the first week of January--was moved to make another confession. And he did so in such a manner that the whole assembly was moved and there were audible sobs and cries from God's people while they confessed their transgressions. No sooner had he done so, than some Brother, wise above what is written, rose in the assembly and said he thanked God he could not join in the confession--his sins were all forgiven him and therefore he had no sins to confess! He stood before God so accepted in Christ that he had no sins whatever to make confession of. His prayer went far to spoil the meeting and to grieve the people of God! I do occasionally meet with erring Brethren, who say, "I never make any confession of sin." "I have prayed for months," said one to me, "and I have never made any confession of sin. I believe all my sins are forgiven and I have none to confess." Now, at the very first mention of this, do you not feel shocked? The holy sensibilities of a child of God suffer violence from the very thought of such absence of repentance! I should have been surprised if I did not hold myself prepared to hear any monstrosity from persons tinctured with the gall of Plymouth Brethrenism. Concerning that sect, much as I love and respect many of its members, I dare not say less than this--that God alone knows what they will teach tomorrow! They seem to be given up to the inventions of their own vainglorious minds to concoct and devise delusions without number. They have one mark of the Babylon which they profess to abhor--for mystery is written on their very brow. I pray God to keep our young people from their company, for their professions and pretences are such as might, if it were possible, deceive the very elect! Gracious men I grant them to be, but as to doctrine as mad as March hares and as perverse us bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke! When I first heard this doctrine of not confessing sins, I was startled. I felt as if I could have no more communion with a man who could talk in that way. Go on your knees and not confess sin? My dear Friends, I hope to die with this upon my lips, "I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek Your servant, for I do not forget Your Commandments." I hold that I shall be out of Christ altogether when I reject repentance and confession. I know that my sins are forgiven me! There is no man in the world who preaches more than I do the doctrine that Christ has forever made a full atonement for the sins of all His people! But as to not making a confession of sin, God forbid these lips should ever utter anything so unGospel-like, so un-Christlike! Let us put this matter before you plainly. It is quite certain that those whom Christ has washed in His precious blood need not make a confession of sin as before God the Judge because they are no longer under God as Judge. They are not ruled and governed upon the principle of Law at all. Christ has forever taken away all their sins in a legal sense so that no one can bring anything to their charge and they need not confess where there is no one to accuse. The blood of Jesus has set His people entirely away from the position of prisoners under the Law. They do not stand where they can be condemned. They are no longer culprits or criminals. They are taken from under the dominion of the Judge. But what are God's people? Why they are children and as long as God is their Father and they are children, and imperfect children, nature teaches them that it is the duty of children to make a confession to their Father. If my boy should do anything amiss--God forbid it ever should be--but suppose it were some petty theft, I might say, "My Child, as far as that theft is concerned, no policeman shall take you. You shall not be taken before the bar or put in prison for that. You are quite forgiven as far as that is concerned." I do not wish him to go before the magistrate and make a confession--but then he has offended me, his father. And I, as his father, expect him to confess the wrong that he has done to me and if he does not, I chasten him, not by way of penal infliction--that is not my part as a father, I have nothing to do with penalties to my children--but by way of chastisement that he may be led to see his fault, and may do it no more. No father who has his wits about him ever chastens his child in the light of punishment for the offense itself. No, he says, that is not my business--the offense must be punished by God, or if it is an offense against the law of the land, by the law of the land. When a father scourges, he does it for chastisement--for the good of the person chastised--not as a vindication of law and order. Now the Lord never chastens His people because of any sin in them in order to punish them for their sin--He has punished Christ instead of them--they are quite clear there. But now having become children, and offending as children, ought they not every day to go before their heavenly Father and confess the sin and acknowledge the iniquity? The Divine Grace of God in the heart would teach us all that it should be so. We daily offend as children. We offend, as we could not offend if we were not children. I doubt my Father--I am guilty of a want of love to Him, or obedience to Him. I offend as I could not offend if I were not His child. Supposing that this offense against my Father is not at once washed away by the cleansing power of the Lord Jesus-- what will be the consequence of it? Why I shall get under the thralldom of bad habit. I shall feel such defilement in my nature that I shall do it again and again and again--what I had once done--till I get into the habit of doing it. If I am not washed from these offenses against my Father, I shall feel at a distance from Him. I shall begin to doubt His love to me. I shall tremble at Him. Most likely I shall be afraid to pray to Him--I shall get to be like the prodigal, who, while he was a child, was yet far off from his father. If I am not washed, I shall very soon have need to feel the rod and I shall have it. But oh, Beloved, if the Lord Jesus Christ, day by day shall come to me and wash my feet from these defilements of offenses against my Father, why then I shall, to a great extent, escape the rod! I shall feel a holy love to my Father! I shall walk in the light of His countenance! I shall have joy and peace through believing and I shall go through my Christian career, not only as saved, but as one enjoying present peace in God through Jesus Christ my Lord! I think you can see the difference between Christ putting away sin by blood and by water. I think you can see the distinction between confessing sin as a culprit and confessing sin as a child. And I think you can see how much gratitude you owe to Christ, that after having once set you free from the Law, He, day by day, as your Elder Brother, goes in before your Father's face and still keeps you right before the Father. And when there has been any defilement, or any wrong, He washes your feet from it that you may still stand with peace in your conscience, with joy in your heart, with love in your bosom and with the Father's love shed abroad in you! Here is matter for gratitude--that having once washed head and hands and feet with blood--He still does daily wash my feet with water. For my part, I mean to keep on praying, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." And it shall always be my joy that, "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father," and, "the blood of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son, cleanses us from all sin." IV. The last point is MATTER FOR IMITATION. Does Jesus wash our feet? Then we ought to wash one another's feet. Some of our Brethren, the Scotch Baptists, were accustomed to wash the saints' feet literally. I dare say it would not do some of the saints much harm. But still it never was intended for us to carry out literally the example of the Savior. There is a spiritual meaning here and what He means is this--if there is any deed of kindness or love that we can do for the very meanest and most obscure of God's people, we ought to be willing to do it--to be servants to God's servants-- to feel like Abigail did, when she said to David, "Let your handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord." Abigail became David's wife--that is the true position of every Christian--but yet she felt she was not worthy even to wash his servants' feet. That must be our spirit. Do you know any poor bedridden soul? Go and talk with that poor woman, or that poor man. Seek to take comfort to that poor man's miserable lodgings. Do you know a Brother who is rather angry in temper and he wants a kind word said to him and someone says, "I will not speak to any such person as he is?" Do it--do it, my dear Brothers and Sisters--go and wash his feet! Do you know one who has gone astray? Someone says, "I would not like to be seen in association with him." My dear Friend, you are spiritual--go and restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. Wash his feet! There is another riding the high horse--he is very, very proud. One says, "I am not going to humble myself to him." My dear Brother, go to him and wash his feet! Whenever there is a child of God who has any defilement upon him and you are able to point it out and rid him of it--submit to any degradation, put yourself in any position-- sooner than that child of God should be the subject of sin! Especially let those who are highest among us seek to do the lowest offices. "Whoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." Remember that Christ's way of rising is to go down. He descended, that He might ascend. And so must we. Let us count that forevermore it is our highest honor and our greatest glory to lay aside all honor and all glory and to win honor and glory out of shame and humiliation for Christ Jesus' sake. I believe this is done in this Church. I hope we are as free as possible from the feeling of caste--God deliver us from the last relic and remnant of it! You are Brothers and Sisters in Christ! Love one another! "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted--but the rich in that he is made low." You are Brothers and Sisters and one is your Master, even Christ. Try to carry out, every one of you to your utmost, the teaching of your Lord--that you should wash one another's feet. You have an opportunity of doing it in the collection--for I believe that these servants of God--these aged ministers, these ministers who are in great poverty--need today that you should, by your contributions, wash their feet. __________________________________________________________________ The Strong One Driven Out By A Stronger One DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 5, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divides his spoils. He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathers not with Me scatters. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest. And finding none, he says, I will return unto my house from where I came out. And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished. Then goes he and takes to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first." Luke 11:21-26. THE Lord Jesus is ever in direct and open antagonism to Satan. "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed," has been most emphatically fulfilled. Christ has never tolerated any truce or parley with the Evil One and never will. Whenever Christ strikes a blow at Satan, it is a real blow and not a feint and is meant to destroy, not to amend. He never asks Satan's help to subdue Satan--never fights evil by evil--He uses the weapons which are not carnal, but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. And He uses them ever with this intention--not to dally with Satan, but to cut up his empire, root and branch. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." There is a deadly, implacable, infinite, eternal hatred between Christ and that sin of which Satan is the representative. No compromise can ever be thought of, no quarter will ever be allowed. The Lord will never turn from His purpose to bruise Satan under His feet and to cast him into the lake of fire. Therefore there was nothing more libelous than the assertion of certain Pharisees in Christ's day that He cast out devils through Beelzebub, the Prince of devils! O base suggestion that the Lord of Glory was in league with the dunghill deity, the Prince of devils! He never fights the Lord's battles with the devil's weapons! He has not the most distant affiance with evil! It is not possible that He should be the friend and patron of that spirit of unhallowed charity which for the sake of peace would give tolerance to error. No, Christ never allies Himself with Satan to advance the kingdom of God. He comes against him as a strong man armed, determined to fight until He wins a decisive victory. We shall observe this more clearly as we open up the passage now before us. Our text presents us with a picture of man in his sinful state. Then it gives us a representation of man for a time reformed, but eventually subjected to the worst forms of evil. And it also shows us a graphic portrait of man, entirely conquered by the power of the great Redeemer. I. First, WE SHALL ATTENTIVELY LOOK AT THE PICTURE OF MAN AS HE IS IN A STATE OF NATURE. "When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace." Observe that although man's heart was intended to be the Throne of God, it has now become the palace of Satan--whereas Adam was the obedient servant of the Most High and his body was a temple for God's love, now, through the Fall, we have become the servants of sin and our bodies have become the workshops of Satan. "The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience." This spirit is called a strong man and truly so he is-- who can stand against him? Like the monster in the book of Job, we may say of him, "Lay your hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. Behold, the hope of him is in vain! Shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?" Though a thousand Philistines are smitten hip and thigh with a great slaughter by Samson, the avenger of Israel, yet the strong man falls a victim to the stronger fiend. That mighty hero, though he could rend a lion, was no match for the lion of the pit who overcame him to his shame and hurt. Solomon, the wisest of men, was outwitted by Satan, for his heart was led astray by the arch-tempter. Even he who was the sire of men was overthrown by this dread enemy in the early days of innocence and happiness. He is so strong that if all of us should combine against him, Satan would laugh at us as Leviathan laughs at the shaking of the spear. Strong he is, not simply as possessing force, but in the sense of cunning. He knows how to adapt his temptations to our besetting sins. He discovers fitting times in which to assail us. He understands that there is a time when kings go forth to battle and he is ever ready for the fight. He is a good swordsman. He knows every cut and guard and thrust and parry and he knows our weak places and the joints in our harness. Christians who have ever stood foot to foot with him will give him credit for this--that he is strong, indeed. And unbelievers who have at any time sought to resist his power in their own strength have soon been made to feel that their strength was perfect weakness. He is a strong man with a vengeance! Oh, Christian, well is it for you that there is a stronger than he--the might of Satan would crush you to your ruin if it were not that the almighti-ness of Christ comes in to the rescue! It is said of this strong man, moreover, that he is armed. Truly the Prince of the power of the air is never without weapons. His principal weapon is the lie. The sword of God's Spirit is the Truth, but the sword of the evil spirit is the lie. It was by falsehood that he overthrew our race at first and despoiled us of perfection. And it is with continued falsehoods, of which the lie is both the forger and the user, that he continues to destroy the souls of men. He will tell the sinner sometimes that he is too young to think of death and of eternal things. And when this weapon fails he will assure him that it is too late, for the day of Grace is over-- "He feeds our hopes with airy dreams. Or kills with slavish fear. And holds us still in wide extremes, Presumption, or despair. Now he persuades, 'Howeasy 'tis To walk the road to Heaven!' Then he swells our sins and cries, 'They cannot be forgiven!' Thus he supports his cruel throne By mischief and deceit, And drags the sons of Adam do wn To darkness and the pit." He has a way of making the worse appear the better reason. He can put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter--make men believe that it is to their own advantage to do that which is causing their everlasting ruin. He can make men carry coals of fire in their bosoms and dream that they shall not be burned. He can make them dance upon the brink of Hell as though they were on the verge of Heaven. Alas, fools that we are, how readily do his lies prevail against us! Then he has the well-feathered arrows of pleasure. The strong man is armed with the lusts of the flesh. Dainty dalliances he offers to some--overflowing cups that sparkle to the eye he presents for others! Glittering wealth he gives to the avaricious and the trump of fame and all the smoke of applause he promises to others. Weapons? Why, I cannot attempt to mention all the war-like implements of the Prince of the power of the air. He can hurl fiery darts as thick as hail. His breath kindles coals and a flame goes out of his mouth. When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid. Bunyan's half-inspired imagination pictured him thus--"Now the monster was hideous to behold. He was clothed with scales like a fish (and they are his pride). He had wings like a dragon, feet like a bear, and out of his belly came fire and smoke and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion." He is well armed at every point and he knows how to arm his slave--the sinner, too. He will plate him from head to foot with mail and put weapons into his hands against which the puny might of Gospel ministers and of human conscience can never prevail. Then we are told that he wears armor--for we read that the stronger warrior, "takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted." Certain it is the evil spirit is well informed in that which is proof against all terrestrial steel. Prejudice, ignorance, evil education--all these are chain-armor with which Satan girds himself. A hard heart is the impenetrable breastplate which this evil spirit wears! A seared conscience becomes to him like leaves of brass. Living in sin is a helmet of iron. We know some who, through a long period of years, have harbored within them an evil spirit which seems to have no joints in its harness at all. It were as easy to draw blood from granite as to reach some men's hearts--the demon who possesses them is not to be wounded by our artillery. "His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a closed seal. His heart is as firm as a stone--yes, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone." We have preached at such men, prayed for them, spoken sharply, spoken tenderly, assaulted them from every quarter, wooed them with love Divine, thundered at them with the judgments of God and with the terrors of His Law. But the strong man is so completely mailed that as yet we have made no impression upon him whatever. When we have struck him with such a blow that he seemed to reel, yet the armor has been thick enough to save him from a deadly wound. "The sword of him that strikes at him cannot hold, nor the spear, the dart, nor the coat of mail. He thinks of iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee--stones from slingshots are turned by him into stubble. The flakes of his flesh are joined together--they are firm in themselves. They cannot be moved." Notice, again, this strong man--besides being armed and plated with armor--is very watchful. It is said, "he keeps his palace." He keeps it like the faithful warden who with ceaseless tramp and sleepless eye holds watch upon the castle wall. He does not put on the armor to sleep in it. You may find sleeping saints, but never sleeping devils. The restless activity of fallen angels is something awful to contemplate--"they rest not day nor night"--but like ravenous lions go about seeking their prey. When Satan enters a man's heart, he takes care to watch whenever there is the slightest chance of the Truth of God coming in and driving him from his throne. He puts a double guard on the person when he is under the sound of the Word. He will let you go to those places where the minister never attacks the conscience and never cries aloud against sin--for he feels that there his kingdom is not assailed. But wherever the true Gospel is preached and preached with Divine power, hosts of devils are sure to gather, "Because," says Satan, "there is danger to my dominions now. I will set a double garrison to protect my citadel against the attack of God's Truth." Beware, O saints, when the Lord, the Holy Spirit, is working, for the great enemy is certain to be doubly active at such seasons! He keeps his goods. How would I delight to catch him unawares, but this leviathan is not to be taken with a hook, nor is his jaw to be bored through with a thorn. We may drop a warning to the sinner here, we may speak the passing word of exhortation there, we may stand in the corner of yonder street and declare salvation, or we may occupy the pulpit in Jesus' name--we may use all the means which ingenuity can devise--but Satan is always as prompt as we are, having his unclean birds always ready to carry away any seeds that may be scattered upon the soil. While men sleeps he sows tares, but he never slumbers himself. As Hugh Latimer used to say, he is the most industrious bishop in England. Other bishops may neglect their dioceses, but Satan, never! He is always making visitations and going from place to place upon his evil business to watch after his black sheep. The sinner's heart must be carried away by storm if it is ever taken, for there is no hope of taking the Evil One by surprise. We have in the text a good reason given why Satan thus watches over the man whose heart he inhabits--because he considers the man to be his property--"he keeps his goods." They are not his in justice. Whatever goods there are in the house of manhood must belong to God who built the house and who intended to tenant it. But Satan makes up a claim and calls everything in the man his property. The man's memory he makes a storehouse for ill words and bad songs. The man's judgment he perverts so that the scales and weights are false. The man's love he sets on fire with coals of Hell and his imagination he dazzles with foul delusions. All the powers of the man, Satan claims--"I will have his mouth--he shall swear for me! I will have his eyes--they shall wander after vanity! I will have his feet--they shall take him to the place of sinful amusement! I will have his hands--he shall work for me and be my slave!" The heart is hard and the conscience stupefied and therefore-- "Sin like a raging tyrant sits Upon his flinty throne, And all that's good is crushed to death, Beneath this heart of stone." He claims the whole man to be his own. And it is amazing how readily his claim is allowed! Men fancy music in the chains with which Satan binds them and hug the fetters which he hangs upon them! Men cheerfully obey the Prince of Darkness and yet it is hard, ah, hard indeed, to bring the followers of Jesus to yield up their members in full obedience to the sweet Prince of Peace. Nor is this all! Satan not only claims possession, but he claims sovereignty! You perceive it is said, "his palace." A palace is usually the abode of a king--so Satan considers himself a great king when he dwells in the human heart. Divine Sovereignty has ever been the great target of Satan's attacks, because he aspires to set up his own infernal sovereignty. His sway over men is imperial and his government despotic. When he takes possession of the human heart he says to his servant, "Go," and he goes. And to his captive, "Do this," and he does it. He will not be regulated and ruled by reason, but he will have his own will obeyed in all its madness of rebellion. His declaration is made in apish imitation of the great God. "Cannot I do as I will with my own." "I am, and there is none beside me." To what extravagances of sovereignty will not Satan go with men! He will allure them to drunkenness--nor is that enough--he will hurry them into delirium tremens. He will drive them out of their senses and urge them to lay violent hands upon themselves--no, he often covers his victims with their own blood shed by themselves! An old preacher took for his text, "When the devils entered into the swine the whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters." One of his points was, "The devil drives his hogs to a bad market." And there is much truth in the rough assertion--when he gets into men there is no telling where they will go. Another point was, "They run hard whom the devil drives." Unto what extremities of sottish folly, cruelty and self-injury will not men go when once Satan gains possession of them? Like Baal's priests they are cutting themselves with knives! Like the Gadarene demoniac dwelling in tombs and wearing no clothes! Like the child in the Gospel sometimes cast into the fire and then into the water--such are men when the devil rules them. No king could ever walk in his palace and say, "All this is mine," with such pride as Satan when he walks through the heart of man! He can boastingly cry, "This man will fall down and worship me! He will sacrifice his comfort, his very life to me! He will drain my cups and not refuse the poison in the dregs! He will go upon my service and not ask me whether death is to be the everlasting wages!" Oh, that God had such willing servants, such joyful martyrs as those who obey the devil! You may see the devil's martyrs in every gin palace--ragged, haggard and diseased. You may see them in the early morning shivering till the time shall come when they shall drink another dram of Hell-draught. You may see them in every moonlit street, waiting in the cold, damp mists of night to be offered up upon his altar to prostitute both body and soul to his unhallowed worship. You may see them in every hospital rotting into their graves--their bones full of disease and their very blood polluted with a filthy taint of loathsomeness. You may see them, I say, all eager to sacrifice soul and body as a whole burnt offering to be wholly consumed by the infernal fire--that they may serve Satan with their whole heart! Oh, that we were half as faithful to God as the devil's servants are to him. The heart is well called Apollyon's palace, for he reigns with absolute dominion there. O eternal God, drive him out! I must not leave this picture until you have observed that it is said, "while he keeps his palace, his goods are in peace." This is the most fearful sign in the whole affair. The man is quite undisturbed--conscience does not prick him-- why should it? God does not alarm him--who is God, that he should obey His voice? Thoughts of Hell never disturb him. "Peace, peace," says Satan, "it is well with you now--leave these bugbears to those who believe in them." The wrath of God, which abides on him, never frets him! When men are mortifying, they feel no pain in the mortified member. Men who are stupefied with opium may be naked but they are not cold. They may have empty stomachs, but they are not hungry. They may be diseased in body but they do not feel the torment--they are drunk and know not their misery! And so it is with the most of carnal men--nothing awakens them. The sermon is listened to with a remark upon the style of the speaker, but the Truth of God is neglected. A judgment comes--the funeral bell tolls--a tear or two may be shed but they are soon wiped away and the man goes his way, like "the dog to his vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." "I know nothing of what it is to be troubled in conscience," says one. "I am quite easy--I am as jolly as the days are long." I dare say you are--I wish you were not! If you were dissatisfied with your old master, there would be some hope that you would leave him and return to your Father's house--but so long as you are content with the world and with the Prince who governs it, you will go on, on, on, to your own destruction! Satan does with men as the sirens are fabled to have done with mariners. They sat upon the rocks and chanted songs so harmonious that no mariner, who once heard the sound, could ever resist the impulse to steer his ship towards them. So each vessel voyaging that way was wrecked upon the rocks through their disastrous, but enchanting strain. Such is Satan's voice--he lures to eternal ruin with the sweetest strains of infernal minstrelsy. He can play sonatas so inimitably enchanting in their harmony that it is not in poor mortal flesh and blood, unaided by the Spirit of God, to stand against their thrilling witchery. This is the melodious note--"Peace, peace, peace, peace." O Sinner, if you were not a fool you would stop up your ears to this treacherous lie! Forever blessed is that Sovereign Grace which has saved us from the enchantments of this destroyer! The tenant of the heart is called "an unclean spirit." He is unclean, notwithstanding all the peace he gives you. I pray you not flatter yourself to the contrary. He is ever the same, unchanged, unchangeable. Perhaps you tell me that you are not subject to any uncleanness. You say you do not drink nor swear, nor lie. But remember, it is unclean to be unreconciled to God! It is unclean to be a stranger to Christ! It is unclean to disobey God who created you. And above all it is unclean not to love the Redeemer whose most precious blood has delivered His people from their sins. At his best the devil is no better than a devil and the heart in which he dwells is no better than a den for a traitor to hide in. Thus I have given you an outline interpretation of the text--it would need much time to fill up and bring out the whole of its meaning. II. Now let us notice THE PARTIAL REFORMATION HERE DESCRIBED. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest. And finding none, he says, I will return unto my house from where I came out. And when he comes, he finds it swept and garnished. Then goes he and takes to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. And they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first." Observe, then, that in the case before us the unclean spirit goes out of his own free will. He is not turned out--there is no conflict--the house still remains his own property for it is written at the end of the twenty-fourth verse, "I will return unto my house from where I came out." He retires from his palace of his own free will, intending to return at his leisure or pleasure. There are some persons who appear to be converted who think they are so and therefore make a profession and are cheerfully received into the Christian Church because their outward life gives evidence of a very great and remarkable change. I could now picture some who, to my great grief, come under my tearful observation. Some who were once with us, but have long since arrived at the last end which was "worse than the first." When the unclean spirit goes out of a man he becomes quite different from what he used to be. Very likely the shop that was open on the Sunday is now shut up. He turns his footsteps to the place where God's people meet for worship. He begins to pray, even sets up family prayer. He attends Prayer Meetings, feels some sort of enjoyment in the excitement of religion. He goes where the saints go and to a great extent in life he acts as they act. The unclean spirit is fairly gone out of the man and he is another man--though not a new creature in Christ Jesus. But I have said there was no struggle about it. It was suddenly that the spirit went out and the man jumped into religion. There was no repentance, no conviction, no struggling against depravity, no weeping before the Lord in prayer and no looking up to the Crucified Savior and reading pardon in His wounds. There was no agonizing struggle after holiness, no wrestling with evil--joy came suddenly and the man thought himself saved. The man was a sinner yesterday and he appears to be a saint today--nobody knows how. You talk to him about the work of the Spirit in his soul, convincing him of sin, breaking him with the hammer of the Law or by the power of the Cross, pounding him in pieces, compelling him to feel that his righteousness is filthy rags. He does not understand you. The unclean spirit is gone out of the man and that is all. Why does the evil spirit leave a man for a time? Has he not some hellish purpose in view? Certainly he has! I think it is often because he feels if he does not go out he will be driven out, and he thinks that by giving way for a time he will satisfy the conscience till he gets it lulled to sleep faster than ever. Thus he will stoop to conquer, retreat to draw his opponent into an ill position. He will allow his throne to shake so that he may reestablish his dominion permanently. Moreover, he thinks that by letting the man indulge in a little religion for a time, and then turn aside from it he will make him permanently skeptical so that he will hold him fast by the iron chain of infidelity and drag him down to Hell with that hook in his jaws. Now, after a time it appears that the evil spirit returned. He could find no rest for himself except in the hearts of the wicked and therefore he came back. There is no opposition to his entrance, the door is not locked--or if it is he has the key. He comes in--there is no tenant, no man in possession--no other proprietor. He looks round and cries, "Here is my house. I left it when I took my walks abroad and I have come back and here it is ready for me." In due time the devil comes back to those persons who are reformed but not renewed--who are changed but not made new creatures in Christ Jesus. But what does the devil see? First of all he sees the place to be empty. If it had been full he could not have entered again. If Jesus Christ had been at the door there would have been a very terrible struggle for a little time, but it would have ended in Satan being driven away in disgrace. But it is empty and therefore he quietly resumes his sway. The devil shouts his, "Halloa!" and there is an echo through every room, but no intruder starts up. "Is Christ here?" No answer. He goes outside and he looks at the lintel, for Christ's mark is sure to be there if Jesus is within. "No mark of blood on the post. Christ is not here," he says. "It is empty, I will make myself at home." If Jesus had been there, though He had been hidden in a closet, yet when He came out He would claim possession and drive out the traitor and say, "Be gone! This is no place for you. I have bought it with My blood and I mean to possess it forever." But it is empty and so Satan fills it with stores of evil. The next thing the fiend notices is that it is swept--as one says, "Swept, but never washed." Sweeping takes away the loose dirt--washing takes away all the filth. O to be washed in Jesus' blood! Here is a man whose house is swept--the loose sins are gone. He is not a drunkard, there is a pledge over the mantelpiece. He is no longer lustful--he hates that sin--or says he does, which is as much as the devil wants him to do. The place is swept so tidy, so neat, you would not know him to be the same man as he used to be. And he himself is so proud to think he has got his house so clean and he stands up at the threshold as he meets the devil with a, "Good morning!" And he says "I am not as other men are, I am neither an extortioner, nor a drunkard! Nor even as that Christian over yonder who is not half what he ought to be--nor a fraction as consistent as I am." And as the devil looks round and finds the place swept, he finds it garnished, too. The man has bought some pictures--he has not real faith, but he has a fine picture of it over the fireplace. He has no love to the Cross of Christ, but he has a very handsome crucifix hanging on the wall. He has no Divine Grace of the Spirit, but he has a fine vase of flowers on the table--of other people's experiences and other people's graces--and they smell tolerably sweet. There is a fireplace without fire, but there is one of the most handsome ornaments for the fireplace that was ever bought for money. It is swept and garnished. Oh, the garnished people I have met!--garnished, sometimes, with almsgiving--at other times with long-winded prayers! Garnished with the profession of zeal and the pretense of reverence! You will find a zealous Protestant--oh, so zealous--who would go into fits at the sign of a cross and yet will commit fornication! Do you think such a case impossible? I know such a case. You find persons shocked because another boiled a teakettle on a Sunday, or insured his life, or assisted at a bazaar, who will cheat and draw the eye teeth out of an orphan child, if they could get a sixpence by it! They are swept and garnished. Walk in, Ladies and Gentlemen! Did you ever see a house so delightfully furnished as this? How elegant--how tasteful! Just so--but men may be damned tastefully and go to Hell respectably just as well as they can in a vulgar and debauched fashion! You see the whole, how it ends. Satan is very pleased to find the place as it is, and thinking that this is too good for one, he goes abroad and asks in seven of his friends worse than himself--for some devils are worse than others. And they come in and hold high holiday in the man's soul. What do we mean by that? Why, we mean that such persons do really become more wicked, more hardened, more ungodly than they were before they professed to be Christians! It is really a shocking thing that if you want to find a thoroughbred, out-and-out transgressor, you must find one who once made a profession of religion! When Satan wants a servant who will do anything and ask no questions--who will swallow camels as well as gnats--he finds one that once stood high in the Christian Church. If he can find one who used to sing Christ's song, that is the throat to sing the devil's song! If he can find one who once sat at the sacramental table, he will say, "This is the man to sit at the head of my banquets and conduct my feasts for me." These renegades, these traitors, these Ahithophels, these Judases, these men who have known the Truth of God and have been once, in a manner, enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gifts and the powers of the world to come in a certain sense--and yet fall away--these become like salt that is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill--even men cast them out! They are trees twice dead, plucked up by the roots--wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Have I any such in this place, any who were once swept and garnished, into whom Satan has returned? My Friend, from my soul I pity you! What will be your portion? No common Hell will be yours! Remember, there are re- served places in the pit and those are reserved for such as you are. Read the letter of Jude and you will there find that there are some for whom are reserved, "the blackness of darkness forever." That is your case and this will be the aggravation of it--you sat at the Master's Table and you must now drink the cup of fire! You preached in Christ's courts but you must now give forth a dolorous sermon concerning your own apostasy! You sang God's praises once--you must now howl out the Miserere of the damned! You had a glimpse of Heaven-- you shall now have a dread insight into Hell! You talked about eternal life, you shall now feel eternal death--plunged in waves of flame, never to rise again, never to hope, never even to die, for to die were bliss. How dreadful shall your case be! In this world seven times worse than before, but in the world to come, damned, damned with an awful emphasis which common sinners cannot know. I pray God that these truths may make us watchful, make us careful lest we be found hypocrites or self-deceived professors. III. I turn to a much more pleasing duty, which is TO TAKE UP THE SAVIOR'S DESCRIPTION OF TRUE CONVERSION. "When a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted and divides his spoils." Now, observe here is a "stronger than he." This is not the man, himself. The man is the house--the man is not so strong as the devil--who is this? This is Jesus Christ who comes by His Spirit into the heart of man! The Spirit of God is vastly superior to Satanic power, as much as the infinite Creator Himself must ever be superior to the finite creature. He who made Satan knows how to lay at him with His sword so as to cut Rahab and wound the dragon. It is not, you see, the result of the man's free will--it is not the result of the devil's free will, either. It is the result of a stronger than he coming into the soul. As soon as the stronger than he comes in there is a conflict. "He comes upon him," that is to say, He attacks him! And ah, how vehemently does Christ lay to at the great enemy of souls! One sword-cut cuts away the plume of pride! Another blow takes away the comfort of sin a and another destroys the reigning power of sin. What a struggle there often is when man is worked upon by the Holy Spirit! With all the power of prayer, with all the might of faith the poor soul struggles against Satan! Christ struggles with all the power of His blood and the blessings of His Spirit and yet we know in some cases the arch fiend has been allowed to hold out for days, for weeks, even for months because of the unbelief of the poor soul. "He could not do many mighty works there," it is written, "because of their unbelief." This fight will sometimes grow so hot that the soul will choose strangling rather than life and yet the result of it is never doubtful! For notice in the text that the stronger than he overcomes at the last. Oh, well do I remember when the stronger than Satan overcame in my soul! Five years, more or less, was there a conflict. Sometimes my proud heart would not yield to Sovereign Grace. At another time a willful spirit would go astray after vanity. But at last, when Jesus showed His wounds and said to me, "Look unto Me and be you saved, all the ends of the earth," I could hold out no longer and the evil spirit could resist no more! The wounds of Christ had wounded the old dragon and the death of the Savior became the death of sin. Oh, there are many of us who know what it is to be conquered, to be subdued by a power other than our own! And in every case there must be this experience, or there is no real life. Dear Hearer, if your religion grew in your own garden it is a weed and good for nothing! If your grace springs up as the result of your own willing, your own acting, and your own seeking, it is good for nothing! Christ must seek you! It must be a power far above you--mightier than you, far stronger than you and the devil put together--which must deliver you from your sins. As soon as ever the stronger man has conquered the enemy, what does He do? He takes the sword of rebellion, snaps it across His knee and pulls the armor from the back of the unclean spirit. Prejudice, ignorance, hard-heartedness--all these are pulled off the old enemy. I think I see him--I think I see the Savior stripping him to his shame and ejecting him from the heart with abhorrence. There, let him go among the dry places and again seek rest and find none. Happy day! Happy day for the palace which he once defiled when he is cast out and cast out forever! Christ Jesus then proceeds to divide the spoil. "There is the man's heart, I will take that," says He. "That shall be a jewel in My crown. The man's love I will set as a jewel upon My arm forever. His memory, his judgment, his power of thought, utterance and working--these are all Mine," says Christ. He begins to divide the spoil. He puts the broad arrow of the King upon every room in the house, upon every piece of furniture. The garnishing He pulls out, "I will adorn it far better than this," He says. "There shall be no pictures of faith, but faith. There shall be no ornament in yonder grate except the ornament of the glowing fire of fervid zeal. There shall be no borrowed flowers, but I will train round this window the sweet roses and jasmine of love and peace of mind. "I will wash what was only swept, with My blood. I will make it white and sweet and clean. And I will strike the lintel and the two side posts with the hyssop and with the blood mark--and then the destroying angel, when he sweeps by, shall sheathe his sword--and the black fiend, when he would enter, shall see the mark there and go back trembling to his accursed den." This is conversion, the other was only conviction! This is change of heart, the other was only change of life. I do trust, if you have been content with the former, you will now bestir yourselves and never be satisfied without the latter-- "O Sovereign Grace, my heart subdue, I would be led in triumph, too. Drive the old dragon from his seat, With all his hellish crew." Sinner, cry to the stronger than you are to come and help you. You groan under your slavery--I am thankful for it! Cry to the Great Deliverer! He will come! He will come! Is there a conflict going on in you? Remember faith gets the victory. Look to Jesus--look to Jesus and the battle is won! Cast your poor spirit upon Jesus. Now burn that broom--it is of no use to go on sweeping! You need washing--washing with blood! Come, now, spare that money of yours with which you are going to buy garnishing--they are all rubbish! Buy no more. I counsel you buy of Him gold tried in the fire. Come to His precious blood and be made really clean. Your Church-goings, your Chapel-goings, your prayers, your almsgivings, your fasting, your feelings, your good works are all nothing--so much dross and dung--if you try to sweep and garnish your house with them. Cast them all away! Fly from your good works as you would from your bad ones! Do not expect to be saved by anything that you can feel that is good any more than you would expect to be saved by anything that you feel that is bad-- "None but Jesus, none but Jesus, Can do helpless sinners good." My Lord Jesus, if You are passing by, traveling in the greatness of Your strength, come and show Your prowess! Turn aside, You heavenly Samson and rend the lion in this vineyard! If You have dipped Your robes in the blood of Your foes, come dye them all again with the blood of my cruel sins! If You have trod the wine press of Jehovah's wrath and crushed Your enemies, here is another of the accursed crew! Come and drag him out and crush him! Here is an Agag in my heart, come and hew him in pieces! Here is a dragon in my spirit, break, O break, his head and set me free from my old state of sin! Deliver me from my fierce enemy and unto You shall be the praise, forever and ever. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ For Christ'S Sake DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 12, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "For Christ's sake." Ephesians 4:32. THIS is the great argument of awakened sinners when they seek mercy at God's hands. Once they could boast of their own righteousness. They could rest upon their feelings, their resolutions, their goodness of heart, or their prayers--but now that God the Holy Spirit has shown them what they are and revealed to them the desperate evil of their hearts, they dare not offer any other plea than this--"For Christ's sake." They look and there is no man to succor. They cast their eyes around and there is no helper and their heart knows neither peace nor hope till they behold the Person and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Then straightway their mouth is opened with arguments and they can plead with God with prevailing reasons, saying, "For Christ's sake, for Christ's sake, have mercy upon me." Indeed, Beloved, this is the only argument which can prevail with God in prayer, whether the prayer comes from saint or sinner. It is true that God did not originally love us for Christ's sake, for His electing love was Sovereign and absolute--the Father loved us not because the Savior died--but the Savior died because the Father loved us from before the foundation of the world. Nevertheless the only channel of communication between a loving Father and His elect people is the meritorious and glorious Person of Christ. The Father gives us no privilege except through His Only-Begotten, nor are we looked upon as accepted or acceptable except as we stand in and through our Lord Jesus, accepted in the Beloved, perfect in Christ Jesus. I must use no other argument when I plead with God but the name of His dear Son, for this is the sum of all heavenly logic. Whatever Covenant mercy I may wish for, this is the key which will unlock the storehouses of Heaven. No other name will prevail with God to scatter His mercies among undeserving sinners. He who knows how to plant his foot on the solid foothold of, "for Christ's sake," needs not fear, like Jacob, to wrestle with the Angel of God. But if we forget this in our prayers, we have lost the muscle and sinew from the arm of prayer--we have snapped the spinal column by which the manhood of prayer is sustained erect--we have pulled down about our own ears the whole temple of supplication as Samson did the house of the Philistines. "For Christ's sake," this is the one unbuttressed pillar upon which all prayer must lean--take this away and it comes down with a crash! Let this stand and prayer stands like Heaven--reaching upward--holding communion with the skies. In two ways, as the Holy Spirit may enable us, we will read the words before us. It is God's argument for mercy--"For Christ's sake." It is our reason for service--"For Christ's sake." I. GOD'S ARGUMENT FOR MERCY. He forgives us "for Christ's sake." Here let us first look at the force of this motive. And then, secondly, let us notice some qualifications in it which may, through God's blessing, be the means of comforting seeking sinners who desire to find rest in and through Jesus Christ. 1. Let us consider the force of this motive by which God is moved to forgive sinners, "for Christ's sake." You know that if we do a thing for the sake of a person, several considerations may work together to make our motive powerful. We may be willing not only to do some things, but many things--no, all things--for the sake of the individual admired or beloved. The first thing which will move us to do anything for another's sake is his person, with its various additions of position and character. The excellence of a man's person has often moved others to high enthusiasm, to the spending of their lives--yes, to the endurance of cruel deaths for his sake. In the day of battle, if the advancing column wavered for a single moment, Napoleon's presence made every man a hero. When Alexander led the van there was not a man in all the Macedonian ranks who would have hesitated to lose his life in following him. For David's sake the three mighties broke through the host, at imminent peril of their lives, to bring him water from the well of Bethlehem. Some men have a charm about them which enthralls the souls of other men who are fascinated by them and count it their highest delight to do them honor. There have been, in different ages, leaders, both warlike and religious, who have so entirely possessed the hearts of their followers that no sacrifice was counted too great, no labor too severe. There is much to move the heart in the excellence of a person. How shall I, in a fitting manner, lead you to contemplate the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, seeing that His charms far exceed all human attractions as the sun outshines the stars? Yet this much I will be bold to say, that He is so glorious that even the God of Heaven may well consent to do ten thousand things for His sake! Brothers and Sisters, we believe our Lord Jesus Christ to be very God of very God, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, essential Deity. Jesus is no distinct God, separate from the Father, but, in a mysterious manner, He is One with the Father, so that the old Jewish watchword still stands true. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." And yet Jesus is Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. Besides this, He, for us men and for our salvation, took upon Himself the form and nature of man--became Incarnate, as the virgin's son and, as such, lived a life of perfection, never sinning, always full of love and holy service, both to God and man. There He stands--by the eye of faith we may see Him--"God over all, blessed forever." And yet Man, of the substance of His mother, He stands to plead before the eternal Throne--Almighty God, all-perfect Man. He wears upon His head a crown, for he is a Prince of the house of David, and His dominion is an everlasting dominion. Upon His bosom glitters the bejeweled breastplate, for He is a Priest forever, after the order of Melchisedek and over His shoulders hangs the mantle of prophecy, for He is a Prophet and more than a Prophet. Now, as He stands there, adored of angels, worshipped by cherubim and seraphim, having the keys of Heaven and earth and Hell at His side-- Master of winds and waves, Lord of Providence, the Wonderful, the Counselor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords--I wonder not that such a Person should prevail with the Father, and that God, for His sake, should bestow innumerable blessings upon the unworthy for whom He pleads! He is the chief among ten thousand and the altogether lovely! His head is as much fine gold! His lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh! His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars! His mouth is most sweet--yes, He is altogether lovely. The whole creation can afford-- "But some faint shadows of my Lord. Nature, to make His beauties known, Must mingle colors not her own. Nor earth, nor seas, nor sun, nor stars, Nor Heaven, His full resemblance bears. His beauties we can never trace, Till we behold Him face to face." In the surpassing majesty of His Person lies a part of the force of the plea. A far greater power lies in near and dear relationship. The mother, whose son had been many years at sea, pined for him with all a mother's fondness. She was a widow and her heart had but this one object left. One day there came to the cottage door a ragged sailor. He was limping on a crutch and seeking alms. He had been asking at several houses for a widow of such-and-such a name. He had now found her out. She was glad to see a sailor, for never since her son had gone to sea had she turned one away from her door, for her son's sake. The present visitor told her that he had served in the same ship with her beloved boy--that they had been wrecked together and cast upon a barren shore--that her son had died in his arms and that he had charged him with his dying breath to take his Bible to his mother. She would know by that sign that it was her son--and to charge her to receive his comrade affectionately and kindly for her son's sake. You may well conceive how the best of the house was set before the stranger! He was but a common sailor. There was nothing in him to recommend him. His weather-beaten cheeks told of service, but it was not service rendered to her--he had no claim on her and yet there was bed and board and the widow's hearth for him. Why? Because she seemed to see in his eyes the picture of her son--and that Book, the sure token of good faith, opened her heart and her house to the stranger. Relationship will frequently do far more than the mere excellence of the person. Think, Brothers and Sisters--Jesus Christ is the Only-Begotten Son of God! Our God had but one begotten Son and that Son the darling of His bosom. Oh, how the Father loves Him! It is not possible for us to measure Divine love, for we have no measuring line. Human love at best is only finite even when it reaches its very highest. When we plunge into the depths of human love, there is yet a bottom! But Divine love has neither shore nor boundary. Little can we tell what unity of essence means. The Divine Persons are one in Essence--one God. We cannot, therefore, conceive what affection must spring from this closest of all known unities. Oh, how Jehovah loves Him! And yet that dear Son of His, for our sakes left the starry throne of Heaven, became a Man, suffered--bled and died! And when we come to mercy's bar, bringing with us Christ's own promise, the Eternal Father sees Jesus in our eyes--bids us welcome to mercy's table and to mercy's house for the sake of Him who is His Only-Begotten Son. Still I have only advanced to the border of my subject. The force of the words, "for Christ's sake," must be found deeper still, namely in the worthiness of the Person and of His acts. Many peerages have been created in this realm which descend from generation to generation--with large estates--the gift of a generous nation and why? Because this nation has received some signal benefits from one man and has been content to ennoble his heirs forever for his sake. I do not think there was any error committed when Marlborough or Wellington were lifted to the peerage--having saved their country in war it was right that they should be honored in peace. And when, for the sake of the parents, perpetual estates were entailed upon their descendants and honors in perpetuity conferred upon their sons, it was only acting according to the laws of gratitude. Let us think of what Jesus Christ has done and let us understand how strong must be that plea--"for Jesus' sake." The Law of God was violated. Jesus Christ came into the world and kept it--kept it so that out of the whole Ten Commands there is not one whose clamorous tongue can lay anything to His charge. Here was a Divine dilemma--God must be just, yet He willed to save His people. How could these two things meet? Where was the man who could break down the mountain which separated Justice and Mercy, so that they could kiss each other? God must punish sin and yet He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious. How shall these two things agree? Forth came the priests, with their various sacrifices. But the slaughter of bullocks and heifers and rams and he-goats, could not make God just. What comparison could there be between rivers of blood of fed beasts and the sin of man? But Jesus came--the great Solution of the Divine enigma--Jesus came--eternal God, but yet perfect Man and He bowed His head to the ignominious death of the Cross! His hands were pierced! His feet were nailed--His soul was sorrowful, even unto death-- "Jesus, our Lord and God, Bore sin's tremendous load. Praise His name! Tell what His arm has done, What spoils from death He won! Sing His great name alone. Worthy the Lamb!" God was just--He punished human guilt in the Person of man's representative, Jesus of Nazareth. God is gracious--He accepts every believing sinner for the sake of Jesus Christ. Think, then, of what Christ has done and you will see the force of the argument. He has honored the Law of God which man had dishonored and has opened a way for God's mercy which man's sin had fast closed up. Oh, God, Your Son has brought back what He took not away--He has taken the prey from the mighty and the lawful captive He has delivered. Like another David He has snatched the sheep from the jaws of the lion and delivered the lamb from the paws of the bear. Like another Samson He has slain Your enemies and taken the gates of their strongholds upon His shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill. Every wound which He endured upon the Cross, every stroke which He felt in Pilate's hall, every drop of blood which He sweat in Gethsemane strengthens the plea, "for Christ's sake." Still, still I think I have not yet arrived at the force of the words. If any stipulation has been made, then the term, "for His sake," become more forcible--because they are backed by engagements, promises, covenants. In Christ's case solemn promises have been exchanged. There was a distinct engagement made between the Judge of men and the Redeemer of our souls. The Prophet Isaiah has published the engagement, "He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand." Yet again, "I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong." And still further, "He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities." There was a distinct transaction, then, of ancient date between the Father and the Son in which the Son stipulated that He would bear the sin of His people. He was to be the Scapegoat for His people Israel. And then it was solemnly engaged on the part of the Divine Judge of all the earth that He would give Him the souls of the redeemed to be His portion forever. Now, Brethren, there is a strength in the plea, "for Christ's sake." Oh God, with reverence would we speak of You, but how could You be just if You did not save those for whom Jesus shed His precious blood? Brethren, we speak as unto honest men--would you, being men, first of all accept a surety and a substitute and then expect the debtor to pay the debt himself? Look at human governments--if a man were drafted into the army and should find a substitute, does the law afterwards seize the man himself? And shall God be less just than man? Shall the supreme king of Heaven be less just than the kings of earth? If Christ has paid my debt, God's justice cannot demand payment of me! It cannot expect the same debt to be paid twice. Justice cannot demand payment-- "First at my bleeding Surety's hands, And then again at mine." If Christ served in that dread warfare for me as my Substitute, how can it be that after this I should myself be driven to the edge of the sword? Impossible! Beloved, see that scapegoat yonder? Israel's sins have been confessed upon it. The High Priest has laid his hand on the victim's head. It is led away by the hand of a fit man. He sets it free. He watches it-- it is out of sight. He climbs a rock, looks far away to the east, the west, the north, the south--he cannot see it. He waits awhile--looks with anxious eyes--it is gone! He comes back and tells the people of Israel that the sin has been typically carried away upon the scapegoat's head. Now, Christ is the fulfillment of the scapegoat. Our sins were laid on Him--He is gone--gone where? "You shall seek Me but you shall not find Me," He says. He is gone into the desolate regions of the dead. The Scapegoat, Christ, has carried away into His own tomb, the sins of all His people forever. Now, was that a farce, or was it a reality? Did Christ take away sin, or not? If He did, then how can men be punished for sins which Jesus took away, for the sins for which Christ was punished? If He did not suffer for sin, then where is the deliverance for any soul born of Adam? Oh you that receive general redemption, you know not what you receive! You who talk of a universal atonement which does not make an atonement for all sin, know not what you affirm! But we who speak of a special Atonement made for every soul that ever has believed or ever shall believe--we speak of something sure, certain, worthy of the soul's resting itself upon--since it does save every soul for whom it was offered up! There remains only one other thought upon this point. It tends very much to strengthen the plea, "for Christ's sake," if it is well known that it is the desire of the person that the gift should be granted and if, especially, that desire has been and is earnestly expressed. Oh how glad we ought to be to think that Christ, when we plead His name, never tells us that we are going too far and taking liberties! No, Beloved, if I anxiously ask for mercy, Christ has asked for mercy for me long ago! There is never a blessing for which a Believer pleads but Christ pleads for it, too! "He ever lives to make intercession for us." Our supplications become His supplications and our desires, when excited of the Spirit, are His desires. In Heaven He points to His wounds, the mementoes of His grief, and He cries--"Father, for My sake grant this favor to these poor undeserving ones. Give them blessing as You would give Me blessings. Be kind and gracious to them, as You would be kind and tender towards Me." This makes the plea omnipotent. It is not possible but that it should mightily prevail with God. 2. Pausing a minute let us enumerate some few other qualifications of this plea by way of comfort to trembling seekers. This motive, we may observe, is with God a standing motive. It cannot change. Suppose, poor Sinner, that God offered to forgive for your own sake. Then if at one time you were penitent and broken-hearted, there would be hope for you. But at another time you might be bemoaning the hardness of your heart and powerlessness to repent and then there would be no motive why God should bless you. But, you see, Christ is always as much worthy at one time as another and therefore God has the same reason for blessing you--a poor wandering soul today--as He can have had twenty years ago! And if you have grown grey in sin--if you have become like a dry piece of wood ready for the fire--yet this motive does not wear out! It has the dew of its youth upon it. God, for Christ's sake, forgives little children and for the same reason He can forgive the man who has passed his threescore years and ten. As long as you are in this world, this is a standing reason for mercy. Remember, again, that this is a mighty reason. It is not merely a reason why God should forgive little sins, or else it would be a slur upon Christ--as though He deserved but little. Can you tell how great your sin is? "Oh," you say, "it is high as Heaven, it is deep as Hell!" Now can you tell how great Christ's worthiness is? I will tell you that His worthiness is deeper than Hell can be and higher than Heaven itself. What? If your sin could reach from east to west and from the highest star to the depth of the abyss, yet the worthiness of Christ is a fullness which fills all in all and therefore it would cover all your sins! Your sins, like Egypt's hosts, are many and mighty--Christ's worthiness is like the flood of the Red Sea--able to drown the whole so that not one of their host shall be left. They shall sink into the bottom like a stone. Your sins are like Noah's flood which drowned all mankind. Christ's worthiness is like Noah's ark which swims above the tide and mounts higher as the flood grows deeper. The deeper your sin the more is Christ's merit exalted above the heavens when Jehovah forgives you all your iniquities! Think not little of Christ! I would not have you think little of sin--but still think more of Christ. Sin is finite. It is the creature's act. Christ is Infinite. He is Omnipotent. Whatever, then, your sin may be, Christ is greater than your sin and able to take it away. Then, Brothers and Sisters, it is a most clear and satisfactory--I was about to say most reasonable reason--a motive which appeals to your own common sense! Can you not already see how God can be gracious to you for Christ's sake? We have heard of persons who have given money to beggars, to the poor. Not because they deserved it, but because they would commemorate some deserving friend. On a certain day in the year our Horticultural Gardens are opened free to the public. Why, why should they be opened free? What has the public done? Nothing. They receive the gift in commemoration of the good Prince Albert. Is not that a sensible reason? Yes. Every day in the year the gates of Heaven are opened free to sinners. Why? For Jesus Christ's sake! Is it not a most fitting reason? If God would glorify His Son, how could He do better than by saying, "For the sake of My dear Son set the pearly gates of Heaven wide open and admit His chosen ones. See these myriads of spirits--they are all admitted to their throne of immortal glory for the sake of My dear Son. They are happy, but they are happy for His sake. They are holy, but they are holy for His sake." Casting their crowns at His feet, they sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory, and blessing." You perceive at once that this reason appeals to common sense and therefore, I hope, dear Friends, you will lay hold of it. Let me say, poor Sinner, that it is a reason applicable to your case. If you can, think of any good and solid reason why God should forgive you! Turn them all over. You cannot see one! I know the time when I could not find a half a reason why God should save me, but I could find fifty thousand reasons why He should damn me! And when I see that, "for Christ's sake," O that is a reason! That is a good reason--it is a reason I can get hold of! Suppose me to be the blackest sinner out of Hell. How it will glorify Christ if, for Christ's sake, the blackest sinner that ever lived should be snatched from Hell and taken to Heaven for His sake! Suppose I have been a blasphemer, unchaste, an adulterer, a murderer--what then? "For Christ's sake." The more sin I have, the more glorious will the merit of Christ seem to be, when, in opposition to all my unworthiness, it brings me pardon and eternal life and takes me to the enjoyments of His right hand! Sinner, grasp this motive! I know where you have been--you have been raking about in that filthy dunghill of your own heart. You have been turning the filth over to find a jewel in it. You will never find one! The jewels which once belonged to mankind were all lost by our father, Adam. I know what you have been doing! You have been trying to be better in order to deserve well of God. Thus you thought you would manufacture a reason which should move the heart of God. Leave off this foolish work--come with nothing in your hands but Christ! When the Molossians were threatened by their king to be cut to pieces for their rebellion, they pleaded very hard, but no argument would touch his heart. Then, one day one of their ambassadors saw his son in the palace. Catching him up in his arms, he took and laid him down before his father's feet and said, "For your son's sake, have pity upon us." Now, do this, Sinner--take Christ in your arms and say, "For Christ's sake." The whole heart of the Gospel lies here. All true theology is comprehended in this, "For Christ's sake." Substitution--saving the guilty through the innocent. Substitution blessing--the unworthy through the worthy. Try this precious plea, poor Soul, and I will warrant you that, before long, you shall find peace with God if you can understand the power of this argument! I may close these reflections by observing that this is the only motive, the only motive which can ever move the heart of God! You may cry as long as you will, reform as much as you please, pray as earnestly as you like--but the gate of Heaven will never stir to your knockings till you plead, "For Jesus' sake!" There is the, "Open Sesame," which will make the gates of the city turn on their hinges. But if you have not this watchword all your doings and almsgivings and praying and what not will be but a heap of filth piled up against Heaven's gate. Remember, "other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid." And that, "there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," save Jesus Christ, the Righteous. Use that! Plead that and you shall succeed with God! II. "FOR CHRIST'S SAKE" IS THE BELIEVER'S GREAT MOTIVE FOR SERVICE. Two or three hints as to what kind of service may be expected of us. Then a little exhortation by way of stirring us up to do this service for Christ. 1. We begin with a few hints as to what service is expected of us. One of the first things which every Christian should feel bound to do, "for Christ's sake," is to avenge His death. "Avenge His death?" asks one. "Upon whom?" Upon His murderers. And who were they? Our sins! Our SINS!-- "Each of our crimes became a nail, And unbelief the spear." The very thought of sin having put Jesus to death should make the Christian hate it with a terrible hatred. I do not wonder that the Highlanders bit their lips and marched with awful determination and dread resolve of vengeance against the rebel Sepoys when they remembered how the murdered women filled up the well of Cawnpore. Every man must have felt, then, that he was twenty men in one for retribution. And when his arm smote, he wished to concentrate all the might of justice into each stroke of his sword. When I remember that my sins tore my Savior's body on the tree, took the crown from His head and the comfort from His heart--and sent Him down into the shades of death--I vow revenge against them. "O sin! Happy shall he be that takes your little ones and dashes them against a stone!" Yes, doubly blessed is he who, like Samuel, shall hew the Agag of his sins in pieces before the Lord and not spare so much as one single fault, or folly, or vice, because it slew the Savior. Be holy, be pure, be just--be you separate from sinners for Christ's sake! Then, next, the Christian is expected to exalt his Master's name and to do much to honor His memory, for Christ's sake. You remember that queen, who, when her husband died, thought she could never honor him too much and built a tomb so famous that though it was only named for him, it remains, to this day, the name of every splendid memorial--the mausoleum. Now let us feel that we cannot erect anything too famous for the honor of Christ--that our life will be well spent in making His name famous. Let us pile up the unhewn stones of goodness, self-denial, kindness, virtue, grace--let us lay these one upon another and build up a memorial for Jesus Christ so that whoever passes by may know that we have been with Jesus and have learned of Him! Should we not, for His sake, care for the growth of His kingdom and the welfare of His subjects? Ought we not to minister to the wants of His servants and comfort the sorrows of His friends? If He has a poor brother anywhere, is it not at once an honor and a duty to aid him? As David cherished Mephibosheth, who was lame in his feet, for the sake of Jonathan, so should you and I look after every heavy-laden, faint-hearted Christian, for the sake of Jesus! Should we not be bearing one another's burdens because Christ bore our burdens? Weeping with them that weep because Jesus wept? Helping those who ask our help because God has laid help upon One that is mighty, even our Redeemer? And above all, "for Jesus' sake" should be a motive to fill us with intense sympathy with Him. He has many sheep and some of them are wandering--let us go after them, my Brothers and Sisters, for the Shepherd's sake. He has pieces of money which He has lost--let us sweep the house and light our candle and seek diligently till we find them, "for Jesus' sake." He has brethren who are playing the prodigal--let us seek to bring them back--"for Christ's sake." Let the soul of the poorest little street Arab--let the soul of the grossest scoundrel and the most abandoned harlot be very dear to us for Jesus' sake--let us care even for the obstinate and rebellious for Jesus' sake. As you look at souls imagine you see Jesus weeping over them. As you look at perishing sinners imagine you see His blood bespattered on them and you will love them, "for Jesus' sake." Oh, Brethren, you who are doing nothing for Christ--you who come here and listen to me--and sit at His Table and take the bread and wine in remembrance of Him--what will you do when your Master comes and you have to confess that you did nothing for Him? That your love was of such a sort that you never showed it--you talked of it--but you never gave to His cause, you never worked for His name? Away with such love as that! What do men think of it--a love that never shows itself in action? Why, they say, "Open rebuke is better than secret love of that kind." You had better have rebuked Christ than to have had a sneaking, miserable, untrue, unloving love to Him--a love so weak that it was never powerful enough to actuate you to a single deed of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism, or zeal! Oh, Brothers and Sisters, let it not be so with us any longer, but let us seek, by God's Grace, that "for Jesus' sake" we may have a sympathy with Him in yearning over the souls of men and endeavoring to bring them to a knowledge of His salvation! 2. A few words, lastly, by way of exhortation on this point and I will not weary your attention by longer talk. Clear as the sound of a trumpet startling men from slumber and bewitching as the sound of martial music to the soldier when he marches to the conflict ought to be the matchless melody of this word, "for Christ's sake." It ought to make men perform deeds which should fit them to rank with angels. It ought to bring out of every regenerate man more than was ever forced from manhood by any other word--let it have what charm it might. It ought to make the least among us valiant as David and David as the servant of the Lord. Think, my Brethren, what mighty wonders other words have worked. For philosophy's sake what have men not suffered? They have wasted their health over unhealthy furnaces--breathing noxious gases. They have worn out their days and their nights burning the midnight oil. They have spent their last farthing to acquire the secrets of nature! They have beggared themselves and their families to unravel mysteries which have brought no more substantial reward than the honor of learned approbation and conscious power. The martyrs of science are innumerable. If someone would write their story it would make a bright page in human history! Think again of what men have done for discovery's sake by way of traveling. Take down the books of modern travelers and you will be astounded at their zeal, their courage and disinterestedness! They have mocked the fever, have laughed at death, have left friends and kindred and the comfort of home! They have gone to inhospitable climates among more inhospitable men, have wandered about in weariness, wet with the rain, frozen with the cold, or burnt up with the heat! They have gone hungry and thirsty, sick and weary--have journeyed on and on to find the source of a river or a passage through a frozen strait! When I think of such expeditions as those of Ross and Franklin, I marvel at and reverence the endurance of humanity! How these bold men have braved old Boreas in his own ice-palace and faced grim desolation in its own domain! The text, "Quit you like men," gets a new emphasis when we think of these conquerors of famine and cold and peril. And shall the in-quisitiveness of mankind prove a stronger motive than God-given love to Jesus? If so, shame upon us! Think, again, of what men have done for false religion's sake! In years gone by the scimitar flashed from the Arab's sheath and the Arab's eyes flashed fire at the very name of Mahomet! For the one dogma, "God is God and Mahomet is his Prophet," blood flowed in rivers and fields were strewn with the slain rejoicing to be slain because they dreamed that Paradise was to be found under the shadow of swords. Think how the heathen cast themselves before the car of Juggernaut to be crushed into a hideous mass of mangled flesh and broken bones and oozing blood for their god's sake! Their filthy, horrid god's sake! How many have given themselves to die by Gunga's stream? How many a woman has gone up to the funeral pile and thrown herself upon her husband's dead body, giving herself an offering to her cruel gods? I know not what men have not suffered for the horrid deities which they have chosen for themselves. Martyrs to fanaticism and deception are not a few and shall the Truth of God find us unready and unwilling to run risks for its sake? Review, my Brethren, the heroic struggles of the Lord's people and here we turn to the brightest page of the world's annals! Think of the suffering of God's people through the Maccabean war! How marvelous was their courage when Antiochus Epiphanes took the feeblest among the Jews to constrain them to break the law and found himself weak as water before their dauntless resolve! Aged women and feeble children overcame the tyrant. Their tongues were torn out. They were sawn asunder. They were broiled on the fire. They were pierced with knives--but no kind of torture could subdue the indomitable spirit of God's chosen people. Think of the Christian heroism of the first centuries! Remember Blandina tossed upon the horns of bulls and set in a red-hot iron chair! Think of the martyrs given up to the lions in the amphitheatre amidst the reviling of the Roman mob-- dragged to their death at the heels of wild horses, or, like Marcus Arethusa, smeared with honey and stung to death by bees. And yet in which case did the enemy triumph? In none! They were more than conquerors through Him that loved them! And why? Because they did it all, "for Christ's sake," and Christ's sake alone. Think of the cruelty which stained the snows of the Switzer's Alps and the grass of Piedmont's Valleys blood-red with the murdered Waldenses and Albigenses and honor the heroism of those who, in their deaths, counted not their lives dear to them "for Christ's sake." Walk this afternoon to your own Smithfield and stand upon the sacred spot where the martyrs leaped into their chariot of fire, leaving their ashes on the ground, "for Jesus' sake!" In Edinburgh, stand on the well-known stones consecrated with covenanting gore where the axe and the hangman set free the spirits of men who rejoiced to suffer for Christ's sake! Remember those fugitives, for Christ's sake, "meeting in the glens and crags of Scotia's every hill." They were daunted by nothing--they dared everything--"for Christ's sake." Think, too, of what missionaries have done, "for Christ's sake." With no weapon but the Bible they have landed among cannibals and have subdued them to the power of the Gospel! With no hope of gain except in the reward which the Lord has reserved for every faithful one, they have gone where the most enterprising trader dared not go! They have passed through barriers impenetrable to the courage of men who sought after gold--but to be pierced by men who sought after souls. Think of the Moravians, first and choice warriors for God. Think of them selling themselves for slaves that they might teach other slaves the liberty of the Gospel--consenting to be confined in the lazar house for life--with the absolute certainty of rotting away piece-meal with leprosy and with diseases fouler still! Why? Only that they might save the leper's soul and have an opportunity of teaching the poor diseased one the way by which his spirit might be made whole through Jesus the great Physician! And what have you and I ever done? Oh, pigmies, dwarfs, sons of nobodies! Our names will never be remembered. What have we done? Preached a few times, but with how little fire? Prayed at certain seasons, but with how little passion? Talked now and then to sinners. With what half-heartedness given to the cause of Christ, but seldom given till we denied ourselves and made a real sacrifice! Believed in God at times, but oh with what unbelief mixed with our faith! Loved Christ, but with what cold, stolid hearts. "For Christ's sake." Do you feel the power of it? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness and clear away the mists of sin! "For Christ's sake!" Be this the tongue of fire that shall sit on every one of you! "For Christ's sake!" Be this the Divine rapture, the heavenly impulse to bear you aloft from earth! The Divine spirit that shall make us bold as lions and swift as eagles in our Lord's service! Fixed, fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, resolve to honor Him with a determination that is not to be turned aside and pressing on with an ardor never to be wearied. I cannot preach as I would on such a theme as this, but I leave it with you. How much do you owe to my Lord? Has He ever done anything for you? Has He forgiven your sins? Has He covered you with a robe of righteousness? Has He set your feet upon a rock? Has He established your goings? Has He prepared Heaven for you? Has He prepared you for Heaven? Has He written your name in His Book of Life? Has He given you countless blessings? Has He a store of mercies which eyes have not seen nor ears heard? Then do something for Christ worthy of His love. Wake up from natural sleepiness and this very day, before the sun goes down, do something in some way by which you shall prove that you feel the power of that Divine motive, "for Christ's sake." May God accept and bless you, dear friends, "for Jesus' sake." Amen. "See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did ever such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? His dying crimson, like a robe, Spreads over His body on the tree. Then am I dead to all the globe, And all the globe is dead to me. Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small! Love so amazing, so Divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all." __________________________________________________________________ Human Depravity And Divine Mercy DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 19, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor. And the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again destroy anymore every thing living as I have done." Genesis 8:21. PETER tells us that Noah's ark and Baptism are figures of salvation. He puts the two together as pictures of the way by which we are saved. Noah was not saved by the world's being gradually reformed and restored to its primitive innocence, but a sentence of condemnation was pronounced and death, burial and resurrection ensued. Noah must go into the ark and become dead to the world. The floods must descend from Heaven and rise upward from their secret fountains beneath the earth. The ark must be submerged with many waters--here was burial. And then after a time Noah and his family must come out into a totally new world of resurrection life. It is the same in the figure of Baptism. The person baptized, if he is already dead with Christ, is buried--not purified and improved--but buried beneath the waves. And when he rises he professes that he enjoys newness of life. Baptism is setting forth just what Noah's ark set forth--that salvation is by death and burial. You must be dead to the world. The flesh must be dead with Christ, buried with Christ--not improved, not made better, but utterly put aside as unimprovable, as worthless, dead--a thing to be buried and to be forgotten. And we must come forth in resurrection life, feeling that above us there is a new Heaven and beneath us a new earth where righteousness dwells, seeing that we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. It would be very instructive to dwell upon each point of the resemblance between Noah's deliverance and the salvation of every elect soul. Noah enters into the ark--there is a time when we distinctly enter into Christ and become one with Him. Noah was shut in the ark so that he could never come out again till God should open the door. There is a time when every child of God is shut in--when faith and full assurance give him an evidence that he is indissolubly one with Christ Jesus. He is grasped in Christ's hand so that none can pluck him out. He is hidden in Christ's loins so that none can separate him from the love of God. Then comes the flood--there is a season in the Christian's experience when he discovers his own depravity. He is saved. He is in the ark. He is, however, still a sinner, still the subject of inbred lusts. Suddenly all these corruptions break up! They beat upon his ark, they assail his faith, they endeavor, if possible, to drown his soul in sin. But he is not destroyed by them--for, by the grace of God, he is where other men are not--he is where he cannot be drowned by sin. He is in Christ Jesus! He mounts as the floods deepen. The more he feels the depth of his depravity, the more he admires the fullness of the atoning sacrifice! The more terrible the temptation, the more joyous is his consolation in Christ Jesus. And so he rises in holy communion towards his God. Then comes the wind--typical of the breath of the sacred Spirit by which the floods of corruption are calmed and peace reigns within and the soul sings, "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Then the tops of the mountains appear--sanctification takes place upon a part of the man. There are some bright graces which glisten out of the general flood of corruption. There are some points of his new-born nature which delight him with their beauty. His ark has grounded and settled-- he no longer floats, so to speak, tossed about with a struggling faith and contending unbelief--he feels that as Christ Jesus is forever seated firmly at the right hand of God, so he, in Christ Jesus, has entered into rest. The ark grounded on the top of Ararat--so does the Believer's experience come to a settled condition. He is no more moved about with fears and questions, but rejoices in hope of the Glory of God. He sends forth his thoughts in search after evidence of his complete salvation, and probably he sends out some of his own ignorant carnal expectations, just as Noah sent out the raven. These ignorant imaginations of what the work of the Spirit is go forth and they never return because no unclean child of the old Adam can be a discerner of the new world. Then he sends out the dove--holy desires, earnest prayers go to and fro. By and by they come back with a token for good, some choice mercy from the hand of God--an olive branch of assured peace--and the Believer surely knows not only that he is in Christ, not only that he is grounded in Christ, but that all the waters are calmed, all sin is gone, all danger removed, all death destroyed! Then occurs a period where God opens the door. Christ had been as a sort of prison to the Christian up till then. The Cross had been a burden. He did not rejoice in liberty. But God the Father now comes with the blessed Spirit and opens the door and the Believer is fully at liberty in the new world. The saved soul's first act is, like Noah, to build an altar unto God and, as a priest, to offer sacrifice, which, as it rises to Heaven, is accepted because it is a memorial of Christ. The Lord smells a sweat savor and though the believing man is still full of sin and from his youth up has an evil imagination, yet he hears the Covenant voice which says, "I will no more curse, I will no more destroy." He hears the Covenant promise which confirms forever the faithfulness of God and he rejoices to inherit, like Noah, a new world where righteousness dwells. I do not lay any stress upon these interpretations, but I know the Apostle says concerning Hagar and Sarah, "which things are an allegory." I believe that the book of Genesis is a book of dispensa-tional Truth and if it were rightly read, not by the eye of curiosity, but by the heart of the student who has been made wise to see the deep things of God, very much of Divine and holy teaching would be discoverable in it. But now I come to the text itself. We have here, first, a very sad and painful fact, "the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." We have, secondly, God's most extraordinary reasoning, "I will not again curse the ground for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil." Then, thirdly, we have some inferences less extraordinary but practical to ourselves from the text. I. To begin, then, with the text, we have here A MOST PAINFUL FACT that man's nature is incurable--"the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." You will remember, beforethe flood, in the fifth verse of the sixth chapter it is written, "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only continually evil." After the flood it is just the same. The description in the sixth chapter belonged to all the antediluvian race. You might have hoped that after so terrible a judgment, when only a few--a picked and peculiar few--that is, eight, were saved by water, that then, as man began anew with a better stock, the old branches that were sere and rotten being cut away--that now the nature of man would be improved. It is not one whit so. The same God who, looking at man, declared that his imagination was evil before the flood, pronounces the very same verdict upon them afterwards. Oh God! How hopeless is human nature! How impossible is it that the carnal mind should be reconciled to God! How needful is it that You should give us new hearts and right spirits, seeing that the old nature is so evil that even the floods of Your judgments cannot cure it of its evil imaginations! I would have you studiously notice the words used in both these passages--the antediluvian and the postdiluvian verdict of God. Look at the fifth verse of the sixth chapter--God saw not only outward sin that was great and multiplied and cried to Him for vengeance--He saw sin in the sons of men, the descendants of Cain. Worse still, He saw treachery and departure from God in the sons of the chosen ones, the sons of Seth had gone astray, also. The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair and the two races became mingled so as to produce monsters of iniquity. But, worse than that, He saw that the thoughts of men's hearts were evil--man could not think without being evil. No, more! The substratum which underlies actual thought--unformed, unfashioned thought--the eggs, the embryos of thought, called here the imagination of the thought, the first conception, the infant motions of the soul--all these God found to be evil. But observe, He says they were, "only evil." Not one trace of good! No gold amidst the dross, no light amidst the darkness--they were "only evil." And then He adds that word "continually." What? Never any repentance? Never any yearning towards the right? No pure drops of holiness now and then? No, never! "Every imagination"--notice that word. The whole verse is most clear, a broom that sweeps man clean of all boasted good. "Every imagination"--when he was at his best, when he stood at God's altar, when he tried to be right-- even then his thoughts had evil in them! Dr. Dick says, "All man's thoughts, all his desires, all his purposes are evil, expressly or by implication because the subject of them is avowedly sinful, or because they do not proceed from a holy principle and are not directed to a proper end. It is not occasionally that the human soul is thus under the influence of de- pravity. This is its habit and state. It seems impossible to construct a sentence which should more distinctly express its total corruption than this." Look at this other passage which is our text. You will see it gives a different phase of the same evil, but it does not abate one jot or tittle of it. It is still, "the imagination of man's heart." It is still the inward character, the core, the pith, the marrow of mankind which God is dealing with. It is not the stream which comes from man that is foul but the fountain of man--the innermost source of the fountain! The imagination of his heart is evil--and we are told here what we are not told in the other text--that his thoughts are evil from his youth, that is to say, from his earliest childhood. And it would not be evil from his childhood in every case if there were not certain seeds of evil sown before that and therefore we can go further and in the words of Holy Scripture we can confess with sorrowful truthfulness--"Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." From the very earliest imaginable period in which human nature exists it is a defiled, tainted thing and only worthy of God's utter abhorrence! And were it not that He smells a sweet savor in the sacrifice of Christ, He would say, as He did say in the sixth chapter, "He repented that He had made man on the earth and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth." I have thus brought out this painful fact distinctly, I hope, before you. It is true both before and after the flood. If you want any proof of its being true now turn to the scores of passages of Scripture which all prove it. I think, however, if our time were limited, as it is this morning, I should prefer to mention the third chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. It is the most sweeping description of the universality of human depravity that could possibly have been penned. I will read from the ninth to the nineteenth verse--"What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable. There is none that does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues have they used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace they have not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things so ever the Law says, it says to them who are under the Law: that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God." Jonathan Edwards says upon this passage, "If the words which the Apostle uses here (Rom. 3:10-19) do not most fully and determinately signify a universality, no words ever used in the Bible, or elsewhere, are sufficient to do it. I might challenge any man to produce any one paragraph in the Scripture, from the beginning to the end, where there is such a repetition and accumulation of terms so strongly and emphatically and carefully formulated to express the most perfect and absolutely universality, or any place to be compared to it. What instance is there in the Scripture, or indeed any other writing when the meaning is only the much greater part? "Where this meaning is signified in such a manner by repeating such expressions, 'They are all,' 'they are all together,' 'every one,' 'all the world' joined to multiplied negative terms, to show the universality to be without exception? Saying, 'There is no flesh,' 'there is none, there is none, there is none, there is none,' four times over. Besides the addition of, 'no, not one,' 'no, not one,' once and again. . . So that if this matter [universal depravity] is not here set forth plainly, expressly and fully, it must be because no words can do it. And it is not in the power of language, or any manner of terms and phrases, however contrived and heaped one upon another, determinately to let us remember the confessions of God's people." You never heard a saint on his knees yet tell the Lord that he had a good nature, that he did not need renewing. Saints, as they grow in Divine Grace, are made to feel more and more acutely the evil of their old nature. You will find that those who are most like Christ have the deepest knowledge of their own depravity and are most humble while they confess their sinfulness. Those men who know not their own hearts may be able to boast, but that is simple ignorance, for if you will take down the biographies of any persons esteemed among us for holiness and for knowledge in the things of God, you will find them frequently crying out under a sense of inward carnality and sin. If I may return to Scripture I cannot help quoting David, "Behold I was born in sin and shapen in iniquity." It is a most villainous thing that some persons try to slander David's mother and to suppose that there was something irregular about his birth which made him speak as he has done! Whereas there cannot be the slightest imputation upon that admirable woman. David himself speaks of her with intense respect and says, "Save the son of Your handmaid" as though he felt it no discredit to be the son of such a woman. She was, doubtless, one of the excellent of the earth and yet, excellent as she was, it could not but be otherwise that in sin her son was conceived. Let us not at all attempt to escape from the force of what David says. He is using no exaggerated expressions. There is no indication of hyperbole throughout the whole Psalm. He is a broken-hearted man on his knees. He is confessing his own sin with Bathsheba and is not likely either to bring any accusation against his own mother or to use exaggerated terms! Beloved it is so. We, all of us, the best of us still have to bear about with us the marks of the unclean thing from which we sprang. Take Paul again--was there ever a man who knew more of what sanctity of nature means, or who was brought nearer to the image of Christ? Yet he cries out, "Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death." He finds no joy until he can say, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Still I think we have another proof, namely, our own observation. We have lived long enough to observe with our own eyes and by our reading that sin is the universal disease of manhood. Is it not certain, according to observation, that man's heart is evil? They used to tell pretty tales about the charming innocence of men dwelling in the wooded bowers of primeval forests, untainted by the vices of civilization, unpolluted by the inventions of commerce and art. The woods of America were searched and no such sweet babes of grace were discovered. The ferocity and cruelty of the Indians justify my saying that they were hateful and hating one another. The blood-red tomahawk might have been emblazoned as the Redman's coat of arms and his eyes glaring with revenge might be taken as the true index of his character. Travelers have penetrated of late into the center of Africa where we may expect to see nature in its primitive excellence and what is the report that is brought back to us? Why, it is nature in its primitive devilry, that is all! Let such abominable tyrants as Messrs. Grant and Speke describe to us indicate to us what man is when he is left in his primeval state, untainted by civilization--he is simply a greater devil--he is naked and he is not ashamed! In this, only, is he like our unfallen parents. Again, try the mildest races. There is the mild Hindu. You look into his gentle face and you cannot suppose him capable of cruelty. Trust well that mild Hindu, subdued by British arms so speedily and so cheerfully bowing his neck to the yoke. But you may as well trust the sleek and cunning tiger from his jungle--let the story of the Sepoy rebellion of a few years ago show us the gentleness of the mild Hindu! Live among the mild Hindu and if you dare read the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, remember that it is a decent account of what, in ordinary life, is practiced among the Hindu but which could not be more clearly described, because the mouth of modesty would refuse to speak it and the ears of modesty would tingle at the hearing of it. The life of the most respectable Hindu is tainted with vices too vile to mention. "Yes, but still," says one, "we must look at children, because sin may enter into us through education--let us look at children." Very well, I am willing to look at children and I am unwilling that anybody should say a word that is harsh or severe against children's nature. But I will say that any man who declares children to be born perfect never was a father! If he would only watch his own child--not merely when that child has its toys around it and is pleased and happy, but when its little temper is ruffled--he would soon perceive evil nestling there. Your child without evil? You without eyes, you mean!! If you will only look and listen you will soon discover, if no other fault, this one, "they go astray from the womb, speaking lies." One of the earliest vices of children which needs to be corrected with most constant and wise rigor is the tendency towards falsehood. It is all very pretty for people to talk about the innocence of children. But I would like them to have to keep one of the nursery schools like those at Manchester, where the children are left while the mothers are at work in the mills! They would soon discover in their pulling one another's hair, and scratching at one another's eyes, and such like pretty little diversions and innocent freaks, that they are not altogether the sweet babes of innocence they are supposed to be! "Well," says one, "still, human nature may have some spiritual good in it. Look at the men who make illustrious the page of history--look at Socrates, for instance--religion did nothing for Socrates, but yet what a fine character he was." Who told you that? I will venture to say that the philosopher's character would not bear description in a decent assembly. We know from undoubted authority that the purest philosophers at times indulged in bestiality and filth. So- lon and Socrates were no exceptions. When Infidels hold up these sages as being such patterns of what human nature might become, they have history dead against them. "The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. There is no soundness in it." And this, be it remembered, is without an exception in the long history of humanity, say six thousand years. There is not one that has escaped contamination, not one who has come into the world clean, not one who dares go before his Maker's bar and say, "Great God, I have never sinned, but have kept Your Law from my youth up." II. Now I want you to notice, in the second place, a most extraordinary thing--when I noticed it yesterday I was surprised and overwhelmed with grateful admiration--that is, GOD'S EXTRAORDINARY REASONING. Good reasoning, but most extraordinary. He says, "I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." Strange logic! In the sixth chapter He said man was evil and therefore He destroyed him. In the eighth chapter He says man is evil from his youth and therefore He will not destroy him! Strange reasoning! Strange reasoning!--to be accounted for by the little circumstance in the beginning of the verse, "the Lord smelled a sweet savor." There was a sacrifice there--that makes all the difference! When God looks on sin apart from sacrifice, Justice says, "Destroy! Destroy! Smite! Curse! Destroy!" But when there is a sacrifice, God looks on sin with eyes of mercy and though Justice says, "Destroy," He says, "No, I have punished My dear Son. I have punished Him and will spare the sinner." Mercy looks to see if she cannot find some loophole, something that she can make into an excuse why she may spare mankind. Is then, natural depravity, an excuse for sin? Does God use it as such? No, Beloved--that our heart is vile is rather an aggravation of the vileness of our action than any excuse for it. Yet there is this one thing--we are born sinners and God sees there, I will say, a sort of loophole. Rightly, upon the terms of Justice, there is no conceivable reason why He should have mercy upon us. But Divine Grace makes and invents a reason. O may I be helped, while I try to show you where I think the ground of mercy lies! Devils fell separately--we have every reason to believe that every fallen angel sinned on his own account and fell. And it is very likely that on this account there was no possibility, as we know of, of their restoration--every separate fallen spirit was given up forever to chains and darkness and flames of fire. But men! Men did not fall separately and individually. Our case is a somewhat different one from that of fallen angels. We, all of us, fell without our own consent, without having, in fact, any finger in it, actually. We fell federally in our covenant head--it is in consequence of our falling in Adam that our heart becomes evil from our youth. Now it looks to me as if God's mercy caught that. He seemed to say, "These My creatures have, according to my arrangement of federation, fallen representatively. Then I can save them representatively. They perished in one, Adam. I will save them in Another. They fell not by their own overt act, though, indeed, their own overt acts have added to this and deserve My wrath, but their first fall was not through themselves. They are sinful from their very infancy. Therefore He says, "I will deliver them by Another as they fell by another." I do not know whether I can make it clear. I do not think that this was any reason before the bar of Justice why God should save us, for I believe that He might justly have condemned the whole race of Adam on account of Adam's sin and their own guilt. But I do think that this was a blessed loophole through which His mercy could, as it were, come fairly to the sons of men. "There," He says, "I made them not distinct individuals but a race. They fell as a race, they shall rise as an elect race--'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.' 'As by the transgression of one many were made sinners, so by the righteousness of one shall many be made righteous.' " I think you see the drift of it, then. Man's being sinful, is in the logic of justice, a reason for punishment. Man's being sinful from his youth by inheritance from his federal head becomes, through mercy, a reason why Sovereign Grace should light upon men while fallen angels are left to perish forever. Oh, I bless God that I did not fall first of all myself. I do bless the day, now, that I fell in Adam, for it may be if I had never fallen in Adam I should have fallen in myself and then I must have been, like fallen angels, shut out forever from the Presence of God and in the flames of Hell! One of the old Divines used to say of Adam's sin, "Beata culpa"--"Happy fault!" I dare not say that, but in one sense I will say, blessed Fall that renders it possible for me to rise! Blessed way of ruin which renders it possible for the blessed way of salvation to be brought about--salvation by Substitution! Salvation by Sacrifice! Salvation by a new Covenant Head, who for us is offered up that God may smell a sweet savor and may deliver us! I hope nobody will misconstrue what I have said and make out that I teach that human depravity is an excuse for sin--God forbid! It is only in the eyes of Divine Grace that it becomes the door of mercy. You know if your child has offended you, you do not want to chastise him and yet you feel he deserves it. How you do try, if you are a loving parent, to find some reason why you may let him go. There is no reason--you know that. If you deal with him in terms of justice, there is no reason why having sinned he should not smart for it. But you keep casting about for an excuse--perhaps it is his mother's birthday and you let him off for that. Or else there was some little circumstance which softened the offense for which you may have him excused. I do not know whether the story is true, but it is said of Queen Victoria when she was just queen--just a girl--she was asked to sign a death warrant for a person who, by court martial, had been condemned to die. It is told that she said to the Duke, "Cannot you find any reason why this man should be pardoned?" The Duke said, "No, it was a very great offense, he ought to be punished." "But was he a good soldier?" The Duke said he was a shamefully bad soldier, had always been noted as a bad soldier. "Well, cannot you invent for me any reason?" "Well," he said, "I have every reason to believe from testimony that he was a good man as a man, although a bad soldier." "That will do," she said, and she wrote across the warrant, "pardoned"--not because the man deserved it--but because she wanted a reason for having mercy. So my God seems to look upon man and after He has looked him through and through and cannot see anything, at last He says, "He is evil from his youth," and he writes "Pardoned." He smells the sweet savor first and His heart is turned towards the poor rebel. Then He turns to him with mercy and blesses him. III. But now, thirdly, by your leave and patience, I shall have to lead you to a few inferences from the doctrine of the depravity of man. If the heart is so evil, then it is impossible for us to enter Heaven as we are. We cannot suppose that those holy gates shall enclose those whose imaginations and thoughts are evil, and evil continually. No, if that is the place into which nothing shall enter that defiles, then no man being what he was in his first birth can ever stand there! Another step. Then it is quite clear that if I am to enter Heaven no outwardreform will ever do, for if I wash my face, that does not change my heart And if I give up all my outward sins and become outwardly what I ought to be, yet still, if it is true that my heart is the villainous thing which Scripture says it is, then my outward reformation cannot touch that and I am still shut out of Heaven. If inside that cup and platter there is all this filthiness, I may cleanse the outside, but I have not touched that which will shut me out of Heaven. I go, then, a little farther and I observe that I must have a new nature--not new practice only, but a new nature-- not new thoughts or new words, but a new nature so as to become a totally new man. And when I draw the inference, I have Scripture to back me at once, for what does Jesus say to Nicodemus? "You must be born again." But what is to be born again? To my first birth, I owe all I am by nature. I must get a secondbirth to which I am to owe all I am as I enter Heaven. Multitudes of persons have been saying, "What is Regeneration?" Here they have been writing hundreds of pamphlets and no two of them agree upon what Regeneration is except that they say that a man may be regenerated and not converted. Here is an extraordinary thing! An unconverted man who is regenerated? One who is an enemy to God and yet he has in himself a new nature? He has been born again and yet is not converted to God? What? A Regeneration that does not convert? A Regeneration, in fact, that leaves men just where they were before? But to every babe in Christ the word, "regenerate," is as plain as possible--he wants no definition, no description. "To be born again? Why," he says, "I comprehend that it is to be made over again, a new creature in Christ Jesus! My first birth makes me a creature--my second birth makes me a newcreature and I become what I never was before." I must remember that what is needed in me is not to bring out and develop what is good in me, for, according to God's Word in the sixth of Genesis, there is nothing good, it is only evil. Grace does not enter to educate the germs of holiness within me, for there is no germ of good in man at all--he is "evil continually"-- and every imagination is "only evil." I must, then, die to sin! My old nature must be slain, it cannot be mended! It is too bad, too rotten to be patched up--that must die. By the death of Jesus it must be destroyed. It must be buried with Christ and I must rise in resurrection life to conformity with my Lord Jesus. Well then, advancing one step further--It is clear if I must be this before I can enter Heaven that I cannot give myself a new nature. A crab tree cannot transform itself into an apple tree! If I am a wolf I cannot make myself a sheep. Water can rise to its own proper level, but it cannot go beyond it without pressure. I must have, then, something worked in me more than I can work in myself and this, indeed, is good Scriptural doctrine. "That which is born of the flesh"--what is it? When the flesh has done its very best what is it?--"That which is born of the flesh is flesh"--it is filthy to begin with and filth comes of it--only "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit: marvel not that I said unto you you must be born again." My soul must come under the hand of the Spirit. Just as a piece of clay is on the potter's wheel and is made to revolve and is touched by the fingers of the potter and molded into what he wishes it to be, so must I lie passively in the hands of the Spirit of God and He must work in me to will and to do of His own good pleasure. And then I shall begin to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling, but never, never till then. I must have more than nature can give me, more than my mother gave me, more than my father gave me, more than flesh and blood can produce under the most favorable circumstances. I must have the Spirit of God from Heaven. Then comes this inquiry, "Have I received it? What is the best evidence of it?" The best evidence of it is this--Am I resting upon Christ Jesus, alone, for salvation? You generally find on potters' vessels that there is a certain mark so that you can know who made them. I want to know whether I am a vessel fit for the Master's use, molded by His hands and fashioned by His Spirit. Now, every single vessel that comes out of God's hands has a Cross on it. Have you the Cross on you? Are you resting upon Christ's bloody Atonement made on Calvary? Is He to your soul your one rock of refuge-- your one only hope? Can you say this morning-- "Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Your Cross I cling-- Naked, come to You for dress; Helpless, look to You for Grace. Black, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die"? Then, my Brothers and Sisters, you have a new heart and a right spirit! You are a new creature in Christ Jesus, for simple faith in Christ is what the old Adam never could attain! A simple faith in Jesus is the great, sure mark of a work of the Holy Spirit in your soul by which you are made to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Do you take Him to be God's Anointed to you? Do you trust yourself to Him to plead for you, to work for you, to fulfill the Law for you, to offer Atonement for you? If so, if Jesus is the Christ to you--you are born of God. The Spirit which is in you now will drive out the old nature, slay it utterly, cut it up root and branch and you shall one day bear the image of the heavenly, even as you have till now borne the image of the earthly. May God bless these words of mine to your souls' good. "Eternal Spirit, we confess And sing the wonders of Your Grace! Your power conveys our blessings down From God the Father and the Son. Enlightened by Your heavenly ray, Our shades and darkness turn to day. Your inward teachings make us know Our danger and our refuge, too. Your power and glory works within, And breaks the chains of reigning sin, Does our imperious lusts subdue, And forms our wretched hearts anew. The troubled conscience knows Your voice, Your cheering Words awake our joys; Your Words allay the stormy wind, And calm the surges of the mind." __________________________________________________________________ The Special Call And The Unfailing Result A SERMON DELIVERED SUNDAY EVENING BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus, Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:9. AS I look round upon this large Church, numbering far above two thousand members, my soul is often cast down within me. Yes, I am brought into the lowest depths of anxiety! Who is sufficient for these things? To order and distribute its sacred offices aright, to govern with discretion, to exercise discipline with prudence, to hide a strong hand and to show at all times a loving heart--such thoughts roll in, wave after wave, till they threaten to overwhelm the mind! And then at last to render unto the Master an account according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed. To be saluted of my God at His coming as a faithful and wise servant who has given to His household meat in due season. To be approved as a faithful steward of the mysteries of God, not having "shunned to declare the whole counsel of God," as well to those that did forbear as to those that did hear. If such aims do sometimes wind up one's nerves to extraordinary energy, they verily make the heart palpitate at other times with the fear that haunts and the solemnity that awes our soul. Well, well could I be content to renounce so tremendous a charge if it were possible! This, however, is always the most painful qualm that troubles me. Will all these people hold on their way? They have professed to be converted. Many of them have come out from the world, and for several years their lives have been distinguished by all virtues. These hands have baptized them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And so far there appears reasonable evidence that the Spirit of God has set His seal to their being His genuine work by maintaining them in the Truth of God and holiness. But will they persevere? Will they hold on? When the world is so full of temptations in the midst of this age of sham. When godliness, when true godliness is as much hated as ever it was and when spiritual religion is as great a mystery as it was to the sages of Areopagus in the days of Paul--will these men and women, especially the younger ones of them--will they all be found faithful--or will they disgrace the cause? Will they stain the escutcheon of Christ? Will they turn their backs in the day of battle and prove recreant cowards, traitors to our Lord and Master? Such a text as this, then, is refreshing, indeed! It comes so softly into one's ear and breathes such gentle music because it gives the comfort which just meets the difficulty. Yes, yes, they will hold on their way! There may be some who will go out from us because they were not of us--for if they were of us, doubtless they would have continued with us--but still the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, "The Lord knows them that are His." Yes, they shall stand, for God is faithful, who has called them unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord! Well, now, dear Brothers and Sisters, have you not the same sort of trouble rising in your own minds? You look within. You think you see what Divine Grace has done for you. You feel as you never did feel before conversion. The things you once hated you now love and what you once loved you now hate. You feel that there has been a radical change in you--one that nature could not effect and your spirit is very glad in the prospect of what this will all lead to--"the rest which remains for the people of God," and the crown of everlasting life that fades not away. But here comes in this awkward "but"--you see so much corruption within! You feel so much weakness which aids and abets this corruption! You foresee so many trials awaiting you that the pale shadow of despondency falls on your heart and fitful doubts and questions vex your brain. You have no sooner overcome one adversary than you are attacked by another and sometimes the evil spirit howls in your ear, "God has forsaken you! Now it is all over with you!" And you are ready to lie down and die in despair, saying, "I shall one day fall by the hand of the enemy, I shall never see His face with joy." To you, also, my text comes like a whisper from Heaven--"God is faithful" who has called you "unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ." My drift this evening will be, while reminding you of your calling and of your fellowship, to comfort your hearts with regard to your perseverance. He is able to confirm and keep you even to the end and He will do it! He will present you blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ for this very reason--that He has called you to fellowship with Him. What shall we say, then? First, I want to refresh your memories with your calling. Secondly, I want to make you exercise your fellowship. And, thirdly, I want you to perceive your security. I. Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, LET ME REFRESH YOUR MEMORIES WITH YOUR CALLING. Was there not a day, the mementoes of which you fondly cherish, when you were called from death unto life? Fly back, now, to the day and hour if you can and, if not, light upon the season thereabouts when the great transaction took place, in which you were made Christ's forever, by the voluntary surrender of yourself to Him. In looking back, does it not strike you that your calling must have been of Divine origin? The text says, "God called you"--does not your experience prove the same? We thought, perhaps, as the season transpired, that we had had no other call than that which came in the word that was addressed to us through our godly parents, through our Bibles, through the good books that we read. Yet we perceive, in looking back, as the crisis passes before us in review, that none of these things ever could have produced the effect which has been taking place in us. Did we not read the same books years before? They never touched a chord in our hearts! We listened to the same minstrel, it may be, scores of times--but he never could strike a spark into our dark natures! We had our convictions before this, but they were the mere disquietudes of natural conscience which died away like the morning's frost, when the sun rises and scatters it all. Therefore we conclude that this time it must have been something special and we think every man that has experienced it will say at once, "Yes, I see the finger of God in this! I am absolutely certain it was not moral persuasion. It was not the oratory of the preacher. It was not the earnestness, even, of my pleading teacher or friend--but the hand of God as clear in my conversion as in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." And, being so, Beloved, do you not notice at once how irresistible that call was? Oh, we had been called scores of times before but we always turned a deaf ear! I can say earnestly that I had been dragged to the Cross of Christ before and yet I would not go. It was with me as the old proverb has it, "One man may lead a horse to water, but twenty cannot make him drink." How many times was I lead to the water? Brought to the foot of the Cross? Pointed to Christ, pleaded with to look to Him? Urged to put my trust in Him, but I would not? I preferred the things of this world and I would gladly have followed the devices of my own heart--my own willingness and doing and judging--rather than yield to the will, and wisdom and kindness of God! But when this particular call came, did you struggle against it? Perhaps you did, but you had more than your match! Oh, the Divine influence, when you threw down your sword and said, "Great God, I yield. I know not how it is, but I feel sweet yearnings within. My soul relents. I can be Your enemy no more. Your love has destroyed me and made me powerless to resist. You have whispered something in my ear--I know not how You did it, but 'tis there and I surrender at discretion. Do what You will with me, only allow me to know Yourself, that I may be saved." How gracious that calling must have been since it came to you from God! It came to you irresistibly and came to you with such personal demonstration! What Grace was here! What was there in you to suggest a motive why God should call you? Oh, Beloved, we can hardly ask you that question without tears rising in our own eyes-- "What was there in us that could merit esteem, Or give the Creator delight? 'Twas even so, Father!' we ever must sing, 'Because it seemed good in Your sight.'" Some of you were drunkards, were profane, were injurious. Many of you cared neither for God nor man. How often have you mocked at God's Word! How frequently have you despised God's ministers! How constantly has the holy name of the Most High been used in a flippant, if not in a profane manner by you! And yet for all that, He fixed His eyes upon you and would not withdraw. And when you spurned the Divine Grace that would have saved you, still He followed you, determined to save, till at last, in the appointed time, He got the grasp of you and would not let you go until He had made you His friend, turned your heart to love Him and made your spirit obedient to His Grace! I think, throughout eternity, if we had this problem to solve--"why did He call me"--we should still go on making wrong guesses! We could never arrive at the right conclusion unless we should say, once and for all, "I do not know." He did as He willed. He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. And here, let me say, if these things are so, oh should not this calling of ours tonight evoke our most intense gratitude, our most earnest love? Oh, if He had not called you, where had you been tonight? You shall sit tonight at the Lord's Table--where would you have been but for Divine Grace? To repeat the old saying of John Bradford when he saw a cartful of men going off to Tyburn to be hanged, "There goes John Bradford but for the Grace of God." When you see the swearer in the street, or the drunkard rolling home at night--there are you, there am I--but for the Grace of God. Who am I--what should I have been if the Lord, in mercy, had not stopped me in my mad career! I know there are some of us who can remember the old story of Rowland Hill, when a good Scotchman called to see him and without saying a word, sat still for some five minutes, looking into the good old gentleman's face. At last Rowland Hill asked him what engaged his attention. Said he, "I was looking at the lines of your face." Well, what do you make of them? "Why," said he, "that if the Grace of God hadn't been in you, you would have been the biggest rascal living!" And some of us feel just that--that if it had not been for the Grace of God we should have been out-and-out ringleaders in every kind of infamy and sin. I know for myself I can never do things by halves. If I had served Baal I would have built him an altar and made victims smoke upon it day and night. And if we serve God zealously and earnestly we have the more reason to be humble and to lay low in the dust. For that very zeal of spirit would have been turned to the very worst account unless Divine Grace had been pleased to transform us. Why, there are some people in the world that seem too insipid to do any good or hurt and they have reason to be thankful if they are converted. But still not that reason that others have, who, if they did mischief, would do it with both hands and if they do anything for God, must do it with all their might. This was a kind and gracious call, when we consider what we might have been. Stand up now, Believer, and look at this and remember the Grace of this call when you consider what you are. Why, Man, tonight, what are you? A pardoned sinner--not a sin against you in God's book. What are you?--A justified person. The righteousness of Christ girds you--even the eyes of God cannot see a spot in you! You are in Christ all fair. There is no spot in you--justified freely by His Grace--roll that thought under your tongue as a sweet morsel. What are you tonight? You are a son of God, an adopted heir of Heaven, joint heir with Christ! You are accepted in the Beloved and very precious to Jehovah, Himself. What are you? You are an heir of immortality. Heaven is your certain inheritance. Oh, I wish you could believe this! You that are Christians and know this to be true, I wish you could realize it--that within ten minutes you may be in Heaven with Christ, and that within a few years you will be there! Eternal life is yours--not maybe, not perhaps--but is yours tonight and you have but to heave one gentle sigh and the dust is left behind and the spirit waves the palm and wears the crown and sings the eternal hymn before the Throne of God! God has called us! Let us look back upon the time of our calling and if some such thoughts as these should rise in our minds, they will not be unprofitable. They will fill your souls with grateful joy in retracing the steps by which you have been led. They will put courage into your souls in realizing the Grace by which you now stand. They will clear the mist from your eyes in looking forward with cheerful hope to the future. I think they will prompt you to take your harp down from the willows and touch the strings with melodious song-- "Every fallen soul, by sinning, Merits everlasting pain. But Your love, without beginning, Has restored Your sons again. Countless millions Shall in life, through Jesus, reign. Pause, my Soul! Adore and wonder! Ask, 'O why such love to me?' Grace has put me in the number Of the Savior's family--Hallelujah, Thanks, eternal thanks, to You!" II. To what end, or for what purpose did God call you? He called you, as we had it this morning, that you might receive Christ and walk in Him, or, as the text has it, that you might have fellowship with Christ. Now the word "fellowship," [koinonia,] is not properly to be interpreted here as a society, but as the result of society--that is to say, fellowship lies in mutual and identical interests. A man and his wife have fellowship with each other in that which is common to both and enjoyed in communion accordingly. All their possessions are joint possessions. They are one together in love. And if the wife has anything, it is the husband's and the husband, in his love, thinks all that he has to be his wife's. Now, when we were called to Christ, we were called to have fellowship with Him of this peculiar kind--that we became relatively and absolutely identical with Christ. We were made one with Him so that everything Christ had became ours. This was the act of faith to let us take hold of what Christ had. And this is the result of faith--to give us Christ and to give us to Christ--so that we are in kinship together and made one person, Christ the Head and we the members. Now we have a unity to Christ, a fellowship to Christ, first in His loves. What Christ loves we love. He loves the saints--so do we. He loves sinners--so do we. He loves the world and pants to see it transformed into the garden of the Lord--so do we. Whatever Christ loves, our heart loves, for our heart and Christ's heart are welded together--put into the same furnace and then made into one--so that what He loves we love and what He hates and detests and abhors, we also deprecate and loathe. Then we are one with Christ in His desires. Does Christ desire anything?--So do we. He desires to see multitudes saved--so do we. He desires the Glory of God--we also labor for the same. He desires that the saints may be with Him where He is--we desire to be with Him there, too. He desires to drive out sin--behold we fight under His banner. He desires that his Father's name may be loved and adored by all His creatures--we pray daily, "Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth, even as it is in Heaven." We are called, then, to a fellowship with Christ in having the same loves and the same desires. So, too, in our measure we have the same sufferings. We are not nailed to the Cross, nor do we die a bloody death. Yet many of our compeers that have gone before have done so and if it ever came to that, there are still millions of us, with true hearts, as ever became sacrifices to God in England. And when Christ is reproached, we are reproached and we have learned to bear His reproach, too. It is a very sweet thing to be blamed for Christ's sake--to be despised for following the Master, to have the wits of the world against us--'tis well, 'tis well. It was so with Him. The servant would not be above his master, nor the disciple above his Lord. Some few drops of His cup we drink and they are but few. And yet it has been given to some more than to others to "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, which is the Church." And, Beloved, we also have fellowship with Christ in His joys as well as in His trials. Is He happy? We are happy to think Christ is happy. I do not know whether you have ever drank that joy, Believer, but I have found it a very sweet joy to be joyful because Christ is joyful. You may have known some friend, perhaps, who had another dear friend and he saw that friend prospering in the world. He did not get on himself as he could wish. He was sickly, he was often low in spirit--but somehow, as often as ever he saw his friend, marked his prosperity, saw his happy wife and smiling children, he said, "It always makes me happy to think how you prosper." There was true friendship. Now between Christ and His people there is such love that if Christ is crowned, never mind where I am--if God also has highly exalted Him, what does it matter, what does it matter even though He crush me in the very dust? I think a man must undergo some overwhelming trouble before he can lay hold on this as a comfort. But if he can once get it, from my own experience I bear witness, there is no sweeter, more thrilling delight to be known this side of Heaven than that of having Christ's joy fulfilled in us that our joy may be full. Oh, see Him rise! See Him crowned! Hear the songs of angels! Mark the terror of devils! Know that His name is high over all in Heaven and earth and sky and you will feel, "Well, well, all these things that I have to suffer are nothing. It does not matter--it is all well, Christ is exalted--and I am perfectly content." This is to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor does the fellowship end here! Nor is it possible tonight to go through the whole of it, for our fellowship with Christ leads us to be partakers of all His riches. Whatever Christ has belongs to us. If He has riches in pardoning, supporting, instructing, illuminating, sanctifying, preserving or perfecting Christians, they are all ours. Is His blood precious? It is mine. Is His righteousness complete? It is mine. Are His merits sweet? They are mine. Has He power in inter- cession? It is mine. Has He wisdom, righteousness--has He anything? It is mine. The father has called us to have fellowship with Christ and to be partakers in all He has. So is it with all His Glory. There is not a crown He wears but we have part of it--no, there is not a gem that sparkles in a crown He wears but it sparkles for us as well as for Him! For us the golden streets! For us the chariot in which He rides along them! For us the crowding angels! For us the joyous acclamations! For us those chords of music! For us the shout of, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah! For You were slain and have redeemed the saints unto God by Your blood." For us the Second Advent with all its splendors. For us the universal reign of Christ, the gathered scepters and the congregated crowns. For us the Day of Judgment with the reeling columns of the sky, and the rocks dissolved before the heat of the blast of His anger. For us the angels as they gather up the righteous and even for us the triumph of the Lord, when with shout of archangel He shall destroy His adversaries with the breath of His nostrils forever! There is nothing to come in Scripture, or in all the prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled when Christ shall come-- there is nothing anywhere to be revealed concerning Christ, but what is ours, since our fellowship is with Him. And all this, Brothers and Sisters, leads to practical spiritual fellowship with Christ! I hope that you who are in Christ will strive tonight to realize that you are in Him. Come now, I am not trying to preach. I want to talk this over with you. If you believe you are in Christ you are one with Him tonight. Say, then, to your soul, "You are one with Christ even now. In yourself you are everything that is vile, but in Him you are nothing of the sort. My Soul, tonight you are strong and rich and blessedly perfect. In Him you are in Heaven. In Him there is nothing to taunt you, nothing to accuse you, much less any thing to condemn you." Come, put on your silver sandals, daughter of Zion! Wrap yourself now in your scarlet and fine linen which your Lord has bought for you! Come with Him up to the mountain and sit with Him awhile, "Far from this world of grief and sin," and let Him speak to you while He tells you, "You are Mine and I am yours." Then will you be able to say, "Truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." III. Now we conclude by noticing the third point in two or three words. All this leads us to perceive our security. Saints must be saved--it cannot be otherwise--for two reasons. First, because God has called them. Now the gifts and calling of God are, according to Scripture, "without repentance," that is to say, if He has once called a man, He never sends him back again. What? Give me quickening Grace and let me die after it? Give me to taste the joys of the Spirit and yet take them away from my lips forever? Why this were unheard of cruelty! For God to destroy the guilty in Hell is just, but, I venture to say, that for God to give spiritual enjoyments, the intense, the unutterable intense delights of spiritual enjoyment and not intend that the person should always enjoy these--to take them away forever--would be to put a sting into Hell which I cannot conceive of, because He is faithful in all His ways and righteous in all His judgments. No, let the sinner bear his guilt, but do not add the unnecessary torment of letting him, first of all, know the hope of eternal life and then find himself disappointed. Does God play fast and loose? Does He give and then take back again? Does He make us nobles and then degrade us into beggars? Does He put crowns on our heads and then slay us? Does He make us His children and then cast us out of the family? God forbid! These are unheard of things for a God to do. God is faithful who has called you. Having called you, He has justified you! Having justified you He will glorify you! Then again, there is another reason why you are saved. He has called you into fellowship with Christ and that fellowship, if God is faithful, must be complete. You have shared His sufferings, you have had to bear a part of His reproach--His faithfulness secures the rest. He is "the strength," yes, the eternity of Israel! "He is not a man that He should repent." Pronounce His name with reverence--it has in it more virtue than ten thousand material pledges. He is God-- therefore He will maintain the fellowship all the way through. Am I to bear the Cross and not to wear the crown? Am I to come as a guilty sinner and have fellowship in His blood and yet not have fellowship in the Heaven into which, by that blood, He entered as my representative? Am I to come and trust Christ and have fellowship in the merit of that dying Savior and yet have no fellowship in His living power? Am I today, by faith, to be in fellowship with Him and never by sight to have the same? Oh this were strange! Oh this were two modes of acting, sowing many seeds! This were having mixed weights in the bag! God acts on one principle, not on two--and where He calls us to be His sons and to be partners with Christ--He will carry out the deed of partnership and we shall see His face! And we shall wear His crown and we shall sit upon His Throne--and all that shall come by-and-by. Therefore, courage, Brothers and Sisters, and let us rejoice tonight, while we come to the Table, that we are secure, for God has called us--we must be saved, for we have fellowship with Christ. Now I have been preaching only to the people of God and there is a large number of my hearers that are not of this happy family. I wish I were preaching to them also! But the time has fled. Let me say this word of encouragement to them--the Divine Grace that called us can call you! You cannot save yourself, but He can save you and here is a promise which He gives you--"Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." To call upon that name is to invoke it in prayer--venture upon it in fact and trust it by faith. If you believe in Christ you shall be saved. I know not who you may be. To every creature under Heaven the same Gospel is preached, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you"--I know not to whom that refers just now--"you"-- tough you are the vilest sinner living--"you shall be saved." Trust Christ now and your sins are gone! Rest on Him and you are snatched from the kingdom of evil and put into the republic of life--you become members of Christ's body--you are, by His Grace, saved!-- "Oh, believe the message true, God to you His Son has given." Cast yourself upon Him! Trust His Grace and Heaven is yours forever! The Lord add His blessing, now, for Christ's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Christ Our Life--Soon To Appear DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 26, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory." Colossians 3:4. MY discourse on Sunday mornings is very frequently the gathering up of the thoughts and experiences of the week-- a handful of barley which I have gleaned among the sheaves. But I could not thrust upon you, this morning, the poverty-stricken productions of my own insufferable dullness of brain, weariness of heart and sickness of spirit during this week, for this were a sure method of making you partakers of my misery. I have wandered through a wilderness, but I will not scatter handfuls of the hot sand among you. I have traversed the valley of the shadow of death, but I will not repeat the howling of Apollyon. This day of rest is appointed for a far better purpose. Scarcely knowing how to fulfill the appointed service of this morning, I sit down and remember the ancient minstrel, who, when the genius of song had for a time departed from him, was nevertheless called upon to discourse sweet music. What could he do but play his fingers among the strings of his harp and begin some old accustomed strain? His fingers and his lips moved at first mechanically. The first few stanzas dropped from him from mere force of habit and fell like stones without life or power. But by and by he struck a string which woke the echoes of his soul--a note fell on his heart like a blazing torch and the smoldering fire within his soul suddenly flamed up. The Heaven-born muse was with him and he sang as in his better times. So may it be my happy lot this morning--to place my fingers on the strings which know so well the name of Jesus-- and begin to discourse upon a theme which so constantly has made these walls ring! Although at first insipid periods may try your patient ears, yet shall they nevertheless lead to something that may kindle in you hope and joy and love, if not rapture and delight! O for the wings of eagles to bear our souls upward towards the Throne of our God! Already my heart warms with the expectation of a blessing! Does the earth feel the rising of the sun before the first bright beams gild the east? Are there not sharp-witted birds which know within themselves that the sunbeams are on the road and therefore begin right joyously to wake up their fellows to tell them that the morning comes leaping over the hills? Certain hopeful, joyful thoughts have entered within our heart--prophetic of the Comforter's Divine appearing--to make glad our souls. Does not the whole earth prophecy the coming of the happy days of spring? There are certain little bulbs that swell, and flowers that peep from under the black mold and say, "We know what others do not know, that the summer's coming, coming very soon." And surely there are rising hopes within us this morning which show their golden flowers above our heaviness and assure us with joyful accents that Christ is coming to cheer our hearts yet again! Believer, you shall once again behold His comfortable Presence! You shall no longer cry unto Him out of the depths, but your soul shall lean upon His arm and drink deep of His love! Beloved, I proceed in the hope that the gracious Lord will favor His most unworthy servant and in His mercy fulfill our best expectations. Our text is a very simple one and bears upon its surface four thoughts. First, that Christ is our life. That, secondly, Christ is hidden and so is our life. That thirdly, Christ will one day appear. And, fourthly, that when He appears, we, also, shall appear with Him in glory. I. The first most precious and experimental doctrine lies in these words, "CHRIST WHO IS OUR LIFE." We hardly realize that we are reading in Colossians when we meet with this marvelously rich expression. It is so like John's way of talking. See his opening words in his Gospel, "In Him was life and the life was the light of men." Remember how he reports the words at Lazarus' tomb, "I am the resurrection and the life." How familiarly he speaks of the Lord Jesus under the same Character in his first Epistle--"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of the Word of life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us." How closely John cleaves to Jesus! He does not say, as the preacher of this morning will--Christ is the food of our life and the joy of our life and the object of our life and so on. No, but "Christ is our life." I think that Peter or James would have said, "He is the strength or guide of our life," but John must put his head right on the Savior's bosom--he cannot talk at a distance, or whisper from a second seat--his head must go sweetly down upon the Savior's heaving bosom. He must feel himself in the closest, nearest possible contact with his Lord. And so he puts it, "The life was manifested," getting to the very pith and marrow of it at once. Paul has somewhat of the same loving spirit, and if not entitled to be called, "that disciple whom Jesus loved," the angel might well have addressed him as he did Daniel, "O man, greatly beloved." Therefore, you see, he leaps at once into the depths of the Truth of God and delights to dive in it. Whereas others, like the Israelites, stand outside the bound which surrounds the mount, he, like Moses, enters into the place where God is and beholds the excellent glory. We, I fear, must compass this holy Truth round about before we can fully enter into it. Blessed is it to wait at the doors of such a Truth, though far better to enter in. Let it be understood that it is not natural but spiritual life of which the text treats and then we shall not mislead the ignorant. 1. Christ is the source of our life. "For as the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom He will." Our Lord's own words are--"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears My Word and believes on Him that sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that hear shall live." Four verilies, as if to show the importance of the Truth here taught to us. We are dead in sin. That same voice which brought Lazarus out of the tomb brings us out of our grave of sin. We hear the Word of God and we live according to the promise--"Awake you that sleep and arise from the dead and Christ shall give you light" (Eph. 5:14). Jesus is our Alpha, as well as our Omega--He is the Author of our faith, as well as its Finisher. We should have been to this day dead in trespasses and sins if it had not been said, "And you has He quickened." It is by His life that we live. He gives us the living water which is in us a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. 2. Christ is the Substance of our spiritual life. What is life? The physician cannot discover it. The anatomist hunts in vain for it through flesh and nerve and brain. Be quick, Sir, with that scalpel of yours! "Life's just departed," men say. Cut quick to the heart and see if you cannot find, at least, some lingering footprint of the departed thing called life. Subtle anatomist, what have you found? Look at that brain--what can you see there but a certain quantity of matter strangely fashioned? Can you discover what is life? It is true that somewhere in that brain and in that spinal cord it dwells and that heart with its perpetual pumping and heaving has something or other to do with it--but where is the substance, the real substance of the thing called life? Ariel's wings cannot pursue it--it is too subtle. Thought knows it but cannot grasp it--knows it from its being like itself, but cannot give a picture of it--nor represent what it is. In the new nature of the Christian there is much mystery, but there is none as to what is its life! If you could cut into the center of the renewed heart you would find sure footprints of Divine life, for you would find love to Jesus. No, you would find Christ Himself there! If you walk in search of the springs of the sea of the new nature, you will find the Lord Jesus at the fount of all. "All my springs are in You," said David. Christ creates the life-throbs of the Believer's soul! He sends the life-floods through the man according to His own will! If you could penetrate the brain of the Believer you would find Christ to be the central thought moving every other thought and causing every other thought to take root and grow out of itself! You would find Christ to be the true Substance of the inner life of the spiritual nature of every soul quickened by the breath of Heaven's life. 3. Christ is the Sustenance of our life. What can the Christian feed upon but Jesus' flesh and blood? As to his natural life he needs bread, but as to his spiritual life, of which, alone, we are now speaking, he has learned that, "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word which proceeds out of the mouth of God shall man live." "This is the bread which comes down from Heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever--and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." We cannot live on the sand of the wilderness. We want the manna which drops from on high. Our skin bottles of creature confidence cannot yield us a drop of moisture--we drink of the Rock which follows us and that rock is Christ. O wayworn Pilgrims in this wilderness of sin! You never get a morsel, much less a meal to satisfy the craving hunger of your spirits except you find it in Christ Jesus! When you feed on Him your soul can sing, "He has satisfied my mouth with good things, so that my youth is renewed like the eagle's." But if you have Him not, your bursting wine vat and your well-filled barn can give you no sort of satisfaction--rather you will lament over them in the words of Wisdom-- "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" O how true are Jesus' own Words, "For My flesh is meat, indeed, and My blood is drink, indeed. He that eats My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me and I live by the Father: so he that eats Me, even he shall live by Me." Christ is the solace of our life! Noah's ark had but one window and we must not expect more. Jesus is the only window which lets light into the Christian's spirit when he is under sharp affliction. Kirke White's picture of his midnight voyage, when one star alone of all the train could guide the mariner's foundering boat to the port of peace, is a faint but truthful representation of the Christian's life in its hour of peril. Paul says that during his disastrous voyage, "neither sun nor stars for many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on them and all hope that they should be saved was taken away, but then, just then, the Angel of God stood at his side." And even so will the Lord Jesus appear to His saints in their extremities and be their joy and safety. And, Brethren, if Christ appears, what matters it where we are?-- "Midst darkest shades if He appears My dawning is begun. He is my soul's bright morning star, And He my rising sun." Do not talk of poverty! Our tents are the curtains of Solomon and not the smoke-dried skins of Kedar when Christ is present! Speak not of need! There are all manner of precious fruits laid up for my Beloved when He comes into my cot. Speak not of sickness! My soul is no longer sick except it is of love, but full of holy health when once the Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing beneath His wings! Christ is the very soul of my soul's life. His loving kindness is better than life! There is nothing in life worth living for but Christ. "Whom have I in Heaven but You and there is none upon earth that I desire beside You!" The rest is mere skim milk and curds fit to be given to the swine, but Christ is the cream. All else is but the husk and bran and coarse gritty meal. The Lord Jesus is the pure flour. All that remains is the chaff--fan it and the wind shall carry it away, or the fire shall burn it and little shall be the loss! Christ is the golden grain, the only thing worth having. Life's true life, the true heart's blood, the innermost fount of life is in Jesus. To the true Christian, Christ is the object of his life. As speeds the ship towards the port, so hastens the Believer towards the haven of his Savior's bosom. As flies the arrow to its goal, so flies the Christian towards the perfecting of his fellowship with Christ Jesus. As the soldier fights for his captain and is crowned in his captain's victory, so the Believer contends for Christ and gets his triumph out of the triumphs of his Master. "For him to live is Christ"--at least it is this he seeks after and counts that all life apart from this is merely death in another form. That wicked flesh of his. That cumbrous clay. Those many temptations. That Satanic trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil--all these mar his outward actions. But if he could be what he would be, he would stand like the bullock at Christ's altar to be slaughtered, or march forward like a bullock in Christ's furrow to plough the blood-bought field. He desires that he may not have a hair of his head unconsecrated, nor heave one breath which is not for his Savior, nor speak one word which is not for the glory of his Lord! His heart's ambition is to live so long as he can better glorify Christ on earth than in Heaven and to be taken up when it shall be better for him and more honorable for his Master that he should be with Jesus where He is. As the river seeks the sea, so, Jesus, I seek You! O let me find You and melt my life into Yours forever! It follows from all this that Christ is the Exemplar of our life. A Christian lays the life of Christ before him as the schoolboy puts his copy at the top of the page and he tries to draw each line, down-stroke and up-stroke, according to the handwriting of Christ Jesus. He has the portrait of Christ before him as the artist has in his studio his Greek sculptures, busts and torsos. He knows that there is all the true anatomy of virtue in Christ. If he wants to study life, he studies from Christ, or, if he would closely learn the beauties of the antique, he studies from the Savior, for Christ is ancient and modern, antique and living, too! Therefore God's artists in their life-sculpture keep to the Savior and count that if they imitate every vein and fetch out every muscle of their great Copy, they shall then have produced the perfection of manhood. I would give nothing for your religion if you do not seek to be like Christ! Where there is the same life within, there will, there must be, to a great extent, the same developments without. I have heard it said and I think I have sometimes noticed it, that husbands and wives who are truly knit together in near and dear conjugal affection, grow somewhat like each other in expression, if not in feature. This I well know, that if the heart is truly wedded to the Lord Jesus and lives in near fellowship with Him, it must grow like He is. Grace is the light, our loving heart is the sensitive plate, Jesus is the Person who fills the lens of our soul and soon a heavenly photograph of His Character is produced. There will be a similarity of spirit, temper, motive and action. It will not be manifest merely in great things but in little matters, too, for even our speech will betray us. Thus you see I have only been wading along the banks, or at best conducting you up to the knees in the gently flowing stream of my text. Experience must lead you further, for there is a great deep here. Paul could perceive it, for he does not say as I have been saving, "Jesus is the Source of our life, the Substance of our life, the Solace of our life, the Object of our life, the Exemplar of our life." Paul says, "Christ is our life," and so He is, indeed. Just as we have a natural life of which we know so little, so we have a spiritual life which is more mysterious by far and of that we know beyond its effects and operations little more than this--that Christ is that life. That when we get Christ we have eternal life. That if we have life it is only because we have Christ in us, the hope of Glory. I must pause a minute here to say that what is true concerning our spiritual life, now, is equally true of our spiritual life in Heaven. Different as are the circumstances of the life in Heaven and the life on earth, yet as to real essence there is only one life in both places. Saints in Heaven live by precisely the same life which makes them live here. Spiritual life in the kingdom of Grace and in the kingdom of Glory is the same--only here it is uneducated spiritual life--there it is educated and trained. Here it is undeveloped, it is the babe, the child--there it is developed, manifested, perfected. But in very deed the life is precisely the same. Saints need not to be born again after once being regenerate. You who have been born again have now within you the life which will last on throughout eternity! You have the very same vital spark of heavenly flame which will burn in Glory, world without end. It will be no digression if we here remark that as we have eternal life in having Christ, this marks our dignity. "Christ our life!" Why, this cannot be said of princes or kings! What is their life? Talk of blue blood and pedigree, and so on--here is something more, here is God's own Son--our life! You cannot say this of angels. Bright spirits, your songs are sweet and your lives are happy, but Christ is not your life! No, this cannot be asserted of archangels. Gabriel! You may bend yourself before God's Throne and worship Him in praises too high for me, but you cannot boast what I can surely claim--that Christ is my life! Even those mysterious presences--angels of whom we read in Ezekiel and Revelation called the four living creatures--though they seem to bear up the moving throne of Deity, creatures who appear to be an embodiment of Divine power and glory--yet even of these it is not written that Christ is their life! Herein men--redeemed, elect, favored men rise to a supernatural light, for they can say what no spirits but those redeemed by blood may venture to assert--"Christ is our life." Does not this account for Christian holiness? How can a man live in sin if Christ is his life? Jesus dwells in him and he continues in sin? Impossible! Can he sin without his life? He must do so if he sins, because Christ cannot sin and Christ is his life. Why, if I see the saint ever so self-denying, ever so zealous, ever so earnest, ever so like his Lord, it is no wonder now, when I understand that Christ is his life! See how secure the Christian is. No dagger can reach his life, for it is hidden beyond the skies. No temptation, no hellish blast, no exhalation from the Stygian pits of temptation can ever, with burning fever or chill consumption, waste the life of the Christian spiritually. No, it is hid with Christ! It is Christ and unless Christ dies, the Christian's life dies not. Oh how safe, how honored, how happy is the Christian! But we may not linger longer, time warns us to proceed. There is much more than ever we shall be able to bring out. Let down your buckets--here is a deep well! I hope you have something to draw with--and you that have life within have. You that have not may look down the well and see the darkness, or the reflection of the water--but you cannot reach the cooling flood. It is only you who can draw who can know the excellence of this living water. I pray the Lord help you to drink to the full and draw again! There is no fear of ever draining the inexhaustible fullness of this deep Truth of God. II. Now, as our Lord Jesus has not yet appeared in His Glory, OUR LIFE IS THEREFORE HIDDEN. "The earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God," but as yet they are unknown and unmani-fested. The major part of the Believer's life is not seen at all and never can be by the unspiritual eye. Where is Christ? To the worldling at the present moment there is no such Person as Christ. He says, "I cannot see Him, touch Him, hear Him. He is beyond all cognizance of my senses. I do not believe in Him." Just such is spiritual life to the unbeliever. You must not expect, because you are a Christian, that unbelievers will begin to admire you and say, "What a mystery! This man has a new life in him! What an admirable thing, what a desirable possession! We wish we partook of the same." Nothing of the kind. They do not know that you have such a life at all. They can see your outward actions, but your inward life is quite out of reach of their observation. Christ is in Heaven today. He is full of joy. But the world does not know His joy. No worldly heart is boasting and rejoicing because Christ is glad in Heaven. Christ today is pleading before the Father's Throne, but the world does not see Christ's engagements. Christ's occupations are all hidden from carnal eyes. Christ at this present moment reigns and has power in Heaven and earth and Hell--but what does the worldly man see of it? Jesus has fellowship with all His saints everywhere--but what does the ungodly discern? I might stand and preach until midnight concerning my Lord, but all that men who are unconverted would gain would be to hear what I have to tell and then to say, "Perhaps it is true." But they could not possibly discern it--the thing is beyond the cognizance of sense. So is our spiritual life. Beloved, you may reign over sin, but the sinner does not comprehend your being a king. You may officiate as a priest before God, but the ungodly man does not perceive your priesthood and your worship. Do not expect him to do so! Your labor is lost if you try by any way to introduce him to these mysteries except by the same door through which you came yourself. I never try to teach a horse astronomy--and to teach an unconverted man spiritual experience would be a folly of the same sort. The man who knows nothing of our inner life takes up "Pilgrim's Progress," and he says, "Yes, it is a very wonderful allegory." It is, Sir, but unrenewed minds know nothing about it. When we have sometimes read explanations of the Pilgrim's Progress, we could not but detect that the writer of the explanation had need to have had it explained to himself. He could describe the shell, but the kernel of the nut was far beyond his reach! He had not learned to crack the shell and to feed upon the meat. Now it must be so, it must be so, if Christ is our life. Christ has gone away and cannot be seen. It must be so that the greater proportion of the spiritual life must be forever a secret to all but spiritual men. But there is a part which men do see and that I may liken to Christ when He was on earth--Christ seen of men and angels. What did the world do with Christ as soon as they saw Him? Set Him in the chair of State and fall down and worship His absolute perfection? No, not they--"He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Outside of the camp was His place! Cross-bearing was for Him His occupation, not of one day, but of every day. Did the world yield Him solace and rest? Foxes, you have your holes! Birds of the air, you have your nests! But the Son of Man had no where to lay His head! Earth could afford Him no bed, no house, no shelter! At last it cast Him out for death and crucified Him and then would have denied Him a tomb if one of His disciples had not begged His body! Such you must expect to be the lot of the part of your spiritual life which men can see. As soon as they see it to be spiritual life, they will treat it as they treated the Savior. They will despise it. "Sure!" they say, "pretty fancies, fine airs, nice ideas." You expect them to give you comfort, do you? Worldlings to give you comfort? Do you think that Christ will have anywhere to lay His head in this world today any more than He had 1800 years ago? You go about to find what God gives the foxes and the birds--but what He never meant to give to you in this world--a place to lay your head. Your place to lay your head is up yonder on your Savior's bosom, but not here. You dream that men will admire you, that the more holy you are and the more Christ-like you are, the more peaceable people will be towards you. My dear Friends, you do not know what you are thinking! "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house, Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?" I believe if we were more like Christ we should be much more loved by His friends and much more hated by His enemies. I do not believe the world would be half so lenient to the Church, today, if it were not that the Church has grown complacent to the world. When any of us speak up boldly, mercenary motives are imputed to us! Our language is turned upside down and we are abhorred of men. We get smooth things, Brethren, because I am afraid we are too much like the false prophets who prophesied peace, peace, where there was no peace. Let us be true to our Master! Stand out and come out and be like He, and we must expect the same treatment which He had. And if we receive it we can only say, "This is what I expected."-- " ' Tis, no surprising thing That we should be unknown. The Jewish world knew not their king, God's everlasting Son." III. CHRIST WILL APPEAR. The text speaks of it as a fact to be taken for granted. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear." It is not a matter of question in the Christian Church whether Christ will appear or not. Has not Christ appeared once? Yes, after a certain sort. I remember reading a quaint expression of some old Divine that the book of Revelation might quite as well be called an Obvelation, for it was rather a hiding than a revealing of things to come. So, when Jesus came it was hardly a revealing, it was a hiding of our Lord. It is true that He was "manifest in the flesh," but it is equally true that the flesh shrouded and concealed His Glory. The first manifestation was very partial--it was Christ seen through a glass--Christ in the mist of grief and the cloud of humiliation. Christ is yet to appear in the strong sense of the word "appearing." He is to come out and shine forth. He is to leave the robes of scorn and shame behind and to come in the Glory of the Father and all His holy angels with Him. This is the constant teaching of the Word of God and the constant hope of the Church, that Christ will appear. A thousand questions at once suggest themselves--How will Christ appear? When will Christ appear? Where will Christ appear? And so on. What God answers we may enquire, but some of our questions are mere impertinence. How will Christ appear? I believe Christ will appear in Person. Whenever I think of the Second Coming, I never can tolerate the idea of a spiritual coming. That always seems to me to be the most transparent folly that can possibly be put together, because Christ cannot come spiritually--He is always here! "Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Christ's spiritual coming never can be that which is spoken of in Scripture, as the day of our release. I sometimes say to Brethren, "Do you think if Christ were to come spiritually now, we should observe the ordinances better?" "Yes, certainly." "Do you think, for instance, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper would be better attended to?" "Yes, no doubt it would." Yes, but then this proves that this is not the coming which the Bible speaks of, because it is expressly said of the Lord's Supper that we are to do it in remembrance of Him, till He comes. A spiritual coming would make us do it more zealously. There must be another form of coming which would justify our giving up the Supper altogether and that must be of a personal character--for then, and then only, might the Supper properly cease. We shall not need to have a supper to remind us of the Person, when the Person Himself shall be present in our midst reigning and triumphant in His Church! We believe in a Personal reign and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But how will He come? He will doubtless come with great splendor. The angels of God shall be His attendants. We gather from Scripture that He will come to reign in the midst of His people. That the house of Israel will acknowledge Him as King--yes, that all nations shall bow down before Him and kings shall pay Him homage. None shall be able to stand against Him. "Those that pierced Him shall wail because of Him." He will come to discern between the righteous and the wicked, to separate the goats from the sheep. He will come graciously to adjudge His people their reward according to their works. He will give to those who have been faithful over a few things to be rulers over many things. And those who have been faithful over many things shall be rulers over many cities. He will come to discern between the works of His people--such as are only wood, hay and stubble will be consumed. Such as are gold and silver and precious stones will stand the fire. He will come to condemn the wicked to eternal punishment and to take His people up to their everlasting mansions in the skies. We look for such a coming and without entering into minute details, drawing charts and painting pictures, we are content to believe that He is coming in His Glory to show Himself to be what He always was--King of kings and Lord of lords, God over all, blessed forever! He is to be adored and worshipped and no more to be despised and rejected of men. When will He come? That is a question which Unbelief asks with a start. Faith replies, "It is not for you to know the times and seasons. Of that day and of that hour no man knows." Some simpleton says, "But we may know the week, month, or year." Do not trifle with God's Word and make a fool of yourself because you must know that the expression means that you do not know anything about the time at all and never will. Christ will come in a time when we look not for Him. Perhaps when the world and the Church are most asleep. When the wise and the foolish virgins have, alike, fallen into a deep slumber. When the stewards shall begin to beat their fellow servants and to drink and to be drunk. At midnight, or perhaps not till cock-crowing, He will come like a thief and the house shall be suddenly broken up. But come He will, and that is enough for you and for me to know. And when He comes we shall appear, for as He shall appear, we shall also appear with Him in glory. IV. The fourth thought is THAT WHEN CHRIST SHALL APPEAR, WE ALSO SHALL APPEAR. Do you ever feel like those lions in the Zoological Gardens, restlessly walking up and down before the bars of their cage and seeming to feel that they were never meant to be confined within those narrow limits? Sometimes they are for thrusting their heads through the bars and then for dashing back and tearing the back of their dungeon, or for rending up the pavement beneath them as if they yearned for liberty. Do you ever feel like that? Does your soul ever want to get free from her cage? Here is an iron bar of sin, of doubt, and there is another iron bar of mistrust and infirmity. Oh, if you could tear them away, could get rid of them all you would do something for Christ--you would be like Christ! Oh, if you could but by some means or other burst the bands of this captivity! But you cannot and therefore you feel uneasy. You may have seen an eagle with a chain upon its foot, standing on a rock--poor unhappy thing! It flaps its wings--looks up to the sun--wants to fly right straight ahead at it and stare the sun out of countenance--looks to the blue sky and seems as if it could sniff the blue beyond the dusky clouds and wants to be away. And so it tries its wings and dreams of mounting--but that chain, that cruel chain, remorselessly holds it down. Has not it often been so with you? You feel, "I am not meant to be what I am. I am sure I am not. I have a something in me which is adapted for something better and higher and I want to mount and soar--but that chain--that dragging chain of the body of sin and death keeps me down." Now it is to such as you that this text comes and says to you, "Yes, your present state is not your soul's true condition. You have a hidden life in you. That life of yours pants to get out of the bonds and fetters which control it and it shall be delivered soon, for Christ is coming! And when Christ shall appear you shall appear--the same appearance that belongs to Him belongs to you! He shall come and then your day of true happiness and joy and peace and everything that you are panting for and longing for shall certainly come." I wonder whether the little oak inside the acorn--for there is a whole oak there and there are all the roots and all the boughs and everything inside that acorn--I wonder whether that little oak inside the acorn ever has any premonition of the summer weather that will float over it a hundred years from now and of the mists that will hang in autumn on its sere leaves and of the hundreds of acorns which itself will cast, every autumn, upon the earth, when it shall become in the forest a great tree? You and I are like that acorn! Inside of each of us are the germs of great things. There is the tree that we are to be--I mean there is the spiritual thing we are to be--both in body and soul! Even now within us and sometimes here below, in happy moments, we get some inklings of what we are to be. And then how we want to burst the shell, to get out of the acorn and to be the oak! Yes, but stop. Christ has not come, Christian, and you cannot get out of that till the time shall come for Jesus to appear. Then shall you appear with Him in glory. You will very soon perceive in your rainwater, certain ugly little things which swim and twist about in it, always trying, if they can, to reach the surface and breathe through one end of their bodies. What makes these little things so lively, those innumerable little things like very small tadpoles? Why are they so lively? Possibly they have an idea of what they are going to be. The day will come when all of a sudden there will come out of the case of the creature that you have had swimming about in your water, a long-legged thing with two bright gauze-like wings which will mount into the air and on a summer's evening will dance in the sunlight! It is nothing more nor less than a gnat! You have, swimming there, a gnat in one of its earliest stages. You are just like that--you are an undeveloped being--you have not your wings yet and yet sometimes, in your activity for Christ, when the strong desires for something better are upon you, you leap in foretaste of the bliss to come! I do not know what I am to be, but I feel that there is a heart within me too big for these ribs to hold! I have an immortal spark which cannot have been intended to burn on this poor earth and then to go out. It must have been meant to burn on Heaven's altar. Wait a bit and when Christ comes you will know what you are. We are in the chrysalis state now and those who are the liveliest worms among us grow more and more uneasy in that chrysalis state. Some are so frozen up in it that they forget the hereafter and appear content to remain a chrysalis forever. But others of us feel we would sooner not be than be what we now are forever. We feel as if we must burst our bonds and when that time of bursting shall come, when the chrysalis shall get its painted wings and mount to the land of flowers, then shall we be satisfied. The text tells us--"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear"--when He comes out in all His Glory--"we also shall appear with Him in glory." If you would like these gracious promises drawn out into detail with regard to the body you may listen to just such words as these. "It is sown a soulish body, it is raised a Spiritual body. The first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the Lord from Heaven. As is the earthy such are they, also, that are earthy. As is the heavenly such are they, also, that are heavenly." Whatever Christ's body is in Heaven, our body is to be like it. Whatever its glory and strength and power, our vile body is to be fashioned like unto His glorious body! As for our soul, whatever of absolute perfection--whatever of immortal joy Christ possesses, we are to possess that. And as for honor--whatever of esteem and love Christ may have from intelligent beings, we are to share in the same. And as for position before God--whatever Christ has--we are to stand where He stands. Are His enemies put to confusion? So are ours. Do all worlds discern His Glory? They shall discern ours, too. Is all dishonor wiped away from Him? So shall it be from us. Do they forget forever the shame and spitting, the Cross and the nails? So shall they in our case. Is it forever, "Gory! And honor! And power! And dominion! And bliss without end!"? So shall it be in our case! Let us comfort one another, therefore, with these words and look up out of our wormwood and our chrysalis state to that happier and better day when we shall be like Christ, for we shall see Him as He is. All this has nothing to do with a great many of you. You will die but you will never rise like Christ. You will die and you will die--why did I say, "and you will die?" Why, because you will have to feel the Second Death, and that second death, mark you, is as much more horrifying than the first as the trumpet of the angel is more terrible than the voice of the preacher can be this morning! Oh, I would that Christ were your life, but you are dead and God will say of you one of these days as Abraham said of Sarah, "Bury the dead out of My sight," and you must be put out of His sight as an obnoxious putrid thing. Oh that He would quicken you this day! "There is life," says the hymn, "in a look at the Crucified One." God help you to exercise one look at that Christ of whom I spoke and then you shall join with the rest of His people in saying, "Christ is our life." May God bless these feeble words of mine and own them because of their weakness--the more to illustrate His own Grace and power, for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Great Physician And His Patients DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 5, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Matthew 9:12. THIS was Christ's apology for mingling with publicans and sinners when the Pharisees murmured against Him. He triumphantly cleared Himself by showing that according to the fitness of things He was perfectly in order. He was acting according to His official Character. A physician should be found where there is work for him to do and that it is where healing is required. There was evidently none among the Pharisees--if their own opinion of themselves were to hold good--for they were perfectly whole. There was much to do, according to their own admission, among the publicans and sinners, for they were sorely sick. Therefore our Lord was in His place and fittingly executing His office when He sought out those who needed Him. I. We shall have no time for a preface this morning and therefore let us enter at once into the text by observing that MERCY GRACIOUSLY REGARDS SIN AS A DISEASE. Sin is more than a disease. If it were only a sickness, men were to be pitied for suffering it. But the element of the perverse will, of voluntary rebellion and designed offense enters into sin, otherwise it were far less truly sin. And this makes it more than a sickness and worse than a malady. Let us not think that the picture of disease really does set forth all the heinous nature of sin--it is only a generous way in which Mercy chooses to look at it and to deal with it. As Justice views it, all the plagues, venom, virus and disease in the world would be sweet and harmless compared with one single evil thought or imagination! But Mercy leniently and graciously chooses, in order that it may have a sort of apology for its operations under the great plan of salvation, to view sin as a disease. It is justified in such a view, for almost everything that may be said of deadly maladies may be said of sin. Let us come to particulars. Sin is an hereditary disease--we are born with a tendency towards it--no, we are born in it. The taint is in our blood--the very center of our being feels the infection. Born in sin and shaped in iniquity, in sin did our mothers conceive us and our offspring, in like measure, received from us that original sin which is part of our fallen nature. Every man born into the world bears within him, in the bias and current of his mind, the seeds of sin. Nor is this to be wondered at, for, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." "How can he be clean that is born of a woman?" Sin, like sickness, is very disabling. A sick man cannot carry burdens, climb mountains, run in service, walk with perseverance or leap for joy. The occupations and the pleasures of other men are things from which he is shut out. Even so does sin prevent our serving God. We cannot pray to Him--we cannot praise Him aright. In every duty we are weak and for every good we are feeble. There is not a single moral power of manhood which sin has not stripped of its strength and glory. If we wished to run in the ways of God's commands, then sin has crippled us. If we would grasp God's promises, evil has paralyzed us. If we desired to see into the mysteries of Divine Grace, guilt has blinded us. If we would hear the voice of God, transgression has struck us with deafness. And if our voices would swell the song of cherubim and seraphim, alas, the plague of our heart within has made us dumb! Of all of us in our measure it may be said we are, through sin, "unstable as water and shall not excel." Sin weakens man's nature for all good. Sin also, like certain diseases, is a very loathsome thing. Some diseases are so extremely disgusting that scarcely can their names be mentioned. But, oh, they are sweetness itself when compared with sin! The most putrid poisonous air that ever blew from a fever hospital never had such foulness in it as dwells in sin. Pest-houses and lazar-houses are clean and safe compared with the haunts of vice. In God's esteem and in the esteem of all holy minds the most detestable, obnoxious, dreadful thing in the whole world is moral evil. If that could be gotten rid of, all other evil would cease to be. This is the mother and nurse of all evil, the egg of all mischief, the fountain of bitterness, the root of misery. Here you have the distilled essence of Hell. The "quintessence," as the old Divines would say, of everything that is unlovely, disreputable, dishonest, impure, abominable--in a word-- damnable! Like some diseases, sin is fearfully polluting. As the leper cannot be tolerated abroad, as the plague-stricken are separated from their fellows--even so, sin separates us from communion with God and holy beings. It is not their unwillingness to associate with us, as much as our horrible unfitness to have fellowship with them. It is dreadful to bear about with us a cancer which has reached the stage of sickening rottenness. And yet this is not half so terribly disgusting as sin is to the heart of God. God is very gracious but He cannot endure sin in His Presence and to set forth His hatred of it in type and figure He forbade diseased persons to enter His courts or even to mingle with the camp of His people. For the unclean there was a plain and clear separation until he had been purified. Sin necessarily shuts us out from God's Presence. Into His holy fellowship we must not come--we dare not attempt to come. The fire of His anger would consume us, as it did Nadab and Abihu, if we, as sinners should venture near Him apart from Christ Jesus. We cannot stand at the altar to officiate as priests before God, though this were the proper lot of manhood, by reason of the leprosy that is on our brow. Our praising God, simple as that might seem, cannot be acceptable in His sight because of the defilement of our un-circumcised lips. Almighty Grace must take away our uncleanliness or we cannot worship. Iniquity is a polluting thing. Everything we do and everything we think of grows polluted through our corruption. The unclean person could not touch a vessel, sit on a bed, or come near a garment without defiling it. And our sin has much the same effect. Our prayers have stains in them. Our faith is mixed with unbelief. Our repentance is not so tender as it should be. Our communion is distant and interrupted. We cannot pray without sinning and there is filth even in our tears. Well was it for Israel that there was an Aaron to bear the sins of their holy things and blessed is it for us that Jesus takes the sins even of our best works and casts them into the depths of the sea. Sin, too, may be likened to many sicknesses from its being contagious. A man cannot be a sinner alone. "One sinner destroys much good." The seeds of sin are winged like thistle seeds--you may shut up the leper in a lazar-house, but there is no such way of shutting up sin--it will get out and spread itself. A man, if he is evil, will make others evil. His children will imitate him. His dependants, feeling his influence, will walk in his footsteps. Even his neighbors cannot look upon his sin without being in some measure infected by it, for, "the thought of evil is sin." There is a fierce contig-uousness in every form of moral evil--like fire among stubble it spreads most rapidly. Sin moreover, like many diseases, is very painful. And yet, on the other hand, at certain stages it brings on a dead-ness, a numbness of soul-preventing pain. The most of men are unconscious of the misery of the Fall. They think themselves rich and increased in goods, having need of nothing, when they are naked and poor and miserable. Sin causes a madness which makes sick souls dream that they are in sound health. They talk as though Heaven were their heritage, when they are sitting on the brink of Hell. But when sin is really discerned, then it becomes painful. I would sooner suf-fer--I know not what may be the pangs of some disease, but I feel sure I may say this--I would sooner suffer a complication of all the ills that flesh is heir to than suffer the plague of a guilty, awakened, enlightened, quickened conscience! When conscience accuses a man there is no rest for him either day or night. Its little finger is heavier than the loins of all other grief. When sin becomes exceedingly sinful before the eyes, then there is a gloom and a heaviness of spirit which crushes the soul into despair, making life bitter, as Pharaoh did the lives of the children of Israel. Speak of Egyptian darkness--it was bright as noonday compared with the darkness of a mind borne down with its own guilt. Oh what wretchedness was mine before I laid hold on Christ. There are some who feel not so acutely the agony of conflict with sin, but it was my lot to feel a horror of great darkness, verging upon despair, so that had I not soon found a Savior my soul had chosen strangling rather than life. Believe me, there is no pain so bitter as the pain of sin and no curse so heavy as the curse which comes from the black lips of our civil iniquities. And yet I would to God that some of you felt it now that you might not feel it hereafter. I would that this whip would fall upon your backs that you might be flogged out of your self-righteousness and made to fly to Jesus Christ and find a shelter there. The disease of sin is deep-seated and has its throne in the heart. It does not lie in the hand or foot, it is not to be removed by amputation, much less by outward applications. No knife can reach it, it is impossible to cauterize it. The skill of a physician can often extract the roots of disease, but no skill can ever reach this. It has entered the marrow, the very core and center of our being and only the Divine One is able to purge us from it-- "No outward forms can make me clean The leprosy lies deep within." It is in its own nature wholly incurable. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" If so, then can he that is accustomed to do evil learn to do well? Can a brine fountain send forth sweet waters? Shall the thorn suddenly yield olives? Can the waterfall which has been forever dashing down the cliffs reverse its course and return towards the riverhead? Shall fire suddenly become gentle and lose its consuming power while the fuel is round about it? Shall the lion of himself eat straw like the ox? Shall the leopard bleat like a lamb? Such changes, being changes of nature, are only to be worked by Divine strength. And so it is not possible for the disease of sin ever to be cured by any human remedies. Man cannot cure himself. He may reform. He may drive the disease inward and prevent its coming out upon the skin. He may so model and guide and restrain himself that the coarser forms of sin which are condemned among men may not appear in him. But the virus, the essential poison of sin, no man can ever extract from his own heart--nor can another man do it for him. Jehovah Rophi, the healing Lord, must manifest His Omnipotent power. The utmost religionist, the most devout prayers, the greatest possible circumspection will not avail to remove the taint of sin if they spring from an unrenewed heart. The carnal mind is enmity against God and is not reconciled to God, neither, indeed, can it be. And so, let us close the story of this sickness of sin by observing that it is a mortal disease. It kills not just now, but it will kill before long. Not merely shall the body die as the result of sin, but the soul must be killed forever with eternal wrath. O Sinner, you little know what your sin will bring you to! But if you will read in God's Word, you shall discover that it will bring you to the worm that never dies and to the fire that never can be quenched. Perhaps tomorrow you may know what a full-blown sin is. Perhaps tomorrow, I said--that word may be prophetic to some of you--but if not tomorrow, it is but a matter of time, a few months, more or less and you will be in torment. Sin, when it is ripened, brings forth death and damnation. Oh, you do not know what those words, "to be damned," mean! You can play with them sometimes and lightly hurl them at your fellow creatures--but could you only once hear the shriek of a damned soul! Could you only once see a spirit cast out from the Presence of God into eternal misery-- surely it would compel you to cry--"What must I do to be saved?" Enough of this--it is clear that there is a very excellent parallel to be drawn between sin and disease. Humbling as it is, the fact is, nevertheless, most certain--we are all suffering under the disease of sin. II. But now, secondly, IT PLEASES DIVINE MERCY TO GIVE TO CHRIST THE CHARACTER OF A PHYSICIAN. Having deigned to consider sin as a disease, which is a great proof of mercy, it now graciously confers upon Christ the character of a physician. Be it forever understood that Jesus Christ never came into the world merely to explain what sin is. Moses had for his mission the exposition of sin--Christ has for His mission the eradication of it. We know what sin is through the Law--that is as much as the Law can do for us. Christ comes, not merely to tell us what it is, but to inform us how it can be removed. Jesus did not come to apologize for sin--Christ never died in order that sin might appear less sinful--that God might be less severe towards sin, or hate it less. God forbid! We never see sin to be so black as when we view its evil as revealed in the sufferings of Jesus. Nor is God's wrath ever more intolerable than when we behold it consuming His Only-Begotten Son. "Behold and see if there is any sorrow like unto My sorrow, which is done unto Me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted Me in the day of His fierce anger." Christ did not come to lay a flattering unction to men's souls, to prevent distress of conscience, to say to them, "Peace, Peace!" where there is no peace. No, He came to cure sin, not to film it over--not to make men forget the disease by drugging them with presumptuous draughts of consolation--but by absolutely removing that which is the cause of their dread and of their fear to make them whole. Christ Jesus did not come in order that you might continue in sin and escape the penalty of it! He did not come to prevent the disease being mortal, but to take the disease itself away. Many people think that when we preach salvation, we mean salvation from going to Hell. We do not mean that! We mean a great deal more! We preach salvation from sin. We say that Christ is able to save a man. And we mean by that that He is able to save him from sin and to make him holy--to make him a new man. No person has any right to say, "I am saved," while he continues in sin as he did before. How can you be saved from sin while you are living in it? A man that is drowning cannot say he is saved from the water while he is sinking in it! A man that is frostbitten cannot say, with any truth, that he is saved from the cold while he is stiffened in the wintry blast. No, Christ did not come to save you in your sins, but to save you from your sins. He did not come to make the disease so that it should not kill you, but to let it remain in itself mortal and, nevertheless, to remove it from you and you from it. Christ Jesus came, then, to heal us from the plague of sin--to touch us with His hand and say, "I will, be you clean." When a physician presents himself, one of the first enquiries is, "Is he a regular practitioner? Has he a right to practice? Has he a diploma?" Very properly the law requires that a man shall not be allowed to hack our bodies and poison us with drugs at his own pleasure without having at least a show of knowing what he is doing. It has been tartly said that, "a doctor is a man who pours drugs, of which he knows little, into a body of which he knows still less." I fear that is often the case. Still a diploma is the best safeguard mortals have devised. Christ has the best authority for practicing as a physician. He has a Divine diploma! Would you like to see His diploma? I will read you a few words of it--it comes from the highest authority, not from the College of Physicians, but from the God of Physicians. Here are the words of it in the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted." He has a diploma for binding up broken hearts. I should not like to trust myself to a physician who was a mere self-dubbed doctor who could not show any authorization! I must have him know as much as a man can know, little as I believe that will probably be. He must have a diploma. It must be signed and sealed, too, and be in a regular manner--for few sensible men will risk their lives with ignorant quacks. Now Jesus Christ has His diploma and there it is--God has sent Him to bind up the brokenhearted. The next thing you want in a physician is experience. You want to know that he is thoroughly qualified. He must have walked the hospitals. And certainly our Lord Jesus Christ has done so. What form of disease did He not meet with? When He was here among men it pleased God to let the devil loose in order that there might be more than usual venom in the veins of poor diseased manhood. And Christ met the devil at His darkest hour and fought with the great enemy when he had full liberty to do his worst with Him. Jesus did, indeed, enter into the woes of men--He walked the hospitals! Why the whole world was an infirmary and Christ the one only Physician, going from couch to couch healing the sons of men. Something more, be it observed, may be said of Him--He is experimentally as well as by education--qualified in the healing arts. I have heard of a celebrated physician that was known to try the effect of his medicines upon himself. This has been done in our Master's case. There is not a single disease which He does not know experimentally--for He Himself took our sicknesses and infirmities. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He knows His patient's case by having passed through the case Himself. There is no brokenness of heart, there is no grief of soul which Jesus Christ has not Himself participated in. And though you may say He knows not sin in its infection, yet He knows sin in its imputation and is, by having suffered all its penalties, perfectly well acquainted with it. One likes a physician, too, who has a wide practice. One does not care for a man's merely understanding his tools. We like to know whether he has used them and whether he has been successful in his art. Blessed be the name of the beloved Physician! He has the widest imaginable practice. These 1800 years He has been healing sin-sick souls--what am I saying?--these 6000 years He has been "mighty to save." Before He bodily gave Himself to the Cross, the virtue of the medicine of His own blood had begun to operate upon the sons of men. O Souls! You may see in Heaven the multitudes whom He has healed! There, before the Eternal Throne, you may view the myriads who have been delivered from all sorts of diseases through the power and virtue of His touch. You need not fear to trust yourselves in His hands, for even the hem of His garment heals our diseases! To sum up the virtues of this Physician in a very few words--His cures are very speedy--there is life in a look at Him. His cures are radical--He strikes at the very center of the disease and His cures are very sure and certain. He never fails and the disease never returns. There is no relapse where Christ heals--no fear that one of His patients should be but patched up for a season. He makes a new man of him--a new heart also does He give him and a right spirit does He put within him! He is a physician, one of a thousand, because He is well-skilled in all diseases. Physicians generally have some specialty. They may know a little about almost all our pains and ills, but there is usually one disease which they have studied the most carefully--one part of the human frame whose anatomy is as well-known to them as the rooms and cupboards of their own house. Jesus Christ has made the whole of human nature His specialty. He is as much at home with one sinner as with another sinner and never yet did He meet with an out-of-the-way case that was out of the way for Him. He has had extraordinary complications of strange diseases to deal with but He has known exactly, in one moment, with one glance of His eyes, how to treat the patient. He is the only universal doctor "at home" in every case. The medicine He gives is a catholicon--it heals in every instance, never failing. His medicine is Himself! If there is a smart caused by it, it is borne upon His own back. "By His stripes we are healed." "His flesh is meat, indeed. His blood is drink, indeed"--He Himself casts out the disease from poor dying men. We do but trust Him and sin dies--we love Him and Divine Grace lives! We wait for Him and Grace is strengthened. We see Him, as we soon shall, and Grace is perfected forever! O blessed Physician for this desperate disease! III. I cannot, however, tarry longer on that point, but come to the third, which is the main one that I am driving at, namely, THAT NEED IS THAT ALONE WHICH MOVES OUR GRACIOUS PHYSICIAN TO COME TO OUR AID. He says, "They that are whole need not a physician," and you will see the natural conclusion from His line of reasoning is, "I do not go to the whole, because they do not need Me. I go to the sick because they do need Me. The reason why I go anywhere is because I am needed." I believe, dear Friends, though doubtless there are some exceptions, that if you were to take the medical profession through, you would perceive larger-heartedness and more humanity there than almost anywhere. And you would find that there is scarcely a physician, certainly none known to me, who would, if he had two urgent cases to consider, make any distinction between the two except that he would give his first attention to the sufferer who needed him most. Of course if the matters are both trivial, common sense allows a man to select that which will best remunerate him for his skill. But in imminently dangerous cases, necessity decides. The true physician is born with a physician's heart and feels for the woes of his fellow men. And, though a man has obtained a diploma, he is no physician and ought not to practice if his soul is not in his work and his heart full of benevolence to the afflicted. The true physician, having a sympathy and an intense desire to be of service, if there are two persons requiring him, would say, "This one is in the more imminent danger. I shall go to him first." Now what is most certainly only fair to acknowledge concerning human physicians, we must admit with a far greater cogency concerning the Great Physician of souls. If there were two sinners both perishing and Christ were not able to save at the same moment more than one, He would go to that one first which needed Him most. This is His rule. He acts according to sovereignty, but that sovereignty is under the control of His own infinite mercy. If He hears a cry from two hearts today, if He should give any preference, the preference would be given to that which was the cry of the most lost, the most abject, the most needy sinner. Now think this over and you will see that it is true, and most consolatory. What was it that made Christ a physician at all? Was is not because men were sick with sin? Suppose they had been perfect--would Christ have ever been a Savior if men had not been lost? Brethren, it would have been a work of supererogation--it would have been a folly, a monstrous folly, on His part--to undertake an office which was not required of Him! It is sin which makes room for His work as a Savior. I say it--you will understand me--He is only a Savior because there are sinners and His Saviorship is based upon our sinnership! He takes that position because He is needed. Again, what was the main thought which was upon Him when He was compounding His great medicine? What was it that made Him shed great drops of blood? Was it human guilt? Or do you think, perhaps, human merit? Why guilt, and guilt alone! What made Him give His back to the scourgers and His cheeks to the smiters? What made Him stretch His arms to the Cross and give His feet to the nails? What made Him bear the insufferable wrath of Almighty God? Was it man's goodness? Why you cannot think of such a thing! It was human vileness, villainy, degradation, iniquity which made such sufferings as these all necessary! As I see, then, Christ in His great surgery, compounding the Almighty medicine which is to expel the disease from the veins of humanity, I see Him every moment thinking of sin! Sin! SIN! Man's sin makes Him die. And now that He is in Heaven, Beloved, what is it that Christ is thinking of there? "He makes intercession"--what for? For the righteous? If they were self-righteous, perfectly righteous, they would not need intercession from Him. "He makes intercession for the transgressors." He is exalted on high--what for? To reward the good? No, verily, but to give repentance and remission of sins--evidently to those who have no repentance and whose sins have need to be forgiven. Up in Heaven Christ still has His eyes upon sinners--sinners are the jewels whom He seeks! Where, again, was Jesus Christ when He was on earth? Did He not spend the most of His time among sinners? Was He not always dealing out healing to the sick, life to the dead, and so on? You might ask again, on the other hand, to whom is the Gospel sent? What is it? "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." That is the Gospel--"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved. He that believes not shall be damned." So those who are bid to believe are evidently those who deserve to be damned. Need, need, need alone quickens the Physician's footsteps, bringing Jesus from the Throne of Glory to the Cross, and in His spiritual power bringing Him every day from the Throne of His Father down to brokenhearted heavy-laden souls. Now this is very plain talking and you all receive it--but still most of the people do not understand it. A minister, when he had done preaching in a country village, said to a farm-laborer who had been listening to him, "Do you think Jesus Christ died to save good people, or bad people?" "Well, Sir," said the man, "I should say He died to save good people." "But did He die to save bad people?" "No, Sir. No, certainly not, Sir." "Well, then, what will become of you and me?" "Well, Sir, I do not know. I dare say you are pretty good, Sir. And I try to be as good as I can." That is just the common doctrine. And though we think it has died out among us, that is the religion of ninety-nine English people out of every hundred who know nothing of Divine Grace--we are to be as good as we can. We are to go to church or to chapel and do all that we can and then Jesus Christ died for us and we shall be saved. Whereas the Gospel is that He did not do anything at all for people who can rely on themselves--but gave Himself for lost and ruined ones. He did not come into the world to save self-righteous people! On their own testimony, they do not want to be saved. He comes because we need Him, and therefore He comes only to those who need Him! And if we do not need Him and are such good, respectable people, we must find our own way to Heaven. Need, need alone, is that which quickens the Physician's footsteps. IV. We therefore come to another point, upon which we shall not stay many minutes. It follows, therefore, and the text positively asserts it, that THE WHOLE--THAT THOSE WHO HAVE NO GREAT NEED--NO NEED AT ALL, WILL BE UNAIDED BY CHRIST. Of course they ought to be left alone. No physician in his right mind thinks of sending a prescription, nor does any surgeon think of sending his bottles and his boxes of pills to people who profess to be perfectly well! The prescription would be put into the fire and the medicine thrown in the streets--the man himself would reckon it to be a gross insult. Christ did not come into the world merely to insult humanity. If humanity is the fine thing it thinks it is, then let it exalt itself as it may and let it go on with the health it thinks it possesses! Let it work out its own salvation if it will even allow that this is required. To send a physician to those who are whole is an insult to the physician, too. He knocks at the door, "Who is ill here?" is the first question. "Nobody, we are all well, thank you, Sir. We are all well, we thank God--we are not as other men are down the street there, we have no fever. The smallpox never comes here, we never catch scarlet fever. We have nothing of the kind, Sir! We are glad to see you--glad to see you--but we have nothing the matter with us." The physician would find at once that he had been hoaxed in being asked there. And that truly is the treatment Jesus Christ gets from a great many people. You hear them say, "Lord have mercy upon us miserable sinners." They are dressed in satin and all sorts of fine clothes, and as good a people as you would find in all the parish. And if you come to question them, they are not "miserable sinners" at all. I would like to chalk "miserable sinners" on their backs and see whether they could bear it. It is the same with you--you come here and if I pray about sinners, there are some of you who say, "Yes, yes, we are sinners." But if I came round and said, "Now let us take the Ten Commandments--have you broken them?" I daresay there are some here who would say, "Really, I do not know that I have in particular done anything wrong. I do not feel that I have erred very remarkably." No, the fact is you insult Christ by sending to Him when you are not ill and it is nothing better than impertinence, though you think it to be a compliment! The whole have no need of a physician--there is no need for a physician's skill. "Why," says the doctor, as he looks round upon all his store of knowledge, what is the good of this? A fool is as good as I am to a man who is not ill. If you were sick, I would try to do my best, but as there is nothing the matter with you, there is no room for me." You may fetch any crossing-sweeper and he will be of as much use to you as the best physician when you are not ill. So if you do not confess yourselves really to be sinners, Jesus will have no preciousness in your eyes. He will be but an ordinary person. If you are not sick, there is no likelihood of gratitude. Men will not thank a physician for doing nothing. You will never be thankful to Christ for saving you if you do not feel that you need saving. Then again, there will be no honor to Him. Suppose you went to Heaven and entered there in the same self-righteous frame of mind as you are in now--what would you say? "Well done!" There would be no honor to Christ, no glory to Jesus. A man must have a deep and conscious need of Christ or else he cannot illuminate the Throne of Christ with glory by his praise when he shall enter Heaven. Now I think there is some sweet music in what I have been saying to those of you who do need--though it must sound like a mockery to those of you who think you do not need it. ' V. To conclude, it follows then, that THOSE WHO ARE SICK SHALL BE HELPED BY JESUS. Let the question go round these galleries and this area this morning, "Am I sick? Am I sinful? Then I have a need of Jesus and need is the only thing that will bring Jesus to me!" "Oh," says one, "but I am so very sinful." Then you have a very great need and there is room for very great power on the Savior's part! And that display of Divine Grace shall give Him very great glory! Sinner, believe on Him, that He can save you! Trust Him to save you and let not your great sin keep you back. "Oh, but I have so many sins!" Then, again, you have the greater need! And as it is need that brings the doctor, so your many needs will be so many knocks at His door, so many rings at His bell! He will come the faster--only plead earnestly every one of your sins and ask Him to have pity upon you. "Yes," you say, "but I have been so long sick." Then your case is a very bad one and there is the more need of His care. He healed the woman that had been thirty-six years disabled, and if you have been thirty-six years--yes, if it is eighty years--He is still able to heal all your need--let us keep to that-- your need is your only plea. You have evidently a very strong plea, for you have a very great need. "Ah," says another, "but I have relapsed since I thought I was healed--I have backslidden." Now there is a special promise given to that form or sickness, "I will heal their backsliding." He does not specially say, "I will heal their drunkenness and so on," but here is a special promise for a special case! Now you need Him. This is a great sin, this backsliding. Go to Him--rather ask Him to come to you. "Yes," says another, "but I cannot feel my sin as I would." This only proves how much you need the Lord Jesus, since you have not even that form of fitness which lies in a deep sense of need! You cannot even feel, for you have a heart of stone. Oh, make this a plea with Him. Say, "Jesus I need You more than anybody else, for there are some who have a little health. They can feel they are diseased, but I have not even that. I need You, oh I need You more than any other!" Perhaps you will say, "But I cannot believe on Him as I would." Then add that, also, to your other sins--confess your unbelief! Tell Him you have great need of Him to give you faith. And go to Him and oh, may He help you to believe that He is able to forgive this sin, also. "Well," says one, "but I grow worse the more I think about these things." I am glad of it, dear Friend! This growing worse is a part of the cure! Suppose you should keep on growing worse--if you should get to feel yourself as black as the devil and as damned as a lost soul--yet while you are in this world the Great Physician can heal you! And you still have this great plea--that you need Him--you NEED Him. "Oh," says one, "I cannot see how I can plead my need as the only thing." My dear Friend, what would you plead? Suppose you were publicly begging. If I had to turn to the trade of a beggar, believe me, I would not wear this black coat, or, if I did, I would take care to have it pretty well riddled with holes! Because the great thing you have to do when you plead in the street is to convince the passers-by that you are in need. Some lean, wretched-looking fellows have faces which are worth a fortune to them! Their cheeks white with con-sumption--their bodies thin and lean as with starvation--with scarcely a handful of rags on them. They squat down in some corner and write on a paper, "I am starving," and as you pass them you cannot help it--your hand goes into your pocket! "Here is a case of destitution," you say--and you give them relief. Imitate these vagabonds in all but their deception! Use their logic, the rational argument that need is a beggar's best plea! You are destitute! You are starving! Spread your case before God. The best case you can make out in order to prevail with God is a bad one. Let it be as bad as it can be and I venture to say the worst is the best. Do not be apologizing, attempting to make your sins less than they are. Tell Him you are a wretch undone without His Sovereign Grace. And there, guilty and vile, and self-abhorred, fall flat before Him and say, "Lord Jesus, if You want someone to heal, I am just the man. If You want a case that can be blazoned abroad and that will make the public ears ring and ring again with the praise of Your all-healing medicine, I am Your man, Lord. "If You want one full of sores and wounds and putrefying disease like Job upon a dunghill. If You want one that is very far gone--that is rotten through and through--Lord, I am Your man." O believe, Sinner, He is your Savior, for while He loves to meet with such cases as yours, you should rejoice to meet with such a Savior as He is! And all you are asked to do is to believe that He can save you and to trust Him to do it! If you knew Him, you would believe Him. He loves to save. He can save the vilest! Trust Him then and may the Spirit of God so lead you to understand Him that you can rely upon Him! And, if you do, He will say, "Sinner, your sins are forgiven you, be of good cheer, go on your way rejoicing." May God bless these words, for Christ's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Golden Key Of Prayer DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 12, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Call unto Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you know not." Jeremiah 33:3. SOME of the most learned works in the world smell of midnight oil. But the most spiritual and most comforting books and sayings of men usually have a savor about them of prison dampness. I might quote many instances--John Bunyan's Pilgrim may suffice instead of a hundred others. And this good text of ours, all moldy and cold with the prison in which Jeremiah lay, has nevertheless a brightness and a beauty about it which it might never have had if it had not come as a cheering word to the prisoner of the Lord shut up in the court of the prison. God's people have always, in their worst condition, found out the best of their God. He is good at all times, but He seems to be at His best when they are at their worst. "How could you bear your long imprisonment so well?" said one to the Landgrave of Hesse who had been shut up for his attachment to the principles of the Reformation. He replied, "The Divine consolations of martyrs were with me." Doubtless there is a consolation more deep, more strong than any other which God keeps for those who, being His faithful witnesses, have to endure exceedingly great tribulation from the enmity of man. There is a glorious aurora for the frigid zone. And stars glisten in northern skies with unusual splendor. Rutherford had a quaint saying that when he was cast into the cellars of affliction, he remembered that the great King always kept his wine there and he began to seek at once for the wine bottles and to drink of the "wines on the lees well refined." They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls. You know, my companions in affliction, that it is so. You whose bones have been ready to come through the skin through long lying upon the weary couch. You who have seen your earthly goods carried away from you and have been reduced well-near to penury. You who have gone to the grave these seven times, till you have feared that your last earthly friend would be borne away by unpitying Death. You have all proven that He is a faithful God and that as your tribulations abound, so your consolations also abound by Christ Jesus! My prayer is, in taking this text this morning, that some other prisoners of the Lord may have its joyous promise spoken home to them! That you who are shut up and cannot come forth by reason of present heaviness of spirit may hear Him say, as with a soft whisper in your ears and in your hearts, "Call upon Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you know not." The text naturally splits itself up into three distinct particles of the Truth of God. Upon these let us speak as we are enabled by God the Holy Spirit. First, prayer commanded--"Call unto Me." Secondly, an answer promised--"And I will answer you." Thirdly, faith encouraged--"And show you great and mighty things, which you know not." I. The first head is PRAYER COMMANDED. We are not merely counseled and recommended to pray, but bid to pray. This is great condescension. An hospital is built--it is considered sufficient that free admission shall be given to the sick when they seek it. But no order in council is made that a man must enter its gates. A soup kitchen is well provided for in the depth of winter. Notice is promulgated that those who are poor may receive food on application. But no one thinks of passing an Act of Parliament compelling the poor to come and wait at the door to take the charity. It is thought to be enough to proffer it without issuing any sort of mandate that men shall accept it. Yet so strange is the infatuation of man, on the one hand, which makes him need a command to be merciful to his own soul! And so marvelous is the condescension of our gracious God on the other--that He issues a command of love without which not a man of Adam born would partake of the Gospel feast, but would rather starve than come! In the matter of prayer it is even so. God's own people need, or else they would not receive it, a command to pray. Why is this? Because, dear Friends, we are very subject to fits of worldliness, if indeed that is not our usual state. We do not forget to eat--we do not forget to take the shop shutters down--we do not forget to be diligent in business--we do not forget to go to our beds to rest--but we often forget to wrestle with God in prayer and to spend, as we ought to spend, long periods in consecrated fellowship with our Father and our God. With too many professors the ledger is so bulky that you cannot move it! And the Bible, representing their devotion, is so small that you might almost put it in your waistcoat pocket. Hours for the world! Moments for Christ! The world has our best and our prayer closet the remnants of our time. We give our strength and freshness to the ways of mammon and our fatigue to the ways of God. Therefore it is that we need to be commanded to attend to that very act which it ought to be our greatest happiness, as it is our highest privilege to perform--to meet with our God! "Call upon Me," He says, for He knows that we are apt to forget to call upon God. "What do you mean, oh, Sleeper? Arise and call upon your God," is an exhortation which is needed by us as well as by Jonah in the storm. He understands what heavy hearts we have, sometimes, when under a sense of sin. Satan says to us, "Why should you pray? How can you hope to prevail? You say in vain, 'I will arise and go to my Father,' for you are not worthy to be one of His hired servants! How can you see the King's face after you have played the traitor against Him? How will you dare to approach unto the altar when you have, yourself, defiled it and when the sacrifice which you would bring there is a poor polluted one?" O Brothers and Sisters, it is well for us that we are commanded to pray, or else in times of heaviness we might give it up! If God commands me, unfit as I may be, I will creep to the footstool of Divine Grace. And since He says, "Pray without ceasing," though my words fail me and my heart itself will wander, yet I will still stammer out the wishes of my hungering soul and say, "O God, at least teach me to pray and help me to prevail with You." Are we not commanded to pray, also, because of our frequent unbelief? Unbelief whispers, "What profit is there if you should seek the Lord upon such-and-such a matter? This is a case quite out of the list of those things wherein God has interposed and, therefore, (says the devil), if you were in any other position you might rest upon the mighty arm of God. But here your prayer will not avail you. Either it is too trivial a matter, or it is too connected with temporals, or else it is a matter in which you have sinned too much, or else it is too high, too hard, too complicated a piece of business--you have no right to take that before God!" So suggests the foul Fiend of Hell. Therefore there stands written as an everyday precept suitable to every case into which a Christian can be cast, "Call unto Me." "Call unto Me. Are you sick? Would you be healed? Cry unto Me, for I am the Great Physician. Does Providence trouble you? Are you fearful that you shall not provide things honest in the sight of man? Call unto Me! Do your children vex you? Do you feel that which is sharper than an adder's tooth--a thankless child? Call unto Me! Are your griefs little, yet painful, like small points and pricks of thorns? Call unto Me! Is your burden heavy as though it would make your back break beneath its load? Call unto Me! Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain you! He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." In the valley--on the mountain--on the barren rock--in the briny sea! Submerged beneath the billows and lifted up by-and-by upon the crest of the waves--in the furnace when the coals are glowing--in the gates of death when the jaws of Hell would shut themselves upon you--cease not, for the commandment forevermore addresses you with, "Call unto Me." Prayer is still mighty and must prevail with God to bring you your deliverance. These are some of the reasons why the privilege of supplication is also in Holy Scripture spoken of as a duty--there are many more--but these will suffice this morning. We must not leave our first part till we have made another remark. We ought to be very glad that God has given us this command in His Word that it may be sure and abiding. You may turn to fifty passages where the same precept is uttered. I do not often read in Scripture, "You shall not kill." "You shall not covet." Twice the Law is given, but I often read Gospel precepts, for if the Law is given twice, the Gospel is given seventy times seven. For every precept which I cannot keep by reason of my being weak through the flesh, I find a thousand precepts which it is sweet and pleasant for me to keep by reason of the power of the Holy Spirit which dwells in the children of God! And this command to pray is insisted upon again and again. It may be a seasonable exercise for some of you to find out how often in Scripture you are told to pray. You will be surprised to find how many times such words as these are given--"Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will deliver you." "You people, pour out your heart before Him." "Seek you the Lord while He may be found. Call you upon Him while He is near." "Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation." "Pray without ceasing." "Come boldly unto the Throne of Grace." "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." "Continue in prayer." I need not multiply where I could not possibly exhaust. I pick two or three out of this great bag of pearls. Come, Christian, you ought never to question whether you have a right to pray--you should never ask, "May I be permitted to come into His Presence?" When you have so many commands, (and God's commands are all promises and all enablings), you may come boldly unto the Throne of Grace by the new and living way through the rent veil. But there are times when God not only commands His people to pray in the Bible--He also commands them to pray directly by the motions of His Holy Spirit. You who know the inner life comprehend me at once. You feel suddenly, possibly in the midst of business, the pressing thought that you must retire to pray. It may be you do not at first take particular notice of the inclination, but it comes again and again and again--"Retire and pray!" I find that in the matter of prayer I am myself very much like a water-wheel which runs well when there is plenty of water, but which turns with very little force when the brook is growing shallow. Or, like the ship which flies over the waves putting out all her canvas when the wind is favorable, but which has to tack about most laboriously when there is but little of the favoring breeze. Now it strikes me that whenever our Lord gives you the special inclination to pray that you should double your diligence. You ought always to pray and not to faint--yet when He gives you the special longing after prayer and you feel a peculiar aptness and enjoyment in it, you have, over and above the command which is constantly binding, another command which should compel you to cheerful obedience. At such times I think we may stand in the position of David to whom the Lord said. "When you hear a sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, then shall you bestir yourself." That going in the tops of the mulberry trees may have been the footfalls of angels hastening to the help of David and then David was to smite the Philistines. And when God's mercies are coming, their footfalls are our desires to pray. And our desires to pray should be at once an indication that the set time to favor Zion is come. Sow plentifully now, for you can sow in hope! Plow joyously now, for your harvest is sure! Wrestle now, Jacob, for you are about to be made a prevailing prince and your name shall be called Israel! Now is your time, spiritual merchantmen! The market is high, trade much--your profit shall be large. See to it that you use right well the golden hour and reap your harvest while the sun shines. When we enjoy visitations from on high we should be peculiarly constant in prayer. And if some other duty less pressing should have first place for a season, it will not be amiss and we shall be no loser--for when God bids us specially pray by the monitions of His Spirit, then should we bestir ourselves in prayer. II. Let us now take the second head--AN ANSWER PROMISED. We ought not to tolerate for a minute the ghastly and grievous thought that God will not answer prayer! His Nature, as manifested in Christ Jesus, demands it. He has revealed Himself in the Gospel as a God of love, full of Grace and truth. And how can He refuse to help those of His creatures who humbly, in His own appointed way, seek His face and favor? When the Athenian senate upon one occasion found it most convenient to meet together in the open air, as they were sitting in their deliberations, a sparrow, pursued by a hawk, flew in the direction of the senate. Being hard pressed by the bird of prey, it sought shelter in the bosom of one of the senators. He, being a man of rough and vulgar mold, took the bird from his bosom, dashed it on the ground and so killed it. Whereupon the whole senate rose in uproar and without one single dissenting voice, condemned him to die, as being unworthy of a seat in the senate with them, or to be called an Athenian if he did not render succor to a creature that confided in him. Can we suppose that the God of Heaven, whose Nature is love, could tear out of His bosom the poor fluttering dove that flies from the eagle of Justice into the bosom of His Mercy? Will He give the invitation to us to seek His face and when we, as He knows, with so much trepidation of fear, yet summon courage enough to fly into His bosom--will He then be unjust and ungracious enough to forget to hear our cry and to answer us? Let us not think so harshly of the God of Heaven! Let us recollect next His vast Character as well as His Nature. I mean the Character which He has won for Himself by His past deeds of Grace. Consider, my Brothers and Sis- ters, that one stupendous display of bounty--if I were to mention a thousand I could not give a better illustration of the Character of God than that one deed--"He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all." And it is not my inference only, but the inspired conclusion of an Apostle--"How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" If the Lord did not refuse to listen to my voice when I was a guilty sinner and an enemy, how can He disregard my cry now, that I am justified and saved? How is it that He heard the voice of my misery when my heart knew it not and would not seek relief, if after all He will not hear me now that I am His child, His friend? The streaming wounds of Jesus are the sure guarantees for answered prayer. George Herbert represents in that quaint poem of his, "The Bag," the Savior saying-- "If you ha ve anything to send or write (I ha ve no bag, but here is room) Unto My Father's hands and sight, (Belie ve me) it shall safely come. That I shall mind what you impart Look, you may put it very near My heart, Or if hereafter any of friends Will use Me in this kind, the door Shall still be open; what he sends I will present and somewhat more Not to his hurt." Surely, George Herbert's thought was that the Atonement was in itself a guarantee that prayer must be heard--that the great gash made near the Savior's heart which let the light into the very depths of the heart of Deity--was proof that He who sits in Heaven would hear the cry of His people! You misread Calvary if you think that prayer is useless. But, Beloved, we have the Lord's own promise for it and He is a God that cannot lie--"Call upon Me in the day of trouble and I will answer you." Has He not said, "Whatever you shall ask in prayer, believe that you shall have it and you shall have it"? We cannot pray, indeed, unless we believe this doctrine--"for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." And if we have any question at all about whether our prayer will be heard, we are comparable to him that wavers-- "for he who wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." Furthermore, it is not necessary, but still it may strengthen the point if we add that our own experience leads us to believe that God will answer prayer. I must not speak for you, but I may speak for myself. If there is anything I know, anything that I am quite assured of beyond all question, it is that praying breath is never spent in vain. If no other man here can say it, I dare to say it and I know that I can prove it. My own conversion is the result of prayer--long, affectionate, earnest, importunate. Parents prayed for me! God heard their cries and here I am to preach the Gospel. Since then I have adventured upon some things that were far beyond my capacity, as I thought. But I have never failed, because I have cast myself upon the Lord. You know as a Church that I have not scrupled to indulge large ideas of what we might do for God. And we have accomplished all that we purposed. I have sought God's aid and assistance and help in all my manifold undertakings! And though I cannot tell here the story of my private life in God's work, yet if it were written it would be a standing proof that there is a God that answers prayer! He has heard my prayers, not now and then, nor once or twice, but so many times that it has grown into a habit with me to spread my case before God with the absolute certainty that whatever I ask of God, He will give it to me. It is not now a, "perhaps," or a possibility--I know that my Lord answers me and I dare not doubt! It were, indeed, folly if I did. As I am sure that a certain amount of leverage will lift a weight, so I know that a certain amount of prayer will get anything from God. As the rain cloud brings the shower, so prayer brings the blessing. As spring scatters flowers, so supplication ensures mercies. In all labor there is profit, but most of all in the work of intercession--I am sure of this--for I have reaped it. As I put trust in the queen's money and have never failed yet to buy what I want when I produce the cash, so I put my trust in God's promises and mean to do so till I find that He shall tell me just once that they are base coins and will not do to trade with in Heaven's market. But why should I speak? O Brothers and Sisters, you all know in your own selves that God hears prayer! If you do not, then where is your Christianity? Where is your religion? You will need to learn what are the first elements of the Truth of God, for all saints, young or old, set it down as certain that He does hear prayer! Still, remember that prayer is always to be offered in submission to God's will. When we say, "God hears prayer," we do not intend by that that He always gives us literally what we ask for. We do mean, however, this--that He gives us what is best for us. And that if He does not give us the mercy we ask for in silver, He bestows it upon us in gold. If He does not take away the thorn in the flesh, yet He says, "My Grace is sufficient for you," and that comes to the same in the end. Lord Bolingbroke said to the Countess of Huntingdon, "I cannot understand, Your Ladyship, how you can make out earnest prayer to be consistent with submission to the Divine will." "My Lord," she said, "that is a matter of no difficulty. If I were a courtier of some generous king and he gave me permission to ask any favor I pleased of him, I should be sure to put it thus, 'Will Your Majesty be graciously pleased to grant me such-and-such a favor--but at the same time, though I very much desire it, if it would in any way detract from Your Majesty's honor, or if in Your Majesty's judgment it should seem better that I did not have this favor, I shall be quite as content to go without it as to receive it.' So you see I might earnestly offer a petition and yet I might submissively leave it in the king's hands." So with God. We never offer up prayer without inserting that clause, either in spirit or in words, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will. Not my will but Yours be done." We can only pray without an "if when we are quite sure that our will must be God's will, because God's will is fully our will. A much-slandered poet has well said--"Man, regard your prayers as a purpose of love to your soul. Esteem the Providence that led to them as an index of God's good will. So shall you pray aright and your words shall meet with acceptance. Also, in pleading for others, be thankful for the fullness of your prayer. For if you are ready to ask, the Lord is more than ready to bestow. The salt preserves the sea and the saints uphold the earth. Their prayers are the thousand pillars that prop the canopy of Nature. "Verily, an hour without prayer, from some terrestrial mind, were a curse in the calendar of time, a spot of the blackness of darkness. Perchance the terrible day when the world must rock into ruins, will be one unwhitened by prayer--shall He find faith on the earth? For there is an economy of mercy, as of wisdom and power and means. Neither is one blessing granted unbesought from the treasury of good--and the charitable heart of the Being, to depend upon whom is happiness, never withholds a bounty, so long as His subject prays. Yes, ask what you will, to the second throne in Heaven, it is yours, for whom it was appointed. There is no limit unto prayer--but if you cease to ask, tremble, you self-suspended creature, for your strength is cut off as was Samson's--and the hour of your doom is come." III. I come to our third point, which I think is full of encouragement to all those who exercise the hallowed art of prayer--ENCOURAGEMENT TO FAITH. "I will show you great and mighty things, which you know not." Let us just remark that this was originally spoken to a Prophet in prison, and therefore it applies, in the first place, to every teacher and, indeed, as every teacher must be a learner, it has a bearing upon every learner in Divine Truth. The best way by which a prophet and teacher and learner can know the reserved Truths of God--the higher and more mysterious Truths of God--is by waiting upon God in prayer. I noticed very specially yesterday in reading the Book of the Prophet Daniel, how Daniel found out Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The soothsayers, the magicians, the astrologers of the Chaldeans brought out their curious books and their strange-looking instruments and began to mutter their abracadabra and all sorts of mysterious incantations, but they all failed. What did Daniel do? He set himself to prayer, and knowing that the prayer of a united body of men has more prevalence than the prayer of one, we find that Daniel called together his brethren and bade them unite with him in earnest prayer that God would be pleased in His infinite mercy to open up the vision. "Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, his companions, that they would desire mercies of the God of Heaven concerning this secret, that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon." And in the case of John, who was the Daniel of the New Testament, you remember he saw a book in the right hand of Him that sat on the Throne--a book sealed with seven seals which none was found worthy to open or to look upon. What did John do? The book was by-and-by opened by the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who had prevailed to open the book. But it is written, first, before the book was opened, "I wept much." Yes, and the tears of John which were his liquid prayers, were, as far as he was concerned, the sacred keys by which the folded book was opened. Brethren in the ministry, you who are teachers in the Sunday school and all of you who are learners in the college of Christ Jesus, I pray you remember that prayer is your best means of study--like Daniel you shall understand the dream and the interpretation when you have sought God. And like John you shall see the seven seals of the precious Truth of God unloosed after you have wept much. "Yes, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding: if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasures: then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." Stones are not broken except by an earnest use of the hammer. And the stone-breaker usually goes down on his knees. Use the hammer of diligence and let the knees of prayer be exercised, too, and there is not a stony doctrine in Revelation which is useful for you to understand which will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. "Bene orasse est bene studuisse" was a wise sentence of Luther which has been so often quoted that we hardly venture but to hint at it. "To have prayed well is to have studied well." You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayers. Thoughts and reasoning may be like the steel wedges which may open a way into the Truth of God. But prayer is the lever which forces open the iron chest of sacred mystery so that we may get at the treasure that is hidden there for those who can force their way to reach it. The kingdom of Heaven still suffers violence and the violent takes it by force. Take care that you work always with the mighty implement of prayer and nothing can stand against you. We must not, however, stop there. We have applied the text to only one case--it is applicable to a hundred. We single out another. The saint may expect to discover deeper experience and to know more of the higher spiritual life by being much in prayer. There are different translations of my text. One version renders it, "I will show you great and fortified things, which you know not." Another reads, "Great and reserved things, which you know not." Now all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance and faith and joy and hope which are enjoyed by the entire family--but there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion and conscious union with Christ--which is far from being the common dwelling place of Believers. All Believers see Christ, but all Believers do not put their fingers into the prints of the nails, nor thrust their hand into His side. We have not the high privilege of John to lean upon Jesus' bosom, nor of Paul to be caught up into the third Heaven. In the ark of salvation we find a lower, second and third story. All are in the ark, but all are not in the same story. Most Christians, as to the river of experience, are only up to the ankles. Some others have waded till the stream is up to the knees. A few find it chest high. And a few--oh, how few!--find it a river to swim in, the bottom of which they cannot touch. My Brethren, there are heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagle's eye of acumen and philosophical thought has never seen. And there are secret paths which the lion's whelp of reason and judgment has not as yet learned to travel. God alone can bear us there, but the chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged are prevailing PRAYERS. Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of Mercy. "By his strength he had power with God: yes, he had power over the angel and prevailed: he wept and made supplication unto Him: he found Him in Bethel, and there He spoke with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian to Carmel and enables him to cover Heaven with clouds of blessing and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the Christian aloft to Pisgah and shows him the inheritance reserved. Yes, and it elevates him to Tabor and transfigures him, till in the likeness of his Lord, as He is, so are we! In this world, if you would reach to something higher than ordinary groveling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you and look with the eye of faith through the windows of importunate prayer. To grow in experience then, there must be much prayer. You must have patience with me while I apply this text to two or three more cases. It is certainly true of the sufferer under trial--if he waits upon God in prayer he shall receive much greater deliverances than he has ever dreamed of-- "great and mighty things, which you know not." Here is Jeremiah's testimony--"You drew near in the day that I called upon You: You said, Fear not. O Lord, You have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life." And David's is the same--"I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me and set me in a large place...I will praise You: for You have heard me and are become my salvation." And yet again--"Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." "My husband is dead," said the poor woman, "and my creditor is come to take my two sons as bondsmen." She hoped that Elijah would possibly say, "What are your debts? I will pay them." Instead of that, he multiplies her oil till it is written, "Go and pay your debts and"-- what was the "and"?--"live you and your children upon the rest." So often it will happen that God will not only help His people through the miry places of the way so that they may just stand on the other side of the slough--but He will bring them safely far on the journey. That was a remarkable miracle, when in the midst of the storm, Jesus Christ came walking upon the sea! The disciples received Him into the ship and not only was the sea calm, but it is recorded, "Immediately the ship was at the land where they went." That was a mercy over and above what they asked. I sometimes hear you pray and make use of a quotation which is not in the Bible--"He is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we can ask or even think." It is not so written in the Bible. I do not know what we can ask or what we can think. But it is said, "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask or even think." Let us, then, dear Friends, when we are in great trial, only say, "Now I am in prison. Like Jeremiah I will pray as he did, for I have God's command to do it. And I will look out as he did, expecting that He will show me reserved mercies which I know nothing of at present." He will not merely bring His people through the battle, covering their heads in it, but He will bring them forth with banners waving to divide the spoil with the mighty and to claim their portion with the strong! Expect great things of a God who gives such great promises as these! Again, here is encouragement for the worker. Most of you are doing something for Christ. I am happy to be able to say this, knowing that I do not flatter you. My dear Friends, wait upon God much in prayer and you have the promise that He will do greater things for you than you know of. We know not how much capacity for usefulness there may be in us. That ass's jawbone lying there upon the earth--what can it do? Nobody knows what it can do. It gets into Samson's hands--what can it not do? No one knows what it cannot do now that a Samson wields it! And you, Friend, have often thought yourself to be as contemptible as that bone and you have said, "What can I do?" Yes, but when Christ, by His Spirit grips you--what can you not do? Truly you may adopt Paul's language and say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." However, do not depend upon prayer without effort. In a certain school there was one girl who knew the Lord. She was a very gracious, simple-hearted, trustful child. As usual, Divine Grace developed itself in the child according to the child's position. Her lessons were always best said of any in the class. Another girl said to her, "How is it that your lessons are always so well said?" "I pray God to help me," she said, "to learn my lesson." "Well," thought the other, "then I will do the same." The next morning when she stood up in the class she knew nothing. And when she was in disgrace she complained to the other, "I prayed God to help me learn my lesson and I do not know anything of it. What is the use of prayer?" "But did you sit down and try to learn it?" "Oh, no," she said, "I never looked at the book." "Ah, then," said the other, "I asked God to help me to learn my lesson--but I then sat down to it studiously and I kept at it till I knew it well and I learned it easily, because my earnest desire, which I had expressed to God was, help me to be diligent in endeavoring to do my duty." So is it with some who come up to Prayer Meetings and pray and then they fold their arms and go away hoping that God's work will go on. Like the Negro woman singing, "Fly abroad, you mighty Gospel," but not putting a penny in the plate--so that her friend touched her and said, "But how can it fly if you don't give it wings to fly with?" There are many who appear to be very mighty in prayer, wondrous in supplications! But then they require God to do what they can do themselves and therefore God does nothing at all for them. "I shall leave my camel untied," said an Arab once to Mahomet, "and trust to providence." "Tie it up," said Mahomet, "and then trust to providence." So you that say, "I shall pray and trust my Church, or my class, or my work to God's goodness," may rather hear the voice of Experience and Wisdom which say, "Do your best. Work as if all rested upon your toil--as if your own aim would bring your salvation. And when you have done all, cast yourself on Him without whom it is in vain to rise up early and to sit up late and to eat the bread of carefulness. And if He speeds you give Him the praise." I shall not detain you many minutes longer, but I want to notice that this promise ought to prove useful for the comforting of those who are intercessors for others. You who are calling upon God to save your children, to bless your neighbors, to remember your husbands or your wives in mercy may take comfort from this! "I will show you great and mighty things, which you know not." A celebrated minister in the last century, one Mr. Bailey, was the child of a godly mother. This mother had almost ceased to pray for her husband who was a man of a most ungodly stamp and a bitter persecutor. The mother prayed for her boy and while he was yet eleven or twelve years of age, eternal mercy met with him. So sweetly instructed was the child in the things of the kingdom of God that the mother requested him--and for some time he always did so--to conduct family prayer in the house. Morning and evening this little one laid open the Bible. And though the father would not deign to stop for the family prayer, yet on one occasion he was rather curious to know, "what sort of an out the boy would make of it," so he stopped on the other side of the door and God blessed the prayer of his own child under thirteen years of age to his conversion! Said the mother, "I might well have read my text with streaming eyes and said, 'Yes, Lord, You have shown me great and mighty things, which I knew not! You have not only saved my boy, but through my boy You have brought my husband to the Truth." You cannot guess how greatly God will bless you! Only go and stand at His door--you cannot tell what is in reserve for you. If you do not beg at all, you will get nothing. But if you beg He may not only give you, as it were, the bones and broken meat, but He may say to the servant at His table, "Take that dainty meat and set that before the poor man." Ruth went to glean. She expected to get a few good ears--but Boaz said, "Let her glean even among the sheaves and rebuke her not." He said, moreover, to her, "At mealtime come here and eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar." She found a husband where she only expected to find a handful of barley. So in prayer for others, God may give us such mercies that we shall be astounded at them since we expected but little. Hear what is said of Job and learn its lesson, "And the Lord said, My servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that you have not spoken of Me the thing which is right, like My servant Job...And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." Now, this word to close with. Some of you are seekers for your own conversion. God has quickened you to solemn prayer about your own souls. You are not content to go to Hell. You want Heaven. You want washing in the precious blood--you want eternal life. Dear Friends, I pray you take this text--God Himself speaks it to you--"Call unto Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you know not." At once take God at His Word. Get home--go into your chamber and shut the door and try Him! Young man, I say, Try the Lord! Young woman, prove Him--see whether He is true or not! If God is true, you cannot seek mercy at His hands through Jesus Christ and get a negative reply. He must--for His own promise and Character bind him to it--open Mercy's gate to you who knock with all your heart! God help you, believing in Christ Jesus, to cry aloud unto God and His answer of peace is already on the way to meet you! You shall hear Him say, "Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven." The Lord bless you for His love's sake. Amen. [NOTE--In a former sermon, while denouncing the error of the "non-confession of sin by Believers," we wrongly imputed that gross heresy to the Plymouth Brethren. We have since learned that the persons to whom we alluded have been expelled from that body and we therefore desire to exonerate the community from a fault of which they are not guilty. We are sorry to have made this charge, as it is far from our wish to speak evil of any, but we were not aware of the expulsion of the guilty persons.] __________________________________________________________________ A Warning Against Hardness Of Heart DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 19, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "But exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today,'lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:13. THE children of Israel, in their coming out of Egypt and in their forty years' sojourn in the wilderness, represented the visible Church of the living God--not the secret and elect body of the redeemed--but the professing company of the outward Church. They were very prone to the great sin of unbelief. They believed in God after a fashion while they saw His wonders, but the moment they were brought into straits or difficulties, they at once began to doubt the power of Jehovah and to cast off all reverence for His authority. Therefore they fell into another sin which at last fastened on them so as to become a part of their nature--they became stiff-necked, obstinate, rebellious, perverse and hard of heart. They would not learn, although their lesson-book had miracles for its pictures. Their hearts became so hard that albeit they saw all the great things which God did for them, they despised the pleasant land and were ready at times for the sake of the flesh-pots of Egypt, to wear again the yoke of Pharaoh and to die the inglorious death of slaves. Such, too, are the great sins of the Christian Church--unbelief the root--and obstinacy the fruit. Brothers and Sisters, if we know our own hearts we must confess that unbelief is a sin which does very easily beset us and that our obstinacy may well provoke the Lord to anger. We rejoice in God while the rocks run with rivers and while the daily manna drops about our tents. But when the fiery serpent bites us, or the wells are bitter, or our comforts are in any way interfered with, we begin to distrust and to suspect the faithfulness of God. And as the result of this, there is an obstinacy about us which often inclines us to stand out against the plain precepts of God, because, in the judgment of our unbelief, obedience might lead us into trouble and disobedience might make our path smooth. Oh that it were not so! It is sadly true that God's people are liable to be overtaken by the worst of sins! Egypt itself did not produce worse sins than those which provoked the Lord to anger in the camp of Israel. And to this day the Church has some in it who defile her with all the sins of the world. I do not mean to insinuate that the Church of God is not infinitely to be preferred to the world in character--God forbid that I should slander the fair bride of Christ--she is as much superior to the world as the curtains of Solomon excel the smoke-blacked tents of Kedar! But who dares deny that there are specimens to be found of the worst of sins occurring among the best of men? Just as in the most carefully tended garden there will spring up here and there some of the most noxious weeds--not that the weeds are permitted to smother the whole garden and kill the flowers--but that their coming while men sleep is an indication of what the soil is. And it is a plain manifestation that although the garden is very different from the piece of waste ground on the other side of the wall, yet it differs not in nature--but owes all its superiority to the culture of the farmer! Even so, the saints owe all their excellence above the very chief of sinners to the guardian care and Omnipotent Grace of the great lover of souls. It seems, dear Friends, that it is really necessary to warn God's people, although they have received the new nature and are partakers of the adoption, against being hardened in heart through the deceitfulness of sin. But there is a machinery provided by which the saints may be preserved from this great evil. "Exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." We will talk together thus this morning. First, we shall dwell for a season upon the hardening effect of sin upon men, whether saints or sinners. Then we shall show the peculiar power by which sin hardens, namely, through its deceitfulness. Then we will consider the remedy which we are to use with others--"Exhort one another daily." But what if we should be diseased ourselves with this same hardness of heart? Then it will be necessary for us to have a few words concerning what to do for ourselves if we have to complain of a growing insensibility of Spirit, as I am afraid some of us may most justly do. I. First, then, dear Friends, THE HARDENING CHARACTER OF SIN. This is matter of experience. The first sin which came into the world hardened man's heart in a most terrific manner so that he dared to excuse himself and even to charge God as being indirectly the author of his sin, by giving him the woman! No sooner had Adam tasted of the forbidden fruit than a stony hardness came upon his moral nature. The heart of sensitive flesh was suddenly petrified and became hard, unfeeling stone. He no longer shrank from the thought of sin, but tried to hide himself from the Presence of his best Friend. He felt his nakedness in some degree but that which made him naked he did not lament or even confess before his God. He would never have been content with an apron of fig leaves if he had known the full measure of his degradation. His unborn children in that dread hour participated in his fall and are now born into the world with a stone in their hearts. Man's heart, naturally, is like that of Leviathan, of which the Lord says, "It is as firm as a stone, yes, hard as a piece of the nether millstone." The lower stone of the two in the mill was always chosen on account of its peculiar hardness. Still, hard as the heart is by nature, it may grow harder by practice and by association with sin, even as Zechariah writes of sinners in his day, "Yes, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the Law" (Zech. 7:12). There is no doubt whatever that living among sinners has a hardening tendency upon men. You cannot walk about in this great lazar-house without receiving some contagion, though you were pure in heart. Unless you had the absolute perfection and Godhead of Christ Jesus to protect you, the Prince of this world would make you his prey. It were hard to dwell in so foul a world as this without contracting some impurity. Those black coals which fill this earthly cellar--if they will not burn us--will at least blacken us. When so many fires of sin are pouring forth their smoke, the whitest of linen cannot escape the falling ash. If "the thought of foolishness is sin," and we have Divine authority for so judging, then even to think of sin exercises a polluting influence. Can I read a description of another man's sin without getting my heart hardened? I question if reading the daily reports of crime in the police news is not a very fertile cause of sin. Great crimes usually produce their like in congenial winds and even in the purest hearts their recital cannot but have an injurious effect. The tree of knowledge of good and evil bears dangerous fruit--it were well if we restrained our curiosity--and left foul deeds alone, unknown, unread by us. What good can come from turning over the foul dunghill of crime? Let those traverse our sewers whose business it is to do so. Is it not better for the most of us to keep out of them? Those who are called in Providence to deal daily with the coarser sins had need to set a special watch over themselves lest they fall by little and little. Let me here remark that the sins of God's people are peculiarly operative in this manner. If I see a drunk intoxicated, I am simply shocked at him--but I am not likely to imitate his example. But if I see the same vice in a man whom I respect and whose example has up to now been to me the guide of my life, I may be greatly grieved at first, but the tendency of my mind will be to make an excuse for him. And when one has succeeded in framing a plausible excuse for the sin of another, it is very natural to use it on one's own behalf. Association with inconsistent Christians has been the downfall of many young Believers. The devil delights to use God's own birds as a decoy for his nets. "I could not have thought it," says the young Christian, "that men whom I esteemed as saints would have acted so." "Well, well," is the next reflection, "if these are good men and go to Heaven and yet act so badly, then I need not be so precise." And thus, by a course of reasoning which sin makes as easy as casting up accounts by a ready reckoner, we arrive at the conclusion that perhaps what we avoided as a sin may have been no sin at all! And we therefore indulge in it without stint and step by step come down to the level of this evil generation. He who handles edged tools, is apt to cut his fingers and none the less so because the knife is made of the best steel. Let us walk warily among men like a man with naked feet when going over thorny ground, lest our hurt be grievous. I am fearful that even preaching against sin may have an injurious effect upon the preacher. I frankly confess, my Brethren, that there is a tendency with those of us who have to speak upon these themes to treat them professionally, rather than to make application of them to ourselves. And thus we lose our dread of evil in some degree--just as young doctors soon lose their tender nervousness in the operating room. We are compelled in our office to see ten thousand things which at first are heart breakers to us. In our young ministry, when we meet with hypocrisy and inconsistency, we are ready to lie down and die. but the tendency in after years is to take these terrible evils as matters of course. Worldliness, covetousness and carnality shock us most at the outset of our work--is not this a sad sign that even God's ministers may feel the hardening effect of sin? I daily feel that the atmosphere of earth has as much a tendency to harden my heart as to harden plaster which is newly spread upon the wall. And unless I am baptized anew with the Spirit of God and constantly stand at the foot of the Cross--reading the curse of sin in the crimson hieroglyphics of my Savior's dying agonies--I shall become as steeled and insensible as the mass of professors already are. I cannot enter at length into the whole matter, but let me trace the gradual process of hardening of heart which may take place in a measure in a true Christian--but in its full extent in the mere professor whose religion lacks the inward vital principle. You must understand that the hardening of a tender conscience is a gradual process, something like the covering of a pond with ice on a frosty night. At first you can scarcely see that freezing is going on at all. There are certain signs which a thoroughly practiced eye may be able to detect as prognostics of ice, but the most of us would see nothing. By and by, there is ice, but it would scarcely support a pin. If you should place a needle upon it ever so gently, it would fall through. In due time you perceive a thin coating which might sustain a pebble and before long a child trips merrily over it and if old Winter holds his court long enough, it may be that a loaded wagon may be driven over the frozen lake, or a whole army may march without fear across the stream. There may be no rapid congelation at any one moment and yet the freezing is complete enough in the end. Apostates and great backsliders do not reach their worst at one bound. The descent to Hell is sometimes a precipice--but far oftener a smooth and gentle slope. It were hard to find out in the worst of men exactly when they were utterly given up to judicial blindness. It is often a long and laborious process by which conscience is completely seared. This dreadful work usually begins thus--the man's first carefulness and tenderness departs. When you were first converted you felt afraid to put one foot down before another for fear you should go astray. You scarcely ever ventured from your house without an anxiety to be kept by the Grace of God. You used to pray in the morning with great ardor and earnestness that not a thought might be awry, not one single word amiss. And, when business was over at night you felt uneasy lest in anything, however trivial, you might have injured your profession and grieved the Spirit of God. Well do I recollect when I was the subject of excessive tenderness--some people called it "morbid sensibility." How I shuddered and shivered at the very thought of sin which then appeared exceedingly sinful. I would to God I could always feel as I then did! O Believer, your new-born character was then white as the lily and the smallest grain of dust would show upon it! Your life was bright and shining and the least speck could be discovered and you, yourself, were like the sensitive plant--the slightest touch of sin sent a thrill of horror through every fiber of your soul. But it is not so now, at least not to the same admirable degree. It may be you can hear talk to which formerly you would have closed your ears. You can tolerate sins which once you would have shunned as though they were deadly serpents. Your walk is somewhat careless now--great sins you avoid right heedfully--but secret sin gives you little or no concern. The departure of that blessed sensibility of soul which marks the new birth is one very serious mark of declension. It may not seem a great evil to have less abhorrence of evil, but this truly is the egg from which the worst mischief may come. Hear me attentively, O my Brothers and Sisters to whom this message is directed--as I rebuke you in the words of the Savior in the Revelation--"Nevertheless, I have something against you, because you have left your first love." The next distressing sign of growing hardness is increasing neglect or laxity of private devotion without any corresponding shock of the spiritual sensibilities on account of it. The daily prayer will become shorter and shorter, if not irregular. Occasionally the period allotted to the reading of the Word will be given to business or worldly pleasure and perhaps frequently forgotten and neglected. It may perhaps have happened at the first that on some occasion we could not conveniently read the Scriptures according to our desire and our prayers were necessarily shortened. But then we sought to make up for the loss at the first opportunity and we felt like men who, having been cut short at their meals, must eat the more freely next time. But now I am afraid these things become common with some professors and they scarcely care to invent an excuse for their slackness in Divine things. O what poor pleas do some men offer for deserting their closets! How unjustly may unread Bibles accuse those pretenders to Divine Grace who treat them so ill! Alas, Brothers and Sisters, we may look each other in the face and few of us can plead, "Guiltless." Divine Spirit, help us to awake out of sleep and to shake off this deadly lethargy! Another symptom of increasing callousness of heart is the fact that hidings of the Savior's face do not cause that acute and poignant sorrow which they produced in former times. Ah, my soul recollects when she walked in the full blaze of Jesus' love--when the very thought of His turning His face away seemed like the chill blast of winter nipping the summer flowers of my soul. Then I sang-- "Your shining face can cheer, This dungeon where I dwell 'Tis Paradise if You are here, If You depart, 'tis Hell." I have sometimes walked in darkness and have seen no light. And I confess deep shame and profound sorrow that I have occasionally been half indifferent whether Jesus shone forth or not. The spouse who fondly loves her husband longs for his return if he is absent. A long protracted separation from her mate is a semi-death to her spirit--and so with souls who love the Savior much. They must see His face--they cannot bear that He should be away upon the mountains of Bether and no more hold communion with them. A child that is full of love to its parent cannot endure a frown. An angry pat is heavy--a stroke cuts to the very heart. A reproaching look, a glance of rebuke, an uplifted finger will be grievous to good and loving children who fear to offend their tender father and are only happy in his smile. Oh, Beloved, it was so once with you! A text of Scripture, a threat, a touch of the rod of affliction and you went to your Father's feet, crying, "Show me why You contend with me." Is it so now? Are you content to follow Jesus afar off? Content to be a wanderer from your Father's house? Can you contemplate suspended communion with Christ without alarm? Can you bear to have your Beloved walking contrary to you because you walk contrary to Him? Have your sins separated you and your God, and is your heart at rest? O my beloved Brothers and Sisters, let me affectionately and even tearfully warn you--it is a grievous token of hardness of heart when we can live contentedly without the present enjoyment of the Savior's face! Still further, when the soul is hardened to this extent, it is probable that sin will no longer cause such grief as it once did. Brother, you remember how you humbled yourself before God with many fears when in your former days you felt that you had made a slip in your conversation? You could not sleep that night. Even that precious promise, which you tried to lay hold of, could hardly quiet your agitated mind. You bemoaned yourself most piteously, crying out upon your bed, "I have dishonored the Lord that bought me! I have been false to my profession and my love to Jesus!" Your spirit had no rest even the next day, nor could time assuage your bitterness of grief. It was only when the Savior had, by His sweet consolations and the application of His precious blood, effectually purged your conscience that your soul at last had rest. My Brother, it may be you have lately sinned far worse than you did then, but you do not smart half so severely. Your life is not so pure as it once was, but still your heart is quite as peaceful, for an evil spirit whispers, "Peace, peace," where there is no peace. Dr. Preston tells us of a professor who on one occasion was found drunk. And when much depressed on account of his folly, the devil said to him by way of temptation, "Do it again, do it again," for said he, "the grief you feel about it now, you will never feel any more if you commit the sin again." Dr. Preston says that the man yielded to the temptation and from that time he never did feel the slightest regret at his drunkenness and lived and died a confirmed sot, though formerly he had been a very high professor. Take special heed of the second sin if you have already fallen into the first, for that second fall may most effectually prevent your repenting and returning to the right way--the habit will take you as in an iron net and hold you fast to be dragged down with other hypocrites like you to the lowest depths of Hell. It is a sad sign of coming declension, no, of decline already come, when we can talk of sin lightly, make excuses for it, or make jokes about it--when we can see it in others without sorrow--and in ourselves without the greatest shame. The next stop in this ladder, down, down, down to destruction is that sin, thus causing less grief, is indulged in more freely. The man had fallen the first time--the second time he deliberately lies down. The first time he was overtaken in a fault-- the second time he overtakes the fault and runs after the sin. The first time he was a victim--the second time he is most willingly given up to it. The first time he drank the cup by mistake, or by a kind of compulsion--but the second time he comes to the feast like that of Ahasuerus, where none compel and yet he rejoices to be a ringleader in rioting. First he sipped, but now, like the ox, he drinks by the bucketful. At first he carried only a spark in his bosom, but now he bears a whole brazier of burning coals and cries that it is sport. The man may not be ripe enough yet for outward sins under the immediate eye of the world--the probability is that he keeps his iniquities private. He eats the bread of sin in secret. He drinks, but no one calls him a drunk because it is done at home. He commits lust, but no one charges him with it because he carefully conceals his tracks and indulges himself only when he is out of sight of his fellows. He robs in business, but no one can detect it. Perhaps even the ledger does not show it--there is a particular way of making ends meet in dishonesty by which a tradesman may be a gross thief and continue to be so and yet by putting a gloss on matters, can maintain his repute and be considered honest. Into such a state of heart I fear that even some of God's children may for a time, be suffered to fall--but the far greater probability is that those who descend so low are hypocrites and know not the Grace of God in truth. I pray God we may never prove by experience how nearly an heir of Heaven may become like a child of wrath. After this there is still a greater hardening of heart--the man comes to dislike rebukes. He has sinned so long and yet he has been held in such respect in the Christian Church that if you give half a hint about his sin, he looks at you with a sharp look as if you were insulting him. He is not to be talked to or spoken with--he has been taken for a flaming professor so many years that he is not to be suspected now. You may rebuke the sins of the congregation and he will be gratified if you do not make too particular an application. You may declaim against his sin in public, but woe unto the friend who shall be daring enough to give a private admonition. The more a man loves his sin and needs rebuke the more heartily will he hate the person who, with the best of motives, lays it at his door! Mark this word--if this hardening work goes on, the day comes at last to such a man that the Word of God loses all effect upon him--whether he reads it or hears it, it ceases to be an accusing voice any longer. He rather finds a song of lullaby in it, and rocked in the cradle of his sin he sleeps on to his own eternal ruin. You say, "Can a child of God come as far as this?" I believe not, my Brothers and Sisters, but I am speaking now of professors at large. These professors have, at last, learned to sleep over the mouth of Hell and dream of Heaven while damnation is denounced upon them. I fear that some here are as easy under the thunders of God's Law as the blacksmith's dog under the sound of his master's hammer with the sparks flying about him. Some of you have heard the Gospel so long and have made a profession of being saved so long, that being still unconverted there is now little hope for you! The Gospel has no power over you-- you know it so well and love it so little. If your character could be photographed, you would not acknowledge it. If we preach against hypocrisy, hypocrites say, "Admirable! Admirable!" If we deal out threats against secret sin, secret sinners feel a little twinge, but forget it all and say--"An excellent discourse." They have hardened their neck against God's Word! They have made their brows like flints and their hearts adamant stones and now they might just as well stay away from the House of God as not! There is but little hope that the Word will ever be blest to them--their soul has become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And yet would I have them keep from the means of Grace? No, for with God nothing is impossible! The Sovereign Grace of God may yet step in and He who has power to heal may yet in the mighty majesty of His love speak to the heart of stone and make it gush forth with rivers of repentance like the rock in the wilderness of old! II. We come, in the second place, to notice THE PECULIAR POWER WHICH LIES IN SIN TO HARDEN THE HEART. It is the deceitfulness of sin. The heart is deceitful and sin is deceitful. And when these two deceitful ones lay their heads together to make up a case there is no wonder if man, like a silly dove, is taken in their net! One of the first ways in which sin deceives the professor is by saving, "You see no hurt has come of it. The thing is hid--nobody has mentioned it to the Church officers. It is not known among the members. In fact, nobody has heard of it--you may as well enjoy yourself as not. You are not doing any mischief--if there is anything wrong it is confined to yourself." "Really," says Sin, "I cannot see that you are any the worse. You preached quite well last Sunday. You prayed quite well at the Prayer Meeting and as far as the family altar is concerned, there was not much difference there. Evidently sin has not hurt you--do it again! Do it again!" You must not forget that the immediate results of sin are not always apparent in this world, and that if hardness of heart is not apparent it is all the more real--for if a man could perceive the hardness or his own heart it would be pretty good evidence that it was somewhat softened. Then Sin will whisper next, "This would be sin in other people, but it is not in you. You see you were placed in a peculiar position. There is indulgence for you which could not be accorded to other men--you are young," says Sin, "nobody could accuse you if you did go a little rashly to work--if you were an older professor it would be very wrong." Then if it is an old man who is to be deceived, Sin will cry, "You must take care of yourself! You need more indulgence than others." If a man is in private life, Sin will then suggest, "It does not matter in you--it would be wrong in a deacon, or any other Church officer--but nobody knows it in your case." If it is some person in high repute, then Sin whispers, "Your character is so well established it will bear it." There is a way in which you can look at things and see them as they are not. Sin knows how to use the distorting glass so that a man will turn round on this side and condemn his fellow for a sin and call him some terrible name--and then he will turn to the other side and commit the same sin himself! And, like the adulterous woman in the Proverbs, he will wipe his mouth and say, "I have done no wickedness." Sin, if it cannot deceive in this way, will beguile its victim by insinuating, "Now this is a dangerous thing for others to do. But in your case, you have so much prudence and have acquired so much experience that you can stop when you reach a certain point. I know," says Sin, "young So-and-So was ruined by frequenting such-and-such places, but you may go in and out of the same doors because you have so much discretion. It would be dangerous to expose your son to such a temptation, and of course you would not like the Church to know that you go there. But really, you are a person so well established and you know the world so thoroughly, that you may do without the slightest hurt what others may not even dream of." It is a great and grievous lie, as we ought to know, that sin can ever be touched without injury, but yet this suffices for many--"I will go to the verge of the precipice. I will look down. I will get the delicious feeling of the sublimity of danger and then will go back. I will mix with bad company sufficiently to know its evils. I would not go over the line for all the world--I shall be sure to stop just on this side of it." Such boasters remind one of that simple story of the lady who wanted a coachman. When three applied, she had them in one by one. "Well," she said to the first, "How near can you drive to danger?" "Madam," said he, "I believe I could drive within a foot without fear." "You will not do for me" she said. To the second she said, "How near could you drive to danger?" "Within a hair's breadth, Madam," said he, "and yet, you would be perfectly safe." "You will not suit me," she said. The third came in and when asked the same question "How near could you drive to danger?" he said, "Please Ma'am, I never tried. I always drive as far off as ever I can." Such should the Christian act. Some, through the deceitfulness of sin, are always testing how near they can go to the edge so as not to fall over. How near they can sail to the rock and not dash upon it. How much sin they can indulge in and yet remain respected Church members. Shame on us, that any of us should be guilty of such tampering with that accursed thing which slew the Lord of Glory! Again, sin will sometimes have the impudence to say, "It is very easy to repent of it. If you have once plunged into the mire, you can at any time see the evil of it and you have only to repent and straightway there is forgiveness." This vile traitor is even dastardly enough to take the Doctrines of Grace and turn them into a reason for sin. The old serpent hisses out, as none but the devil dares do, "God will not cast you off! He never casts away His people. He can soon visit you in mercy and lift you up to the highest state of spirituality! Though you may have fallen into the lowest condition of degradation, you run no risks as others would for the eternal purpose of God is engaged to keep you from final perdition and therefore you may drink the deadly thing and it shall not hurt you. You may tread upon serpents and they shall not bite you." "Their damnation is just," says the Apostle, of those who use the Doctrines of Grace as an argument for licentiousness. The child of God scorns the thought of making the love of God a reason for sin! When a little boy was tempted to steal from an orchard, the others said to him, "You my safely do it. Your father is so fond of you that he will not beat you." "No, no," said the little fellow, "that is the very reason why I would not go a thieving, for I should grieve my fa- ther who is so kind and so good to me." Yet the deceitfulness of sin is such that it will turn the strongest motive for holiness into an argument for rebellion against God! My dear Friends, I feel the weight of this subject pressing down on my own heart. And for that very reason I cannot bring out these Truths of God as I would desire, so as to make them flash into your faces. But I do feel that it must be true of some of you who make a profession of religion, that sin, through its deceitfulness, is tampering with your spirits, trying to make you traitors to God--seeking, if it possibly can--to pervert your mind from hatred of sin and from true love to Jesus, Christ. III. I pass on, however, to hint at THE REMEDY WHICH IS PROVIDED IN THE TEXT FOR US TO USE WITH OTHERS. "Exhort one another," and we are told when to do it--"daily," and when to begin to do it--"while it is called today." Doubtless many professors would be saved from gross sins if mutual exhortation were more commonly practiced in the Churches of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. This duty belongs primarily to the pastor and to Church officers. We are set in the Church to see after the good of the people and it is our business both in public and in private, as far as we have opportunity, to exhort daily. And especially where we see any coldness creeping over men. Where there begins to be a decline in the ways of God, it is our duty to be most earnest in exhortation. The duty belongs to you all, too, "Exhort one another daily." Parents should be careful concerning their children in this matter. You act not the part of a true father unless you see to it your son is in church membership. Upon the slightest inconsistency your children should receive a gentle word of rebuke from you. You matrons in Israel--you are not true mothers of the Church unless you look after the young sisters to keep them out of sin. Sunday school teachers, this is peculiarly your work with regard to your own classes. In this Church so many have been brought out of the school into the Church, that I may insist the more earnestly upon this duty. Watch over your children, not only that they may be converted, but that after being converted they may be as watered gardens--no plants withering-- but all the Graces of the Spirit coming to perfection through your care. Here is work for the elders among us. You whose grey heads betoken years of experience and whose years of experience ought to have given you wisdom and knowledge, you may use the superiority which age affords you to offer a word of exhortation, lovingly and tenderly, to the young. You can speak as those of us who are younger cannot speak--for you can tell what you have tasted and have handled. Perhaps you can even tell where you have smarted by reason of your own faults and follies. All of you, without exception, whether you are rich or poor, see to each others' souls! Say not, "Am I my brother's keeper?" but seek your brother's good for edification. I do hope there will be a larger degree of sociality among the members of this Church than ever, although up to now I have had no cause of complaint. Some churches never can practice mutual exhortation because the members do not know each other. The members are lumps of ice floating about--huge blocks of ice without connection with one another. It ought not to be so--the very fact of Church membership, drinking of the same cup, eating of the same bread, it seems to me, entitles every man to admonish and to be admonished. No, it makes it the imperative duty of every such person to see that he cares for the soul of his fellow. I would not abolish social distinctions, God forbid! They must ever exist, I believe, at least till the Lord comes. But in the Church of God, membership and brotherhood should, at least when you come together here, override all social distinctions. And as in Cromwell's army, the private might often be heard around the campfire talking to the major and the captain taking it upon himself to rebuke the colonel--so should it be among us. We should feel that we are one in Christ Jesus--that while we regard distinctions among men in civil life, yet in spiritual things we so care for each other's good and so desire the edification of the entire body of Christ that we watch over one another carefully and prayerfully--and exhort one another daily. In such a Church as this there is peculiar need of it. What can we, a handful of Church officers, do among three thousand of you? If you do not exercise oversight over one another, what can be done? I thank God the duty is not altogether neglected, but I would stimulate you to a greater diligence in the exercise of it. You know of someone, perhaps, who is backsliding--do not tell anybody else--go privately to him. You know of a Sister whose spiritual life is in a decline. Do not talk to your neighbors, or even, at first, communicate with us about it--labor to get your own heart right and then seek to restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, remembering yourself lest you also be tempted. If we do not do this, we shall as a Church suffer great dishonor. It is unavoidable in so many but that we should be troubled with some hypocrites. How can our Church be kept right, instrumentally, except by much watchfulness? We do not wish to be dishonored. We do not desire by great falls to grieve the name of Christ. Then let us watch over one another. It is so pleasant and so blessed to restore a Brother from the error of his ways that I can offer you no greater reward than these two-- to screen the name of Christ from shame--and to have the pleasure of saving a soul from death and covering a multitude of sins. IV. Lastly, SUPPOSE THIS TO BE THE CASE WITH ANY ONE OF US, WHAT THEN? We cannot very well, as a rule, ask a Brother to exhort us when we feel conscious of insensibility, although it were well if some dear friend could be trusted to give us, every now and then, a solemn admonition. Some of us are in such a position that we are not very likely to be exhorted--we are keepers of the vineyard and have none who would take upon themselves to admonish us. Our enemies, however, very ably supply the lack--for they often tell us very profitable, but very unpleasant truths which do us a deal of good and they are never restrained by any fear of hurting our feelings. We have great reason to thank God for some men's enmity--it is the only way in which they could serve us. Failing this--and private Christians miss this bitter medicine--what is to be done? Suppose we have begun to falter? What is to be done? Shall I say, "Suppose?" Come, pass the question round, dear Friends. Is it not true with too many of us that we are growing careless and insensible? Do I not hear some honest hearts cry, "There is no supposition in the case, we have already gone back"? Public services to some of you have grown dull compared with what they used to be and yet the preacher is the same! Prayer Meetings you scarcely attend, or if you are there, your hearts are not on fire with vehement longings after your God. Private prayer drags heavily. Bible reading is almost given up. Communion with Christ is becoming a thing of the past. Holy joys and Divine ecstasies are things which you have read of and heard about--but do not yourselves enjoy! May it not be so with you! I feel, sometimes as if were I cut in my heart with a sword, I would bless the sword, so long as I could but smart and bleed under it. Oh it is a horrible thing, an accursed thing, to abide in a state of insensibility! Oh, for heartbreaks! To have a heart broken thoroughly would be a blessing! Yes, to be driven to despair might be an enviable thing rather than not to feel at all! I will not, therefore, say, "Suppose," but I will say it is so with a great many! Then what had we better do? My Brethren, let us labor to feel what an evil thing this is--little love to our own dying Savior--little joy in our precious Jesus! Little fellowship with our spiritual and well-beloved Husband, our Lord, our covenant Head. Be ashamed and be confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel! Cover your faces, Brothers and Sisters, and let boasting be put away. Put on sackcloth! Heap ashes on your heads! Hold a true Lent in your souls, while you sorrow over your hardness of heart. Do not stop at sorrow! Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the Cross. There, and there only, can you got your spirit quickened. There hangs the Savior! There was life in Him ten or twenty years ago, when you first looked. There is life in Him still! If your experience should seem to you to have been a delusion and your faith to have been presumption, Christ is a Savior still! He came into the world to save sinners--and if you are not a saint--you are a sinner! Go to Him as such. Let us, my Brethren, begin again! Let us go to the starting point. Let us lay again the fundamentals. Let us sing-- "Just as I am, without one plea, But that Your blood was shed for me, And that You bid me come to You, O Lamb of God, I come!" No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may have become--let us go again in all the rags and poverty and defilement of our natural condition and throw ourselves flat on our faces before His mighty Cross! "With all my sin and all my hardness of heart," let the Believer say, "I do believe that Jesus died for me." Let him clasp that Cross! Let him look into those listless eyes! Let him bathe in that fountain filled with blood--this will bring back to him his first love! This will restore the ancient holiness of his faith and the former tenderness of his soul! To you who think that you never were converted and probably never were--who have grown very hard and fear you never could by any possibility melt in repentance--I give this exhortation, and O, may the Holy Spirit enable you to obey it: Come to Jesus you vilest of men! Laboring ones, heavy laden ones, come to Jesus! Black, foul, filthy, hard-hearted ones, come to Jesus! He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him. We are not in Hell yet! The iron door has not grated on its hinges! The dread bolt has not yet slid into its socket! There is hope--for there is life. There is hope--for there is a promise! There is hope for there hangs the Savior--there is hope for me, for you, for both of us--if we go humbly to the Mercy Seat and take Christ to be our All in All! God help us to do it for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Precious Blood Of Christ DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 26, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "The precious blood of Christ." 1 Peter 1:19. IT is frequently my fear I should fall into the habit of preaching about the Gospel rather than directly preaching the Gospel. And then I labor to return to the first principle of our faith and often take a text upon which it would not be possible to say anything new, but which will compel me to recapitulate in your hearing those things which are vital, essential and fundamental to the life of our souls. With such a text as this before me, if I do not preach the Gospel I shall do violence both to the sacred Word and to my own conscience. Surely I may hope that while endeavoring to unfold my text and to proclaim the saving Word, the Holy Spirit will be present to take of the things of Christ and to show them unto us and make them saving to our souls. Blood has from the beginning been regarded by God as a most precious thing. He has hedged about this fountain of vitality with the most solemn sanctions. The Lord thus commanded Noah and his descendants, "Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat." Man had every moving thing that lives given him for meat, but they were by no means to eat the blood with the flesh. Things strangled were to be considered unfit for food, since God would not have man became too familiar with blood by eating or drinking it in any shape or form. Even the blood of bulls and goats thus had a sacredness put upon it by God's decrees. As for the blood of man, you remember how God's threats ran, "And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man." It is true that the first murderer had not his blood shed by man, but then the crime was new and the penalty had not then been settled and proclaimed. And therefore the case was clearly exceptional and one by itself. And, moreover, Cain's doom was probably far more terrible than if he had been slain upon the spot--he was permitted to fill up his measure of wickedness, to be a wanderer and a vagabond upon the face of the earth--and then to enter into the dreadful heritage of wrath, which his life of sin had doubtless greatly increased. Under the theocratic dispensation, in which God was the King and governed Israel, murder was always punished in the most exemplary manner and there was never any toleration or excuse for it. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life was the stern inexorable law. It is expressly written, "You shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death: but he shall surely be put to death." Even in cases where life was taken in chance medley or misadventure, the matter was not overlooked. The slayer fled at once to a City of Refuge, where, after having his case properly tried, he was allowed to reside. But there was no safety for him elsewhere until the death of the high priest. The general law in all cases was, "So you shall not pollute the land wherein you are: for blood defiles the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, but by the blood of him that shed it. Defile not, therefore, the land which you shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I, the Lord, dwell among the children of Israel." Strange is it that that very thing which defiles should turn out to be that which alone can cleanse! It is clear, then, that blood was ever precious in God's sight and He would have it so in ours. He first forbids the blood of beasts as food of man, then avenges the blood of man shed in anger. And, furthermore, takes care that even accidents shall not pour it out unheeded. Nor is this all. We hear within us the echo of that law. We feel that God has truly made blood a sacred thing. Though some can, through use and habit, read the story of war with patience, if not with pleasure--though the sound of the trumpet and the drum and the tramp of soldiery will stir our heart and make us, for the moment, sympathize with the martial spirit--yet, if we could see war as it really is, if we could only walk but halfway across a battlefield or see but one wounded man, a cold shiver would shoot through the very marrow of our bones and we should have experimental proof that blood is, indeed, a sacred thing. The other night, when I listened to one who professed to have come from battlefields of the American war, I felt a faintness and clammy sweat steal over me as he shocked and horrified us with the details of mutilated bodies and spoke of standing up to the tops of his boots in pools of human gore. The shudder which ran through us all was a sure confirmation of the sanctity with which God has forever guarded the symbol and nutriment of life. We cannot even contemplate the probability of the shedding of blood without fear and trembling. And comforts which entail high risks in their production or procuring will lose all sweetness to men of humane dispositions. Who does not sympathize with David in his action with regard to the water procured by his three mighties! The three heroes broke through the hosts of the Philistines to bring David water from the well of Bethlehem. But as soon as he received that water, though very thirsty and much longing for it, yet he felt he could not touch it because these men had run such dreadful risks in breaking thrice through the Philistine hosts to bring it to him! He, therefore, took the water and poured it out before the Lord, as if it was not meet that men should run risk of life for any but God who gave life! His words were very touching, "My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing! Shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? For with the jeopardy or their lives they brought it." I wonder at the cruelty of the great crowds who delight to see men and women running such fearful risks of life in rope-dancing. How is it that they can feed their morbid curiosity on such dreadful food and greet the man who is foolish enough to run such hazards with acclamations because of his foolhardiness? How much more Christ-like the regret of David that he should have led any man to risk his life for his comfort! How much more laudable was his belief that nothing short of the highest benevolence to man, or the highest devotion to God can justify such jeopardy of life! Further permit me to observe that the seal of the sanctity of blood is usually set upon the conscience even of the most depraved of men--not merely upon gentle souls and sanctified spirits--but even upon the most hardened. You will notice that men, bad as they are, shrink from the disgrace of taking blood money. Even those high priests who could sit down and gloat their eyes with the sufferings of the Savior would not receive the price of blood into the treasury. And even Judas, that son of perdition, who could contemplate without horror the treachery by which he betrayed his Master--yet when he had the thirty pieces of silver in his palm, found the money too hot to hold! He threw it down in the temple, for he could not bear or abide the sight of "the price of blood." This is another proof that even when virtue has become extinct and vice reigns, yet God has put the broad arrow of His own Sovereignty so manifestly upon the very thought of blood that even these worst of spirits are compelled to shrink from tampering with it. Now, if in ordinary cases the shedding of life is thus precious, can you guess how fully God utters His heart's meaning when He says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints"? If the death of a rebel is precious, what must be the death of a child? If He will not contemplate the shedding of the blood of His own enemies and of them that curse Him without proclaiming vengeance, what do you think He feels concerning His own elect, of whom He says, "Precious shall their blood be in His sight"? Will He not avenge them, though He bears long with them? Shall the cup which the Harlot of Rome filled with the blood of the saints long remain unavenged? Shall not the martyrs from Piedmont and the Alps and from our Smithfield and from the hills of covenanting Scotland yet obtain from God the vengeance due for all that they suffered and all the blood which they poured forth in the defense of His cause? I have taken you up, you see, from the beast to man--from man to God's chosen men--the martyrs. I have another step to indicate to you--it is a far larger one--it is to the blood OF JESUS CHRIST. Here powers of speech would fail to convey to you an idea of the preciousness! Behold here, a Person innocent-- without taint within, or flaw without! A Person meritorious who magnified the Law and made it honorable--a Person who served both God and man even unto death. No, here you have a Divine Person--so Divine that in the Acts of the Apostles Paul calls His blood the "blood of God." Place innocence and merit and dignity and position and Godhead itself in the scale and then conceive what must be the inestimable value of the blood which Jesus Christ poured forth! Angels must have seen that matchless blood-shedding with wonder and amazement, and even God Himself saw what never before was seen in creation or in Providence--He saw Himself more gloriously displayed than the whole universe beside. Let us come nearer to the text and try to show forth the preciousness of the blood of Christ. We shall confine ourselves to an enumeration of some of the many properties possessed by this precious blood. I felt, as I was studying, that I should have so many divisions this morning that some of you would compare my sermon to the bones in Ezekiel's vision--they were very many and they were very dry--but I am in hopes that God's Holy Spirit may so descend upon the bones in my sermon--which would be but dry of themselves--that they being quickened and full of life you may admire the exceeding great army of God's thoughts of loving-kindness towards His people in the sacrifice of His own dear Son. The precious blood of Christ is useful to God's people in a thousand ways--we intend to speak of twelve of them. After all, the real preciousness of a thing in the time of pinch and trial must depend upon its usefulness. A bag of pearls would be to us, this morning, far more precious than a bag of bread. But you have all heard the story of the man in the desert who stumbled, when near to death, upon a bag. He opened it, hoping that it might be the wallet of some passerby, and he found in it nothing but pearls! If they had been crusts of bread, how much more precious would they have been! I say, in the hour of necessity and peril, the use of a thing really constitutes the preciousness of it. This may not be according to political economy, but it is according to common sense. 1. The precious blood of Christ has a REDEEMING POWER. It redeems from the Law. We were all under the Law which says, "Do this and live." We were slaves to it--Christ has paid the ransom price and the Law is no longer our tyrant master. We are entirely free from it. The Law had a dreadful curse--it threatened that whoever should violate one of its precepts should die--"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us." By the fear of this curse the Law inflicted a continual dread on those who were under it. They knew they had disobeyed it and they were all their lifetime subject to bondage, fearful lest death and destruction should come upon them at any moment. But we are not under the Law, but under Grace, and consequently, "We have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, 'Abba, Father.' " We are not afraid of the Law now--its worst thunders cannot affect us for they are not hurled at us! Its most tremendous lightning cannot touch us for we are sheltered beneath the Cross of Christ, where the thunder loses its terror and the lightning its fury. We read the Law of God with pleasure now! We look upon it as in the ark covered with the Mercy Seat and not thundering in tempests from Sinai's fiery brow. Happy is that man who knows his full redemption from the Law, its curse, its penalty, its present dread! My Brethren, the life of a Jew, happy as it was compared with that of a heathen, was perfect drudgery compared to yours and mine! He was hedged in with a thousand commands and prohibitions. His forms and ceremonies were abundant and their details minutely arranged. He was always in danger of making himself unclean. If he sat upon a bed or upon a stool he might be defiled. If he drank out of an earthen pitcher, or even touched the wall of a house--a leprous man might have put his hand there before him and he would thus become defiled. A thousand sins of ignorance were like so many hidden pits in his way. He must be perpetually in fear lest he should be cut off from the people of God. When he had done his best any one day, he knew he had not finished--no Jew could ever talk of a finished work. The bullock was offered, but he must bring another. The lamb was offered this morning, but another must be offered this evening, another tomorrow and another the next day. The Passover is celebrated with holy rites--it must be kept in the same manner next year. The high priest has gone within the veil once, but be must go there again. The thing is never finished--it is always beginning. He never comes any nearer to the end. "The Law could not make the comer thereunto perfect." But see our position--we are redeemed from this! Our Law is fulfilled, for Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness! Our Passover is slain, for Jesus died! Our righteousness is finished, for we are complete in Him! Our victim is slain, our Priest has gone within the veil, the blood is sprinkled! We are clean and clean beyond any fear of defilement, "For He has perfected forever those that were set apart." Value this precious blood, my Beloved, because thus it has redeemed you from the thralldom and bondage which the Law imposed upon its votaries. 2. The value of the blood lies much in its ATONING EFFICACY. We are told in Leviticus, that, "it is the blood which makes an atonement for the soul." God never forgave sin apart from blood under the Law. This stood as a constant text--"Without shedding of blood there is no remission." Meal and honey, sweet spices and incense would not avail without shedding of blood. There was no remission promised to future diligence or deep repentance--without shedding of blood pardon never came. The blood, and the blood alone, put away sin and permitted a man to come to God's courts to worship--because it made him one with God. The blood is the great at-one-ment. There is no hope of pardon for the sin of any man except through its punishment being fully endured. God must punish sin. It is not an arbitrary arrangement that sin shall be punished, but it is a part of the very constitution of moral government that sin must be punished. Never did God swerve from that and never will He. "He will by no means clear the guilty." Christ, therefore, came and was punished in the place of all His people. Ten thousands times ten thousands are the souls for whom Jesus shed His blood. He, for the sins of all the elect, has made a complete Atonement. For every man born of Adam who has believed or shall believe on Him, or who is taken to Glory before being capable of believing, Christ has made a complete Atonement. And there is none other plan by which sinners can be made at one with God, except by Jesus' precious blood. I may make sacrifices. I may mortify my body. I may be baptized. I may receive sacraments. I may pray until my knees grow hard with kneeling. I may read devout words until I know them by heart. I may celebrate masses. I may worship in one language or in fifty languages--but I can never be at one with God except by blood--and that blood, "the precious blood of Christ." My dear Friends, many of you have felt the power of Christ's redeeming blood! You are not under the Law now, but under Grace--you have also felt the power of the atoning blood--you know that you are reconciled unto God by the death of His Son. You feel that He is no angry God to you, that He loves you with a love unchangeable. But this is not the case with you all. O that it were! I do pray that you may know, this very day, the atoning power of the blood of Jesus! Creature, would you not be at one with your Creator? Puny man, would you not have Almighty God to be your Friend? You can not be at one with God except through the at-one-ment. God has set forth Christ to be a Propitiation for our sins. Oh, take the Propitiation through faith in His blood and be at one with God! 3. Thirdly, the precious blood of Jesus Christ has A CLEANSING POWER. John tells us in his first Epistle, first chapter, seventh verse, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses us from all sin." Sin has a directly defiling effect upon the sinner, from which comes the need of cleansing. Suppose that God, the Holy One, were perfectly willing to be at one with an unholy sinner which is supposing a case that cannot be. Yet even should the pure eyes of the Most High wink at sin, still, as long as we are unclean we never could feel in our own hearts anything like joy and rest and peace. Sin is a plague to the man who has it, as well as a hateful thing to the God who abhors it. I must be made clean. I must have my iniquities washed away or I never can be happy. The first mercy that is sung of in the one hundred and third Psalm is, "Who forgives all your iniquities." Now we know it is by the precious blood that sin is cleansed. Murder, adultery, theft--whatever the sin may be--there is power in the veins of Christ to take it away at once and forever! No matter how many, nor how deeply-seated our offenses may be, the blood cries, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." It is the song of Heaven--"We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." This is the experience of earth, for none was ever cleansed except in this fountain opened for the house of David for sin and for un-cleanness. You have heard this so often that perhaps if an angel told it to you, you would not take much interest in it-- unless you have known experimentally the horror of uncleanness and the blessedness of being made clean. Beloved, it is a thought which ought to make our hearts leap within us, that through Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any Believer, not a wrinkle nor any such thing-- "Though in myself defiled I am, And black as Kedar's tent, appear, Yet when I put Your garment on, Fair as the courts of Solomon." You have no spiritual beauty, Beloved, apart from Christ. But, having Christ, He Himself says, "You are all fair, My Love, there is no spot in you." Oh, precious blood which makes the blackamoor white as snow and takes out the leopard's spots! Oh, precious blood removing the Hell-stains of abundant iniquity and permitting me to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding all the many ways in which I have rebelled against my God! 4. A fourth property of the blood of Christ is ITS PRESERVING POWER. You will rightly comprehend this when you remember that dreadful night of Egypt, when the destroying angel was abroad to slay God's enemies. A bitter cry went up from house to house as the first-born of all Egypt--from Pharaoh on the throne to the first-born of the woman behind the mill and the slave in the dungeon--all fell dead in a moment! The angel sped with noiseless wings through every street of Egypt's many cities. But there were some houses which he could not enter--he sheathed his sword and breathed no malediction there. What was it which preserved the houses? The inhabitants were not better than others. Their habitations were not more elegantly built--there was nothing except the bloodstain on the lintel and on the two side posts--and it is written, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." There was nothing whatever which gained the Passover for Israel but the sprinkling of blood! The father of the house had taken a lamb and killed it--had caught the blood in a basin. And while the lamb was roasted that it might be eaten by every inhabitant of the house, he took a bunch of hyssop, stirred the basin of blood and went outside with his children and began to strike the posts and to strike the door. And as soon as this was done they were all safe, all safe--no angel could touch them--the fiends of Hell themselves could not venture there. Beloved, see, we are preserved in Christ Jesus! Did not God see the blood before you and I saw it and was not that the reason why He spared our forfeited lives when, like barren fig trees, we brought forth no fruit for Him? When we saw the blood, let us remember it was not our seeing it which really saved us--one sight of it gave us peace, but it was God's seeing it that saved us. "When I see the blood I will pass over you." And today, if my eye of faith is dim and I see the precious blood so as to rejoice that I am washed but I can scarcely see it, yet God can see the blood and as long as the undimmed eyes of Jehovah look upon the atoning Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, He cannot smite one soul that is covered with its scarlet mantle. Oh, how precious is this blood-red shield! My Soul, cower yourself down under it when the darts of Hell are flying! This is the chariot, the covering of purple--let the storm come and the deluge rise, let even the fiery hail descend beneath that crimson pavilion--my soul must rest secure, for what can touch me when I am covered with His precious blood? The preserving power of that blood should make us feel how precious it is. Beloved, let me beg you to try and realize these points. You know I told you before I cannot say anything new upon the subject, neither can I embody these old thoughts in new words. I should only spoil them and be making a fool of myself by trying to make a display of myself and my own powers, instead of the precious blood. Let me ask you to get here, right under the shelter of the Cross. Sit down, now, beneath the shadow of the Cross and feel, "I am safe, I am safe, O you devils of Hell, or you angels of God--I could challenge you all and say, 'Who shall separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus, or who shall lay anything to my charge, seeing that Christ has died for me?' " When Heaven is on a blaze. When earth begins to shake. When the mountains rock. When God divides the righteous from the wicked, happy will they be who can find a shelter beneath the blood! But where will you be who have never trusted in its cleansing power? You will call to the rocks to hide you and to the mountains to cover you, but all in vain. God help you now, or even the blood will not help you then! 5. Fifthly, the blood of Christ is precious because of its PLEADING PREVALENCE. Paul says in the twelfth chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, at the twenty-fourth verse, "It speaks better things than that of Abel." Abel's blood pleaded and prevailed. Its cry was, "Vengeance!" and Cain was punished. Jesus' blood pleads and prevails. Its cry is "Father, forgive them!" and sinners are forgiven through it. When I cannot pray as I would, how sweet to remember that the blood prays! There is no voice in my tongue, but there is always a voice in the blood. If I cannot, when I bow before my God, get farther than to say, "God be merciful to me, a sinner," yet my Advocate before the Throne is not dumb because I am and His plea has not lost its power because my faith in it may happen to be diminished. The blood is always alike prevalent with God. The wounds of Jesus are so many mouths to plead with God for sinners--what if I say they are so many chains with which love is lead captive and sovereign mercy bound to bless every favored child? What if I say that the wounds of Jesus have become doors of Divine Grace through which Divine love comes forth to the vilest of the vile and doors through which our wants go up to God and plead with Him that He would be pleased to supply them? Next time you cannot pray. Next time you are crying and striving and groaning up in that upper room, praise the value of the precious blood which makes intercession before the eternal Throne of God! 6. Sixthly, the blood is precious where perhaps we little expect it to operate. It is precious, because of its MELTING INFLUENCE on the human heart. "They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for Him, as one that mourns for his only son and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born." There is a great complaint among sinners, when they are a little awakened, that they feel their hearts so hard. The blood is a mighty melter. Alchemists of old sought after a universal solvent--the blood of Jesus is that. There is no nature so stubborn that a sight of the love of God in Christ Jesus cannot melt it, if Grace shall open the blind eye to see Christ. The stone in the human heart shall melt away when it is plunged into a bath of Divine blood. Cannot you say, dear Friends, that Toplady was right in his hymn-- "Law and terrors do but harden All the while they work alone. But a sense of blood-bought pardon, Soon dissolves a heart of stone"?" Sinner, if God shall lead you to believe this morning in Christ to save you--if, then, you will trust your soul in His hands to have it saved--that hard heart of yours will melt at once! You would think differently of sin, my Friends, if you knew that Christ smarted for it. Oh, if you knew that out of those dear listless eyes there looked the loving heart of Jesus upon you, I know you would say, "I hate the sin that made Him mourn and fastened Him to the accursed tree." I do not think that preaching the Law generally softens men's hearts. Hitting men with a hard hammer may often drive the particles of a hard heart more closely together and make the iron yet more hard. But oh, to preach Christ's love--His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in sins and to tell to sinners that there is life in a look at the Crucified One--surely this will prove that Christ was exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins! Come for repentance, if you cannot come repenting! Come for a broken heart, if you cannot come with a broken heart! Come to be melted, if you are not melted. Come to be wounded, if you are not wounded. 7. But then comes in a seventh property of the precious blood. The same blood that melts has A GRACIOUS POWER TO PACIFY. John Bunyan speaks of the Law as coming to sweep a chamber like a maid with a broom. And when she began to sweep there was a great dust which almost choked people and got into their eyes. But then came the Gospel with its drops of water and laid the dust and then the broom might be used far better. Now it sometimes happens that the Law of God makes such a dust in the sinner's soul that nothing but the precious blood of Jesus Christ can make that dust lie still. The sinner is so disquieted that nothing can ever give him any relief except to know that Jesus died for him. When I felt the burden of my sin, I do confess all the preaching I ever heard never gave me one single atom of comfort. I was told to do this and to do that and when I had done it all, I had not advanced one inch farther. I thought I must feel something, or pray a certain quantity. And when I had done that, the burden was quite as heavy. But the moment I saw that there was nothing whatever for me to do, that Jesus did it long, long ago--that all my sins were put on His back and that He suffered all I ought to have suffered--why then my heart had peace with God. Real peace by believing peace through the precious blood! Two soldiers were on duty in the citadel of Gibraltar. One of them had obtained peace through the precious blood of Christ, the other was in very great distress of mind. It happened to be their turn to stand sentinel, both of them, the same night. And there are many long passages in the rock, which passages are adapted to convey sounds a very great distance. The soldier in distress of mind was ready to beat his breast for grief--he felt he had rebelled against God and could not find how he could be reconciled--when suddenly there came through the air what seemed to him to be a mysterious voice from Heaven saying these words, "The precious blood of Christ." In a moment he saw it all--it was that which reconciled us to God--and he rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory! Now did those words come directly from God? No. They did as far as the effect was concerned--they did come from the Holy Spirit. Who was it that had spoken those words? Curiously enough, the other sentinel at the far end of the passage was standing still and meditating when an officer came by and it was his duty, of course, to give the word for the night and with soldier-like promptness he did give it--but not accurately, for instead of giving the proper word, he was so taken up by his meditations that he said to the officer, "The precious blood of Christ." He corrected himself in a moment. But he had said it and it had passed along the passage and reached the ear for which God meant it--and the man found peace and spent his life in the fear of God, being in after years the means of completing one of our excellent translations of the Word of God into the Hindu language. Who can tell, dear Friends, how much peace you may give by only telling the story of our Savior! If I only had about a dozen words to speak and knew I must die, I would say, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." The doctrine of Substitution is the pith and marrow of the Gospel, and if you can hold that forth, you will prove the value of the precious blood by its peace-giving power. 8. We can only spare a minute now upon ITS SANCTIFYING INFLUENCE. The Apostle tells us in the ninth chapter and the fourteenth verse that Christ sanctified the people by His own blood. Certain it is that the same blood which justifies by taking away sin does, in its after-action, act upon the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus. If you want to know why you should be obedient to God's will, my Brethren, go and look upon Him who sweat, as it were, great drops of blood and the love of Christ will constrain you, because you will thus judge, "That if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all that we which live might not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for us and rose again." 9. In the ninth place, another blessed property of the blood of Jesus is ITS POWER TO GIVE ENTRANCE. We are told that the high priest never went within the veil without blood. And surely we can never get into God's heart, nor into the secret of the Lord which is with them that fear Him, nor into any familiar communion with our great Father and Friend, except by the sprinkling of the precious blood of Jesus. "We have access with boldness into this grace wherein we stand," but we never dare go a step towards God except as we are sprinkled with this precious blood. I am persuaded some of us do not come near to God because we forget the blood. If you try to have fellowship with God in your graces, your experiences, your believing--you will fail. But if you try to come near to God as you stand in Christ Jesus--you will have courage to come. And on the other hand, God will run to meet you when He sees you in the face of His Anointed. Oh, for power to get near to God! But there is no getting near to God except as we got near to the Cross. Praise the blood, then, for its power of giving you nearness to God. 10. Tenthly--a hint only. The blood is very precious, in the tenth place, for ITS CONFIRMING POWER. No covenant, we are told, was ever valid unless victims were slain and blood sprinkled. And it is the blood of Jesus which has ratified the New Covenant and made its promises sure to all the seed. Therefore it is called "the blood of the Everlasting Covenant." The Apostle changes the figure and he says that a testament is not of force except the testator is dead. The blood is a proof that the Testator died and now the Law holds good to every inheritor because Jesus Christ has signed it with His own gore. Beloved, let us rejoice that the promises are yes, and amen, for no other reason than this--because Christ Jesus died and rose again. Had there been no bowing of the head upon the tree, no slumbering in the sepulcher, no rising from the tomb, then the promises had been uncertain, fickle things--not "immutable things wherein it is impossible for God to lie"--and consequently they could never have afforded strong consolation to those who have fled for refuge to Christ Jesus. See, then, the confirming nature of the blood of Jesus and count it very precious. 11. I am almost done. But there remains another. It is the eleventh one, and that is THE INVIGORATING POWER of the precious blood. If you want to know that, you must see it set forth as we often do when we cover the table with the white cloth and put the bread and wine on it. What do we mean by this ordinance? We mean by it that Christ suffered for us and that we, being already washed in His precious blood and so made clean, do come to the table to drink wine as an emblem of the way in which we live and feed upon His body and upon His blood. He tells us, "Except a man shall eat My flesh and drink My blood, there is no life in him." We do therefore, after a spiritual sort, drink His blood and He says, "My blood is drink, indeed." Superior drink! Transcendent drink! Strengthening drink--such drink as angels never taste though they drink before the eternal Throne. Oh Beloved, whenever your spirit faints, this wine shall comfort you! When your griefs are many, drink and forget your misery and remember your sufferings no more! When you are very weak and faint, take not a little of this for your soul's sake, but drink a full draught of the wine on the lees, well refined, which was set abroad by the soldier's spike and flowed from Christ's own heart! "Drink to the full. Yes, drink abundantly O Beloved," says Christ to the spouse. And do not linger when He invites. You see the blood has power without to cleanse and then it has power within to strengthen. O precious Blood, how many are Your uses! May I prove them all! 12. Lastly and twelfth--twelve is the number of perfection. We have brought out a perfect number of its uses--the blood has AN OVERCOMING POWER. It is written in the Revelation, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How could they do otherwise? He that fights with the precious blood of Jesus fights with a weapon that will cut through soul and spirit, joints and marrow--a weapon that makes Hell tremble and makes Heaven subservient and earth obedient to the will of the men who can wield it! The blood of Jesus! Sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be death--Hell itself would be dried up if that blood could operate there. The blood of Jesus! Heaven's gates are opened! Bars of iron are pushed back. The blood of Jesus! My doubts and fears flee, my troubles and disasters disappear! The blood of Jesus! Shall I not go on conquering and to conquer so long as I can plead that? In Heaven this shall be the choice jewel which shall glitter upon the head of Jesus--that He gives to His people "Victory, victory, through the blood of the Lamb." And now, is this blood to be had? Can it be got at? Yes, it is FREE, as well as full of virtue--free to every soul that believes. Whoever cares to come and trust in Jesus shall find the virtue of this blood in his case this very morning. Away from your own works! Turn those eyes of yours to the full Atonement made, to the utmost ransom paid! And if God enables you, poor Soul, this morning to say, "I take that precious blood to be my only hope," you are saved and you may sing with the rest of us-- "Now, freed from sin, I walk at large; The Savior's blood's my full discharge. At His dear feet my soul I'll lay, A sinner saved and homage pay." God grant it may be so, for His name's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Traveling Expenses On The Two Great Roads DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 2, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "So he paid the fare." Jonah 1:3. AS a general rule, wherever we go, whatever we do, we must "pay the fare." Expenditure is connected with every act, work and operation. The sun does not constantly flood this world and all its sister spheres with light and heat without some kind of consumption within itself. Nor does the earth yield her fruits of harvest except at the cost of the matter of which it is composed. By the force of wind and frost, the very "Mountain falling comes to nothing and the rock is removed out of his place" (Job 14:18). The rivers do not reach the sea without wearing away their banks and cutting channels in the earth through which their floods may flow. The raindrops, the generous gifts of Heaven, have first been loaned from the treasury of the great deep. The air itself is constantly in process of consumption, and were it not that a fresh supply is daily being produced, even the atmosphere would become exhausted. All the processes of Nature involve a constant expenditure of power. Ponderous as is the engine of creation and little as it shows the fretting power of age, it is certain that in the whole of its machinery, from its most stupendous wheel down to its smallest valve, it is daily and necessarily experiencing an appointed amount of wear and tear. It is assuredly so with regard to the lesser world of man. The body cannot move a limb or contract a muscle without expense. The lifting of my hand, the pointing of my finger, the motion of my tongue, the stirring of my brain in thought all cost something and make a draught upon the inner store of strength--you cannot so much as gaze upon the world around you without some wear and tear of that marvelous optical instrument by which outward sights are brought to the inward mind. Friction operates on flesh and bone and sinew and a higher friction acts on mind and intellect and passion, for even these grow weak with strain and age--"the fare"--Nature sternly demands before she will loose her cable or spread her sail to the breeze. He quarrels with God's laws who expects something for nothing and hopes to be served without offering a just remuneration and to find friends without showing himself friendly. We must pay our fare, for the universe requires it--we will pay it cheerfully--for we are honest men. This general rule of expenditure holds good when we enter the world of morals and commune with spiritual things. Man plucked the forbidden fruit and dearly was that apple paid for in the fall of all our race. The Lord redeemed us in His boundless love, but not without a price--the free mercy of God cannot work its way among men except Heaven's best treasure is spent to purchase men from bondage. Expense occurs everywhere in our salvation--"The price of pardon was the Savior's blood." "To buy our souls it cost His own."-- "There's never a gift His hand bestows, But cost His heart a groan." Nor is it so in the kingdom of Heaven only, for even if a man would pursue a foolhardy voyage across the sea of rebellion in the ship of sin to the horrible land of perdition, he must "pay the fare." Sinners, for that which is not bread, must spend their money and for that which profits not, must pay their labor. He who would be saved must take care to sit down and count the cost, lest, after having begun to build, he should not be able to finish it. But let him not think that he is alone in his expending, for the transgressor's bill of costs is no light one! War of any sort is costly, but ungodly men will find that a war with Heaven is the dearest of all. God's House, like the palace of Solomon, needs a large income to sustain its daily feasting--but it is not like the house of evil which makes a beggar of every man that comes within its doors. I. I shall, this morning, commence my discourse by endeavoring to direct your attention to THE COST OF TRAVELLING ON THE BROAD ROAD TO HELL. Phocian paid for the poison which killed him--and the sinner pays dearly for the sin which proves his ruin. The worldling often taunts the Christian because he expends his money on his religion. The Christian may well reply to the sinner, "I wish that your taunts were more true, for I fear that I do not spend one-tenth as much in the service of God as you do in the service of your vices." Very few except the most generous of Christians could venture to say that they spend as much upon their God as profligates squander upon their lusts. 1. Let us begin to add up the bill! We are met at once with a heavy item. The man who makes the world his idol and forgets God, has at once, at the start of his voyage, to pay down and place in a sinking fund all hope of God's favor and all expectation of the blessings which it brings. He cannot run contrary to God's will and command and then expect that God will be his Friend and prosper his designs! If I set myself up in rebellion against Heaven's great King, I cannot suppose that He will make it His constant care to promote my interests, nor dare I dream that He will aid and abet me in my designs of evil. "With the obstinate You will show Yourself obstinate" (Psa. 18:26), is the revelation of Scripture. "If you walk contrary to Me, I will walk contrary to you," is the voice of the God of Sinai. The man throws down the glove of battle against the Lord and his Creator will let him know that it is, "Woe unto him that strives with his Maker." Long-suffering is Jehovah and He does not smite the rebel with speedy ruin, but still it is written, "God is angry with the wicked every day: if he turns not He will whet His sword, He has bent His bow and made it ready." The good man sees a gracious Providence smiling at his side--he knows that, " all things work together for good to them that love God." And although the wheels of Providence are too high for him to understand their revolutions, yet he knows that they are full of eyes, marking the wisdom and care of his Father in Heaven. He sings with rapture-- "Your ways, O Lord, with wise design, Are framed upon Your Throne above. And every dark and bending line Meets in the center of Your love." The Almighty God is the Believer's refuge and beneath His wings he finds perpetual shelter. Not so the sinner. In the court of Providence he is an outlaw and can claim no right of protection. How shall Providence care for him who cares not for God? He is under its ban and he shall, before long, learn that, "They that plow iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed." The ungodly cannot claim the privilege which Eliphaz ascribes to the righteous--"He shall deliver you in six troubles: yes, in seven there shall no evil touch you. At destruction and famine you shall laugh: neither shall you be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you." On the contrary, Providence may justly remind him of his sins and say, "Call now, if there is any that will answer you. And to which of the saints will you turn?" Our gracious God has given no charge to His angels to keep the sinner in all his ways. Those ministering spirits have no commission to bear him up lest he dash his foot against a stone. Rather, the forces of Nature are restrained by almighty mercy, or else the very stars in their courses and the waters in the rivers would fight against the wicked, as they did against Sisera in days of yore. The Christian has the Presence of God also to rejoice in. Mungo Park, when lost in the wilderness, observed a tiny piece of moss, and marking how beautifully it was fashioned, he recollected, "God is here! My Father is here!" So does the Christian. He is never out of his Father's House and consequently he is forevermore at home. The lines of Thompson are ours, not as poetry merely, but as matter of fact-- " Should Fate command me to the farthest verge Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes, Rivers unknown to song, where first the sun Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam Flames on the Atlantic isles; 'tis naught to me Since God is ever present, ever felt, In the void waste as in the city full And where He vital breathes, there must be joy. When even at last the solemn hour shall come, And wing my mystic flight to future worlds, I cheerfully wil obey. There with new powers Will rising wonders sing. Icannotgo Where UNIVERSAL LOVE not smiles around, Sustaining all yon orbs and all their sons, From seeming evil still educing good. And better there again and better still, In infinite progression." It is not so with the sinner? The presence of God is to him dreadful. If there were some valley of confusion where God's power is not known, its congenial desolation would become the sinner's Heaven--the place where God's Presence shall gleam upon him with irresistible force will be his Hell. Moreover, the sinner gives up every promise of God in choosing the road to perdition. There is not a word in this Book of Divine Love which can breathe comfort into the sinner's ear while he chooses his own ways. It is a book of threats and of curses to the impenitent. It woos as a mother would call her wandering child--it has a gentle voice forever broken, and contrite spirit--but it thunders like Sinai's own self against every hardened sinner who will not turn from his wicked way. O Unbeliever, you have renounced, by the very fact of your remaining without God and without Christ, all possession in the rich promises of God! You have sunk the immense capital upon the interest of which the Christian lives in time and in the enjoyment of which he hopes to be blest throughout eternity. You who know how to add, mark this one item of expenditure to begin with, and guess how heavy is the fare of sin! 2. In the next place, they who follow the course of sin make a great expenditure of their time. However, that I dare say they do not think much of, for time to them is a mere drug of no clear value. Many of the ungodly seek after pastimes, kill-times and all sorts of inventions by which they may get rid of time, which to us appear sadly too little for our daily work. The precious privilege of existence is to them a nuisance. The pictured gallery of life is to them a prison or corridor through which they would hasten as speedily as may be, forgetting its end and where it leads. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, if they were wise they would comprehend that time is the stuff which life is made of and that this life is the only season in which we can be made qualified for the enjoyments of eternity. If men understood it, they would sooner cast pearls to swine than give their days to sin and their nights to rioting. If time is the chrysalis of eternity, who but a fool would treat it with contempt? He is the worst of prodigals who wastes that most precious of all treasures, his time! But what hours does fashion demand? What days will the debauched and the profligate give to their sensual indulgence? But what am I saying? It is needless to single out the more bold of transgressors--the rule is universal--the sinner's life is all waste, for it is uncon-secrated by faith, unblest by God and is therefore all lavished for nothing on shadows and dreams. 3. It must not be forgotten that some ungodly men expend a deal of labor to gratify their evil desires. The way to Hell may be downhill, but it is not all smooth. There are Hills Difficulty even for the ungodly. "The way of transgressors is hard." Therefore the Savior says, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden," for sinners labor and their sins prove to be a heavy burden. The same Hebrew word and the same Greek word, stands both for "laboring," and for "sin," for sinning is often hard. As the Prophet says, "The people labor in the very fire and weary themselves for vanity." Though men call sin pleasure, who does not know that it often jades and wearies the man worse than the hardest toil! How the proud man toils for honor! How the miser pinches himself for gold! How the thief exhausts his ingenuity to get at another man's wealth! How hard is the harlot's drudgery! How heavy is the yoke of Satan! 4. Sinners, again, are frequently put by their sins to a great expense of their actual substance. Their money finds feather's for its wings in the gratification of their desires. Who can be a drunkard without coming to poverty or lessening his estate? Who fills the cup to the brim without before long clothing himself with rags and bringing his household to poverty? The prodigal wasted his substance in riotous living--who can do otherwise if he entertains a host of greedy sins? God only knows how much of the poverty of this land is due to nothing else but drunkenness. No doubt there always will be some poverty which may claim our charity, for the poor shall never cease out of the land. But still, it is to be feared that three-fourths of all the poverty of this great city is to be traced more or less directly to the gin palace and the beer shops. Drunkenness is a "reedy sin and like the horseleech it cries, 'Give, give.' " England, with all its liberality, does not give anything like so much to the cause of missions, or for the maintenance of religion, as men spend in intoxication. Then look at other sins, how costly they are! Consider those amusements of the world which many defend as being no offense to public morals, but which the spiritual avoid as being unfit occupations for heirs of Heaven. Even these are far from being inexpensive. I noticed yesterday an advertisement in the newspaper for boxes at the opera, for a certain term, to be let for two hundred guineas! What would people think if a pew in any place of worship were only to be had on terms of so heavy a subscription? Why, that sum would pay the charges all the year round of full many a place of worship! And yet this amount represents probably but a portion of the expense involved in attendance at the theater. There are far greater drains upon the purse than those implied in missionary societies, ministers, chapels and Bible-women. Who has not heard how fast debauchery burns the candle at both ends? Is it not said of the prodigal, that he devoured his living with harlots? This sin has brought many a man of wealth and fortune down to shiver like a beggar on a dunghill! "Remove your way far from her and come not near the door of her house...lest strangers be filled with your wealth and your labors be in the house of a stranger." He who sins must pay the fare. 5. Nor is this all. Those men who go far into sin and carry out the desires of their hearts soon find that there is an expense of health. How many a man has rottenness in his bones and disease in his heart's core brought on by gluttony, drunkenness and vice? Well may men pray that they may be delivered from the sins of their youth and their former transgressions, for they are in a sad plight who mourn at the last when their flesh and their body are consumed. It is not God who has thickly sown this world with disease and sorrow--man's iniquity has done it. Men cast darnel and cockle into the furrows of life and when they spring up, they complain of the appointments of God, whereas, they are the result of their own sins! And there is no injustice in the rule, that whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. "Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned?" "His bones are full of the sins of his youth which shall lie down with him in the dust." The fare, the full fare of sin's voyage, must be paid. 6. Another expense and that one which ought not to be forgotten, is the loss of peace of mind. A man cannot indulge in sin and yet go to his bed with a quiet conscience. At least, if he can do so, this callousness is of itself a still greater evil. For the most part, men start back at the ghosts of their own crimes. "Terrors make the wicked afraid on every side and drive them to their feet." Even the respectable sinner whose life is outwardly moral, but whose heart is far from God, cannot avoid some qualms and disturbance of mind. If I am not one with God, if I am not washed in Jesus' blood, if I am not sanctified by God's Holy Spirit, there is an aching void within me which the world can never fill. There is an inward monitor which tells me, "There is something that you need, a something that the world cannot give you which you cannot earn for yourself. How is it that you are living in the neglect of it?" "A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the Destroyer shall come upon him...He wanders abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand." Until I was saved by Divine Grace, I can truly say I had no lasting peace. But now my peace is like a river. How a trumpet will often blanch the sinner's cheek! The cholera comes and how the man trembles because death is at work next door! How fearful he is when he stands at the grave's brink and looks down upon the coffin of some companion with whom he has spent many a boisterous hour! Ah, you cannot have peace! You cannot have peace till you have Christ! You cannot be truly happy till you have given your souls to Jesus! The apple may look fair, but it is rotten within. You may talk of joy, but you know it not if you know not Jesus. Surely to lose this priceless pearl is an item in the bill of no mean magnitude-- Peace has sweets That Hybla never knew. It sleeps on down Culled gently from beneath the cherub's wing. Who would throw this away for vexing, mocking, deceiving, lying vanities? 7. The worst expense, however, we have only hinted at. The man who goes to Hell must pay the fare in another way--he loses his soul. What that loss may be no mortal tongue can tell. If one could come again from the pit, as once the rich man proposed, perhaps he might tell us in dolorous tones what it is to be cast out from God into the place where there is not a drop of water to cool the fire-tormented tongue. But it is not for us even to conceive what the place of torment may be. It is enough to hear and profit by the question of the Savior--"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" What is Caesar the better for his dominions? What is Croesus the better for his wealth? What is the philosopher the better for his wisdom, now that he is cast away from the favor of God forever? In fact, the greater the wretched beings were on earth, the more terrible will their doom be in eternity, when, looking from their beds of flame, the lesser sinners shall cry, "Are you become like one of us? Is the lofty one brought low? Is the proud one humbled? Is the boaster made to feel in the torment of this fire that he is no greater than the rest of us?" I say, the more honor and dignity and glory the man obtained on earth, the more terrible his shame and disgrace when, his soul being lost, he is cast into the pit forever! Let us, then, if we have been deluded by the pleasures of sin, or have been tempted in any way to forget God because we have thought that the way of the flesh was easy--let us think awhile that we shall have to pay the fare and that the fare is far too expensive to be paid by men of understanding. We dare not risk soul and body, life and death, Heaven and Hell, judgment and eternity merely for the sake of those paltry, passing, delusive joys which are all that the world can pretend to offer. II. Let us change our strain and say a little upon THE EXPENSE OF AVOIDING DUTY. Jonah's duty was to go to Nineveh and preach the Word--he preferred not to go--he therefore shirked the work, went down to Joppa and paid his fare to go to Tarshish. I hope we are not in the habit of doing the same, but yet there are occasions when even God's servants shrink from duty and seem willing to forget that where God calls they are bound to go. Possibly this remark may apply to some minister who may come under the Word. He is called to bear his protest against a certain sin and he thinks to himself, "If I so speak, some of those who hear me will never come again. I may lose rich subscribers. I will not say a word on that point." Or, he has it laid upon him to cry against the monstrous evils in the State Church--but he puts his finger to his lips and remains silent, inwardly calculating--"I had better hold my peace on that subject, for I may risk my popularity." Such a minister should reflect that it is a very expensive thing to try to fly to Tarshish when you ought to go to Nineveh, for a man cannot avoid duty without expense. I have known good people who will say, "I know so-and-so is what I ought to do, but still, you see, the path is very difficult and I do not feel called upon to make so great a sacrifice." Well, Friend, if you do not make the sacrifice when God demands it of you, He has other ways of taking away your treasured goods. In the long run you will find it far more expensive to shun the work and will of God than at once to give yourself to it. You will be a loser by your prudence! You shall find that the Scriptural rule holds good, "He that would lose his life shall save it, but he that would save his life shall lose it." If you are willing to be a loser for Christ you shall be a gainer! But if you insist upon being held harmless and try at all costs to make provision for the flesh, then you shall find that before long you will have to pay the fare to your own grievous hurt and injury. What did Jonah lose? Jonah had to pay as part of his fare the presence and comfortable enjoyment of God's love. He went down into the bottom of the vessel and hid himself from sight. I think I see him. That Jonah, who a few days after walked with all the boldness of a lion through the streets of Nineveh, crying, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" That Jonah who bearded Nineveh's haughty monarch and was not afraid to tell him that in forty days his city would be overthrown! That Jonah goes sneaking down among the goods at the bottom of the hold for fear anybody should see him and there hides his coward, craven head. Poor Jonah, you have lost the hallowed fellowship of your God! You have lost His Presence and consequently your courage has all oozed out of you! This is a dear price which you have paid for shunning Nineveh! When you and I serve our Lord Jesus as Believers should do, we can remember that our God is with us and though we have the whole world against us, if we have God with us what does it matter? But oh, the minute we start back and begin to seek our own inventions and appeal to our own wisdom, we are all at sea without a pilot and our great Helper withdraws from us. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, "O my God, where have You gone? How could I have been so foolish as to shun Your service and in this way to lose all the brightness of Your face? This is a price too high! Let me return to my allegiance and to Your Presence." In the next place, Jonah lost all peace of mind. When he was in Nineveh, crying, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown," he was not afraid of the edge of the sword, nor of the tyrant's rage--he felt that he was doing God's work and he knew that when on God's errands he was perfectly safe. His heart beat gently, like that of a man in a happy, tranquil frame of mind wearing the herb called heart's ease in his bosom. But now, down there, in the hold of the vessel, his heart is palpitating--he does not know what may happen and until sleep happily comes in to ease the distress of his mind he is like a poor hunted staff, panting with alarm. These were two great things to lose--God's Presence and his own peace of mind--but these were not all his damage and injury! He was now brought into great peril--he must be thrown into the sea. In all likelihood he will meet with a watery grave. Had he gone to Nineveh that would not have occurred. He would have been under the care of God's special Providence there, but now the winds and waves threaten him. With what a splash he falls into the deep! As we see him engulfed let us, with holy caution, shun the dangerous way of disobedience. Other men may escape the chastisements of God in this world, but not the Lord's own children. "You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities." Now, too, he is brought into great affliction of soul. He tells us that he, "cried by reason of affliction." He compares his state to the "belly of Hell." He was brought into such depths of distress, a miracle interposed to save his life--but not to cheer his spirit. Like the Savior, of whom he was a type, he was exceedingly sorrowful and very heavy, almost unto death. Sin soon destroys a Believer's comfort. It is the deadly upas tree from whose leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and peace. Jonah, too, had lost everything upon which he might have drawn for comfort in any other case. He could not turn to the promise of God that He would keep him, for he was not in God's ways. He could not say, "Lord, I am Your servant," for then conscience would have said, "Yes, and a pretty servant, too!" He could not say, "Lord, I am on Your errand!" for conscience would have said, "No, you are on your own!" He could not say, "Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the discharge of my duty, therefore help me through them"--no, for there would have been a reply, "You are not here in the discharge of duty. "You flew in the teeth of the Most High. You sought to escape from a little difficulty--you tried to get away from the Presence of God altogether and you have prepared all this for yourself. If the draught is bitter, you mixed it. If the fruit is sharp, you planted the tree. If this harvest is terrible, you sowed the seed--you are reaping your own deeds--you are being filled with your own ways." Poor Jonah, poor Jonah, to be in such a state as this! Then here is another point--he had to go to Nineveh after all--and so will you. You may kick, but when God means you to do His work, you will be made to do it. The ox-goad has been thrust into you already because you hate the yoke. You do not like it and you kick against it and the only result is that it is driven further into you. Saul, Saul, it is hard for you to kick against the pricks, for with all your kicking and rebelling you will have to go where you were originally ordered to go. You might as well go at first--you will go with better Grace. You will go with your Master's comfortable Presence--and you will have to go one way or another. Many men have found this true. They have struggled against duty and perhaps year after year they have drawn back from it, finding miserable excuses for their consciences. But they never prospered in business, they could not get on in the world, they had trouble on trouble and at last it came to this--they had to go back to the very place where they were ten or twenty years ago. And there they discharged the duty which they had been so long seeking to avoid which had proved a burdensome stone to them until they were rid of it by yielding to its demands. Now, my dear Brothers, do not play the Jonah, for you will have to pay the fare of it. If you know your duty, do it. I may be speaking very pointedly to some of you. "I should have to sever the bonds of many a fond connection." Do it for Christ's sake. "I should have to leave the camp and go outside of it, take up a very heavy cross and bear Christ's reproach." You may as well do it now as by-and-by, for you will have to do it. "But," says one, "this business of mine--I have nothing left to live upon. I feel it is a bad business, but I do not like to give it up just yet." You will have to do so sooner or later. You may as well do it now, before, like Jonah, you have had to pay for your wit. Remember, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and a good understanding have all they that keep His commandments." May God the Holy Spirit give you the wisdom which comes from above which will lead you to sit as a child at the feet of Jesus and learn His ways. "Be you not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto you." "But hearken diligently unto His commandments and then shall your peace be like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea." III. A few words upon another point--there is AN EXPENSE CONNECTED WITH GOING TO HEAVEN. It is estimated at a very high rate by some who say that the road is good enough, but the tolls are too high. Others pretend to believe that religion is only a scheme for putting money into ministers' pockets, whereas I can truly say for one, that what I receive for my ministry is not a tenth of what I could readily earn in an engagement infinitely less laborious and harassing than my present position. Although, let it be added, I would not leave my ministry for ten thousand worlds. Let us think over this matter of expense and begin with an old story. "An aged couple, in the vicinity of London, who, in the early part of life, were poor, but who, by the blessing of God upon their industry, enjoyed a comfortable independency in their old age, were called upon by a Christian minister who solicited their contributions to a charity. The old lady was disposed to make out some excuse and to answer in the negative, both for her husband and herself. And therefore replied, "Why, Sir, we have lost a great deal by religion since we began. My husband knows that very well." And being wishful to obtain her husband's consent to the assertion, she said, "Have we not, Thomas?" Thomas, after a long and solemn pause, replied, "Yes, Mary, we have lost a great deal by our religion! I have lost a great deal by my religion. Before I got religion, Mary, I had got a water pail in which I carried water and that you know I lost many years ago. And then I had an old slouched hat, a patched old coat and mended shoes and stockings. But I have lost them, also, long ago. And, Mary, you know that poor as I was, I had a habit of getting drunk and quarrelling with you. And that you know I have lost. "And then I had a burdened conscience and a wicked heart. And then I had ten thousand guilty feelings and fears. But all are lost, completely lost and, like a millstone, cast into the deepest sea. And, Mary, you have been a loser, too, though not so great a loser as myself. Before we got religion, Mary, you had a washing tray in which you washed for hire. And God Almighty blessed your industry--but since we got religion--you have lost your washing tray. And you had a gown and bonnet much the worse for wear, though they were all you had to wear. But you have lost them long ago. "And you had many an aching heart concerning me, at times. But those you happily have lost. And I could even wish that you had lost as much as I have lost and even more--for what we lose by our religion, Mary--will be our eternal gain." We need not add the preacher did not go away without substantial proof that Thomas deemed his losses for religion his most weighty obligations to the goodness of Almighty God as the richest gift of Divine Grace on earth and the most authentic pledge of Glory in the world to come! If some of us were to look back upon what religion has cost us we might cast up the amount with very much the same result. Where were you apt to spend your Sundays once, some of you? Where would some few of you have been on other occa-sions?--at the race course, at the theater--yes, and in the brothel. But now you are washed and cleansed and sanctified and rejoicing in Christ Jesus. This is what your religion has cost you--the giving up of nothing that made you truly happy--but only renouncing that which pretended to make you happy but which was ruining your soul forever! The first expense of religion is that it takes away from men spurious joys and gives them real ones. It takes away from them shadows and gives them substance. Then, again, the expense of your religion has been this--some of you have given a good deal of your time to the cause of Christ. Others of you have devoted a considerable portion of your money to it, but after all that you or any of us have ever given, I am sure we can say religion has cost us nothing which we did not give cheerfully-- and it has asked of us nothing which it was not our happiness to render! We have felt a greater joy in giving than in withhold-ing--a greater bliss in serving God than in being idle. Moreover our liberality has always been repaid to us with interest, for our God will be in no man's debt. Here is a specimen of what has been our experience from the pen of a tradesman: "Some years ago I heard a sermon from the words, 'Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse' (Mal. 3:10). I cannot describe how my mind was impressed with the manner in which Jehovah here condescended to challenge His people when He says, 'And prove Me now,' etc. Suffice it to say that the subject made such an impression that I found it my duty to do more for the cause of God than I ever had done. I did so, and on closing that year's accounts, I found that I had gained more than in any two years preceding it. Some time afterwards I thought the Redeemer's cause had an additional claim, as the place in which we worshipped Him needed some repairs. The sum I then gave was L20. And in a very little time afterwards I received L40 which I had long given up as lost." Our Master's service is our liberty. We count it our joy to run in the way of His commandments. And if the worldling pities us and says, "Poor man, how he must deny himself!" We reply, "In one sense it is true, but in another, our best self is fed and satisfied and feasted when we deny self. The duties we perform are not performed as duties, but as privileges. We do not run into them at all because we feel forced to do so, but because we love them. We confess that religion has cost us our spirit, our soul, our body. And our only regret is we have not more that we can give to the cause of Christ. We think we can stand at the foot of the Savior's Cross and say-- "Now for the love I bear His name, What was my gain I count my loss. My former pride I call my shame, And nail my glory to His Cross. Yes, and I must and will esteem All things but loss for Jesus' sake may my soul be found in Him, And of His righteousness partake!" Religion, then, takes away from us nothing but what we are glad to lose. And it asks nothing of us but what we are too glad to give. And it returns to us in ten thousand ways all that it takes from us. It gives us blessings of the upper and of the nether springs. It comforts us in life, it cheers us in death. It makes us so happy that we can say with Watts-- "I would not change my blessed estate For all the world calls good or great; And while my faith can keep her hold, 1 envy not the sinner's gold." IV. In the last place, THE TRUE FARE OF GODLINESS IS ALREADY PAID--NOT BY US--BUT BY OUR LORD JESUS. Jonah paid his fare from Joppa to Tarshish, but I never find that he paid any fare back. The conveyance which brought him to land was far cheaper than the ship of Tarshish, though not quite so comfortable. He came back to land with no expense to himself whatever! So we must pay much and do much in order to be cast away--but the way of eternal life and salvation is perfectly free. When Jonah was thrown out into the midst of the sea, the whale did not swallow him because he was a man of money, or because he was a man of merit--he was just a needy, destitute sinner, subject to the wrath of God as expressed in that tempest and in that storm and in that boiling sea. And there came the friendly fish which carried him into a living grave for three days that his life might be preserved. And this is very much like our salvation--salvation by death and burial with Jesus. We flee away. We trust by our self-righteousness to escape from the tempest of God's wrath, but we cannot. At last we feel that we are cast right out into the sea to perish and God's anger, as we think, is hot against us. There is no good thing in us, nothing upon which we can rely. We see no hope of escape. Just then the death of Christ, which was our greatest crime--which seems as though it would destroy us-- takes us into its friendly shelter and in it we go to the bottoms of the mountains. In it we descend till all the waves and billows of God's wrath have rolled over us. And in it we are securely landed, to praise the name and love of God. When our extremity comes and there is none to help, then God prepares the way of deliverance for us, His people. Hear me for one moment, my Brothers and Sisters, this morning. We have sinned! God help us to feel the sin! Grievously have we offended against God by flying in His face and going where He would not have us go! Can we return? We have paid our fare to go to the place of destruction, but we have no means to pay our fare to Heaven. Penniless, stripped of all hope in ourselves, is there any way by which we can return--by which we can find eternal life? There is! There is--if we give ourselves up wholly to God, confessing our sins and if our soul rests alone upon the finished work of the great salvation provided in Christ Jesus. We need not fear because we have nothing. Our God, who has everything, asks nothing from us. He does not save us because we are righteous, but because He is gracious. He will not deliver us because there is something good in us--but because there is everything good in Himself. Let me say to those of you who are sleeping this morning, careless of your fate--If you sleep much longer, you may wake up where your waking will be terrible. What are you doing, O you Sleepers! Rise! I remind you of your future doom, of your present danger. O Spirit of God, arouse them! And if awakened, you cry, "What must I do to be saved?" The answer comes, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." Though you can see no means of escape, yet there is a means provided by God! And when you are cast out from the ship, have left all other confidence and think that God's sea of wrath will cover you up--then Christ, who has been prepared of old as our great Deliverer, shall take you and bear you safely to the land of eternal Glory. I would God that you were made to forsake the way of the Destroyer and led in the way of peace, that He might have all the praise forever. May He bless these poor, feeble, but well-intended remarks, for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Satan Considering the Saints A Sermon (No. 623) Delivered on Sunday Morning, April 9th, 1865, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job."--Job 1:8. HOW VERY UNCERTAIN are all terrestrial things! How foolish would that believer be who should lay up his treasure anywhere, except in heaven! Job's prosperity promised as much stability as anything can do beneath the moon. The man had round about him a large household of, doubtless, devoted and attached servants. He had accumulated wealth of a kind which does not suddenly depreciate in value. He had oxen, and asses, and cattle. He had not to go to markets, and fairs, and trade with his goods to procure food and clothing, for he carried on the processes of agriculture on a very large scale round about his own homestead, and probably grew within his own territory everything that his establishment required. His children were numerous enough to promise a long line of descendants. His prosperity wanted nothing for its consolidation. It had come to its flood-tide: where was the cause which could make it ebb? Up there, beyond the clouds, where no human eye could see, there was a scene enacted which augured no good to Job's prosperity. The spirit of evil stood face to face with the infinite Spirit of all good. An extraordinary conversation took place between these two beings. When called to account for his doings, the evil one boasted that he had gone to and fro throughout the earth, insinuating that he had met with no hindrance to his will, and found no one to oppose his freely moving and acting at his own pleasure. He had marched everywhere like a king in his own dominions, unhindered and unchallenged. When the great God reminded him that there was at least one place among men where he had no foothold, and where his power was unrecognized, namely, in the heart of Job; that there was one man who stood like an impregnable castle, garrisoned by integrity, and held with perfect loyalty as the possession of the King of Heaven; the evil one defied Jehovah to try the faithfulness of Job, told him that the patriarch's integrity was due to his prosperity, that he served God and eschewed evil from sinister motives, because he found his conduct profitable to himself. The God of heaven took up the challenge of the evil one, and gave him permission to take away all the mercies which he affirmed to be the props of Job's integrity, and to pull down all the outworks and buttresses and see whether the tower would not stand in its own inherent strength without them. In consequence of this, all Job's wealth went in one black day, and not even a child was left to whisper comfort. A second interview between the Lord and his fallen angel took place. Job was again the subject of conversation; and the Great One defied by Satan, permitted him even to touch him in his bone and in his flesh, till the prince became worse than a pauper, and he who was rich and happy was poor and wretched, filled with disease from head to foot, and fain to scrape himself with a miserable potsherd, to gain a poor relief from his pain. Let us see in this the mutability of all terrestrial things. He hath founded it upon the floods," is David's description of this world; and, if it be founded on the floods, can you wonder that it changes oft? Put not your trust in anything beneath the stars: remember that "Change" is written on the fore-front of nature. Say not therefore, "My mountain standeth firm: it shall never be moved;" the glance of Jehovah's eye can shake thy mountain into dust, the touch of his foot can make it like Sinai, to melt like wax, and to be altogether on a smoke. "Set your affection on things above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God," and let your heart and your treasure be where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal." The words of Bernard may here instruct us: "That is the true and chief joy which is not conceived from the creature, but received from the Creator, which (being once possessed thereof) none can take from thee: compared with which all other pleasure is torment, all joy is grief, sweet things are bitter, all glory is baseness, and all delectable things are despicable." This is not, however, our subject this morning. Accept thus much as merely an introduction to our main discourse. The Lord said to Satan, "Hast thou considered my servant Job?" Let us deliberate, first, in what sense the evil spirit may be said to consider the people of God; secondly, let us notice what it is that he considers about them; and then, thirdly, let us comfort ourselves by the reflection that one who is far above Satan considers us in a higher sense. I. First, then, IN WHAT SENSE MAY SATAN BE SAID TO CONSIDER THE PEOPLE OF GOD? Certainly not in the usual Biblical meaning of the term "consider." "O Lord consider my trouble." "Consider my meditation." "Blessed is he that considereth the poor." Such consideration implies good-will and a careful inspection of the object of benevolence with regard to a wise distribution of favour. In that sense Satan never considers any. If he has any benevolence, it must be towards himself; but all his considerations of other creatures are of the most malevolent kind. No meteoric flash of good flits across the black midnight of his soul. Nor does he consider us as we are told to consider the works of God, that is, in order to derive instruction as to God's wisdom and love and kindness. He does not honour God by what he sees in his works, or in his people. It is not with him, "Go to the ant; consider her ways and be wise;" but he goes to the Christian and considers his ways and becomes more foolishly God's enemy than he was before. The consideration which Satan pays to God's saints is upon this wise. He regards them with wonder, when he considers the difference between them and himself. A traitor, when he knows the thorough villainy and the blackness of his own heart, cannot help being astounded, when he is forced to believe another man to be faithful. The first resort of a treacherous heart is to believe that all men would be just as treacherous, and are really so at bottom. The traitor thinks that all men are traitors like himself, or would be, if it paid them better than fidelity. When Satan looks at the Christian, and finds him faithful to God and to his truth, he considers him as we should consider a phenomenon--Perhaps despising him for his folly, but yet marveling at him, and wondering how he can act thus. "I," he seems to say, "a prince, a peer of God's parliament, would not submit my will to Jehovah. I thought it better to reign in hell than serve in heaven: I kept not my first estate, but fell from my throne. How is it that these stand? What grace is it which keeps these? I was a vessel of gold, and yet I was broken; these are earthen vessels, but I cannot break them! I could not stand in my glory--what can be the matchless grace which upholds them in their poverty, in their obscurity, in their persecution, still faithful to the God who doth not bless and exalt them as he did me!" It may be that he also wonders at their happiness. He feels within himself a seething sea of misery. There is an unfathomable gulf of anguish within his soul, and when he looks at believers, he sees them quiet in their souls, full of peace and happiness, and often without any outward means by which they should be comforted, yet rejoicing and full of glory. He goes up and down through the world and possesses great power, and there be many myrmidons to serve him, yet he hath not the happiness of spirit possessed by yonder humble cottager, obscure, unknown, having no servants to wait upon her, but stretched upon the bed of weakness. He admires and hates the peace which reigns in the believer's soul. His consideration may go farther than this. Do you not think that he considers them to detect, if possible, any flaw and fault in them, by way of solace to himself? "They are not pure," saith he--"these blood-bought ones--these elect from before the foundations of the world,--they still sin! These adopted children of God, for whom the glorious Son bowed his head and gave up the ghost!--even they offend!" How must he chuckle, with such delight as he is capable of, over the secret sins of God's people, and if he can see anything in them inconsistent with their profession, anything which appears to be deceitful, and therein like himself, he rejoices. Each sin born in the believer's heart, cries to him, "My father! my Father!" and he feels something like the joy of fatherhood as he sees his foul offspring. He looks at the "old man" in the Christian, and admires the tenacity with which it maintains its hold, the force and vehemence with which it struggles for the mastery, the craft and cunning with which every now and then, at set intervals, at convenient opportunities, it putteth forth all its force. He considers our sinful flesh, and makes it one of the books in which he diligently reads. One of the fairest prospects, I doubt not, which the devil's eye ever rests upon, is the inconsistency and the impurity which he can discover in the true child of God. In this respect he had very little to consider in God's true servant, Job. Nor is this all, but rather just the starting point of his consideration. We doubt not that he views the Lord's people, and especially the more eminent and excellent among them, as the great barriers to the progress of his kingdom; and just as the engineer, endeavouring to make a railway, keeps his eye very much fixed upon the hills and rivers, and especially upon the great mountain through which it will take years laboriously to bore a tunnel, so Satan, in looking upon his various plans to carry on his dominion in the world, considers most such men as Job. Satan must have thought much of Martin Luther. "I could ride the world over," says he, "if it were not for that monk. He stands in my way. That strong-headed man hates and mauls my firstborn son, the pope. If I could get rid of him I would not mind though fifty thousand smaller saints stood in my way." He is sure to consider God's servant, if there be "none like him," if he stand out distinct and separate from his fellows. Those of us who are called to the work of the ministry must expect from our position to be the special objects of his consideration. When the glass is at the eye of that dreadful warrior, he is sure to look out for those who by their regimentals are discovered to be the officers, and he bids his sharpshooters be very careful to aim at these, "For," saith he, "if the standard-bearer fall, then shall the victory be more readily gained to our side, and our opponents shall be readily put to rout." If you are more generous than other saints, if you live nearer to God than others, as the birds peck most at the ripest fruit, so may you expect Satan to be most busy against you. Who cares to contend for a province covered with stones and barren rocks, and ice-bound by frozen seas? But in all times there is sure to be contention after the fat valleys where the wheat-sheaves are plenteous, and where the husbandman's toil is well requited, and thus, for you who honour God most, Satan will struggle very sternly. He wants to pluck God's jewels from his crown, if he can, and take the Redeemer's precious stones even from the breastplate itself. He considers, then, God's people; viewing them as hindrances to his reign, he contrives methods by which he may remove them out of his way, or turn them to his own account. Darkness would cover the earth if he could blow out the lights; there would be no fruit to shake like Lebanon, if he could destroy that handful of corn upon the top of the mountains; hence his perpetual consideration is to make the faithful fail from among men. It needs not much wisdom to discern that the great object of Satan in considering God's people is to do them injury. I scarcely think he hopes to destroy the really chosen and blood-bought heirs of life. My notion is that he is too good a divine for that. He has been foiled too often when he has attacked God's people, that he can hardly think he shall be able to destroy the elect, for you remember the soothsayers who are very nearly related to him, spoke to Haman on this wise; "If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him." He knows right well that there is a seed royal in the land against whom he fights in vain; and it strikes me if he could be absolutely certain that any one soul was chosen of God, he would scarcely waste his time in attempting to destroy it, although he might seek to worry and to dishonour it. It is however most likely that Satan no more knows who God's elect are than we do, for he can only judge as we do by outward actions, though he can form a more accurate judgment than we can through longer experience, and being able to see persons in private where we cannot intrude; yet into God's book of secret decrees his black eye can never peer. By their fruits he knows them, and we know them in the same manner. Since, however, we are often mistaken in our judgment, he too may be so; and it seems to me that he therefore makes it his policy to endeavour to destroy them all--not knowing in which case he may succeed. He goeth about seeking whom he may devour, and, as he knows not whom he may be permitted to swallow up, he attacks all the people of God with vehemence. Some one may say, "How can one devil do this?" He does not do it by himself alone. I do not know that many of us have ever been tempted directly by Satan: we may not be notable enough among men to be worth his trouble; but he has a whole host of inferior spirits under his supremacy and control, and as the centurion said of himself, so he might have said of Satan--"he saith to this spirit, Do this,' and he doeth it, and to his servant, Go,' and he goeth." Thus all the servants of God will more or less come under the direct or indirect assaults of the great enemy of souls, and that with a view of destroying them; for he would, if it were possible, deceive the very elect. Where he cannot destroy, there is no doubt that Satan's object is to worry. He does not like to see God's people happy. I believe the devil greatly delights in some ministers, whose tendency in their preaching is to multiply and foster doubts and fears, and grief, and despondency, as the evidences of God's people. "Ah," saith the devil, "preach on; you are doing my work well, for I like to see God's people mournful. If I can make them hang their harps on the willows, and go about with miserable faces, I reckon I have done my work very completely." My dear friends, let us watch against those specious temptations which pretend to make us humble, but which really aim at making us unbelieving. Our God takes no delight in our suspicions and mistrusts. See how he proves his love in the gift of his dear Son Jesus. Banish then all your ill surmisings, and rejoice in unmoved confidence. God delights to be worshipped with Joy. Oh come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms." "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart." "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, rejoice." Satan does not like this. Martin Luther used to say, "Let us sing psalms and spite the devil," and I have no doubt Martin Luther was pretty nearly right; for that lover of discord hates harmonious, joyous praise. Beloved brother, the arch-enemy wants to make you wretched here, if he cannot have you hereafter; and in this, no doubt, he is aiming a blow at the honour of God. He is well aware that mournful Christians often dishonour the faithfulness of God by mistrusting it, and he thinks if he can worry us until we no more believe in the constancy and goodness of the Lord, he shall have robbed God of his praise. "He that offereth praise, glorifieth me," says God; and so Satan lays the axe at the root of our praise, that God may cease to be glorified. Moreover, if Satan cannot destroy a Christian, how often has he spoilt his usefulness? Many a believer has fallen, not to break his neck--that is impossible,--but he has broken some important bone, and he has gone limping to his grave! We can recall with grief some men once eminent in the ranks of the Church, who did run well, but on a sudden, through stress of temptation, they fell into sin, and their names were never mentioned in the Church again, except with bated breath. Everybody thought and hoped they were saved so as by fire, but certainly their former usefulness never could return. It is very easy to go back in the heavenly pilgrimage, but it is very hard to retrieve your steps. You may soon turn aside and put out your candle, but you cannot light it quite so speedily. Friend, beloved in the Lord, watch against the attacks of Satan and stand fast, because you, as a pillar in the house or God are very dear to us, and we cannot spare you. As a father, or as a matron in our midst, we do you honour, and oh--we would not be made to mourn and lament--we do not wish to be grieved by hearing the shouts of our adversaries while they cry "Aha! Aha! so would we have it," for alas! there have been many things done in our Zion which we would not have told in Gath, nor published in the streets of Askelon, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised should rejoice, and the sons of the Philistines should triumph. Oh may God grant us grace, as a Church, to stand against the wiles of Satan and his attacks, that having done his worst he may gain no advantage over us, and after having considered, and considered again, and counted well our towers and bulwarks, he may be compelled to retire because his battering rams cannot jar so much as a stone from our ramparts, and his slings cannot slay one single soldier on the walls. Before I leave this point, I should like to say, that perhaps it may be suggested, "How is it that God permits this constant and malevolent consideration of his people by the evil one?" One answer, doubtless, is, that God knows what is for his own glory, and that he giveth no account of his matters; that having permitted free agency, and having allowed, for some mysterious reason, the existence of evil, it does not seem agreeable with his having done so to destroy Satan; but he gives him power that it may be a fair hand-to-hand fight between sin and holiness, between grace and craftiness. Besides, be it remembered, that incidentally the temptations of Satan are of service to the people of God; Fenelon says they are the file which rubs off much of the rust of self-confidence, and I may add, they are the horrible sound in the sentinel's ear, which is sure to keep him awake. An experimental divine remarks, that there is no temptation in the world which is so bad as not being tempted at all; for to be tempted will tend to keep us awake: whereas, being without temptation, flesh and blood are weak--and though the spirit may be willing, yet we may be found falling into slumber. Children do not run away from their father's side when big dogs bark at them. The howlings of the devil may tend to drive us nearer to Christ, may teach us our own weakness, may keep us upon our own watch-tower, and be made the means of preservation from other ills. Let us "be sober, be vigilant, because our adversary the devil, like a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour;" and let us who are in a prominent position be permitted affectionately to press upon you one earnest request, namely, "Brethren, pray for us." that, exposed as we are peculiarly to the consideration of Satan, we may be guarded by divine power. Let us be made rich by your faithful prayers that we may be kept even to the end. II. Secondly, WHAT IS IT THAT SATAN CONSIDERS WITH A VIEW TO THE INJURY OF GOD'S PEOPLE? It cannot be said of him as of God, that he knoweth us altogether; but since he has been now nearly six thousand years dealing with poor fallen humanity, he must have acquired a very vast experience in that time, and having been all over the earth, and having tempted the highest and the lowest, he must know exceeding well what the springs of human action are, and how to play upon them. Satan watches and considers first of all our peculiar infirmities. He looks us up and down, just as I have seen a horse-dealer do with a horse; and soon finds out wherein we are faulty. I, a common observer, might think the horse an exceedingly good one, as I see it running up and down the road, but the dealer sees what I cannot see, and he knows how to handle the creature just in such quarters and at such points that he soon discovers any hidden mischief. Satan knows how to look at us and reckon us up from heel to head, so that he will say of this man, "His infirmity is lust," or of that other, "He hath a quick tempter," or of this other, "He is proud," or of that other, "He is slothful." The eye of malice is very quick to perceive a weakness, and the hand of enmity soon takes advantage of it. When the arch-spy finds a weak place in the wall of our castle, he takes care to plant his battering-ram, and begin his siege. You may conceal, even from your dearest friend, your infirmity, but you will not conceal it from your worst enemy. He has lynx eyes, and detects in a moment the joint in your harness. He goes about with a match, and though you may think you have covered all the gunpowder of your heart, yet he knows how to find a crack to put his match through, and much mischief will he do, unless eternal mercy shall prevent. He takes care also to consider our frames and states of mind. If the devil would attack us when our mind is in certain moods, we should be more than a match for him: he knows this, and shuns the encounter. Some men are more ready for temptation when they are distressed and desponding; the fiend will then assail them. Others will be more liable to take fire when they are jubilant and full of joy; then will he strike his spark into the tinder. Certain persons, when they are much vexed and tossed to and fro, can be made to say almost anything; and others, when their souls are like perfectly placid waters, are just then in a condition to be navigated by the devil's vessel. As the worker in metals knows that one metal is to be worked at such a heat, and another at a different temperature; as those who have to deal with chemicals know that at a certain heat one fluid will boil, while another reaches the boiling-point much earlier, so Satan knows exactly the temperature at which to work us to his purpose. Small pots boil directly they are put on the fire, and so little men of quick temper are soon in a passion; larger vessels require more time and coal before they will boil, but when they do boil, it is a boil indeed, not soon forgotten or abated. The enemy, like a fisherman, watches his fish, adapts his bait to his prey; and knows in what seasons and times the fish are most likely to bite. This hunter of so souls comes upon us unawares, and often we are overtaken in a fault and or caught in a trap through an unwatchful frame of mind. That rate collector of choice sayings, Thomas Spencer, has the following which is to the much to the point--"The chameleon, when he lies on the grass to catch flies and grasshoppers, taketh upon him the colour of the grass, as the polypus doth the colour of the rock under which he lurketh, that the fish may boldly come near him without any suspicion of danger. In like manner, Satan turneth himself into that shape hich we least fear, and sets before us such objects of temptation as are most agreeable to our natures, that sohe may the sooner draw us into his net; he sails with every wind, and blows us that way which we incline ourselves through the weakness of nature. Is our knowledge in matter of faith deficient? He tempts us to error. Is our conscience tender? He tempts us to scrupulosity, and too much preciseness. Hath our conscience, like the ecliptic line, some latitude? He tempts us to carnal liberty. Are we bold spirited? He tempts us to presumption. Are we timorous and distrustful? He tempteth us to desperation. Are we of a flexible disposition? He tempteth us to inconstancy. Are we stiff? He labours to make obstinate heretics, schismatics, or rebels of us. Are we of an austere tempter? He tempteth us to cruelty. Are we soft and mild? He tempteth us to indulgence and foolish pity. Are we hot in matters of religion? He tempteth us to blind zeal and superstition. Are we cold? He tempteth us to Laodicean lukewarmness. Thus doth he lay his traps, that one way or other, he may ensnare us." He also takes care to consider our position among men. There are a few persons who are most easily tempted when they are alone; they are the subjects then of great heaviness of mind, and they may be driven to most awful crimes: perhaps the most of us are more liableiable to sin when we are in company. In some company I never should be led into sin; into another society I could scarcely venture. Many are so full of levity, that those of us who are inclined the same way can scarcely look them in the face without feeling our besetting sin set a-going; and others are so somber, that if they meet a brother of like mould, they are pretty sure between them to invent an evil report of the goodly land. Satan knows where to overtake you in a place where you lie open to his attacks; he will pounce upon you, swoop like a bird of prey from the sky, where he has been watching for the time to make his descent with a prospect of success. How too, will he consider our condition in the world! He looks at one man, and says, "That man has property: it is of no use my trying such-and-such arts with him; but here is another man who is very poor, I will catch him in that net." Then, again, he looks at the poor man, and says, "Now, I cannot tempt him to this folly, but I will lead the rich man into it." As the sportsman has a gun for wild fowl, and another for deer and game, so has Satan a different temptation for various orders of men. I do not suppose that the Queen's temptation ever will annoy Mary the kitchen-maid. I do not suppose, on the other hand, that Mary's temptation will ever be very serious to me. Probably you could escape from mine--I do not think you could; and I sometimes fancy I could bear yours--though I question if I could. Satan knows, however, just where to smite us, and our position, our capabilities, our education, our standing in society, our calling, may all be doors through which he may attack us. You who have no calling at all, are in peculiar peril--I wonder the devil does not swallow you outright. The most likely man to go to hell is the man who has nothing to do on earth. I say that seriously. I believe that there cannot happen a much worse evil to a person than to be placed where he has no work; and if I should ever be in such a state, I would get employment at once, for fear I should be carried off, body and soul, by the evil one. Idle people tempt the devil to tempt them. Let us have something to do, let us keep our minds occupied, for, if not, we make room for the devil. Industry will not make us gracious, but the want of industry may make us vicious. Have always something on the anvil or in the fire. "In books, or work, or healthful play, I would be busy too, For Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do." So Watts taught us in our childhood; and so let us believe in our manhood. Books, or works, or such recreations as are necessary for health, should occupy our time; for if I throw myself down in indolence, like an old piece of iron, I must not wonder that I grow rusty with sin. Nor have I done yet. Satan, when he makes his investigations, notices all the objects of our affection. I doubt not when he went round Job's house, he observed it as carefully as thieves do a jeweller's premises when they mean to break into them. They very cunningly take account of every door, window, and fastening: they fail not to look at the next-door house; for they may have to reach the treasure through the building which adjoins it. So, when the devil went round, jotting down in his mind all Job's position, he thought to himself, "There are the camels and the oxen, the asses, and the servants--yes, I can use all these very admirably." "Then," he thought, "there are the three daughters! There are the ten sons, and they go feasting--I shall know where to catch them, and if I can just blow the house down when they are feasting, that will afflict the father's mind the more severely, for he will say O that they had died when they had been praying, rather than when they had been feasting and drinking wine.' I will put down too in the inventory," says the devil I shall want her," and accordingly it came to that. Nobody could have done what Job's wife did--none of the servants could have said that sad sentence so stingingly--or, if she meant it very kindly, none could have said it with such a fascinating air as Job's own wife, "Bless God and die," as it may be read, or "Curse God and die." Ah, Satan, thou hast ploughed with Job's heifer, but thou hast not succeeded; lob's strength lies in his God, not in his hair, or else thou mightest have shorn him as Samson was shorn! Perhaps the evil one had even inspected Job's personal sensibilities, and so selected that form of bodily affliction which he knew to be most dreaded by his victim. He brought upon him a disease which Job may have seen and shuddered at in poor men outside the city gates. Brethren, Satan knows quite as much in regard to you. You have a child, and Satan knows that you idolize it. "Ah," says he, "there is a place for my wounding him." Even the partner of your bosom may be made a quiver in which hell's arrows shall be stored till the time may come, and then she may prove the bow from which Satan will shoot them. Watch even your neighbour and her that lieth in your bosom, for you know not how Satan may get an advantage over you. Our habits, our joys, our sorrows, our retirements, our public positions, all may be made weapons of attack by this desperate foe of the Lord's people. We have snares everywhere; in our bed and at our table, in our house and in the street. There are gins and trap-falls in company; there are pits when we are alone. We may find temptations in the house of God as well as in the world; traps in our high estate, and deadly poisons in our abasement. We must not expect to be rid of temptations till we have crossed the Jordan, and then, thank God, we are beyond gunshot of the enemy. The last howling of the dog of hell will be heard as we descend into the chill waters of the black stream, but when we hear the hallelujah of the glorified, we shall have done with the black prince for ever and ever. III. Satan considered, but THERE WAS A HIGHER CONSIDERATION WHICH OVERRODE HIS CONSIDERATION. In times of war, the sappers and miners of one party will make a mine, and it is a very common counteractive for the sappers and miners of the other party to countermine by undermining the first mine. This is just what God does with Satan. Satan is mining, and he thinks to light the fuse and to blow up God's building, but all the while God is undermining him, and he blows up Satan's mine before he can do any mischief. The devil is the greatest of all fools. He has more knowledge but less wisdom than any other creature, he is more subtle than all the beasts of the field, but it is well called subtlety, not wisdom. It is not true wisdom; it is only another shape of folly. All the while that Satan was tempting Job, he little knew that he was answering God's purpose, for God was looking on and considering the whole of it, and holding the enemy as a man holds a horse by its bridle. The Lord had considered exactly how far he would let Satan go. He did not the first time permit him to touch his flesh--perhaps that was more than Job at that time could have borne. Have you never noticed that if you are in good strong bodily health you can bear losses and crosses, and even bereavements with something like equanimity? Now that was the case with Job. Perhaps if the disease had come first and the rest had followed, it might have been a temptation too heavy for him, but God who knows just how far to let the enemy go, will say to him, "Thus far, and no farther." By degrees he became accustomed to his poverty; in fact, the trial had lost all its sting the moment Job said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." That enemy was slain--nay it was buried and this was the funeral oration, "Blessed be the name of the Lord." When the second trial came, the first trial had qualified Job to bear the second. It may be a more severe trial for a man in the possession of great worldly wealth suddenly to be deprived of the bodily power of enjoying it, than to lose all first, and then lose the health necessary to its enjoyment. Having already lost all, he might almost say, "I thank God that now I have nothing to enjoy, and therefore the loss of the power to enjoy it is not so wearisome. I have not to say, "How I wish I could go out in my fields, and see to my servants, for they are all dead. I do not wish to see my children--they are all dead and gone--I am thankful that they are; better so, than that they should see their poor father sit on a dunghill like this." He might have been almost glad if his wife had gone too, for certainly she was not a very particular mercy when she was spared; and possibly, if he had all his children about him, it might have been a harder trial than it was. The Lord who weighs mountains in scales, had meted out his servant's woe. Did not the Lord also consider how he should sustain his servant under his trial? Beloved, you do not know how blessedly our God poured the secret oil upon Job's fire of grace while the devil was throwing buckets of water on it. He saith to himself, "If Satan shall do much, I will do more; if he takes away much, I will give more; if he tempts the man to curse, I will fill him so full of love to me that he shall bless me. I will help him; I will strengthen him; yea, I will uphold him with the right hand of my righteousness." Christian, take those two thoughts and put them under your tongue as a wafer made with honey--you will never be tempted without express license from the throne where Jesus pleads, and, on the other hand, when he permits it, he will with the temptation make a way of escape, or give you grace to stand under it. In the next place, the Lord considered how to sanctify Job by this trial. Job was a much better man at the end of the story than he was at the beginning. He was "an incredible disgrace upon Satan. If you want perfect and an upright man" at first, but there was a little pride about him. We are poor creatures to criticize such a man as Job--but still there was in him just a sprinkling of self-righteousness. I think, and his friends brought it out, Eliphaz and Zophar said such irritating things that poor Job could not help replying in strong terms about himself that were rather too strong, one thinks; there was a little too much self-justification. He was not proud as some of us are, of a very little--he had much to be proud of, as the world would allow--but yet there was the tendency to be exalted with it; and though the devil did not know it, perhaps if he had left Job alone, that pride might have run to seed, and Job might have sinned; but he was in such a hurry, that he would not let the ill seed ripen, but hastened to cut it up, and so was the Lord's tool to bring Job into a more humble, and consequently a more safe and blessed state of mind. Moreover, observe how Satan was a lacquey to the Almighty! Job all this while was being enabled to earn a greater reward. All his prosperity is not enough; God loves Job so much, that he intends to give him twice the property; he intends to give him his children again; he means to make him a more famous man than ever; a man whose name shall ring down the ages; a man who shall be talked of through all generations. He is not to be the man of Uz, but of the whole world. He is not to be heard of by a handful in one neighbourhood, but all men are to hear of Job's patience in the hour of trial. Who is to do this? Who is to fashion the trump of fame through which Job's name is to be blown? The devil goes to the forge, and works away with all his might, to make Job illustrious! Foolish devil! he is piling up a pedestal on which God will set his servant Job, that he may be looked upon with wonder by all ages. To conclude, Job's afflictions and Job's patience have been a lasting blessing to the Church of God, and they have inflicted incredible disgrace upon Satan. If you want to make the devil angry, throw the story of Job in his teeth. If you desire to have your own confidence sustained, may God the Holy Ghost lead you into the patience of lob. Oh! how many saints have been comforted in their distress by this history of patience! How many have been saved out of the jaw of the lion, and from the paw of the bear by the dark experiences of the patriarch of Uz. Oh arch fiend, how art thou taken in thine own net! Thou hast thrown a stone which has fallen on thine own head. Thou madest a pit for Job, and hast fallen into it thyself; thou art taken in thine own craftiness. Jehovah has made fools of the wise and driven the diviners mad. Brethren, let us commit ourselves in faith to the care and keeping of God--come poverty, come sickness, come death, we will in all things through Jesus Christ's blood be conquerors, and by the power of his Spirit we shall overcome at the last. I would God we were all trusting in Jesus. May those who have not trusted him be led to begin this very morning, and God shall have all the praise in us all, evermore. Amen. NOTE.--At the request of several subscribers, we intend in future to mention the passage of Scripture read at the service, or some other more suitable to be read with the sermon. PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON--Job 1 & 2:1-10. __________________________________________________________________ Present Privilege And Future Favor NO. 624 DELIVERED ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 29, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT UPTON CHAPEL. "The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before you. And shall say, Destroy them." Deuteronomy 33:27. THERE is a great satisfaction in having such a text as this, for even if the preacher should not be able to say anything to edification, yet the text itself is rich food for the saints and may fully satisfy their hunger. Let but a child of God really digest such a royal dainty as this and he shall be as well fed as was Elijah when, waking up, found food under the juniper tree, in the strength of which he might go for forty days. This one verse may, by the Holy Spirit, be made sufficiently nourishing to sustain a Believer from that place where he now is, to the gates of Glory. "The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms." It is fabled that the swan sings but once and that just before it dies. So Moses, who had been all his life a Prophet, now closes his career a poet and dies singing! He praises God, setting Him above all gods and defying all men to find one like unto Him. "Who is like unto the God of Jeshurun?" Not satisfied with this, he also exalts in the highest degree all the people who have God to be their portion. "Happy are you, O Israel. Who is like unto you?" I may say that my text is a combination of the two--he is here extolling God, the everlasting and eternal God who is our refuge--and he is here admiring the privilege of Believers who have such a God to rest upon. While we are speaking, therefore, this evening, if you are not profited by our words, yet your hearts may be blessed if you praise God for His great goodness towards you. And may you also feel melted with holy joy at the blessed privileges which belong to you as the people of God--in having such a God who is so good to you. The text naturally divides itself into two parts--the present and the future. In the present we have the eternal God to be our refuge. In the future it is written that He shall thrust out the enemy from before us and shall say, "Destroy them." I. Beginning then, with the first part of the text, THE PRESENT BLESSING appeals to me to give us three distinct thoughts. God is our shelter. "The eternal God is your refuge." But the word, "refuge," according to many of the best translators, may be read, "mansion," or "abiding place." So here comes a second thought--that God is our abode. Then the next sentence gives us the third thought, "And underneath are the everlasting arms," so that God is our support, as well as our shelter and our abode. 1. We will begin our meditation, in the Spirit's power, by considering God as our shelter. The children of Israel, while they were in Egypt and in the wilderness, were a type of God's visible Church on earth. Moses was speaking primarily of them, but secondarily, of all the chosen ones of God in every age. Now, as God was the shelter of His ancient people Israel, so is He the refuge of His saints through all time. And first, He was eminently their shelter when they were under bondage and the yoke was heavy. When they had to make bricks without straw and the taskmasters oppressed them, then the people cried unto the Lord and God heard their cry and sent unto them His servant Moses. So also there often comes to men a time when they begin to feel the oppression of Satan. I believe that many ungodly men feel the slavery of their position. Even some of those who are never converted have sense enough to feel at times that the service of Satan is a hard one, yielding but little pleasure and involving awful risks. Some men cannot go long making bricks without straw without being more or less conscious that they are in the house of bondage. These, who are not God's people, under the pressure of mind consequent upon a partial discovery of their state, turn to some form of pleasure or self-righteousness in order to forget their burden and yoke. But God's elect people, moved by a higher power, are led to cry unto their God. It is one of the first signs of a chosen soul--that it seems to know, as if by heavenly instinct--where its true refuge is. Dear Brothers and Sisters, you remember that although you knew but little of Christ--and in doctrinal matters you were very dark, though you did not un- derstand, perhaps, even your own need--yet there was a something in you that made you pray and realize that only at the Mercy Seat could you find your refuge. Before you were a Christian, before you could say--"Christ is mine"--your bedside was the witness to many flowing tears when your aching heart poured itself out before God, perhaps in strains like these--"O God, I need something. I do not know what it is I need, but I feel a heaviness of spirit. My mind is burdened and I feel that You only can unburden me. I know that I am a sinner! Oh, that You would forgive me! I hardly understand the plan of salvation, but one thing I know--I want to be saved! I would arise and go unto my Father--my heart pants to make Your bosom my refuge." Now, I say that this is one of the first indications that such a soul is one of God's chosen, for it is true, just as it was of Israel in Egypt, that God is the refuge of His people even when they are under the yoke. When captivity is led captive, the Eternal God becomes the refuge of His people from their sins. The Israelites were brought out of Egypt. They were free--albeit they were marching they knew not where--yet their chains were snapped. They were emancipated and needed not to call any man, "Master." But look, Pharaoh is angry and he pursues them! With his horses and his chariots he hastens after them. The enemy said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My lust shall be satisfied upon them." Thus there is a period in the spiritual life when sin labors to drag back the sinner who has newly escaped from it. Like hosts ready for battle, all the poor sinner's past iniquities hurry after him and overtake him in a place where his way is hedged in. The poor fugitive would escape, but he cannot! What, then, must he do? You remember, then, Moses cried unto the Lord. When nothing else could be found to afford shelter to the poor escaped slaves. When the Red Sea rolled before them and the mountains shut them in on either side. When an angry foe pursued them, there was one road which was not stopped up and that was the king's highway upward to the Throne--the way to their God--and therefore they began at once to travel that road, lifting up their hearts in humble prayer to God, trusting that He would deliver them. You know the story too well for me to need to repeat it here--how the uplifted rod divided the watery deeps. How the people passed through the sea as a horse through the wilderness and how the Lord brought all the hosts of Egypt into the depths of the sea--that He might utterly destroy them so that not one of them was left and those who had seen them one day saw them no more forever. Beloved, in this sense God is still the refuge of His people. Our sins which pursued us so hotly have been drowned in the depths of the Savior's blood. They sank to the bottom like stones. The depths have covered them--there is not one, no, not one of them left--and we, standing upon the shore in safety can shout in triumph over our drowned sins! "Sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously and all our iniquities has He cast into the midst of the sea." While God is thus the refuge of His people under the yoke, and when sin seeks to overcome them, He is also their refuge in times of need. The children of Israel journeyed into the wilderness but there was nothing for them to feed upon there. The arid sand yielded them neither leeks, nor garlic, nor cucumbers. And no brooks or rivers, like the Nile, were there to quench their thirst. They would have famished if they had been left to depend upon the natural productions of the soil. They came to Marab, where there was a well, but the water was very bitter. At other stations there were no wells whatever and even bitter water was not to be had. What then? Why, the unfailing refuge of God's people in the wilderness was prayer. Moses, their representative, always betook himself to the Most High--at times falling upon his face in agony and at other seasons climbing to the top of the hill and there pleading in solemn communion with God that He would deliver the people. And you have heard full often how men did eat angels' food in the desert--how Jehovah rained bread from Heaven upon His people in the howling wilderness and how He smote the rock and waters gushed forth. You have not forgotten how the strong wind blew and brought them flesh so that they ate and were satisfied. Israel had no need unsupplied. Their garments waxed not old and though they went through the wilderness, their feet grew not sore. God supplied all their needs. We in our land must go to the baker, the butcher, the clothier and many others in order to equip ourselves fully. But the men of Israel went to God for everything. We have to store up our money and buy this in one place and that in the other--but the Eternal God was their refuge and their resort for everything and in every time of need they had nothing to do but to lift up their voice to Him. Now it is just so with us spiritually. Faith sees our position today to be just that of the children of Israel then-- whatever our needs are the Eternal God is our refuge. God has promised you that your bread shall be given you and that your water shall be sure. He who gives spirituals will not deny temporals. The Mighty Master will never suffer you to perish while He has it in His power to succor you. Go to Him with whatever may be the trouble which weighs you down. Do not suppose your case too bad, for nothing is too hard for the Lord! Dream not that He will refuse to undertake temporals as well as spirituals--He cares for you in all things. In everything you are to give thanks, and surely in everything by prayer and supplication you may make known your needs unto God. In times when the cruse of oil is ready to fail and the handful of meal is all but spent, then go to the All-Sufficient God and you shall find that they who trust in Him shall not lack any good thing. Furthermore, our God is the refuge of His saints when their enemies rage. When the host was passing through the wilderness they were suddenly attacked by the Amalekites. Unprovoked, these marauders of the desert set upon them and destroyed the tail end of them. And what did Israel do? The people did not ask to have a strong body of horsemen, hired out of the land of Egypt for their refuge, or even if they did wish it, He who was their wiser self, Moses, looked to another arm than that of man, for he cried unto God! How glorious is that picture of Moses, with uplifted hands, upon the top of the hill giving victory to Joshua in the plains below! Those uplifted arms were worth ten thousand men to the hosts of Israel. No, twice ten thousand had not so easily gotten a victory as did those two extended arms which brought down Omnipotence itself from Heaven! This was Israel's master-weapon of war--their confidence in God. Joshua shall go forth with men of war, but the Lord, Jehovah-Nissi, is the banner of the fight and the giver of the victory! Thus, dear Friends, the Eternal God is our refuge. When our foes rage we need not fear their fury. Let us not seek to be without enemies, but let us take our case and spread it before God. We cannot be in such a position--that the weapons of our foes can hurt us, while the promise stands good--"No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper and every tongue that rises against you in judgment You shall condemn." Though earth and Hell should unite in malice, the Eternal God is our castle and stronghold, securing to us an everlasting refuge. To close our remarks upon this point--when their falls into sin had cursed the people of God and provoked the Most High so that He sent fiery serpents among them--even then the Eternal God was their refuge. When we are conscious that sin has brought us into any mischief or sorrow, we are apt to feel--"I must not go to God with this, because it is clearly the natural and inevitable result of my sin--it is a rod of my own making." Yes, but we may go even with that, for if the Lord should send the fiery serpents, still, you must fly into the arms of that very God who has sent the serpents to bite you--for it is He, and He alone who can lift up the bronze serpent before your tearful eyes and give you life through looking at it! We make a mistake when we imagine that we may not go to God as sinners! We may feel unworthy to go, but we must not think that we shall be unwelcome. I do not go to my Heavenly Father in times of need because I feel there are excellencies in me which will qualify me for receiving His help! No! I go because I feel unfit to be blessed and am therefore anxious for the blessing! I go because I feel unworthy of deliverance and am the more desirous that I may get deliverance from the God of Grace. The Eternal God, then, is our refuge in a thousand ways. I have only given you a few hints on this part of the subject but we will sum them up and then you can enlarge on them at your leisure. Under the yoke, before sin is forgiven, if you are a child of God the Eternal God is your refuge. When you have escaped from sin and the past haunts you, still the Eternal God is your refuge. When, in the wilderness, your needs press you down, whether they are temporal or spiritual, then the Eternal God is your refuge. And when your enemies attack you, or your own guilt has brought you into such a position that God Himself chastises you sharply, still, even then it holds good and true that the Eternal God is your refuge if you believe in Him. 2. Now take the second thought with brevity. The Eternal God is our mansion, our dwelling, our abiding place. The children of Israel had no other and therefore if God were not their dwelling place, they were houseless. Pilgrims of the weary foot. They found no city to dwell in. At eventide they pitched their tents but they struck them again in the morning. The trumpet sounded and they were up and away. If they were in a comfortable valley for one day, yet that relentless trumpet bade them resume their wearisome march through the wilderness in the morning. And, perhaps they thought they lingered the longest where an encampment was least desirable. Nevertheless they always had a dwelling place in their God. If I might use such a description without seeming to be fanciful, I would say that the great cloudy canopy which covered them all day long from the heat of the sun was their roof--and that the blazing pillar which protected them by night was their family fireside. God Himself dwelt in the very midst of them in the bright shining light, the Shekinah, within the holy place and up from the very spot there rose the great pillar which was cloud by day and fire by night. And so, within the compass of God's protecting Presence they found a perpetual abode. So Moses sings, "Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations." Wherever they were, if they were but under the shadow of that cloud they were quite at home and whenever they got within the radius of the bright pillar of fire, they felt that they were not away from the family circle. Now I hope that many of us can say that the Eternal God is our dwelling place-- "Home, home, Sweethome, There's noplace like home," says the song, and certainly, if God is our home, the song has a depth of sweetness in it. At home one feels safe. An Englishman's house is his castle--who shall intrude upon him there? When the bolt is drawn, when the curtains are drawn, when the family gathers round the fireside, then we have shut the world and all our enemies' babbling tongues out and we dwell in quiet. So when we get to our God, not bolts of brass nor gates of iron could guard God's people so well as that wall of fire which Jehovah is to all His chosen. When we draw near to God in sweet communion we feel as if the devil himself were dumb-- "Then, let the earth's old pillars shake, And all the wheels of Nature break. Our steadfast souls shall fear no more, Than solid rocks when billows roar." At home, too, we take our rest. Out in the world, in the workshop, we toil until the sweat streams from our face. In the pulpit, in the midst of our congregations, our mind is so active and on the alert that the brain is often wearied. But at home we cast ourselves down upon the couch and feel that now the day's work is over and that the happy evening of rest has come. When I get to my God, no servile works have I to do--no hewing of wood and drawing of water, like a Gibeonite, in God's house! But here I am, His servant, happy in His service and finding sweet rest in what I do for Him. "We that have believed, do enter into rest," and there is a peace which, "passes all understanding, which keeps our heart and mind, through Christ Jesus." At home we let our hearts loose. We cast aside all dignity there--we are no longer on our guard like men in armor. We are not afraid that our children will misunderstand us, or that our dear ones will misconstrue our words and sentiments. We feel at ease. So is it when we are with our God. I dare tell Him what I dare not tell anyone else. There is no secret of my heart which I would not pour into His ear. There is no wish that might be deemed foolish or ambitious by others which I would not communicate to Him. Surely, if "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him," the secrets of them that fear Him ought to be, and must be with their Lord. It is at home, if anywhere, that a man is thoroughly happy and delighted. He takes his soul's best solace there. His eyes sparkle most at his own fireside. Whatever the man may be abroad with all his cares and his troubles, he can't wait to get home, as going to the place of his delight. So I trust it is with us and our God. We go out, like Noah's dove. With weary wings we fly over the watery waste, ready to drop. But we come back again, like that same dove, into Noah's hand and there we find our resting place forever. It is for home that a man works and labors. I am sure when I see the workers filling the streets, just when work is over, that the most of them have a home to go to for the sake of which they toil. What makes that man work so hard? Why, there are three little ones at home who must be fed! How is it that he is content to go through so much toil? There is a wife at home dear to his soul and for her and the babes he fights the battle of life bravely. Be it ever so homely. Be it up ever so many pairs of stairs, yet the thought of that little room and of the dear ones there at home gives strength to the man to bear his burden and helps his fingers to fly the quicker over his work. In this sense, too, I think we can say that our gracious God is our home, our mansion. The love of God strengthens us. We do but think of Him in the Person of His dear Son and a glimpse of the suffering face of the Redeemer constrains us to labor. We feel that we must work, for we have brethren yet to be saved! We have uncalled ones yet to be brought in! We have the head of Christ to crown--we have the Father's heart to make glad by bringing home to Him His wayward and wandering sons. We will pause here and see if we can say, "Yes, 'tis true, Lord. You are, as the Eternal God, our mansion and dwelling place." I pray, dear Friends, do not say this in words unless you know in truth that the Eternal God is your dwelling place. 3. We must be very brief on the third part of this present privilege--"Underneath are the everlasting arms." This means that God is our support, and our support just when we begin to sink. We want support when we are sinking and by the arms being "underneath," it seems that this support is given just when we are going down. At certain seasons the Christian sings very low in humiliation. He has a deep sense of his own sin. He is humbled before God till he scarcely knows how to lift up his face and pray because he appears, in his own sight, so abject, so mean, so base, so worthless. Well, Child of God, remember that when you are at your worst, yet "underneath you are the everlasting arms." Christ's Atonement dives deeper than your sin. Sin may sink you ever so low, but the great Atonement is still under all! I will give you a text which proves it. "He is able to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by Him." You may have gone very low, but you can never have gone so low as, "the uttermost." Here is another. "All manner of sin and of iniquity shall be forgiven unto men." You have plunged into nearly all sorts of sin, but you have not gone into, "all manner of sin." Or if you have, it may be forgiven so that this promise goes underneath you. The love of God, the power of the blood and the prevalence of the intercession are deeper down than sin with all its Hell-born vileness can ever sink the sinner while breath is in his nostrils Again, the Christian sometimes sinks very deeply in sore trials from without. He loses his property. His children die. His wife is carried to the grave--every earthly prop is cut away. What then? He goes down, down, down--yet still underneath him are the everlasting arms! You cannot sink so deep in distress and affliction, but what the Covenant Grace of an ever-faithful God will be still lower than you are--even when at your very lowest! Look at your Savior--you are never so low as He was. Perhaps you cannot pay your rent and you are to be turned out of that little room--this is falling low, indeed. But what did your Savior say--"Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have not where to lay My head." I have supposed you to be in a very sad case, but, you see, underneath you there are the sufferings of Christ. Perhaps your friends have forsaken you. Yes, but hear Him--"He that eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me." He is deeper in the mire than you. You are very, very, very poor, but see, there He hangs upon the Cross--stripped naked, without a rag to cover Him--deserted by all. You have gone very far, but not so far as that. Jesus represents the great goodness of God in its communion with your need and in Him your God puts underneath you His everlasting arms. Possibly you are sinking very deep down, under trouble from within. You have felt such vexatious of spirit as you never thought you could have known. You have waged such a conflict as you never dreamed of. The fountains of the great deep have been broken up. And, as a deluge, sin threatens to cover your spirit and drown all the life in your heart. Beloved, you cannot, even there, be brought so low as Christ was, for what did He say--"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" God is still with you to be your succor and if you have lost the light of your Father's countenance, yet you have not lost it to so great an extent as your Savior did. You have not yet sweat "great drops of blood." You have not yet prayed with strong crying and tears and found that the cup could not be removed altogether. You have not yet descended into the depths, as your Savior did. And so we will take it for granted that underneath you, wherever you may be, there are the everlasting arms. I think I see the devil trying to drown a Believer, but underneath are the everlasting arms. Satan says, "I will have him yet," and down he dives lower still--but the everlasting arms are even there. Why, look what he did with Jonah. He got him into the whale's belly, but he was not content with that. The whale, of course, was near the surface when it first sucked Jonah in. But it goes down, perhaps half a mile--it must go deeper yet and so it stirs up the deep in its pain, for it has an indigestible morsel within and it does not know what to do with it. It plunges down, down, DOWN, till Jonah says he went to the bottoms of the mountains and the weeds were wrapped about his head and the earth with her bars was about him forever--yet even then, "underneath were the everlasting arms," and therefore the whale comes up and Jonah stands upon the dry land once more! So shall it be with you, Beloved, for in your worst trials and times of difficulty underneath you are the everlasting arms! And this, also, I may give you by way of comfort in any weary labors in which you may be engaged. There are some of God's servants who feel as if they would willingly die--for to serve God, though very pleasant--is at times very hard work. And when one is sincere in God's service and is ready to drop, one will cry out, "Oh, when shall the day of rest come?" Courage, courage, you fainting soldier! Underneath are the everlasting arms--you shall have strength equal to your day! Your shoes shall be iron and brass! You shall end your journey well and you shall fight the fight till the victory comes. At last, when death comes, the promise shall still hold good. We shall stand in the midst of Jordan and, like poor Christian, it is possible that we may begin to sink--but may we have some Hopeful with us then, to say, as Hopeful did to Christian, "Be of good cheer, my Brother. I feel the bottom, it is good"--for underneath us there will be the everlasting arms. You may be full of pain and anguish and the spirit may sink into a spiritual death even before the natural death comes on. You may feel dying to be dreadful work. But still, if the worst should come to worst--you shall yet in the hour of extremity win the victory! You shall triumph over death and enter into the Presence of God and bless His name because, "underneath you are the everlasting arms." I can scarcely venture on the second part of my subject tonight at all, for we have not done with the first point. I wish you to notice those two phrases which are the pith of the text. "The Eternal God." "Everlasting arms." "The Eternal God." Here is antiquity. The God who was before all worlds is forever my God. Oh, how I love that word, "eternal"! But, Brothers and Sisters, there are some people who do not believe in an Eternal God. At any rate they do not believe in Him as being theirs eternally. They do not believe that they belonged to Christ before they were born. They have a notion that they only had God to be theirs when they believed on Him for the first time. They do not believe in Covenant settlements and eternal decrees and the ancient purposes of the Most High. But let me say that for comfort there is no thought more full of sweetness than that of an Eternal God engaged in Christ Jesus to His people to love and bless and save them all! One who has made them the distinguished objects of His discriminating regard from all eternity. It is the ETERNAL God. And then there are the "everlasting arms"--arms that will never drop, arms that will never grow weary, arms that will never lose their strength. They put the two words, "eternal," and, "everlasting," together and they remind us of another sweet word--immutability. An everlasting God that faints not, neither is weary, that changes not and turns not from His promise. Such is the God we delight to adore and to use as our eternal shelter, our dwelling place and our support. II. The second part of the subject, AS TO THE FUTURE, I cannot dwell upon for want of time but only give you an outline of what one might have said upon it if there had been opportunity. He who has been our God in the past will certainly be our God in the future! And in the future we have two things to comfort us--Divine work, and we have a Divine command. Here is the Divine work--He will thrust out our enemies before us. Whatever your difficulties may be, whatever your sins may be against which you have to contend, remember, Jehovah leads the van and crushes your foes before you come to them. You have to fight, Christian, with vanquished enemies and it is an easy thing when you have to overcome a dragon who has had his head broken already by your risen Lord. Therefore Dr. Watts makes us sing for our comfort-- "Hell and your sins resist your course, But Hell and sin are vanquished foes! Your Savior nailed them to the Cross, And sung the triumph when He rose." Before you get to your difficulties, your God will have removed them. The stone was laid at the mouth of the sepulcher and the women said, "Who shall roll away the stone?" But when they arrived at the spot they found that the stone had been rolled away by an angel long before. March on, Christian--the Jordan may be very deep--but as soon as the feet of God's priests touch the border of the river it shall be dried up! You shall have before you ten thousand things which may appall you, but if you will but go on in the strength of faith, they shall prove to be but the shadows which disappear when the sun rises. There is Divine work always going on before God's people--His shield always goes in front--His sword always cuts and clears the way and we have but to follow where He leads. When the children of Israel passed over Jordan, the priests who bore the ark first dipped their feet in the stream and it parted before the servants of the Lord because God was between the cherubim. So in every crossing which lies in the path to the city of our God, that better city, Jerusalem the golden, we see the footprints of one who is our Priest--touched with a sense of our infirmities and griefs because He has endured the same before us! It is He who has planted His feet in the darkest depths and made a path through the mightiest waters so that we need not fear--but may boldly plunge in--assured that we only follow Him whose Presence will ever enable us to say, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me." We follow the Captain of our salvation who says, "Come on, follow Me." He goes before. Every dart that wounds you passes by Him. Yes, He has felt the first smart of each poisoned arrow in the devil's quiver and the venomous power has been washed away in His blood. There is not a weapon in Hell's armory whose edge has not been turned on the armor of our great Champion. The keenness of every blade is gone since it was buried in His wounds. When Jacob wrestled with the nameless one till the break of day, he came out of the contest with one sinew withered so that he limped to his grave. And thus each of our foes has received a touch from the finger of Him, "who comes up from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah, traveling in the greatness of His strength." And that touch has crippled the power of our enemies. They are spoiled and robbed of much of their satanic might because they have been beneath the heel of Him who has trod down all our foes beneath His feet. Still, we are not to be idle, for we have next a Divine command. He shall thrust out our enemies, but He will also say, "Destroy them." We have to take God's Word and to be obedient to it in the future. Whatever sins we have, there is only one thing to be done with them and that is to "destroy them." A man has a number of faults and he says, "Well, Sir, there is my drunkenness and my swearing and so on. I am quite agreeable to what you say, I will destroy them. I will hang them on a gallows as high as that on which Haman would have hanged Mordecai. But, Sir, I have little a trick in my trade--I should not like to tell everybody of it--it is a very profitable one and I do not think it is so very bad, for nearly everybody else in the trade does it. Do you not think the best way would be to practice it and give part of the money I get by it to God's cause? I will be very careful and do it only when compelled." My dear Friend, I have only one thing to say to you about your sin and that is, "destroy it!" Do not try to make it better, to dress it up, swear it in and make a soldier of it for Christ--no--destroy it! This is your work. If your eyes offend you, "pluck them out." "Oh," says another, "but I have a very bad temper. I sometimes fly into a passion. I think I must try to get over it by degrees, but still I can make a great many excuses for myself and am I not quite right in doing so?" My dear Sir, I can only say one thing and that is, "destroy it," for the only proper treatment of sin is to cut it off and cast it from you. Do not pamper it or excuse it, but destroy it! Smite it to the heart if you can and never be satisfied till you have utterly destroyed it. Look at Saul. He has been against the Amalekites and he brings home a very beautiful flock of sheep and bullocks and so on. He is told to destroy them all, but he brings them home and Agag with them. Why did he not kill Agag? Well, he was such a gentleman, such a thorough gentleman, that he did not like to kill him. It was a public duty to sweep the commonplace Amalekites out of the way--they were such rascals! But this Agag, why, he walked so delicately, he had such a nice way with him, he was so winning, he had such an enchanting face, had the manners and air, in fact, of an Israelite--it would be a pity, a great pity to kill him! So Saul brought home the best of the sheep and the beasts and the cattle and Agag with them. But Samuel comes in and is in no sweet mood when he hears the bleating of the sheep. He demands of Saul--"Have you done as God commanded you?" "Yes I have," said Saul. "Then what mean the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the cattle that I hear?" "Oh," said Saul, "I did not slay them all. I thought I had better spare some of the best of them as an offering unto God, so I kept them alive and I have also kept Agag." What came of it? Did the Prophet spare the Amalekite? No, truly! Samuel first told Saul that God had put him away from being king and then he said, "Bring Agag," and Agag came to him. You can imagine how he would come--and he said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past." There he stood and I think I see Samuel, getting gray then, very gray and not very fit for such service, but he looked for the nearest sword that he could get and though it is not a Prophet's work to kill, yet as soon as he could grasp a sword he hewed Agag in pieces! He was not content to cut his head off, but hewed him in pieces, as a man would chop a block of wood--to show the anger and detestation which God had towards the most princely sins. Now, Christian, your business with sin is in the Spirit's power to serve it as Samuel did Agag--to hew it in pieces and show the utmost hatred towards it. So far from making excuses for it, seek to devise ways by which you may mortify it and put it to death. When the Prophet Elijah had received the answer to his prayer and the fire from Heaven had consumed the sacrifice in the presence of all the people, he called upon the assembled Israelites to take the priests of Baal and, said he, "Let not one escape." And he took them all down to the brook Kishon and slew them there. So must it be with our sins--each one must die--let not one escape! Spare it not for its much crying. Strike, though it be a darling sin as dear as an Isaac. Strike, for God struck at sin when it was on His Son. Even so, with stern unflinching purpose, condemn to death that sin which may have been the darling of your heart. Spare it not, because it may make sport or be of use in any way. Remember Samson, how he gathered strength as his locks grew once more and how he avenged himself upon his foes. Beware lest your sins which are only for awhile repressed and not totally destroyed, should rise up again and with new-found might should hurl you to the ground and bury you in the wreck of your noblest hopes and deeds. You will probably ask how you will be able to accomplish this work. Why, take the promise we have been talking about--"The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms." If you would triumph over darkness set yourself in the Presence of the Sun of Righteousness. There is no place so well adapted for the discovery of sin, and recovery from its power and guilt, as the immediate Presence of God. Get into God's arms and you will see how to hit at sin and will gather strength to give the final blow which shall lay the monster in the dust. Job never knew how to get rid of sin half so well as he did when his eye of faith rested on God and he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes. The fine gold of the Christian is often becoming dim and the spots will appear upon the surface showing that we dwell among the sons of earth in a world which lies in the Wicked One. We want some sacred fire which shall consume away the dross and give us back the brightness we have lost. Go to God, He is a consuming fire--not to your spirit--but to your sins. You may so plead the work of Christ and the Covenant of Grace as to make the very Nature of God, which would condemn you out of Christ, to cleanse you, being in Christ Jesus! You will be sanctified by the God who would have destroyed you had you not fled for refuge to the hope set before you. You have strength to overcome sin given you in the Covenant of Grace. You have strength to drive out your own iniquities. You have strength to win battles for your Master, because in Christ Jesus He has promised to be with you even unto the end. May the past experience stimulate you to future exertion and let the goodness of God excite you to a sacred jealousy and to a holy revenge against those sins which are hateful in His sight. May God bless you, Brethren, for Christ's sake. __________________________________________________________________ Jesus Appearing To Mary Magdalene DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 16, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven devils.'" Mark 16:9. THE doctrine of a risen Savior is exceedingly precious. The Resurrection is the cornerstone of the entire building of Christianity. It is the keystone of the arch of our salvation. It would take us many a discourse to set forth all the streams of living water which flow from this one sacred source--the Resurrection of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But to know that He has risen and to have fellowship with Him as such--communing with the risen Savior by possessing a risen life! Seeing Him leave the tomb by leaving the tomb of worldliness ourselves--this is even more precious! The doctrine is the basis of the experience, but as the flower is more lovely than the root, so is the experience of fellowship with the risen Savior more lovely than the doctrine itself. I would have you believe that Christ rose from the dead so as to sing of it and derive all the consolation which it is possible for you to extract from this well-ascertained and well-witnessed fact. But I beseech you rest not content even there. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I bid you aspire to see Christ Jesus by the eye of faith, and though you may not touch Him, yet may you be privileged to converse with Him and to know that He is risen--you yourselves being risen in Him to newness of life. To know a crucified Savior as having crucified all my sins is a rich kind of knowledge. And to know a risen Savior as having justified me and to realize that He has bestowed upon me new life, given me to be a new creature through His own newness of life--this is a high style of experience. Short of it, none of us ought to be satisfied to rest. In fine, I would have you this morning, like the blessed Magdalene, among those to whom Jesus Christ should manifest Himself after His Resurrection, as He does not unto the world. Let us come at once to the consideration of this first appearance of the Savior after He had left the tomb. He appears to Mary Magdalene. There must have been some reason for the choice. We shall notice first of all, who she was. Then, how she sought. And, thirdly, how she found. I. First we shall have to take into consideration this morning who SHE WAS. Jesus "appeared first to Mary Magdalene." Why? One answer might be because He chose to do so. For in His sovereignty He may reveal Himself to whomever He wills and He may withhold Himself from whomever He shall please. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion," may be a very grating truth to human ears, but it is a Truth of God for all that and he who does not acknowledge it scarcely puts God into His true place as sitting upon the Throne and doing as He wills with His own. I should be content to know that He appeared to Mary Magdalene first and not to ask another question if I thought it unwise to ask it, for "He is the Lord and let Him do what seems Him good." And if He will reveal Himself first to her, let it be so. Here I see His Grace and say, let His name be magnified in the sovereignty of His love. But we may go a little further into the matter, I think, and perhaps find some reasons. He revealed Himself first to Mary Magdalene, a woman. Was it not most meet that a woman should first see the risen Savior? She was first in the transgression--let her be first in the justification. In yon garden she was first to work our woe--let her in that other garden be the first to see Him who works our weal. She takes the apple of that bitter tree which brings us all our sorrow--let her be the first to see that mighty Gardener who has planted a tree which brings forth fruit unto everlasting life! A woman let it be, for woman was last at the Cross and last at the sepulcher--let her be earliest to return. The Marys embalmed the Savior and put Him into the tomb--let one of their company be selected to be the first to see Him. Sisters in Christ Jesus, there is a curse which falls more heavily on you than on others--a curse which is peculiar to you. But here you have reason to rejoice since, "Unto you a Child is born, unto you a Son is given." It is by that child-bearing which brings you sorrow that we have been delivered--even through the birth of Him, the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us--whom you are privileged first to see because He is peculiarly yours. "The Seed of the woman who shall bruise the serpent's head." The text seems to indicate that the particular reason why He appeared to this woman first was because out of her He had cast seven devils. Perhaps no person mentioned in the Scripture has been more singularly slandered than Mary Magdalene. It has been supposed that she was a harlot and her name has been appended to societies which have the merciful object of endeavoring to reclaim the fallen. In that sense let me say Magdalene never was a "Magdalen." She was not an unchaste woman. I think I can show you that it is quite impossible that she could have been. She was a woman of substance and ministered to Christ's necessities. She was possessed of wealth and property and spent what she had upon the Savior and was not likely, therefore, to have been one who earned her living by the pitiful trade of her sin. Moreover, she had seven devils and that, of itself, rendered her utterly incapable, one would think, of having been guilty of the sins of the flesh. A woman, a demoniac, mad with seven devils! Who would dream that a poor creature under so dreadful a torture as this could have been a harlot? The thing is clearly impossible to any thoughtful mind. But mark you, I believe if Magdalene were here herself, she would not regret that her pure name has been appended to these poor fallen ones. Here she has communion with her Lord and Master who was, "numbered with the transgressors," and who gave Himself and all that He had in order that He might lift poor sinners from the degradation into which they had fallen. "No," Magdalene would say, "do not blot my name off from yonder building. Do not take it from that Rescue Society. I, though I have been kept from this iniquity, am well content to be the patron of all those who seek to win sinners from their sin." Nevertheless, there is this about it--and here is where the mistake first arose--the possession of a devil is typical, in the Word of God, of sin. When we want to translate the miracle into spiritual meaning we are always compelled to use the indwelling of a devil to be the metaphor--the picture of the indwelling of sin. Now as Mary Magdalene had seven devils, though she was not, therefore, any the greater sinner for she could not help the devils being there, yet she was thereby the more polluted. She was sevenfold polluted and she becomes most rightly the type of the great sinner, the representative, in fact, of the very class of sinners to whom her name has been given. She was not literally such a sinner, but she was typically so, for in her there were seven devils. Typically she stands at the head of those who are the greatest of all sinners against the Law and goodness and Grace of God, but she was not so except as a type. Now I think you see some reason why she should be selected as the first one to be seen by Christ, because she had been a special trophy of Christ's delivering power. In her He had won a special and signal victory over the hosts of Hell--a perfect number of those evil spirits had been entrenched within her and Christ's victorious arm had driven them all out. She would ever be regarded as a most illustrious specimen of what the great Savior can achieve. In this sense, I say, she was fitted to be the first that Jesus Christ should look upon and speak to. Out of all His disciples who were daily with Him I know not of one who had experienced such a cure as that which had fallen to her lot. Let us learn from this, that the greatness of our sin before conversion should never make us think that we may not be specially favored with the very highest grade of fellowship. If Magdalene were not a harlot, yet I say she stands as the type of those who are possessors of seven sins and deadly and damnable sins, too. And inasmuch as this woman is taken into the most intimate communion with Christ and has the priority even above Peter and James and John, there is no reason, poor fallen Sinner, why you should not have as rich a feast at the banquet of Divine mercy as the very best and most chaste, the most upright, pure and clean! If you come to Christ, if the seven devils are cast out of you, all these things shall never be mentioned against you! No, but you shall stand on a par with those who were preserved by Providence and restraining Grace from going into gross sins. When the prodigal came back he was not told that he might eat his father's bread, but it must be in the kitchen. He was not told that he might sit at the table, but it must be at the far end, below the salt. No, he sits at the table as the most honored guest and his father feasts with him as if he had never gone astray! So is it forevermore with my God, to the chief of sinners. You shall not be permitted to eat the crumbs that fall from the table, but the daintiest viands shall be yours! Yes, and if you wish it and will press forward and seek it, you shall have Benjamin's mess--you shall have more than others. Oh, though you have been black and vile, He can make you so white and fair that He will not blush to treat you as the man in the parable did his little ewe lamb. You shall drink of His cup and sleep in His bosom and be very, very dear to Him, sin- ner though you have been. This seems to be upon the very surface of the text, that Mary Magdalene was selected to be the first to see the Savior because she was a woman--a woman out of whom seven devils had been cast--a type of a great sinner. Again, she was a woman in whom mighty Grace had proved its power. It is a well known fact that devils never went out of men willingly in the Savior's day. They had always to be cast out. You find them foaming at the mouth as soon as Christ is seen and when He says, "I command you to come out of him," the devil tears the man, rolls him in the dust and subjects him to unusual spasms of pain and agony before he will depart. Thus seven devils had been driven out of Mary-- forced out of her. Mary was no free-willer. Her deliverance was achieved by irresistible, eternal, sovereign Grace. And surely those are privileged to see most of Christ who know that their salvation is not of man, neither by man, but by the will and power of the gracious God alone! My Brothers and Sisters, there may be some of you who think that the devils went out of you--I know they did not go out of me. They had to be driven out with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. There may be some who boast of the freeness of their wills who think that they can come to Christ of themselves--but Mary did not--for no demoniacs ever sought to find Christ. They rather shunned the Presence of the Savior, and cried, "What have we to do with You? Are You come to torment us before the time?" We rather hated Divine Grace and despised Christ. Offers of mercy were lost upon us. Proclamations of pardon, though honestly given, we trampled under foot. It was only when the mighty Jesus, dressed in robes of love, came forth in the greatness of His strength that we were compelled to yield and our captivity was led captive by His might! I think that Mary Magdalene was thus selected because she was a choice instance of Irresistible Grace. As soon as the devils were cast out of Mary she appears to have left whatever her earthly position may have been and to have become a constant attendant on the Savior. If you will kindly turn to the eighth chapter of Luke you will see that our Lord was attended not only by men, but by women. "It came to pass afterward, that He went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him and certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities--Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance." It appears, then, that Magdalene was one who abode with Christ Jesus--His perpetual and constant companion. Some heard Him occasionally--she heard Him always. Mary and Martha and Lazarus entertained Him with a feast now and then--she was always giving Him of her substance. There were many like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who were on Christ's side, but did not take up Christ's Cross--she did. In all His afflictions she was afflicted. When He was "despised and rejected of men," so was she. She was with Him, bearing His Cross and suffering His reproach. I like the thought of her being with the Savior. How much she must have seen! She saw the most of His miracles. How much she must have heard! She heard, with her own ears, His choice words. Yes, and in the secret conclave where He opened up His parable to His favored disciples, Mary was privileged to be there with a few other honorable women. I suppose her to have been a woman of ripe years, as probably most of the others were--a matron. She was neglecting no household duties. It is clear she never had any--a woman with seven devils could not have had domestic duties. One would think her friends must have been exceedingly glad to have her under the teaching of our Lord. And so long as they knew that she was in health with the Savior, they probably thought her to be in the place most fitting for her, as mad people are supposed to be most fitly attended when they are accompanied by their keeper or their physician. Having been a demoniac, she was happily freed from all household ties and bonds. And now what if I say that Christ was her father, her brother, her husband, her friend, her children, her everything? He was her family and there was she, daily with Him. We read that when Christ preached a certain Truth, "many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him." Not so the Magdalene. Let Him preach whatever He might, the woman of Magdala still hung upon His lips. To her, every word was honey, every syllable was a pearl. She treasured all, she fed upon all--she abided with Jesus. O dear Friends, I wish we could get into this position--when our calling should be to serve Christ and when our place should be always with Christ. I do not wonder that Christ appeared first to her when I recollect that Christ had so long been her first, her chief delight. She had nothing in the world but Christ. It strikes me that very likely her being a demoniac had so separated her from all human sympathy that there were none that loved her, none that cared for her except the disci- ples and the society she had found through being a follower of Christ. And Jesus, pitying her, would not send her away as He did the most of those whom He cured. One thing we must not pass over--she spent her substance in relieving His needs. The bag was not often full, while Judas had the keeping of it. And while there were so many poor and Christ had such a tender heart, I will be bound to say that no surplus was ever allowed to mold there. But this woman and the other Marys took care that it should never be quite empty and that there should be something for the Savior when He needed it. She was not the woman who broke the alabaster box of precious ointment over Christ's head, but her whole life long her constant income was her alabaster box and she spent what she had in ministering to the needs of her Lord. Brothers and Sisters, if we would see much of Christ, let us serve Him. Depend upon it, you that live unto your-selves--that save your wealth when you ought to give it--you are not indulged with that fellowship with Jesus which others have who have consecrated themselves and their substance wholly to the Lord. I am sure that by not giving you miss infinite pleasure. I speak not now concerning your safety--I believe you are saved through faith in Christ Jesus-- but if you do not devote yourselves and all that you have to the Master's cause, you never will be admitted to those choicer joys, to those more intimate fellowships which belong to those who live close to their Savior in consecration. Find me the happiest Christians and I am sure they are those who are most attached to their Lord. Tell me who they are that sit most often under the banner of His love and drink the deepest draughts from the cup of communion and I am sure they will be those who give most, who serve best, and who abide closest to the bleeding heart of their dear Lord. Perhaps for this reason Mary was privileged by the Grace of God to be the first to see the risen Savior. II. The second enquiry was, HOW SHE SOUGHT. If any of us would have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, how are we to obtain it? We will use her as our guide. And first Mary sought the Savior very early in the morning, by which we learn when we must, many times, begin to seek our Lord. If you can wait for Christ and be patient in the hope of having fellowship with Him by-and-by, you will never have fellowship at all--for the heart that is fitted for communion is a hungering and a thirsting heart. If a man is hungry, you cannot say to him, "Be patient. Wait!" "My hunger craves," he says, "give me food. I shall die if I am not fed." "But you must not be impatient. You must curb your appetite. Wait, be still." But the poor man replies, "I cannot! My hunger is so sharp. Oh, give me bread or I famish! I will die!" You may reason with him, but there is no reasoning with a hungry stomach. And when a man's soul begins to hunger and thirst after Christ, it is not, "Tomorrow I will see Him," but, "now! Now! Now!" Today, which God calls, "the accepted time," the Christian thinks to be the most acceptable time. I would have fellowship with Jesus now. While standing on this platform my eyes desire to see Him. My head longs to place itself upon His bosom. My soul would cry with the spouse, "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth, for His love is better than wine." If, then, you want Jesus to reveal Himself to you, seek Him now, where you are. This pew may be as good as the garden. Your own little quiet room, when the service is over, will be quite as near to the Savior as was the sepulcher--only seek Him at once and suffer no delays. Come, Jesus come, for the night is far spent! Arise great Sun of Righteousness and chase my gloom away! She sought Him also, as you will observe, with very great boldness. It is said she stood at the sepulcher. The disciples had fled. Read the eighth verse, "They went out quickly and fled from the sepulcher, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." But Mary, we are told in John's account, "stood" at the sepul-cher. "They may run who will," she said. "Nothing can frighten me when I seek the Lord." There go the women--Mary and Susanna the wife of Chuza. There they go, all frightened. There is Peter, the bold Peter--he takes to his heels! And even John, the loving John, follows after him! But Mary stands still. "No," she says, "let the worst come that can, nothing can be worse than losing my Master--if death itself should drag me away it can only take me into the sepulcher where my Savior went and perhaps I might find Him there. And if so, death were welcome!" Consider how many fears this timid woman must have had. It is not always safe to go abroad early in the morning. Certainly it was not in the city of Jerusalem, when the city was crowded, for a feeble woman to rise early in the morning and go out to the tomb! And yet she was not afraid. Let the shadows of the morning be still on the earth--she heeds them not. The shadows in her own soul are worse to her. You might have supposed she would have fears of the angels. She was not. She had had dealings with devils and she was not to be frightened by angels. Seven devils at once dwelt in her. She knew too much of the supernatural to be frightened at the fall of a leaf or any noise that might make her weaker companions turn pale. If, then, you would have Christ to be with you, seek Him boldly, Beloved. Let nothing hold you back. Defy the world! Dare its pleasures! Laugh at its threats! Despise its promises. Count that "the reproach of Christ is greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." Press on where others flee! Be like a lion where others turn their backs and Christ will then show Himself to you. She stood at the sepulcher. She sought Christ very faithfully. Some find it hard to stand by a living Savior, but she will stand by a dead one. All the disciples forsook Him and fled when He was only in captivity--but she cleaves to Him when His body is in the sepulcher. Brave woman! You will not only stand by the Master, but by the Master's sepulcher. True heroine! You love even the couch where His dead form sleeps. I would that we sought Christ after this mode, willing to stand by the very form of sound words which has been delivered to us--standing by the doctrine as well as by the Person--cleaving and clinging to the very least thing that has to do with Christ and feeling that if He has sanctioned it, it is ours to die for the sepulcher as well as for the Man. Oh, if we sought Christ with such faithfulness we should not long lack the comfort of His Presence! Still note further that John tells us she, "stood outside the sepulcher weeping," which makes me remark that she sought Jesus very earnestly, for as she stood there, not finding Him, she wept. I do not read that the others did this. They loved the Savior, but they did not love Him as much. At any rate, they had not her sensitiveness and delicacy of soul. She wept. I think I know why she wept. "My Savior is gone," she said, "I cannot find Him." Then the thoughts of His sad death came rushing full upon her soul. She thought she saw that dreadful scene over again that had made her heart ache and throb. She fancied she saw Him again dragged through the howling populace, abused and despised with His poor back all covered with gore. She thought she beheld once more that blessed body torn with the nails. She marked again the anguish of the fever which came upon Him as He hung upon the tree. She had been the last to watch Him. She stood and watched Him with the other women and now she cannot bear the thought of all that He has suffered and the fear that He has gone, gone, gone forever! She weeps. And the Savior could not bear to see her weep. I think those teardrops were as spells that bound the Savior captive and made Him come forth and show Himself to her. If you want Christ's Presence, you are sure to get it if you weep after it! If you have gone so far that you cannot be happy unless He comes and says to you, "You are My beloved"--if you cannot be content without a kiss from those dear lips--you will have it. He cannot deny those tears--those are heart-breakers to Him--those drops shall burn their way into His soul! You shall look into the face bedewed with tears and see the loveliness and beauty of Him who was "despised and rejected of men," if you stand outside at the sepulcher weeping. Nor have I quite done. Mary sought him perseveringly, for as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepul-cher. She had been in it and found nothing--what made her look again? Have you not, when you have been seeking for something which you felt you must find, pulled out a drawer and looked through it carefully, turning over everything and yet, being exceedingly anxious, you have gone to it once more? You were certain the object was not there and yet you were so anxious to find it that you looked again and again. And perhaps you returned six or seven times to the place which you had searched thoroughly at first, for you were so desirous to find it. It was so with her. She thought, "perhaps my eyes may have been blinded--possibly I may not have looked in the right corner--I will look again." And so she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher--the tears still flowing from her eyes. This showed her perseverance. Yes, and if we would know Christ, He is not to be found by those who merely call upon Him once. Cry to Him by the hour together if He comes not to you. If going into your chamber once does not give you a sight of Jesus, go again, go again, go again! For mark me, if you should be kept waiting seven years for an interview with the great King--if you should once be favored to see Him--if He shall stretch out the silver scepter to you, you will think yourself all too well rewarded! A thousand--a million years of seeking would be well repaid by one glance from His eyes and one look from His face. Therefore seek perseveringly, patiently and anxiously--desiring that the risen Savior would manifest Himself to you. We have almost done upon this point but we must note that she sought the Savior only. All her thoughts were concentrated upon Him. I think if I had been there, I should have been greatly gratified with a sight of the angels. It strikes me that I should have been observing what were the forms of beauty which angelic spirits bear. But she seems to have taken no note of them at all. She says to them, "They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid Him." What cared she for angels? If as many had come as the seventy thousand chariots of God they could not have turned away Mary's thoughts from Him. To the gardener, her speech is all full of her Lord, "Sir, if you have borne Him from here, tell me where you have laid Him and I will take Him away." Mary's heart was set on one object. Like an arrow shot from the bow she sped right on to the target of her heart's desire. And, oh, if Christ is your one and only love, if your heart has cast out all rivals, if your spirit seeks Him and cries out for the Lord--even for the living God--you shall soon come and appear before God. To close this point let me say there was much ignorance in Mary. How was it that she sought the living among the dead? There was very little faith in Mary, for faith would have told her that He had risen again on the third day according to His own words. But, oh, there was much love and Jesus overlooked her want of knowledge and overlooked her weakness of faith because of the strength of her love! It seems to me that she loved more than John did, for John says, "Then went in that other disciple and he saw and believed." That is right, John! You have most faith. He believes and then he goes away expecting he should see what he believed. But Mary, though she has far less faith, you will perceive has so much love that she will not go away from the sepulcher! She just keeps her place there, watching at the post of His door, not satisfied till she can see Him. What love was this! Brothers and Sisters, if we would see Jesus, we must love Him much. I would God I loved Him as my heart desires to love Him. I hope you can say-- "Yes, I love You and adore You. Oh for Grace to love You more!" Let us wake ourselves up to greater intensity of affection. He loved us before the stars were made. He loved us with His whole heart. He loved us to perfection. He loved us unto death. Oh, my cold Heart, why do you not melt? Oh, my adamantine Heart, why do you not dissolve? For such love as this we ought to give Jesus our warmest affection--blazing like coals of juniper! And if we did we should not be long without finding Him--for love would find Him out and fetch Him to our arms and we should see Him and rejoice in Him! III. The last point now comes and that is, HOW SHE FOUND HIM. He was present but she could not see Him. Christian, Christ is present here this morning though you cannot, perhaps, perceive Him. You have not to cry to the Savior to come from Heaven to visit you--"Where two or three are met together in My name," He says, "there am I in the midst of them." Jesus is here! In these aisles and pews, in this area and these galleries--Jesus is here. If you have no communion with Him, Believer, it is because unbelief darkens your eyes--or grief, or care, or sin makes you blind. But Jesus Christ was discovered to Mary by a word. I want you to notice that it was not a sermon, it was one word. It was not a long discourse, but just one word of two syllables and that not a word of mystery, but a simple word--a word, however, which had this about it--it came from Jesus' lips! It was personal and went home to her. This is all you want, Beloved, this morning. Fifty thousand words from me would only weary you! But listen to one word from the lips of the Savior, a personal word, waking the recollections of your spirit, proving that He remembers you--and cheerfully on the strength of that word your soul may stay on earth and finish her threescore years and ten. That one word was her own name--"Mary." It was spoken just as she had heard it in the days gone by. And oh, if He would speak to me as He has spoken at the hill Mizar. If He would say of Himself as He has done in days never to be forgotten, "I am your salvation," we should not want any more! One word would be enough! Oh, Beloved, keep on seeking Christ and you will find Him in a moment! Do not complain if you have not an edifying ministry, or because, perhaps this morning the discourse seems dull to you. Do not complain because you are lax in prayer and have not that enlargement you ought to have in Divine things. One word will take you up as on the wings of an eagle and give you joy and peace! Notice that as soon as the one word was given, her heart owned allegiance by another word. She did not make a long speech. The Master's heart was too full to say more than one word and so was hers. That one word would naturally be the most fitting for the occasion. What, then, is the word which suggests itself as being best adapted to a soul in the highest state of devotion? It is a word implying obedience. She said, "Master." You can never get into a state of mind for which this confession of allegiance will be a word too cold. No, when your spirit glows the most with heavenly fire, then you will say, "I would serve You living, dying. Your love has bound me with cords to the horns of the altar. I am Your servant--I am Your servant--You have loosed my bonds." If you can say, "Master," this morning, you can say much. If your soul feels that His will is your will, that His Law is your love-- that you would, if you could--in all things be conformed to His image, then, whether you have ecstasies or no ecstasies, whether you have joys or no joys--you stand in a happy, holy place! He must have said, "Mary," or else she could not have said, "Rabboni." After she had confessed allegiance, the next impulse was to seek close fellowship. But she made a mistake as most of us would have done--she wanted a manifest, carnal fellowship. So she began to clasp Him and to hold Him by the feet. And then He said, "Touch Me not." We are apt to seek for communion with Christ in a sensuous way. Let us be spiritual, Brethren. We shall never have Christ say to us, "Touch Me not," if the touch is a touch of faith and love. He only says, "Touch Me not," when we want to handle Him with these hands and see Him with these eyes. Let us walk by faith and not by sight. And then we may take Him in our arms and keep Him there and hold Him and not let Him go. And the more endearing we can be with Him spiritually, the better He will like it. We must shake off all those gross ideas which strive to mix with high and heavenly enjoyment. If you feel a panting this morning after near and close communion, do not restrain it! Press forward! Put your hands into His side and your finger into the print of the nails. I know that worldlings will not understand me, but Believers will. Let me assure you there is a communion with Christ which is quite as real as if we had the privilege which Thomas had. My own soul has seen the Savior and talked with Him, though these eyes cannot see Him, though these lips cannot speak with Him and these ears cannot hear Him! Yet my soul's mouth has kissed Him and my soul's ears have heard Him and my heart's mouth has blessed Him ten thousand times! And I hope to do it yet again and will never be satisfied until I can do it continually. Press on, Beloved--you may say as the Divine Song does, "Oh that You were as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find You outside, I would kiss You." Oh, Beloved, hold communion with Him! Feed on Him for His flesh is meat, indeed, and His blood is drink, indeed. Further, we may notice as the result of her finding the Savior, she entered in His service, for He said, "Go, tell My Brethren." And away she went to tell others that she had found the Savior! If you have the privilege of seeing Christ, do not eat the morsel behind the door. Have you found honey? Taste it yourself, but go and tell others. You cannot have seen much of the Savior unless you desire to let others see Him. Your piety is a sham, a flash in the pan, a will-o'-the-wisp if it does not lead to practical service. Are there not some Mary Magdalenes here who have had seven devils cast out of them? You have felt the power of Divine Grace in your heart. You love your Savior. You long for communion with Him. My dear Sister, as soon as you have fellowship, let me charge you, in the Master's name--do not be afraid to speak to others what the Lord shall say in private to you. We do not want women to enter the pulpit--that is a violation both of Divine Grace and Nature--it is as much an offense to good manners as it is to God's own Law. But you have your own sphere, you have your own place of work--you can gather your own sex about you. There are your children, your servants. You have multitudes of opportunities. Tell others that Jesus has risen, that there is a risen life--that you know it and that you pant and long that others, too, should rise from the grave of sin to the new life in Jesus! As for you, men and Brothers, to whom it pertains more particularly to be teachers and pastors, I charge you, whatever you have found within the circle of fire where the closest communion is. Whatever you have seen in the deep mines of mystery, whatever Christ has revealed to you in hours of retirement when you have come nearest to Him--tell it to His family, feed His flock with it--bring forth these things as choice dainties where the beloved of the Lord may feast even to the full. "Go, tell my Brethren," said Christ, and so say we. When the two disciples had journeyed to Emmaus, and at the evening meal after the toil of the day's journey was over, were resting themselves, you remember that the mysterious stranger who had so enchanted them with His holy words took bread and broke it. And then it was known to them in the breaking of the bread--but He vanished out of their sight! Well, what happened then? They had constrained Him to enter in and abide with them because the day was far spent, but though now, much later, their love was a lamp to their feet! Yes, wings also, for they forgot the darkness and their despair. Their weariness was all gone and immediately they began to journey back the threescore furlongs to tell the gladsome news of a risen Lord who had appeared to them by the way! They reach the body of Christians in Jerusalem and are received by a burst of joyful news--before they can tell their own tale. Now, Brethren, these early Christians were all on fire to speak of Christ's Resurrection and to proclaim what they knew of the Lord. They made common property of their experiences. And so ought we to do. John's account of the sepulcher needs to be supplemented by Peter, and Mary can speak of something further still. Combined, we have a full testimony and nothing can be spared. Thus we have all peculiar gifts and special manifestations, but the one object God has in view is the benefit of the whole body of Christ. We must therefore bring our possessions and lay them at the Apostles' feet and make distribution unto all of what God has given to us. Keep back no part of the precious Truth of God, but speak what you know and testify what you have seen. Let not the toil, or darkness, or possible unbelief of your hearers weigh one moment in the scale. Up and be marching to the place of duty and there tell what great things God has shown to your soul! And if you hear the sweet words of Christ, I can promise you a holy flame of bright and beaming joy as you speak of the Truth of God to benefit the souls of others. Finally, if there are any enquirers here, as I hope there are--if you are seeking Jesus this morning and want to be saved by Him and through Him--remember, poor Enquirer, that Jesus is near you now. There is nothing for you to do! No climbing to Heaven, no going down to the depths to bring Him up. He is near you now. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, if you trust your soul to Him, you are saved! Jesus is here to everyone who will simply give himself up to Him to be saved by Him. Jesus calls you this morning by your name--He gives you a special invitation to come to Him. Listen to that name! Respond this morning--say, "Master." Take Jesus to be your Lord--He deserves it. You are not your own, but you are bought with a price. Give yourself, as a blood-bought one, up to Him. He asks you as He asks Mary, "Woman, why do you weep?" He asks of each of you who are seeking Him, "whom do you seek?" Do you know what it is you seek? Do you seek some strange feeling? Do you seek signs and wonders, dreams and visions? Seek them no longer! Jesus is what you want! Take Him and be blest. There, close at your side, is the food your hungry spirit wants--look not up to Heaven--look not down to earth! There is in Jesus all you need! Feed on, Beloved--faith shall fill your mouth. Love shall enjoy the sweet dainty and your whole body, soul and spirit shall be sanctified by the Divine repast. May God bless you, dear Friends, all of you, by giving you, like Mary Magdalene, to seek the Lord. __________________________________________________________________ The Waterer Watered DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 23, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "He that waters shall be watered also himself." Proverbs 11:25. THE general principle is that in living for the good of others we shall be profited ourselves. We must not isolate our own interests but feel that we live for others. This teaching is sustained by the analogy of nature, for in nature there is a law that no one thing can be independent of the rest of creation, but there is a mutual action and reaction of all upon all. All the constituent parts of the universe are bound to one another by invisible chains and there is not a single creature in it which springs up, or flourishes, or decays itself alone. The very planets, though they float far from one another, exercise attraction. And the fixed stars, though they seem to be infinitely remote, are still linked to one another by mysterious bonds. God has so constituted this universe that selfishness is the greatest possible offense against His Law and living for others and ministering to others is the strictest obedience to His will. Our surest road to our own happiness is to seek the good of our fellows. We store up in God's own bank what we generously expend on the behalf of our race. The little spring bubbling forth from the ancient pipe on the hillside overflows the stone basin and liberally supplies all the villagers with pure and cooling drink. In its flowing it does not waste itself, for the deep fountains in the heart of the earth continue unceasingly to supply it and both in winter's frost and summer's drought the springhead yields its crystal stream. The little brook which babbles through the woods, hiding among stones, leaping down the moss-grown rocks and soon deepening and swelling its stream, pours all its gatherings into the river hoarding not a drop. And though its treasure is constantly being lavished with unstinting liberality, yet Heaven and earth see to it that the brook shall never fail to sing its joyous song-- "Men may come and go But I go on forever." The river hastens with its greater floods towards the all-receiving ocean--pouring itself out every hour with happy plenteousness, as though it only existed to empty itself. Yet the abundant tributaries which come streaming from the hills and draining the valleys are careful that the river shall know no lack, but shall be kept constantly brimming, a joyous and bounding river forevermore! The ocean perpetually sends up its steaming exhalations to the sky, grudging nothing. It puts no doors to its rolling waves, but uncovers all its treasure to the sun and the sun makes large draughts upon the royal treasury of the deep. Nevertheless the ocean is not diminished, for all the rivers are constantly conspiring to keep the sea full to the shore. The clouds of Heaven, when they are full of rain, empty themselves upon the earth and yet the clouds cease not to be, for, "they return after the rain," and the ocean down below seems but to be too glad to be continually feeding its sister ocean on the other side of the firmament. So, as wheels with bands are made to work together--as wheels with cogs working upon one an-other--the whole watery machinery is kept in motion by each part acting upon its neighbor and the next upon the next. Each wheel expends its force upon its fellow and the whole find a recompense in their mutual action upon one another. The same truth might be illustrated from other departments of nature. If we view this microcosm, the human body, we shall find that the heart does not receive the blood to store it up, but while it pumps it in at one valve, it sends it forth at another. The blood is always circulating everywhere and is stagnant nowhere. The same is true of all the fluids in a healthy body--they are in a constant state of expenditure. If one cell stores for a few moments its peculiar secretion, it only retains it till it is perfectly fitted for its appointed use in the body, for if any cell in the body should begin to store up its secretion, its store would soon become the cause of inveterate disease. No, the organ would soon lose the power to secrete at all if it did not give forth its products. The whole of the human system lives by giving. The eye cannot say to the foot, I have no need of you and will not guide you, for if it does not perform its watchful office, the whole man will be in the ditch and the eye will be covered with mire. If the members refuse to contribute to the general stock, the whole body will become poverty-stricken and be given up to the bankruptcy of death. Let us learn, then, from the analogy of Nature, the great lesson that to get, we must give! That to accumulate, we must scatter! That to make ourselves happy, we must make others happy! And that to get good and become spiritually vigorous, we must do good and seek the spiritual good of others. This is the general principle. The text suggests a particular personal application of the general principle. We shall consider it, first, in its narrowest sense--as belonging to ourselves personally. Secondly, in a wider sense--as it may refer to us as a Church. Then, thirdly, in its widest sense--as it may be referred to the entire body of Christ, showing that still it is true that as it waters, so it shall be watered itself. I. First, then, IN REFERENCE TO OURSELVES. There are some works, my Brothers and Sisters, in which we cannot all engage. Peculiar men are called to be God's great woodmen--to clear the way with the axe, to go before His army like our sappers and miners. Such men as Martin Luther and Calvin and Zwingli--that glorious trio of heroes marching in front of reformation and evangelization. They are cutting down the tall trees, tunneling the hills and bridging the rivers. And we smaller men feel that there is little of this work for us to do. But when the backwoodsmen have cleared the forest, after all the roots are grubbed and the soil is burned and plowed, then comes the sowing and the planting, and in this, all the household can take a place. And when the plants have sprung up and need water, it is not only the stalwart man with the axe who can now apply himself to watering, but even the little children can take a share in this lighter work. Watering is work for persons of all grades and all sorts. If I cannot carry about me some ponderous load as the Eastern water-bearer can, yet I will take my little water pot, my little jug or pitcher, and go to the well. If I cannot water the forest tree, I may water the tiny plant which grows at its root. Watering is work for all sorts of people. So, then, we will make a personal application to every Christian here this morning--you can all do something in watering--and this promise can therefore be realized by you all, "He that waters shall be watered also himself." All God's plants, more or less, want watering. You and I do. We cannot live long without fresh supplies of Divine Grace. Therefore the value of the promise, "I, the Lord, do keep it. I will water it every moment." There are no brooks at our roots as we grow in the soil of nature--it is only in the garden of Grace that we are "like trees planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth our fruit in our season." If the Lord Jesus, who is the stem of the vine, should cease to supply us with the fresh sap of Grace, would we not be like the withered branch which is cast over the wall to be burned in the fire? The Lord's people usually get this watering through instrumentality. God does not speak to us out of Heaven with His own voice--perhaps the thunder might appall us-- He does not write texts of Scripture with His own finger in letters of fire across the sky. But He waters us by instrumentality, by His Word written and His Word preached, or otherwise uttered by His servants. His Holy Spirit waters us by the admonitions of parents, by the kind suggestions of friends, by the teaching of His ministers, by the example of all His saints. The Holy Spirit waters us, but He takes care to do it by our fellow workers, putting an honor upon His own servants by using them in instrumentality. This being fully believed by us all, we may proceed to another Truth of God, namely, that some of His servants especially need watering and should therefore be the objects of our constant care. Some plants need watering from their peculiar nature. A gardener will tell you that certain flowers require very little water, perhaps for months they will grow in a stony soil. But others must be watered regularly and plenteously or they will soon droop. Some of you, my dear Brothers and Sisters, are so desponding that if you did not receive much comfort you would hardly hold up your heads at all. You are so weak in the faith that if you were not fed with milk continually you would scarcely be alive. "Comfort you, comfort you, My people, says your God"--is especially applicable to the mourners in Zion. Their constitutional temperament is such that to maintain the lamp of their joy they require much oil of comfort. Perhaps, too, they are ignorant, and the ignorant need much watering. If they knew the Doctrines of Grace more fully, they might go to the wells themselves--but not knowing where the water is, or feeling, like the woman at the well, that the well is deep and that there is nothing to draw with-- they cannot get the water. And we who are instructed in the way of God must take care that we bring up the water for them with our longer length of the line of knowledge so that they may not fail to be watered. It may be the need is not so much caused by the nature of the plant as by the position in which it is placed. Many of you, dear Brethren, are very happily situated where you can constantly attend the means of Grace--where the family altar smokes with sweet perfume--where you cannot help growing. You are like plants in a hothouse. But there are others, on the contrary, who live in houses where the jeer is far more frequently heard than the voice of praise. Where, instead of being helped in your devotions, you are hindered. Your spirit is driven to and fro with distractions--from the very closet where you wanted to commune with God you are forced out by cruel mocking. We ought to be very tender about your condition. You are planted on no fruitful hill, but on a very thirsty land where there is no water. Your position should lead God's people to watch you with deepest interest and see to it that you are well watered. I may also mention the sick. When our dear friends are tried with bodily pain--when they are shut up week after week from public gatherings--then they need watering. Their position is such that we ought to be especially mindful of them. It is written, "He carries the lambs in His bosom and gently leads those that are with young." And we must note the peculiar condition of the saints of God, being most careful of those who most need our tenderness. Let me also suggest the young to you. These need watering, both, let me say, from their character and from their position. With little experience and little knowledge they are prone to wander or to be seized by the wolf. Tend them with parental affection. When transplanted flowers are first put into the ground they need more water than they will later. When they have sent out more roots and these roots have abundant fibers searching through the soil for moisture they may not require much of the gardener's care, but just now they must have it or die. Therefore, I say, let the feeble, the weak, the young, the sick, the persecuted be watered most anxiously and lovingly by you all. Certain dear friends need watering, not so much from their position and character as from the present trials through which they are passing. Certain plants, after long standing in the sun, droop their leaves and look as if they must wither and die. But as soon as water is poured to their roots, it has sometimes perfectly surprised me to see how they recover! I could scarcely think that they were the same plants, their recovery was so sudden. The little roots beneath sent the message up to the main roots and said, "We have found out moisture. A friendly hand has given us a supply," and the root talked to the stem and the stem rejoiced and the great leaves drank up their share and the little leaves sucked up their drops till the whole plant to the very summit was verdant once more and rejoiced. Times will come to all of us when we need water. I, myself, get very desponding at seasons and I suppose you do, too. Unbelief dries us up. Oh that devil of unbelief! Why if that demon were dead, the other devils we might very well contend with. Personal affliction, losses, crosses, burdens make us just like the withering shrub and then we need to have the consolations of some kind friend to water us. Dear Friends, sometimes there are those in the Church who particularly need watering because they are actually withering. It is not to maintain verdure in their case but to restore it. Those backsliding ones--those who have slipped with their feet--do not cast them off, for God casts not off the backsliding one. When they begin to forsake the House of God, do not forsake them. Follow them with your tears. In such a Church as this, if you do not exercise mutual oversight over one another we shall simply become a mass of corruption instead of being a mountain of holiness. Watch over your Brethren as soon as you see the first signs of declension. When they forsake Prayer Meetings, gently give them a hint of the evil of lukewarmness and the danger of falling by little and little. When you mark the first sign in their outward carriage of laxity with regard to Divine things. When you see coldness where there was formerly zeal, be sure to give a gentle word of earnest, pathetic admonition. As I look around this Tabernacle I can but compare these rising seats to shelves in the conservatory and you are the plants which must all be watered or you will languish and wither. And I, who have to be my Master's under gardener, am very anxious to say to all of you who have any water in your watering pots--help me water these plants--that, by the gracious operations of God, the Holy Spirit, they may be kept fruitful, green, verdant in spiritual things even to the end! We now enter more thoroughly into our text and observe that all Believers have power to water others. You may not have much ability or influence, but you all have some power in this matter. In thinking over what Solomon meant, it struck me that he had in his mind's eye the plan of irrigation which is followed in some Eastern countries. The rivers at certain seasons overflow their banks. The careful farmers whose farms are close along the sides of the bank have large tanks and reservoirs in which they store up the water. After the flood the river is comparatively empty and the little farms, the vineyards and pastures on the banks begin to cry out for water. Then the careful farmer lets out the water from his tank or reservoir by slow degrees and uses it with great economy. It would sometimes happen that one of these farmers would have his reservoirs filled and his neighbor, perhaps through the bursting of a tank, or the falling down of the bank of earth, might have little or no water. At such times a greedy man would say, "I shall need all my water for myself. I will not lend or give so much as a drop of it. I have none to spare." But the generous man says, "I do not know whether God may be pleased to send a drought or not, but I cannot let my neighbor lose all his crops for the want of a little water while I have a good stock in hand." So he pulls up the sluice and lets such a stream as he thinks he can spare flow into his neighbor's channel so that he may water his fields. Now Solomon says that those who water others shall be watered. Next season it may happen that this good man may have no water himself. Well, then, all the farmers round about will say, "Why, he helped us when his tank was full and we will return his kindness into his bosom." "Ah," says one, "he saved me from ruin. I should not have had a crop at all last season if it had not been for him." So they all lend a portion, till he finds no difficulty whatever--even in a season of drought. When men cannot get water for love or money--he is sure to have it. The common feeling of men, as a usual rule, recognizes the law of gratitude and men say, "He watered others, he shall be watered himself." My dear Brother, you may be a man of talent. You may be a man of wealth--just turn on the big tap and let your ignorant or poor neighbors benefit a little by your abundance. Pull up the floodgates and let the more needy brethren be enriched by your fullness--open that mouth of yours that your wisdom may feed many! Tell of what God has done for your soul that the humble may hear and be glad. Do not be a reservoir brimmed up till the banks are ready to burst out through the weight which presses upon them-- let some of the treasure run out! And when your need shall come--and who knows when it may overtake any of us?--you shall find willing friends who shall run with swift feet to cheer your adversity. This simile needs to be supplemented by another--many true saints are unable to do much. See, then, the gardeners going down to the pond and dipping in their watering pots to carry the refreshing liquid to the flowers. A child comes into the garden and wishes to help. And yonder is a little watering pot for him. Now, see that little water pot? Though it does not carry so much, yet carries the same water. And it does not make any difference to the half-dozen flowers which get that water, whether it came out of the big pot or the little pot, so long as it is the same water and they get it! You who are like children in God's Church. You who do not know much--try and tell others what you do know--and if it is the same Gospel Truth, and it is blest by the same Spirit--it will not matter to the souls who get blessed by you whether they were blessed by a man of one or ten talents! What differ- ence will it make to me whether I was converted to God by means of a poor woman who was never made a blessing to anybody else, or by one who had brought his thousands to the Savior's feet? Go, my dear Brothers and Sisters, and exercise the holy art of watering! You say "How?" Why, a word may do it! A look may do it! An action may do it! Only zealously desire to offer sympathy, to afford instruction, to give needed help, to impart what you may be favored with to others and you shall be watered yourselves! The main point is that in so watering others we shall be watered ourselves. I am sure we shall, for God promises it and He always keeps His promise. If I need to get water, I must give water. Though that seems a strange way of self-serving I pray you try it. Was not that a very singular thing that when the poor woman of Sarepta had nearly exhausted all her meal, the Prophet asked for a cake for himself? She had been saving it. I dare say she had eaten only a mouthful or two every day. She and her poor boy were looking very thin. They had come to the last handful. She thought, "I will make one cake for my son and myself and then we will die." She is outside picking up sticks that she may bake this cake. God intends to bless her. How does He do it? There comes His Prophet, the hairy man. And the first word he says to her is, "Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." She is quite ready to serve anyone and away she hastens for the water when Elijah cries aloud, "Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand." What? Out of that little handful-- barely enough for one? "Yes," he says, "make me a little cake first and after make for you and your son." "After that?" she might have said, "what will be left after that? When there is only a handful of meal and a little oil in a cruse, not enough for one, am I to give that to you and afterwards see to myself and child?" Faith enabled her to obey and from that very moment neither she nor her son ever knew what need was. She gave from her little and her little multiplied. The case of the woman of Zarephath is but one of thousands establishing the rule of God's mode of action with His Church--a rule which shall not be broken ever. Let me show you how you will get watered yourself. In the first place, if you try to do good to others it will do you good by waking up your powers. Thousands of men do not know what they are made of. You have no idea what a fine fellow you are, young man, till you begin to shake yourself a little and go forth to fight the Lord's battles! We do not know what sinews we have till we climb the mountains! We do not know what strength there may be in our backs and arms till we have to carry a ponderous load and then we find it out. You have latent talents, dormant faculties which would work wonders if you would call them forth. Some people are not awake more than skin deep. All underneath the skin is sound asleep. They are like the great candle which I showed you one night with a small wick, which was only melted a little in the middle while all the outside was still cold, hard tallow and did not contribute to the light. You have not become warm through and through yet--your whole souls have not been wound up to the right pitch for serving God--you have only a little earnestness, a little zeal. But if you ventured upon holy enterprises you would bestir yourself so thoroughly that you would scarcely know yourself again! That would be a blessing, indeed. But next, you would often find that in trying to water others you gained instruction. Go talk to some poor saint to comfort her and she will tell you what will comfort you. Oh, what gracious lessons some of us have learned at sick beds! We went to teach the Scriptures. We came away blushing that we knew so little of them. We went to talk experimental truth and we found we were only up to the ankles, while here were God's poor saints chest deep in the river of Divine Love. We learn by teaching and our pupils often teach us. You will also get comfort in your work. Rest assured that working for others is very happy exercise. Like the two men in the snow--one chafed the other's limbs to keep him from dying and in so doing he kept his own blood in circulation and his own life was preserved. Comfort God's people and the comfort will return into your own soul! Watering others will make you humble. You will find better people in the world than yourself. You will be astonished to find how much Divine Grace there is where you thought there was none--and how much knowledge some have gained--while you, as yet, have made little progress with far greater opportunities. You will also win many prayers. Those who work for others get prayed for and that is a swift way of growing rich in Grace. Let me have your prayers and I can do anything! Let me be without my people's prayers and I can do nothing. You Sunday school teachers, if you are blessed to the conversion of the children, will get your children's prayers. You that conduct the larger classes, in the conversion of your young people you will be sure to have a wealth of love come back into your own bosoms, swimming upon the stream of supplication. You will thus be a blessing to yourselves. In watering others you will get honor to yourselves and that will help to water you by stimulating your future exertions. The Romans appointed censors in their State--not only to censure men for gross immoralities--but to require every man to give an account of what he was doing for the good of the Republic. We have deacons and elders--would it not be an additional blessing to have censors in the Church to go round and ask the members, all of them, what they are doing for the good of the Christian Church? A Greek historian desired very intensely to say a word about the people of the city where he was born. He felt he could not write his history without saying something of his own native place and accordingly he wrote this: "While Athens was building temples and Sparta was waging war, my countrymen were doing nothing." I am afraid there are too many Christians of whom, if the book were written as to what they are doing in the Church, it would have to be said they have been doing nothing all their lives. You would be delivered from that reproach if you began to water others. Let me cease from this subject by saying while you are watering others you will be manifesting and showing your love to Christ--and that will make you more like He--and so you will be watered while you are seeking to benefit your neighbors. To serve Jesus! What need I say of that? Look into that face bedewed with bloody sweat for you! Can you not sweat for Him? Look at those hands pierced for you! Shall your hands hang idly down and not be used for Him? Look at those feet fastened to the wood with nails for you! Can I ask of you any pilgrimage too long to repay the toil which those feet endured for your sake? My Brothers and Sisters, remember what Christ Jesus has done for you! Remember from where He came! Remember the riches which He left! Remember to what He came--the poverty and shame which He endured and how He went down into the depths that He might take us up to the heights! If you will think of these, you will have the best motive, I think, for beginning to look after His lambs and fighting with those lions which seek to devour His flock. And in that moving motive will be the main means by which you shall be conformed to His image and shall become like He--self-sacrificing--doing your Father's business. I wish I could speak more powerfully this morning, but the matter ought to speak for itself with Christians. If we love Jesus we shall not need any pleading with to water His plants. If you really love Him, it will not be a question of whether you shall do something. The only question will be, "What can I do?" And you will say in your pew this morning, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?" He has spared your lives. He has given you health and strength. He has provided you with spirituals and temporals. He has made your heart leap for joy at the sound of His name. He has plucked you out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay. He has taken you out of the black bondage of the Prince of Darkness and made you His sons and daughters. He has put the ring of His eternal love upon your finger. Your feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace-- "This world is yours and worlds to come, Earth is your lodge and Heaven your home." There is a crown for your head and a palm branch for your hand. There are pavements of gold for your feet and felicities forever for your entire soul! And even your body is to be raised again from the dust and fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have en- tered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for you." Now what will you do for Him? Will you not win the promise that your soul shall be watered by seeking to water the souls of others? II. A BRIEF EXHORTATION shall suffice for the second point. This general principle is worthy of a wider application. We, as a Church, dear Friends, have enjoyed singular prosperity. While many churches have been depressed and decreased in numbers, we have increased. While other churches have had the hectic flush of a spurious revival, we have had one perpetual revival lasting for nearly twelve years. I do not know that we have increased at a more or a less rapid rate. We could not increase more quickly, for we have not officers enough or time enough to see the converts as it is. We have never, I think, increased less, for the work seems to have ever the same prosperity about it. I praise God that I can say of my ministry in this place and elsewhere, that to this day it has the dew of its youth upon it and there are as many rejoicing to find Christ through the agencies employed in this Church today as in the first day when we came among you in the freshness and vigor of our youth. We have had no schism. We have had no division. We have not been vexed with heresy. We have been blessed with something like persecution, but this has only bound us the closer to one another till we are like a three-fold cord which cannot be broken. And like iron bars made red hot in the furnace and hammered together, we are not soon to be separated from one another. Now, dear Friends, up to this time the policy which we have pursued has been this--if members of other churches want to know, we tell them! We have endeavored to water others. Your minister has journeyed all over the three kingdoms preaching the Word and you have not grumbled at his absence. We have undertaken many enterprises for Christ. We hope to undertake a great many more. We have never hindered our strength--we have undertaken enterprises that were enough to exhaust us--to which, by God's Grace, we became accustomed in due season and then we have gone on to something more. We have never sought to hinder the planting of other churches from our midst or in our neighborhood. It is with cheerfulness that we dismiss our twelves, our twenties, our fifties to form other churches. We encourage our members to leave us to found other churches--no--we seek to persuade them to do it. We ask them to scatter throughout the land to become the goodly seed which God shall bless. I believe that so long as we do this we shall prosper. I have marked other churches that have adopted the other way and they have not succeeded. This is what I have heard from some ministers--"I do not encourage village stations or, if I do, I do not encourage their becoming distinct churches and breaking bread together. I do not encourage too many young men going out to preach, for to have a knot of people who can preach a little may very soon cause dissatisfaction with my own preaching." I have marked those who have followed this course and I have seen that the effect of trying to keep all the blood in the heart is to bring on congestion. And very soon the whole body has been out of health. My Brethren, if you can do more good elsewhere than you can do here, for God's sake, go! And happy shall I be that you have gone. If you can serve my Master in the little rooms in the neighborhood--if by forming yourselves into smaller churches you can increase the honor of my Master's name I shall love you none the less for going--and I shall delight to think that you have Christ's spirit in you and can do and dare for His name's sake! At the present moment we rejoice to know that many a Sunday school in this neighborhood is indebted to the members of this Church for teachers. It is right. We do not want you at home and are therefore glad to see you at work elsewhere. No matter, so long as Christ is preached, whether you throw your strength into that Church or into this Church. Here, as being members with us, we have the first claim upon you. But when we do not need you by reason of our abundance of men, go and give your strength to any other part of Christ's Church that may desire you. While I speak thus much in your praise, my Brothers and Sisters, let me say we must keep this up. We must not say, "We have the College to support and we do as much as other churches for various societies and we can be content to sit still." This Church will begin to go rotten at the core the moment we are not working for God with might and main. Sometimes I get a pull at my coattail by very kind, judicious friends who think I shall ask you to do too much. My Brethren are welcome to pull my coat- tail, but it will come off before I shall stand back for a moment! As long as I live I must serve my Master with my whole soul and when you think I go too fast, you can stand back if you dare, for mark--you will be responsible to God if you do. You may start back if you will and if you dare! But I must go on, must go, MUST go on! You and I that are worthy of the day in which we live will follow, step by step, in any good project. And though I should seem too rash, you will redeem me from the charge of rashness by the enthusiasm and the earnestness with which you carry out my plans. Here is this great city! Was there ever such spiritual desti-tution--a million people who could not go to a place of worship if they had the heart to go there! And here we have the priest-craft of the Church of England increasing the spiritual destitution by building fresh churches--not providing for it, but increasing it, I say--for I reckon that wherever Puseyism is preached, there is an increase of spiritual destitution! Wherever broad Churchism comes there is an increase of spiritual destitution--and it is little better where they go who preach the Gospel in the pulpit and read Popery at the font, the grave, and the bedside. In this last case public morality is shocked by the perjury of those who swear to a Prayer Book in which they do not believe! Much as I respect and even love Believers in the Anglican Establishment, I can only feel that their presence in so corrupt a body is the reason why it exists. And I therefore think them to be doing mischief by buttressing a falling and ruinous cause. True Protestants, we must take upon ourselves to work for London as if there were no other agencies at work except those of the Free churches! The Hagar church, the church which has a mortal for its head--the harlot church which lives in alliance with the State--has too many sins of her own to repent of to be of much use in this hour of peril. The good she can do is so insignificant that it is not worth while to compute it--the monstrous evil which she fosters and perpetrates is a more than sufficient set-off against it. We must work and toil and labor to scatter in every lane, alley and court of London the pure Gospel of the blessed God. We must let men know that Sacramentarianism is a lie and that there is no salvation but in the uplifted Cross of Christ, and no salvation through ceremonies but only through a simple faith in Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. If you, among others, are come to the kingdom for such a time as this it shall be well with you! But if not, you shall be put away as things abhorred and this place shall be a hissing and a by-word in generations yet to come. And it shall be said of you--"There lived a people who were led by a man, who, with all his faults, was in earnest and was honest and they would not follow him. They proved unworthy of him and they have passed away and their names were written in water. "They had opportunities which they did not use. Work was allotted them which they were not worthy to take up. God said to them in answer to their request to be excused, 'You shall be excused.' And they went back-- 'To the vile dust from where they sprung, Unwept, unhonored and unsung.' " But it shall not be so with you, my Brethren! Though I thus speak, I know your zeal and love and earnestness and that you will continue to water others and then you shall be watered yourselves! We will pray and strive together for the faith once delivered to the saints! We will cleave closer and closer to one another and foot to foot and shoulder to shoulder we will march to battle for God and for His Truth! And come what may, whoever else may prove a coward in these days of charity and compromise--we will be found, in God's name, by the help of God's Spirit--faithful and true. III. And now, dear Friends, another sentence or two will close the sermon. On the widest scale this is true. This is true of our denomination and of every church. If we will water others, we shall be watered. From the very day when Carey and Fuller and Pearce went forth to preach the Gospel to the heathen, a blessing rested upon our denomination. I believe if we had done more for the heathen, we should have been stronger to do more at home. You may rest assured, though some may not think it, that our missionary operations are an infinite blessing to the churches at home. Relinquishing them, giving them up, stopping them would bring such a blight and a curse that we had need to go down on our knees and pray, "God send the missionary work back again! Give us an outlet for our liberality and our zeal, for without it we become like a pool dammed up that is full of filth and toads and frogs and all sorts of foul things. Lord, open the river for our zeal and let us once again have an opportunity to serve You for the nations that are far away!" But I must leave you to preach on that point, for my time has gone and you can do so more practically than I can. My sermon is reported and I will undertake that what you preach shall not be forgotten--it shall all be taken down in those boxes which shall be passed round. Say each of you as much as ever you can upon this subject by your contributions and remember, "He that waters others, shall himself be watered." __________________________________________________________________ Justification And Glory DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 30, 1865, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." Romans 8:30. WELL said the Apostle in another place, "All things are of God." And here in this passage all works of Divine Grace are evidently so. The pronoun, "He," is repeated yet again and again, as if to set the Lord always before us. "Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." "Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also justified and whom He justified, them He also glorified." It is of God all the way through. There is not an inch of ground left to he covered by the creature's foot. The eternal Creator works all things in the Covenant of Grace according to the counsel of His own will. Haldane has an admirable note on this passage which we will quote in full: "In looking back on this passage we should observe that in all that is stated man acts no part, but is passive and all is done by God. He is elected and predestinated and called and justified and glorified by God. The Apostle was here concluding all that he had said before in enumerating topics of consolation to Believers. He is now going on to show that God is 'for us,' or on the part of His people. Could anything, then, be more consolatory to those who love God, than to be in this manner assured that the great concern of their salvation is not left in their own keeping? God, even their Covenant God, has taken the whole upon Himself. He has undertaken for them. There is no room, then, for chance or change, He will perfect that which concerns them." Does not this account for the majestic manner in which these Covenant mercies follow one another as in a triumphal procession? Foreknowledge leads the van with eyes beaming with love. Then come predestination, calling, justification, glorification--all in their proper order. Not one of these gigantic mercies limps along the road--but marching with stately tread, adorned in robes of glory, each one keeping its place--they make up a magnificent procession to the praise of the Glory of His Grace who has set them all in order and written His own name upon them all. Observe, there is no "if," no "but," no "maybe," no "perhaps" here. He foreknows. He predestinates. No creature lifts up its puny voice to object to the predestinating decree. Having predestinated, He calls and it is such an effectual calling, that we hear of no resistance. Having called, He justifies and "who is he that condemns?" Having justified without let or hindrance, He achieves His eternal purpose without impediment and brings forth the top stone of the temple of His Grace with shouting, as it is written, "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." Let our souls be glad as we clearly see the mighty Presence of our God in every work of Divine Grace. And let us understand from where the force, the certainty, the immutability, the majesty of the whole matter comes--namely, from the fact that, "He orders all things according to the counsel of His own will." "Who shall stay His hand, or say unto Him, What are you doing?" This morning, God the Holy Spirit, I trust, will make it to your profit to weigh these two precious gems of loving-kindness, to count over these priceless treasures of mercy, to swim in these two seas of love, justification and glorification. And then we shall need time carefully to search after the connection between them both, for they are riveted together by rivets of diamonds. They are fastened together so fast and firmly that neither death nor Hell can separate them. "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." I. Let us begin, then, by considering WHAT IT IS TO BE JUSTIFIED. If you wish for an answer in a few words, ask your children who have learned our catechism and you have it--"Justification is an act of God's free Grace, wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone." Perhaps, however, I had better unfold this Truth of God in detail. You will perceive by reading the connection and by a moment's reflection that the justification here meant is an act of God passed upon a person needing it-- consequently passed upon a person who could not justify himself--a person naturally guilty of sin and being in a state of condemnation naturally and needing to be lifted out of it by an act of justification of a Divine order. It is not possible that God should have devised a plan of justification for those who were already justified by their own actions. We do not talk with any wonder, or speak with any astonishment of a justification which a man achieves for himself. The guiltless need no justification. They have it already. If any man has kept the Law of God and made it honorable, he is in himself just and needs not to be made just--he is so already. Justification is an act of Divine Grace passed upon a sinner. Upon one who has transgressed the Law and cannot be justified by it and who, therefore, needs to be made just in another way--a way out of his own reach, above his own coming and going, as in the text--from God Himself. For it says, "He justifies." This, though it is a very commonplace observation, is a very sweet Truth of God to begin with. Oh, Sinner! However black your sins may have been, you may yet be justified! Though your sins are as scarlet, they may yet be as wool. And though you are red like crimson, you may be white as snow! It is written that, "He justifies the ungodly." Yes, the ungodly--such as you have been! Christ came not into the world as a physician for those who are whole, but for those who are sick. Justification is an act of Grace which looks out for a sinner upon whom to exercise itself. May the eyes of Grace find you out this morning, poor Transgressor, and make you just! In the next place, justification is the result of Sovereign Grace and of Sovereign Grace alone. We are told that, "by the works of the Law shall no flesh living be justified." And yet again, "justified freely by His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." I cannot earn justification. Nothing which I can ever do can merit justification at the hands of God. I have so offended that all which is due to me is God's wrath and that forever. If I shall ever be accounted just it must be because God wills to make me just. It must be because out of His Divine compassion and for no other reason whatever, He looks upon me in my sin and misery, lifts me up from the dunghill of my ruin, and determines to wrap me about with the royal apparel of a righteousness which He has prepared! There is no justification, then, as an act of merit. The day for that was past when Adam fell and when we fell in him. Justification now comes as a priceless gift from the liberal hand of God's Grace. Justification has for its matter and means the righteousness of Jesus Christ set forth in His vicarious obedience both in life and death. Certain modern heretics, who ought to know better, have denied this and there were some in older times who, by reason of ignorance said that there was no such thing as the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. He who denies this, perhaps unconsciously, cuts at the root of the Gospel system. I believe that this doctrine is involved in the whole system of substitution and sanctification. We all know that substitution and a vicarious sacrifice are the very marrow of the Gospel of Christ. The Law, like the God from whom it came, is absolutely immutable and can be satisfied by nothing else than a complete and perfect righteousness at once suffering the penalty for guilt incurred already and working out obedience to the precept which still binds those upon whom penalty has passed. This was rendered by the Lord Jesus as the representative of His chosen and is the sole legal ground for the justification of the elect. As for me, I can never doubt that Christ's righteousness is mine when I find that Christ Himself and all that He has belongs to me! If I find that He gives me everything, surely He gives me His righteousness among the rest. And what am I to do with that if not to wear it? Am I to lay it by in a wardrobe and not put it on? Well, Sirs, let others wear what they will--my soul rejoices in the royal apparel! For me the term, "the Lord our righteousness" is significant and has a weight of meaning. Jesus Christ shall be my righteousness so long as I read the language of the Apostle, "He is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption." My dear Brothers and Sisters, do not doubt the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ whatever cavilers may say. Remember that you must have a righteousness. It is this which the Law requires. I do not read that the Law made with our first parents required suffering--it demanded it as a penalty after its breach--the righteousness of the Law required not suffering, but obedience. Suffering would not release us from the duty of obeying. Lost souls in Hell are still under the Law and their woes and pangs, if completely endured, would never justify them. Obedience and obedience alone can justify, and where can we have it but in Jesus our Substitute? Christ comes to magnify the Law--how does He do it but by obedience? If I am to enter into life by the keeping of the Commandments, as the Lord tells me in the nineteenth chapter of Matthew and the seventeenth verse, how can I, except by Christ having kept them? And how can He have kept the Law except by obedience to its commands? The promises in the Word of God are not made to suffering. They are made to obedience--consequently Christ's sufferings, though they may remove the penalty, do not, alone, make me the inheritor of the promise. "If you will enter into life," said Christ, "keep the Commandments." It is only Christ's keeping the Commandments that entitles me to enter life. "The Lord is well-pleased for His righteousness' sake. He will magnify the Law and make it honorable." I do not enter into life by virtue of His sufferings--those deliver me from death, those purge me from filthi-ness. But entering the enjoyments of the life eternal must be the result of obedience. And as it cannot be the result of mine, it is the result of His which is imputed to me. We find the Apostle Paul putting Christ's obedience in contrast to the disobedience of Adam--"As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." Now this is not Christ's death merely, but Christ's active obedience which is here meant and it is by this that we are made righteous. Beloved, you need not sing with stammering tongues that blessed verse of our hymn-- "Jesus, Your perfect righteousness, My beauty is, my glorious dress." In spite of all the outcry of modern times against this doctrine--it is written in Heaven and is a sure and precious Truth of God to be received by all the faithful--that we are justified by faith through the righteousness of Christ Jesus imputed to us. See what Christ has done in His living and in His dying--His acts becoming our acts, and His righteousness being imputed to us so that we are rewarded as if we were righteous--while He was punished as though He had been guilty. This justification, then, comes to sinners as an act of pure Grace, the foundation of it being Christ's righteousness. The practical way of its application is by faith. The sinner believes God and believes that Christ is sent of God and takes Christ Jesus to be his only confidence and trust. And by that act he becomes a justified soul. It is not by repenting, but by believing that we are justified! It is not by deep experience of the guilt of sin. It is not by bitter pangs and throes under the temptations of Satan. It is not by mortification of the body, nor by the renunciation of self. All these are good, but the act which justifies is a look at Christ! We, having nothing, being nothing, boasting of nothing and being utterly emptied, do look to Him whose wounds stream with life-giving blood. And as we look to Him, we live and are justified by His life. There is life in a look at the Crucified One and life in the sense of justification. He who a minute before was in himself a condemned criminal fit only to be taken to the place from where he came and to suffer Divine wrath, is at once, by an act of faith, made an heir of God, joint-heir with Jesus Christ--taken from the place of condemnation and put into the place of acceptance--so that now he dreads no more the wrath of God! The curse of God cannot touch him, for Christ was made a curse for him, as it is written, "Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." Now concerning this great mercy of justification let us say that it is instantaneous. Sanctification needs a whole life. Justification is the work of a second, perhaps it needs no appreciable time. The sinner looks to Christ. It is all done--his sin is gone in a moment. The righteousness of Christ is, as in an instant, imputed to the believing sinner. Sanctification, however, progresses or declines. It is a thing of changes. The work of the Holy Spirit sometimes ripens swiftly and at other times, by reason of temptation or trial within, it is but slow in its advance. But justification is complete in a moment! The dying thief was as clean one moment after he had trusted in Christ as he was when he was with Christ in Paradise. Justification in Heaven is not more complete than it is on earth. No, listen to me, Child of God. When your soul seems to be a very pandemonium through the blasphemies of Satan. When your doubts and fears leap upon you like so many lions. When your sins prevail against you so that you cannot look up, yet, if you are a Believer you are even then, in your worst moments, as completely and perfectly justified as in those happy days when on Tabor's summit you were apt to say, "Let us build three tabernacles and here abide." Justification never alters in a child of God. God pronounces him guiltless and guiltless he is! Jehovah justifies him and neither his holiness can improve his righteousness, nor his sins diminish it. He stands in Christ Jesus the same yesterday, today and forever--as accepted one moment as at another mo- ment--as sure of eternal life at one instant as at another. Oh, how blessed is this Truth of God--justified in a moment and justified completely! And observe, my dear Brothers and Sisters, that he who is thus justified is justified infallibly. There is no mistake concerning the transaction. "It is God that justifies." Where, then, can there be a mistake? If I justify myself, I am a tool and I make God a liar. But if God justifies me, who is he that condemns? I, a poor sinner, black as night, fly to the shelter of the great Shield stained with blood which God holds over my head and there I stand at all times. And though I know that every lightning of Justice might well dart its force upon me, as I am in myself, yet as I see my Shield, the Lord's Anointed, I am not afraid. Standing under that Shield, I defy Heaven, and earth and Hell! Crying in the language of Paul, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns?" There is a prisoner at the bar and the jury has just brought in a verdict of, "Not guilty." The judge bids him go free. There are people in the court who gnash their teeth at him. There are persons in the street who hate him--what does he care? "I have been pronounced 'not guilty' by the proper tribunal. The Judge himself tells me that I am acquitted. No law officer can touch me. Not the fiercest enemy in the world can drag me into court again. I have been tried and found 'not guilty.' And who is he that condemns?" It is just so with the Christian. Christ's righteousness is put upon him. Christ takes his sins and when he stands before God's bar, the eternal Voice seems to say, "I see no sin in that man." How can He? All that man's sins Christ took away! The eternal Voice sounds forth again, "I can see righteousness there." And well He may see it, for Christ's righteousness is there and therefore the man is infallibly, upon grounds of justice which are not disputable--infallibly, upon grounds which he himself may realize as being certain--justified through Christ Jesus! Remember, dear Brethren--and I will not occupy you much longer over a theme where we might be tempted to say that this justification is irreversible! Once justified you shall never be condemned. Jehovah never plays fast and loose with men. He does not look upon a sinner and say, "I forgive you," and then afterwards say, "Depart, you cursed!" Arminians may think so, but the God of Believers will not do so. The God of Christians says, "I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed." Having taken the prodigal into the house and put the ring on his finger and the shoes on his feet, He never turns that prodigal out of doors. Being married to His people He never sues for divorce, for the Lord, the God of Israel, says He hates putting away. "I, even I, am He that blots out your iniquities for My name's sake and will not remember them against you anymore forever." "I have cast your iniquities into the depths of the sea." Pardon and justification are irreversible and consequently the blessings which justification brings to us belong to us by a promise that can never be broken, forever and ever. If I am justified then I have peace with God and that peace shall be like a river, never dried up, because my righteousness is like the waves of the sea, never exhausted. If I am justified I can claim Jehovah's protection. And I shall have it, for He will not suffer the just man to perish. If I am justified I may come before God and ask for Heaven as my right, as a reward of righteousness imputed to me. And I shall have it, for He will never deny to a justified person the fullness of joy which is at His right hand forevermore. Oh, what a blessing to be justified! Once more, before I leave this point, I must ask you to be kind enough to question yourselves as to whether you have been justified. "Well," says one, "perhaps I have been and do not know it." My dear Friend, I do not think so. The work of justification is generally attended with such a flood of joy that I think you must know it. Bunyan's pilgrim did not lose the burden off his back and not know it! As soon as it was gone, he gave three great leaps for joy and went on his way singing. You may have doubts about whether you are justified--I hope you will not be easy under them--but will seek after an assured interest in Christ. My dear Brothers and Sisters, if you have any doubt, go to Christ again! If you are not justified, go to Him to be justified. Just as you are, with nothing but the plea of His blood in your mouth--go to Him--for He casts out none that come unto God by Him. Know that the act of faith justifies and be not afraid to exercise that act of faith, notwithstanding all your shortcomings and your sins. "Hear me, Jesus! If I never was a saint, I am a sinner and You did come to save sinners and I cast myself on You. Your promise is that You will cast out none that come. Oh, cast me not out! Receive even me, and accept me for Your love's sake." II. Thus much upon justification. And now a little upon GLORY. How that golden word has been debased in the coinage of human speech. It has come to mean the glitter of war's helmet and the noise of the crowd's hurrahs. Smollet called it, "the fair child of peril." Johnson wrote--"Glory, the casual gift of thoughtless crowds. Glory, the bride of greedy virtue!" It is a far other and higher Glory of which we speak today. As high as the Heaven is above the earth is God's Glory from all the poor stuff which mortals dignify with that fair name. "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." They follow close together, you see. A little stream divides them, but the Apostle says nothing about it and you and I need not say much. It is a narrow stream called Death--there is no Glory without passing through that, or through the great change when the Lord comes. But there is nothing said about it and so we will not say anything. It is not worth thinking of, it is swallowed up in victory. It may be an enemy, but it is an enemy that is to be destroyed. Now, while speaking of Glory, I think I must divide the Glory which God gives to the justified into three parts. There is, first of all, the Glory which disembodied spirits are enjoying even now. There is, secondly, the Resurrection Glory, which they will enjoy when the soul and body shall be reunited and when, through the millennium, they shall be "forever with the Lord." And then there is "the eternal weight of Glory," which is to be revealed both in body and soul in the never-ending state of bliss which God has prepared for His people. Let us raise our thoughts a little while to the state of disembodied spirits. The moment that the soul leaves the body, the believing soul, the justified soul, is in Glory. We know that there is no preparatory process for it to pass through. Romanism holds that some of the best saints go to Heaven when they die, but that the great mass of inferior saints are not qualified for Heaven and must undergo a purgation for a series of years till they are prepared to enter Glory. They say that the saints who died under the Old Testament, or at least the most of them, went to the limbus patrurn--which some wicked Protestants call Limbo--where they remained without the beatific vision until the Lord Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison and led them up afterwards to Heaven with Him. As for the grossly wicked who have by mortal sin lost the grace of Baptism, they go to Hell at once. But the better sort of partially sanctified Christians must suffer more or less intensely till their sins are atoned for and purged away. It was well said by Hugh Latimer that the key of Purgatory hangs in the pope's treasury, for, said he, it has helped to keep it pretty full--and I have no doubt it has. It has been a very profitable invention! More money has been paid, I suppose, for getting souls out of Purgatory than people have been tempted to pay in order to keep them out of Hell. However, we are not deceived in this matter! Let the Council of Trent say what it may, the case of the dying thief is to the point. He was no eminent saint. He had not for many years performed works of supererogation by which he reached perfection and could claim that the gates should be opened to him. He was a sinner up to the very last moment and the only good deed that we ever read of his doing, was, when he claimed Christ as Lord and rebuked his fellow thief for slandering the Savior. Yet, hear the words--"Today shall you be with Me in Paradise." Nor is this the only instance. We find, when Lazarus died, according to the parable, that he was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom, a place of unspeakable rest and delight which the rich man greatly envied. Stephen expected the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit and the Apostle Paul was in a strait betwixt two, being willing "to depart and to be with Christ." He evidently did not anticipate any delay between earth and Heaven, for he says, "knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." He puts the two as an alternative. We are not in trouble about them that sleep. We know that they that sleep in Jesus, He will bring with Him. In Ephesians 3:15, the Apostle mentions the whole family as being in Heaven and earth, but he speaks of none of the Lord's people being in Limbo or Purgatory. Those whom we are bid to follow, in Hebrews 6:12, are now inheriting the promises. Let the voice of God decide the case forever. Revelation 14:13--"And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from therefore. Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors. And their works do follow them." Perhaps that word, "Paradise," which Christ uses to describe the state of disembodied spirits may be a help to us in judging of the condition of the blessed. Paradise was a place of perfect peace, of sinlessness, of rest, of enjoyment and freedom from evil. Eden! Oh, how shall we talk of its glories long since faded? Let us, however, remember its winding walks among trees loaded with luscious fruits. Let us remember the glory of its rising and its setting sun. The immortality, the peace, the joy, the love, the brightness which our first parents enjoyed in their naked innocence. That happy garden is a faint picture of the naked spirits, unclothed with bodies, who are now before the Eternal Throne. They have no pain, nor weariness, no evil, nor fear of death. They possess everything that can make them blessed except the resurrection body-- "There fruits that never fade, On trees immortal grow. There, rocks and hills and floods and vales, With milk and honey flow." I think Dr. Watts was right when he said-- "There everlasting spring abides, And never-withering flowers." They are in a blessed state of tranquility and perfection! But the Savior added, what was the beauty of all--"Today shall you be with Me in Paradise." The Glory of Paradise was that God walked there in the cool of the evening with His creatures. And the Glory of Heaven is that "they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light," and the days of their mourning shall be ended. God wipes away all tears from their eyes and the Lamb leads them to the living fountains of waters. God is with them to be their God and they are with Him to be His happy people at His right hand where there are pleasures forevermore. This is the state of the justified disembodied spirits now. If I read the word aright and it is honest to admit that there is much room for difference of opinion here, the day will come when the Lord Jesus will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the trump of the archangel and the voice of God. Some think that this descent of the Lord will be post-millennial--that is, after the thousand years of His reign. I cannot think so. I conceive that the advent will be pre-millennial--that He will come first. And then will come the millennium as the result of His personal reign upon earth. But whether or not, this much is fact--Christ will suddenly come, come to reign and come to judge the earth in righteousness. Now at that time those of us who are alive and remain shall have no preference over them that sleep. It is true, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed." Christ will bring with Him those who sleep in Him. Their bodies are now in that state which is called sleep--that is, a state of hallowed rest, tran-quility and enjoyment--but they shall come with Him. Lo, He comes with ten thousands times ten thousands of His saints. Then, from beds of dust and silent clay their bodies shall wake up. The very bodies that were put into the tomb shall rise instinct with life. I say the very bodies. And it is not necessary that that there should be the very same particles of matter. My body is the same body that it was ten years ago, yet I am told, and I believe it, that there is not a particle of matter in my body now that was in it ten years ago! And yet its identity is not disturbed by that fact! Protect the germ, as God doubtless will, the life-germ of the seed corn which you sow in the earth--protect that and you have protected identity. And though when we rise it will not be as flesh and blood, "for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither can corruption inherit incorruption," yet it shall be the same body, for all bodies are not the same bodies, for there are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial. And the glory is not the same--for there is the glory of the sun, the glory of the moon and of the stars. So I may have the same body, the same for identity and yet as to its constituent elements and especially as to its qualities of weakness, mortality and corruption, it may be as distinct and changed as light is distinct and changed from darkness. Oh, my Brethren, let this be an assured Truth of God to us that we do not put the body into the grave to lose it! Watts is right when he says-- "Corruption, earth and worms Do but refine this flesh." We put the body there as the chemist puts gold into the furnace. It shall come out the same as to its gold, but the dross shall be left behind. All that was precious in the fabric shall remain--that which was corruptible, defiled, sinful, shall have passed away. According to our belief the soul will then return to the body. There will be a joyful meeting. Soul and body often quarrel here--but they are always loath to part--which proves how true is the wedlock between them. But what a happy meeting it will be when there will be no more quarrels between this husband and wife--when the soul and body shall be merged together in the perfection of union! Then, whatever may be the splendor of Christ will be the splendor of His people. Our bodies shall be like His glorious body and we ourselves shall be like He-- "It does not yet appear How great we must be made. But when we see our Savior here, We shall be like our Head." Will He reign? We shall reign with Him. Will He judge the earth? "Know you not that you shall judge angels." "The saints shall judge the world." Will He be ruler over cities? He will make us ruler over many cities. All the splendor and triumph and victory and shouting--we shall have a share! And when the grand song of praise shall go up from earth, and land and sea and from the depths that are under the earth, our tongue shall swell the tremendous chorus and our ears shall be a partaker of the ever-blessed harmony! Let us not fear. "Whom He justified, them He also glorified"--both in the sense of giving their disembodied spirits joy and giving the soul and body power to reign with Him. Well, and what then? Then comes the end--when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father. When the mediatorial dispensation shall be finished, what then? Will the earth be renovated and fitted up anew as a new Heaven and a new earth? Will that new Jerusalem that is to come down at the coming of Christ be the future abode of saints? We do not know and we do not care one whit! This much we know--that we shall be forever with the Lord! With Christ shall be the Heaven of Believers forever, according to the Lord's own prayer, "Father, I will that they, also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My Glory." If I might very hastily divide this Glory into its constituent elements, I think I should say it means perfect rest. "There remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God." Life in its fullest sense! Life with emphasis! Eternal life! Nearness to God! Closeness to the Divine heart! A sense of His love shed abroad in all its fullness! Likeness to Christ! Fullness of communion with Him! Abundance of the Spirit of God--being filled with all the fullness of God! An excess of joy! A perpetual influx of delight! Perfection of holiness! No stain nor thought of sin! Perfect submission to the Divine will! A delight and acquiescence in and conformity to that will! Absorption as it were into God--the creature still the crea-ture--but filled with the Creator to the brim! And more--serenity caused by a sense of safety! Continuance of heavenly service! An intense satisfaction in serving God day and night! Bliss in the society of perfect spirits and glorified angels! Delight in the retrospect of the past! Delight in the enjoyment of the present and in the prospect of the future! Something ever new and forevermore the same! A delightful variety of satisfaction and a heavenly sameness of delight! Clear knowledge! Absence of all clouds! Ripeness of understanding! Excellence of judgment! And, above all, an intense vigor of heart and the whole of that heart set upon Him whom our eye shall see to be altogether lovely! I have looked at the crests of a few of the waves as I see them breaking over the sea of immortality. I have tried to give you the names of a few of the peaks of the long alpine range of Glory. But, ah, what are my words, and what are my thoughts? "Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard the things which God has prepared for them that love Him." Our only satisfaction in thinking of it is that, "He has revealed them unto us by His Spirit." May His Spirit dwell in you and give you foretastes of the rest which remains--ante pasts of the eternal banquet where Christ will drink the new wine with us in His heavenly Father's kingdom. III. Briefly on the last point--THE BOND OF INTIMATE CONNECTION BETWEEN JUSTIFICATION AND GLORY. "Whom He justified, them He glorified." Let me show you why it must be--in the first place, a justified person has in him the bud of Glory. What is Glory? It is a state of perfect peace--"Therefore, being justified, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord." What is Glory? It is a state of rest--"We, which have believed, do enter into rest." What is Glory? It is a state of safety. When sin is pardoned I am secure. I am safe--safe now--through being justified. What is Heaven? It is a place of nearness to God--but He has made us near by the blood of His Son having justified us. What is Heaven? It is communion with Christ--but, Beloved, we have already boldness and access with boldness unto our Lord Jesus, seeing He has made us accepted in Himself. If you will but look carefully into justification you may see Heaven hidden within it. They tell us that inside the acorn there is the whole oak with all its branches and roots. And, certainly, within justification, there is Heaven with all its light, and life, and love, and joy, and perpetual serenity and security. If you are justified, my dear Brothers and Sisters, you are already in a sense glorified. You notice how the text puts it. It does not say, "Whom He justified, them He will glorify," but, "them He also glorified," as if the thing came at the same time. Certainly it does in embryo, in the germ, in the essence of the thing. He that is justified, is, in a certain sense, glorified, for, "He has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Even this day, the life that we live is, "not I that live, but Christ that lives in me." Heaven is begun, Glory is begun below. Note again, justification is a claim to glorification. I speak with great reverence here and caution, I hope. But it does not strike me that it could be consistent with the Justice of God to deny eternal Glory to a justified person. Certainly, justification has its rights. I am now speaking forensically, using forensic or legal terms. Justification is a legal term, signifying that the person is right in the eyes of the Law. Now he that is right in the eyes of the Law has a claim to the protection and smile of the Law. And if I have a righteousness to which a promise is appended, I have a right to the promise appended to the righteousness which I possess. The promise is, "He that does these things, shall live by them." And I claim to live by them. I claim to live by virtue of what Christ has done for me! I come before God with His Son's righteousness in my hands. And I claim as a matter of justice to His own dear Son that He should give to me what His Son has merited because the merits of His dear Son have been by Him willed over in His dying breath to me! Oh, Christian, God cannot condemn you unless He should cease to be just. He will not, for He cannot cease to be gracious. Justification would be but a very sorry gift of God if it did not involve Glory. Oh, to be justified and then cast into Hell? Brethren, can you suppose such a thing? If you can so pervert your imaginations and make your judgments play the acrobat as to conceive a justified soul damned, then I ask you what greater curse could the infernal Fiend himself confer upon a mortal than this so-called justification? A spirit pronounced just and then sent down to Hell, accursed of God, accursed by the same lips that justified it? Blasphemous thought! To lie in those flames and to remember that I once had the righteousness of Christ--that I once was washed in His precious blood--oh, impossible! It shall not, must not, cannot be while the Deity is immutable and while the strong hand of God will not suffer the righteousness of Christ thus to be covered with disgrace! He did not begin to build and then fail to finish. "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." Where a man has done the greater, he does not fail to do the less. Now it is a greater thing to justify a man than it is to glorify him. I mean this--that justification cost the Savior's life and the Savior's death--but to glorify a man who is already justified costs God nothing. The expense is already laid out in the justification of the soul. And to take a man to Heaven is only to take him to a prepared place for which he is, himself, prepared. Shall He do the greater and then neglect the less? "He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him, also freely give us all things?" The only question is, am I justified? I would say in closing, do not let that be a question, dear Hearer. But look to Him who freely justifies every believing soul and trust yourself now in His hands. May the Spirit of God bring you graciously to do it and you shall find it true, "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." ["A Catechism with Proofs," compiled by C. H. Spurgeon from the Assembly's Shorter Catechism and the Baptist Catechism. London--Passmore & Alabaster, 23, Paternoster Row. Price 1d.; 7s. per hundred.] __________________________________________________________________ A Glorious Church DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 7, 1835 BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." Ephesians 5:25-27. WHAT a golden example Christ gives to His disciples! There are few masters who could venture to say, "If YOU would practice my teaching, imitate my life." But the life of Jesus is the exact transcript of perfect virtue and therefore He can point to Himself as the paragon of holiness, as well as the teacher of it. The Christian should take nothing short of Christ for his model. Under no circumstances ought we to be content unless we reflect the Grace which was in Christ Jesus. Even as a husband, which is a relationship that the Christian sustains in common with the rest of men, he is to look upon Christ Jesus as being set before him as the picture and he is to paint according to that copy. Christ himself being the Bridegroom of the Church, the true Christian is to seek to be such a husband as Christ was to His spouse. I fear, Brethren, that we often stop short of the Master's example--we compare ourselves among ourselves and are therefore far from being wise. We think if we avoid the egregious faults of some and can attain to the moderate virtues of others, we have done well. Let it be so no longer. He would never excel in statuary who should take the works of some mere amateur to be his copy. No. The sculptor knows that he cannot rival Praxiteles or Phidias and yet he takes some Greek torso or bust from the antique to be his model--he must have perfection there--even if there is none in his own workmanship. The painter would never attain to eminence if he went to an exhibition and devoted himself to the study of some work of moderate worth and said, "I will attempt to reach this and there I will stop contented." No. He goes to the galleries of the great masters and though his timid pencil may not dare to hope that he shall strike out thoughts so clearly and make life stand out upon the canvas as they have done, yet he seeks to drink in their inspiration, hoping that he may rise to some proud eminence in art by imitating them. Let the Christian, then, aspire to be like his Lord who is the Author and Finisher of his faith. And let him, as he runs the heavenly race, look to Jesus and make "the Apostle and High Priest of his profession" his continual study and aim to be changed into His image from glory unto glory. You must be struck, in reading the passage before us, on what high ground the Apostle takes the Christian. It is possible that some husbands might say, "How can I love such a wife as I have?" It might be a supposable case that some Christian was unequally yoked together with an unbeliever and found himself forever bound with a fetter to one possessed of a morose disposition, or a obstinate temper, or a bitter spirit. He might therefore say, "Surely I am excused from loving in such a case as this! It cannot be expected that I should love that which is in itself so unlovely." But mark, Beloved, the wisdom of the Apostle. He silences that excuse, which may possibly have occurred to his mind while writing the passage, by taking the example of the Savior, who loved, not because there was loveliness in His Church, but in order to make her lovely. You perceive "He loved His Church and gave Himself for her, that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." He did not admire her because there was no spot in her. He did not choose her because she had no wrinkles. He fixed His affections where there were multitudinous spots and wrinkles-- where everything was deformity. He still set His heart and would not withdraw till He had loved the spots away and loved every wrinkle out of her who was the object of His choice. And now He seems to say to every Christian man, however unhappily he may have fared: "If perhaps, in the lot of Providence, you have been yoked to one who deserves but little of your affection, yet if you cannot love because of esteem, love because of pity. If you cannot love because of present merit, then love because of future hope, for possibly, even there, in that bad soil, some sweet flower may grow. Be not weary of holy tillage and of heavenly plowing and sowing, because at the last there may spring up some fair harvest that shall make your soul glad." He loved His Church and gave Himself for her that He might present her to Himself a glorious Church. I do not intend, however, this morning, to enter into the duty of husbands. That is not the reason for which I selected the text, but to set forth the love of Jesus towards His people. And first, let us consider the object of the Savior's love. "He loved the Church." Then let us observe the work which love has carried on in pursuance of its gracious design. "He gave himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her through the washing of water by the Word." Then, thirdly, let us look at the beloved object when the design is accomplished--"without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." And then let us pause awhile to behold this beloved object presented by our Lord to Himself in the day of His triumphant espousals. I. First, then, may the Spirit of God help us while we look at THE CHOSEN CHURCH, THE OBJECT OF THE SAVIOR'S LOVE. Some of our Brethren are very fond of what is called the general or universal view of God's benevolence. I trust we are not afraid to deal with that whenever we come across it in Holy Scripture. We believe, "God is good to all and that His tender mercies are over all His works." We believe Him to have the love of benevolence towards all His creatures and we can preach without bated breath upon such a text as this--"He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." But some of these Brethren are very much afraid of the peculiar and special sign of the Savior's love and they seem to shrink from a text which has anything particular and discriminating in it. They shake it off from their hand into the fire as Paul did the viper of old. Now we thank God we have learned to love the distinguishing Doctrines of Grace, and that predestination and discrimination are not hard words for us to pronounce and neither do they grate upon our ears! But we love to read this text and put the emphasis upon the accusative case. Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her. We perceive that Christ did not love the world in the sense in which the term " loved" is here meant. We see here that Christ gave Himself not for the world, but for her, that is the Church. In the sense in which He is said here to give Himself, He did so for none except His chosen people, the Church--His one, special, and particular object of affection. It is not thus that Christ has loved universal creatureship--and all mankind alike without exception or difference--but He loved the Church and gave Himself for her. Now what is this Church which Jesus Christ loved if it is not the entire company of the elect? As many as the Father gave Him from before the foundation of the world, whose names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the stars began to shine. As many as were taken by Him to be the sheep of His pasture, the jewels of His crown, the children of His love, the subjects of His kingdom, the members of His body--each one of them being particularly known to Him and chosen in Him before the mountains lifted their heads into the clouds--so many compose the Church of Christ which was the object of His redeeming love. We have to search for these chosen ones in what is called the Church visible. We know that they are not all Israel who are of Israel and that the visible Church is not identical with that Church which Christ loved and for which He gave Himself. There is a Church invisible and this is the center and life of the Church visible! What the wheat is to the chaff and heap upon the threshing floor, such are these living Christians among the mass of professors in the world. There is a distinction which we cannot see--which it is not for us to try and make manifest--lest, in endeavoring to root up the tares, we root up the wheat also. There is an unseen Church which becomes visible in Heaven, which will be apparent and manifest at the coming of the Son of Man. This it is which Christ loved and for which He gave Himself. Now observe what this Church was by nature, for that is the subject of our discourse just now upon this first head. The Church which Christ loved was in her origin as sinful as the rest of the human race. Have the damned in Hell fallen through Adam's transgression? So, once, had the saved in Glory. The sin which was imputed to lost spirits was equally and with as fatal consequences imputed to them--and had it not been for the incoming of the Covenant Head, the second Adam--they had forever suffered with the rest. They, too, were alike depraved in nature. Is the heart deceitful above all things in the unregenerate? So it is in the elect before regeneration. Was the will perverse? Was the understanding darkened? Was the whole head sick and the whole heart faint in the case of those who con- tinued in sin? It was just the same, at first, with those who have been, by Sovereign Grace, taken into the heart of Christ. "We were," says the Apostle, "by nature the children of wrath even as others." Remember that between the brightest saint in Heaven and the blackest sinner in Hell there is no difference except that which Christ has made! Had those glorified ones been left to continue in their natural state they would have sinned as foully and as constantly as the worst of sinners have done. To begin with, there is no difference between the election and the non-election. They are all alike fallen. "They are all gone out of the way--they are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that does good, no, not one." No, more! This Church of Christ is made up of persons who are actually defiled by their own transgressions. Are you and I members of that Church? Ah, then we are compelled to confess that in us by nature dwelt all manner of concupiscence, vileness, and an evil heart of unbelief ever prone to depart from the living God and to rebel against the Most High. And what have we done since? Or rather, what have we not done?-- "We wandered each a different way But all the downward road." We did not all fall into the same vices, but still when the black catalog of sin is read, we have to weep over it and to say, "Such were some of us." And why we should be made a part of Christ's Church is a question that never can be answered except with this one reply, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight." Do the wicked sink to Hell with their sins like millstones about their necks? We would have sunk there, too, and as rapidly and as fatally, unless Eternal Love had said, "Deliver him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom." Look at Christ's Church as you see her visibly in the world and I ask you, Brothers and Sisters, though she has much about her that is admirable, whether there is not much that might cause her Lord to cast her away? Even in her regenerate state she speaks truly when she says, "she is black as the tents of Kedar." Mark the hypocrites that come into the Christian Church and that mar her purity. Observe the formalists that crowd her courts--that sit as God's people sit, and sing as God's people sing--but have hearts full of rottenness and villainy! Observe even the true saints--how unbelieving, how often carnally-minded, how childish--how ready to murmur against God! How few of them are fathers in Israel. When they ought to be teachers they have need to be instructed in the first elements of the faith. What heresies come into the Church and how many unstable minds are carried away with them. What divisions there are! How one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," and a third, "I am of Christ." What envy there is, what backbiting of those that are eminent for usefulness. What suspicions against those who are a little more zealous than their fellows! My Brethren, what a need of affection we can see in the Church of Christ! How little brotherly kindness, how little sympathy! On the other hand, how much of pride is discovered--how much caste creeps in and prevails even among those who profess to be Brethren! How we find some claiming to be lords in God's heritage and taking to themselves names and titles to which they have no right, seeing that, "One is our Master," and we are not to be called, "Rabbi," among men. When I look at the Church even with a blinded eye, having no power to see her as God's Omniscient eye must see, yet is she covered with spots! Well may she wear her veil and say, "Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun has looked upon me." Church of God, how is it that Jesus Christ could love jou? Even in your Church capacity and Church estate, there is so much that could make Him say, "You are reprobate silver. You shall be cast into the fire." Lo, how much there is that must make Him say of you, "Salt is good, but this salt has lost its savor and how shall it be seasoned? It is therefore good for nothing but to be trod under foot of men." And yet you see, dear Friends, it is written that Christ loved His Church and gave Himself for her. 1 think I see it--a piece of ground untilled--neither hedged, nor walled, nor covered with vines, nor redolent with the perfume of sweet flowers. It is a spot in the wilderness filled with thorns and thistles. Her hedges are broken down. The stones of her walls are scattered. The wild boar out of the wood wastes her. All kinds of unclean creatures lurk among her weeds and brambles. Oh, how is it, Lord of Glory, that You could buy, at the price of Your heart's blood, such a waste piece of ground as that? What could You see in that garden that You should determine to make it the fairest spot of all the earth and that it should yield You the richest of all fruit? I think, again, I see the Church of God--not as a fair maid decorated for her marriage day with jewels and carrying herself right gloriously both in her person and her apparel. But I see her as a helpless child, neglected by her parents, cast out, unwashed, unclothed, left uncared for and covered with her filth and blood. No eyes pity her. No arms come to bring her salvation. But the eyes of the Lord Jesus looks upon that infant and straightway love beams forth from those eyes and speak from those lips and act through those hands. He says, "Live!" And the helpless infant is cared for--she is nurtured--she is decked with dainty apparel. She is fed and clothed, and sustained and made lovely through the loveliness of Him who chose Her. Thus it is that strong love moved the Grace of God and the Church found that Christ gave Himself for her. I must not, however, leave this point without reminding you of what kind of love it is which Jesus Christ gives to His Church--you perceive it is the love of a husband. Now the love of a husband is special. Those gentlemen who think that Christ did not love the Church more than He loved the rest of the world must have a very strange idea of how a husband ought to love his wife, for it says, "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church." And surely a husband ought to love his wife more than he loves other people! Therefore Christ cherishes for the Church a special, particular affection which is set upon her rather than upon the rest of mankind. The Lord has set His Church as much above the rest of the world as He has fixed His own Throne above the kings and princes of this lower earth. And the day shall come when she, "fair as the moon and clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners," shall be recognized as being the favorite of Heaven, the peculiar treasure of Christ--His regalia, the crown of His head, the bracelet of His arm, the breastplate of His heart--the very center and core of His own love. Let us not quibble at this Truth of God for it is exceedingly precious. Let us seek the honey out of it and believe that Christ loves the Church with a special love. Again, a husband loves his wife with a constant love and so does Christ His Church. He will not cast her away tomorrow having loved her today. He does not vary in His affection. He may change in His display of affection, but the affection itself is still the same. A husband loves his wife with an enduring love. It will never die out--he says, "Till death us do part will I cherish you." But Christ will not even let death part His love to His people. "Nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." A husband loves his wife with a hearty love, with a love that is true and intense. It is not mere lip service. He does not merely speak, but he acts! He is ready to provide for her needs. He will defend her character. He will vindicate her honor because his heart is set upon her. It is not merely with the eyes that he delights, now and then, to glance upon her, but his soul has her continually in his remembrance. She has a mansion in his heart from where she can never be cast away. She has become a portion of himself--she is a member of his body--she is part of his flesh and of his bones. And so is the Church to Christ forever an eternal spouse. He says-- "Forget you, I will not, I cannot! Your name Engraved on My heart does forever remain. The palms of My hands while I look on, I see The wounds I received when suffering for you." Now let us leave this point, only reminding you, again, that this Church is only the Church of Christ because He has made her so. She had no right or title to His affection. He loved her because He chose to do so and having once loved her, He never will divorce her--she shall be His world without end. II. And now I shall want your patience a few minutes on the second point, and that is THE WORK WHICH LOVE SEEKS TO ACCOMPLISH IN ITS GRACIOUS DESIGNS. Since the Church is not fit for Christ by nature, He resolved to make her so by Divine Grace. He could not be in communion with sin. Therefore it must be purged away. Perfect holiness was absolutely necessary in one who was to be the bride of Christ. He purposes to work that in her and to make her qualified to be His spouse eternally. The great means by which He attempts to do this, is, "He gave Himself for her." Beloved, I wish I had the power of speech this morning as one sometimes has it, or rather, I wish that another had to handle such a weighty theme as this-- for how can I set forth to you the preciousness of this gift? He gave Himself for His Church! Had He given His crown and royalty and come down to earth for awhile, that were mercy! Had He given up, for a time, the happiness and pleasure of His Father's house, this were something--and this He did. But it was not enough. He would not merely leave His Glory and part with His crown--He must give Himself! Here He is on earth, born of the Virgin. A helpless Infant. He slumbers at her breast. Throughout His life foxes had holes and birds of the air nests, but, "He had not where to lay His head." He has given you much in this. "He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief." The crown of thorns is on His brow! The lash of the scourge is on His back! The spear is at His chest! The nails are in His hands and feet. He has given you much, but now He is about to give you all He has. He is stripped naked to His shame. He gives His last garment that He may cover the nakedness of man, but when He cries, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!" When having drank the last drop of the bitter cup of woe, He bows His head and says, "It is finished!" And He gives up the ghost--He has given you all that He can give--for He has given you Himself. He gives you His Godhead that comes on earth, but is veiled in clay. He gives you His entire Manhood, for His body is given to the scourge and tomb--and His soul to agony and death--He gives Himself. Perhaps you will say, "But how does His giving Himself tend to cleanse His Church?" You know, Beloved, how the precious blood of His heart takes away sin. How the righteousness of His life covers His Church and makes her beautiful in the sight of God. You know how the water which flowed with the blood purifies and sanctifies His people. But, perhaps you will never realize better how Christ gives Himself to you than you do at the sacramental table. There in type and symbol you see in that bread His broken body. You see set forth in shadow in that wine, His blood. And what do you do with that bread? Do you look at it? Yes, with tears in your eyes! What do you do with the cup? Do you regard it? Yes, with loving eyes. But this is not all. "Take, eat!" says the Savior. "Drink, drink all of it," He says. And as you eat and drink, you are thereby reminded of the great Truth of God that He has given you His flesh to eat and His blood to drink--and that these, like some healing medicine, will purge you of all diseases, cleanse you of every lingering cancer, go through and through the secret parts of your soul and expel with their sanctifying influence the very roots and seeds of corruption and make you perfect in every good work to do His will. I admit that you may not feel this at present, but you have that within you in having received Christ which will be the death of all sin. He has given Himself to dwell in you, to kill every lust, to slay every corruption, to expel the Canaan-ites out of the Canaan of your heart till King David shall reign in Jerusalem and the Jebusite shall be put away forever. Beloved, this is the way in which He sanctifies and cleanses His Church--by giving Himself for her--first upon the tree and afterwards in the Church, by the work of the Holy Spirit as a quickening and cleansing power, dwelling there forev-ermore. When the text says, "He gave Himself for her that He might sanctify and cleanse her," is there not allusion here to the double cure of sin? Here is Christ sanctifying by the Spirit, that is to say, taking away the propensity to sin--killing the power of sin in us--helping us to reign over our corruptions that we may in heart and life be pure, even as our Father which is in Heaven is pure. And as to the cleansing, may not that allude to justification and pardon? Of that we spoke particularly last Sunday to our own joy if not to yours. We are complete in Him. We are perfect in Christ Jesus and the design of Christ is that sanctification shall be as perfect as justification--that the power of sin shall be as thoroughly slain as the guilt of it--that altogether sin shall cease to be in the Christian. But what is the outward instrumentality which Christ uses? The text says, "With the washing of water by the Word." We Baptists are generally thought to lay great stress upon Baptism. There can be no greater mistake made than to suppose that we exaggerate its importance. I sometimes think we do not value it enough! Those who practice infant Baptism might be much more fairly charged with exaggerating the importance of Baptism than those of us who scrupulously require a profession of faith from all persons before we think of baptizing them into the name of the Lord. I do not believe that Baptism is intended here, nor even referred to. I know that the most of commentators say it is. I do not think it. It strikes me that one word explains the whole. Christ sanctifies and cleanses us by the washing of water, but what sort of water? By the Word. The water which washes away sin, which cleanses and purifies the soul is the Word. The Word of God has a cleansing influence. It comes and convicts the man of sin. It makes him see his impurity so as to hate it. When applied with power by the Holy Spirit, it works repentance. It leads the man to weep and bewail himself before God. That same Word leads to faith in Christ Jesus and faith works by love and purifies the soul. The Word is preached, the Word is believed. And as soon as ever that Word is believed, it begins to act like water in the heart of man. You cannot receive the Gospel and yet be as filthy as you were before. My Brothers and Sisters, if you really welcome the Truth of God, those grosser sins will be washed away at once. Next, as you discover them, your besetting sins will be cleansed away and constantly--as you understand the Word better, believe it more firmly and feel its effect more powerfully--you will by it, as by water, be washed and cleansed from all indwelling sin till you are sanctified and cleansed and made fit to enter into Heaven! This one thing let me say solemnly--I go not into this world to preach the efficacy of baptismal water in cleansing souls from sin. Let those who care to do it, and think it their office, magnify their office exceedingly. Let those who think that sacraments have necessarily efficacy in them stand out and boldly declare it. But as for us, we believe that the water which cleanses is none other than the Word of God which is preached by man and applied by the Holy Spirit! We rest upon the uplifted Cross of Christ, upon the doctrine of His Atonement, on the great Truth of His abiding Presence in the Church of God and ever pray, "Sanctify us by Your Truth. Your Word is Truth." And, mark you, the world has had a fair trial of both plans. Throughout the dark ages the world tried the efficacy of Baptisms and sacraments--century after century Popery and priest-craft gutted the world with the idea that Baptism and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper were a prescription for cleansing away sin. What was the result? Were not the cities filled with harlots? Were not the dungeons crowded with prisoners? Had not the earth become an Aceldama and was not the whole land, like Sodom, reeking with filth? Then came Luther and Calvin and though these men held not all the Truth of God in its fullness, yet, at least they held, "the washing of water by the Word," and Luther and Zwingli and Calvin declared, "The world's great purgative is faith in Jesus Christ, not sacraments. The priesthood lies with Christ and not with men. Priest-craft is to be put away. Justification is by faith in Jesus Christ and that faith comes by hearing and that hearing by the preaching of the Word." And what happened? Why, the world woke as from a long slumber! She found herself in chains--she snapped the chains as Samson snapped the green withes. Progress came--knowledge, light, truth--and if the world is not holy, yet what strides has she made since the day when Tetzel's "Indulgence for Sin" defiled the world through and through to its very center with blasphemy! We have but to keep on using this washing of water by the continual preaching of the Word and the day shall come when our poor planet shall be cleansed from blood and filth and shall come out from the mists in which she is now enveloped and shine like her sister stars, bright in the light of her God! And the only sounds that shall be heard from her shall be songs of joy and peace, because the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. This, then, is Christ's way of cleansing and sanctifying His Church--by the washing of water, that is to say, by the Word of God. III. And now let us pass on, again troubling your patience, to the third point--THE LOVED ONE AS SHE IS PERFECTED. One is inclined to draw a veil over the face of beauty which never can be painted. She is to be a glorious Church. We love our own highly-favored Church. I am sure there is not a member of it--at least I do not know one-- that does not feel his heart leap every time he thinks of this Church which God has so prospered and blessed and honored. For all that, we are nothing but a militant Church and a very imperfect one--a Church that has cause to mourn and humble herself before God for many sins. And I, as pastor, looking upon you all, cannot help while I bless God for all I see that is excellent, bowing my own head in the dust because of the sins of a people favored with the Gospel who, nevertheless, have much to confess before God. We are not a glorious Church. You can cast your eyes upon such churches as the Moravians who gave themselves up, men and women, to Christ's cause and scattered themselves all over the world, preaching the Gospel. Greenland was not too cold. The Sahara was not too hot--they sacrificed everything for Christ--but yet the Moravian Church with all its excellence has much of which it may well repent. It is not a glorious Church. You may look where you like and you shall see that the dust of travel is still upon the wilderness Church. She has the Presence of God--she has her Shekinah--but alas, she is troubled within by a mixed multitude. Korab, Dathan and Abiram sometimes vex her. Her Master has to send her fiery serpents sometimes and she still needs to keep the bronze serpent lifted up every day. Even in her ranks there are some that still need to look and live. We have no glorious Church on earth, nor do I think we can get much idea of what a glorious Church is. I tried yesterday, last Sunday rather, (and all the days since then seem to have gone so rapidly that I thought it yesterday). I tried last Sunday to show what a glorious person was. But what must a glorious Church be? There is one lamp. Well, that is very bright, very pleasing. You like to have it in your room--but think of all London illuminated to the very top of the cross of St. Paul's--and what an idea you then have of brightness! Now, one glorified Christian is a lamp. Think, then, of all Heaven with its domes of Glory lit up with ten thousands times ten thousands companies of blood-bought spirits whom Jesus Christ has taken up--a glorious Church! One flower is very sweet. I smell its perfume. But I walk into some vast conservatories, into some gentleman's garden, acres in size, and there are beds of flowers--blue and scarlet, and yellow. I see the verbena, the calceolaria and the geranium and many others, all in order and in ranks. Oh, how glorious is this! Those undulating lawns, those well-trimmed hedges, those trees so daintily kept--all growing in such luxuriance. One flower is sweet, but a garden! A garden! Who can tell how sweet this is? So, one glorified saint is one of God's flowers, but a glorious Church is Christ's garden! A drop of water may be very precious to a thirsty tongue, but a river full of it! Children are pleased, when for the first time in their lives they sail across some little lake. But how surprised they are when they come to the deep and rolling sea which seems without shore or bottom! Well, so pleased am I at the very thought of the glorious Church. As yet I have never seen anything but one little lake--this Church--the Church of God in England. The Church of God in the world--what is it, after all, but "a drop in a bucket"? But the glorious Church--the whole of the people of God gathered together in one, all perfectly free from sin, all made like unto Christ and all bright with the Glory which excels even that which Moses and Elijah had when they were with Christ in the holy mountain! Or such as Moses had when he came down from the top of Horeb, when he had been forty days with God--a glorious Church, a mighty company of glorified beings! But do observe what is said of her. She is to be, "Without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." "Without spot"-- that is much. But, you see, spots can be taken off. The face is washed and the spot comes out. The garment is thoroughly cleansed and there are some chemicals and acids applied and the spots can be removed. Though, truly, some of us have scarlet spots of a crimson-like dye, yet the blood of Jesus is a wonderful detergent and it can get out spots of any color. Though we may have been lying in the lye-tub of sin even for seventy years, yet Christ will get all the spots out of us if we are a part of His Church. Though His Church is double dyed, yet Christ will make her white as snow. But that is not the wonder of the text. The marvel is, "without spot or wrinkle." You may get a spot out of your face, but you cannot smooth out a wrinkle! You may make what efforts you please, but you cannot get rid of your wrinkles. You that are getting old, if time has come and driven his plow across your brow, why there the furrows will remain--they will not come out. Yes, but the Church of Christ is to be without wrinkle as well as without spot! How will He get the wrinkles out? There is no chemical that I know of that can get rid of them. But Jesus Christ has a sacred art, having in Himself, by the washing of water, even the Word, the power to get wrinkles out! Lightfoot says there is an allusion here to the carefulness of the Jew in his ablutions. The Jew not only washes very carefully when he is purifying himself for worship, but lest any dust or impurity should remain in any crack of the skin, or in any wrinkle, he seeks by washing again and again with the severest care to get out the least filth that would be in the wrinkle. Very good, Dr. Lightfoot, but the Jew cannot wash wrinkles out. He can wash away the dirt, but he cannot get rid of the wrinkle. But Christ can banish away both. Another good writer says that perhaps there is an allusion here to the fuller's trade. The fuller gets out the spots first and then as the cloth may have been so folded up that there are creases and wrinkles in it, he uses different stretching and milling till at last he manages to get out the creases and wrinkles from the cloth as well as the spot. I do not know whether there is an allusion to that, but this I know--there shall not be a spot of sin on any of God's people, nor yet a wrinkle of infirmity! They shall lose the effect of old age and weakness in their bodies and they shall lose the defects and infirmities in their souls. The outward spot shall be removed and the inward deformity, which was like a wrinkle ingrained into their very nature, shall also be taken away. But do observe the next word. The Holy Spirit seems to exhaust language to describe this purity. He says, "Without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing!" She shall have nothing like a spot, nothing that can be construed as a wrinkle--she shall be fair and the world shall be compelled to acknowledge that she is. The eyes of God shall look upon her. And though He sees in darkness and discovers the hidden things of night, even He shall discern nei- ther spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing in any one single part of the body or the soul of any one of the members of the mystical body of Christ! Oh what perfection, Beloved, is this! I cannot speak of it, but I can delight in thinking of it! I was trying to think last night what I should be like when I was freed from my spots and wrinkles. Ah, you can all see them now--I wonder you put up with them sometimes! But what shall I be when I have parted with them forever? And I shall get rid of them. Death is stamped on every infirmity--the Lord has put the poison into the heart of my inbred sins and bless His name for it. But what will you and I be like when we are perfect? No hasty temper, no sloth, no wrong thoughts, no cold hearts, no dilatoriness in prayer, no sluggishness in praise. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, there will be some of you so different we shall scarcely know you! When some Brethren die I believe they will go to Heaven, but they will be strangely altered by the time they get there. They are good people, but they have such crotchety ways, such strange sense of humor, such hot tempers that surely we shall have to be very wise people to know them in Heaven! We shall need to be informed who they are, they will be so greatly changed! But this will be the happy state of all--whether altered much or little--we shall be, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." I must not dwell longer, though the theme invites it. Hypocrisies, heresies, declensions, divisions--all these will be put away from the Church. Infirmity, doubt, sin, fear of every kind will be put away from every Believer and we shall be presented blameless, holy and unreprovable in the sight of God! IV. And lastly, THE LOVED ONE IS TO BE PRESENTED. It is said, He is "to present her to Himself." Every day Christ presents His people to His Father in His intercession. The Holy Spirit presents poor sinners every day in conversion to Christ, but there is to be a day when Christ will present His glorious Church "to Himself." When He shall come, then shall be the wedding day. There shall be heard the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom comes!" Then the virgins with their lamps trimmed shall go forth to meet Him and His Church shall enter into the supper feast, to sit down and sup with Him and He with her. Today the Church is like Esther bathing herself in spices, making herself ready for Ahasuerus, her lord and master. Today we are engaged--at the coming we shall be married. We are waiting now impatiently for Him--then we shall be in His embrace. Today we wear not the crown, today we wave not the palm--but tomorrow when He comes we shall be crowned with Him and triumph with Him. Let us long for His appearing. Let this bright hope sustain you in the dreary months of waiting and the weary hours of fighting, "He comes! He comes!" And when He comes He will be glorified in all His saints and admired in those that have believed on Him. I would to God we were all members of His Church! There is only one token of membership which is infallible and that is saving faith in Christ. If you believe in Jesus you shall be without spot or wrinkle. But if you believe not, you are not of His Church, and neither shall you be a partaker of His cleansing power nor of His glorious advent. God give you a new heart and a right spirit and wash you with water this day by the Word, for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Jericho Captured PREACHED AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, BY C. H. SPURGEON, ON BEHALF OF THE BAPTIST IRISH SOCIETY. "And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I ha ve given into your hands Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor. And you shall compass the city, all you men of war and go round about the city once. Thus shall you do six days." Joshua 6:2,3. I SEE many ministering Brothers here. I think I shall follow the example of Martin Luther who observes that he frequently saw in the church at Wittenberg sundry learned doctors and there usually sat Dr. Justus Jonas and others of whom he said were infinitely greater and more wise than himself. "But," said Martin, "I do not, therefore, alter my style of preaching--I do not preach to them--I preach to those peasants who come in from the country and to the citizens of Wittenberg. For then I am quite certain that if they can understand me, Dr. Justus Jonas and the learned divines can understand me, too, if they like." I shall, moreover, adopt what is said to have been Mr. Wesley's exhortation to his preachers, namely, aim low. "There is more likelihood," he says, "of hitting the men than when you fire high." I may also frankly confess I am reduced to that precept by necessity since I have no capabilities of firing high and must therefore shoot low. We shall take our text now and try, if we can, to get something out of it which may be applicable to the present position of our Society and see if we cannot draw some words and thoughts from it which may strengthen, encourage and nerve us for future action in this good work of God. The Irish Society has to do with one of the citadels of Romanism and it strikes me that there is a very evident parallel between our efforts and the work which Israel had to do against this city of Jericho. Jericho was a strongly defended city and shut up so that none went in or came out. And Romanism seems to have accomplished this admirably. It shuts up its disciples so that they are scarcely accessible and converts from it are few and far between. None, I was about to say, go in--very few, indeed, from us--and there are very few who ever come out again. Jericho was the frontier city. That being captured, the conquest of the rest of Canaan would be comparatively easy. And Popery is very much the frontier city, the Jericho of our warfare--it stands in the way of the evangelization of the world--it is the great impediment to the spread of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let Jericho fall and Canaan may weep and howl, for her day has come. And let Rome be subdued--let Romanism be conquered--and the world shall soon be at the feet of that Jesus whom it once despised. We are attacking, I think, in the Irish Society, a Jericho, indeed, and we have been long at it. But it has been a very weary task and the Brethren have sometimes been apt to cry, "Let it be given up." I will speak of this on the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth--perhaps on the sixth day of the week, to cry to these Brethren--"Courage, go on still with your rams' horns! Bear your testimony and carry the Ark of the Lord round about this city, for the Lord has delivered it unto your hands. Only be obedient and courageous and abide His time, for your victory is absolutely sure." I shall divide what I may have to say this evening into these three parts. It strikes me that the narrative before us teaches us that God would have His people work and wait and win. And this is what we have to do today as they had of old. I. First of all God would have His people WORK. A little upon that. We preach the Doctrines of Grace, and the Doctrines of Grace are always the best soil in which to grow good works. We daily insist upon it that works do not make a man live, but we equally insist upon it that spiritual life continually manifests itself by holy deeds. The soldiers of God's army, after they had crossed the Jordan, were not to lie still in luxurious ease till Jericho's walls should crumble down by slow degrees. And though God determined to send Jericho to sudden destruction, yet His people were not to sit still upon some neighboring knoll and expect the catastrophe--they were to labor and Jericho would fall as the result of their toil. Their work is to consist of a daily procession. They are to go in cavalcade round about the wall. The priests are to exercise their functions. The ark must be carried upon men's shoulders. The men of war are to be there to defend the ark, to clear the way, and to follow, also in the rear to guard it against any sudden attack or any eruption from the city. They are to march thus the whole of the six days--not one day without its parade--not one day without obedience to the great Captain of the host. So, Brethren, must it be with us. We are to win the world for Christ! This is our high ambition and it shall be in Christ's name our grand attainment. But it must be by work, by testimony-bearing, by the preaching of the Gospel, by continual prayer, by encompassing the city, perpetually serving God and walking in the path of obedience. Let us look at this work a little in connection with this narrative. You will observe that the work to be done by Israel was universal. There was a place for each one to occupy. The men of arms were to go round the city, and with them the priests were to march. Both the ecclesiastical and the military castes shall be represented here. They must neither of them sit still. It is an ill day for God's Church when we conceive that some few are to fight the Lord's battles and that the rest of us may look on and criticize or applaud. You are, all of you, my Brethren, called to serve God. You recognize this in your creed. You know yourselves to be priests and you hate the lie which lifts some men into a priesthood and puts the rest down as, "the laity," as though they were nothing better than stones. You feel that you are all called to bear the vessels of the Lord-- that you are a "royal priesthood, a peculiar people." You know that you are all set apart for the service of God. But while this is our creed, I am afraid it is not our practice. How many take their seats in the pew, and when they have once made themselves comfortable consider that their work is entirely wrapped up in listening to sermons or perhaps fumbling in their pockets for a solitary coin on collection occasions for the Missionary Society? It may be now and then--now and then--assisting in some enterprise of usefulness, but this only as an exception to the rule. We shall never see the Church become strong and mighty till every single member of the Church shall realize his responsibility. We must all encompass this city. Observe, when the Lord fed the multitude He did not take some of the five loaves, or one of the fishes, but He took all the loaves, though they were barley and both the fishes, though they were small. And He took care to break all and to divide all among the people. Nothing of a stock-in-hand was kept in the larder, nothing was laid by--all was used. And then, by the multiplying power of God, there was sufficient food for all. And so we must rummage the larder, we must bring out the barley cakes, we must bring forth the fishes--all must be devoted to the Master's cause. And, in the use, ability will be multiplied! And in the exercise, Divine Grace will be increased and we shall yet be sufficient for the world's needs. It has been said, and I think a little calculation will show you that it is correct, that if God were to enable the Christians in this huge city of ours to feel their responsibility and if every individual Christian were made the means of the conversion of one other--starting with fifty thousand Christians in London, (and let us hope there are as many Believers as that--for it is a very small proportion of the professing multitude)--then, considering that there are three million souls in London, six years would be sufficient for the conversion of the whole by the simple agency of each disciple bringing in one of the stray sheep. This does not seem as if it were an impossible thing. Only Divine Grace is wanted from on high. We must plead with God to bring down the blessing. And when the blessing comes on each man's labor, there certainly is no hindrance in the matter of time, or in the matter of exertion--for, with God's blessing--the conversion of a soul is not a matter that requires us to relinquish business, or that compels us to give up all our time to it. Some five minutes have been, by Divine Grace, a sufficient length of time and half-a-dozen words have proven enough. Courage, my Brethren! Vast as the work is, if we all go to it, with God's blessing it will be speedily accomplished. Our police served us all with a notice the other day, when the snow was on the ground, that we were each one to sweep before our own doors. It was very right that the passenger should go along the footpath without being smothered with the mud and snow commingled. Now what an expense it would have been to clean the streets of London by any other process! It would be difficult for a contractor to undertake it by the year, since he would scarcely know how often he would be called to work. How could an army of men be kept ready to do the work which comes in so strange a fashion--sometimes but once in the year and sometimes fifty times? But each man sweeps before his own door and then it is all done early in the morning and you walk the streets in comfort! Oh that we could but feel that we are to sweep before our own door! Oh that every man would build the dilapidated wall of Jerusalem before his own house! And when this is done, then shall God send victory to His hosts. But I fear it will not be till then. God would have His people work universally. But next, He would have them work in His own appointed way. They are not to go in a scramble--in a boyish race--round Jerusalem. There must be the soldiers in their troops, the priests in their array and then again, the men of war to bring up the rear. God would have His people work according to His revealed will. We must be very tender and jealous here. Whatever may be the opinions about the alteration of the constitution of our Missions, I do trust that we shall, all of us, when we come together, recognize the authority of God and feel that we can only expect to have His guidance, His help, His blessing, when we walk according to the path which He has marked for us. If I go upon a tour I do not expect to see certain sights which have been guaranteed to me by my friend unless I agree to follow the little chart which he has mapped out for me. I cannot expect to have that sublime view of the Alps if I refuse to climb a certain spot and stand there and view the glacier and the snow peak glittering in the sun. And I cannot expect to have God's blessing in my ministry and in the Sunday school class unless I keep to, "It is written," and in all things have a tender conscience and am jealous of myself lest I err. How much more, then, in this greater work in which the whole Church is engaged! My Brothers and Sisters, let us see to it that in all things we compass this city of Jericho according to the Divine order! For only so may we expect to see her walls come crumbling down. Then, again, remember they encompassed the city daily. So does God call His Church to work daily. It is very easy for us, in a moment of excitement, to accomplish a great work. And the most of Christian work now-a-days is, I fear, merely spasmodic. We build chapels by a series of fits. We pay off missionary society debts by stupendous efforts and we relapse again into debt and difficulties. I am afraid that as a denomination we are not fond of working too tryingly. We know the value of ourselves, of our time and of our money and we are not apt to wear ourselves out by any excessive exertion. We have never, I believe, at any period since the unhappy days of Munster, been accused of an excess of zeal! We are rather to be accused of quarreling about points on which we differ than of excessive love of sticking to the practical business of fighting the devil and winning the world to Christ. But we must come to this, for mark you, if we are to conquer the world we must each of us have our daily work and keep to it as God shall give us Grace. The wheel must revolve again and again and again--it is that perpetual motion of industry which produces wealth and it must be the ceaseless energy of our zeal which shall produce spiritual conquest. We have sharpened our swords and fleshed them well. The younger men among us have had a brush with the foe and we are beginning to think, like our sober sires, we may be quiet. But it must not be so--we must agitate for all the Truth of God, for all the doctrines we hold dear and for the peculiar Truths of God we hold as a denomination. We must keep on fighting for Christ and fighting for Christ every day. We must sleep in our armor! We must begin to feel that the sword cleaves to our hand and cannot be separated from it. We must give ourselves so entirely to the work to which God has called us that wherever we are, whatever we may be engaged in, men may take knowledge of us as to what is our work and calling. In this Irish Society there must be no standing still, no ceasing of the trumpet, no withdrawing of so much as a single ram's horn. The testimony must still be kept up, the witness-bearing must become more constant. We must preach and teach and pray and work and live and, if necessary, die daily until this Jericho is stormed. Nor have we exhausted the metaphors with which our text supplies us, for surely we may add that God would have His people work in faith. We are told by Paul that, "by faith the walls of Jericho fell down." It seems to me that was a grand spectacle when the first man went forward step by step, and all the rest followed, the priests too, all of them confident that they were doing the best thing to make Jericho's ramparts fall to the ground. "Why," the fool might have said, "you are doing nothing. You are not loosening a single stone!" And at the end of the fifth or sixth day, I suppose it was suggested by many, "What is the good of it all?" But at least the most of those who encompassed the city were men of faith--or else it could not have been said, "by faith the walls of Jericho fell down." "Yes," they seemed to say, "she will come down! She will come down! She stands like a rock. She has not moved. There is not a beam loosed, nor a cord broken--not a house in ruins, nor a tent that has fallen--not a single stone that has crumbled from her battlements. But she shall come down!" And on they went with steady tramp--and though they saw no corpses blocking up their pathway and though their arms were not red with blood. Though they heard no shriek of those that flee and could utter no shout of victory--yet they were as confident as they were when the walls actually began to rock and the dust and smoke went up to Heaven--and the shrieks of the slain made glad their ears. We must encompass this city in full faith. Brethren, is the preaching of the Gospel a power? If you think it is not, never try it again. Is the Gospel mighty to save? Will the Gospel come out victorious? If you have any doubt, slink back to your cowardly repose and let the man whom God sends never doubt. If you have achieved no successes, if after fifty years your trumpet of jubilee is exceedingly small. If after fifty years it is something like a ram's horn that has not been bored and can not make any noise at all, yet still go on! Your time for shouting has not yet come, but your time for compassing the city is always present. Get on with it! Get on with it and God will not permit you to end till you have won the victory! So let us notice once more under this head of work--they worked with patience and courage. God kept this people laboring in the presence of difficulty. They were compassing the city, taking their walks, but always with the formidable walls of Jericho close under their eyes. Surely they must have had these walls photographed on their eyes and on their brains. "I shall know every stone in it," says one. "Six times I have been round, no, twelve times and the walls have not begun to rock--twelve times! Seven is a perfect number, but we have gone beyond it and yet the walls do not stir." "Mark well her bulwarks and count the towers on her." These men were practical surveyors of Jericho. They could well understand the strength of the battlements, how many feet long the huge stones were at the corners and how near the stars the loftiest towers were raised. They had the difficulty, I say, always before them! Yet they kept on in simple faith, going round the city. Sometimes we get into the habit of shutting our eyes to difficulty. That will not do--faith is not a fool! Faith does not shut her eyes to difficulty and then run headlong against a brick wall--never! Faith sees the difficulty, surveys it all and then she says, "By my God will I leap over a wall." And over the wall she goes. She never brings out the flaming accounts of, "signs of the times," in her favor. She does not sit down and say that evidently public sentiment is changing. She does not reckon upon any undercurrents that may be at work which she is told by Mistress Gossip really are doing great things. Faith just looks at it and does not mind how bad the thing is reported to be. If anybody can exaggerate the difficulty, Faith is of the same noble mind as that famous warrior who, when told there were so many thousand soldiers against him, replied, "There are so many more to be killed." Faith reckons--"So many more difficulties, so many more things to be overcome." And even impossibilities she puts down as only so much burden to be cast upon Him with whom nothing is impossible! She keeps Jericho's walls before her. And I would that we, dear Friends, knew more than we do--the perfect hopelessness of our work of seeking to convert Ireland to the Gospel--for there never was a task undertaken, I think, that had less hopefulness about it! I want you to be driven more and more to think, as far as the agency of man is concerned, that the thing is almost out of the category of the possible and out of the category of the probable altogether! And when you can get to that point and hear the voice, "Compass the city seven days," yet still have courage to go on, on, on--notwithstanding all the manifest difficulties--then when God has taught you your nothingness and brought you to feel that if victory is given it is all His and that Divine Omnipotence and Sovereignty must wear the crown--then, I say, He will make the old rampart rock! And the harlot of the seven hills shall rue the day when Israel shouts, when her sons are slain and God shall triumph right gloriously! God, however, would have His people work-- that is the first point--we are agreed on that. Let us unite to carry it out. "The sermon is not done" said one, when he came out of Church--"it is all said, but it is not all done." So let me close this head with saying that it is not done, it is only said. I have said that God would have His people work. Let us go and work. Let us begin tonight. If we have been lazy up to now--if there are any Issachars here like the strong ass crouching down between two burdens--just get up, Sir Issachar, and carry your burden! If there is any Brother here that has been saying, "God will have His own," let him mind what he is doing, or God will never have him, for God's own do not talk at that rate and do not say that God's purposes are to be an excuse for man's indifference. Let him shake that off, for he cannot take such a plea as that before the judgment bar. He knows he cannot. Therefore do not let him try it here. Let us try and work well for God. You in your Sunday school classes, you in your preaching stations, you in your tract distributions, you here in England. You, my Brethren, across the sea and you in the Emerald Isle still compassing the city seven times. II. We now come, in the second place, to consider that God would have His people WAIT. The delay must have sorely tried the faith and patience of the Israelites. "Time flies," and time is very precious. These Israelites must have thought, "Why make us wait? If we have to tarry a long while before the walls of Jericho, why then, what a time it will take to conquer all the interior. And if we begin with a long delay, our enemies may gather courage and before we have made our entrenchments behind which we may shield ourselves, the host will be upon us and we shall be cut to pieces." It must have seemed to every merely thoughtful person in the camp of Israel that it was imperative that the first city should be taken as speedily as possible so that the people might be encouraged and their enemies scattered. And it would give to those weary pilgrims some settled place to which they might retire with comfort, for they were, I suppose, still in their tents and longing for the time when, like the rest of the people of the land, they might dwell in their own houses. But they must keep quiet. And, according to present appearances, they must remain so indefinitely. The people could not tell how long they were to tarry there. And just observe, my Brethren, how very trying it must have been to them to wait. I do not know so much about the priests, for I am afraid priests are apt to be very contented with doing nothing, but not so with soldiers! There are a great many Brethren who seem to be perfectly satisfied to rest at ease. But men of war do not generally seem to be of that temperament. When I was in the military prison at Dublin I observed a form of punishment there. Men were carrying large shot. A man took up a large shot and carried it to the end of the yard and he afterwards had to pick that shot up and bring it back again. I said, "How is it that you do not let them take all the shot to that end and pile them up there?" The officer said, "We used to do so but it was no use, for when the fellows had piled them up they felt they were doing something. But now we make them carry the shot from one end of the yard to the other and then back again and back again and they feel they have to work hard and do nothing. That is always miserable work to a soldier." Many of our soldiers at Sebastopol made bitter complaints at not being led to battle. And you will often hear young military men say that they hate the inactivity of peace--they want to be doing something. Now these men of war were kept for six days marching round and round the city and they must have felt themselves to have been doing very little all that week. That is what I feel with regard to this Irish Society and there are many of us, too, who, if we speak plainly, must say that we think that we have done very little, sorry little. We remember two or three things that have been successes. And two or three things that have been a very long way from success. Sometimes we have complained that there have been asylums provided for Brethren sent yonder and we have wondered why such Brethren were sent at all. We have said, "Well, if this do-nothing affair is to keep on much longer, we must get others who will do something--for at present we are in this position--'What is John doing?' 'Nothing.' 'What is Tom doing?' 'Helping John.' " We want to see something done and therefore it is hard to wait. but we must check ourselves. Our vehemence should urge us to use all proper means, though it should never be of that sort which would make us relax our efforts because we do not immediately achieve all the success which we desire. My Brethren in Christ Jesus, though as men of war we would rather come to close quarters and see more done, yet as men of God we must keep to our posts of duty and learn how to wait. Besides this, what rendered the waiting so very galling was, (what must have struck their reason, if it did not assail their faith), the utter desperateness of the case. How could they hope to win that city by simply going round and round? "Give me a good ladder," says one, "a rope ladder, and a couple of good irons at the end of it! Just let me hear the clank upon the top stone and I am your man to lead the 'forlorn hope!' And there are fifty thousand of us to follow and we will soon have Judah's standard waving on the top and make the sons of Jericho know what the sons of Abraham can do." But no. They must just march round the place till they have compassed the city twelve times. And so, Brethren, there are certain spirits apt to say, "Could not we do more by adopting these methods and such other expedients." See how certain of our Brethren of another denomination feel that if they can but get a golden ladder--if they get the assistance of the regium donum--in this way Jericho's walls may be scaled. And there is the temptation to look about us and ask for some assistance over and above the power which lies in the simple Gospel--but we must not do it! Away with our methods and State-crafts and policies. Away with the suggestions of the crafty and cunning and all the wisdom of the worldly! God forbid that we should glory but in the Cross of Christ! With the simplicity of children let us still believe that our Father's means are the best. And though as soldiers we cannot understand it, yet as children let us believe it and keep on compassing the city for Jericho's walls must fall--as sure as God is in Heaven. And I think there is another thing which must have made it difficult and it is this, that most probably the citizens of Jericho insulted them from the walls. I should think they kept far enough off to be out of arrow-shot--but yet it is just possible that if they could not hear the taunt, "What are these feeble Jews doing," yet they must have seen the tokens of impudence and impertinence which came from over the wall. This, mark you, is very galling to men of arms. We feel our hands fumbling at the hilts of our swords when provoked by the taunts and jeers of our enemies. "What have you done," they say, "you soupers and Protestants and Methodists and Presbyterians, against the invincible bulwarks of Rome? Your paper bullets--what have they accomplished against the iron walls of Babylon?" We can hear their jeers. We know the sound of revelry and mirth. But what of this? Though, again, I say, as soldiers we might grow courageous and dash rashly to the fight, or retire from it because there is nothing to be earned but dishonor--yet, as Christians we will do what seems absurd to reason--but what is ever justifiable to faith. We will keep on in God's own style. We will fight His battles by His methods and we doubt not that though it does seem a strange, mad thing--to attempt to drive out the priests from Ireland by the simple proclamation of the Truth of God--yet the day shall come when Wisdom shall be justified of all her children. Now, Brethren, we know that God has His reasons for making us wait. It is for His own Glory, we doubt not. We know that all things work together for good and we believe it will be ultimately for our profit. When I have read some masterly tragic poem, and verse after verse has dwelt upon the horrible portion of the tale, did I wish it shortened? Would I have had the author leave out one of those dark verses? Not I! It is true when the poem ended with a shout of victory and with the tramp of martial men through the city--when they returned in triumph--our heart leaped! We rejoiced when we came to that last stanza, but we wished the poem not shortened. We never wanted to have any of those verses blotted out. God is writing a great poem of human history. The subject is the victory of His Truth, the destruction of AntiChrist. Let the history be long. Who wants it shortened? Who wants a brief story on so exceedingly interesting a subject as this, from so great an Author? No, let it drag on what some may call its weary length--we are sure that when we come to read it, as God will write it, we shall wish the story longer! We will not complain of its extent, for the result is we shall see more of God and learn more of His mind. You want the millennium to come tomorrow, do you? May you get it, but I think it is probable you will not. I do not know how history appears to you who profess to understand it, but it does not read to me like a thing which is going to end just yet. I have always been told about the "signs of the times." There always were such speculations--in 1766 and 1666-- but the times of the end did not come. And I think they will not come now. It strikes me that we shall have something more elaborate yet than has ever come from the Divine pen and we may have to go not only through another canto, but through several more books before we shall come to the end of the story. One reason why I think the world's present state will not wind up for the present is because all the "prophets" say it will! And they have always been a lying generation, from the first even to the last. I mean the prophets who make the business profitable--who only use Scripture as the Norwood Gipsy uses the cards--who shuffle texts to foretell fortunes for nations and men. We shall go on many a day yet. We may have to wait for another century, yes, another twenty centuries, perhaps! We cannot tell. But our business is still to remember that it shall be, after all, for our eternal benefit and for God's everlasting Glory to keep on--to wait, wait, wait till we grow well-near weary. But the victory comes as surely, after all, as though it came at first. While we are waiting, however, I think it is well to take a little comfort from what we are doing. We are waiting--that is the posture of this Irish Society. But we may console ourselves in it, as the men who were compassing Jericho might have done. "Well," they could say, "we have not taken Jericho, but there is Rahab that has believed--there are a few saved--you can count them on your fingers almost, but they are very precious and they are of the kind which should be esteemed very valuable. There is Rahab. Her name is illustrious and her story, when it is told, has made many another Rahab seek and find a Savior. Not altogether without result was that attack on Jericho. And you have not lost your money, you that have subscribed to our Irish Society. There has been many a sinner saved and many can tell of eternal love that has sought out with eyes of patience eternity's choice jewels. They can tell of Divine Sovereignty that has made its crown to glisten and glitter forever with those precious things when found. You have had Rahab, yes, and you have had some that God has made useful to others. I can bear witness that there have come from Ireland some of the most earnest young men upon whom my eyes ever rested--good men and true--who love their Lord and Master and whose highest delight is to speak well of His name. You may wait patiently on that reflection. Moreover, the men of arms may say, "We do not take the city, it is true, but yet we keep our ground." If we were to leave Jericho we should be giving up our foothold in Canaan. And if we forsake Ireland, we might relinquish all hope of the Papacy falling. But we keep our foothold--at least we take our stand on the rock! We have taken legal possession of the land and, though little, it is like the handful which William the Conqueror took up when he said, "I have taken the seizin of England hereby." And though you may amalgamate the management of this Society with another, you will not give up the distinctive aim and object of the Society which is to keep a corner at least of the Emerald Isle for God and for His Christ. And then, again, they can say, "We are bearing testimony." Every man that looks over the wall of Jericho can see the Ark of the Covenant. He can see the troopers of God with their swords upon their thighs. They see what they never saw before! Oh, worshippers of idols, you see today the Ark of the true God borne round your walls! Oh you that bow to Baal and adore Ashtaroth, the gods of wood and stone, the true God, the Mighty One, Jehovah, is come out against you and the trumpets sound defiance to your power while the warriors of God shout for your overthrow! You are bearing testimony against the sin of Ireland. If you do not succeed, the time has not yet come for the shaking off the dust of your feet! In the meantime you must preach the Gospel for a testimony against them. And one thing more, I think the men at arms felt," We are on the spot when anything does occur." As they went round the wall they said, "It stands strong and stern, but it will yield and then we are all ready when the breach is made." You do not know what God may have in store for Ireland, or for any nation. According to the law which seems to regulate human society, there comes, every now and then, a great change. Who would have dreamed of the convulsions of 1848 that thrones would have been so unsettled and that crowns would fall from monarchs' heads? Such convulsions may come again. No, unless the course of nature is changed, must come. Then we are ready. We stand watching for the gap. O God, in Your eternal Providence be pleased now, even now, to send a convenient season. But if not, we will have the men ready when Your appointed time shall come. It was a grand thing when the earthquake came to shake the prison of Philippi that there should be a Paul and a Silas there ready to preach the sermon to the trembling jailor and his household! And so when the earthquake comes to Ireland, as it will come, we shall have a Paul and a Silas there. We may have many such, I trust. The more the better and all ready to stand up with, "Thus says the Lord!" Why what cannot God do? Has not He lately given you an installment of what He can accomplish in the revival which seemed to shake the North of Ireland? It is true it occurred in a part where Romanism is less strong--but the same power which can move the stolidity of Protestantism can stir the fiery zeal of what is genuine religion in its way--I mean genuine, though mistaken--because like Paul they think they do God a service. The hearty spirit of the Irishman with his popery may certainly be reached by Divine Omnipotence, as well as the soul of the Irishman of the North with his much colder creed. Let us have hope and go on compassing the city, not changing anything that is right and not neglecting that which is according to Scripture, but waiting till the time shall come. Now upon this I think I shall say no more, except again to ask friends practically to carry it out. Let us try and wait--wait patiently--not wait idly, but continue your subscriptions, continue your prayers, continue your interest in the Society, for God would have you wait. III. And, thirdly, God would have His people WIN. I shall not say much about this. We will postpone that till the time when it occurs and then we shall not need to have any sermons about it but can all come together and hold a meeting to praise and bless God. Only let us say that if the analogy is carried out according to the siege of Jericho, the victory is very sure and, when it comes forth, very complete. Nothing could be more so. It may be very sudden, also, and it will be very glorious. But we shall get nothing by it, for when Jericho fell nobody gained anything except to offer it unto the Lord--so we have to persevere in disinterested service--just toiling on for the Master, remembering that when success comes, it will be all His--every single atom of it. The Glory will be to Him and not to us and He will take care to send the success in such a manner that nobody shall be able to say, "Glory be to the Irish Society." Nobody shall be able to say, "Well done, Baptist denomination." No single minister or Evangelist shall be able to say, "Well done, myself." The one shout that shall go up to Heaven will be, "Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" I have thus spoken for the Society. I was asked to preach for it and I am obliged, I think, to preach with a text that bears somewhat on the subject. I observe many sermons that are preached for Societies might just as well be preached any other day of the week before any other assembly on any other occasion. I do not know that is exactly what is needed, so if we have not dived deep into the doctrines of everlasting love, if we have not taken you to the Savior's Cross and offered you the invitations of the Gospel. If we have not done this and fifty thousand other things, there is a time for every purpose under Heaven. And to everyone there is a season and if we can keep the constituency of this Society working and waiting and make it in this way to come to be among the winning, we shall rejoice exceedingly! Brethren, let us begin to carry out the sermon now by our contributions. Let us begin to do so by our prayers. Let us act out the spirit of it by trying to tell others what the Gospel is. Be this the motto of us all-- "Now will I tell sinners round What a dear Savior I have found. Point them to the redeeming blood, And cry, 'Behold the way to God.'" Yet I dare not sit down till I say to every soul here, and especially to you who cannot take an interest in God's work because you are not saved yourself--remember we do not ask you to save and look after the souls of Irishmen. Your own soul must be the first concern. And the way of salvation is simply this--"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." He it is who stands in the gap and makes an atonement for sin. Take Christ to be your Atonement, your Justifier, your Salvation and your All. And believing in Him you are saved! This is your duty and must not be postponed any longer. You must begin the work at home. Enlist on the side of Israel by following Israel's Leader. Our heavenly Joshua is the Son of God, believe on Him and you shall find salvation through His blood and acceptance before God through Christ. Then go out to be the means of saving others and God speed you through His blessed Spirit. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Holy Spirit Compared To The Wind A SERMON PREACHED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell from where it comes and where it goes. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit." John 3:8. AT the present moment I am not able to enter fully into the subject of the new birth. I am very weary, both in body and mind and cannot attempt that great and mysterious theme. To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under Heaven and it is not the time to preach upon regeneration when the head is aching, nor to discourse upon the new nature when the mind is distracted. I selected my text with the intention of fixing upon one great illustration which strikes me just now as being so suggestive, and with Divine assistance I may be able to work it out with profit to you and ease to myself. I shall endeavor to bring before you the parallel which our Savior here draws between the wind and the Holy Spirit. It is a remarkable fact, known, I dare say to most of you, that both in the Hebrew and Greek languages the same word is used for spirit and for wind--so that our Savior, as it were, rode upon the wings of the wind, while he was instructing the seeking Rabbi in the deep things of God. He caught at the very name of the wind as a means of fastening a spiritual truth upon the memory of the enquirer, hinting to us that language should be watched by the teacher that he may find out suitable words and employ those which will best assist the disciple to comprehend and to retain his teaching. "The wind," said He, "blows," and the very same word would have been employed if He had meant to say, "The Spirit blows where He wishes." There was intended, doubtless, to be a very close and intimate parallel between the Spirit of God and the wind, or otherwise the great Ruler of Providence who invisibly controlled the confusion of Babel would not have fashioned human language so that the same word should stand for both. Language, as well as nature, illustrates the wisdom of God! It is only in His light that we see light--may the Holy Spirit be graciously pleased to reveal Himself in His Divine operations to all our waiting minds. We are taught in God's Word that the Holy Spirit comes upon the sons of men and makes them new creatures. Until He enters them they are "dead in trespasses and sins." They cannot discern the things of God because Divine Truths of God are spiritual and spiritually discerned--and unrenewed men are carnal and possess not the power to search out the deep things of God. The Spirit of God creates new in the children of God and then in their new-born spirituality they discover and come to understand spiritual things, but not before. And, therefore, my beloved Hearers, unless you possess the Spirit, no metaphors, however simple, can reveal Him to you. Let us not mention the name of the Holy Spirit without due honor. Forever blessed are You, most glorious Spirit, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and with the Son! Let all the angels of God worship You! Be You had in honor world without end! I. We will consider IN WHAT SENSE THE HOLY SPIRIT MAY BE COMPARED TO THE WIND. The Spirit of God, to help the spiritually-minded in their study of His Character and Nature condescends to compare Himself to dew, fire, oil, water and other suggestive types. And among the rest our Savior uses the metaphor of wind. What is the first thought here but that of mystery? It was the objection on the score of mystery which our Lord was trying to remove from the mind of Nicodemus. Nicodemus in effect, said, "I cannot understand it. How can it be? A man born again when he is old, created over again and that from an invisible agency from above? How can these things be?" Jesus at once directed his attention to the wind, which is none the less real and operative because of its mysterious origin and operation. You cannot tell from where the wind comes--you know it blows from the north or from the west--but at what particular place does that wind start on its journey? Where will it pause in its onward flight? You see that it is blowing to the east or to the west, but where is it going? From where did these particles of air originate which rush so rapidly past? Where are they going? By what law are they guided in their course and where will their journey end? The gale may be blowing due east here, but it may be driving west a hundred miles away. In one district the wind may be rushing from the north and yet not far from it there may be a strong current from the south. Those who ascend in balloons tell us that they meet with crosscurrents--one wind blowing in this direction and another layer of air moving towards an opposite quarter--how is this? If you have watched the skies you must occasionally have noticed a stream of clouds hurrying to the right, while higher up, another company is sailing to the left! It is a question whether thunder and lightning may not be produced by the friction of two currents of air traveling in different directions. But why is it that this current takes it into its head to go this way, while another steers for quite another port? Will they meet across each other's path in regions far away? Are there whirlpools in the air as in the water? Are there eddies, currents, rivers of air, lakes of air? Is the whole atmosphere like the sea, only composed of less dense matter? If so, what is it that stirs up that great deep of air and bids it howl in the hurricane and then constrains it to subside into the calm? The philosopher may scheme some conjecture to prove that the "trade winds" blow at certain intervals because of the sun crossing the equator at those periods and that there must necessarily be a current of air going towards the equator because of the rarefaction. But he cannot tell you why the weathercock on yonder church steeple turned this morning from south-west to due east. He cannot tell me why it is that the sailor finds that his sails are at one time filled with wind and in a few minutes they fall loosely about so that he must steer upon another tack if he would make headway. The various motions of the air remain a mystery to all but the infinite Jehovah. My Brethren, the like mystery is observed in the work of the Spirit of God. His Person and work are not to be comprehended by the mind of man. He may be here tonight, but you cannot see Him--He speaks to one heart, but others cannot hear His voice. He is not recognizable by the unrefined senses of the unregenerate. The spiritual man discerns Him, feels Him, hears Him and delights in Him, but neither wit nor learning can lead a man into the secret. The Believer is often bowed down with the weight of the Spirit's Glory, or lifted up upon the wings of His majesty. But even he knows not how these feelings are worked in him. The fire of holy life is at seasons gently fanned with the soft breath of Divine comfort, or the deep sea of spiritual existence stirred with the mighty blast of the Spirit's rebuke. But still it is forevermore a mystery how the eternal God comes into contact with the finite mind of His creature, man. God is filling all Heaven, meanwhile, and yet dwelling in a human body as in a temple--occupying all space and yet operating upon the will, the judgment, the mind of the poor insignificant creature called man. We may enquire, but who can answer us? We may search, but who shall lead us into the hidden things of the Most High? He brooded over chaos and produced order, but who shall tell us after what fashion He worked? He overshadowed the Virgin and prepared a body for the Son of God, but into this secret who shall dare pry? His is the anointing, sealing, comforting and sanctifying of the saints--but how does He work all these things? He makes intercession for us according to the will of God. He dwells in us and leads us into all the Truths of God--but who among us can explain to his fellow man the order of the Divine working? Though veiled from human eye like the Glory which shone between the cherubim, we believe in the Holy Spirit and therefore see Him. But if our faith needed to sustain it, we should never believe at all. Mystery is far from being all which the Savior would teach by this simile. Surely He meant to show us that the operations of the Spirit are like the wind for Divinity. Who can create a wind? The most ambitious of human princes would scarcely attempt to turn, much less to send forth, the wind! These steeds of the storm know no bit nor bridle, neither will they come at any man's bidding. Let our senators do what they will, they will scarcely have the madness to legislate the winds! Old Boreas, as the heathens called him, is not to be bound with chains and welded on an earthly anvil, or in a vulca-nian forge. "The wind blows where it wishes." And it does so because God directs it and suffers it not to stay for man nor to tarry for the sons of men. So with the Spirit of God. All the true operations of the Spirit are due in no sense whatever to man, but always to God and to His Sovereign will. Revivalists may get up excitement with the best intentions and may warm peoples' hearts till they begin to cry out, but all this ends in nothing unless it is Divine work. Have I not said scores of times from this pulpit, "All that is of Nature's spinning must be unraveled"? Every particle which Nature puts upon the foundation will turn out to be but "wood, hay and stubble," and will be consumed. It is only "the gold, the silver and the precious stones" of God's building that will stand the fiery test. "You must be born again from above," for human regenerations are lies. You may blow with your mouth and produce some trifling effects upon trifles as light as air. Man in his zeal may set the windmills of silly minds in motion. But, truly, to stir men's hearts with substantial and eternal Truths of God needs a celestial breeze such as the Lord alone can send! Did not our Lord also intend to hint at the Sovereignty of the Spirit's work? For what other reason did He say, "The wind blows where it wishes?" There is an arbitrariness about the wind. It does just as it pleases and the laws which regulate its changes are unknown to man. "Free as the wind," we say--"the wild winds." So is the mighty working of God! It is a very solemn thought and one which should tend to make us humble before the Lord--that we are, as to the matter of salvation--entirely in His hands! If I have a moth in my hand tonight I can bruise its wings, or I can crush it at my will and by no attempts of its own can it escape from me. And every sinner is absolutely in the hands of God and--let him remember he is in the hand of an angry God, too. The only comfort is that he is in the hand of a God who, for Jesus' sake, delights to have mercy upon even the vilest of the vile. Sinner, God can give you the Holy Spirit if He wills. But if He should say concerning you, "Let him alone," your fate is sealed, your damnation is sure! It is a thought which some would say is "enough to freeze all energy." Beloved, I would to God it would freeze the energy of the flesh and make the flesh dead in the sense of powerlessness--for God never truly begins to show His might till we have seen an end of all human power. I tell you, Sinner, you are as dead concerning spiritual things as the corpse that is laid in its coffin! No, as the corpse that is rotting in its grave and has become, like Lazarus in the tomb, stinking and offensive. There is a voice that can call you forth out of your sepulcher, but if that voice comes not remember where you are-- justly damned, justly ruined, justly cut off forever from all hope. What do you say? Do you tremble at this? Do you cry, "O God! Have pity upon me"? He will hear your cry, Sinner, for there never yet was a sincere cry that went up to Heaven, though it were ever so feeble, but what it had an answer of peace. When one of the old saints lay dying, he could only say, "O Lord, I trust You languida fide," with a languid faith. It is poor work that, but, oh, it is safe work. You can only trust Christ with a feeble faith. If it is such a poor trembling faith that it does not grip Him, but only touchesthe hem of His garment, it nevertheless saves you! If you can lookat Him, though it is only a great way off, yet it saves you. And oh, what a comfort this is, that you are still on pleading terms with Him and in a place of hope! "Whoever believes is not condemned." But, oh, do not trifle with the day of Divine Grace, lest having frequently heard the warning, and hardened your neck just as often, you should "suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy!" If He shuts you out, none can bid you come in! If He does but close the iron bar, you are shut out in the darkness of obstinacy, obduracy and despair forever--the victim of your own delusions! Sinner, if God saves you, He shall have all the glory--for He has a right to do as He wills--for He says, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." But still, I think I have not yet brought out what is in the text. Do you not think that the text was intended to show the varied methods in which the Spirit of God works in the conversion and regeneration of men? "The wind blows where it wishes." Now observe the different force of the wind. This afternoon the wind seemed as if it would tear up every tree and doubtless, had they been in leaf, many of those noble princes of the forest must have stretched themselves prone upon the earth. But God takes care that in these times of boisterous gales there should be no leaf and therefore the wind gets but little purchase with which to drag up a tree. But the wind does not always blow as it did this afternoon. On a summer's evening there is such a gentle zephyr that even the gnats who have been arranging a dance among themselves are not disturbed, but keep to their proper places. Yes, the aspen seems as if it could be quiet, though you know it keeps forever quivering, according to the old legend that it was the tree on which the Savior hung and therefore trembles still as though through fear of the sin which came upon it. It is but a legend. There are times when all is still and calm, when everything is quiet and you can scarcely detect the wind at all. Now just so it is with the Spirit of God. To some of us He came like a "rushing mighty wind." Oh, what tearing of soul there were then! My spirit was like a sea tossed up into tremendous waves, made, as Job says, "To boil like a pot," till one would think the deep were hoary. Oh, how that wind came crashing through my soul and every hope I had was bowed as the trees of the wood in the tempest! Read the story of John Bunyan's conversion--it was just the same. Turn to Martin Luther--you find his conversion of the same sort. So might I mention hundreds of biographies in which the Spirit of God came like a tornado sweeping everything before it and the men could not but feel that God was in the whirlwind. To others He comes so gently they cannot tell when first the Spirit of God came. They recollect that night when mother prayed so with brothers and sisters and when they could not sleep for hours because the big tears stood in their eyes on account of sin. They recollect the Sunday school and the teacher there. They remember that earnest minister. They cannot say exactly when they gave their hearts to God and they cannot tell about any violent convictions. They are often comforted by that text, "One thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see." But they cannot get any farther--they sometimes wish they could. Well, they need not wish it, for the Spirit of God, as a Sovereign, will always choose His own way of operation. And if it is but the wind of the Holy Spirit, remember it is as saving in its gentleness as in its terror and is as efficient to make us new creatures when it comes with the zephyr's breath as when it comes with the hurricane's force. Do not quarrel with God's way of saving you! If you are brought to the Cross be thankful for it--Christ will not mind how you got there. If you can say, "He is all my salvation and all my desire," you never came to that without the Spirit of God bringing you to it. Do not, therefore, think you came the wrong way, for that is impossible! Again, the wind not only differs in force, but it differs in direction. We have been saying several times the wind is always shifting. Perhaps there never were two winds that did blow exactly in the same direction. I mean that if we had power to detect the minute points of the compass, there would be found some deviation in every current, although, of course, for all practical purposes it blows from certain distinct points which the mariner marks out. Now, the Spirit of God comes from different directions. You know very well, dear Friends, that sometimes the Spirit of God will blow with mighty force from one denomination of Christians. Then suddenly they seem to be left and God will raise up another body of Christians, fill them with Himself and qualify them for usefulness. In the days of Wesley and Whitefield there was very little of the Divine Spirit anywhere except among the Methodists. I am sure they have not a monopoly of Him now. The Divine Spirit blows also from other quarters. Sometimes He uses one man, sometimes another. We hear of a revival in the North of Ireland. By-and-by it is in the South of Scotland. It comes just as God wills, for direction. And you know, too, dear Friends, it comes through different instrumentalities in the same Church. Sometimes the wind blows from this pulpit--God blesses me to your conversion. Another time it is from my good sister, Mrs. Bartlett's class. On a third occasion it is the Sunday school. Again, it may be another class, or the preaching of the young men, or from the individual exertion of private Believers. God causes that wind to blow just which way He wills. He works, also, through different texts of Scripture. You were converted and blessed under one text--it was quite another that was made useful to me. Some of you were brought to Christ by terrors, others of you by love, by sweet wooing words. The wind blows as God directs. Now, dear Friends, whenever you take up a religions biography, do not sit down and say, "Now I will see whether I am just like this person." Nonsense! God never repeats Himself. Men make steel pens--thousands of grosses of them--all alike, but I will be bound to say that in quills from the common, there are no two of them precisely the same. If you look, you will soon discover that they differ in a variety of ways. Certain gardeners cut their trees into the shape of cheeses and a number of unnatural forms, but God's trees do not grow that way, they grow just anyway--gnarl their roots and twist their branches. Great painters do not continually paint the same picture again and again and again, and my Divine Master never puts His pencil on the canvas to produce the same picture twice. Every Christian is a distinct work of Divine Grace on God's part which has in it some originality, some portion distinct from all others. I do not believe in trying to make all history uniform. It is said that Richard III had a humpback. Whether he really was deformed, or whether history gave him the humpback, I cannot tell. But it is said that all his courtiers thought it was the most beautiful humpback that ever was seen and they all began to grow humpbacks, too! And I have known ministers who had some peculiar idiosyncrasy of experience which was nothing better than a spiritual humpback--but their people all began to have humpbacks, too--to think and talk all in the same way and to have the same doubts and fears. Now that will not do! It is not the way in which the Most High acts with regard to the wind and if He chooses to take all the points of the compass and make use of them all, let us bless and glorify His name! Are not the different winds various in their qualities? Few of us like an east wind. Most of us are very glad when the wind blows from the south. Vegetation seems to love much the south-west. A stiff northeaster is enough to make us perish. And long continuance of the north may well freeze the whole earth! While from the west the wind seems to come laden with health from the deep blue sea. And though sometimes too strong for the sick, yet it is never a bad time when the west wind blows. The ancients all had their different opinions about wind. Some were dry, some were rainy. Some affected this disease, some touched this part of men, some the other. Certain it is that God's Holy Spirit has different qualities. In the Canticles He blows softly with the sweet breath of love. Look farther and you get that same Spirit blowing fiercely with threats and denunciation. Sometimes you find Him convicting the world "of sin, of righteousness, of judgment." That is the north wind. At other times opening up Christ to the sinner and giving him joy and comfort. That is the south wind that blows softly and gives a balminess in which poor troubled hearts rejoice. And yet "all these works the same Spirit." Indeed, my subject is all but endless, and therefore I must stop. But even in the matter of duration you know how the wind will sometimes blow six weeks in this direction and, again, continue in another direction. And the Spirit of God does not always work with us--He does as He pleases--He comes and He goes. We may be in a happy hallowed frame at one time, and at another we may have to cry, "Come from the four winds, O Breath!" II. We will consider. in the second place, THE PARALLEL BETWEEN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE EFFECTS OF THE WIND. "You hear the sound of it." Ah, that we do! The wind sometimes wails as if you could hear the cry of mariners far out at sea, or the moans of the widows that must weep for them. And, oh, the Spirit of God sets men wailing with an exceedingly bitter cry for sin, as one that is in sorrow for his first-born. "You hear the sound of it." Oh, it is a blessed sound, that wailing! Angels rejoice over "one sinner that repents." Then comes the wind at another time with a triumphant sound, and if there is an Aeolian harp in the window, how it swells, sweeps, descends--then rises again! It gives all the tones of music and makes the air glad with its jubilant notes. So with the Holy Spirit--sometimes He gives us faith, makes us bold--other times full of assurance, confidence, joy and peace in believing. "You hear the sound" of a full diapason of the Holy Spirit's mighty melody within the soul of man filling him with peace and joy and rest and love. Sometimes the wind comes, too, with another sound as though it were contending. You heard it, perhaps, this afternoon. We who are a little in the country hear it more than you do--it is as though giants were struggling in the sky together. It seems as if two seas of air, both lashed to fury, met and dashed against some unseen cliffs with terrible uproar. The Spirit of God comes into the soul sometimes and makes great contention with the flesh. Oh, what a stern striving there is against unbelief, against lust, against pride, against every evil thing. "You hear the sound of it." You that know what Divine experience means--you know when to go forth to fight your sins. When you can hear "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees," then you bestir yourself to destroy your sins. Sometimes the wind comes with a sweep as though it were going on forever. It comes past and dashes through the trees, sweeping away the rotten branches. Then away it goes across the Alps, dashing down an avalanche in its course, still onward. And as it flies, it blows away everything that is frail and weak. And on, on, on it speeds its way to some unknown goal. And thus it is sometimes the Spirit of God will come right through us, as if He were bearing us away to that spiritual heritage which is our sure future destiny--bearing away coldness, barrenness, everything before it. We do not lament then that we do not pray. We do not believe that we cannotpray--"I can do everything," is our joyful shout as we are carried on the wings of the wind. "You hear the sound of it." I hope you have heard it sometimes in all its powerful, overwhelming, mighty influence till your soul has been blown away. "You hear the sound of it." But then the wind does something more than make a sound. And so does the Holy Spirit. It WORKS and produces manifest results. Just think what the wind is doing tonight. I cannot tell at what pitch it may be now. It is just possible that in some part of the ocean a vessel scuds along almost under bare poles. The mariners do their best to reef the sails--away she goes--now the mast is gone--they do their best to bear up but they find that in the teeth of the gale they cannot stand. The ship dashes on the rocks and she is wrecked. And, oh, the Spirit of God is a great wrecker of false hopes and carnal confidences! I have seen the Spirit of God come to a sinner like a storm to a ship at sea. He had to take down the top gallants of the sinner's pride. Then every thread of carnal confidence had to be reefed and then his hope, itself, had to be cut away. And on, on the vessel went, until she struck a rock and down she went. The man from that time never dared trust in his merits for he had seen his merits wrecked and broken in pieces by the wind. The wind, too, remember, is a great leveler. It always aims at everything that is high. If you are down low in the street you escape its fury. But climb to the top of the Monument, or St. Paul's and see whether you do not feel it! Get into the valley, it is all right. The lower branches of the trees are scarcely moved, but the top branches are rocked to and fro by it. It is a great leveler! So is the Holy Spirit. He never sees a man high but He brings him down. He makes every high thought bow before the majesty of His might. And if you have any high thoughts tonight, rest assured that when the Spirit of God comes He will lay them low, even with the ground. Now do not let this make you fear the Holy Spirit. It is a blessed thing to be rocked so as to have our hopes tested and it is a precious thing to have our carnal confidences shaken. And how blessedly the wind purifies the atmosphere! In the Swiss valleys there is a heaviness in the air which makes the inhabitants unhealthy. They take quinine and you see them going about with big swellings in their necks. From Martigny to Bretagne, there is a great valley in which you will see hundreds of persons diseased. The reason is that the air does not circulate. They are breathing the same air, or some of it, that their fathers breathed before them. There seems to be no ventilation between the two parts of the giant Alps and the air never circulates. But if they have a great storm which sweeps through the valleys it is a great blessing to the people. And so the Spirit of God comes and cleanses out our evil thoughts and vain imaginations--and though we do not like the hurricane, yet it brings spiritual health to our soul. Again the wind is a great trier of the nature of things. Here comes a great rushing up the street. It sweeps over the heaps of rubbish lying in the road. Away goes all the light chaff, paper and other things which have no weight in them! They cannot stand the brunt of its whirling power. But see, the pieces of iron, the stones and all weighty things are left unmoved. In the country you will often see the farmer severing the chaff from the wheat by throwing it up into a current of air and the light husks all blow away, while the heavy wheat sinks on the heap, cleansed and purified. So is the Holy Spirit the great testing power and the result of His operations will be to show men what they are. Here is a hypocrite, he has passed muster up to now and reckons himself to be a true and genuine man. But there comes a blast from Heaven's mighty Spirit and he finds himself to be lighter than vanity--he has no weight in him, he is driven on and has no rest. He can find no peace. He hurries from one refuge of lies to another. "There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked." Thus also we try the doctrines of men, we bring the breath of Inspiration to bear upon them--do they abide the test? Or are they driven away? Can you hold that truth in the presence of God? Can you cling to it and find it stable in the hour of trial? Is it a nice pleasant speculation for a sunny day when all is calm and bright, or will it bear the rough rude blast of adversity when God's Holy Spirit is purifying you with His healthful influence? True Christians and sound doctrines have ballast and weight in them--they are not moved nor driven away. But empty professors and hollow dogmas are scattered like chaff before the wind when the Lord shall blow upon them with the breath of His Spirit. Therefore examine yourselves--try the doctrines and see if they are of God. "What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the Lord. Have root in yourselves--then you will not wither in the hot blast, nor be driven away in the tempestuous day. Is not the Spirit moreover like unto the wind in its developing of character? See the dust is lying all over the picture, you cannot see the fair features of the beauteous sketch beneath. Blow off the dust and the fine colors will be seen and once more the skill of the painter will be admired. Have you ever noticed some piece of fine mosaic, or perhaps some well-cut engraving on metal all hidden and the fine lines filled up with dust? You have blown off the accumulation and then you could admire the work. So does the Spirit of God. Men get all covered with dust in the hot dusty roadside of life till they are nearly the color of the earth itself. But they come to the hilltop of Calvary and here they stand till the wind of Heaven has cleansed them from all the dust that has gathered around their garments. Oh there is nothing like communion with the Spirit of God to counteract the earthly tendencies of a business life! There are some men that get covered with a yellow dust till they are almost hidden by it. They can talk of nothing else but money. Gold, gold, gold is getting to occupy nearly every thought. Now I have no quarrel with money in its right place, but I do not like to see men live in it. I always try to drive away that mean and groveling spirit which lives for nothing else but to accumulate money, but I cannot always succeed. Now the Spirit of God will make a man see his folly and put his money into its right position and place the Graces of the Christian character where men can see them and glorify God in them. Never let your business character or professional skill dim and hide your Christianity. If you do, God's Spirit will come to brighten you up and He will have no mercy on these, but will, in love to your soul, cleanse and give luster to God's work which is worked in you. I have also noticed how helpful the wind is to all who choose to avail themselves of it. In Lincolnshire, where the country is flat and below the level of the sea, they are obliged to drain the land by means of windmills and hundreds of them may be seen pumping up the water so as to relieve the land of the excess moisture. In many parts of the country nearly all the wheat and corn is ground by means of the wind. If it were not for the wind the inhabitants would be put to great inconvenience. The Spirit of God is thus also a mighty helper to all who will avail themselves of His influences. You are inundated with sin, a flood of iniquity comes in--you can never bale out the torrent. But with the help of God's Spirit it can be done! He will so assist that you shall see the flood gradually descending and your heart once more purified. You need always to ask His help--fresh sin, like falling showers, will be poured into you by every passing day and you will need a continuous power to cast it out--you may have it in God's Spirit! He will, with ceaseless energy, help you to combat sin and make you more than a conqueror! Or, on the other hand, if you need some power to break up and prepare your spiritual food for you, you will find no better help than what God's Spirit can give. In Eastern countries they grind corn by hand, two sitting at a small stone mill. But it is a poor affair at best--so are our own vain attempts to prepare the bread of Heaven for ourselves. We shall only get a little and that little badly ground. Commentators are good in their way, but give me the teaching of the Holy Spirit. He makes the passage clear and gives me to eat of the finest wheat. How often we have found our utter inability to understand some part of Divine Truth--we asked some of God's people and they helped us a little--but after all, we were not satisfied till we took it to the Throne of heavenly Grace and implored the teachings of the blessed Spirit! Then how sweetly it was opened to us! We could eat of it spiritually. It was no longer husk and shell, hard to be understood. It was as bread to us and we could eat to the full. Brethren, we must make more use of the wisdom which comes from above, for the Spirit, like the wind, is open to us all to employ for our own personal benefit. I see also here a thought as to the co-operation of man and the Spirit in all Christian work. It has pleased God to make us co-workers with Him--fellow laborers--both in the matter of our own salvation and also in the effort to benefit others. Look for a moment at yon stately boat--she moves not becauseof her sails but she would not reach the desired haven without them. It is the windwhich propels her forward--but the wind would not act upon her as it does unless she had the rigging all fixed--her masts standing and her sails all bent so as to catch the passing breeze. But now that human seamanship has done its best, see how she flies! She will soon reach her haven with such a favoring gale as that. You have only to stand still and see how the wind bears her on like a thing of life. And so it is with the human heart. When the Spirit comes to the soul that is ready to receive such influences, then He helps you on to Christian Grace and Christian work and makes you bear up through all opposition till you come to the port of peace and can anchor safely there. Without Him we can do nothing--without us He will not work. We are to preach the Gospel to every creature and while one plants and another waters, God adds the increase. We are to work out our own salvation--He works in us to will and to do of His own good pleasure. We must go up to possess the goodly land with our own spear and sword--but the hornet goes before us to drive out the foe. Jericho shall be captured by a Divine and miraculous interference, but even there rams' horns shall find a work to do and must be employed. The host of Midian shall be slain, but our cry is, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." We give God all the glory, nevertheless we use the means. The water of Jordan must be sought out and used by all who desire a cleansing like Naaman the Syrian. A lump of figs must be used if other Hezekiahs are to be healed--but the Spirit is, after all, the great Cleanser and Healer of His people Israel. The lesson is clear to all--the wind turns mills that men make. It fills sails that human hands have spread. And the Spirit blesses human effort, crowns with success our labors, establishes the work of our hands upon us and teaches all through that, "the hand of the diligent makes rich." And, "if a man will not work, neither shall he eat." Another thought suggests itself to my mind in connection with the wind and human effort. It is this--How completely dependent men are upon the wind as to what it shall do for them. They are entirely at its mercy as to its time of blowing, its strength and the direction it will take. I have already dwelt upon this thought of the sovereignty of the wind, but it comes up here in a more practical form. The steamer now can steer almost anywhere they please and at all times it will proceed on its voyage. But the sailing ship must tack according to the wind and when becalmed must wait for the breeze to spring up. The watermill and steam mill can be worked night and day, but the mill that depends upon the wind must abide by the wind's times of blowing and must turn round its sails so as to suit the direction of the current of air. In like manner we are compelled to wait on the pleasure of the Spirit. There is no reservoir of water which we can turn on when we will and work as we please. We would forget God far more than we do now if that were the case. The sailor who is depending on the wind anxiously looks up to the masthead to see how the breeze is shifting and turning round the vane. And he scans the heavens to see what weather he is likely to have. He would not need to care nearly so much as he does now that he is absolutely dependent on the wind, if he had steam power so as to sail in the very teeth of the storm if he so willed. God, then, keeps us looking up to Heaven by making us to be completely at His mercy as to the times and ways of giving us His helping power. It is a blessed thing to wait on God, watching for His hand and in quiet contentment leaving all to Him. Brethren, let us do our part faithfully, spread every sail, make all as perfect as human skill and wisdom can direct and then in patient continuance in well-doing, wait the Spirit' s propitious gales, neither murmuring because He tarries, nor be taken unawares when He comes upon us in His Sovereign pleasure to do that which seems good in His sight. Now tonight I have only given you some hints on this subject--you can work it out for yourselves. As you hear the wind you may get more sermons out of it than I can give you just now. The thing is perfectly inexhaustible. And I think the business of the minister is not to say all that can be said about the subject. Somebody remarked concerning a certain minister that he was a most unfair preacher because he always exhausted the subject and left nothing for anybody else to say. That will never be said of me and I would rather that it should not. A minister should suggest germs of thought, open up new ways and present, if possible, the Truth of God in such a method as to lead men to understand that the half is not told them. And now, my dear Hearer, whether you listen often to my voice or have now stepped in for the first time I would like to ring this in your ear. Do you know the Spirit of God? If you have not the Spirit, you are none of His. "You must be born again." "What, Lord, 'MUST?' Do You not mean 'may?' " No, you must. "Does it not mean, 'You can be?' " No, you must. When a man says, "must," it all depends upon who he is. When God says, "must," there it stands and it cannot be questioned. There are the flames of Hell--would you escape from them? You must be born again. There are Heaven's glories sparkling in their own light--would you enjoy them? You must be born again! There is the peace and joy of a Believer, would you have it? You must be born again. What, not a crumb from off the table without this? No, not one. Not a drop of water to cool your burning tongues except you are born again. This is the one condition that never changes. God never alters it and never will. You must, must, MUST. Which shall it be? Shall your will stand, or God's will? O, let God's "must" ride right over you and bow yourselves down and say, "Lord, I must! Then I will! Ah, and it has come to this--I must tonight. Give me Christ, or else I die. I have hold of the knocker of the door of Your mercy and I must, I WILL get that door open. I will never let You go except You bless me! You say, must, Lord, and I say, must, too." "You must, you must be born again." God fulfill the "must" in each of your cases, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Consider Before You Fight A SERMON PREACHED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "What king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first and consults whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and desires conditions of peace." Luke 14:31,32. EVERY sensible man endeavors to adapt his purposes to his strengths. He does not begin to build a house which he will not be able to finish, nor commence a war which he cannot hope to fight through. The religion of Christ is the most reasonable one in the world and Jesus Christ never desires to have any disciples who shall blindly follow Him without counting the cost. We always esteem it to be a happy thing when we can get men to sit down and consider. The most of you are so full of other thoughts and so occupied with the world--ever running here and there about your ordinary business--that we cannot get you to think, or calmly sit down and soberly look at things in the light of eternity and weigh them deliberately as you ought. And yet it is only reasonable that the Master should ask you to do for Him, with regard to your spiritual matters, what you will admit that every sensible man does continually in his business! You are poor traders if you never count your stock. You are likely to be, before long, in bankruptcy court if there is no periodical examination of accounts. And so Christ would have you sit down, sometimes, and take stock as to where you are, and what you are. And then figure up by some sort of arithmetic by which you may come to a truthful calculation, what you are able to do and not to do. And what, therefore, it is reasonable and unreasonable for you to undertake and where your position ought and where it ought not to be. I especially invite, this evening, those who are unconverted in this assembly to some few thoughts upon the war in which they are engaged with God. I am hoping that perhaps if they consider a little upon it, they will send a delegation and desire peace. When I have spoken upon that, there will be some, perhaps, who will he running away with the idea that they will at once be at peace with God and make war with Satan. But I shall want to pin them down a moment and make them estimate their chances of victory in such a war as that and see whether they are able to meet the Black Prince of Darkness in their own strength. We will try, if we can, to make it tonight the subject of a little homely talk about our souls and a little earnest personal consideration about our future. I. First, then, THERE ARE SOME HERE WHO ARE NOT THE FRIENDS OF GOD, and in this case he that is not with Him is against Him. If you cannot look up to God and say, "My Father," and feel that your heart beats true to Him, then remember it is a fact that you are His enemy. If you could have what you wish there would be no God. If it were in your power you would never trouble yourself again with thoughts of Him. You would like to live, you say, as you wish, and I know how you would wish to live. It would be anyway but as God commands. Now, as you are engaged in antagonism with Him, just think awhile--Can you expect to succeed? Are you likely to win the day? You have entered into a conflict with His Law--you do not intend to keep it. With His day, you do not regard it. You are thus at war with God! Now, is it likely that you will be successful? Is there a chance for you? If there is, why then, perhaps, it may be as well to go on. If you can conquer GOD, if the battlements of Glory may yet see the flag of sin waved triumphant there, why, Man, then try it! There will be at least an ambition worthy of Satan who desired sooner to reign in Hell than to be ruled by Heaven! But is there any hope for you? Let me put a few things before you which may, perhaps, make you think the conflict too unequal and thus lead you to abandon the thought at once. Think of God's stupendous power! What is there which He cannot do? We see but little of God's power comparatively in our land. Now and then there comes a crash of thunder in a storm and we look up with amazement when He sets the heavens on blaze with His lightning. But go and do business on the deep waters. Let your vessel fly before the howling hurricane! Mark how every staunch timber seems to crack as though it were but match board and the steady mast goes by the board and snaps and is broken to shivers. Mark what God does when He stirs up the great deep and seems to bring Heaven down and lift the earth up till the elements mingle in a common mass of tempest! Then go to the Alps and listen to the thunder of the avalanche. Stand amazed as you look down some grim precipice, or peer with awe-struck wonder into the blue mysteries of a crevasse! See the leaping waterfalls and mark those frozen seas, the glaciers, as they come sweeping down the mountain side. Stay awhile till a storm shall gather there and Alp shall talk to Alp and those white prophetic heads shall seem to bow while the wings of tempest cover them! There you may learn something of the power of God amidst the crash of Nature. If you could have stood by the side of Dr. Woolfe, when rising early one morning, he went out of Aleppo and upon turning his head saw that Aleppo was no more! It had been, in a single moment, swallowed up by an earthquake! Then again you might see what God can do. But why need I feebly recapitulate what you all know so well? Think of what that Book records of His deeds of prowess when He unloosed the depths and bade the fountains of the great deep be broken up--and the whole world that then was--was covered with water! Think of what He did at the Red Sea when the depths stood upright as an heap for a time while His people went through and when afterwards, with eager joy, the floods clasped their hands and buried His enemies in the deep, never to rise again! Let such names as Og, king of Bashan, Sihon, king of the Amorites and Sennacherib, the mighty, rise before your recollection and mark what God has done! Who has ever dashed upon the bosses of His buckler without being wounded? What iron has He not broken? What spear has He not shivered? Millions came against Him, but by the blast of the breath of His nostrils they fell, or they flew like the chaff before the wind! Let the sea roar but the rocks stand still and hurl off the waves in flakes of foam--and so does God when His foes are most enraged and passionate. He that sits in the heavens does laugh. The Lord does have them in derision. And He breaks them in pieces without a stroke of His hand or even the glance of His eyes. Think, Sinner! Think of Him with whom you contend! Have you an arm like God's? Can you thunder with a voice like His? Can you stamp with your foot and shake the mountains? Can you touch the hills and make them smoke? Can you say to the sea, "Be stirred to your depths," or can you call to the winds and bid the steeds of tempest be unloosed? If you cannot, then think of the battle! Attempt to do no more but get back to your bed and there commune with your heart and make your peace with Him against whom you can not hope to contend successfully. Think, again, O rebellious Man--you have to deal not only with almighty, but with an ever encompassing power! Please think how much you are in God's power tonight as it regards your temporal position. You are prospering in business--but the tide of prosperity may be turned in a way unknown to you. God has a thousand ways of stripping those whom He before seemed to clothe most lavishly. You dote upon that wife of yours--she may be struck before your eyes and waste with consumption or decline, or, more rapidly still, she may be taken from you at a stroke! And then where is your joy? Those children, those happy prattlers who make your hearth glad --could you hold them for a moment if God should call back their spirits? If He said, "Return, children of men," your prayers, the physician, your love--what could all these avail you? You have but to buy the coffin and the shroud and the grave and bury your dead out of your sight. God can sweep away all if He wills, and leave you penniless, childless, a widower, without comfort in the world. I would not contend with Him who has so many ways to wound me! I am vulnerable at so many points and He knows how to pierce me to the quick in them all. I will, therefore, make Him my friend rather than my foe. I had better not fight with Him who has the key of the castle and of the front gate and of the iron gate and who can storm every position along my bastion whenever He shall please. Think, again, how much you are personally in His hands! You are strong, you say--you will do a day's work with any man. There are few can lift a load more readily than you can, perhaps, and yet one second would be enough to paralyze every limb! Your faculties are clear. You can write with clearness--no one can see through an intricate account more rapidly than you can, or find out a secret more speedily. And yet one tick of that clock is time enough to reduce either you or me to a driveling idiot, or to a raving madman. A mysterious hand falls on that brain and cools it so that there is no longer the light of intellect within it--or else an awful breath fans its flame till it burns like Nebuchadnezzar's furnace and the soul walks within it a martyr--doomed to live in the midst of fire! Think of this--not many yards from here there stands in Bedlam an awful proof of what the Providence of God can do in one moment with those who seemed the most sane, the most witty, and the most able of men. And you have not to go far in either direction, before, at the gate of some hospital, you will find how soon the body may become very, very low, even to the dust, if God but wills it. I would not, O Sinner, I would not have God other than my friend, while I am thus helplessly in His control! If the moth is in my hand and I can crush it at my will and pleasure, surely if that moth had wit and sense, it would not provoke me to anger nor seek to bring down my plagues upon it! But, if it could, it would seek to nestle near my heart, that I, so able to crush it, might use my power for its protection and might make what wit I have to be its wisdom for its shelter and defense. It is well, also, to remember the mighty army of the Lord of Hosts and that you live amidst the creatures of God who are all ready to do His bidding. As the children of Israel journeyed in the wilderness, they were preserved by God from many foes and innumerable dangers which lurked around waiting to destroy them. Once God gave the fiery serpents permission to assault the host and what death and terror immediately filled the camp! They must have seen, then, that it was no small thing to be at variance with God, when He had so many allies waiting to do His bidding. How clearly this was shown in the plagues of Egypt, when frogs, locusts and lice, hail and fire, plague and death flooded the ill-fated land--but only when beckoned on by the uplifted finger of God! He can still call to His help the forces of creation. The stars in their courses fought against Sisera and God can still make all things work for evil as well as good if He is pleased to command them. When Herod fought with God he was consumed by worms and died--and God has still a countless army of servants who do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word. You had better wait awhile and think how you can meet them. Are your friends as numerous? Can you muster an army like God's? Is the muster roll of your hosts like His? Consider the heavens, for He marshals yon starry multitude and calls them all by name! Because He is great in strength, not one fails. Be wise and enter into covenant with Him through blood and rush not on to certain defeat by seeking to outrival God. Remember, moreover, what is the extent of God's wisdom and that His foolishness is greater than your highest knowledge. A good general is worth more than a regiment of men. When Stonewall Jackson was killed, his enemies and friends alike felt that his death was more than the loss of ten thousand men. Our Iron Duke, when alive, was a strength to our army beyond all calculation. Now mark the skill and infinite wisdom of the God who leads the army of the skies. All light and knowledge are His. He is the Ancient of Days and His experience runs back to all eternity. You are but of yesterday and know nothing. His plans are beyond your conception, and He knows the way you take. He is far above your thoughts and ever out of your sight--but He can see you through and through and knows you better than you know yourself. Do not show your folly by weighing your wisdom against His in the scales, or by expecting to outshine Him so as to triumph over Him. Poor moth rushing into the flame, you will be consumed amidst the pity of good men and the derision of evil ones. Yet there is another matter I want you to remember--you that are the enemies of God--you have a conscience. You have not got rid of it yet. You have a thief in that candle of the Lord, it is true, but still it is a light. It is not put out. And God has ways of making it to become a terrible plague to you, if you do not accept it as a friend. Conscience is meant to be man's armor bearer, beneath whose shield he may fight the battles of the right. But if you make it your enemy, then conscience often places a sword in such a way as to cut and wound you severely. You have a conscience and that is a very awkward thing for a man to have who is an enemy of God. If I were God's enemy I should prefer having no monitor to call my attention to the holy Character and righteous Law of the Most High. I should be glad to get rid of every particle of moral sense. But you have consciences and most of you are not yet dead to all feeling of guilt and shame. You cannot, therefore, sin so cheaply as others. And if you do for the present manage to put Mr. Conscience down, yet since he is still in you, the time will come when you will find his voice grow louder! And there will be a terror in that voice which will make it a terror for you to sleep and hard for you to go about your daily business with your accustomed regularity. Those men who serve God most faithfully find that their conscience, when it can accuse them of anything wrong-- though it is their best friend--is no very pleasant companion. It is said that David's heart smote him. I would sooner have anybody smite me than my own heart, for it strikes with so hard a blow and hits the place where one may most tenderly feel it. And it will be so with you unless you get your "conscience seared with a hot iron." I am afraid there will come a time when you will not rest in your beds nor be able to find peace or satisfaction anywhere. I think therefore, if I had a friend of God inside my heart, I would not like to fight with God so long as he continued within me. Oh, that you would be at peace with Him, "and thereby good shall come unto you." One other reflection--for I must not keep you thinking on this point long--it is this. Remember you must die, and therefore it is a pity to be at enmity with God. You may put it off and say, "I shall not die yet." But you do not know. How can you tell? It is possible that you may die tomorrow. But suppose that you live for the next twenty or thirty years? What is that? I am only thirty years of age and yet I confess that I never thought time so short as I feel it to be now. When we were children we thought twelve months was a great length of time. When we were twenty, a year seemed to be a very respectable period. But now it flies and some of my friends here whose hair is turning grey will tell you that whether it is fifty, sixty, or seventy years, it all seems but a mere dream--a snap of the fingers--it is gone so soon! Well, just push through a little interval of time, then you must die. My dear Friend, will it not be a very dreadful thing to die when you are at war with God? If you could fight this out forever under such circumstances as those in which you now are, I could not then commend the struggle. But since it must come to such an awful pause! Since there must be that death rattle in your throat! Since there must be that clammy sweat upon your brow--O you will need some better business than to be carrying arms against the God of Heaven in your dying moments! They that have God for their friend yet find death no very pleasant task. But what will you find it, who will have to strike yourselves in every blow that you are aiming against the Most High, whom you have made and continue to make your enemy? Here is this, too, to think of--there is a future state. When you die, you have to live again! We know very little about that next state and I do not intend to say much about it tonight. You are launched without your body, an unclothed spirit, into a world which you have never seen. Will you find companions there, or will you be alone? Where will it be? What sort of place will it be like? I should not choose to enter upon the realm of spirits without having God to be my friend. It would be a dreadful thing to get into that mysterious unknown country having nothing to take with me across its boundary except this--an inveterate enmity to the King that reigns supreme in it! If I must cross the border and go into a land I have never trod, I would like, at least, to carry a passport with me--or to be able to say, "I am a friend of the King that reigns here." But to go there as God's enemy--how terrible it must be! Besides, let me say, you cannot hope to succeed--all experience is against you. There never was one yet that either in this state or the next has fought with God and conquered. And you will not be the first, for they who contend with God all come to this one conclusion--"He comes forth in His strength and His enemies are given like stubble to the fire and like wax to the flame. He lifts up His voice and they melt away. He looks at them and that one flash of fire withers them forever. And out of the bottomless pit of despair they weep and wail the piteous but useless regret that their harvest is past and their summer is ended and they are not saved. For they have spent their strength against their God and so have brought themselves where ruin is eternal and hope can never come." Oh that you would send a delegation and be at peace! I think I hear some say, "Well, we wish to give up the contest--but what is to be done so as to be at peace with God?" I ask, Have you got an ambassador to go to God for you? That is the first thing. He cannot look at you. Jesus Christ is the Ambassador between God and man--can you commit your case into His hands? Will you do so? If so, your case will go well. God cannot deny Him any request. He has a right to all He ever asks the Father to give and the Father is always well-pleased in Him and delights to grant Him whatever He desires. That Savior is willing to plead your cause. He waits to be gracious. I am sent to tell you the good news of His love and mercy--to warn you of the certain doom which awaits all who turn from Christ--and to bid you and every sin-sick rebel to come at once, just as you are, to the footstool of mercy. And I can pledge the honor of God, (as being Christ's ambassador for this purpose), that if you come, He will in no wise cast you out. And the terms of peace are very brief. They are these--give up the traitors. There can be no peace between you and God while you harbor sin. Give them up and be willing to renounce every sin of every sort and kind, for one harbored traitor will prevent God concluding peace with you. Sinner, what do you say? Is it hard to give up your sin? Does that condition strike you as unreasonable? Out with the knife, man, and cut the throat of every iniquity! Why, there is no sin for which it is worth your while to be damned! A little rioting and chambering and wantonness--is that worth Hell fire forever? What? To have your giddy amusements for an hour or two--is this a due recompense for an eternity of fire unmitigated by a drop of water? I pray you, be reasonable. Barter not away your soul for trifles! Pawn not eternity for the mere fictions of an instant. God give you Grace, Sinner, to not kick at that condition, but at once cast out your enemies and gods and then lay hold on Christ, on Jesus Christ alone and let Him stand as Ambassador for you. You can not fight it out. Let peace be made. Oh may it be made tonight, through the blood of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son. Then next, confess that you deserve the King's wrath. Bow that head--put the rope about your neck as though you felt you deserved that the executioner should lead you forth. Pray to God for pardon and cry, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" And then cling to the skirts of that appointed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who on yonder bloody tree made expiation for the sins of God's enemies that they might thereby become God's friends. God demands of you a confession of your guilt. He will be honored by your humbling yourself before Him. Your sin has aimed at His Glory and now He will glorify Himself by your repentance. It were only just on His part if He spurned you away and cast you out into the pit which has no bottom. But He has said that whoever confesses his sin shall obtain forgiveness. Go, therefore, in the spirit of the publican--smite upon your breast and say, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Confess that you deserve Hell but ask for Heaven and you shall not plead in vain. Only honor God's justice and appeal to His mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ. This, surely, is not much for God to expect at your hands! If you will not submit, what can you say when God shall crush you? You refuse to bend the knee and to bow the head--what will you do when God shall trample on you in His fury and tread on you in His hot displeasure? You must, therefore, now in the accepted time, while it is still the day of mercy, seek His face and with weeping and supplication, "take with you words and turn unto the Lord and He will have mercy upon you. And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." II. And now we turn the subject so as to look at THE SECOND CONTEST, IN WHICH I TRUST MANY ARE ANXIOUS TO BE ENGAGED. Some young spirit that has been touched with a sense of its own condition, and somewhat aroused, may be saying, "I will be God's enemy no longer--I will be His friend." Bowing the knee, that heart cries, "Oh God, reconcile me unto Yourself by the death of Your dear Son. I throw down all my weapons. I confess my guilt. I plead for mercy. For Jesus' sake vouchsafe it to me." "But," says that soul, "if I am the friend of God, I must be the foe of Satan and from this day I pledge myself to fight forever with Satan till I get the victory and am free from sin." My dear Friend, I want you to stop. I do not wish you to make peace with the Evil One, but I want you to consider what you are doing. There are a few things I would whisper in your ear, and one is that sin is sweet. The uppermost drops of sin's cup glitter and sparkle. There is pleasure in sin of a certain sort and for a certain season. It is a poisoned sweet--it is but a temporary delusion--but still the world does promise fair things. Its gingerbread is gilt and though it wears nothing but tinsel and a little gold-leaf now and then, yet it does look very much like gold. Can you? Can you resist sin, when it seems so charming? The next time the cup is brought to you--you know the flavor of it--oh, it is rich! Can you turn away? Are you certain that you will be able to dash it from your lips? Ah, Man, you will find it different, when the trial comes, to what it is now that you are sitting in the Tabernacle and resolving to get rid of the temptation and that you will do right! Remember, again, you may be enticed by friends who will be very persuasive. You can give up sin just now, but you do not know who may be the tempter at some future time. If she should allure you, who has tempted so well before! If she--she should speak! She! The very word has awakened your recollection--if she should speak as she alone can speak and look as only she can look--can you then resist and stand back? That witching voice, that fascinating eye! Oh how many souls have been damned for what men call love! Oh that they had but a little true love of themselves and others, and would not thus pander to the Prince of Hell! But alas, alas, while the cup itself looks sweet, there is to be added to it the hand that holds it out. It is not so easy to contend with Satan when he employs the service of someone whom you esteem highly and love with all your heart. Remember the case of Solomon whose wisdom was marvelous, but who was enticed by his wives and fell a prey into the hands of the Evil One. It needs a spirit like the Master's to be able to say, "Get you behind me, Satan," to the tempter, when he has the appearance of one of your best loved friends. The devil is a crafty being and if he cannot force the door, he will try and get the key which fits the lock and, by the means of our most tender love and affections, will make a way for himself into our hearts! You will find it no easy task, therefore, to contend with him. Then again, remember, Man, there is habit. Can you, all of a sudden, give up your sins and fight Satan? Do not tell me that you can! Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? If so, then he that is accustomed to do evil may learn to do well. If you had never sinned as you have sinned, there were not this difficulty with you. But he that has gone day after day and year after year into sin is not so easily turned from it. As well hope to make Niagara leap up instead of down as make human nature flow back to virtue instead of going downward to sin! You do not know yourself. Habit is an iron bond and he that is once enveloped in it may pull and strain but he will tear away his flesh sooner than break the links of that dread chain. We have seen men who, convinced of the error of their ways, have sought to turn from them without asking the help of God. For a time they have made some little progress in appearance, but it has only been like the retreating of the waves at the rising of the tide. Their evil habits have returned upon them with a rush and have covered them deeper than before. Read the parable of our Lord concerning the unclean spirit which went out of the man and roamed through dry places, seeking rest but finding none. Finally it said, "I will return to the place from where I went out." It came back and found it swept and garnished and then took to it seven other evil spirits, more wicked than itself. So the last end of that man was worse than the first. Thus it is with those who enter upon the work of saving themselves without looking up by faith to God for His needed help. Satan will triumph over you. You are like the fly in the coils of the spider's web--the more it struggles, the more it will be encompassed. You must cry for help as you are quite unable of yourself to escape from the snares of the Wicked One. He has you bound fast, hand and foot--and you will never break his cords nor be able to cast his bands from you. You have not seven locks of strength like Samson! You will certainly be overcome. Again, you think you will give up sin, but ridicule is very unpleasant and when the finger comes to be pointed at you and they say, "Ah, so you have set up for a saint, I see!" When they put it as only they can put it, in such a sharp, cutting, grating manner! When it is wrapped up so wittily in an epigram that is told all round the shop against you! And when, moreover, there is some weakness of yours, some giddy weakness--and they know how to hook your attempt at saintship to your weakness--and they bandy that all round and there are fifty laughing faces at you, can you stand that? Yes, it is a very pretty thing for you to come here on Sundays and say what you will do--but it is different to do it on Mondays. To be laughed at is not really, to a sensible man, anything very terrible. I think you have only to get used to it and then you will just as much expect to hear people laugh at you as to hear birds singing when you walk out in the morning! But at first it is a very sharp trial--a trial of "cruel mocking." And many who have been going to fight Satan have drawn back, for they found they could not stand it. When the Jews were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after their return from captivity, one of the most severe tests of their zeal and devotion was the laughter of their enemies who came and looked on and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Even that which they build, if a fox goes up it, he shall break down their stone wall." The words of their foes were more cutting than swords and keenly did they feel in their spirits the derision of the scoffers. It is as painful now for the sensitive spirit as it was of old, but you must not be daunted. Heaven is worth buying, even though it should cost a life heaped full of stinging words and malicious sayings from a deriding and taunting world. Did not Christ Himself show us how to endure this trial? See His foes gathered around Him when He hung dying on the Cross. They laugh at Him even there--"He saved others, Himself He cannot save," they said as they wagged their heads and mocked alike His dignity and His woe. "If You are the Christ, come down from the Cross and we will believe on You." These sayings must have been more bitter to His spirit than the wormwood mingled with gall was to His lips. You must follow Christ here, also, if you would contend, as He did, with Satan. Then count the cost. Can you drink His cup and be baptized with His baptism? And yet further, let me say to you, you that are for going to Heaven so zealously--gain is a very pretty thing, a very pleasant affair. Who does not like to make money? You know if you can be religious and grow rich at the same time, that will just suit some of you! Oh yes, the two going together--that will be admirable! You will kill two birds with one stone. Mr. By-Ends said, "Now, if a man, by being religious can get a good wife who has a considerable sum of money. And if by being religious he gets a good shop and many customers, why," says he, "then religion is a good thing! To get a good wife is a good thing and to get customers--that is another good thing, and so," he says, "the whole is a good thing put together." But he that knows Mr. By-Ends knows that he is an old rogue, notwithstanding that he puts it prettily. I have known him. He is a member of this Church, I am sorry to say. I never went into a Church where he was not a member. I have tried to turn him out and did once, but there was another one of the family left inside and however many you may expel there are sure to be more of that breed remaining. But there sometimes comes a pinch with Mr. By-Ends. Now if you should find that shutting up your shop on Sundays should ruin your business, well, what then? Could you stand it? Now there are some of you that try it every now and then when you get spasmodically godly, but it does not pay you, you find. And so you begin once more to open shop on the Lord's Day. Some of you Sunday traders discover that it gets a little hot and strong for you when you come to the Tabernacle occasionally and you shut up for a season, but soon you say, "Well, people must live." Yes, and people must die and people must be damned, too, if they try to live by breaking God's Laws! Remember that it will not pay to be religious, some people fancy. We have heard of a man saying, "I cannot afford to keep a conscience--it is too expensive an article for me." Ah, but keep in mind the saying of the Lord, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" There is such a thing as being, "Penny wise and pound foolish." And there is such a thing, also, as being, "worldly wise and eternally foolish." Think of this, then, for the trial will come to you in the shape of yellow gold and it will be hard to keep yourself from the glittering bait which the god of this world will lay before you. I am putting these things to you so that you may calculate whether you can carry on the war against the devil with all these fearful odds against you. If I were a recruiting sergeant I should not do this. He puts the shilling into the country lad's hand and the lad may say fifty things. "Oh never mind," says the gallant soldier, "you know, it is all glory, nothing but glory. There, I will just tie these ribbons round your hat. There are some long strips of glory to begin with and then all your days it will be just glory, glory forever. And you will die a general and be buried at Westminster Abbey and they will play the 'Dead March in Saul,' and all that kind of thing." Now I cannot thus deceive or try to cheat men to enlist under the banner of the Cross. I do not desire to raise objections to it. All I want of you is to count the cost, lest you should be like he who began to build without being able to finish. That is the misery of so many. I advise you, if you are about to declare war with Satan, to see whether you are able to carry it out and win the victory. "Well," says one, "it is hard to be saved." Nobody ever thought it was not, I hope. What does Peter say? "If the righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" "It is hard to be saved," you say. Whoever said it was not? But it is not hard to be saved if a man is willing to be received according to the plan which God has appointed. If Christ undertakes it, then it is done! My counsel to those of you who are considering making war with Satan is to remember that it is too much for you, and therefore do not attempt it in your own strength. Beware of this. I know Satan will tempt you, first of all, to believe that you need no Savior. Then if you are not convinced of this but are disquieted because of sin, he suggests that you can save yourself. He speaks of Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus which flow close by your own door. He says, "Wash in these home streams and be clean. Stay where you are and help yourself." But if you listen to the words of the seducer of souls you are lost and undone forever! Can the man born blind see to operate upon his own scale-covered eyes so as to give himself sight? Can the crippled man run away from his lameness and outrun the feebleness of his feet? Can the dead man exert himself to make the life-tide flow once more in his veins and flush his cheek anew with the glow of health? Can he call back his departed spirit from the shades of the unseen world and make it reoccupy its decaying habitation and bid the marks of the mighty consumer be gone and leave no trace of Death's conquest behind to remind the returning inhabitant that the palace had been occupied by the ruthless spoiler? We answer, no. A mighty finger must touch and open the eyes. An Omnipotent arm must lift up the paralyzed and impotent man into strength and power. And most evidently, if life is to be secured, the voice of God alone can speak the word which shall make the dead live. On this point we wish to be clearly understood. You will never, of yourself, successfully resist sin so as to escape its thralldom--much less can you remove its guilt! The cancer is in your blood and you can never get it out. The black deed is done and it is written, "The soul that sins shall die." Oh, then at once ask help of Him who alone can save you from the wrath to come! Remember, poor feeble one, nothing is too hard for God and therefore ask almighty strength to come to your rescue. It is true you cannot contend with your besetting sins--your passions, your corruptions of whatever sort they may be--are much too strong for you! Old Adam is too mighty for you with your best intentions. But there is a strong One, whose hand, once pierced, is always ready and at the service of every sinner who would have Satan cast out. There is One "mighty to save" who can come to the rescue and do for you what you cannot do for yourself! Oh that you had Christ tonight, so that at once you might cry to Him, "Jesus, save me! I see the fight is too great for me, I cannot drive out my sins, I cannot fight my way to Heaven! Come and help me, Lord Jesus! I put myself into Your hands! Wash me in Your blood! Fill me with Your Spirit! Save me with Your great salvation, and let me be with You where You are!" "No man can save himself," says one. Yet the case is very much like that of the master who sent his Negro servant with a letter. The Negro was rather lazy and came back with it. "Why did you not deliver it?" "I could not." "Could not deliver it?" "No, Master." "Why not?" "A deep river, Sir, very deep river, I could not get across." "A deep river?" he said. "Yes." "Is not there a ferryman there?" "Do not know, Sir. If there was, he was on the other side." "Did you call across, 'Boat, ahoy!' " "No, Sir." "Why then, you rascal," said he, " what does it matter? It is no excuse. It is true, you could not get across the river, but then there was one there who could take you and you never cried to him." And so it is in your case. You say, "I cannot save myself." Quite true. But there is One who can, and you have never cried to Him. Mark you--if you cry to Him--if your heart says, "Oh, Savior, come and save me!" And if your spirit rests in Him--deep as that river of your sin certainly is, He knows how to bear you safely through it and land you on the other shore. May He do that with each of you. With God all things are possible, though with man it is impossible. May the blessing of the Most High rest upon us this night for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Two Loving Invitations A SERMON PREACHED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE NEWINGTON. "Come and see." John 1:39. "Come and dine." John 21:12. THE one text is in the beginning and the other at the end of John's Gospel. There is a mystery here. Here is typified a growth which it were well for us to understand. "Come and see," is for babes in Grace--"Come and dine," is for strong men in Christ Jesus. We must notice the order. "Come and see," is the beginning of spiritual life as it is the beginning of this Gospel. "Come and dine," is a high after-privilege of the spiritual life and a blessed result of it. "Come and see," is the Gospel's cry to those outside its pale--it has nothing to conceal, it wears no mask, it has no most holy place into which entrance is forbidden. It has a "sanctum sanctorum," but the way into it is open. Open and above-board in all its doings, the Truth as it is in Jesus bares its bosom secrets and cries to every passerby, "Come and see." The seals of the book are broken, the darkness is rolled away, the vision is open and with clarion note the invitation is issued, "Come and see." Romanism may conceal its worship under the Latin tongue. Difficult phraseology and polished periods may hide from the multitude the teaching of professed Protestants, but the true preacher of Christ declares, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." The shutters of every window are open. The key is put into every lock and every door is thrown wide open. Investigation is courted upon every point--the Gospel stands at her door and says, "Come in here, come and see." You have this short sentence, "Come and see," as, first of all, an encouragement to enquirers. Many of you are like John's disciples. They had heard John preach and they believed his word and when they saw Christ, to whom John pointed, they followed Him. But not knowing Him, they followed Him with a question upon the tip of their tongues--"Master, where do You dwell?" He said, "Come and see." You also are anxious to know Christ. You have heard His Word preached by some of His witnesses and you want to know Him personally for yourselves. You have a pressing question to put tonight and Jesus encourages you to ask. No--to come and get your own answer with your own eyes. "Come," He says, "Come and see." There are three ways, I think, by which persons are to, "Come and see." One is by observation. We ought to give attention to the teaching of the Gospel, to weigh it and prove it. If it is found false we are to cast it away with decision. But if it is found worthy of our attention we are to hold it fast and never let it go. Many persons are careless. They will consider the last new novel, or they have been clamoring to get the "Life of Julius Caesar," to see what the Emperor of the French can have to say upon that subject. But concerning Christ Crucified they have no curiosity. They frequent their place of worship without feeling enough interest in the affair to ask themselves why they go. They do not expect to understand what they hear, or if they understand it they care not whether the thing is true or not. It is nothing to them that Jesus should die. Now surely a theme which involves eternal consequences, a matter which deals with my immortal spirit ought not to be put into the background and left to careless inadvertence. I ought, at least, to give it something like the consideration which it claims at my hands. But some look at it through colored spectacles. They are prejudiced against the Gospel. They observe it, they say, but their observation is tinctured by themselves and by their own character. Some persons make up their minds as to what the Gospel ought to be before they try to find out what it is. They do not come to the Bible, nor to the hearing of the Word in order to discover what the Truth of God is. No, they sit down and dream and fashion in their own minds just such a sort of concoction as they imagine Gospel Truth should be and everything which is contrary to this they will kick against, like the foolish ox which kicks against the goad. It would be no use for me, in astronomy, to make an hypothesis and then go out with a telescope and say, "That star ought not to be where it is. According to my theory Jupiter ought not to have moved as he has moved and therefore I do not believe in Jupiter, nor in the stars, for I do not like their goings on." Who but madmen talk thus? I must always shape my views to facts, and regarding the Bible as the great storehouse of facts, I must take care that I go to it with a candid and unbiased judgment. May God help me to do so. To find out what the Truth of God is, "Come and see," but ask God to open your eyes that you may behold the wondrous things which are written in His Law. Does anyone enquire how he can come and see in the matter of observation? We invite you, dear Friends, to a diligent reading of Scripture as one means of seeing. The worst-read book in England is the Bible. People read a verse of it, or half a chapter in the morning and think they understand it. Suppose anyone were to read a poet in that way. Let the world's favored poet, Shakespeare, be treated in such a style as that and what man could ever appreciate his beauties? If you get a poet, say Cowper--you read "The Task" through. You do not think of snatching a line or two here and there--if you did you would be like the Greek teacher who carried a brick about as a specimen of a house which he had for sale. If you read Young's, "Night Thoughts," it is true that almost every line is noteworthy and is as fine-tuned as a distinct proposition. But still he who would appreciate the beauties of Young must read the "Night Thoughts" through, or, at least, read a book at a time. Yet there are thousands of you who never did read one of the Gospels through, never read one of the Epistles through with a studious mind desiring to catch the drift and to understand the sense. And do you dream you will ever know what the Bible teaches by just recalling a portion here and a portion there? Impossible! Absurd! If you have any care to, "Come and see," read the Bible in a common-sense way and sit down with the determination that, as far as the human mind can find out what God means, you will know what He has revealed concerning His Son. I am not afraid of what the consequences will be if you do that! If, moreover, you seek the aid of the Divine Spirit, your search cannot be in vain. You shall see Jesus and rejoice in His great salvation. Then next, I earnestly desire you to hear the Gospel as well as read it--only take care that what you hear is the Gospel. It is very easy to find Divines of flowery speech and flowing tongue, from whom, in a course of seven years, you would probably learn nothing whatever of the doctrines of the Covenant of Grace. It has been said that if you were to hear a lecturer on geology or astronomy deliver some twelve or thirteen lectures you would be able to pick up a pretty clear idea of the system of geology or astronomy, which the lecturer meant to teach. But I declare and protest, and will prove it by sermons printed by sundry authors, that you might hear thirteen thousand sermons of some men without knowing what system of Divinity they taught, if, indeed, they have any system of Divinity at all! What do you go to God's House for? Is it to have your ears tickled? Do you go to the place of worship that you may admire the eloquence of man? Go to your theater or your senate if this is your desire! Such places are the legitimate arena for display--come not to God's House for that. There we should resort to learn to pray. We should come that we may, in the words of our text, "see." See ourselves, and better still, see the Lord Jesus! This should be the first enquiry as we go up the steps into the place of meeting--"Sirs, we would see Jesus." And if Jesus is not to be seen there, no matter how brilliant the display of fireworks with which the sermonizer may indulge you--that is not the proper place in which to spend the precious hours of Sunday! We would see Jesus! We would know what we must do to be saved! Observe then, observe carefully. Keep your eyes open, not only to the world of Nature, but to the Book of God and the lives of His people and thus, "Come and see." Truly, Enquirer, there is a better way of coming and seeing and that is by believing. If you can at once believe God's Word, you shall see far better than if you are merely a seeker and, surely, the revelation of God in Christ may well demand your implicit faith. See how true others have found it. If the proposition is, "can Christ forgive sin?"--hear what others say who can sing of pardon bought with blood and of promises applied to their souls with power breathing peace and pardon to their hearts! Do you remember your mother? Do you remember the glitter of her eyes in death's dark hour? Do you remember how she bore her dying testimony that all that God had said concerning Christ was true? That He was able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him? She was no woman given to deception! If I remember rightly you can say of her that she was a common-sense, shrewd woman--not easily deceived and yet in that last article of death--when every sham comes crumbling down and all that is mere paint and tinsel is broken and dashed away, she found the solidity of her hopes and rejoiced in them! You have other friends. In business they are not second-rate men. With regard to matters of common sense you would trust them as well as any that you know. They are not hot-headed and enthusiastic. They are not likely to be carried away by the multitude, after some hare-brained prophet. And yet steadily and solemnly they tell you that Christ has given them new hearts and right spirits. That He has changed their lives. That He has given them a peace and a joy they never knew before. They tell you that they have answers to prayer--that whenever they spread their case before God, their heavenly Father hears them and sends them speedy relief. They tell you that they find in religion a spring of moral action such as was never found in the mere precepts and teachings of law and conscience. Now believe these men. If they were the worst men in the neighborhood. If they were the felons and rogues of trade, I would recommend you not to believe them--but since they are the best in the world and rank high in your esteem--at least trust them so far as to come, yourself, to a candid observation of these things and believe that at least there is some truth in them. I would to God, dear Friends, that you would believe these things to be true concerning Christ's ability to save because you have Cod's Word for it. And if you ask me how I know it is God's Word, I can take you in vision to Nineveh. See the excavated cities and palaces, the winged bulls and lions buried in the rubbish--all which tell us that that Book which spoke of them before they were discovered--must have a high antiquity. And the volume which, written in the times of their glory, yet told of their tremendous fall, must have had an inspiration in it not belonging to common books. The best proof of this inspiration is, perhaps, to be found in this--that we know that God wrote another book, the book of Nature. And as the two works of one author are quite sure to exhibit some common points in which you may find out the author's idioms, so every student of Nature and Revelation has been able to say that the two volumes bear marks of the same Writer. And the more they have studied both books, the more they have said, "We find the same God in the one as in the other." The God of Nature is kind and good. So is the God of Revelation. The God of Nature is the terrible God of the avalanche and thunderbolt, the tempest and the whirlwind. And the God of this Book is terrible out of His holy place when He comes to judge the sons of men. We find that the very same imprimatur which is set upon the book of Nature is also stamped upon the Book of God. We should be glad, therefore, if you could believe this and believing this you would soon, "come and see." For mark you, the best way of knowing about Christ is to try Him, to experience Him! And since you want to know if He can forgive sins, trust Him to forgive yours. You want to know if He can change the human heart--trust Him to change yours. You long to know if there is a peace that passes all understanding which will still the throbs of your guilty heart. Try Him and see! You pant to learn if there is a joy which can gild your darkest hours with sunlight and make the dreary passage through the shades of death to be full of life and hope--try Him and see! We are not afraid to stake all upon the trial. I will cheerfully be bondsman for my Lord and Master. If there can be a soul that does sincerely trust Him that shall not find, even in this life, salvation, and in the world to come, eternal joy, then I am content to be deceived, or content to suffer the deceiver's doom! Beloved, if we only promised you something to be had in the next world, you could not make the test at once. But that which we hold out to you is present salvation. It is not some future joy merely, but present joy! Oh, if you trust Jesus Christ you shall, "come and see," that sin is mastered as well as pardoned! That the guilty conscience is pacified forever and that your joy and peace can begin this side of the grave. Enquirer, "come and see!" Oh, pass not by! Neglect not the exhibition of Divine love and Grace, but, "come," oh, "come and see!" May the Holy Spirit bring you, for His name's sake. Very hurriedly let me notice the next point. I think this invitation may be well addressed to every beginner in the school of Christ as well as to every enquirer. We ought not to be satisfied with merely being saved. As soon as ever we are saved--the moment we believe in Christ--our next business is to learn more of Christ. You want to know the doctrines, dear Friends. It is well to be thoroughly established in the faith. "Come and see." Search the Scriptures! See what God has revealed and be established in His Divine Truths. Every precept as well as every doctrine cries to you, "Come and see!" Every promise says, "Come and see!" Do not run short of promises! It is bad when a man is out of money. And the Christian, when he is without a promise in his hand is somewhat like a person without ready money in his purse. Study the promises. "Come and see." As to experience, too, the Lord says, "Come and see." Do not talk of Tabor's height, as though you could never climb it. From the top of it there comes a voice, "Come and see." Do not speak of Pisgah, as though your feet might never tread its consecrated summit. The voice says, "Come and see." If there is any point of communion, or height of fellowship as yet unreached by you, there peals forth from its excellent glory the endearing exhortation, "Come and see." No boundry is set about the Mount of God! No fiery wall conceals the secret of the Eternal. "The Spirit of the Lord is with them that fear Him. He will show them His Covenant." All Revelation cries with one voice, "Come and see!" I think this is the cry of the Gospel to every sinner, "Come and see." Perhaps it is easier to use the eyes than any other organ except the ears. This I know, it is more pleasing to use the eyes than the ears. You can keep a set of children as happy as the birds of the air with a picture book--when they would probably go to sleep if you were to talk to them. The eye has the greatest power of conferring pleasure. Whether it conveys truth to the heart more rapidly than the ear does, I cannot say. At any rate it does so most pleasingly and for this reason, among others, Christ bids us to use the eyes. He hangs upon His Cross before you and cries, "Come and see." And He adds this promise--"Look unto Me and be you saved, all you ends of the earth." What is there to see? God made flesh! He that made the heavens veiling Himself in manhood! Is not this something? God came down to you, poor Sinner, that He might take you up to Himself! What is there to see? There is the Son of God bleeding for human sin! His griefs are such that no tongue can explain them and no pen can write them--but they are not for Himself--for in Him is no sin. "Come and see," for if you see the griefs of Jesus and take them to be your trust, you shall be saved! "Come and see." Do you ask what there is to see? This same Jesus rises from the tomb! He could not have risen if He had not been God, or if He had not completed the great work of His people's redemption! He ascends. The clouds receive Him! Up there in Heaven He stands pleading for sinners, pleading for us and, "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them." "Come and see!" "Come and see!" I am often asked, "Sir, how can I get faith?" I believe that faith comes from Christ and is His gift to sinners. Sit down in your chamber tonight when you get home, you that want to believe, and just think over this--GOD made flesh! If you will think of that, I pray the Holy Spirit visit you and then the thought will strike you-- "That is wonderful! Who could have dreamed of it? God suffering instead of man that the justice of God might be fully satisfied and the mercy of God might have full scope!" While you are thinking of this wonder and picturing the wounds and looking to the blood and thinking that you almost hear the dropping of the blood upon the Mount of Calvary, I think you will, you scarcely know how, find yourself ready to sing-- "I do believe--I will believe That Jesus died for me; And on the Cross He shed His blood From sin to set me free." You cannot make yourself believe. Faith is the gift of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. But it comes through hearing, and hearing is principally blessed to the working of faith, because it gives you a sight of Christ in meditation and, as some say, "seeing is believing." Certainly such a sight as hearing gives is often made the channel by which the soul believes in Christ. "Come and see!" Oh you worldlings! Turn your eyes here and see the Savior die! Maybe the spectacle will cool your hot blood and drive away your fever of worldliness and care! Oh, you giddy, careless men and women, look here and see your Redeemer bleed! Possibly you may be sobered by the sight. Oh young men and maidens in your early youth! Since you may soon feel the arrows of death, look here and make your immortality secure! You grey-headed ones who have lost your vigor and spent your strength in sin, yet may the Holy Spirit bring you--"Come and see!" Oh, there is mercy yet, "Come and see!" The great sight is not withdrawn--it is no dissolving view that melts away--it is no burning bush from which you are bid to keep off by the words, "Draw not near here." But here, over the Cross, hangs the motto and from the Mount of Calvary rings the silvery trumpet note, "Come and see! Come and see!" "There is life in a look at the Crucified One; There is life at this moment for you." II. The second text is, "COME AND DINE." That is better--that is closer, nearer, dearer--more substantial than "come and see." That may be done at a distance, though "come" seems to invite us to make the distance less. But, "Come and dine"--that implies the same table, the same meat--yes, and sometimes it means to sit side by side and lean our head upon the Savior's bosom. Here is nearness familiar and domestic--"come and dine." Understand that while we are sinners faith brings us into a justified state by simply looking to Christ though the soul has had no enjoyment of Him. But after believing, faith then assists us really to enjoy Christ. I know some of you are wishing and expecting to enjoy Christ first, and believe him afterwards. I would correct your error. You must take God's mercies in their order and season. And you will not find, "come and dine," in the first chapter of John--there it is, "come and see." Believe Jesus first and you shall feed on Him afterwards! Certain of you seem to me to be content to believe Christ and to say, "I am safe," without wishing to know the blessed enjoyment which is to be found in Him. It should not be so. You are not to be content with the first chapter of John. But go on to the last and be not satisfied so long as there is a "yet" beyond. If you have seen Christ--if you have touched Christ--if you have put your finger into the print of the nails, be not satisfied till you know the meaning of the text, "Except a man eat My flesh and drink My blood, there is no life in him." "Come and dine," then, implies greater enjoyment than, "come and see." "Come and see" gives peace, but, "come and dine," gives ecstasy--rapture--what shall I call it? It gives Heaven on earth, for it gives Christ. "Come and dine" must be experimentally understood before you can read the Book of Solomon's Song with profit. "Come and see" can read the Evangelists. "Come and see" can read many of the Epistles. "Come and see" may wander delightfully through the Book of Psalms. "Come and see" may enrich itself with Proverbs. But the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the garden--that is, the Book of Canticles [Song of Solomon]--is not to be eaten of except by those who have heard the Master say, "Come and dine." I would to God that all the Lord's people were not merely delivered from the chains of sin and washed in the Savior's blood but brought into the banqueting house, where waves the banner of redeeming love! There is more enjoyment, then, in the one than in the other. And there is also more nearness. When I first believed in Christ I felt a distance between myself and Him and the only nearness that I could get was to lay my hands upon His head and confess my sins. But I hope some of us, after a few years of believing, know what it is to sit at His feet with Mary! To lean upon His bosom with John! Yes, and to say with the spouse, "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth, for His love is better than wine." O Beloved, there is a nearness to Christ which the worldling can only laugh at if he should hear us talk of it! Read "Rutherford's Letters," and you get glimpse of what it is to dine with Christ. Turn to "Hawker's Morning and Evening Portions," or even, if you will, wander amidst the quaint rhymes and sweet poetry of dear George Herbert-- there you have, "come and dine" carried out in sweetest prose. Oh, to get so close to Christ that you can sing with a modern hymn writer-- "So near, so very near to God, I cannot nearer be; For in the Person of His Son I am as near as He! So dear, so very dear to God, I cannot dearer be; The love wherewith He loves His Son Such is His love to me!" This is a high attainment, but rest not satisfied till you have gained it. Yet, once more, "come and dine," gives us a vision of union with Jesus because the only meat that we can eat when we dine with Christ is Himself. We do not provide the supper. When He dined on that occasion with His disciples, Peter dragged a net full of fishes out of the sea. But when they came on shore they found a fire already kindled and fish laid on it, so that the fish they ate did not come out of the sea--by their net--at any rate. Christ found the fish and lit the fire. And He found the bread and then said, "Come and dine." Ah, and the fire that warms our heart when we have fellowship with Him comes from Himself! And the fish that we eat is His own and the wine that we drink flows from His own heart. Oh, what union is this! It is a depth that reason cannot fathom, that we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ! Here we stand and look and look and look and though the water is clear as crystal, like the sea of glass before the Throne of God, yet to the bottom of it angelic sight can never reach! One with Jesus--by eternal union--one! What does this mean, Believer?-- "One when He died. One when He rose; One when He triumphed over His foes! One when in Heaven He took His seat, And angels sang of Hell's defeat." Can you comprehend it?-- "This Covenant stands secure, Though earth's old columns bow, The strong, the feeble and the weak Are one in Jesus now. Oh, sacred union, firm and strong, How great the Grace, how sweet the song, That worms of earth should ever be One with Incarnate Deity!" And yet it is so. And he that has listened to the Savior's voice, "Come and dine," knows it to be so and rejoices! In this, also, you find an invitation to enjoy fellowship with the saints. You are not to eat your morsel alone, but in company. We sit down in Heaven with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--at the marriage supper of the Lamb--and no small part of the heavenly bliss is connected with the fellowship which exists among the saints in Gory. So also with our present feasting on the fat things full of marrow which Christ spreads before His chosen ones. We enjoy the company as well as the feast and find our happiness augmented by the society of kindred minds. The Supper of the Lord is the table of communion, not only with the Master but also with all who love Him in sincerity and truth. One of the surest ways of introducing discord into the midst of a Church is for the minister to starve the people. Hungry men are sure to be quarrelsome. On the contrary, to unite a flock in closest bonds of love let the minister say, "Come and dine!"--and then put before them the finest of the wheat, honey out of the rock and wine upon the lees well refined. If you would have sweetest fellowship with each other, live on Christ! Enter into the banqueting house, sit beneath the banner of love and you will find that sacred commingling of spirit with spirit which will prove that you are one in Christ Jesus. Christians may differ on a variety of points. They may not see eye to eye on this thing and on that, but they have all one spiritual appetite and if we cannot all feel alike, we can all feed alike on the Bread of Life sent down from Heaven. Get nearer to Christ and eat of His flesh and drink of His blood and you will find yourself linked more and more in spirit to all who are like yourself, supported by the same heavenly manna. We do not expect to see all Christians agreeing, but we are sure that one of the most likely plans for cultivating a brotherly spirit is to listen to Christ's words, "Come and dine." We see in these words the source of strength for every Christian. To look at Christ is to live, but for strength to serve Him you must come and dine. When our Lord had raised the daughter of Jairus He commanded them to give her meat so that she might be strengthened. And so He says to all of us, "Come and dine." We need as much food for the soul as for the body and unless we eat we shall be fainting by the way. Are there not many Christians who allow themselves to suffer a great deal of unnecessary weakness on account of neglecting this precept of the Master? I hold that we are bound to lift up the feeble knees and drooping hands--and in order to do this we must live by faith on the Son of God and listen to His voice as He says, "Eat, oh My Friends, yes, drink, oh My Beloved." If you want to be as Mr. Feeblemind, I can give you the receipt. Take only a small portion of spiritual food morning and night in your closets. Neglect family prayer. Never attend a Prayer Meeting. On no account speak about religious matters during the week. Go late to the House of God and fall asleep when you get there. As soon as you leave the place of worship talk about the weather. Confine yourself to these rules for a few weeks and you will very soon be reduced low enough to allow Satan to attack you with every chance of giving you a severe and dangerous fall. Doctors tell us that nowadays the classes of disease most prevalent are those which indicate a low condition of the vital forces. And I think that we are suffering in the Church from the same sort of maladies. You never hear of anyone who is too zealous, too rash in venturing himself for Christ! There was a time when the Church had to censure her young converts because they courted persecution and invited martyrdom! Now we need to stir up the Church and to urge on our people to more self-sacrifice for the cause of Christ. You need never fear that anyone will kill himself with too much work--we must rather lament that there seems so little exuberance of spirit and vital force among Christians. We, none of us, need to put ourselves on a low diet--on the contrary, we ought to accumulate strength and urge every power to its full dimension in the Master's service! For this purpose, "Come and dine." All your strength depends upon union with Christ! Away from Him you must wither as a branch severed from the vine. Feeding on Him, you will be like the branch which is drinking up the sap from the parent stem. You will be strong enough to bring forth fruit and fill your post among the other members of the one great band of Christians! We can see, moreover, in these words the foundation of the Christian's growth and progress in spiritual things. To see Christ is to begin the Christian's life, but to grow in Divine Grace we must, "come and dine." The early history of the first disciples is by no means satisfactory. They were evidently only babes in spiritual things. How little they seemed to comprehend the Savior's mission. He liked to say, "Have I been so long time with you and yet have you not known Me, Philip?" They misunderstood the nature of His Kingdom and were continually displaying a carnal and selfish spirit. It is evident that the early dawn of spiritual life is all they had then received. They had seen Jesus. They loved Him and followed Him even unto trial and disgrace--but yet they were far from possessing the Spirit of Christ. Now after they had reached this stage of living on Christ they became new men. It is no longer mere sight, but an inward appropriation of Christ Jesus by faith and the consequences are manifest. They are seen developing themselves under the blessed outpouring of the Holy Spirit into workmen that needed not to be ashamed. They endured hardness as good soldiers of the Cross. They fought a good fight and they finished their course with joy. A higher order of life is clearly theirs. They have risen in the scale of spiritual existence! A clearer light shines around them and they have manifestly grown in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Beloved, we long for your edification! We covet for you the best gifts, and therefore we say, "Come and dine." Many Christians remain stunted and dwarfed in spiritual things so as to present the same appearance year after year. No upspringing of thought and feeling is manifest in them. They exist but do not grow. The reason is evident--they are not taking of Christ--and they neglect to appropriate to themselves the blessing which He is waiting to bestow. Why should you rest content with being in the tender green blade when you can go on and reach the ear and eventually the full corn in the ear? I would that all God's servants were more in earnest to develop that good thing which has been implanted in them by the Holy Spirit! It is all very well to keep other men's vineyards, but you must not neglect your own. Why should it ever be winter in our hearts? We must have our seed time, it is true, but oh, for a spring time--yes, a summer season--which shall give promise of an early harvest! Now if you would ripen in Grace you must live near Christ--in His Presence--basking in the sunshine of His smiles. You must hold sweet communion with Him. You must leave the distant view of His face and come near, as John did, and pillow your head on His breast. Then you will find yourself advancing in holiness, in love, in faith, in hope--yes, in every godly gift! What a joy it is to see men and women daily living on Christ! You may watch them grow as you have watched the flowers and trees in the gardens expanding under the genial showers and sunshine of the last few weeks. It robs a deathbed of its terrors to see the aged Christian rapidly preparing for Glory, but I would rather the man grew before he was about to be taken from us so that we might be the better for his expanded Graces and enjoy his beauty of holiness a few years here on earth. We do not grudge the saints in Glory anything--but it would be a mercy to us if Christians would try and get as much of perfection and maturity as possible a few years sooner--so as to gladden our eyes with some bright blossoms as well as the somber green blades. It is all very well, the fresh verdure in early spring, but I like also the russet hues of autumn and the rich clusters of the vintage with the songs of the reaper and the shout of "harvest home!" The golden grain is a goodly and pleasant thing to see as the field waves in the autumn breeze. So, also, I like to mark maturity in Christ's fields, as well as in the earthly ones. It is a glorious sight, an experienced saint--a man who has been much with Jesus and learned of Him--who has caught the Master's spirit and reflects it brightly to all around! As the sun rises first on mountaintops and gilds them with his light and presents one of the most charming sights to the eyes of the traveler, so is it one of the most delightful contemplations in the world to mark the glow of the Spirit's light on the head of some saint who has risen up in spiritual stature, like Saul, above his fellows! For then, like some mighty Alp, snow-capped, he reflects, first of all, the beams of the Sun of Righteousness and bears the sheen of His brilliance high aloft for all to see--and seeing it--to glorify His Father which is in Heaven! That you may thus grow in Grace, listen to the Master's voice--"Come and dine." We notice one more thought and then must conclude. Here is preparation for service. "Come and dine," says the Master. But before the feast is concluded, He says to Peter, "Feed My lambs." And again, "Feed My sheep." Further adding, "Follow Me." All the strength supplied by Christ is for service and for use in His vineyard. When the Prophet Elijah found the cake baked on the coals and the cruse of water placed at his head as he lay under the juniper tree, he had a commission to go forty days and forty nights in the strength of it, journeying towards Home, the mount of God. So also with us--we eat so as to be able to expend our strength in the Master's service. We come to the Passover and eat of our Paschal Lamb with loins girt and with our staff in our hand--so as to start off at once when we have satisfied our spirits. Some Christians are for living on Christ but are not so anxious to live for Christ. Now I rejoice to know that I can spend and be spent for the Lord. And I find in labor for Christ that, "it is more blessed to give than to receive." I never feel so like the Master as when I go about trying to do good. Heaven is the place where saints feast most and work most. They sit down at the table of our Lord and they serve Him day and night in His Temple. They eat of heavenly food and render perfect service. Now earth should be a preparation for Heaven--come and dine--and then go and labor! Freely you receive--freely give! Gather up all the fragments of your feast and go and carry it to Lazarus at the gate! Yes, carry the loaves and fishes to oth-ers--as the disciples did when the Lord had multiplied their little supply--to satisfy the thousands who were famishing for want of food. We have yet to learn more concerning the design of our Lord in giving us His Grace. We are not to hold the precious grains of Truth like a mummy does the wheat, for ages, without giving it a chance of growing. No, feed yourself and then go forth and bid others come and eat and drink. Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that there may be many more rejoicing with you in the Light and Life of Christ! Why does the Lord send down rain upon the thirsty earth and give sunshine and genial refreshing breezes? Is it not that these may all help the fruits of the earth to yield food for man and beast? Even so the Lord calls us in to enjoyment and feasting that we may afterwards go out to labor and service. My dear Hearers, I always seek to see you fruitful in all good works, to do His will who provides all things for us richly to enjoy. You are aware that our Father is glorified if we bring forth much fruit and so shall we be His disciples. Eat, then! Spare not--you are welcome to as much as you can consume! But when you have eaten the fat and drunk of the sweet, go and tell of it to sinners round that the starving may come and find "wine and milk, without money and without price." You are to preach the Gospel to every creature--proclaim the good news of water from the Rock Christ Jesus which flows in the midst of the world's wilderness, so that all may drink and live. Tell of the finest of the wheat on which you have feasted. Bid the prodigal leave the husks which the swine eat and return to the Father's house, there to eat of the fatted calf and feast at the parental board. Tell them there is room in the Savior's heart! And never cease proclaiming His matchless love and power and His willingness to say to all, "Come unto Me all you that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." "Come and dine." I send you away, however, wishing to make the first part of the sermon the more telling to most of you--"Come and see." You are black with sin, but blackness does not blind the eye. Your righteousness is nothing better than filthy rags, but the most ragged beggar may look. Our strange old proverb says, "A cat may look at a king," and the blackest sinner out of Hell may look at Christ! And though he has sin well near as devilish as that of Lucifer, yet, looking to Christ all manner of sin and of iniquity shall be forgiven him! Look, Sinner--look! May the Holy Spirit now open those eyes of yours and turn them to the Savior's Cross and make you live! May the best of Heaven's blessings be yours tonight and in eternity! Amen and Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Christians Kept In Time And Glorified In Eternity A SERMON PREACHED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savor, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude 24,25. OMITTING all preface it will be well to observe in what state of mind Jude was when he penned this doxology, what had been his previous meditations, and when we have done so we will endeavor to come directly to the text and observe what mercies he sums up in it and what praise is due from us to Him of whom he thus speaks. I. Then, UNDER WHAT INFLUENCE WAS JUDE'S MIND WHEN HE PENNED THIS DOXOLOGY. Our first observation is that in writing this very short but very full Epistle, he had been led to consider the grievous falls of many others and in contemplating those failures he could not resist the impulse of penning these words, "Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling." You observe in reading that he mentions the Israelites who came out of Egypt. That was a glorious day in which the whole host met at Succoth, having just escaped from the thralldom of Egypt and now found themselves delivered from the whips and the lashes of the taskmasters and were no longer compelled to make bricks without straw and to build up palaces and tombs for the oppressors. That was, if possible, a more glorious day than when God divided the Red Sea to make a way for His people. The depths stood upright in a heap when the elect multitude walked through. Do you not see them, as with songs and praises they are led all that night through the deep as on dry ground? They are all landed on the other side, and then their leader lifts up his rod and immediately there comes a wind and the waters return to their place. The infatuated Egyptian king, who with his hosts had followed them into the depths of the sea is utterly destroyed. The depths have covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters! There is not one of them left. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel, saying, "I will sing unto the Lord for He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider has He thrown into the sea." Is it credible, is it not too sadly incredible that this very people who stood by the Red Sea and marked the overthrow of God's enemies, within a few days were clamoring to go back into Egypt? And before many months had passed were for taking to themselves a leader that they might force their way back into the place of their bondage? Yes, and they who saw Jehovah's work and all His plagues in Zoan made to themselves a calf and bowed down before it and said, "These are YOUR gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." With tears in your eyes, look at the many griefs which studded the pathway of their forty years' wandering, and with many fears reflect that out of all that multitude which came out of Egypt, there were but two who lived to cross the Jordan! Aaron must put off the breastplate, for he has sinned against God. And even Moses, the meekest of men, must go to the top of Nebo and is only permitted to gaze upon the prospect of that land which he must never actually enjoy! Except for Caleb and Joshua there were none found faithful among all the tribes--and these alone shall enter into the goodly land which flows with milk and honey. Now when Jude thought of this, I do not wonder that he began to consider the case of himself and of his fellow Believers united with him in Church fellowship at Jerusalem and elsewhere. And knowing that all of them who were truly brought up out of Egypt by Jesus shall surely enter into the promised rest, he cannot, he does not desire to resist the impulse of singing, "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever." If YOU read on to the next verse, you perceive that Jude had another example in his mind's eye--the angels that kept not their first estate. We do not know much of angels, but from what we gather in Holy Scripture--perhaps tinged in our reading with some of the half-inspired ideas of Milton--we believe that angels are spirits vastly superior to ourselves. In intelligence they may well be so, even if they had been created upon a par--for they have had many years in which to learn and gather experience--whereas man's existence is but a handbreadth. We regard an angel with intense respect and while never paying any worship to those noble beings, we cannot but feel how little we are when compared with them. One of these angels appears to have been named Lucifer, son of the morning. Perhaps he was a leader in the heavenly host and first among the princes of Heaven. He, together with multitudes of others, fell from their allegiance to God. We know not how. We have no idea if they were tempted, unless one of them tempted the other--but they kept not their first estate--they were driven out of Heaven. They were expelled from their starry thrones and therefore they are reserved in chains of darkness until the great day of account. Now, my Brethren, can you think of the fall of angels without trembling? Can you think of the morning stars put out in blackness? Of the cherub, whose head did wear a crown, cast into the mire and his crown rolled into the dust? Can you think of these bright spirits transformed into the hideous fiends that devils are? Their hearts, once temples for God, now become the haunt of every unclean thing--themselves the most unclean? Can you think of that without feeling a tremor of fear lest you, too, should fall from your first estate? And without another, and a higher thrill ofjoy, when you think of Him who is, "able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy"?-- " When any turn from Zion's way (Alas, what numbers do), I think I hear my Savior say, ' Will you forsake Me too? Ah, Lord! With such a heart as mine, Unless You hold me fast, I feel I must, I shall decline, Andprove like them at last." But we can also sing right joyously--"The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose, he will not, he will not, desert to its foes. That soul, though all Hell should endeavor to shake, He'll never, no never, no never, forsake." We might continue to follow Jude, but we will not do so. We prefer to add something which Jude has not put in his Epistle. Our first parent, Adam, lived in the midst of happiness and peace in the garden. Unlike ourselves he had no depravity--no bias towards evil. God made him upright. He was perfectly pure and it was in his own will whether he should sin or not. The balance hung evenly in his hands. But you have not forgotten how on that sad day he took of the forbidden fruit and ate and thereby cursed himself and all of us! My Brethren, as you think of Adam, driven out of the Garden of Eden--sent out to till the ground from where he was taken--compelled in the sweat of his face to eat bread. When you recollect the paradise he left, the happiness and peace that have forever passed away through his sin, do you not hear the voice that says to you, as a depraved and fallen creature, "Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall"? Conscious of your own weakness as compared with your parent, Adam, you are ready to cry out, "O God, how can I stand where Adam falls?" But here comes the joyous thought--Christ, who has begun with you, will never cease till He has perfected you! Can you help singing with Jude, "Now unto Him who is able to keep us from falling"? It strikes me that every time we mark an apostate and see the fall of a sinner or of a fellow professor, we should go down on our knees and cry, "Hold You me up and I shall be safe," and then rise up and sing-- "To our Redeemer God Eternal power belongs, Immortal crowns of majesty, And everlasting songs. He will present our souls Unblemished and complete Before the Glory of His face, With joys divinely great." This partly accounts for the text before us. But on a further reference to the Epistle we get another part of the thoughts which had exercised the Apostle's mind. Observe, dear Friends, that the Apostle had a very vivid and distinct sense of the nature of the place into which those fell and of their utter ruin and destruction. Notice, concerning the children of Israel he says that, "God destroyed them that believed not." What is it to be destroyed? Destroyed! This does not end with the white skeleton and the bleached bones which lay in the wilderness--a horror to the passerby! He means something more than even that! Brought out of Egypt and yet destroyed! Take heed, professor! You may be brought into something like Gospel liberty and yet may perish! Take heed, you carnal professor, I say! You may fancy you have escaped the bondage of the Law, but yet you shall never enter into the rest which remains for the people of God--you shall be destroyed/Let that word "destroyed" ring in your ears and it will make you bless God, who is able to keep you from falling, if it shall lead you to flee to Him for help! Next he says of the fallen angels that they are, "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." What that may be, we can but roughly guess. Satan is allowed to go about the world. Still he wears his chains and he has a tether and the Lord knows how to pull him in, both by Providence and direct acts of power. We believe that these spirits are under darkness--a gloom--a thick darkness that may be felt hangs perpetually over their minds. Wherever they may be they are waiting till Christ shall come to summon them as rebellious creatures before His bar that they may receive their sentence and begin afresh their dreadful Hell. And remember, dear Brothers and Sisters, unless eternal love shall prevent it, this case must be ours! We, too, must enter into places reserved in darkness, wearing everlasting chains, to endure eternal fire. We should do so, we must do so, if it were not for Him, "who is able to keep us from falling and present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Nor is this all, for if you will patiently read the next verse, you will see that Jude has, if possible, introduced a more graphic picture. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are bright as the sun goes down. The inhabitants are merry with boisterous laughter. There is plenty in the barn. There is luxury in the hall, for the plain of Sodom was well watered and lacked for nothing. Down went that sun upon a disastrous evening--never to rise upon the most of those who were in that doomed city. At daybreak, just as the sun is beginning to shine upon the earth, angels had hastened Lot and his family out of the city--and no sooner had they reached the little city of Zoar than straightway the Heaven is red with supernatural flame and down descends a terrific rain--as if God had poured Hell out of Heaven! He rained fire and brimstone upon the cities and the smoke of their torment went up so that Abraham, far away to the west, could see the rolling cloud and the terrible brightness of the fire, even at midday. And as men go to the "Lacus Asphaltites," or the Dead Sea, they see to this day where death has reigned. There are masses of asphalt still floating upon the surface of that sea where there is nothing that lives. No fish swim in its turbid streams. There are indubitable evidences there of some dread judgment of God. And as Jude thought of this, he seemed to say, "Oh God, preserve us from such a doom, for this is the doom of all apostates, either in this world, or in that which is to come, thus to be consumed with fire." And as he remembered that God would keep His people, he blessed that protecting hand which covers every saint and he wrote down, "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling." I have a thought in my mind. I cannot, of course, tell whether it is right or not, but it strikes me just now--the author's name is Jude--Judas. Did he recollect Judas, his namesake that was called Iscariot, as he penned these words? He had known him, probably had respected him as the others had done. He had marked him that night when he sat at the table and like others said, "Is it I?" Probably Jude was very surprised when he saw Iscariot take the sop and dip in the dish with the Savior. And when he went out he could scarcely believe his own ears when the Savior said that he that betrayed Him had gone forth! He must have known how Judas kissed the Son of Man and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. He could not but be aware how in remorse he hanged himself and how his bowels gushed out. And I think the shadow of the doom of Judas fell upon this better Judas while he penned these words--and he seems to say with greater emphasis--"Unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, unto Him be glory forever and ever." Thus you see, dear Friends, we are getting into the track, I think, of Jude's thoughts--he thought about the failures of others and the terrible way in which they had fallen. Yet again, by your leave, Jude had a very clear view of the greatness of the sins into which apostates fall. Probably there is not in the whole compass of Holy Writ a more fearful picture of the sin of backsliders and apostates than in the Epistle of Jude. I remember preaching to you one evening from that text, "Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." I remember how you trembled--myself trembling most with such a terrible message to deliver! Where could such a text or simile be found but in the book of Jude? The sins of apostates are tremendous. They are usually not content with the average of human guilt. They must make themselves giants in iniquity. None make such devils as those that were once angels and none make such reprobates as those who once seemed to bid fair for the kingdom of Heaven! These go into filthy dreams, into sensuality--"they give themselves over to fornication and go after strange flesh," as he has put it. In fact, where can we set the bounds to which a man will go, when he crucifies the Lord that bought him and puts Him to an open shame? Oh, Beloved, as I think of the sin into which these apostates have gone, I cannot but feel that you must bless God with Jude, that there is One "who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." II. I might continue in this strain, but perhaps I had better not. I would rather turn to THE BLESSINGS OF WHICH JUDE SPEAKS. He seems to ascribe in this doxology three blessings, at least, to the power of the Lord Jesus. The first is ability to keep you from falling and for this, I am sure, the highest praise is due when you consider for a moment the dangerous way. In some respects the path to Heaven is very safe. It is so as God made it. But in other respects there is no road so dangerous as the road to eternal life. It is beset with difficulties. In some of our mountain climbing we have gone along narrow pathways where there was but a step between us and death--for deep down beneath us was a gaping precipice--perhaps a mile in perpendicular descent. One's brain reels at the thought of it now and yet we passed along quite safely. The road to Heaven is much like that. One false step, (and how easy it is to take that, if Divine Grace is absent), and down we go! What a slippery path is that which some of us have to tread. You know that there are a million opportunities in a single week for your foot to slip and for your soul to be ruined. There are some spots, I believe, upon some of the more difficult Swiss mountains where no man ought to go at all, and where, if any must go, they should be only such as have become most accomplished mountaineers through years of practice--for one has to cling to the side of the rock--to hold on, perhaps, by bushes or stones that may be there, with nothing for the feet to rest upon except, perhaps, an inch of projecting crag! And so we go creeping on with our backs to the danger, for to look down upon it would be to make the brain reel and cause us to fall. And the result of falling, of course, would be the end of life--the body would be dashed into a thousand pieces. Such is truly the way to Heaven. You must all have passed some such difficult places, and, in looking back, I can only, myself, say, "Unto Him that has kept me from falling, when my feet had well near gone and my steps had almost slipped. Unto Him be glory forever and ever!" But next you have to think of the weakness of the person. Some men may travel roads which would not be safe for others and what are you, my brother pilgrim, but a little babe? It is unsafe to trust you along the pathway to Glory. In the best roads you are soon tripped up. Those feeble knees of yours can scarcely support your tottering weight. A straw might throw you and a pebble could wound you. Oh, if you shall be kept, how must you bless the patient power which watches over you day by day! Reflect upon your tendency to sin. The giddiness of that poor brain, the silliness of that deceitful heart. Think how apt you are to choose danger--how the tendency is to cast yourselves down--how you rather are inclined to fall than to stand, and I am sure you will sing more sweetly than you have ever done, "Glory be to Him who is able to keep me from falling." Then you have to notice further the many foes who try to push you down. The road is rough enough. The child is weak enough. But here and there is an enemy who is in ambush who comes out when we least expect him and labors to trip us up, or hurl us down a precipice. I suppose you never did see a man fall from a precipice. Some of you may have been fools enough to go and see a man walk on a rope, in which case, I believe, you have incurred the guilt of murder. Because if the man does not kill himself, you encourage him to put himself where he probably might do so. But if you have ever really seen a man fall over a precipice, your hair must surely have stood on end--your flesh creeping on your bones as you saw the poor human form falling off the edge--never to stand in mortal life again! Surely as you left the place where you stood and fled away from the edge of the precipice, you cried, "O bless Him that made me stand and kept my feet from falling!" How alarmed you would be if you were in such a position and had seen one fall and that same monster who had pushed him over should come to hurl you over, also! And especially if you felt that you were as weak as water and could not resist the gigantic demon! Now just such is your case! You cannot stand against Satan! A little maid made Peter deny his Master and a little maid may make the strongest among us tremble sometimes. Oh, if we are preserved in spite of such mighty enemies who are ever waiting to destroy us, we shall have great cause to sing praises "unto Him that is able to keep us from falling." Only Christ has the power to take us into Heaven. You may keep a man from starving, but you cannot take him into the king's palace and present him at court. Suppose that a man had been a rebel. You might hide him from the pursuers and aid in his escape but you could not take him into the presence of the king and cause him to live in the royal castle of the land. But you see that Christ preserves His people though they have offended God and daily provoke His justice. And He does more, for He presents them to the King of kings in the high court of Heaven itself! This it is which makes the other blessing so great. We are not anxious to always live in this world. We find ourselves in a strange land here and would be glad to fly away and be at rest. This is to us a wilderness state and we rejoice to know that Canaan lies beyond. Our heavenly Joshua can lead us into it! He can fight for us against Amalek and slay all our foes and preserve us from falling. But better still He can and He will take us into the Promised Land and give us to see the "better country, even the heavenly," and to there will He conduct all the host so that not one shall perish or be left behind! Christ gives preservation, but He adds glorification--and that is better still! Here then, my Brothers and Sisters, is a thought of incomparable sweetness! We are safe while in this world-- "More happy, but not more secure are The glorified spirits in Heaven." And we, too, shall be, before long, as happy as they are because He will present us with them before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy! We cannot, however, enlarge on this point, though there is much, very much, that ought to be said. We proceed to notice the condition in which the saints are to be when presented--they are to be "faultless"--for our Lord never stops short of perfection in His work of love. That Savior who means to keep His people to the end will not present them at last just alive, all black and foul as when He helped them out of the miry places. He will not bring them in, as sometimes gallant men have to bring those whom they have rescued from drowning, with just the vital spark within them. No, our Savior will carry His people safe from falling through this life and He will present them, how?--faultless! Oh, that is a wondrous word, "faultless"! We are a long way off from it now. Faulty, yes. We are now faulty through and through--but Jesus Christ will never be content till we are faultless. And this He will make us in three ways--He will wash us till there is not a spot left, for the chief of sinners shall be as white and fair as God's purest angel. The eyes of justice will look and God will say, "No spot of sin remains in you." You may have been a drunkard, a thief, an adulterer and what not--but if Christ, in mercy, undertakes your case, He will wash you in His blood so thoroughly that you shall be faultless at last! You will be without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Now we are defiled and covered with sin as if we had "lay among the pots." We have reveled in unclean-ness till we are as if we had been "plunged in the ditch." Our own flesh must abhor us if we could but see how defiled we are by nature and by practice. Now all this shall be completely removed and we shall be whiter than snow! You remember that when the disciples looked at Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, they saw that His garments were white and glistening--whiter than any fuller could make them! And so shall we be hereafter--whiter and fairer than any earthly art can attain to. The sea of glass, clear as crystal, will not be whiter nor purer than we shall be when washed in the blood of the Lamb. But that is only one way. If a man had no faults it would still be necessary for him to have some virtues. A man cannot enter Heaven simply because transgression is put away. The Law must be kept! There must be a positive obedience to Divine precepts. Religion is no negation, an absence of things merely evil. It is the presence of the good, the true, the pure. But since even when we do our best we shall be unprofitable servants, we need something higher than we can ever produce by these, our feeble and sinful powers! Therefore the Lord our God imputes to us the perfect righteousness of His Son Christ Jesus, for-- "Lest the shadow of a spot Should on my soul be found, He took the robe the Savior worked, And cast it all around." The righteousness of Jesus Christ will make the saint who wears it so fair that he will be positively faultless! Yes, perfect in the sight of God! There is a fullness in this which it delights my soul to dwell upon. A man may be faultless in my sight, but not in the sight of those who know him intimately. A Christian may be so holy as to escape the censure of all just men. But ministering spirits, who read the heart and deal with the inner man, can speak of evil which has not come to light before human eyes. And we know that God sees even more clearly than angelic spirits, for He charges them with folly. Now, God is to see no iniquity in us, no shortcoming. We shall be tried in His scales and set in the light of His Countenance and be pronounced "faultless." God's Law will not only have no charge against us, but it will be magnified in us and honored by us. We shall have imputed to us that righteousness which belongs to Him who has done all this for us that He might "present us faultless before the presence of His glory." Fourthly and best, perhaps, the Spirit of God will make new creatures of us. He has begun the work and He will finish it. He will make us so perfectly holy that we shall have no tendency to sin any more. The day will come when we shall feel that Adam in the garden was not more pure than we are. You shall have no taint of evil in you. Judgment, memory, will--every power and passion shall be emancipated from the thralldom of evil. You shall be holy even as God is holy and in His Presence you shall dwell forever! How altered we shall be! Look within and see if your experience is not like the Apostle Paul's who found a potent law in his members so that when he would do good, evil was present with him--and when he desired to escape some evil, he did at times the very thing he allowed not but would most heartily condemn! So is it with us--we would be holy, but we are like a ball that has a bias in it--we cannot go in a straight and direct line. We try to hit the mark but we are prone to start on one side like a deceitful bow. There is a black drop in our hearts which taints all the streams and none of them can be pure. But it will be all changed one day--we shall be re-made and all the evil gone, gone forever! How joyous must have been the entrance of Naaman, the Assyrian, into his house after he had washed in Jordan's stream and found his flesh restored to him as the flesh of a little child! I think I see him as the watchman on the tower has given notice of his approach in the distance. The whole household is at the gate to meet him and to see if he comes back in health. His wife, if eastern customs would not permit her going forth in public, would look from her easement to catch a glimpse of his face--to see if the dread spots were gone. How joyful the shout--"He is cured and clean!" But this is nothing compared with the rapture of that hour when the everlasting doors will be lifted up and we, made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, shall enter into the joy of our Lord! Or take another illustration from Scripture and try and realize the happiness which reigned in the family of the maniac out of whom the legion of devils had departed. Perhaps he had been home before when under the evil influence of the foul fiends--how terrified they doubtless were with the mad frenzy of the poor unhappy wretch as he cut himself with stones and broke all bonds put on him in tenderness and love in order to restrain his self-imposed misery and wounds. And now, as he comes once more to his house, they see him approach and the old terror seizes them because they know not that he is a changed man, but suppose him still to be the demented being of days gone by. But he enters the door as calm and composed as if he had returned from a long journey and was only anxious to relate the incidents of the pilgrimage and greet loved friends once more! With no fierce frenzy rolling in his eyes, no loud discordant shrieks rending the air, all is the demeanor of a well-regulated, joyful, yet chastened mind! As all this is realized by his friends and they hear what great things the Lord has done for him! What joy must have been in that family circle! I should like to have seen it. I am sure it was a choice exhibition of real human bliss such as earth only witnesses now and then. It must have been a beam of purest radiance lighting up the scene, like the splendor which Saul of Tarsus saw on the road to Damascus as it lit up the day when he was made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Here, also, we can most truthfully say that the joy, though great, was not comparable to the joy which shall be ours when we are changed into new creatures--when we shall be clothed and in our right mind--no longer prone to wander among the black mountains of iniquity and no more tempted to abide among those dead in trespasses and sins. Then we shall be ever holy and always living unto God and made like He! Oh this is joy indeed! Not only will He keep us from falling, but He will present us faultless! My Brothers and Sisters, at the thought of this I think you must join with Jude and say, "Now unto Him that is able to do all this, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever." I cannot speak to you as I would wish upon such a theme as this--who could? But when we get to Heaven our song shall be more sweet, more loud, because we shall understand better the dangers from which we have escaped and how very much we owe to Him who has kept us and brought us safely through all the vicissitudes of life, unto the place He has prepared for us. Meanwhile, never let us be forgetful of that mighty goodness which holds us fast and will not let us go. III. Still I have not done with the text. I have already forestalled my next thought, but I think it requires a special notice. Observe, the Apostle adds, "To present us faultless before His presence, WITH EXCEEDING GREAT JOY." Who will have the joy? My Brothers and Sisters, you will have it! Have you ever mused upon the parable of the Prodigal Son? I know you have! No one can have diligently read the Bible without staying to think over, again and again, of that most tender and instructive of our Lord's parables. Now, I ask, Who was happy at that feast? Don't you think it was the prodigal? What was the character of those thoughts filling his heart and making it heave as if it would burst? How overjoyed he must have been! How utterly crushed down with his father's love and all the unexpected marks of kindness and affection! He had had his days of feasting and sinful merriment, but no songs could ever have been so sweet as those which rung round the old roof-tree to welcome him home! No viands had ever tasted so delicious as that fatted calf! And no voice of any companion or witching charmer at his guilty feasts had ever sounded such melodious notes in his ears as those words ofhis father, "Let us eat and be merry." So will it be with us when we have been restored to ourselves--when wearied of the world and hungering and thirsting after righteousness we shall have been led to the Father's house by the cords of love which the Spirit shall cast around us. When safely brought through all the weary pilgrimage from the far-off country, we shall tread the golden streets and be safe inside the pearly gates and have the past all gone forever among the things we never shall meet again. What rapture will be ours! This will be Heaven, indeed, when sin shall be gone, Satan shut out, temptation gone forever! You shall have a joy of which you cannot now conceive. Rivers of pleasure shall flow into your soul! You shall drink such draughts of bliss as your soul has never known this side the grave. Oh, be joyful now with a respite of the joy which is to be revealed!