__________________________________________________________________ Title: Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 23: 1877 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 __________________________________________________________________ The Two "Comes" (No. 1331) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, DECEMBER 31, 1876, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who thirsts come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Revelation 22:17. OUR text stands at the end of the Bible even as this day stands at the end of the year--and it is full of Gospel even as we would make our closing Sabbath discourse. It would seem as if the Holy Spirit were loath to put down the pen while so many remained unbelieving, notwithstanding the testimony of the Inspired Word and, therefore,, before He closes the canon of Holy Scripture and guards it against all addition or mutilation, with most solemn words He gives one more full, free, earnest, gracious invitation to thirsty souls to come to Christ and drink! So on this last page of the year I would gladly write another Gospel invitation that those who have not, up to now, believed our report, may, even on this last day of the feast, incline their ears and accept the message of salvation! Before yet the midnight bell proclaims the birth of a new year, may you be born to God! At any rate, once more shall the Truth of God, by which men are regenerated, be lovingly brought under your attention. I ask those of you who have the Master's ear to put up this request to Him just now, that if the arrows have missed the mark on the previous 52 Sabbaths, they may strike the target this time, being directed by the Divine Spirit. Pray, also, that if some have kept the door of their hearts fast closed against the Lord Jesus till now, He may, Himself, come in the preaching of the Word, this morning, and put in His hand by the hole of the door, that their hearts may be moved for Him. In answer to that prayer we shall be sure to get a blessing! Let us expect it and act upon the expectation and we shall see men flying to Jesus as a cloud, and as doves to their windows! Are not the Words of our text the Words of the Lord Jesus? Can they be regarded as the words of John? I think not, for they follow so closely upon the undoubted language of Jesus in the former verse. Thus runs the passage--"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come!" We can hardly, I think, divide the paragraph, and we must, it seems to me, regard our text as the Words of the risen Jesus, that Morning Star whose cheering beams foretell the glorious day! The lover of men's souls was not quite done speaking to sinners--there was a little more to say and here He says it. The Divine Redeemer, leaning from His Throne where He sits as the reward of His accomplished work, and bending over sinners with the same love which led Him to die for them, says, "Let him who hears say, Come! And let him who thirsts come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Looking at the words, therefore, in that golden light as coming from the dear lips of the Well-Beloved, let us notice first, the heavenward cry of prayer--"The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come!" These voices go upward to Christ. Then, secondly, let us hear the earthward cry of invitation--"Let him who thirsts come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." That cry goes outward and downward towards needy and sorrowing spirits. Then, thirdly, we shall pause awhile to notice the relation between these two cries, for the coming of Christ is connected with the coming of sinners. And then, as best we can, we shall observe and expect the response to the two cries--both from Him who sits in the heavens and from souls thirsting here below. O Divine Spirit, bless the Word! I. First, then, our text begins with THE HEAVENWARD CRY OF PRAYER, 'The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him that hears say, Come!''" I think it will be evident, if you read carefully, that this cannot be interpreted as being only the voice of the Spirit and the bride to the sinner. Surely the sense requires us to regard this cry of, "Come!" as addressed to our Lord Jesus, who in a previous verse had been saying, "Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me." We may see the second included in it, but it will never do to exclude the first. We shall not have dealt honestly with the words before us unless we regard them, first, as spoken upwards towards our Lord whose coming is our great hope. The matter of this cry is first to be noticed--it is the coming of Christ. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come!" This is, and always has been, the universal cry of the Church of Jesus Christ! There is no one common theory about the exact meaning of that coming, but there is one common desire for it, in some form or other. Some of us are expecting the bodily coming because the angel said, when the cloud concealed the rising Christ, "This same Jesus who is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into Heaven." We therefore look for His descent upon the earth in Person, to be here, literally, among us. Some expect that when He comes it will be to reign upon the earth, making all things new and bringing to His people a glorious period of a thousand years in which there shall be perpetual Sabbath rest. Others think that when He comes He will come to judge the world and that the day of His appearing is rather to be regarded as the end of all things and the conclusion of this dispensation than as the commencement of the age of gold. There are some who think the millennium a dream and the coming of Christ in Person to be a mere fancy--they believe that He will come spiritually-- and they are looking for a time when the Gospel shall spread very wonderfully and there will be an extraordinary power about the ministrations of the Word. They believe that nations shall run to Him and be converted to His Truth. Now it would be very interesting to take up these various statements and speculations, but we do not want to do so, because, after all, in whatever way men look at it, all the true people of God still desire the coming of Christ, and so long as He draws near they are content! They may have, more or less light about the manner of it, but still the coming of Christ has been always, since the time when He departed, the great wish and desire, yes, and the agonizing prayer of the Church of God. "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus," is the cry of the whole host of the Lord's elect! It is true that some have not always desired this coming from motives of the most commendable kind. Many become more than ever earnest in this prayer when they have been in a state of disappointment and sorrow, but still, that which they desire is a right thing and a promised blessing to be given in its time. I suppose the trial of sorrow will always give a keener edge to the desire of Christ's coming. Luther, on one occasion, when much discouraged, said, "May the Lord come at once! Let Him cut the whole matter short with the Day of Judgment, for there is no amendment to be expected." When we get into this state of mind, the desire, though right in appearance, may not be quite as pure as we think. Desires and prayers which grow out of unbelief and insolence can hardly be of the very best order! Perhaps when we more patiently wait and quietly hope, we may not be quite so feverishly anxious for the speedy coming. And yet our state of mind may be more sober and more truly watchful and acceptable than when we showed more apparent eagerness. Waiting must sit side by side with desiring--patience must blend with hope. The Lord's, "quickly," may not be my, "quickly," and if so, let Him do what seems good to Him! It may be a better thing, after all, for our Lord to tarry a little longer, so that by a more lengthened conflict He may the better manifest the patience of the saints and the power of the eternal Spirit! It may be the Lord may linger yet a while, and if so, while the Church desires His speedy advent, she will not quarrel with her Master, nor dictate to Him, nor even wish to know the times and the seasons. "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly," is her heart's inmost wish, but as for the details of His coming, she leaves them in His hands. Having noted the matter of the cry, let us next observe the persons crying. The Spirit is first mentioned--"The Spirit and the bride say, Come!" And why does the Holy Spirit desire the coming of the Lord Jesus? At present the Spirit is, so to speak, the vicegerent of this dispensation upon earth. Our Lord Jesus is gone into the heavens, for it was expedient for Him to go, but the Comforter, whom the Father has sent in His name, has taken His place as our Teacher and abides on earth continually as the Witness to the Truth of God and the Worker for it in the minds of men. But the Spirit of God is daily grieved during this season of long-suffering and conflict. How much He is provoked all the world over is not possible for us to know. The 40 years in the wilderness must have become as nothing compared with 19 centuries of rebellious generations! The ungodly vex Him, they reject His Testimony and resist His operations. And, alas, the saints grieve Him, too. You and I have, I fear, grieved Him often during the past year and so He desires the end of this evil estate and says to our Lord Jesus, "Come!" Beside, the Spirit's great objective and desire is to glorify Christ, even as our Lord says, "He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine and show them unto you." Now, as the coming of Christ will be the full manifestation of the Redeemer's Glory, the Spirit, therefore, desires that He may come and take to Himself His great power and reign. The Holy Spirit seals us "unto the day of redemption," having ever an eye to that great event. His work tends towards its completion in the day of the appearing of the sons of God. He "is the Earnest of our inheritance till the redemption of the purchased possession." Therefore does the Spirit have sympathy in the groans of His saints for the glorious appearing--and it is especially in this connection that He is described as helping our infirmities and making intercession for us with groans which cannot be uttered. In this sense the Spirit says, "Come!" Indeed, all such cries of, "Come!" in this world are of His prompting! Our text, next, tells us that "the bride says, Come!" We all know that the bride is the Church, but perhaps we have not noticed the peculiarity of her name. It is not, "the Spirit and the Church say, Come!" But, "the Spirit and the bride," for she says, "Come!" always more fervently when she realizes her near and dear relationship to her Lord and all that it involves. Now, a bride is one whose marriage is near, either as having just happened or as close at hand. She is far more than merely engaged--either she is married or about to be--although the actual marriage feast may not have been celebrated yet. So is the Church very nearly arrived at the grand hour when it shall be said, "The marriage of the Lamb is come and His bride has made herself ready." And because of that, she is full of joy at the prospect of hearing the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom comes!" Who marvels that it is so? It would be unnatural if there were no desire on the part of the Church to see her Beloved Lord and Head. Is it not as it should be, when the bride says, "Come!"? I wish to call your attention to the fact that while I have made two of the persons mentioned in the text for the purpose of discoursing upon them in due order, yet they are not divided in the passage before us. It does not say the Spirit says, "Come!" and the bride says, "Come!" but, "the Spirit and the bride say, Come!" That is to say, the Spirit of God speaks by the Church when He cries, "Come!" And the Church cries unto Christ for His coming because she is moved of the Holy Spirit! True prayer is always a joint work--the Holy Spirit within us writes acceptable desires upon our hearts and then we present them! The Holy Spirit does not plead apart from our desiring and believing--we must, ourselves, desire and will and plead and agonize because the Spirit of God works in us so to will and to do. We plead with God because we are prompted and guided by His Holy Spirit! Our pleadings, which go up to Heaven for the advent of Jesus, are the Holy Spirit crying in the hearts of the blood-bought! The Church, herself, prays in the Holy Spirit, instantly crying day and night for the fulfillment of the greatest of all the Covenant promises-- Come, Lord, and tarry not! Bring the long looked-for day! Oh, why these years of waiting here, These ages of delay? Come, for Your saints still wait! Daily ascends their sigh. The Spirit and the bride say, Come! Do You not hear the cry?" The next clause of the text indicates that each separate Believer should breathe the same desire, "Let Him that hears say, Come!" Brethren, this will be the index of your belonging to the bride! This is the token of your sharing in the one Spirit and being joined unto the one body--if you unite with the Spirit and the bride in saying, "Come!" No ungodly man truly desires Christ's coming. On the contrary, he desires to get away from Him and forget His very existence! To delight in drawing near unto the Lord Jesus Christ is an evidence of our election and calling. To wish more and more fully to know Him and to dwell more near to Him is the token of our having been reconciled unto God by His death and of our having a new nature implanted in us! To long to see Jesus Christ manifested in fullness of His Glory is the ensign of a true soldier of the Cross. Do you feel this? Do you desire to be better acquainted with the Lord Jesus? You have heard the Gospel--do you say, as the Church does, "Come, Lord Jesus"? Alas, to many, the Day of the Lord will be darkness and not light! They cannot desire it, for it will be a day of terror and confusion to them! But unto such as have heard and believed in the precious name of the Son of God, it will be joy and peace and, therefore,, the cry of their heart is, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" This utterance of "Come!" by him that hears it, is the mark of his joyful consent to the fact that Christ shall come! It is well, my Friend, if when you hear that Christ will come, you say, "Let Him come." If He comes to reign, let Him, for, blessed be His name, who should reign but He? If He descends to judge the earth, let Him come, for we shall be justified at His bar! His ends and objectives in coming cannot but be loaded with infinite benefit to us and Glory to our God and, therefore,, we would not delay His chariot wheels by so much as an hour-- "Hasten Lord, the promised hour! Come in Glory and in power! Still Your foes are not subdued-- Nature sighs to be renewed. Time has nearly reached its sum, All things with Your bride, say, 'Come!' Jesus, whom all worlds adore, Come and reign forevermore!" The saying of, "Come!" by each true hearer is the sign that his heart responds to the doctrine which he has been taught. We have received it by Revelation that Christ is to come and our souls say, "Even so, Come Lord Jesus! It is our happiness that it should be so." Thus have we mentioned the persons by whom this cry is uttered and now let us add a word upon the tense in which the cry is put. It is in the present tense. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come!" The Spirit and the bride are anxious that Christ should come at once. And he that knows Christ and loves Him desires, also, that He should not tarry. Look, my Brothers and Sisters, is it not time, as far as our poor judgments go, that Jesus should come? See how iniquity abounds! Behold our very streets, how foul they are with sin! See how errors are multiplied--do they not swarm in the Church of God, itself? Have not heresies come down like birds of prey upon the sacrifice, to pollute even the altars of the Most High? See at this present time how skeptics defy the living God! They hiss out from between their teeth the question, "Where is the promise of His coming, for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were?" Behold how Antichrist stalks boldly through the land! Superstitions which your fathers could not bear are, again, set up among you! The graven images, crosses, crucifixes and sacraments--many gods and many lords of old Rome have come back to England--and they are worshipped in her national Church! In England, stained with the blood of martyrs, once again the mark of the Beast is to be seen on the foreheads of those whom she feeds to teach her people! Is it not time that the Lord should come? O hoary systems of superstition, what else can shake you from your thrones! O gods that have long ruled over superstitious minds, who else can hurl you to the moles and to the bats? You know Him who made you quiver on your thrones on that night when He was born in Bethlehem's manger and you may well tremble, for when He comes it will be with an iron rod to dash you into shivers! "Even so," we cry, "Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly! Amen." II. Now, secondly, let us listen to THE EARTHWARD CRY OF INVITATION TO MEN. I must confess I cannot quite tell you how it is that the sense in my text glides away from the coming of Christ to the earth into the coming of sinners to Christ, but it does! Like colors which blend, or strains of music which melt into each other, so the first sense slides into the second. This almost insensible transition seems, to me, to have been occasioned by the memory of the fact that the coming of Christ is not desirable to all mankind. There are the unbelievers who have not obeyed Him and when they hear the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" straightway they begin to tremble and they say within themselves, "What if He should come! Alas, we rejected Him and His coming will be our destruction." I think I hear some such sinners weeping and wailing at the very thought of the Lord's coming, for they know that they, also, who have pierced Him must behold Him and weep because of Him! It seems almost cruel on the part of the bride and the Spirit to be saying, "Come!" when that coming must be for the overthrow of all the adversaries of the Lord! And so Jesus, Himself, seems gently to turn aside the prayer of His people while He pleads with the needy ones. He lets the prayer flow towards Himself, but yet directs its flow towards you sinners, also. He, Himself, seems to say, "You bid Me come, but I, as the Savior of men, look at your brothers and your sisters who are yet in the far country, the other sheep which are not yet of the fold, whom I, also, must bring in. And in answer to your cry to Me to come I speak to those wandering ones, and say, 'Let him who thirsts come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'" Is not that the way in which the sense glides from its first direction? Now, from whom does this cry arise? It first comes from Jesus. It is He who says, "Let him who thirsts come." The passage so stands, as I have already said, that we cannot but believe this verse to have been the utterance of Him who is the Root and Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star. He, out of Heaven, cries to the unconverted, "Let him who thirsts come." Will they refuse Him that speaks? Shall Jesus, Himself, invite them and will they turn a deaf ear? But next, it is the call of the Spirit of God. The Spirit says, "Come!" This Book which He has written, on every page says to men, "Come! Come to Jesus!" This is the cry of the Spirit in the preaching of the Word. What do sermons and discourses mean but, "Come Sinner, come!"? And those secret motions of power upon the conscience. Those times when the heart grows calm, even amid dissipation, and thought is forced upon the mind--those are the movements of the Spirit of God by which He is showing man his danger and revealing to him his Refuge--and so is saying, "Come!" All over the world, wherever there is a Bible and a preacher, the Spirit is saying, "Come!" And this is the speech of the Church, too, in conjunction with the Spirit, for the Spirit speaks with the bride and the bride speaks by the Spirit. The Church is always saying, "Come!" This is, indeed, the meaning of her Sabbath gatherings, of her testimony in the pulpit, of her teaching in the schools, of her prayers and her exhortations. Everywhere, poor wandering Hearts, the Church of God is saying to you, "Come!" Or if she does not do so, she is not acting in her true character as the bride of Christ. For this purpose is there a Church in the world! If it were not for this, our Lord might take His people Home as soon as they have believed, but they are kept here to be a seed to keep the Truth of God alive in the world. And their daily earnest cry to you is, "Come, come to Jesus!" "The Spirit and the bride say, Come!" The next giver of the invitation is spoken of as, "Him that hears." If you have had an ear to hear and have heard the Gospel to your own salvation, the very next thing you have to do is to say to those around you, "Come!" Go and speak to anybody that you meet! Speak to everybody that you meet according as opportunity and occasion shall be given you! And say what all the Church says and what the Spirit is saying--namely, "Come!" Give your Master's invitation! Distribute the testimony of His loving will and bid poor sinners come to Jesus! Your children and your servants--bid them come! Your neighbors and your Friends--bid them come! The strangers and the far-off ones--bid them come! The harlot and the thief--bid such come! Those that are in the highways and the hedges! Those who are far off from God by abominable works--say unto all these--"Come!" Because you have heard the message and proved its truth, go and call in others to the feast of love! Oh, if there were more of these individual proclaimers, what blessings would descend upon London! I do not know how many Believers in Christ there are present here, but I do know that there are 5,000 of us associated in Church fellowship at this Tabernacle. And if the whole of these 5,000 would but begin to bear witness for Christ with all their might, there would be salt enough even within this one Tabernacle to season all London, with God's blessing upon our efforts! My Brothers and Sisters, let us not be slow to address ourselves to those to whom the Spirit of God within us, the voice of Jesus from above and the cry of the whole Church is addressed! Let each individual member take up the note of invitation till all around, the trembling Sinner hears the encouraging cry of, "Come!" Now, notice the remarkably encouraging character of this, "Come!" which is given by the Spirit of the bride. One part of it is directed to the thirsty--"Let him who thirsts come." By thirst is meant necessity and an appetite for its supply. Do you feel yourself guilty, and do you desire pardon?--you are a thirsty one! Are you disquieted and filled with unrest, and do you long to be pacified in heart?--you are a thirsty one! Is there a something, you know not, perhaps, what it is, for which you are sighing, and crying and pining? You are a thirsty one and to you is the invitation most positively and distinctly given, "Let him who thirsts come." But how much I rejoice that the second half of the invitation does not contain even an apparent limit, as this first sentence has been thought to do! I regard the thirst here mentioned as by no means requiring of any man that he should have gone through a process of horror on account of guilt, or should have been overwhelmed with conviction and driven to despair of salvation. I believe that any desire and any longing will come under the description of, "thirst." But since some have stumbled at it and have said again and again, "I feel I do not thirst enough," see how sweetly the second clause of our text puts it--"Whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Whether you are thirsty or not, yet have you a will to drink? Have you a will to be saved? Have you a will to be cleansed from sin? A will to be made a new creature in Christ Jesus? Do you will to have eternal life? Then thus says the Spirit to you, "Whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Now, notice three vast doors through which the biggest and most elephantine sinner that ever made the earth shake beneath the weight of his guilt may go. Here are the three doors. "Whoever"--"Will"--"Freely." "Whoever" is the first door. "Whoever"--then what man dares have the impudence to say that he is shut out? If you say that you cannot come in under, "whoever," I ask you how you dare narrow a word which is, in itself, so broad, so infinite? "Whoever"--that must mean every man that ever lived or ever shall live while yet he is here and wills to come! Well, then, the word, "will." There is nothing about past character, nor present character. There is nothing about knowledge, or feeling, nor anything else but the will--"Whoever will." Speak of the gate standing ajar! This looks to me like taking the door right off the hinges and carrying it away! "Whoever will." There is no hindrance whatever in your way. And then, "freely." God's gifts are given without any expectation or recompense, or any requirements and conditions--"Let him take the water of life freely." You have not to bring your good feelings, or good desires, or good works--just come and take freely what God gives you for nothing! You are not even to bring repentance and faith in order to obtain Divine Grace--you are to come and accept repentance and faith as the gifts of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. What broad gates of mercy these are! How wide the entrance which Love has prepared for coming souls! "Whoever!" "Will!" "Freely!" Observe how the invitation sums up the work the sinner is called upon to do. First, he is bid to come. "Whoever will, let him come." Now, to come to Christ means simply for the soul to draw near to Him by trusting Him. You are not asked to bring a load with you, nor to work for Christ in order to earn salvation, but just to come to Him. Nothing is said about the style of coming--come running or creeping, come boldly or timidly--for if you do but come to Jesus, He will in no wise cast you out. A simple reliance upon the Lord Jesus is the one essential for eternal life! Then the next direction is, "take." "Whoever will, let him take." That is all. That word, "take," is a grand word to express the Gospel. The world's gospel is, "bring." Christ's Gospel is, "take." Nature's gospel is, "make." Just change the letter and you have the Gospel of Divine Grace which is, "take." There is the water, dear Friends! You have not to dig a well to find it--you have only to take it. There is the bread of Heaven, you have not to grind the flour or bake the loaf, you have only to take it. There is a garment woven from the top throughout and without a seam--you have not to add a fringe to it--you have only to take it! The way of salvation may be summed up in the four letters of the word, "take." Do you desire Christ? Take Him. Do you need pardon? Take it. Do you need a new heart? Take it. Do you want peace on earth? Take it. Do you want Heaven hereafter? Take it--that is all. "Whoever will, let him take the water of life freely." And there is one other word which I love to dwell on, and it comes twice over, "Let him who thirsts come, and whoever will let him take." It is graciously said, let him. It seems to me as if the Lord Jesus Christ saw a poor soul standing thirsty at the flowing crystal fountain of His Love and the devil, standing there, whispered to him, "You see the sacred stream, but it flows for others. It is what you need, but you must not have it, it is not for you." Listen! There is a voice from beyond the clouds which cries aloud, "Let him take it!" Stand back, Satan, let the willing one come! He is putting down his lips to drink--he understands, now--but there comes rushing upon him hosts of his old sins, like so many winged bats, and they scream out to him, "Go back! You must not draw near! This fountain is not for you--this pure crystal stream must not be defiled by such leprous lips as yours!" Again there comes from the Throne of Love this blessed password, "Let him come and let him take." It is as when a man is in court and is called to go into the witness box. He is standing in the crowd and his name is called. What happens? As soon as he hears his name he begins to push through the throng to reach his place. "What are you doing?" asks one. "I am called," he says. "Stand back! Why do you push so?" asks another. "I am called by the Judge," he says. A big policeman demands, "Why are you making such confusion in court?" "But," says the man, "I am called. My name was called out and I must come." If he cannot come. If it is not possible for him to get through the throng, one of the authorities calls out, "Make way for that man--he is summoned by the court. Officers, clear a passage and let him come." Now the Lord Jesus calls the thirsty one and He says, "Whoever will, let him come!" Make way, doubts! Make way, sins! Make way, fears! Make way, devils! Make way, all of you, for Jesus Christ, the great King and Judge of all has said, "Let him come!" Who shall hinder when Jesus permits? He who is divinely called shall surely come to Jesus! Come he shall, regardless of whomever may stand in his way! This morning I feel as if I could come to Jesus all over again and I will do so! Do you not feel the same, my Beloved Brothers and Sisters? Well then, dear Brothers and Sisters, after you have done so, turn round and proclaim this precious Gospel invitation to all around you! Say to them, "Come and take the water of life freely!" III. The third point is THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THESE TWO COMINGS. Is there any relation between the coming of Christ from Heaven to earth, and the coming of poor sinful creatures to Christ and trusting Him? There is this relation, first, that they are both suggested in this passage by the closing of the Scriptural Canon. John is about to write, by the voice of the Lord, that none are to add to or take from the completed Book of God. The Church says, "If there are no more Prophets to proclaim the mind of God, no more Apostles to write with infallible authority and no more instructors to give forth new revelations, or bring new promises, then it only remains that the Lord should come. "Then," she says, "Come, Lord Jesus!" And here are the sinners standing round and they hear that no other Gospel is to be expected, no more revelations are to be added to those which are in this Bible. They hear there will be no other Atonement, no other way of salvation. Therefore it is their wisdom to come at once to Jesus! It is because the Book was about to receive its finis that the Spirit and the bride unitedly cried to the sinners to come at once! No fresh Gospel is to be expected, therefore let them come at once! Why should they tarry any longer? The oxen and fatlings are killed, come to the supper! All things are ready, there is nothing more to be done or to be revealed! Upon us the ends of the earth have come. "It is finished" has rung through earth and Heaven, therefore-- "Come and welcome, Sinner, come!" I think I perceive another connection, namely, that those people who, in very truth love Christ enough to cry to Him continually to come, are sure to love sinners, also, and to say to them, "Come!" Not that there are not some who talk a great deal about Christ's coming and yet manifest but small care for other men's souls. Well, it is talk--the profession of looking for the Second Advent is nothing but talk when it does not lead people to cry to perishing men, "Come to Christ!" He who loves Christ so very much that he is quite wrapped up in himself and forgets the dying millions around him. He who stands star-gazing into Heaven, expecting to see a sudden Glory to take himself away does not understand what he says! For if he really loved his Lord, he would set to work for Him and would show that he expected the King to come by endeavoring to extend His kingdom! There is this connection, also, that before Christ comes a certain number of His elect must be gathered in. He shall not come until an appointed company shall have been brought to eternal life by the preaching of the Word. Oh then, Brothers and Sisters, it is ours to labor that the wanderers may come home, for so we are, as far as lies in us, hastening the time when our Beloved, Himself, shall come! Once more, there is a sort of coming of Christ which, though it is not the first meaning here, may be included in it, for it touches the center of the sinner's coming to Christ. Because, Brethren, when we cry, "Come, Lord Jesus!" if He shall answer us by giving us of His Spirit more fully, so that He comes to us spiritually, then penitent souls will assuredly be brought to His feet. We know this, that wherever the Lord, Himself, is in a meeting, hearts are sure to be broken and repentance is certain to be manifested! Wherever Jesus Christ is in power, there must be a revival, for dead souls must come to life in Him. The great thing we need above all others is a grip of that glorious promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world," and as we, in this sense, obtain the coming of the Lord, we shall see sinners come and take of the water of life freely! IV. Well then, lastly, WHAT ARE THE RESPONSES? We sent up a cry to Heaven and said, "Come!" The response is, "Behold, I come quickly." That is eminently satisfactory. You may have to wait awhile, but the cry is heard and if the Lord should not come in your lifetime, the same preparation of heart which made you look for His coming will be blessedly useful to you if He sends His messenger to take you Home by death. The same waiting and watching will answer in either case, so you need not be under any distress about which of the two shall happen! Christ will descend to earth as surely as He ascended to Heaven! And when He comes there will be victory to the right and to the true--and His saints shall reign with Him! And now concerning this other cry of, "Come!"--we ask sinners to come. We have asked them in a fourfold voice--Jesus, the Spirit, the bride, and him that hears--they have all said, "Come!" Will they come? Brothers and Sisters, it is a question which I cannot answer. You must not ask me, for I do not know! You had better ask the persons, themselves! They are of age, ask them. Take care that you ask them before they get out of the Tabernacle this morning! They know and, therefore,, they can tell you whether they mean to come or not. This I will say to them--my dear Friends, I trust that this last day of the year may be, to you, a day of mercy! The Jews had a Feast of Ingatherings at the end of the year and I earnestly pray that we may have a gathering in of precious souls to Christ before the year quite runs out--that would be a grand finish to this year of Grace and a sweet encouragement for the future! But suppose you do not come. Well, you have been invited. If a Christmas feast is provided for the poor and a number of beggars are standing shivering outside in the sleet and snow, but will not come in, though earnestly bid, we say, "Well, you have been invited. What more do you need?" Remember, also, that you have been invited very earnestly. The Spirit, the bride and him that hears--and Jesus, Himself--they have all said to you, "Come!" I am as the man that hears and I have said, "Come!" I do not know how to say it more earnestly than I have said it. Oh, how would my soul delight if everyone here came to Christ at this moment! I would ask no greater joy out of Heaven to crown this year with! You are invited and you are earnestly invited--what more do you need? If you never come, you will have this thought to haunt you forever--"I was invited and pressed again and again, but I would not come." I want you to remember, too, that you are called to come now, at once! You may not be bid to come tomorrow for several reasons. You may not be alive, or there may be no earnest person near to invite you. Can there be a better day than today? You have always said, "Tomorrow," yet where are you now? Not a bit closer, some of you, than you were 10 years ago! Do you remember that sermon when you were made to tremble so and you said, "Please God, if I get out of this, I will seek Your face"? But you postponed it and are you any closer now? You remember the story of the country man who would not cross the river just yet, but sat down and said he would wait until all the water had gone by? He waited a long time in vain and he might have waited forever, for rivers are always flowing. You, too, are waiting till a more convenient season shall come and all the difficulties shall have gone by. Forget about such supreme folly! There will always be difficulty! The river will always flow! O man, be wise! Plunge into it and swim across! Now is the accepted time and now is the day of salvation! Oh that you would believe in Jesus Christ! May His Spirit lead you to do so now!-- Only trust Him! Only trust Him! Only trust Him now! He will save you! He will save you! He will save you now!" Cast yourselves upon the blood and merits of the Lord Jesus and the great work is done! The Lord help you to do so. Amen. Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon--Revelation 22 HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--917, 345, 509. __________________________________________________________________ Our Urgent Need of the Holy Spirit (No. 1332) DELIVERED ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, JANUARY 7, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Through the po wer of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13. "By the power of the Spirit of God." Romans 15:19. I DESIRE to draw your attention, at this time, to the great necessity which exists for the continual manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit in the Church of God if by her means the multitudes are to be gathered to the Lord Jesus. I did not know how I could much better do so than by first showing that the Spirit of God is necessary to the Church of God for its own internal growth in Grace. Hence my text in the 13th verse, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit"--where it is evident that the Apostle attributes the power to be filled with joy and peace in believing, and the power to abound in hope, to the Holy Spirit. But then, I also wanted to show you that the power of the Church outside, that with which she is to be aggressive and work upon the world for the gathering out of God's elect from among men, is also this same energy of the Holy Spirit. Hence I have taken the 19th verse, for the Apostle there says that God had through him made "the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God." So you see, dear Friends, that first of all, to keep the Church happy and holy within herself there must be a manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit. And secondly, that the Church may invade the territories of the enemy and may conquer the world for Christ, but she must be clothed with the same sacred energy. We may, then, go further and say that the power of the Church for external work will be proportionate to the power which dwells within her. Gauge the energy of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of Believers and you may fairly calculate their influence upon unbelievers. Only let the Church be illuminated by the Holy Spirit and she will reflect the light and become to onlookers "fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners." Let us, by two or three illustrations, show that the outward work must always depend upon the inward force. On a cold winter's day when the snow has fallen and lies deep upon the ground, you go through a village. There is a row of cottages and you will notice that from one of the roofs the snow has nearly disappeared, while another cottage still bears a coating of snow. You do not stay to make enquiries as to the reason of the difference, for you know very well what is the cause. There is a fire burning inside the one cottage and the warmth glows through its roof, and so the snow speedily melts. In the other there is no tenant--it is a house to let and no fire burns on its hearth and no warm smoke ascends the chimney--therefore there lies the snow. Just as the warmth is inside so the melting will be outside. I look at a number of Churches and where I see worldliness and formalism lying thick upon them, I am absolutely certain that there is not the warmth of Christian life within. But where the hearts of Believers are warm with Divine Love through the Spirit of God, we are sure to see evils vanish and beneficial consequences following. We need not look within--in such a case the exterior is sufficient index. Take an illustration from political life. Here is a trouble arising between different nations. There are angry spirits stirring and it seems very likely that the Gordian knot of difficulty will never be untied by diplomacy, but will need to be cut with the sword. Everybody knows that one of the hopes of peace lies in the bankrupt condition of the nation which is likely to go to war, for if it is short of supplies, if it cannot pay its debts, if it cannot furnish the material for war, then it will not be likely to court a conflict. A country must be strong in internal resources before it can wisely venture upon foreign wars. Thus is it in the great battle of the Truth of God--a poor starving Church cannot combat the devil and his armies. Unless the Church is, herself, rich in the things of God and strong with Divine energy, she will generally cease to be aggressive and will content herself with going on with the regular routine of Christian work, crying, "Peace! Peace!" where peace should not be. She will not dare to defy the world, or to send forth her legions to conquer its provinces for Christ when her own condition is pitiably weak. The strength or weakness of a nation's money supply affects its army in its every march. And in like manner, its measure of Grace influences the Church of God in all its actions. Suffer yet another illustration. If you lived in Egypt you would notice, once each year, the Nile rising. And you would watch its increase with anxiety, because the extent of the overflow of the Nile is very much the measure of the fertility of Egypt. Now the rising of the Nile must depend upon those far-off lakes in the center of Africa--whether they shall be well filled with the melting of the snows or not. If there is a scanty supply in the higher reservoirs, there cannot be much overflow into the Nile in its after-course through Egypt. Let us translate the figure and say that, if the upper lakes of fellowship with God in the Christian Church are not well filled--if the soul's spiritual strength is not sustained by private prayer and communion with God--the Nile of practical Christian service will never rise to the flood. The one thing I want to say is this--you cannot get out of the Church what is not in it. The reservoir must be filled before it can pour forth a stream. We must, ourselves, drink of the living water till we are full--and then out of the midst of us shall flow rivers of living water--but not till then. Out of an empty basket you cannot distribute loaves and fishes, however hungry the crowd may be. Out of an empty heart you cannot speak full things, nor from a lean soul bring forth fat things full of marrow which shall feed the people of God. Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks, when it speaks to edification at all. So the first thing is to look well to home affairs and pray that God would bless us and cause His face to shine upon us, that His way may be known upon earth and His saving health among all people-- "To bless Your chosen race, In mercy, Lord, incline, And cause the brightness of Your face On all Your saints to shine. That so Your wondrous way May through the world be known; While distant lands their tribute pay, And Your salvation own." This morning, in trying to speak of the great necessity of the Church, namely, her being moved vigorously by the power of the Holy Spirit, I earnestly pray that we may enter upon this subject with the deepest conceivable reverence. Let us adore while we are meditating! Let us feel the condescension of this blessed Person of the Godhead in deigning to dwell in His people and to work in the human heart! Let us remember that this Divine Person is very sensitive. He is a jealous God. We read of His being grieved and vexed and, therefore,, let us ask His forgiveness of the many provocations which He must have received from our hands. With lowly awe let us bow before Him, remembering that if there is a sin which is unpardonable, it has a reference to Him--the sin against the Holy Spirit which shall never be forgiven--neither in this world nor in that which is to come. In reference to the Holy Spirit we stand on very tender ground, indeed. And if ever we should veil our faces and rejoice with trembling, it is while we speak of the Spirit and of those mysterious works with which He blesses us. In that lowly spirit and under the Divine overshadowing, follow me while I set before you seven works of the Holy Spirit which are most necessary to the Church--for its own good and equally necessary to her in her office of missionary from Christ to the outside world. I. To begin, then, the power of the Holy Spirit is manifested in the QUICKENING of souls to spiritual life. All the spiritual life which exists in this world is the creation of the Holy Spirit, by whom the Lord Jesus quickens whomever He wills. You and I had not life enough to know our death till He visited us! We had not light enough to perceive that we were in darkness, nor sense enough to feel our misery! We were so utterly abandoned to our own folly that, though we were naked, poor and miserable, we dreamed that we were rich and increased in goods! We were under sentence of death as condemned criminals and yet we talked about merit and reward! Yes, we were dead and yet we boasted that we were alive--counting our very death to be our life! The Spirit of God, in infinite mercy, came to us with His mysterious power and made us live. The first token of life was a consciousness of our being in the realm of death and an agony to escape from it. We began to perceive our insensibility and, if I may be pardoned such an expression, we saw our blindness. Every growth of spiritual life, from the first tender shoot until now, has also been the work of the Holy Spirit. As the green blade was His production, so is the ripening corn! The increase of life, as much life as there is at the beginning, must still come by the operation of the Spirit of God who raised up Christ from the dead. You will never have more life, Brothers and Sisters, unless the Holy Spirit bestows it upon you. Yes, you will not even know that you need more, nor groan after more, unless He works in you to desire and to agonize according to His own good pleasure. See, then, our absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit! If He were gone, we should relapse into spiritual death and the Church would become a morgue! The Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary to make everything that we do to be alive. We are sowers, Brothers and Sisters, but if we take dead seed in our seed baskets there will never be a harvest! The preacher must preach living Truths of God in a living manner if he expects to obtain a hundred-fold harvest. Too much of Church work is nothing better than the movement of a galvanized corpse! Too much of religion is done as if it were performed by a robot, or ground off by machinery. Nowadays men care little about heart and soul--they only look at outward performances. Why, I hear they have now invented a machine which talks, though surely there was talk enough without this Parisian addition to the band of prattlers! We can preach as machines, we can pray as machines and we can teach Sunday school as machines. Men can give mechanically and come to the Lord's Table mechanically--yes, and we, ourselves, shall do so unless the Spirit of God is with us! Most hearers know what it is to hear a live sermon which quivers all over with fullness of energy. You also know what it is to sing a hymn in a lively manner and you know what it is to unite in a live Prayer Meeting! But, ah, if the Spirit of God is absent, all that the Church does will be lifeless! It will be as the rustle of leaves above a tomb, the gliding of specters, the congregation of the dead turning over in their graves! As the Spirit of God is the Quickener to make us alive and our work alive, so must He specially be with us to make those alive with whom we have to deal for Jesus. Imagine a dead preacher preaching a dead sermon to dead sinners-- what can possibly come of it? Here is a beautiful essay which has been admirably elaborated and it is coldly read to the cold-hearted sinner. It smells of the midnight oil but it has no heavenly unction, no Divine power resting upon it, nor, perhaps, is that power even looked for! What good can come of such a production? As well may you try to calm the tempest with poetry or stay the hurricane with rhetoric as to bless a soul by mere learning and eloquence! It is only as the Spirit of God shall come upon God's servant and shall make the Word which He preaches to drop as a living seed into the heart, that any result can follow his ministry! And it is only as the Spirit of God shall then follow that seed and keep it alive in the soul of the listener that we can expect those who profess to be converted to take root and grow to maturity of Grace and become our sheaves at the last! We are utterly dependent here and, for my part, I rejoice in this absolute dependence! If I could have a stock of power to save souls which would be all my own, apart from the Spirit of God, I cannot suppose greater temptation to pride and to living at a distance from God! It is well to be weak in self and better, still, to be nothing--to simply be the pen in the hand of the Spirit of God--unable to write a single letter upon the tablets of the human heart except as the hand of the Holy Spirit shall use us for that propose. That is really our position and we ought practically to take it up! And doing so, we shall continually cry to the Spirit of God to quicken us in all things and quicken all that we do--and quicken the Word as it drops into the sinner's ears. I am quite certain that a Church which is devoid of life cannot be the means of life-giving to the dead sinners around it. No! Everything acts after its kind and we must have a living Church for living work! O that God would quicken every member of this Church! "What," you ask, "do you think some of us are not alive unto God?" Brothers and Sisters, there are some of you, concerning whom I am certain, as far as one can judge of another, that you have life, for we can see it in all that you do! But there are some others of you, concerning whose spiritual life one has to exercise a good deal of faith and a great deal more charity, for we do not perceive in you much activity in God's cause, nor care for the souls of others, nor zeal for the Divine Glory! If we do not see any fruits, what can we do but earnestly pray that you may not turn out to be barren trees? That is the first point and we think it is as clear as possible that we must have the quickening power of the Spirit for ourselves if we are to be the means in the hand of God of awakening dead souls. II. Next, it is one of the peculiar offices of the Holy Spirit to ENLIGHTEN His people. He has done so by giving us His Word which He has inspired. But the Bible, inspired though it is, is never spiritually understood by any man apart from the personal teaching of its great Author. You may read it as much as you will and never discover the inner and vital sense unless your soul shall be led into it by the Holy Spirit Himself! "What?" says one, "I have learned the Shorter Catechism and I have got the creed memorized by heart, and yet do I know nothing?" I answer, you have done well to learn the letter of the Truth of God, but you still need the Spirit of God to make it the light and power of God to your soul! The letter you may know, and know it better than some who know, also, the spirit, and I do not, for a moment, depreciate a knowledge of the letter--unless you suppose that there is something saving in mere head knowledge! But the Spirit of God must come and make the letter alive to you. He must transfer it to your heart, set it on fire and make it burn within you, or else its Divine force and majesty will be hid from your eyes. No man knows the things of God save he to whom the Spirit of God has revealed them. No carnal mind can understand spiritual things. We may use language as plain as a pikestaff, but the man who has no spiritual understanding is a blind man and the clearest light will not enable him to see. You must be taught of the Lord, or you will die in ignorance! Now, my Brothers and Sisters, suppose that in a Church there should be many who have never been thus instructed--can you not see that evil must and will come of it? Error is sure to arise where the Truth of God is not experimentally known. If professors are not taught of the Spirit, their ignorance will breed conceit, pride, unbelief and a thousand other evils! Oh, had you known more of the Truth of God, my Brother, you had not boasted so! Oh, had you seen that Truth of God which, as yet, has not been revealed to you because of your prejudice, you had not so fiercely condemned those who are better than yourself! With much zeal to do good, men have done a world of mischief through lack of instruction in Divine things! Sorrow, too, comes of ignorance. O, my Brother, had you known the Doctrines of Grace you had not been so long a time in bondage! Half of the heresy in the Church of God is not willful error, but error which springs of not knowing the Truth of God, not searching the Scriptures with a teachable heart, not submitting the mind to the light of the Holy Spirit! We should, as a rule, treat heresy rather as ignorance to be enlightened than as a crime to be condemned. Unless, alas, that sometimes it becomes willful perversity when the mind is greedy after novelty, or puffed up with self-confidence! Then other treatment may become painfully necessary. Beloved, if the Spirit of God will but enlighten the Church thoroughly, there will be an end to divisions! Schisms are generally occasioned by ignorance and the proud spirit which will not accept correction. On the other hand, real, lasting, practical unity within exists in proportion to the unity of men's minds in the Truth of God. Hence the necessity for the Spirit of God to conduct us into the whole Truth of God. My dear Brother, if you think you know a doctrine, ask the Lord to make you sure that you know it, for much that we think we know turns out to be unknown when times of trial put us to the test. We really know nothing unless it is burnt into our souls as with a hot iron by an experience which only the Spirit of God can give! I think you will now see that the Spirit of God, being necessary for our instruction, we pre-eminently find, in His gracious operation, our strength for the instruction of others--for how shall those teach who have never been taught? How shall men declare a message which they have never learned? "Son of man, eat this roll," for until you have eaten it yourself, your lips can never tell it to others. "The farmer that labors must first be a partaker of the fruits." It is the law of Christ's vineyard that none shall work there till, first of all, they know the flavor of the fruits which grow in the sacred enclosure. You must know Christ, Grace, love and the Truth of God, yourself, before you can ever be an instructor of babes for Christ. When we come to deal with others, earnestly longing to instruct them for Jesus, we perceive even more clearly our need of the Spirit of God. Ah, my Brother, you think you will put the Gospel so clearly that they must see it--but their blind eyes overcome you. Ah, you think you will put it so zealously that they must feel it--but their clay-cold hearts defeat you! Old Adam is too strong for young Melancthon, depend upon it! You may think you are going to win souls by your pleading, but you might as well stand on the top of a mountain and whistle to the wind, unless the Holy Spirit is with you! After all your talking, your hearers will, perhaps, have caught your idea, but the mind of the Spirit, the real soul of the Gospel, you cannot impart to them--this remains, like creation itself, a work which only God can accomplish. Daily, then, let us pray for the power of the Spirit as the Illuminator. Come, O blessed Light of God! You, alone, can break our personal darkness and only when You have enlightened us can we lead others in Your light! An ignorant Christian is disqualified for great usefulness, but he who is taught of God will teach transgressors God's ways and sinners shall be converted unto Christ! Both to burn within and shine without you must have the illuminating Spirit! III. One work of the Spirit of God is to create in Believers the spirit of ADOPTION. "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, whereby you cry, Abba, Father!" "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father!" We are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and so receive the nature of children--and that nature, which is given by Him, He continually prompts, excites, develops and matures--so that we receive day by day more and more of the childlike spirit. Now, Beloved, this may not seem to you to be of very great importance at first sight, but it is, for the Church is never happy except all her members walk as dear children towards God. Sometimes the spirit of slaves creeps over us--we begin to talk of the service of God as though it were heavy and burdensome--and are discontent if we do not receive present wages and visible success, just as servants do when they are not happy. But the spirit of adoption works for love, without any hope of reward, and it is satisfied with the sweet fact of being in the Father's house and doing the Father's will. This spirit gives peace, rest, joy, boldness and holy familiarity with God. A man who never received the spirit of a child towards God does not know the bliss of the Christian life! He misses its flower, its savor, its excellence and I should not wonder if the service of Christ should be a weariness to him because he has never, yet, got to the sweet things and does not enjoy the green pastures where the Good Shepherd makes His sheep to feed and to lie down. But when the Spirit of God makes us feel that we are sons and daughters, and we live in the House of God to go no more out forever, then the service of God is sweet and easy and we accept the delay of apparent success as a part of the trial we are called to bear. Now, mark you, this will have a great effect upon the outside world! A body of professors performing religion as a task, groaning along the ways of godliness with faces full of misery, like slaves who dread the lash, can have but small effect upon the sinners around them. They say, "Those people serve, no doubt, a hard master, and they are denying themselves this and that. Why should we be like they?" But bring me a Church made up of children of God--a company of men and women whose faces shine with their heavenly Father's smile! Who are accustomed to take their cares and cast them on their Father as children should! Who know they are accepted and loved, and are perfectly content with the great Father's will! Put them down in the midst of a company of ungodly ones and I will guarantee you they will begin to envy them their peace and joy. Thus happy saints become most efficient operators upon the minds of the unsaved! O blessed Spirit of God! Let us all, now, feel that we are the children of the great Father and let our childlike love be warm this morning! And so shall we be fit to go forth and proclaim the Lord's love to the prodigals who are in the far-off land among the swine! These three points are self-evident, I think. Now we pass to the fourth. IV. The Holy Spirit is especially called the Spirit of HOLINESS. He never suggested sin nor approved of it, nor has He ever done otherwise than grieve over it--holiness is the Spirit's delight! The Church of God wears upon her brow the words, "Holiness to the Lord." Only in proportion as she is holy may she claim to be the Church of God at all. An unholy Church? Surely this cannot be her of whom we read, "Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." Holiness is not mere morality, not the outward keeping of Divine precepts out of a hard sense of duty while those Commandments, in themselves, are not delightful to us. Holiness is the entirety of our manhood fully consecrated to the Lord and molded to His will! This is the thing which the Church of God must have, but it can never have it apart from the Sanctifier, for there is not a grain of holiness beneath the sky but what is of the operation of the Holy Spirit! And, Brothers and Sisters, if a Church is destitute of holiness, what effect can it have upon the world? Scoffers utterly condemn and despise professors whose inconsistent lives contradict their verbal testimonies! An unholy Church may pant and struggle after dominion and make what noise she can in pretense of work for Christ, but the kingdom comes not to the unholy, neither have they, themselves, entered it. The testimony of unholy men is no more acceptable to Christ than was the homage which the evil spirit gave to Him in the days of His flesh, to which He answered, "Hold your peace." "Unto the wicked," God says, "What have you to do to declare My statutes?" The dew is withheld and the rain comes not in its season to the tillage of those who profess to be the servants of God and yet sow iniquity. After all, the acts of the Church preach more to the world than the words of the Church! Put an anointed man to preach the Gospel in the midst of a really godly people and his testimony will be marvelously supported by the Church with which he labors. But place the most faithful minister over an ungodly Church and he has such a weight upon him that he must first clear himself of it or he cannot succeed. He may preach his heart out! He may pray till his knees are weary, but conversions will be sorely hindered if, indeed, they occur at all. There is no likelihood of victory to Israel while Achan's curse is on the camp! An unholy Church makes Christ to say that He cannot do many mighty works there because of its iniquity. Brethren, do you not see in this point our need of the Spirit of God? And when you get to grappling terms with sinners and have to talk to them about the necessity of holiness--a renewed heart and a godly life coming out of that renewed heart--do you expect ungodly men to be charmed with what you say? What does the unregenerate mind care for righteousness? Was a carnal man ever eager after holiness? Such a thing was never seen! As well expect the devil to be in love with God, as an unredeemed heart to be in love with holiness! But the sinner must love that which is pure and right, or he cannot enter Heaven! You cannot make him do so. Who can do it but that Holy Spirit who has made you to love what once you despised? Go not out, therefore, to battle with sin until you have taken weapons out of the armory of the Eternal Spirit! Mountains of sin will not turn to plains at your bidding unless the Holy Spirit is pleased to make the Word effectual. So then, we see that as the Spirit of holiness we need the Holy Spirit. V. Fifthly, the Church needs much PRAYER and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Grace and of supplications. The strength of a Church may pretty accurately be gauged by her prayerfulness. We cannot expect God to put forth His power unless we entreat Him to do so. But all acceptable supplication is worked in the soul by the Holy Spirit. The first desire which God accepts must be excited in the heart by the secret operations of the Holy One of Israel. And every subsequent pleading of every sort which contains in it a grain of living faith and, therefore,, comes up as a memorial before the Lord, must have been effectually worked in the soul by Him who makes intercession in the saints according to the will of God. Our great High Priest will put into His censer no incense but that which the Spirit has compounded! Prayer is the creation of the Holy Spirit! We cannot do without prayer and we cannot pray without the Holy Spirit! And, therefore, our dependence on Him. Furthermore, when we come to deal with sinners, we know that they must pray. "Behold he prays," is one of the earliest signs of the new birth! But can we make the sinner pray? Can any persuasion of ours lead him to his knees to breathe the penitential sigh and look to Christ for mercy? If you have attempted the conversion of a soul in your own strength you know you have failed! And so you would have failed if you had attempted the creation of one single acceptable prayer in the heart of even a little child. Oh then, dear Brothers and Sisters, let us cry to our heavenly Father to give the Holy Spirit to us! Let us ask Him to be in us more and more mightily as the Spirit of prayer, making intercession in us with groans that cannot be uttered, that the Church may not miss the Divine blessing for lack of asking for it! I do verily believe this to be her present weakness and one great cause why the kingdom of Christ does not more mightily spread--prayer is too much restrained-- and, therefore,, the blessing is kept back! And it will always be restrained unless the Holy Spirit shall stimulate the desires of His people. O blessed Spirit, we pray You will make us pray, for Jesus' sake! VI. Sixthly, the Spirit of God is in a very remarkable manner the giver of FELLOWSHIP. So often, as we pronounce the Apostolic benediction, we pray that we may receive the communion of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us to have communion with spiritual things. He, alone, can take the key and open up the secret mystery that we may know the things which are of God. He gives us fellowship with God, Himself, through Jesus Christ. By the Spirit we have access to the Father. Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, but it is the Spirit of God who brings us into communion with the Most High. So, too, my dear Brothers and Sisters, our fellowship with one another, so far as it is Christian fellowship, is always produced by the Spirit of God. If we have continued together in peace and love these many years, I cannot attribute it to our constitutional good tempers, nor to wise management, nor to any natural causes, but only to the love into which the Spirit has baptized us so that rebellious natures have been still. If a dozen Christian people live together for 12 months in true spiritual union and unbroken affection, trace it to the love of the Spirit! And if 1,200, or four times that number shall be able to persevere in united service and find themselves loving each other better after many years than they did at the first, let it be regarded as a blessing from the Comforter, for which He is to be devoutly adored! Fellowship can only come to us by the Spirit, but a Church without fellowship would be a disorderly mob, a kingdom divided against itself and, consequently, it could not prosper. You need fellowship for mutual strength, guidance, help and encouragement--without it your Church is a mere human society. If you are to make a good impression on the world, you must be united as one living body. A divided Church has long been the scorn of Antichrist. No sneer which comes from the Vatican has a greater sting in it than that which taunts Protestants with their divisions! And as it is with the great outward Church so it is with any one particular Church of Christ! Divisions are our disgrace, our weakness, our hindrance! And as the gentle Spirit, alone, can prevent or heal these divisions by us, we are dependent upon Him for real loving fellowship with God and with one another. Let us daily cry to Him to work in us brotherly love and all the sweet Graces which make us one with Christ, that we all may be one even as the Father is One with the Son--and that the world may know that God has, indeed, sent Jesus and that we are His people. VII. Seventhly, we need the Holy Spirit in that renowned office which is described by our Lord as THE PARACLETE or COMFORTER. The word bears another rendering, which our translators have given to it in that passage where we read, "If any man sins, we have an Advocate (or Paraclete) with the Father." The Holy Spirit is both Comforter and Advocate. The Holy Spirit, at this present moment, is our Friend and Comforter, sustaining the sinking spirits of Believers, applying the precious promises, revealing the love of Jesus Christ to the heart. Many a heart would break if the Spirit of God had not comforted it. Many of God's dear children would have utterly died by the way if He had not bestowed upon them His Divine consolations to cheer their pilgrimage. That is His work and a very necessary work, for if Believers become unhappy they became weak in many points of service. I am certain that the joy of the Lord is our strength, for I have proved it so and proved also the opposite truth! There are on earth certain Christians who inculcate gloom as a Christian's proper state. I will not judge them, but this I will say, that in evangelistic work they do nothing and I do not wonder at it! Till snow in harvest ripens wheat. Till darkness makes flowers bloom. Till the salt sea yields clusters bursting with new wine, you will never find an unhappy religion promotive of the growth of the kingdom of Christ! You must have joy in the Lord, Brothers and Sisters, if you are to be strong in the Lord and strong for the Lord! Now, as the Comforter, alone, can bear you up amid the floods of tribulation which you are sure to meet with, you see your great need of His consoling Presence. We have said that the Spirit of God is the Advocate of the Church--not with God, for there, Christ is our sole Advocate--but with man! What is the grandest plea that the Church has against the world? I answer, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the standing miracle of the Church! External evidences are very excellent. You young men who are worried by skeptics, will do well to study those valuable works which learned and devout men have, with much labor, produced for us. But, mark you, all the evidences of the truth of Christianity which can be gathered from analogy, from history and from external facts are nothing whatever compared with the operations of the Spirit of God! These are the arguments which convince! A man says to me, "I do not believe in sin, in righteousness, or in judgment." Well, Brothers and Sisters, the Holy Spirit can soon convince him! If he asks me for signs and evidences of the Truth of the Gospel, I reply, "Do you see this woman? She was a great sinner in the very worst sense and led others into sin. But now you cannot find more sweetness and light anywhere than in her. Do you hear this profane swearer, persecutor and blasphemer? He is speaking with purity, truth and humbleness of mind. Observe yon man who was, before, a miser, and see how he consecrates his substance! Notice that envious, malicious spirit and see how it becomes gentle, forgiving and amiable through conversion. How do you account for these great changes? They are happening here everyday! Why? Is it a lie which produces truth, honesty and love? Does not every tree bear fruit after its kind? What, then, must that Grace be which produces such blessed transformations? The wonderful phenomena of ravens turned to doves and lions into lambs--the marvelous transformations of moral character which the minister of Christ rejoices to see worked by the Gospel--these are our witnesses and they are unanswerable! Peter and John have gone up to the Temple and they have healed a lame man. They are soon seized and brought before the Sanhedrim. This is the charge against them--"You have been preaching in the name of Jesus and this Jesus is an impostor." What do Peter and John say? They need say nothing, for there stands the man that was healed! He has brought his crutch with him and he waves it in triumph! And he runs and leaps! He was their volume of evidences, their apology and proof. "When they saw the man that was healed standing with Peter and John, they could say nothing against them." If we have the Spirit of God among us and conversions are constantly being worked, the Holy Spirit is thus fulfilling His advocacy and refuting all accusers! If the Spirit works in your own mind, it will always be to you the best evidence of the Gospel. I meet, sometimes, one piece of infidelity and then another, for there are new doubts and fresh infidelities spawned every hour--and unstable men expect us to read all the books they choose to produce. But the effect produced on our mind is less and less. This is our answer. "It is of no use your trying to stagger us, for we are already familiar with everything you suggest. Our own native unbelief has outstripped you! We have had doubts of a kind which even you would not dare to utter if you knew them! There is enough infidelity and devilry in our own nature to make us no strangers to Satan's devices. "We have fought most of your suggested battles over and over again in the secret chamber of our meditation and have conquered, for we have been in personal contact with God! You sneer, but there is no argument in sneering. We are as honest as you are and our witness is as good as yours in any court of law--and we solemnly declare that we have felt the power of the Holy Spirit over our soul as much as any old ocean has felt the force of the north wind! We have been stirred to agony under a sense of sin and we have been lifted to ecstasy of delight by faith in the righteousness of Christ. We find that in the little world within our soul the Lord Jesus manifests Himself so that we know Him! "There is a potency about the doctrines we have learned which could not belong to lies, for the Truths of God which we believe, we have tested in actual experience. Tell us there is no meat? Why, we have just been feasting! Tell us there is no water in the fountain? We have been quenching our thirst! Tell us there is no such thing as light? We do not know how we can prove its existence to you, for you are probably blind, but we can see! That is enough argument for us and our witness is true! Tell us there is no spiritual life! We feel it in our inmost souls. These are the answers with which the Spirit of God furnishes us and they are a part of His advocacy." See, again, how entirely dependent we are on the Spirit of God for meeting all the various forms of unbelief which arise around us. You may have your societies for collecting evidence and you may enlist all your bishops and doctors of divinity and professors of apologetics--and they may write rolls of evidence long enough to girdle the globe--but the only Person who can savingly convince the world is the Advocate whom the Father has sent in the name of Jesus! When He reveals a man's sin and the sure result of it, the unbeliever takes to his knees! When He takes away the scales and sets forth the crucified Redeemer and the merit of the precious blood, all carnal reasonings are nailed to the Cross! One blow of real conviction of sin will stagger the most obstinate unbeliever and afterwards, if his unbelief returns, the Holy Spirit's consolations will soon comfort it out of him. Therefore, as at the first, I say at the last--all this depends upon the Holy Spirit and upon Him let us wait in the name of Jesus, beseeching Him to manifest His power among us! Amen. Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon--Romans 15 HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"--912, 446, 445. __________________________________________________________________ "Rest in the Lord" (No. 1333) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JANUARY 14, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Rest in the Lord." Psalm 37:7. THE occurrence of our text in the Psalm before us is an instance of the great rule that the Lord does nothing by halves. In this priceless Psalm, the Lord found His servant, in the first verse, liable to fretfulness and envy--and He exhorted him to cease from fretting. Then, in verse three, He taught him to trust. In verse four He led him on to delight. In verses five and six He conducted him into a peaceful committing of his way unto God and He did not stay the operation of His Grace till He had perfected that which concerned him and brought him up to the elevated point of our text, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." God does not merely cure the evil in us, but He confers unspeakable good! He takes away the disfiguring wound, but He imparts, also, comeliness and beauty. If any of you, this morning, are in a low state of Grace, so that you have even fallen into fretfulness at the prosperity of the ungodly, do not cast away all hope, for the Grace of God abounds toward us in all wisdom and prudence, and He will restore your soul! Remember how David said, in the 73rd Psalm--"I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." "So foolish was I, and ignorant, I was as a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You: you have held me by my right hand." The Lord knows how to bring His people, again, from Bashan, yes, and to lift them up like Jonah from the depths of the sea! And He can bring you, this day, by the operation of His Grace, upward from doubt to assurance, from fretfulness to rest! Rest is a blessing which properly belongs to the people of God, although they do not enjoy it one tenth as much as they might. Under the Old Testament dispensation there was considerable provision made for rest. Typically the chosen nation was shown that one great end of the visitation of the Lord was to give His people rest, for on the seventh day they rested and did no manner of work. Yes more, in the seventh year they rested according to the Divine precept. "Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord: you shall neither sow your field, nor prune your vineyard." When they were obedient to the Lord's commands, they thus enjoyed a whole year of rest, and were no losers by it, for, no doubt, the seventh fallow year so benefited the land that it brought forth all the more fruit during the other six, so that there was none the less store in their barns. Over and above this, once in 50 years, when the seventh year came round, they carried out, still further, the Sabbatic idea and the Jubilee Year was a time of peculiar and emphatic rest and festival. For thus had the Lord commanded. "A Jubilee shall that 50th year be unto you: you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of your vine undressed. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: you shall eat the increase thereof out of the field." So very prominently, even in that somewhat servile and yoke-bearing dispensation, there was brought before the mind of the Israelite the privilege of rest. And those who possessed the inner sight, as Moses did, realized the promise, "My Spirit shall go with you and I will give you rest." Indeed, Canaan, itself, was intended to be the type of rest--the land that flows with milk and honey, the land of brooks and valleys, the land that the Lord Your God thinks about, the land upon which the eyes of the Lord rest from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year, was meant to be a place where every man should rest under his own vine and fig tree, and look for a yet deeper rest in God. Had they known it, in giving them Canaan, Joshua had given them a fair picture of rest. They did not see through the type so fully as to understand its significance, but, nevertheless, there it was. O Christian men and women, you, also, miss much of your rest! You have too much of fretfulness, too much of care, too much that is servile. The land does not keep her Sabbaths as she should, neither does your soul rest as it might! And as for jubilees, how very scarce they are! If Christians lived near to God and enjoyed the peace which Jesus gives, they might keep Jubilee every year and Sabbath every day! The Lord grant that we may have power to enjoy His rest and that it may never be said of us, "They could not enter in because of unbelief." Brothers and Sisters, the Lord, as if to show us that He would have us rest, has been pleased to speak of resting, Himself! It is inconceivable that He should be fatigued! It were profanity to suppose that He who faints not, neither is weary, and of whose understanding there is no searching, can ever be in a condition to need rest! And yet He did rest, for when He had finished all the works of His hands in the six days of creation, the Lord, "rested on the seventh day and sanctified it." When afterwards that rest was broken because His works were marred, we find Him further on smelling a "sweet savor of rest" in the sacrifice which was offered unto Him by Noah, whose very name was rest. These two facts are highly instructive and teach us that God rests in a perfect work and that when that work is marred the Lord rests in a perfect Sacrifice, even in the Lord Jesus Christ! He has a rest there and He speaks of our "entering His rest" as it is written, "they shall not enter into My rest." There is a rest of God, then, and there remains a rest unto the people of God. And of that rest, not in its highest development in Heaven, but in its present enjoyment on earth, we are about to speak. "Rest in the Lord." First, dear Brothers and Sisters, let us consider the steps to this royal chamber of repose. Secondly, let us meditate upon the rest which is enjoyed in that quiet chamber. And then, thirdly, let us look at that sumptuous chamber, itself. As the result and issue of it all, may the Holy Spirit sweetly lead us into quietness and peace, even as of old it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest." I. First, then, let us consider certain STEPS TO THIS ROYAL CHAMBER OF REST. How are we to reach this place of sacred repose? The steps are in the Psalm before us. The first is, "Fret not yourself." You are out in the fields among the wild beasts--cease hunting them. You are among those who toil in bondage, suffering all the brunt of ill weathers and hard seasons--get away from them. Come within doors, into your Father's house. By the help of the Divine Spirit leave the green bay trees which have cast their shadow upon you and enter into the sanctuary. No longer be as the carnal who envy one another. So long as you are out there among those who lust after evil things and fret against the Lord's Providence, you cannot rest. While you are agitating yourself to gain what other men lust after and to enjoy what other men take pleasure in, you are missing the peculiar privileges of the children of God! While your spirit is running with worldlings in the race and wrestling with them in the battle, you cannot enjoy the peace which Jesus left as a legacy to His disciples. Get away from them, then, for the first step to rest is, "fret not yourself." The griefs which make the ungodly pine are not for you, for the objects which they seek are not your objects! The losses which make them despond must not make you disconsolate, for their treasure is not your treasure. Get away from them and stop admiring their transient felicity and lamenting your present distress. Have you been envying transgressors? Count yourself to have been foolish and ignorant in so doing, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb! Rise above the things which are seen, for they are temporal! Spurn the things which make the flesh smart, for this light affliction is but for a moment. Let not the world weigh you down, for you are bound, as an heir of Heaven, to tread the world beneath your feet--and all its honors you are called upon to despise! And in order that your soul should not lust after its dainties, come away unto your God and no longer fret yourself. When you have thus come out of the field and have arrived at the palace of Love, the first staircase is described as trust and do. Read the third verse, "Trust in the Lord and do good." You believe in the Lord's love? Prove your confidence by committing yourself to the keeping of Him who loves you. You believe in the Atonement of Jesus? Fly for cleansing to the blood which was shed for you! You believe in the Glory of your risen Lord? Commit all your future to Him with whom you are one day to sit upon the Throne! As for all your trials, come, now, and believe in God concerning them. Do not let anything make you mistrust or distrust your God. Know that He is God and "His mercy endures forever," and trust in Him forever! But let this faith be practical--"Trust in the Lord and do good." A dead faith will bring you but poor comfort. Yours must be a faith which can do as well as receive. It is through the exercise of faith that comfort comes to the heart, even as the exercise of our limbs warms our bodily frame. Do good even if you suffer for it and you shall partake in the joy of your Lord-- "Commit your way to God, The weight which makes you faint. World's are to Him no load. To Him breathe your complaint. He who for winds and clouds Makes a pathway free, Through wastes, or hostile crowds Will make a way for thee." When you have learned to trust and to do, you will have ascended a noble staircase of the royal Palace--and where does it land you? It lands you in the king's dining room, where it is written--"Verily you shall be fed." Observe the promise--if you have a living, active faith you shall be provided for! Your bodily needs, as they come, shall be relieved. Your mental needs, also, shall be satisfied. And as for the vast demands of your spirit, God All-Sufficient shall supply them all--"So shall you dwell in the land and verily you shall be fed." It will be a happy circumstance, dear Brothers and Sisters, if you can come up the first staircase this morning, leaving the fields, leaving the elder brother who complains concerning the many years of service in which his Father has never given him a kid, that he might make merry with his friends--if you, I say, can come up rejoicing to do the will of the Lord out of motives of love! Leave the sinner and the grumbler alone, and go up those stairs of active faith! Then sit down where a feast is spread, even a feast of fat things full of marrow and of wines on the lees well-refined! We must ascend somewhat higher and climb the next staircase which is marked, Delight and Desire. "Delight yourself, also, in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart." Think what a good God you have, yes, what a blessed God He is! Remember how good He has been to you in the past. Think of the richness of His Word, the sureness of His promises, the tenderness of His love and the power of His arm till your soul shall say, "Whatever I have not, I have my God! Whatever is unsatisfactory, He satisfies me! And whatever grieves me to think it is so unfit for me, nothing grieves me in my God. I would not have Him changed, nor have Him change in any respect. He is a sea of blessedness in which my soul does swim." When you have delighted, begin to desire. Open your mouth wide and the Lord will fill it! Enlarge your petitions and He will grant them to you. Desire more Grace, more holiness, more love, more knowledge of Christ, more Heaven below and all these shall come at your call. Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you! See, now, we have ascended beyond the dining room and mounted to the royal treasury! We have entered the king's armory! Yes, we have came into the king's withdrawing room where He listens to the desires of His suitors and enters into fellowship with them and bids them delight in Him. Here He bids you open your heart and pour forth your secret longings, for He will lavish upon you the gifts of His love and fill you with all His fullness! It will be a great joy for you, today, if you have now climbed from the low marshy lands of fretting into the upper chamber of delighting in the Lord! But you are not up to the royal chamber of rest yet! You must now climb another stair, marked, Commit your way and Trust. "Commit your way unto the Lord, trust also in Him." Concerning that part of your way which you understand and have under your control, labor to walk according to the Lord's mind. But all that portion of your way which you understand not, and have no power over, leave entirely to the absolute will of God! What have you to do in ordering your own way? "All the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord." If you must have the arrangement of your own march through the wilderness--if you will advance without the guidance of the pillar of cloud and fire--who is to provide for you and where will you go? Your fallible judgment and feeble strength will soon fail you! Leave to your Lord's will to ordain every step which you shall take and ask only to know so much of His mind as to be able to follow His guidance. Do not wish to pry into the secrets of the future, but "commit your way unto the Lord." Do not worry about the troubles or the present, but leave your way where you have left your soul. Say unto the Lord, "My Father, since this road is all too rough for my infant feet, be pleased to carry me, even as You did Your people all the days of old." And His strong hands shall lift you up! And in His bosom you shall ride over the miry places of the earth, rejoicing in almighty love! Commit and trust! Now this brings us into the undressing room which stands side by side with the royal bedchamber. Take off the dusty garments of your cares and commit them to the Lord. Strip yourself of one anxiety after another! Unrobe yourself of all that reminds you of this miry, weary pilgrimage and leave your worn and travel-stained raiment. Then you need a candle to light so you can see your way to your bed--here it is for you in verse six, "He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday." You feel convinced that what is left with God is safe. You have an assured confidence that if you commit a matter to Him you have left it in the hands of a faithful Creator--these gracious confidences will light you to your couch of rest! Like Paul, you will be at peace as to the future whether it bring you life or death, for you will say, "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him until that day." There is your candle! Enter the quiet chamber and take your rest. "Rest in the Lord." These are the steps which I have tried, briefly, to describe. There is a coming out from the fretfulness generated by the world and its cares and troubles--a pulling off the shoes, as it were--before you enter the Palace, saying to your soul, "Fret not because of evildoers." Then there is a sitting down to a feast of love by a simple but active faith. Next there is, after the feast, the sweet dessert of communion with Christ--a leaning of the head upon the bosom of the Lord as John did at the supper--delighting oneself in the Lord and getting the desires of your inmost soul. After this comes a disrobing of everything like care--and the laying aside of all that is earth-born and gross which tends to distract us. And, last of all, there is the resigning of the soul to the peace which the Holy Spirit brings--which is comparable to reclining upon a soft couch, provided by Him who says to us, "My child, you are very weary; rest in the Lord."-- "Long did I toil and knew no earthly rest! Far did I roam and found no certain home! At last I sought them in His sheltering breast Who spreads His arms and bids the weary come. With Him I found a home, a rest Divine! And I since then, am His and He is mine." II. Now, let us try and form some idea of THE REST, ITSELF, WHICH IS BESTOWED UPON US IN THIS ROYAL CHAMBER. First, it is a rest of mind of which the prominent ingredient is a sense of security and calm--a fixed belief in the teachings of the Divine Spirit and in the Gospel which we have received. It is a sense of having grasped the blessings which that Gospel holds out to us and, therefore,, a sense of the certainty of our acceptance with God and of our eternal security in Christ Jesus. Beloved, if you are of the school which shifts its creed every week. If you belong to the modern-culture gentlemen who cannot tell us what they believe because they do not know, themselves--who are so eminently receptive that it appears to me that they are mainly occupied in turning out what lumber they have warehoused in order to be able to stow away more--then you will never know any rest! This hallowed state of mind cannot come to the unsettled doubter. The sacred, dove-like Spirit quits the regions of uncertainty and dwells with those who know whom they have believed! Where He dwells there is rest, but nowhere else! Look at John--the blessed, loving John--how, all through his three Epistles, he continually uses that word, "know." He is a terrible Dogmatist! He is sure of everything! He dogmatizes gloriously and he rests! There is no rest till you are sure. A little, "if," is like a stone in your shoe--you cannot travel comfortably--it blisters the foot and prevents restful progress. "Ah, but," says one, "I do not know how to interpret such-and-such a text." Well, then, Brother, cease from interpreting it and believe it as it stands! It is infinitely better to believe God's Word than to interpret it! In fact, much that passes for interpretation, nowadays, is simply the drying of all sap and soul out of the Inspired Words and making them retain only a very dry and husky sense. Be more earnest to believe than to interpret! Ask, "What does the text say?" Believe that and if you do not comprehend all its meaning, do not be any the less believing. How shall God be comprehensible by finite creatures, or His glorious Truths be seen in all points by such poor mortals as we are? Believe so you shall be established. And then, being established in the Truth of God, grasp the blessings which that Truth brings to you and rejoice! You believe in justification by faith--be sure that you are justified! You believe in the election of God--make your calling and election sure! You believe in the final perseverance of the saints--persevere even to the end! Grip the blessings and then understand that having believed that Jesus is the Christ, you are born of God! Having put your trust in Him, there is, therefore, no condemnation to you, for you are in Christ Jesus! As you realize these doctrines and the positive security--the indisputable security--which comes to every Believer who is relying upon Jesus, you will feel that perfect rest which is indescribable in sweetness! The rest "which only he that feels it knows." Our rest is a sense of security. Next, this rest is, in another aspect, contentment--perfect satisfaction with our earthly lot. Ambition spoils rest. The constant greed of avarice puts rest out of the question. The worry, the fret, the fume of accumulating, of desiring more, of impatiently coveting more than God is pleased to give--all this ruins rest. Oh, to say, "The Lord's will be done! Having food and clothing, I am content." "I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content," and to let ambition, lofty desires, fretfulness and complaining all go and just say, "God has appointed my portion and ordained all my ways. So let it be." This is rest! Put this together with security as to the eternal future and you have gained two very sweet ingredients with which to compose a rest worthy of the sons of God-- "Rest, weary heart, From all your silent griefs and secret pain, Your profitless regrets and longings vain. Wisdom and lo ve ha ve ordered all the past, All shall be blessedness and light at last! Cast off the cares that have so long oppressed. Rest sweetly, rest!" Next, there is in this rest the idea of immovable confidence--perfect confidence in God so that when severe trail comes, the soul says, "It is right--I am sure it is right. I cannot see the reason, but I know that the trial is sent in love. I am certain of that." When another trial befalls, child-like confidence in God still says, "It could not be better if God sends two troubles, they are better than one. And if He sends six, they are six times better than one, though they seem six times worse." That confidence says, also, "He will bring me out of it. He never sent me out, yet, upon the sea of tribulation but what He brought me home again! He never sent me to a battle at my own charges yet. He never bade me do a work but what He gave me strength for it! He never called me to suffer but what He sustained me under the pain." Oh, but this is a blessed thing, to be quite confident that God cannot err, cannot forsake, cannot change, cannot cease to love and that, therefore, everything that comes from Him comes in the right way, at the right time, in the right measure--and that all is well and will end well! Though all the tempests come forth from their caverns to howl at once across the tremendous seas. Though every cyclone and hurricane that ever blew should come back, again, and my poor ship should be almost a wreck by reason of their fury--it is well, it is well! If only on a board or a broken piece of the ship I shall come safely to land, for so has God decreed, so glory be to His name! I will leave all to Him. This is rest-- thorough rest, security, contentment, confidence! Then, perhaps, mainly, according to the Hebrew, this rest consists in submission, for the Hebrew is, "Be silent to God." That is the word. One of the old versions reads it, "Hold you still before God." This holy silence is illustrated by what we read of Aaron, when his sons died. Before the Lord--"Aaron held his peace." Let your tongue be quiet. Do not murmur. Do not argue--leave all to God and bow in silence. "My soul is even as a weaned child," said David. He would no longer cry after the warm breasts of comfort--he was weaned at last! Now, O Lord, Your will is my will. It has been a sharp lesson, but You have taught it to me at last! Before I struggled, but now I acquiesce. Once I quarreled, but now sweetly yield. Let it be as You please. Your will is mine. This, also, is rest-- "This is a holiei, sweeter rest, Than the lulling rest from pain, And a deeper calm than that which sleep Sheds over heart and brain. It is the soul's surrendered choice, The settling of the will, Lying down gently at the Cross, God's purpose to fulfill." There comes, next, the rest of patient waiting, for that is in the text. What does it say? "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." This is to have desires, but to feel that you can waive them and tarry at the Lord's leisure. This is to have wishes, but always to keep them tethered so that they do not go too far. This is to have a will only in subserviency to the wiser and kinder will which rules above, always saying, "Lord, that is what I think I should wish for, but I do not know, for sure, whether it would be good for me or not. Therefore I ask You to deny me if my wishes are wrong. Do not hear my most earnest prayers, my Father, if they should not please You, for I would ask You rather not to hear me than to hear me if I ask amiss. "I have wishes and a will, Lord which You have permitted me to have, for You have said You will grant me the desires of my heart. But Lord, if my heart should not be delighting herself in You when she feels her desires, they shall not be my desires, I will disown them! My most supreme will shall be not to will anything except Your will--and if I do will it, I repent of so willing and discard the evil will and the undesirable desire. I will turn all willfulness out of doors, by Your Grace, that You may have Your will." This is a blessed spirit, dear Friends, and he that has attained it has entered the royal bedchamber where he shall rest in peace, for, "so He gives His Beloved sleep." This rest means, also, peace--peace of soul with yourself, with your fellow men, with God. It takes two to make an enemy and if you will not be one of the two, you will not have an enemy seriously to distress you. Men may dislike you, but they shall be held in check, for, "when a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." "He makes the wrath of man to praise him and the remainder does He restrain." At any rate, the assured Believer possesses that peace which Christ had, who, when His foes gathered round about Him and sought to catch Him in His words, baffled them all by His calm self-possession. This rest means quiet happiness, inward calm. The soul has mounted where it desires to be and does not intend to move from its position. Noah's dove has been round the earth and seen nothing but waste of waters. But at last she has flown home--she is in Noah's hand and she means to stay in the ark until better times shall come and the waters are endurable. Oh, if any of you have wandered and lost the peace which Christ gives, even that which He gives not to the world--if you are troubled and fretful, envious and weary--commune with your own heart this morning and say, "Return unto your rest, O my Soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you." Say to your heart as I have said to mine, "Why are you cast down, O my Soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance, and my God." "Rest in the Lord." To close our description of rest, I think we must add one other term to it. It is the rest of expectation, especially in regard to the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest fret that some of us ever have concerns the cause of God. Personal troubles and domestic troubles sit very lightly on some of us, but Church trouble perplexes us. Not in my case, because none of you who love the Lord ever intentionally cause me distress of mind. But there are some who walk, of whom we would tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ--and yet they have entered into the Church to her dishonor and injury! And outside this Church, outside in the great Church of Christ, you can see, everywhere, looming heavily over us, the black clouds of Romanism! And amidst the gloom, the specters of skepticism are fitting to and fro. Everything in these times seems to be loose and out of joint! The men of "thought" have pulled up the old landmarks. They have broken down the hedges and laid the Lord's enclosures common to all that pass by the way. Behold, they go about to break down the carved work of the sanctuary with their axes! They defile the temple of the Lord! Nothing is sacred for these wise men of modern times! No Truth of God that was taught by their sires can be taught by them. The Doctrines of Grace to these men are platitudes and the doctrine of the Cross, itself, is denied! Or, when not denied, so obscured that we know not what it is! Scarcely do they, themselves, know what it is they affirm! They are great at questions and negations. Novelties of doctrine are poured out upon the earth in countless numbers as the frogs which came up in the apocalyptic vision! And what shall the end be? "Go your way," says God to His beloved, "for you shall rest and stand in your lot in the end of the days." Christ will take care of His own Church! The gates ofHell shall not prevail against her. Leave all this to Him who sees the end as well as the beginning and to whom the victory shall surely come! Your strength is to sit still. Rest in the Lord with expectation that He will overrule the evil and will, Himself, surely come to end it all and reign gloriously among His ancients. III. Lastly, and here I needed time, but with my usual improvidence I have squandered it--our third point is, let us enter and examine THE ROYAL CHAMBER ITSELF. "Rest in the Lord." Now the text does not say rest in anything about the Lord, but rest in the Lord Himself! Oh that the Spirit might bring us into such union and communion with God that we might, to the fullest, know the meaning of this text! "Rest in the Lord!" The Lord has revealed Himself to us in these days in the Person of His only-begotten Son! Jesus, akin to us by nature! Jesus, our Substitute and Surety! Jesus, our All in All! Now, Beloved, come near to Jesus by a living faith! Hide yourselves in Jesus! Enter into His wounds! Feel your safety in Him, your union to Him! Live to Him, live with Him, live for Him, live in Him and as you do, so you must rest! Only in the Lord is there any rest for you! Only as you are a man in Christ Jesus and lose yourself in Him, your life, being hidden with Christ in God, in that way, in that way only, shall you find perfect rest! What a resting place do saints find in the finished work of Jesus! Let but the Holy Spirit lead them to see the Glory of His atoning blood and they are sure to rest! Let me tenderly entreat the tempted Believer to tell Jesus all his case and look to Him for that rest which He Himself promised when He said, "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, and you shall find rest unto your souls."-- "Rest, weary soul! The penalty is borne, the ransom paid, For all your sins full satisfaction made! Strive not to do yourself what Christ has done, Claim the free gift and make the joy your own. No more by pangs of guilt and fear distress, Rest, sweetly rest!" Although this is obviously the main meaning, we may add that, "Rest in the Lord," means rest in Him as your Covenant God. You have not to deal with an abstract Deity who stands afar off as your offended Creator. Behold, Beloved, if you believe in Jesus, the Lord has entered into an everlasting Covenant with you, ordered in all things and sure! He has said concerning you, "I will not turn away from you to do you good." He has promised to keep you and preserve you and bring you into His eternal Glory by a Covenant signed and sealed with the precious blood of Christ! "Rest in the Lord." He will keep His Covenant even to its jots and tittles, therefore be not disquieted. The eternal shalls and wills shall never fail! "This is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer. The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from you." Glory be unto our Covenant God! Come and rest in Him, Beloved! Then rest in all the relationships into which the Lord has been pleased to bring Himself. Know that this God of yours is your shield and your exceedingly great reward! He is your rock, your dwelling place! He is your Shepherd and your Preserver. Best of all, He is your Father! Oh, Brothers and Sisters, one cannot talk about this! One needs to drink it in by quiet meditation! It is a bliss too great for words to be, indeed, a child of the heavenly Father! Jehovah is Creator of Heaven and earth, Maker and Destroyer! And yet I am His child! And as surely as a child may trust its parent and rest in its mother's bosom, so surely and safely may I trust my Father and rest in Him! Do you not know, too, that to set forth the nearness and tenderness of His relationship to us, the Lord is pleased to describe Himself as the Husband of our souls? For, "Your Maker is your Husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name." "I will even betroth you unto Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord." Shall not the spouse trust her husband? I hope we will, each of us, say to Him this morning, "Lord, I trust You, for I love You since You have made me one with You in blessed union. And I say to You, today, as the Church did of old, 'Tell me, O You whom my soul loves, where You feed, where You make Your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of Your companions?'" Rest in your Friend, your Savior, your All in All! I leave the full list of Divine relationships for you to think of at your leisure. They are all full of rest. Rest, next, in each one of the attributes of God. Are you conscious of sin? Come and rest in the mercy which blots it out! Poor Sinner, I would gladly invite you with the burden of your guilt upon you, to remember that He delights in mercy! It is God's joy to pass by transgression! You will never escape from the bondage of your sin except as you come to the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, His Son. Rest in boundless mercy! Beloved child of God, are you troubled about inward sin?--then rest in His power to break the neck of corruption! Perhaps your affliction concerns your worldly affairs-- then rest in the power of God to help you! He is great at a dead lift and when none can help us but God, then is God most ready to come to the rescue. Rest, Beloved Brothers and Sisters, in God's wisdom. You cannot see your way, but He can--leave it to Him, for there is no possibility of error in His counsels. Rest, also, in His immutability--that sure anchor amid the troubled sea of life. You have changes every day--He never changes! Come back to Him whose constancy of love is a mountain of strength! He has set His mind upon saving you and He is of one mind--who shall turn Him? This is His mind--that He that believes and is baptized shall be saved--and He will perform that salvation! Not death nor Hell shall thwart the sacred purpose of an unchanging God! He will carry out His gracious work and glorify Himself! Rest, also, in His faithfulness. What He has promised He will perform. He is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Has He said and shall He not do it? Take His promise and believe it to be as good as fulfilled, for so it is. Rest also in His Word which He has written for your consolation. The Holy Spirit has, in a thousand ways, declared the Divine goodwill towards you--meditate upon what He has dictated. As full as the skies are of stars so full are the Scriptures with promises! Take these precious promises, one by one. Believe them and pray to the Lord, saying, "Fulfill this Word unto Your servant whereon You have caused me to hope. O Lord, do as You have said." Then sweetly rest in the eternal truthfulness, for the Lord will keep every one of His promises to you. What a subject I have before me! I seem to be like those bold explorers in the northern seas, before whom a passage opens up to the left and then another channel on the right. They sail into the center of a great bay and then further on enter upon another sea and know not how wide the ocean may yet become still further on! My text is an ocean to which I see no boundary! It is full of wondrous Grace but I have neither time nor ability to sail over its shoreless surface! I must leave you to spread the sails of meditation! And favored by the gales of the Spirit's influences, I trust you will be borne along--not to an ocean of primeval ice--but to the condition of unbroken rest in the Lord! Next, let us rest in the will of God. It is a high point to arrive at to feel that my Father's will is such that I can entirely rest in it, be it whatever it may. Yet it would not be so difficult if we were not so depraved. O for conquering Grace to crush down self! I would be as a grain of dust blown in the summer's gale without power to change my course, carried on by the Irresistible Spirit of the Lord--forever made willingly unwilling to will anything but the will of my Lord! I would be as a tiny straw borne along by the Gulf Stream, carried wherever the warm love of God shall bear me, delighting to lie low and see the Lord, alone, exalted! The Buddhists talk about being absorbed into Buddha and ceasing to be. And they make it their heaven to be, at last, swallowed up in their god. I know the falsehood of this teaching, but I know that there is a truth which is very like it in outward aspect. Oh, to be nothing! To be less than nothing! To have no will and no desire about life or death, about sickness or health, about poverty or wealth--no will about anything--and yet to have a strong resolved will to deny self and say, "Not as I will, but as You will." This is to rest in the Lord! Beloved, may the Lord, by His Holy Spirit, grant you abundantly, from this day forward, to enter into this which is man's first, man's last, man's sweetest, truest rest--the rest of the sinner coming to Christ--the rest of the saint abiding in Heaven! This is the only real rest that can be found on earth or Heaven--rest in the Lord! God grant it to us by faith, for Jesus' sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Coming--Always Coming (No. 1334) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "To whom coming." 1 Peter 2:4. THE Apostle is speaking of the Lord Jesus, of whom he had previously said, "If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious," and He follows that sentence up with this, "To whom coming as unto a living stone." Now, I want to call your special attention to this present participle--this act of coming--for there is much to counsel and to comfort us in the fact and the reflections it suggests. The Christian life is begun, continued and perfected altogether in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ! This is a very great blessing for us. Sometimes when you go on a journey, you travel so far under the protection of a certain Company--but then you have to change and the rest of your journey may be performed under very different circumstances--upon quite another kind of line. Now we have not to go just so far to Heaven in the guardian care of Jesus Christ and then at a certain point to change, so as to have somebody else to be our leader, or some other method of salvation. No, He is the Author and He is the Finisher of our faith. If we begin aright, we go on aright--we go on with "Christ is All." And if we finish aright we finish with "Christ is All." It was a great delusion of some, in Paul's day, that after they had begun in the Spirit, they hoped to be made perfect in the flesh. And there are some, nowadays, who begin as sinners resting upon Christ--but they want to go on as independent saints, resting on themselves. That will never do, Brothers and Sisters. It is not, "Christ and Company." The sinner knows that it must be Christ only, because he has nothing of his own. And the saint ought to know that it must be only Christ because he has less than nothing apart from Christ! I believe that if we grow out of Christ we grow in an unhealthy mushroom fashion. What we need is to grow up into Christ in all things, knowing Him more and more and being more and more satisfied that He is what we need. This is really a healthy growth and may God send more and more of it to us as long as we live! Blessed be His holy name! With us it is Christ in the morning, when we are young and full of strength. It is Christ at noon, when we are bearing the burden and heat of the day. And it is Christ at eventide, when we lean on the staff for very age and the shadows lengthen and the light is dim. Yes, and it shall be only Christ when the night settles down and shades of death curtain our last bed. In all circumstances and conditions we look only to Jesus! Are we wealthy? Christ crowns it. Are we in poverty? Christ cheers it. Are we in honor? Christ calms us. Are we in shame? Christ consoles us. Are we in health? He sanctifies it. Are we in sickness? He relieves it. As He is at all times the same in Himself so He is the same to us. To the same Christ we must come and cling under every new circumstance. Our heart must abide faithful to her one only Lord and lovingly sing-- "I'll turn to You in days of light As well as nights of care. You are brightest amid all that's bright, You are fairest of the fair!" We have not to seek a fresh physician, to find a new friend, or to discover a novel hope, but we are to look for everything to Jesus Christ, "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." "You are complete in Him." Stand to this, my Brothers and Sisters! Never think that you need anything beyond the provision which is stored up in Him for sanctification, for satisfaction, or for safety! Cast not your eyes around you to find a supplement to the Lord Jesus, or you will deceive yourselves and dishonor Him. It is not with our Lord as it was with Moses. Moses led the people through the wilderness, but he could not bring them into the promised land--that was reserved for Joshua. Brothers and Sisters, the Lord Jesus has led you so far through the wilderness and He will lead you over the Jordan and secure your heritage for you! He will see you safely landed in it--look not, therefore, for any other leader or lawgiver! It is not with Christ as it was with David. David collected the materials for the temple, but though he could gather together vast stores of great value, he could not build them up, for the Lord said that this honor should be reserved for his son that should be after Him and, therefore,, the construction of the temple was left for Solomon. But our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be His name, has not only gathered together His people and the precious treasures with which He is to build a living temple unto God, but He will also build it, stone upon stone, and bring forth the top stone with shouting! He shall build the temple of the Lord and He shall bear the Glory! Christ in the Christian's alphabet is A, B, C right down to Z--and all the words of the pure language of Canaan are only compounds of Himself! Has He not said it, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end"? Our text speaks about coming to Him and I shall endeavor to expound it to you thus. This is a full picture of Christian life. I consider it to be a complete picture of a saint drawn with one stroke. It is not easy to make a portrait with one line, yet I remember seeing a somewhat famous portrait of our Lord in which the artist never lifted his pencil from the paper from beginning to end. He drew the whole of it with one continuous series of circles. So here I may say the whole Christian life is drawn in one line--coming unto Christ. "To whom coming." When we have spoken upon that, I shall answer two questions. The first--what is the best way of coming to Him at first? The other--what is the best way of coming to Him afterwards? May the Holy Spirit bless the whole discourse to our souls. I. First, then, HERE IS A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. It is a continuous "coming" to Jesus. If you have your Bibles open at the text, I want you to notice that the expression occurs in connection with two figures. There is one which precedes it in the second verse, namely, the figure of a little child fed upon milk. "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming." Children come to their parents and they frequently come rather longer than their parents like--it is the general habit of children to come to their parents for what they need. They begin with coming to the mothers when they are newborn babes. Look at the little child. It cannot provide for itself. If it were left to shift for itself, it must die. But having tasted the unadulterated milk, it thirsts for more of it. When the time comes round for it to be fed, and it comes very often, it gives unmistakable signs even before it can speak that it needs its food! It knows where to come and it will not rest till it reaches its place and nestles down. As the child grows up it knows the breakfast hour, the dinner hour and knows where to come for the grateful meal and the hearty welcome. You do not need, in most of your houses, I suspect, to ring a bell to call your children together to the family table! They all carry little interior bells which let them know pretty accurately when mealtimes are and they come freely, without persuading or forcing. Some of them are now getting to be 15 or 16 years of age and they still keep on coming! They come to your table just as they used to come. When first you had to lift them into their little chairs, they were coming. And now they take their big chairs as if they quite belonged to them--and they still keep on coming! Yes, and they come to you not only for bread and for meat, but they come for a great many things besides. In fact, the older they grow, the more they come! They used to come for little shoes and little garments, but now they need them cut of a larger size and of more expensive material--and they come accordingly. Though they cost you more, they come with greater freedom, for habit has made them very bold in their coming! They do not require any entreaty or encouragement to come for what they need--they look for many things as a matter of course--and for the rest they come with all the readiness imaginable. Perhaps they let you know their desires a little sooner than you need them to, and when you think that they might manage a little longer with what they have, they press their claims with earnestness and vote them urgent! They very soon find out their requirements--you never have to call them together and say, "Now girls, I need you to earnestly consider whether you really need more dresses. Now boys, I need you to lay it to heart whether you really require new clothes." Oh, nothing of the sort! Your children do not need to be called in such a way. They come without calling! They are always coming for something, as you very well know! Sometimes they constrain you to put your hands into your pockets so frequently and for such a variety of expenses that you wonder how long the purse will hold out and when your resources will be exhausted! Of one thing you feel quite sure--it will be easier to drain your purse than to stop your children from coming for one thing or another! They come to you, now, for a great many things they did not come for at first. It seems that there is no end to the things they come for, and I believe there is no end at all. Some of them, I know, continue to come after they have got beyond their boyish years. Though you have a notion, I suppose, that they might shift for themselves, they are still coming for sovereigns where shillings used to suffice! There was a time when you could put them to bed at night with the reflection that you had found them food and raiment and house and home. You knew your expenses--but now the big fellows come to you with such heavy demands that you can hardly see the end of it! So it is. They are always coming! Now, in all this long talk I have been showing you how to understand the figure of coming to Christ. Just what your children began to do from the first moment you fixed your eyes on them--and what they have continued to do ever since--that is just what you are to do with the Lord Jesus Christ! You are to be always coming to Him--coming to Him for spiritual food! Coming to Him for spiritual garments! Coming to Him for washing, guiding, help and health! Coming, in fact, for everything! You will be wise if, the older you grow, the more you come--and He will be all the better pleased with you. If you discover other needs, come for more than you used to come for! You will prove, thereby, that you better understand and appreciate what manner of love it is that you should be called the sons of God. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Has He not said to you, "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it"? It is rather strange that you never have to tell your children to do that! They do it without any telling--but you have been told to do it and yet you do not do it! Our Lord complains, "you have not called upon Me, O Jacob." The infinite liberality of your heavenly Father has urged you to make great requests of Him and yet you have stuttered and stammered and been afraid to ask! He now tells you that "you have not because you ask not." Beloved, let us learn from our children, and let it be the habit of our lives to be incessantly coming to the heavenly Father--coming more often, coming for more reasons, coming for larger blessings, coming with greater expectations, coming in one lifelong perpetual coming--and all because He bids us come! If you will look again at your Bibles, you will get a second illustration from the fourth and fifth verses, "To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Here we have the figure of a building. A building comprises, first, a foundation, and then the stones which are brought to the foundation and are built upon it. This furnishes a very beautiful picture of Christian life. I have read that there has been discovered beneath Jerusalem an immense cavern or quarry near the Damascus gate. Travelers who have been into this quarry say that there are niches in the live rock out of which the magnificent stones were cut with which Solomon's temple was built. The temple is up there on the top of the rock, and then far down in the quarry can distinctly be seen where the huge stones used to be. Now there was a process of coming by which each stone came to the foundation. Some stones that were expected to form part of the building never reached it--there is one huge stone of that sort in the Bezetha cavern right now. It is still there for this reason--though it is squared and chiseled on the front and two sides and also on the top and the bottom--yet it has never been cut away at the back. And so it cleaves to the rock of which it is naturally a part and remains in its original darkness. Now, the passage that I would like you to think of is that in the 51st chapter of Isaiah-- "Look unto the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug." There are many here present who have been cut off from the rock and lifted up out of the horrible pit! And since the early operation of Divine Grace they have been coming and coming till they have reached the Foundation--and are built up as living stones in the temple which is established upon Christ! But there are others of you who need further excavating. God has begun His work upon you. He has used sharp tools and begun to separate you from the world--it has taken a long time to get you cut away from the rock, even in part. You used to be altogether sinful and earth-bound. You lived in worldliness, just as the stone formed a part of the rock. God has been using His great chisel upon you. He has cut you away and separated you, to a great extent, from your fellow men. But still, at the back, in secret, your heart cleaves to sin! You have not given up the darling lust of your heart and, therefore,, you are not quarried yet. And you cannot come to Christ, for that is impossible till you are separated from the rock of which you naturally form a part! Oh, how I wish that almighty Grace would take the saw of the Word of God, tonight, and make clean cuts right across your stony heart until you are sawn right off from the hard rock of sin that you may afterwards be made to come to Christ to be built upon Him as your Foundation! That is how the work of Grace begins--by cutting loose the soul from the evil world of which it has been a component part! This is part of the process by which the living stones are brought to rest on the Foundation, for it is clear that they cannot come to the Foundation till first they are removed from their native bed in the pit of sin. Oh, may God's Grace continue to take out many of this congregation like stones divided from the quarry, that so by Grace they may come to Jesus! Well, after they had cut out those stones in the quarry, which, with a little imagination, you can see lying there, detached and distinct, the next operation was to pull them up to the top of Mount Zion. It was a long drag up to the summit of the hill. How Solomon managed to remove such enormous masses we do not know. If he had no machinery or motive force that could supersede manual labor, and the force on which he relied was in the sinews of men, the matter is all the more amazing! They must have pulled away, perhaps, many thousands of them at one single stone, hauling it out of the pit, dragging it up the zigzag roads till, at last, the gigantic mass reached its place. Now, there is a lifting, a drawing of the soul to Christ after this fashion and I see among you some who have recently been drawn. You have not been dragged by men. All the men in the world could not draw a sinner to Christ! No machinery is known or will ever be invented that can ever draw a proud, stubborn will to Christ! We may tug and pull till we break the ropes, but we shall never make a soul stir one inch toward Christ! But there is another power which can accomplish the work impossible to us. "I, if I am lifted up," says Christ, "will draw all men unto Me." He has such attractive power that He draws the stones out of the quarry of nature, right up to the Foundation which His free Grace has laid in Zion and they are built upon Him. This is the second part of the work of Grace in the soul--first it separates us from the rock, and then it draws us up to the Foundation. And in both it is working out our coming to Christ. Well, we have watched the stone as it has been carried up. What is the next process? Why, the next work is to let it down so that it lies in due order upon the foundation. The foundation of the temple very likely was far below the adjacent soil and so this mass of stone had to be let down to the foundation steadily and wisely, that it might rest in its proper bed. What a task it is sometimes--to let a huge stone down upon the foundation--and to get it to lie square and true so that every bit of it is in its proper position with the rest of the structure! Picture the process in your mind's eye. We have got the stone upon the base, but half of it projects beyond the foundation and, so far, it has nothing to lean upon. That will never do. It must be moved till it lies plumb with the foundation, exactly square with the other stones--and till every portion of it rests firmly on its proper bed. Oh, dear Hearts, this is one work which the Grace of God has to do with you--to bring you to lie upon Christ, to recline upon Christ, and that wholly, rightly, and squarely! It takes a long time to bring some sinners to this. They want to be propped up with a little bit of self-righteousness! They cannot be induced to lie right square upon Christ--they want to tilt a little, have a little shoring up with their own doings and a little dependence on themselves--but this will never do! "To whom coming," says the text, "coming as to a living stone." Oh, that almighty Grace would constrain you all to be coming till you lie flat and square on Christ! Till you have Christ at one corner and Christ at the other corner--and Christ at all the four corners where your soul lies-- till you are resting on the Lord Jesus Christ at all times, in all respects, under all circumstances, for everything! Other Foundation can no man lay! You must be sure that you rest wholly upon Jesus! "Bless the Lord," says one, "I know I have come as far as that! Can I get any farther?" Well, look, Brother, as long as ever that huge stone lies on the foundation it is always coming to the foundation! Its own weight is always pressing it down upon the foundation and the heavier it is, the more closely and compactly it lies. I feel myself, now, to be more close to Christ than ever I was! My weight of sin helps to press me down on Him. My weight of trouble, my weight of care, my weight of anxiety about the souls of my hearers and even my weight of joy all help me to press more on my Lord! The way to be coming to Christ, Brothers and Sisters, as long as you live, is to lean more on Christ, press more heavily on Christ, and depend more upon Christ than ever before! In this way, you know, some stones seem, by long abiding and pressing, to cleave to one another and unite together till they appear to be no longer distinct, but one mass. Have you not often noticed in an old Roman wall that you cannot distinguish the mortar from the stone? You cannot tell where the stones were joined--they have grown to be one piece. And blessed is that Christian who, like a living stone, has continued so to come to the Foundation till Christ and he have become one, as it were! Yes, one in conscious fact, so that nothing can divide them! Thus we continue to come to Jesus and draw nearer to Him--nearer and yet nearer, still, built up into Him-- perfectly joined in one spirit. Then, only then, shall Christian life be perfected! These two figures of the babe and the stone have shown you, I trust, what the text means. I have not gone far afield to find them--they lie, as you have seen, in the immediate context. "To whom coming" is an apt description of the whole of Christian life--mind that you make it the rule of yours. II. But now, secondly, I have to ANSWER THE QUESTION, what is the best way of coming to Christ at first? There are some poor hearts among you longing to be saved. "Ah," you say, "I hear that if I come to Christ I shall be saved. But how can I come to Him? What do you mean by coming to Jesus?" Well, our reply is plain and clear--it is to trust Christ, to depend upon Him, to believe Him, to rely upon Him. Then they enquire, "But how can I come to Christ? In what way would you recommend me to come?" The answer is, the very best way to come to Christ is to come with all your needs about you. If you could get rid of half your needs apart from Christ, you would not come to Jesus half so well as you can with the whole of them pressing upon you, for your need furnishes you with motives for coming and gives you pleas to urge. Suppose a physician should come into a town with motives of pure benevolence to exercise the healing art? What he needs is not to make money, but to bless the town. He does not intend to charge any or take any fees, but he lets it be known that he has come into the town to display his skills. He has a love to his fellow men and he wants to cure them and, therefore,, he gives notice that as he only wishes for opportunities of displaying his kindness and skill, the poorest will be welcome and the most diseased will be best received. Now, then, who is the man that can come to the doctor's door with confidence and give a good rat-tat-tat and feel that he will be welcome? Well, there is a person who has cut his finger--will the doctor rush into the surgery to attend to him? No doubt he will look at the cut, but he will not grow very enthusiastic over it, for doctors do not get much credit out of curing cut fingers! Here is another gratis patient who has a wart on his hand. Well, there is nothing very famous about curing warts and the physician is by no means excited over this work! But here is a poor forlorn body who has been given up by all the other doctors--a patient who is so bad that he lies at Death's door! He has such a complication of diseases that he could hardly tell what diseases he has not suffered from--and certainly his condition is terrible enough to make it appear hopeless. He seems to be a living wonder of disease. That is the man who may come boldly to the physician and expect his immediate attention and his best consideration! Now, Doctor, if you can cure this man, he will be a credit to you! This man exactly answers to your advertisement. You say that you only wish for patients who will give you an opportunity of displaying your skills. Here is a fine object for your pity! He has bad lungs, bad heart, bad feet, bad eyes, bad ears, bad head, bad all over! If you desire an opportunity of showing your skill, here is the man! Jesus, my Lord and Master, is the Great Physician of souls and He heals them on just such terms as I have mentioned. Is there a far gone sinner here tonight? Is there a deeply sin-sick soul anywhere within the range of my voice? Is there man or woman who is altogether bad? Come along, my Friends, you are just in a right condition to come to Jesus Christ! Come just as you are, that is the best style of "coming." Another illustration may be furnished by the common Scriptural figure of a feast. A king determines to act with generosity and, to show how liberal his disposition is, he desires to make a banquet for those who need it most. He says, "If I make a great feast for my lords and dukes, they will think little of my hospitality, for they fare sumptuously everyday. Therefore I will seek out guests who will be more likely to be grateful. Where shall I find guests who will most enjoy my dainties? Men who will eat with the greatest gusto and drink with the greatest delight?" Having considered the matter, he cries to his heralds, "Go into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in." From among the tramps by the roadside the heralds soon gather starving wretches who exactly meet the king's wishes. Here is a poor man who has had nothing to eat for the last 48 hours. Look at his eager delight at the sight of the food! If you want somebody to eat largely and joyfully, is not he the man? Look how he takes it in! It is wonderful how the provisions disappear before him! Here, again, is a poor woman who has been picked up by the wayside, faint for lack of bread. She has scarcely any life in her, but look how she begins to open her eyes at the first morsel that is placed before her, and what delight there is in her every expression as she finds herself placed at a table so richly loaded! Yes, the poorer, the more hungry, the more destitute the guests, the more honor is accorded to the king who feeds such mendicants and receives such vagrants to his table. Hear how they shout the king's praises when they are filled with his meat! They will never have done thanking him! Now, if I address a soul tonight that is very needy, very faint, very desponding, you are a fit guest for my Master because you have such a fine appetite for His generous repast of love! The greatness of your need is your fitness for coming to Christ--and if you want to know how to come--come just as you are! Tarry not to improve yourself one single atom--come as you are, with all your sin and filthiness and need about you--for that is the best way to come! If you want to know how to come aright the first time, I should answer, come to find everything you need in Christ. Do not come with a load of your own wealth. Remember what Pharaoh said to Joseph--"Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours." Do not bring your old rubbish with you. "I thought I was to bring repentance." Do not attempt to do so, but look to Jesus for it! COMINGTO JESUS--ALWAYS COMING. Christ is exalted on high to give repentance and remission of sins. Come and receive a heart of flesh, for you cannot make one for yourself! "Oh, but I thought I was to bring faith." Faith, also, is the gift of Christ. It comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Draw near, then, to that Word to find faith. Come for everything. "Oh, but I want to feel." And then, I suppose, after you have found a nice lot of feelings you will come to Christ, and say, "Lord, You are now able to save me, for my feelings are right"? What conceit! Come to Christ for feelings! Come to Christ for everything! "What?" says one, "Can you mean it, that I, an unfeeling, impenitent wretch, am bid to come at once and believe in Jesus Christ for everlasting life?" I mean just that! I do not mean to send you round to that shop for repentance and to the other shop for feeling--and to a third store for a tender heart--and then direct you to call on Christ, at last, for a few odds and ends. No, no, but come to Christ for everything!-- "Come, you needy, come and welcome, God's free bounty glorify! True belief and true repentance, Every Grace that brings you near, Withoutmoney Come to Jesus Christ and buy." I heard of a shop, some time ago, in a country town where they sold everything, and the man said that he did not believe that there was anything a human being needed but what he could rig him out from top to toe. Well, I do not know whether that promise would have been carried out to the letter if it had been tried, but I know it is so with Jesus Christ! He can supply you with all you need, for, "Christ is All." There is not a need your soul can possibly have but the Lord Jesus Christ can supply it and the very best way to come, is to come to Him for everything! The best way to come to Christ is to come meaning to get everything and to obtain all the plenitude of Grace which He has laid up in store--and promised freely to give. Some poor souls who come to Jesus Christ seem as if they need a little relief from fear, a hope that they may just get saved and a fair chance of going to Heaven when they die. Pray do not come in that way, my dear Friend! Come intending to obtain the fullness of love, the uttermost of Grace! Some time ago, when there was a dinner given to poor people, they were told to come and they should have all they could eat. Do you know what they did, some of them? There was not to be any dinner till six o'clock. Well, that they might have a noble appetite, they did not eat any breakfast--not they! They meant to get all they could, now they had an opportunity, and so they came as hungry as possible. Many years ago, I am told, it used to be the custom of the lord of the manor, in certain villages, on Christmas Day to give the poor people a basin of food. The rule was that whatever basin was brought, his lordship always filled it. It was perfectly marvelous how the basins grew, till at last, when some of the women came with their basins, the lord of the manor looked at the huge bowls and wondered how they could dare to bring such huge vessels! But he was a man of a generous heart--all he would say to his steward would be, "These people believe in my generosity. Go and fill their bowls. Fill and fill on till you have filled them all. As long as they bring their bowls none shall say that I denied them." And now, when you go to Christ, take a spacious vessel of large prayer and great expectation! Enlarge your desire and make up your mind to this--"I am not going in to be a miserable Christian, with barely enough Grace to keep me from open profanity, to whitewash me with a respectable profession and ensure me against the peril of everlasting perdition. I mean to take a higher aim and to seek a better portion! Gladly would I vie with saints and angels and be the most happy, the most useful, the most joyous, the most holy Christian that ever lived, if God will help me to be so." I wish we had some of the old Methodist fire back among us again. Some of those dear old people, if they did not know much, used to enjoy much and when they went to hear a sermon they listened with a zest, for they received the Word of God as a fresh inspiration--it was a lively oracle to them. The Gospel, as it was preached to them, awoke an echo in their hearts! They were all alive to its good cheer and they shouted, "Amen, hallelujah, bless the Lord," as they heard it, for it went home to their souls! Nowadays we are very proper and decorous in our behavior, all of us, and we are not a little critical in our tastes. As we pick up a crumb of the Gospel we like to know whether it is the real aerated bread baked in a tin, or whether it is the common household bread of the shops. The preacher is a "little odd" and he does not cut the bread exactly into dice pieces, and so we do not like the manner of service, for we are rather fastidious and we air our own conceits by faultfinding. Because the Lord's servant does not very daintily bring us our portion on a silver platter and hold it out to us, we curl our lips and say, "No, thank you." Oh, may God deliver us from the fashionable stiffness and artificial nonsense! May He revive in us the reality both of nature and Divine Grace so that we may come to His table of love with a good appetite! Modern Christians remind me of our boyish days, when we went to bathe in the sea and used to dip our toes in the waves instead of taking a plunge head first. I am sure that to plunge right in is the best way with religion! Throw your whole soul into it and allow the glorious waves of everlasting love to go right over your head! And then dive and swim in that sea which is bottomless and rejoice in the Lord with all your heart! But this mere dabbling about with goody-goody goodliness, instead of the grand old godliness, makes professors all of a shiver and they stand in doubt, as though they hardly liked it, and would rather get back to the world and put on their old clothes again--only they are half afraid to do so. Oh, may the Lord grant us Divine Grace to come with all our needs to Him--to come to Him for everything and to come determined to have everything that is to be had, and to go in for it thoroughly! That is the way to come to Christ! III. There remains one other question--WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO COME AFTERWARDS? The answer is-- Come just as you used to come! Brothers and Sisters, the text does not say that you have come to Christ, though that is true, but that you are coming--and you are to be always coming. The way to continue coming is to come in the same way as you came at first. I have many things to say about this, but my time has gone and, therefore, I will not enlarge, but I will only put them in brief. I am persuaded that the only happy--the only safe way for a Christian to live is to live in daily dependence upon the mercy of God in Jesus Christ--just as he did when he was a babe in Grace and a stone newly drawn from the quarry of nature. I know what it is to build up a nice structure of my own experience on the Foundation of Christ and to climb upon it instead of standing on my own foundation. If you were ever on the top of Snowdon, or some other high mountain, you will have noticed that to make the standing a little higher they put up some wooden scaffold or other-- some 10 or 12 feet of platform to increase the elevation--and then everybody wants to get up on that platform. Well, now, I have built my little platform on Christ. My own experience has made a very handsome edifice, I can tell you. I have felt, "Well, I know this and that and the other by experience," and I have been quite exalted. Sometimes, too, I have built a platform of good works--"I have done something for Christ, after all." The proud flesh says, "Oh yes, you really have performed something you might talk about if you liked." Self-confidence has piled my platform up and it has been a very respectable looking concern and I have even asked a few friends up. But, do you know what has occurred? Why, I have felt my platform shake! It began to tremble! Stress of weather has rotted the beams and the supports have begun to give way. And I have seen all my building tumble down--and I have gone down with it! And as I have gone down with it, I have thought, "It is all over with me now. I am going to crash down, I do not know how far, but perhaps I shall fall to the bottom of the mountain." Instead of that I alighted on the top of the mountain. I did not fall very far, but came right down where it had been most sensible of me if I had always kept, namely, on terra firma, down on the solid earth! I have noticed, lately, that a great many have been building some very pretty little wooden structures on the top of Jesus Christ. I think they call them, "the higher life," if I rightly remember the name. I do not know of any life that is higher than that of simple faith in Jesus Christ! As far as I am concerned, the highest life for me out of Heaven is the life of a poor publican saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner." My very good friends are not content with this position, though he who keeps it goes to his house justified more than boasters! Some friends built very high a little while ago--I thought they would soon reach the moon! But certain of them went down in a very ugly way, I have heard, and I am afraid some more will go down if they do not mind what they are doing. Give up building these artificial elevations! Give up resting on them and just stand on the level of Christ's finished work, the blood of Christ shed for sinners--the righteousness of Christ imputed to sinners! Be yours the humble plea-- "I am the chief of sinners, But Jesus died for me." He that is down there will never fall--and he who stays there is really as high up as the man who thinks he is all aloft! All above living by faith in Christ is mere dream and moonshine! There is nothing higher, after all, than just being nobody, and Christ being everybody, and singing with poor Jack, the huckster-- "I'm a poor sinner, and nothing at all, But Jesus Christ is my All in All." If you grow till you are less than nothing, you are full grown, but few have reached that stage! And if you grow till Christ is everything to you, you are in your prime! But, alas, how far short of this do most men fall! The Lord bring you to that highest of all growths--to be daily coming to Christ--always empty in yourself, but full in Him! Always weak in yourself, but strong in Him! Always nothing in self, but Christ your perpetual All in All! The Lord keep you there, Brothers and Sisters, and He will have praise and glory of you, both now and forever. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ A Cheery Word in Troublous Times (No. 1335) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Therefore, Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." Acts 27:25. THE presence of a brave man in the hour of danger is a very great comfort to his companions. It is a grand thing to observe Paul so bold, so calm in the midst of all the hurly-burly of the storm. He was talking so cheerfully and so encouragingly to the crew and to the soldiers and to the prisoners. You must have seen, in many events in history, that it is the one man, after all, that wins the battle. All the rest play their parts well when the one heroic spirit lifts the standard. Every now and then we hear some simpleton or other talking against a "one-man ministry," when it has been a one-man ministry from the commencement of the world to the present day! And whenever you try to have any other form of ministry, except that of each individual saint discharging his own ministry, and doing it thoroughly and heartily and independently and bravely in the sight of God, you very soon run upon quicksand. Remember, Christian man, that wherever you are placed, you are to be the one man. You are to have courage and independence of spirit and strength of mind received from God, that with it you may comfort those around you who are of the weaker sort. So act that your confidence in God shall strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees-- and, by God's Grace, your calm, quiet look shall say to them that are of a faint heart, "Be strong! Fear not." If you are to do this, and I trust you will do it, in the sick chamber, in the midst of the troubles of life, in the Church and everywhere else, you must be strong! Take it as a good rule that nothing can come out of you that is not in you. You cannot render real encouragement to others unless you have courage within yourself. Now, the reason why Paul was able to embolden his companions was that he had encouraged himself in his God. He was calm, or else he could not have calmed those around him. Imagine him excited and all in a tremble, and yet saying, "Sirs, be of good cheer." Why they would have thought that he mocked them and they would have replied, "Be of good cheer yourself, Sir, before you encourage us." So my dear Brothers and Sisters, you must trust God and be calm and strong, or else you will not be of much service in the world and in the Church as you ought to be. Get full, and then you will run over, but you can never fill others till you become full yourselves. Be yourselves, "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might," and then you will be, as a standard, lifted up to which the timid will rally. At this time we are going to speak very little about Paul, but a great deal to ourselves. May God speak to us! May the Holy Spirit cheer our hearts and lead us into the way of peace and power! If Paul was strong it was because he believed God! Let us speak about that faith. Paul, being strong, spoke words of good cheer to others. Let us, in the second place, see whether we cannot speak words of encouragement to our comrades in distress. We will finish up with such words as God may give us. I. First, then, PAUL WAS STRONG BECAUSE HE BELIEVED. Faith makes men strong--not in the head, but in the heart. Doubting people are generally headstrong--the Thomas sort of people who obstinately declare that they will not believe unless they can have proofs of their own choosing. If you read certain newspapers, journals, quarterly reviews and so on, you will see that the doubting people who are always extolling skepticism and making out that there is more faith in their doubt than in half the creeds, and so on, are particularly strong in the upper region, namely, in the head-- only it is that sort of head-strength which implies real weakness, for obstinacy seldom goes with wisdom! They are always sneering at Believers as a feeble folk, which is a clear sign that they are not very strong, themselves. This has been a rule without exception forever, that when a man despises his opponent, he is, himself, the party who ought to be despised. When certain writers rave about "evangelical platitudes," as they commonly do, they only see in others a fault with which they are largely chargeable themselves. Anybody who glances at the skeptical literature of the present day will bear me out that the platitudes have gone over to the doubting side of the house. No people can write such fluent nonsense and talk such absurdity as the school of modem doubt and "culture!" They think themselves the wisest of the wise, but, professing to be wise, they have become fools! And I know what I say. It is true that the evangelical party has become flat and stale, but the other party has beaten us at that. They are more dull, more stale and more unprofitable by far! When a man leaves faith, he leaves strength. When he takes up with "liberal" views in religion and does not believe anything in particular, he has lost the bone and sinew of his soul. It is true all round, in all things, that he who firmly believes has an element of power which the doubter knows nothing of. Even if a man is somewhat mistaken in what he believes, there is a power in his faith, though it may be, in part, power for mischief. There is, however, in a Believer, a world of power for good if the right thing is believed. Paul was a believer in God, and so became strong in heart. He was, on board the foundering vessel, the center of hope, the mainstay of courage. But notice that Paul's faith was faith in God. "I believe God," he said. Nobody else in the ship could see any hope in God. With the exception of one or two like-minded with Paul, they thought that God had forsaken them, if, indeed, they thought of God at all! But there had, that night, stood by Paul's side, an angel fresh from Heaven, bright with the Divine Presence and, strengthened by his message, Paul said, "I believe God." That was something more than saying, "I believe in God." This many do and derive but slender comfort from the belief. But, "I believe God, believe Him, believe His truthfulness, believe the Word that He has spoken, believe His mercy and His power. I believe God." This made Paul calm, peaceful, strong! Would to God that all professing Christians did really believe God! Believing God, he believed the message that God had sent him! He drank in every word and was revived by it. God had said, "Fear not Paul, I have given you all them that sail with you." He believed it! He felt certain that God, having promised it, was able to perform it, and amidst the howling of the winds Paul clung to that promise! He was sure that no hair of any man's head would be harmed. The Lord had said the preserving Word and it was enough for His servant! Has He said it and shall He not do it? Has He spoken it and shall it not come to pass? He believed God that it should be even as it was told him. And he did that--mark, dear Friends--when there was nothing else to believe in. "I believe God," he said. He might have said to the centurion, if he had pleased, "I do not believe in the sailors. They are evidently nonplussed and do not know what to do. We are driven before the wind and their sails and tackle are useless. I do not believe in the men, themselves, for they are plotting to get into the boat and leave the ship and all in it to go to the bottom. We must have them on board, but still, I have no trust in them, their help is of small account compared with the Divine aid." He did not say "I believe in you, the centurion, that you can maintain military discipline and so we shall have a better opportunity of escaping." No, the ship was breaking up! They had put ropes all round her, undergirding her, but he could clearly perceive that all this would not matter. The fierce hurricane was sweeping the vessel here and there, and driving her towards the shore. But Paul calmly said, "I believe God." Ah, that is a grand thing--to believe God when the winds are out--to believe God when the waves howl like so many wild beasts, and follow, one upon another like a pack of wolves all seeking to devour you. "I believe God." This is the genuine breed of faith--this which can brave a tempest! The common run of men's faith is fair-weather faith--faith which loves to see its beautiful image mirrored in the glassy waves--but is far away when the storm clouds are marshalling the battle! The faith of God's elect is the faith that can see in the dark! The faith that is calm in the tumult! The faith that can sing in the midst of sorrow! The faith that is brightest when everything around her is black as midnight. "I believe God," Paul said, when he had nothing else to believe in. "My Soul, wait only upon God, for my expectation is from Him." Say, O my Soul, "Though the earth is removed, and though the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea, will we not fear, for God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."-- "God lives still! Trust, my Soul, and fear no iil! Hea ven's huge vault may clea ve asunder, Earth's round globe in ruins burst. Devil's fullest rage may thunder, Death and Hell may spend their worst. Then will God keep safe and surely Those who trust in Him securely! Therefore then, my Soul, despair? Mid the shipwreck, God is there." Since the Apostle Paul believed God thus truly and really, he was not ashamed to say so. He said openly to all those around him, "There shall not a hair of your heads perish, for I believe God." Now, it is not so easy to thrust out your faith and expose it to rough weathers and to the hearing of rough men! Many a man has believed the promise but has not quite liked to say so, for there has been the whisper in his soul, "Suppose it should not come true, then how the enemy will rejoice! How those that listened to me will be saddened when they find that I was mistaken." Thus does the devil cause faith to be dumb and God is robbed of His honor. Under the name of prudence there lurks an unbelieving selfishness. Brothers and Sisters, lend me your ears that I may whisper in them--"You do not believe at all." That is not the legitimate sort of believing! Genuine faith in God speaks out and says, "God is true and I will stake everything on His Word." It does not swallow its own words and keep its thoughts to itself. But when the time comes and others are in difficulty and doubt, it cheers them by crying out, "I believe God." It is not ashamed to say, "The Lord Jesus, whose I am and whom I serve, stood by me this night and spoke with me, and I swear it." I would to God all Christians were prepared to throw down the gauntlet and to come out straight! For if God is not true, let us not pretend to trust Him! And if the Gospel is a lie, let us be honest enough to confess it! But if it is true, why should we doubt it and speak with bated breath? If God's promise is true, why should we distrust it? What excuse is there for this hesitancy? "Oh," says one, "but that might be running great risks." Risks with God, Sir? Risks about God's keeping His Word? It cannot be! "Let God be true and every man a liar." Let Heaven and earth return to chaos and old night, but the Most High cannot break His Word or run back from His promise! Therefore, O you Pauls, if you receive a message from the Most High, publish it abroad and let your faith be known! I should like that little word to drop into the ears of some of you who think you love Christ but have never told of your love--you that are hiding in the background. Come out and show yourselves! As for you who have long proclaimed your Savior, do it more and more and, "Speak His Word, though kings should hear, or yield to sinful shame." II. Now, if we have any measure of the faith of Paul, let us try whether we CANNOT CHEER OTHERS AS PAUL DID. Let the language of the text be on our tongues, "Therefore, Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." First, you will meet with seeking souls. They have not found Christ, yet, but they are hungering and thirsting after Him. They are saying, "Oh that I knew where I might find Him!" You that believe God are bound to speak comfortably to them, and say, "Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." There is one that is sorrowing for sin. Go and tell him that sorrow for sin is sweet sorrow and that no man should ever regret that he mourns his faults, but should be glad that God has enabled him to feel a holy grief, a penitential pain. Gotthold tells us that he was called, one day, to see a man who, when he entered his chamber, burst into many tears. It was a long time before the good Divine could discover what made him so unhappy. At last the man broke out, saying, "Oh, my sin, how I hate it! My sin, how I sorrow over it!" Whereupon Gotthold, who had been sad at the sight of his sadness, smiled and said, "Friend, your sadness is my gladness! I never behold a happier sight than when I see a man sorrowing for his sin!" "Oh," said the other, "really?" "Yes, indeed," he said, "there are many mourners who mourn for others, but blessed are they that mourn for themselves! There are many who are sorry because they cannot have their own will, but," he said, "there are few enough that sorrow because they have had their own will and have disregarded the will of the Lord. I rejoice," he said, "for such as you are those for whom Jesus died! Come and trust Him, for when there is sorrow for sin there will soon be joy for pardon!" Now, whisper in the ears of those who are penitent. Tell the mourner that God has promised to turn his night into day and his sackcloth into beauty! Perhaps you will meet with another whose condition is that he is pleading, daily, for mercy. "Oh," he says, "I have been praying and praying and praying! I cannot let a day pass without asking for forgiveness but somehow my prayers seem to come back to me. I get no favorable replies." Brother, to a man in this plight you should speak up and say, "Be of good cheer, Friend, for I believe God, that it shall be even as He told me, and He told me this--'Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened.'" Tell the praying soul that praying breath was never spent in vain and that, in due time, "He that asks, receives." To withhold your testimony will be cruelty to the seeking one and a robbery of God, to whose honor you are bound to speak! Possibly you will meet with another who is saying, "I am beginning, now, to venture myself upon Christ. I am desiring to believe, but oh, mine is such a feeble confidence. I think I trust Him, but I am afraid I do not. I know there is no other Savior and I give myself to Him, but, still, I am jealous of my heart, lest mine is not true faith." Tell that soul that Jesus has plainly said, "Him that comes to Me I will in nowise cast out," and then say, "Be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as He has told me." Tell the trembling heart that Jesus never did yet reject one Believer, however trembling might be his trust! Whoever believes in Him is not condemned! Let the comfort you feel in coming to Christ, yourself, thus be handed on to other seekers, even as the disciples passed the loaves and fishes among the hungry multitudes. Perhaps you will find one who says, "I desire the renewal of my nature. I am so sinful! I can believe in Christ for pardon, but my heart is terribly deceitful and I feel such strong passions and evil habits binding me that I am sorely afraid." Go and say to that soul, "His name is called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." Tell that anxious one that the Lord can take away a heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. Say that Christ has come to bring liberty to the captives and to set men free from the bonds of sin! And tell them that you believe God, that it will be even as He has told you--and He has told you and you know it is true--that He will purge you from sin and sanctify you wholly! Any soul and every soul that comes trustingly to Jesus and rests in Him shall find sanctification in Him so that sin shall be hated, avoided, and conquered! I do not know how I shall manage it, but I wish that I could, in two or three words, say something that would make every Christian here look out after poor seeking souls with tenfold eagerness! I do not know what to say, except this. There is a Brother in this house tonight. There was one here two Sabbaths ago who never needed me to tell him to sympathize with anxious souls. He was always up here in the great congregation looking out, and then down in the Prayer Meeting below on the same errand. Many persons have been invited from this upper service to go down below and have there been spoken with by him concerning the Lord Jesus. It was our dear Brother, Verdon, who was a mighty soul-hunter before the Lord and he lived to seek after souls. He is gone, and my heart mourns him. Alas, my Brother, when shall I ever, again, see such an one as you were? Now, I want each one of you to try to fill up his place. Keep your eyes on any who seem to feel the power of the Word, and then step up with an encouraging word, somewhat like that of the Apostle, "Sirs, I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." Now, there is another set of people who are saved, but they are Little-Faiths, and I want you Strong-Faith people to encourage them by telling them that you believe God that it shall be even as it was told you. Some of these Little-Faiths are conscious of very great inward sin. They thought, when they believed in Christ, that they would never feel any more conflicts--their notion was that they should be saved from the assaults of sin the moment they were born unto God. But now they discover that the old viper within is not dead! He has had a blow on the head, but he is not dead! They see lusts and corruptions moving within their hearts and they cannot understand it. Go and tell them that you feel the same, but that, thanks be to God, He gives you the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! The poor young soul that is just struggling out of darkness into light, and beginning to contend with inward corruption, will be greatly comforted if you thus state your experience and declare your faith in the ultimate issue. In the case of some others of these Feeble-Faiths, the trouble is that they are vexed with outward temptation. Many a young man says, "It is hard to be a Christian where I work." Many a young woman has to say, "Father and Mother are against me." Others have to complain that all their associations in business tempt them to that which is evil and that they have few to help them. Go and tell them of the Lord All-Sufficient! Remind them, "He keeps the feet of His saints." Tell them to pray, day by day, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Tell them that there is strength enough in Christ to preserve His own. Bid them hide under the shadow of His wings! You have done so and found a happy shelter and, therefore, you may confidently say to them, "Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." You will find others whose lamentation is, "I am so weak! If I am a Christian, yet I am good for nothing! I have little liberty in prayer, or power to edify anybody. I think I am the most useless of all the family." Tell them, "He gives power to the weak and to him that has no strength He increases might." Tell them the Lord does not cast away the little ones, but He, "carries the lambs in His bosom and gently leads those that are with young." Tell them of the faithfulness and tenderness of the Good Shepherd and say, "Sirs, be of good cheer: weak as you are, the Lord's strength will sustain you! And as He has promised to preserve His own and has evermore preserved me, do not doubt, for it shall be to you even as the Lord has told me." Perhaps they will say, "Ah, but I am beset by Satan! Blasphemous thoughts are injected into my soul! I am driven to my wits' end." Then tell them that the Lord enables His people to cry, " Rejoice not over me, O my enemy, for though I fall yet shall I rise again." Tell them that when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him! As they feel their danger, point them to their great Protector, the Lord Jesus, who has come to destroy the works of the devil! And say, "You will conquer him, you will conquer him yet. The Lord will bruise Satan under our feet shortly. Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as He has told me." There is much work for happy Christians among the Feeble-Minds, and the Miss Much-Afraids, and the Mr. Despondencies and the like. I earnestly hope that they will set about it. Now, if you have performed these tasks, I commend to your attention a third class of persons, namely, those who are greatly tried. God has a very tried people abroad in the world. I learned a lesson the other day which, I think, I never can forget. I was asked, after preaching a sermon, to go and see a lady who suffered from rheumatism. Now, I know by bitter experience what rheumatism is. But when I saw one whose fingers and hands had all lost their form through pain, so that she was incapable of any motion beyond the mere lifting up of her hand and the letting it fall again--when I saw the pain marked on her countenance and knew that for 22 years she had suffered in agony, then I said, "You have preached me a sermon upon patience and I hope I shall profit by it. How dare I be impatient if you have to suffer so?" Now, if you go and see sick folk--and I suppose you do, and if no sickness comes to your own house--say to them, "Sirs, be of good cheer, for it shall be even as God has told me." And what has He told you? Why, that He will support His people in the most severe afflictions. "In six troubles I will be with you, and in seven there shall no evil touch you!" Tell them that the Lord will bless His people's troubles, for, "all things work together for good to them that love God." Tell them that God will bring His people out of the trouble some way or other, for He has said, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." And if you will tell them these precious things, believing them yourself--for that is the main point--having experienced the truth of them, yourself, your testimony will comfort them. You will meet with some that have been bereaved, who have lost the light of their house and have seen the desire of their eyes taken away with a stroke. Cheer them and tell them of the sweet things that God has said concerning the bereaved. He is "the Judge of the widow and the Father of the fatherless," and make a point of declaring your belief that He is so. You will meet with godly folks who are under testing trials. Many young people have to go through severe tests. I mean trials like this--"Will you take this employment, young man? The wages are sufficient, are they not?" "Yes, Sir, I should be well content. I do not think I shall get a better situation as far as money goes." "You understand that you will not have the Sabbath to yourself and that we want no religion here. Now, young man, what do you say to that? Do not think twice about it, my Friend, but say, "No, 'what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?'" Speak right straight out and do not be afraid to give up the tempting offer. Many Christians can tell you, "be of good cheer," for if you do this, God will bless you. You shall have, even in this life, your recompense, as well as in the life to come if you can be decided and steadfast to stand for God and keep His way! I could mention many Christians who would tell you that when they were tested the Lord helped them to stand fast and that they have to bless Him for it every day of their lives. Whereas certain others have temporized and given way a little--and they have got out of God's ways and have had to run from pillar to post all their lives long--and though they are still Christians, yet they never enter into the joy of their Lord. O Sirs, be of good cheer when you have to suffer for Christ's sake, for He is able to give you much more than you will ever lose by Him! And above all He will give you peace of conscience which is worth all the mines of California! Should you come under persecution, any of you, I hope you will be met by your fellow Christians who will tell you not to be afraid, for the Lord can make you increasingly to rejoice the more you are despised and persecuted. Believe that and you shall find it true. And, O you tried people of God, you that have lost the light of His countenance--those of us who rejoice in God would come to you and bear witness that He has only forsaken you for a little while--He will return to you in the fullness of His mercy! We believe God that whether the season is dark or light, and whether the road is rough or smooth, His heart is still the same and He will not turn aside from the salvation of one of His chosen people! Thus, dear Friends, you have good scope for your faith to exercise itself in comforting others. Lay yourselves out in this delightful service! I have yet another set of good folks to speak to. We have some Christian people about who tremble greatly for the ark of the Lord. I occasionally meet with good Brothers and Sisters, very good Brethren, who are tempted to commit the sin of Uzzah--to put forth their hand to steady the ark because the oxen shake it--as if God could not protect His own cause! Some say that the good men are all dying--I have even heard that they are all dead! But I am not quite sure of it. And they ask, as the fathers fall asleep and one after another of the pillars of the House of God are taken away, what will become of the Church? What will become of the Church? "My Father! My Father! The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" What will become of the truth, the cause, and the Church? You know the good Methodist woman's outcry at the funeral sermon when the minister said, "Now that this eminent servant of the Lord is departed, we know of no one to fill his place. The standard-bearers are removed and we have none left at all to be compared with them. It seems as if the glory were departing and the faithful failing from among men." The worthy mother in Israel called out from the aisle. "Glory be to God, that's a lie!" Well, I have often felt inclined to say the same when I have heard a wailing over the absence of good and great men--and melancholy prophecies of the awful times to come! "Glory be to God, He will never let His Church die out for lack of leaders! He has a grand reserve somewhere!" If all the men who preach the Gospel, today, were struck down in the pulpit with apoplectic fits tomorrow, the Holy Spirit would still qualify men to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We are, none of us, necessary to Him, nor is any mere man necessary to God! Do not get into that state of mind which makes you attach undue value to men or means. The salvation of souls is God's work--and if it is God's work it will go on! Be quite sure of that. There is no fear of any work falling to the ground which has Jehovah for its Builder! In this Church of ours at the Tabernacle, we gradually lose our leaders and I have heard it said, and I must confess that I have almost thought, "If So-and-So were gone, nobody would ever fill her place or his place." Such earnest and holy individuals seem to be essential and we feel that their removal would be fatal. Yet it is not so, dear Friends! It is not so! Others arise and God's work still goes on. Christians ought to be as confident as the heroic Spartans. The old men advanced in procession and they said, "We have been brave," and they showed their scars. And then the strong men, in the prime of their days, followed and said, "We are brave," and they bared their arms for war! Then if anyone wondered what would happen when the old men were gone and when the strong men were slain in battle, there came the boys and the striplings behind, and they said, "We will be brave, for we are Spartans!" I see my gray-headed Brothers and Sisters going off the stage and I bless God that, though they do not say it, I can say it of them-- "They have been brave." Blessed be God, we have, also, a good staff of active workers of whom I may say, though they must not say it, "They are brave." And yonder are the young soldiers coming on--the young men and the young women! I see in their very faces that they are smiling at the thought of being numbered with the hosts of Christ and I am persuaded they mean to be brave and to stand up for the good old cause--and for the blood-stained banner of Christ--even as their fathers have done! Instead of the fathers shall be the children--God make them far better soldiers than we have been! Brethren, do not let us be discouraged, for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me--"The Lord has been mindful of us, He will bless us." Many minds are in a state of great distress about the spread of error. I do not know what is going to happen to England according to the weeping prophets. The signs of the times are very bad and the would-be prophets say that a dreadful storm is coming on. My barometer does not indicate anything of the kind! But theirs stand at, "much rain," or "stormy." Not long ago I walked with a very excellent man, whose name I will not mention because I think he must have been ill that morning. He told me that he believed that he should live to see the streets of London run with blood on account of the unbridled democracy, the atheism and the radicalism of the times. In fact, he thought that everything was out of joint, and we were going--I do not know where! It is not long ago and I remember that I pulled him by the sleeve and said, "But, my dear Friend, God is not dead." Now, that is my comfort! God is not dead and He will beat the devil, yet! As surely as Jesus Christ won the victory on the Cross, He will win the victory over the world's sin! It is true it is a hard time for Christianity. Infidels are fighting us with new arguments--but when I think of them I feel inclined to say what the Duke of Wellington said at Waterloo to the generals--"Hard pounding, Gentlemen! Hard pounding! But we will see which will pound the longest." And so we say--it may be "hard pounding" for the Christian Church, but we shall see who can pound the longest! Up to now--these 1,800 hundred years or more--the Gospel gun has gone on pounding and has neither been spiked nor worn out! As for our opponents, they have changed their guns a good many times! Our Gospel cannon has blown their guns and gun carriages and gunners all to pieces--and they have had to set up new batteries every year or two. They change their modes, their arguments, their tactics--but we glory in the same Cross as Paul did, and preach the same Gospel as Augustine, and Calvin, and Whitefield and the like! All along, the testimony of Jesus Christ has still been the same! The precious blood has been exalted and men have been bid to believe in Jesus! Pound away, Gentlemen! We shall pound the longest and we shall win the day! If we believe God in that fashion, let us turn round to our discomfited Brethren and say to them, "Sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me." The last class that I shall notice will be our Brothers and Sisters who are laboring for Christ. Sometimes workers for the Lord get cast down. "I have taught a class for years," says one, "and have seen no fruit." "I have been preaching at the corner of the street for months but have never heard of a conversion," says another. "I have been visiting the lodging-houses, but I have never met with a convert." Well, dear Brother, do you think that you have preached Jesus Christ and nothing has come of it? If you do, you must be a very unbelieving Brother! I do not believe it for a moment! I believe God, that it shall be even as He has told me, and He has said, "My Word shall not return unto Me void, but it shall prosper in the thing where I sent it." Perhaps you preach unbelievingly. Now, an unbelieving word is not God's Word! If you preach confidently and teach trustfully, believing in the power of the Spirit of God and so exhibiting Jesus Christ to your children and to your hearers, there are sure to be results. The raindrops return not to Heaven and the snow flakes climb not back to the treasure house, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud! And even so shall God's Word be. It must prosper in the thing where He has sent it! Beloved Brother, do not give up! Dear Sister, do not be discouraged! Go on! Go on! If you do not see results today, you must wait and work on, for the harvest will come. "He that goes forth and weeps, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Be not so cowardly as to say, "I will leave the work." You are not to win a battle in a moment, or reap a harvest as soon as you sow the seed! Keep on! "Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." We say this to you because we are confident, ourselves, and would have you confident also. Sirs, be of good cheer. God has been true to us and given us success. And we believe that it shall be to you even as He has told us. III. Now, I have done the sermon, but I had intended, if time had held out, to give ONE OR TWO WORDS OF PERSONAL TESTIMONY TO THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD by declaring that the Lord has always acted to me as He has promised me. I will give one or two. When I was converted to God, as I read the Scriptures I found that Believers ought to be baptized. Now, nobody around me saw things in that light--but it did not matter to me what they thought, for I looked at it carefully for myself. Parents, friends--all differed--but Believers' Baptism, seemed to me, to be Scriptural, and, though I was a lad, God gave me Grace to be honest to my conscience and to follow the Lord in that respect as fully as I could. Have I had any cause to regret it? It seemed, then, that I might soon have grave cause for doing so, but I have had none. It has, on the other hand, often been a great comfort to my soul to feel that I did not trifle with my convictions. And I should like to urge you, young people, whether on that matter or any other, if you have received light from God, never to trifle with it. Follow the Lord fully and I can say, as the result of actual experience, "Sirs, be of good cheer. No harm will come to you if you are faithful to God and to your consciences." Again, when I came to London as a young minister, I knew very well that the doctrines which I preached were by no means popular, but I, for that very reason, brought them out with all the more emphasis. What a storm was raised! I was reading, the other day, a tirade of abuse which was poured upon me about 20 years ago. I must have been a horribly bad fellow, according to that description, but I was pleased to observe that it was not I that was bad1 Now, 24 years or so later, what can I say of the results? Why, that no man loses anything by bringing the Truth of God right straight out! If he believes a doctrine, let him speak it boldly! Mr. Slapdash, as Rowland Hill called the bold preacher, will, after all, succeed! Let no minister say, "That is too Calvinistic and Calvinism is at a discount. That is too nonconforming, and if you dare to speak against the Church of England somebody will be very vexed. Trim your sails! Preach smoothly! Whenever you have anything to say, polish it and put it in such a neat way that nobody can object. As the great goddess Diana, nowadays, is unsectarian, try and be unsectarian. And preach and teach all that is sweet and soothing and velvety and teachy--and you will succeed." Now, how has it turned out with me? I wish to bear this witness, not about myself, mark, but about the Truth of God which I have preached. Nothing has succeeded better than preaching out boldly what I have believed and standing to it in defiance of all opposition and never caring a snap of the fingers whether it offended or whether it pleased! Young man, if you are beginning life now, I charge you begin so that you can keep on, with a straightforward, honest reliance in God, for be sure of this--the Truth of God will reward those who love it--and all who lose for its sake are great gainers! Be steadfast in following your convictions. I cannot help saying it, because some of you, perhaps, are beginning to temporize a little. I would say to you, "Stand up straight and proclaim the Truth of God and then be of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as He has told me!" May God grant that this little personal testimony may tend to put backbone into certain Christians, for we have a molluscous company of professors about who do not believe anything! They shape their creed according to the mind of the last person they meet! Go, dear Brethren, and pray God to cleanse your hearts of that evil if you have ever indulged in it! Believe God! Take every letter of His Book and hang to it as for dear life! And in little, as well as in great things, keep to the statutes and precepts and ordinances and doctrines of the Lord as they are committed to you! As surely as you do this, the Lord of Hosts will bless you! First rest in Jesus by a simple faith in Him and then treasure up His every Word and keep His every command. So shall the blessing of God be with you from now on and forever. May His Holy Spirit work this in you! Amen. __________________________________________________________________ A Family Sermon (No. 1336) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark...And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood." Genesis 7:1, 7. GOD in infinite Grace had entered into Covenant with Noah that He would preserve him and his family alive. The tenor of that Covenant you will find in the 18th verse of the 6th chapter. "With you will I establish My Covenant; and you shall come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you." There was a positive foretelling of Noah's coming into the ark and finding safety. The thing was fixed and ordained so to be, and yet, when the time came, Noah was not carried into the ark by force, nor lifted into it against his will by a benevolent violence. He was bid to come into the ark in the most natural manner possible and he entered it voluntarily and cheerfully. He and his family left their houses to find a home in the ark, and so they were saved. The Covenant promise and purpose were fulfilled, but Noah acted in perfect freedom, as much choosing to go into the ark as others chose to keep out. Now, Beloved, there is a decree in Heaven ordaining the salvation of the Lord's chosen people. It is useless to deny that decree, for even if it were not so, yet no difficulty would be withdrawn, it would only be shifted to another place. Some of us, instead of denying predestination, like to think upon it and find rivers of consolation springing from the everlasting purpose of the living God. But, albeit that God has purposed and decreed the salvation of His elect, yet this by no means prevents our speaking, in the Lord's name, to all men. Nor does it set aside the necessity that those men should cheerfully accept the Gospel of God and awaken themselves to obey its command, by the power of Grace. My Hearer, I cannot tell whether your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world, but I can assure you that to you is the word of this salvation sent and that it bids you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with this assurance--that if you do so you shall be saved, for so has the Lord most solemnly declared! The method of the Divine arrangement involves an active consent on our part and a willing obedience to the Gospel command. The purpose is sure, but it is unknown and unrevealed till the Gospel is made known and brought home with effectual power so that the heart accepts it, the spirit obeys it and the man is saved--saved as a free agent. He is saved as a voluntary being, yet not saved apart from the secret, almighty purpose of the Most High--nor without the effectual working of His Grace. And so we come here, at this time, believing that there are some in this house concerning whom the Lord has purposed that they shall be Christ's in the day of His appearing. We address you all hoping that the Spirit of God will apply the Word with special power to the chosen, that they may see that they, themselves, must believe in Jesus--that they must be actively awakened to repentance, to prayer, to a change of life, to confidence in Christ. When this shall happen, then shall the Covenant purpose be known to them and fulfilled in them, for they shall be saved from the wrath to come! Not knowing, therefore, who is to come into this net, we cast it into the sea, believing that Christ knows every fish in the sea and what fish will come to the net. We do not wish to know this, ourselves, for it is quite enough for us to know how to cast in the net and to be fishers of men. The practical work belongs to us, but the result we leave with the Lord. There are two things in the two texts. The first is the call--"The Lord said unto Noah, Come you and all your house into the ark." The second is the obedience to the call--"And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark." I. First, then, THE CALL. We remark, at the outset, that it was a call from the Lord. "The Lord said unto Noah." You see, Noah was familiar with other forms of calls, for he had been the instrument of many. For many years he was a preacher of righteousness, and the principal office of a preacher is to herald his Master, to make proclamations and to call upon men in the name of the Lord to obey the Lord's Word. "To you, O men, do I call, and My voice is to the sons of men." But it was not by such calls as Noah could give that men were to be brought into the ark. For albeit we cannot doubt that he was a faithful minister and an earnest preacher. And, no doubt, he pleaded with the people day and night, yet, sad to say, not one beside his own family entered into the ark through Noah's labors. Perhaps his preaching may have been useful to his wife and to his sons' wives. If so, he had no mean reward for his pains. But to all outside of his family his word seems to have been powerless as to delivering them from death by the devouring flood. But now he was to know something of another call, differing in many respects--a call from the Lord of Heaven and earth whose Word is with power. The preacher can only give the general call and it is his duty to give it to all around him. He is to stand in the streets and lanes of the city and bid men come to the feast of Grace. Yes, he is to go into the highways and hedges and, as far as he can, to compel them to come in. But men do not come upon our compulsion or upon our call unless a secret something goes with our pleadings--a mysterious power, quiet, silent, omnipotent--making the voice of man to be the voice of the Holy Spirit and hiding within the shell of the outward call the kernel of the inner call! When the Lord said to Noah, "Come you," he did come. He did not put it off and say that surely it was meant for others. He felt it to be a personal call. It was "Come you." He knew that it was for himself. God the Holy Spirit speaks home to the inmost soul when He speaks to save--there is no putting off His voice as though directed to another. Noah did not feel inclined to controvert, or plead for delay, or object, or make excuses, or say he could not. When the Lord said to Noah, "Come you," Noah came. The call was effectual, and resistance was out of the question! It is true the Lord had, in a measure, spoken to the rest of mankind by Noah's ministry, but that form of the Lord's speaking in common pleadings and invitations can be resisted to men's destruction. They could close their ears against the common, or general call, and they did, for it was true then, as it is now, "many are called, but few are chosen." Myriads go to destruction with the honest call of God ringing in their ears which they willfully reject-- "The worldlings willfully went on Rebellious till their day was past. They forced the lingering deluge down And perished in their sins at last." When that silent call comes, which we are accustomed to speak of as "effectual calling," then, if there is resistance, it is sweetly overcome. The will finds itself no longer headstrong and obstinate. The judgment, darkened before, becomes light, and the soul, before motionless, cries, "Draw me, I will run after You." Happy are the men to whom such a call comes from God Himself! I ask you, my dear Hearers now present, whether you have ever had God dealing with you in this powerful, this inward, this spiritual manner? If not, I am sure you have never come to Christ. If you have received no call but such as I can give you, such as my Brothers who aid me can give you, such as the most earnest evangelist can give you, you have been called in vain and are yet in your sins. If you are, indeed, the people of God, you must know that a voice in your souls, mysteriously persuasive and overpowering, has spoken to you and said, "Come to Jesus," and you have yielded to it. Happy are you, tonight, if you have been so called, for it is written, "Whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified." Now, note that this call from God was of such a tenor that Noah was bound, personally, to come. It was a call to personal action. Noah must come. "Come you." It was not a call of this kind-- "Now, Noah, sit where you are and you will be right. Wait, Noah. Patiently, quietly wait, and see what God will do." But, no! It said to Noah, "Come you." Noah must come and he must come to the ark, too. For him there was only one way of salvation--no more than for anybody else! He must come to the ark which God had bid him prepare as the instrument of safety--and he must come into it. It was of no use his coming near it, but he must come into it. Within its wooden walls he must hide himself. Within its vast chambers he must find a dwelling. And so, dear Soul, when God calls you, He will make you feel that you must come to Jesus--not wait and delay, but come by a distinct act of the soul to be immediately performed! And you must come to Christ, too, for believing in anything else will destroy, rather than save you! Your faith must come and place her whole reliance upon the great Sacrifice of Christ! You must come into Christ, too--so near to Him as to be in Him, to make Him your hiding place and your refuge from the storm. You must have an inward faith which takes you into the very inwards of Christ, hides you in His wounds, conceals you within Himself. When God calls Noah it is, "Come into the ark." And when God calls any sinner to Himself it is, "Come to Christ; be hidden in Christ that you may be preserved as the Lord's choice treasure." Come, make the Lord Jesus your refuge, your deliverance and your habitation! Now, it would have been of no use for Noah to have gone on making preparations for his dwelling in the ark. That he had done long enough. He had gathered all sorts of food for all the creatures that were to be lodged in that marvelous menagerie and now that he is bid to enter the ark, he does not say, "I must gather more hay and store up more corn and fruits." No, "Come you into the ark" finished all his labors. He must have done with preparing and actually enter the refuge. I know some of you have been thinking about your souls and praying, and reading good books, and attending meetings, and trying to get instruction. Well, so far, so good. But that is not the way by which you will find salvation. The call of God to your soul is, "Come into the ark," or, in other words, "Come now to Jesus and distinctly and finally commit yourself to Him. Just as Noah put himself in the ark, to sink in the ark or swim in the ark--to live in the ark or die in the ark. He committed his whole future to the ark and that is what you have to do--commit yourself and all that is about you entirely to the Lord Jesus Christ. Considerations, resolutions and preparations must come to an end and you must in very deed "come into the ark."-- "O Jesus, Sa vior of the lost, Our ark and hiding place, By storms of sin and sorrow tossed We seek Your sheltering Grace. Forgive our wandering and our sin, We wish no more to roam; Open the ark and take us in, Our soul's eternal home." Neither would it have done for Noah to go round the ark to survey it again. No doubt he had examined, before, that ark of wood and been pleased to think its timbers were so sound. No insect could eat that bitter wood. It was a tree that would not rot. No doubt he was pleased with the architecture of the vessel, for he had built it with no surveyor there but his God and, it was, therefore, well built. God was the great Master of Noah's naval yard and had given him plans and specifications. It was quite right that Noah should inspect the huge vessel up and down and see to the caulking and make sure that it was well pitched inside and out, and so on. But now he must give up surveying and come to inhabiting. He must come into the ark to remain in it. And so must I, like you, my dear Hearers, to take an interest in the Person of Christ and in the way of salvation! It is a very hopeful sign when you survey the Ark of salvation and say, "How stoutly built, and how thoroughly well caulked it is. Never were timbers better put together, there is no fear of a leakage here! She will live out every storm that will ever beat upon her. She is a true lifeboat upon a stupendous scale." I like to hear a sinner say, "Christ is a great Savior! I perceive that He is able to save to the uttermost and I wonder at the wisdom and the goodness of God that He has devised such a way of salvation." So far, so good, dear Friend, but all your admiration of Jesus will not save you! You must come inside His ark! By a simple faith you must, at once, give yourselves up to Jesus to be saved in Him. No longer look at Christ externally, nor survey Him even with a grateful eye for what He has done for others. But come, now, and commit yourself to Him. There stands the door and you have to go through it, and enter into the inner chambers, or you will find no safety. Neither would it have been of any use for Noah to go up to the ark and stand against the door and say, "I do not say that I am not going in and I do not even say that I am not in already. I have got one foot in, but I am a moderate man and like to be friendly with both sides. I am in and yet not in. If the door was shut I do not know but that it would cut me in halves. But, anyway, I do not want to be altogether out and I do not want to be quite in. I should like to stand where I could hurry in as soon as I saw the water coming up, but, still, while there is another opportunity of taking a walk on the dry land, I may as well avail myself of it. There is no hurry about it, is there? "You see, if a man keeps his finger on the latch of the door, he can pop in as soon as ever he sees the first drop of rain descending, or the water coming up anywhere near him. But is there any reason for being so decided all at once? Everybody likes his liberty, you know, and does not want to be shut in before he needs to be, at any rate." No, that would not do for Noah. God said to Him, "Come into the ark," and he went in at once. Noah must not hesitate, or linger, or halt, but in he must go--right in. And, O dear Souls, you that linger, you that are of two opinions. If you were wise and did but know the danger of being outside, and the bliss of being inside, instead of hesitating you would want to penetrate into the ark's inmost recesses and to take your place in the very center just as I desire to go right to the heart of Christ, into the very center of His inmost love, for there, only there, shall I be perfectly at rest! Do not hesitate! Decide! Decide at once! May the Spirit of God lead you to do so. I know you will not delay if the effectual call is now being given--you will be obedient to the heavenly vision at once. Now, go a little further. It is God that calls and Noah must, in very deed, personally and actually come. It is said, "Come into the ark." Now, notice that word, for it teaches us that in entering the ark, Noah would be coming close to His God. "Come you"--Why did it not say, "Go you?" Why, because God was inside and meant to be inside, in the ark, along with Noah and, therefore, He said, "Come you." Oh that blessed, "come"! We had it the other night, you know, when we preached from, "Come unto Me all you that labor and are heavy laden." "Come"--that is the Grace word! But, oh, it is the Glory word, too, for Christ will say at the last, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world." "Come." "God is in Christ Jesus, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." And he that comes to Christ comes to God! If you find rest in Christ you will only do what the great God has done before you, for He rests in Christ Jesus! He smells a sweet savor of rest in the Redeemer's Sacrifice. If you delight in Christ you will only do what God has always been doing, for He delights in His Son--"This is my Beloved Son," He said, "in whom I am well pleased." There is no coming to the Father but by Christ--and he that comes to Christ has come to the Father--and he has seen and known the Father. Coming to Christ is coming to God! Now observe that what is meant here is this--dwellers in Christ are dwellers with God. To live in the ark was to live with God. Dwellers in Christ are under the protection of God, for to dwell in the ark was to have God for a guardian. Noah did as much as say, when he passed into the ark, "God is here and I have come to live with Him. God is Master and Protector, here, and I am come to be protected by Him." O Soul, when you can say, "I trust in Christ," then you may go on to say, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations." You may "joy in God through Jesus Christ, by whom, also, we have received the Atonement." Ah, how near to God that man is who dwells in Christ! When Christ is All in All to you, the Father Himself loves you and you may rejoice in a consciousness of communion and fellowship with Him. Now, notice that when Noah came to the ark, he must come there to find his all in it. All the food he needs he must find in the ark. Mistress Noah cannot go out to market any more. Her daughters can no longer go to the shops and the stores. Noah's sons cannot farm or trade, or hunt or dig for gold. Houses, lands, treasures will soon lie deep at the bottom of the flood. All Noah has is in the ark. It is his sole possession, his all, for which he has suffered the loss of all things and rejoices to have done so. From the time of his entrance he is to find all his pleasure in the ark. There are no outdoor amusements for himself or his family. He cannot even find pleasure in the scenery, for that is blotted out by the deluges of rain. The valleys have vanished and even the hills have disappeared as the deluge has increased. If he is to find any pleasure, he must find it inside the ark. It was a melancholy prospect, indeed, if he could look out the window--but his joy and delight lay within the chambers of the ark, for there was he saved--and there he dwelt with God! All his food, also, to supply his necessities he must find inside the ark. He had no barn nor warehouse to look to, and there was no port at which he could touch to take in cargo. Whatever need might arise, it must be met by the stores within the ark, for there was nothing outside but death. All his work was inside the ark, too. He had nothing to do, now, except within that vessel, no fields to plow, no shops to keep, nothing to do but what was inside the ark. Now, when a soul comes to Christ, it commits itself to Him for everything. Christ must feed it--you must eat no longer for your soul anything but the Bread of Heaven. Jesus must become meat and drink to you, for, "His flesh is meat, indeed, and His blood is drink, indeed." Now you are to find your pleasure in Him--your choicest delights, your sweetest joys--all in Christ Jesus who is our hope, our crown, our delight, our Heaven. And now, from now on, your service must be to Him only. "You are not your own, you are bought with a price," and all that you have to do in this world now lies within the circumference of Christ's will. The most common duties of life are now to be brought within the sacred circle. You have nothing to do outside in the waters of sin and self and Satan. You need neither fish in the waters of sin, nor go boating upon the waves of worldliness--you are in danger if you do. You are inside the ark, shut in with God, dead to the world and only alive in Christ Jesus, that you may be floated in Him out of the old world into "the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness." Thus, you see, Noah, in coming into the ark, left everything and found everything--even as by us the world is forsaken and Jesus becomes our All in All-- "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave, and follow You. Destitute, despised, forsaken, You, from now on, my All shall be. Let the world despise and leave me, They have left my Savior, too: But my Lord will not deceive me, And in Him my all I view." Again, Noah must come into the ark never to go out again. "Come you," says God, "into the ark." He is not to make a visit, but he is to be shut in. As far as that world was concerned, Noah was to be in the ark as long as it lasted. When the new world came, then he walked out in joyful liberty. But you and I, dear Brothers and Sisters, are in Christ, not to be there for a time, but to abide in Him forever and ever! If any man thinks to get any good by a transient profession of Christ, that man is grossly mistaken! If you imagine that you can take up religion and put it down again--that you can be Believers today and unbelievers tomorrow, you know nothing of the Grace of God, for the Grace of God begets a life and that life is incorruptible and lives forever-- nothing can destroy it or remove it. He that is really in Christ is like Noah in the ark--he is shut in by God's own hand. "None shall pluck them out of My hand," says Christ, and, truly, none shall ever take a soul out of the grip of Jesus Christ who is once within it. You come to Christ to be married to Him! You take Him to have Him and hold Him from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health--and death, itself, shall not part you. "Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?" Noah, according to the Lord's command, must come in at once. "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come you into the ark"--come at once, "for yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights. And every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." There was a door to the ark and that door was open. Indeed, we are not told that it had ever been shut since it had been made. There it stood, wide open. We never hear of anybody that ever went in and was driven out. We never hear of a single beast or bird, or even a creeping thing that there was but ever went in was cast out. So long as the door was open whoever came was welcome, but long-suffering was drawing to an end. The time was now come for Noah to go in and the time was also near when the door must be shut. And so, when the Spirit of God comes to persuade men sweetly in effectual calling, it is always in the present tense. The Lord never called any man by effectual Grace to believe in Christ next week. He calls them to believe in Christ directly, and one of the ways by which the effectual call may be judged is its presentness and its pressing character. It is "now, now, NOW!" Oh, may the Divine Spirit be pleading in some heart at this hour, saying, "Come to Jesus now, before the next word has left the speaker's mouth. Put your trust in Jesus before this service ends and you shall go your way to your chamber and to your bed justified and saved." The Spirit of God sweetly puts it, "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." Even as He did with Noah, who never dreamed of delays, but, when bid to come, came then and there-- "Come to the ark, the waters rise The seas their billows fear! While darkness gathers over the skies, Behold a refuge near. Come to the ark, all, all that weep Beneath the sense of sin. Without, deep calls unto deep But all is peace within. Come to the ark, before yet the flood Your lingering steps oppose! Come, for the door which open stood Is now about to close." And now notice, once more--and that is a sweet part of it--that the Lord said, "Come you and all your house into the ark." How good it is of the Lord to think of our children! That He should save us, oh, we must always bless Him for that! But that He should have a word for our wife, a word for our son and a word for our daughter--this is overflowing mercy! I have heard of a man who was unkind enough to say that he married his wife, but he did not intend to marry all her family. And it sometimes happens that your love to a person is a good deal tried by that person's relatives and friends--but when the Lord Jesus Christ takes to His heart the master or the mistress of a house, He is willing to take all the household! He came to the jailor's house at Philippi and He looked on him with love, but He did not stay with Him only, He blessed all his household--so blessed them that they were all brought to believe in the Lord--and they were all baptized then and there! There have been other households upon which the Lord has looked in the same way. "Come you and your house," is it not? Am I reading correctly? Look at the passage! Look at it! It is not merely, "Come you and your house." We will read it again. "The Lord said to Noah, come you and all your house into the ark." "ALL." Oh, that blessed comprehensive word, "ALL!" Then Ham was not left out! Japheth the elder, as he is called in Genesis 10:21--I know not much for him or against him, but he had faith enough to enter the ark and he was saved like the rest. Shem, the second of the household, if I may judge from his descendants, was always a religious young man, devout and attached to the worship of the true God. He also entered the ark and was saved. As for Ham, the scoundrel of the family, it might have been feared that he would not come in--but notwithstanding all that the Scripture tells us against him, he was assuredly saved in the ark. And here was the mercy--that to Japheth, the elder, and to Shem and to Ham, the promise extended! "Come you and all your house into the ark." My dear Brother, when you are converted, yourself, it is a blessing that you have so far a hold of the Gospel, but go on to grasp more of it! "What must I do to be saved?" asked the jailor. And Paul replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house." Many cannot get to the second part of the promise. They seem satisfied if they, themselves, are saved. But oh, for that faith which takes all that the Gospel is prepared to give and pleads with God that not only I may be saved, but my house, yes, and ALL my house, without exception! II. Here is the call, then. The Lord called effectually Shem, Ham, Japheth and their wives, so that they all came into the ark. Of that we are going to speak for a few minutes on the second head, which is THE OBEDIENCE. Noah came into the ark and his wife, and his sons and their wives. Their obedience was unquestioning. We do not find them asking anything at all about the reason for the command--they came as they were bid. They passed through the doorway and they were all in the ark. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and their wives, daughters and their husbands, and all of you, oh that the blessed Spirit would put you, now, into such a frame of mind that you should at once yield to the Divine precept which says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved!" Have you not asked enough questions? You have had some of them answered, but every answer has only helped you to invent another dozen! Oh, those questions! Those quibbles! Those debates! Those doubts! They are ruining thousands! Have you ever heard of the man who sat at the table and could not eat till he knew the pedigree of the bullock from which the joint was cut? And then he must know how it was cooked and comprehend the influence which fire has over flesh to make it eatable! Next he must understand anatomy and know how the stomach acts upon the food and what the gastric juice is made of, and how food is assimilated. Unless he could get plain answers to every enquiry, he would not eat. He said, "Plain answers, mind, plain answers to all my questions, or I will never put a mouthful between these lips again." Now, there was a poor countryman who came out of the field and saw the meat and potatoes, and he ate them all up while the man was asking the questions! And very wise he was, too. I suppose it was his hunger that made him so sensible. May the Lord give you a hunger after the Gospel! And when you have it, may He grant you Grace to feed upon it and receive it into your soul. May you take what is set before you by infinite love and leave quibblers to their own folly. I, myself, have a lot of questions, for the questions I have been asked by skeptics I have put away along with a lot more of my own which are far more difficult than theirs. I mean to bring them out one day, but not until I get to Heaven and carry all I can with me! We shall have light enough there to see! It is like reading in the dark down here. We will leave these questions till we get into the blaze of Glory and, perhaps, they will then answer themselves! Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives did not worry themselves about mysteries, but obeyed the plain command and went into the ark and were saved. They went in at once, but I will not dwell upon that. The whole eight of them passed in at once! To get eight people to agree to go anywhere is a difficult thing. But here they were, all agreed and all ready to start. And they all went into the ark then and there. It is wondrous that Mistress Shem did not say that she could not leave all her acquaintances and forsake her father and all her relations at once. How could she tear herself away? Good Mistress Japheth might have felt bonds which hold her to her bosom friends. But so it was--the effectual call went through all the family--men and women, and they took up their separated position, coming out of the world at once when the command came. O, blessed Spirit, give such a call as that to whole families! All these eight people came away once and for all. They could each say-- "Farewell, vain world, I must be gone! You are no home, no rest for me. From now on my heart must dwell alone, And have no fellowship with thee. Farewell, poor world, for you must die! Even now the floods begin to rise. I die to you without a sigh, Save that I mourn your blinded eyes." There was a closed door between the family of Noah and all the rest of the world. They went in to be the minority and turned out, before long, to be the majority! Oh, that men would be willing to be the minority in a wicked world and to be counted fools! People say, "If you join that Church, you just shut yourself out from all society. Nobody will ever know you anymore. You might as well be dead and buried." But, truly, when a soul gives itself to Christ, it feels itself to be dead and buried to the world and says to it, "Adieu, we are, from now on, strangers." The regenerate pass straight away from communion with this world to hold all their communion inside the ark--to have all their fellowship in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ! Now to Noah and to his wife and to all the family, this was the most important event that ever happened to them. When all of them passed out of the world together to find their refuge where God had provided it--it was a great day with Noah's household! What a glorious day it is with men and women when they come to Christ! Their birthday is noteworthy, but this is better! They were only born to sorrow and death at first--now are they born to Heaven and eternal life! Their wedding day? This is better! They were but joined to a mortal in bonds that death will sever, but now they are married to Christ in everlasting wedlock! Moreover, simple as the act of going into the ark may seem, it was one of the most remarkable events in human history. When Noah and his family entered into the ark, it was a more important day than when empires rise or fall, for there would have been an utter end of the human race if it had not been for their decided action on that memorable day! So, when men give themselves to Christ, they do not know what mighty things they are doing for their posterity and for those immediately around them. Time and eternity quiver with the force of their deed! These converts will be a blessing to the town in which they live, a blessing to the society in which they move! The salvation of that woman will be the salvation of her grandchildren and of their children and so forth! Who knows, when a man is born to God, but that there shall spring from him in future years a godly seed that shall become ministers of Christ and missionaries of the Cross? It is a grand event when a family is saved! I heard some music in the street just now and it seemed to me to be playing in good time to keep tune with the joy we ought to feel when father, mother, sons and daughters enter the ark of Christ and find salvation there! Oh, if households enter into Christ, the very bells of Heaven may ring again and again and again with a joy that has many joys within it! Now let us go into details. The first fact is that Noah went in. This was right! Noah was the leader. The husband is the head of the household, or ought to be, and he should go to Christ first. Whether his wife comes in, or Shem, or Ham comes in, whoever will come in, or stay out, Noah goes in first, for he would obey the Lord. Head of the house, are you in the ark? Are you in Christ? You are a father. You have sons grown up around you, are you decided? You wish your family to grow up in the fear of God--I hope you do! But how can you expect it if you are not saved? If Noah had not gone into the ark, I should not expect to read that Shem and Ham and Japheth went in. you that are heads of households, your position is very responsible! You will have to bear much blame if your children go astray. Unless your example is decided for the Lord, they will be able to say at the Last Great Day, "Our father was half-hearted and how could we be expected to give our hearts to God?" Next, his sons are mentioned. "Noah went in and his sons"--three fine fellows. A happy father is he who has sons that will go with him in the things of God. Sons are called in Hebrew, "builders," because they build up a man's house. May the Holy Spirit build them into the Church! I would to God there were more young men joining the Church--that more sons were decided! You cannot expect, can you, to see the sons' wives brought unless the sons are on the Lord's side? But, I am sorry to say, they are often opposers and, when the women are brought to Christ, there are the husbands standing back and even acting as a hindrance to the religion of their wives! God grant it may not be so in any case here! O son of Noah, go into the ark with your father! O child of a godly parent, follow your father to Christ, that you may follow him to Heaven! Let Abraham's son be an Isaac and Isaac's son be a Jacob, and Jacob's son be a Joseph--and so may it go on from generation to generation! The next person who is mentioned is the old lady--namely, Noah's wife. I give her that name because she was, no doubt, somewhere about 600 years old and she was assuredly an eminent woman. We usually describe persons who have grown sons by that name in our family circles. The wife of the father of three sons comes into the ark. I think of her as of a queenly dame with her sons and their wives. I see her coming boldly forward with a quiet grace and firmness to go with her beloved husband--to sink or swim with him. She is casting in her lot with him not only because he is her husband, but because he had cast in his lot with God. Oh, beloved woman, advancing into years, with a grown family about you-- if you have not come to Christ, I trust you may--that in your family the saved ones may be as Noah and his sons and his wife. Last came the son's wives and what a happy circumstance for them! I was thinking, as I turned over the subject, how painful it would have been if one of the boys had not come in. And then how grievous it would have been if one of the wives had not come. If Noah had been obliged to know that one of them should be left out and he had to have the dreadful selection, whom do you suppose he would have left out? I cannot imagine! I have heard of the Irishman with his seven or eight children, and someone was willing to adopt one. But the question was--which was it to be? One is to be taken out of the family and they are not to see it again. It is to be brought up and taken care of by a stranger--the father and mother could never agree which it should be. 1 hope, dear fathers and mothers, you will never agree to have one of your children lost. Make it your daily and nightly prayer, your incessant effort, your hourly desire that not only Shem and Ham and Japheth may be brought, but their wives, too--till not one shall be left behind--but the whole family shall be saved in Christ Jesus! Now, all this was done by the sweet, effectual calling of the Divine Spirit. And let us pray tonight, each one, that the same call may be given to all our friends, kinsfolk and all assembled here--that we may be all in Christ, both now and on the Last Great Day! Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Love's Medicines and Miracles (No. 1337) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JANUARY 21, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but You have, in love to my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption: for You have cast all my sins behind Your back" Isaiah 38:17. HEZEKIAH'S recovery is a notable encouragement to prayer. If ever there was a case in the world where it seemed impossible that prayer could be of any use, it was that of Hezekiah. It was perceivable by everybody around him that he was sick unto death. Why, then, think of prayer? The case was fatal. Would it not expose prayer to derision if such a matter were taken before the Mercy Seat? Moreover, God's own Word, spoken by His servant the Prophet, had been given--"Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live." What could be the use of prayer after that? Might it not be regarded as an impertinent interference with the known will of the Lord? Yet, Brothers and Sisters, the proverb says that hunger breaks through stone walls--and so the desire to live, on the king's part--drove him to pray! Through all arguments and reasonings did Hezekiah's prayer break its way to the Throne of God. He turned his face to the wall in more than one sense on that occasion, for it seemed as if a wall stood in the front of him and shut out all hope of life. Yet he turned his face to it and prayed his way through it! Mark well his success. Fifteen years longer did he live in answer to his entreaties! Brothers and Sisters, pray if you are between the jaws of death and Hell! Pray, Brothers and Sisters, if all hope seems to be utterly slain! Yes, and if you can put your finger on passages of God's own Word which apparently condemn you, still pray! Whether your fears have contorted those threatening passages or not, though many of them frown upon you, still pray! Perish with your hands on the horn of the altar even if you must perish! Never believe your case to be utterly hopeless so long as you can plead with God! There can be no hurt come of your supplication, but good must come of it in some form or other. If God does not prolong life in answer to prayer, as He often may not or nobody would ever die, yet still He may give a greater blessing than continued earthly existence! And if it is a greater blessing, in God's judgment, it is better for us to receive it than to have the precise thing we have craved! In all cases, "pray without ceasing." The Mercy Seat once stood within the veil where none could approach it except at one set season in the year--but now the veil is torn from top to bottom and you may come to it when you will! Therefore I charge you come boldly unto the Throne of the heavenly Grace in every time of need! Yes, draw near in the darkest night and in the most wintry season! Draw near when God seems to have forgotten to be gracious and when you think He will no more be favorable. "Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Pray in the teeth of difficulty. Pray though impossibility seems to stand in the way. Pray against death and the devil. Pray like Manasseh in the low dungeon and like Jonah out of the belly of the whale! Pray against conscience and carnal reason--I was going to say even pray against your terrifying interpretation of God's Word, itself--for you must surely have misread it if you have thought that it forbids you to pray! It cannot be so, since Jehovah's glorious memorial is that He is the God that hears prayer! He has never said to the seed of Jacob, "Seek you My face in vain." He may say and He knows His own meaning when He says it, "You shall die, and not live," and yet He may afterwards declare, "I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add unto your days 15 years." He will be favorable unto the voice of your supplication! That lesson having been learned, we shall now proceed to consider Hezekiah's prayer in detail. God grant that from his experience we may derive instruction and, if in its bitterness we have already had fellowship with the royal supplicant, may the Lord grant unto us to have communion with him in the sweeter part of it, so that we, also, may feel our souls brought up from the pit of corruption to celebrate the praises of our pardoning God! I see in the text three things to think about at this time--the first is a healthy bitterness--"Behold, for peace I had great bitterness." The second is delivering love--"But You have in love to my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption." And the third is absolute pardon--"You have cast all my sins behind Your back." Before, however, I divided my text, I ought to have given you another translation of it. Not that I would readily find fault with our version at any time, for it is, as a rule, marvelously correct and singularly forcible. But I am afraid when the new translation of the Bible comes out, it will be better to light our fires with it than to give up the old version, which is so dear to us and so interwoven into all our religious life. I trust our grandfather's Bible will maintain its hold on the mind of the English public against all comers, for it is so simple and yet so sublime, so homely and yet so heavenly in style. The translation which I shall now submit to you is, however, more exactly literal according to the Hebrew-- "Behold, to peace my bitter bitterness," or, "Marah, Marah," "and You have loved my soul from the pit of destruction, because You have cast all my sins behind Your back." I. Our first head is HEALTHFUL BITTERNESS and you have it in the first sentence, which runs in Hebrew very nearly as follows--"Behold, to peace (or to health) my bitter bitterness." Our translators have given us, as it were, an interpretation of it rather than a translation. I do not dispute their interpretation, but yet it does not embrace all the meaning which the words convey to the instructed reader. The Hebrew is abrupt, sententious, and full of teaching-- "Behold, to peace my bitter bitterness." This means, first, that he underwent a great, sad and unexpected change. His peace, according to our version, was taken away and for it he had great bitterness. The city of Jerusalem had been surrounded by Rabshakeh's armies. Sennacherib had sent his lieutenant to demand immediate surrender and that commander had written a letter full of blasphemy and contempt. Hezekiah, having but little faith, was terribly cast down. But though he had not sufficient Grace to be at ease in his mind, he had wisdom enough to go to his God in prayer. He spread the letter of Rabshakeh before the Lord and, in due season, he obtained an answer which more than satisfied him! "The king of Assyria shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor build a siege mound against it." The angel of the Lord smote the armed men of the king of Assyria in their thousands! And the tyrant, hearing a rumor, fled to his own capital, where his sons killed him with the sword. That was the end of Sennacherib--and one would have said, and doubtless Hezekiah did say--"Now I shall have a long season of quiet. I shall reign in power over my country, watch over its interests, promote the happiness of my people, discharge justice, build up an empire and then, by-and-by, when I grow gray in years, in the fullness of time, I shall be gathered to my fathers in peace, as a shock of corn comes in its season." Instead of this, while he was in the meridian of his age and had, as yet, no heir to his crown, he finds himself smitten with a painful, debilitating and depressing disease--and he understands that he must die! Hear him as, to the music of sighs and groans, he sings a mournful song--"I shall go to the gates of the grave, I am deprived of the residue of my years." Ah, Brothers and Sisters, let us never boast ourselves of tomorrow, for we know not what a day may bring forth! The promises of the opening morning are not often fulfilled--clouds gather and the sun which rose in splendor sets in showers. We reckon that now we have made our nest as downy as it can be and we who ought to know better, yet we say, "Soul, take your ease: my mountain stands firm, I shall never be moved." But ah, how soon the mountain shakes, the nest is filled with thorns and the joy vanishes! The great Master of the feast comes in, clears the tables, takes away the fat things full of marrow and the wines on the lees well-refined! And instead, thereof, bids His servitors bring forth the wine of astonishment and the bread of sorrow! Ah, what changes may come! What changes have come to some here present! You have gained the object of your life and then have been disappointed in it! You have, after many a struggle, reached the position you sought for so eagerly, but now you find it a hard, uncomfortable ledge of rock overhung with thorns and briars! You thought that when a certain trial was surmounted--the one which had so long been the "hill difficulty" of your way--you would come to a level plain where your willing feet should joyfully trip towards Heaven. But now fresh mountains rise before you! Unexpected Alps lift up their frowning battlements and your spirit is filled with heaviness at the dreary prospect--for peace you have great bitterness. Now, if this is so with you, count it no strange thing and do not imagine that an uncommon experience has happened to you. It was so with Hezekiah and has been so with tens of thousands of others whom the Lord has loved! Notice, further, that Hezekiah's condition was one of emphatic sorrow, for he says, "Behold to peace, Marah Marah--bitter bitter," or "bitter bitterness." We read that when the children of Israel came to Marah they could not drink of the waters, for they were bitter. Nobody knows, unless they have experienced it, what parching thirst is and how cruel is the disappointment when, seeing water before you, you discover it to be so brackish that you cannot drink it. It tantalizes a man when he is least able to exhibit patience and so it intensifies the previous pain of the thirst. Marah was a notable spot in the journeys of the children of Israel and Hezekiah had come spiritually to a double Marah, a Marah Marah. Have you, dear Friends, ever passed that way and drank of double bitterness--the wormwood and the gall? Beloved, some of us know what it means, for we have had, at the same time, a body racked with pain and a soul full of heaviness. "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Perhaps the double Marah has come in another form--it is a time of severe trouble and just then the friend in whom you trusted has forsaken you--this is sorrow upon sorrow. Or perhaps you are in temporal difficulties and, at the same time, in great spiritual straits. Here, also, is Marah, Marah! The flying fish is pursued by a fierce enemy in the sea and when it flies into the air, birds of prey are eager after it. In like manner both in temporal and spiritual things we are assailed. Paul notes in his famous voyage that he came to a place where two seas met--have you ever sailed through such a dangerous part of the sea? I doubt not that you have and have, at the same time, found both trouble and sorrow. Well, then, again I say unto you, count it not strange concerning the fiery trial, as though some strange thing had happened to you--for the like affliction has happened to many of your Brethren--yes, it has so often happened as to become a proverb that, "ill things seldom come alone." Lo, on the heels of the first of Job's messengers there hastens another! If the Sabeans have taken away the oxen and the asses, we may be sure that the fire of God will be upon the sheep and the Chaldeans are already after the camels! No, do not wonder if the wind from the wilderness has smitten the four corners of the house and buried the children in the ruins, for adversities usually hunt in packs! Deep calls unto deep! Like countless birds which fly over our heads, migrating to distant lands, so do trials pass over us in clouds and we are startled as we hear strange and mysterious voices threatening grievous ills. Now, notice, that the meaning of our verse is not at all exhausted by this explanation. We find in it a better meaning by far. "Behold to peace bitter bitterness," that is to say, the king's double bitterness worked his peace and health. Take the word in the sense of health, first. The illustration of the text is well known. Many a time, when a man has been exceedingly ill, the medicine which has met his case has been intensely disagreeable to the taste. It has been as gall to his palate, but it has operated as a strengthening tonic--it has chased out the fever and purged away the cause of the malady--and the man has recovered. Hezekiah bore witness that God had sanctified his bodily sickness and his mental sorrow to his spiritual health. Is it not often so with us? "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Your Word." Hezekiah had time, during his sickness, to consider his disorderly house. While he lay with his face to the wall, he read a great deal upon that wall which he had seen nowhere else. A handwriting flamed forth in burning letters before his conscience and this was the interpretation--"Set your house in order." This writing would remain before his eyes even after he was respited. The death warrant was cancelled, but the mandate was not retracted--"Set your house in order." It needed setting in order and his first order of business was to look into home affairs, uncover family abuses and search into personal errors. In his quiet chamber, the king would look over the administration of his kingdom and note the many mistakes he had made, the wrong acts which he had permitted in his subordinates, and all the abuses of the times. Among the rest, his own personal unbelief would rise before him. He would remember his fear and distrust and he would mourn over them. He had evidently been far more daunted by Rabshakeh, at the first, than he ought to have been, for Isaiah, to comfort him, said, "Be not afraid of the words which you have heard." He would think his whole life over and, beginning with himself, would search out all errors of the State and of the Church. Self-examination is a great benefit to us, Brothers and Sisters, and anything which brings us to it does us real service. Brother, go over the whole of your spiritual farm, be diligent to know the state of your flocks and look well to your herds. Break up the fallow ground and clear out the thorns. Take the little foxes which spoil the vines and chase away the birds which devour the seed. Let all things be in the best condition--thus will your sickness work your health by discovering the secret source of your malady. The king's bitterness of soul then led him to repent of his wrongdoing, as he saw where he had sinned. He mourned His folly before God and humbled himself because of the inward sinfulness of nature out of which the outward transgression had come. I am sure that very often sickness reveals a man to himself. We seldom see ourselves till sorrow holds up the glass before our eyes. Self is an unpleasant subject for study! Anatomy is nothing to it--to dissect a corpse is not half so disagreeable as to examine your own character! Have you ever laid yourself upon the table, cut deep with the dissecting knife, laid bare the inward parts and opened up the hidden things of the heart? Have you taken yourself to pieces, bone by bone? When you have got as far as your heart, have you not earnestly wished that you could avoid making any pre-mortem examination of that desperately diseased organ? Ah, me! What a humiliating piece of business is the anatomizing of the natural heart--that heart which is deceitful above all things and out of which come envy and murder! We flinch from this till sickness and despondency strap us down and work away with the surgical knife. And yet this is one of the most beneficial of operations, for, "by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of our spirit." Ah, this bitter bitterness which makes us look within and see ourselves in our true colors is of far more use to us than those dainty repasts which make us like the Israelites with the quails, full of meat but also near to cursing! I can well imagine that this bitter bitterness made Hezekiah see the need of his God more than ever he had seen it before. He knew in whose hands his breath was and felt his entire dependence upon the Divine will. He saw himself to be absolutely in God's power as much as the thread is under the hand of the weaver who breaks it whenever he pleases! Or as the prey is under the power of the lion who can break all its bones! Now he learned to cling to the Lord his God and to cry, "O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me." Now he knew that the Lord was ready to save him and, while his heart was filled with joy because of the promise of prolonged life, he was also full of shame that he had ever doubted the power and Grace of God in his hour of trouble! He would, from now on, feel that the Almighty Lord who could bring back the shadow upon the sundial ten degrees could as readily check the wrath and power of the most terrible invader! He who could deliver him from the gates of the grave could assuredly save him from the rage of mortal man! And He who used a poor lump of figs to disappoint death of its prey could also employ the weakest means to overthrow the most potent foe of Israel! From now on he would lean upon the Eternal and bid the virgin daughter of Zion despise her adversary and laugh him to scorn! After that schooling, Hezekiah would exhibit greater spiritual strength, more confidence in the promises, more power with God, more zeal in the Divine service and his peace would come back to him and would be even deeper than at the first. That joy which had fled because of sin and God's visitation on account of it, returned to him once more! He felt himself happier because he was holier. He felt himself strengthened because the blessed purgative, though bitter, had removed a constant source of weakness. And he rose from his bed, not merely a new man in bodily health, but a renewed man as to his entire spiritual nature! How sweet are the uses of adversity when the Holy Spirit uses His sacred art upon the soul and turns the brine of tears into a sacred salt to season the spirit! Before I leave this point I would express my prayerful desire that this may be the result of every drop of bitter which any of you may ever taste throughout your future lives. If you are not the Lord's people, your bitterness has no blessing in it. On the contrary, you may look upon it as a foretaste of that endless Marah by whose brackish fountain the impenitent must sit and weep forever! But if you are the Lord's child, believing in Christ Jesus, all is well, "for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose." II. Now we come to the second part of our text, which is peculiarly sweet to our souls, for it sets forth LOVING DELIVERANCE. The original runs thus--"And You have loved my soul from the pit of destruction." Taken in its first sense, the king ascribes to the love of God his deliverance from death and the grave. And he praises God for his restoration to the land of the living. But the words of inspired men frequently have a deeper significance than appears upon the surface and, indeed, they often conceal an inner sense which, perhaps, they themselves did not perceive and, therefore, the king's words are as dark sayings upon a harp full of meaning within meaning. At any rate, taking the language out of the mouth of Hezekiah, we will use it for expressing our own emotions and give it a wider sense if such is not the original range of its meaning. Let us notice three things. First the deed of Grace, "You have brought my soul from the pit of corruption." Secondly, the power by which it was performed, "You have loved my soul out of the pit of corruption." And thirdly, the modus operandi, which is indicated by another and equally good translation, "You have embraced my soul from the pit of corruption." First, then, the deed of Grace of which you and I can sing. "The Lord delivered us from the pit of corruption." First, from the pit of Hell. Ah, there I should have gone long, long ago if mercy had not interposed. "A platitude," says one. Ah, Brother, God save you from thinking the acknowledgment of God's choicest mercies to be a platitude! I reckon that those in Hell would think it no platitude for us to bless God that we are not in their torments! Our sins, like millstones about our neck, might have sunk us in the sea of Divine wrath 20 years ago. And is it not a thing to be spoken of again and again, a mercy to bless God for, that we are not in the abode of condemned souls? Is it not even more a reason for gratitude that we shall never be there? Believing in Jesus Christ and resting in the atoning blood, "there is therefore now no damnation," as the older version used to run, "to them that are in Christ Jesus." "Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that has risen again." The dreadful gates of Hell shall never be passed by a soul that believes in Christ Jesus! For us there is no undying worm! For us no unquenchable fire! For us no wrath to come! Glory be to God for this amazing Grace! But next, He has also delivered us from the pit of sinfulness which is, to my mind, as horrible a pit as Hell, itself! Indeed, under some aspects it is the same thing, for sinfulness is Hell--and to live under the power of sin is to be condemned. Well, Brothers and Sisters, years ago sinfulness was our master and we loved it! We hated the ways of God and loved the wages of unrighteousness. But at this present moment, although we mourn because we are not perfectly rid of sin, yet sin shall not have dominion over us! We see sin in our nature, but we loathe it. It is no more a home-born citizen of our soul, but an alien to be expelled, an outlaw to be hunted down! No more do we consent to sin--"It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me." Blessed be God, although we are, sometimes, brought into captivity to the body of this death, yet He gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are driving out the Canaanites of sin, little by little, by force of arms and by the might of Grace. And soon, by God's Grace, shall every Jericho fall flat to the ground and every Amorite be slain! Let us rejoice in being delivered from this pit of corruption! Equally has the Lord delivered us, at this time, from the awful consciousness of wrath under which we once groaned. Brothers and Sisters, you have not forgotten, have you, the time when you felt the hand of God heavy upon you under conviction of sin? I do not know what the pangs of damned souls may be, but I think I have been almost able to guess their horror in my hours of deep distress, when my soul chose strangling rather than life because of my misery, for I was drunk with wormwood and filled with sore anguish! This I know, that if my horror could have been greater, my life must have expired! It is not always that awakened souls suffer so much, but any man who has felt his own sinfulness has seen that which might make every individual hair upon His head stand upright with horror, since to be a sinner is the most dreadful thing conceivable. To have God's wrath revealed in the spirit is to have a seething Hell within one's conscience! But, blessed be His name, He has loved us out of that pit of despair! No longer are we burdened with a sense of sin, for we are pardoned! Our conscience is purged from dead works. The precious blood has made us happy in God. We are reconciled to Him by the death of His Son and all our trespasses are forgiven forever! Therefore our heart is glad in the Lord and to Him will we sing our songs upon our stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord-- "In a dungeon deep He found me, Without water, without light, Bound in chains of horrid darkness, Gloomy, thick, Egyptian night! He reco vered there my soul with price immense. And for this let men and angels, All the heavenly hosts above, Choirs of seraphim elected, With their golden harps of love, Praise and worship, My Redeemer without end." Since that first dark hour of conviction, I dare say you have passed through other fearful depressions of spirit, very similar to this which is recorded of Hezekiah. You have not descended quite so deep into the pit as you did at first, but yet you have known bitter sorrows and have been delivered from them. Are you, this morning happy in the Lord? Are you again rejoicing? Then say with the king--"You have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. The Lord was ready to save me, therefore we will sing my songs on the stringed instruments in the house of the Lord." There comes speedily a time when we shall sing this song more sweetly in a better land than this, where there shall be none of these mists to hang about us, but changeless, everlasting noonday without a cloud! In Heaven how sweetly shall we sing this song upon our stringed instruments--when there shall be no corruption left in us--but we shall be pure as the soul of God, Himself, perfect as Christ our Redeemer! What hymns of gratitude shall we chant before the Throne of God when, standing on the heights of Heaven, we gaze into the deeps of Hell! How grateful we will be, when, from our perfection, we remember the Fall and all the ruin of it from which almighty Grace lifted us up! Glory be unto the Lord forever, for, "In love to my soul You have delivered it from the pit of corruption." Hallelujah! This is the deed which Grace has done! Now, we have to notice the power which performed it. To my mind the Truth of God herein set forth is the delicious food for meditation, but it is not readily to be brought forth in preaching. Listen to the words--"You have loved my soul out of the pit of corruption." Love worked the rescue. Love did it all! Let Love wear the crown! I was asleep in my sin, but you, O Love, did awaken me with a kiss. Only when I began to hear that Jesus loved poor souls unto the death and, therefore, came to seek and save sinners, did I begin to wake from my deadly lethargy. Do you, my Brothers and Sisters, remember when the first thought entered into your minds that, after all, there was hope, for God was full of love? Did not that thought bestir you? Did not the Lord love you out of the sleep of sin? Moreover, you loved sin and the wages of it--and the world looked very pleasantly upon you while it enthralled you. At last you came to know that the love of God was far sweeter than the love of sin. You had a glimpse of Jesus' dear marred visage, all bedewed with spit and with blood--and He appeared so much more fair and lovely than your sin, that you began to feel that sin and you must part. Thus the Lord loved you out of your love of sin! His sweet love made sin nauseous to you! You were weary of it and would have no more of it. Do you remember that when you fell into despair and said, " I have been such a sinner that I must die in my sin," you were lifted up from the pit of unbelief? I know that I was borne out of it upon the eagle wings of Love! The Lord loved me out of it! He shed abroad such love in my soul that I could not be an unbeliever any longer. Just as an iceberg must surely melt when once it is borne along by the Gulf Stream, so my unbelief was compelled to dissolve in the warm stream of His dear love! Believe Him? How could I disbelieve Him when I saw His love to sinners and heard of His death for the very chief of them, even for such as I was! He loved me out of my unbelief! But then I felt so weak I could do nothing. I was afraid to unite with His people and afraid to make confession of my faith for fear I should dishonor Him. Then He came and loved me out of my anxiety! He shed His love abroad in my heart so powerfully that I became strong with strength of His giving and knew myself to be safe because I was in His keeping. Then did I come forward and confess His name and unite with His saints, for I felt that I could trust my Lord to keep me even unto the end, for His love had loved me out of my weakness. I am telling the story as though it were about myself, but, Brothers and Sisters, I mean it about you, as well. You have wandered, sometimes, since then. You have gone away from your Lord into worldliness and much that you unfeignedly deplore. And who is it that has led you back to peace and holiness? Who has been the Good Shepherd and restored your soul? My loving Lord has driven me back, sometimes, with sharp words of rebuke, but more often He has loved me back with attractive tenderness. What a wonderful magnet love is! It draws our iron hearts to itself. Its sway is kindly but irresistible! We wander here and there, in the instability of our minds, till a memory of the days of love comes over our spirit, and straightway we can rest no longer in the things of earth after which we have so wickedly gone astray, but we say, "I will return unto my first husband, for it was better with me then than now." A moment's memory of the days of our espousals makes the heart sick with longings to return to her home in the bosom of Jesus. He loves us out of our backslidings! Perhaps you have fallen into lukewarmness and are chilly and lifeless. And what is the way to raise you out of that horrible state? Is it not a way of love? When the Laodicean Church was neither cold nor hot, and even her Beloved was ready to spew her out of His mouth, how was she bid to rise out of her condition? Did not the Lord say, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Christ's coming to commune with the Church was the cure of her indifference! When the love of God is shed abroad in the soul you feel no longer sleepy and indifferent, but your spirit girds herself with zeal as with a cloak and your heart glows with vehement flames of affection. How truly does our poet sing-- "O Jesus, King most wonderful, You Conqueror renowned, You sweetness most ineffable, In whom all joys are found! When once You visit the heart, Then truth begins to shine, Then earthly vanities depart, Then kindles love Divine." The ever-gracious Lord means to perfect that which concerns you by the action of this same love. His gentleness has made you great and His love will make you glorious! Divine love is the most sanctifying agency in the world--it is that which checked us before we knew the Lord when we ran so greedily after sin. And it is that which constrains us now that we live unto His name, for, "the love of Christ constrains us ." Behold, then, the love of the Spirit! Is not this most blessed medicine? We spoke of bitter draughts under our first head, and truly these have their virtue, but here the Lord's love uses medicine like itself! Yes, it becomes, itself, the medicine and the Lord seems to say, "Here is My dear child, sick, and I will restore him by giving him more love." Divine love is a catholicon, a universal medicine. No spiritual disease can resist its healing power. The love and blood of Jesus, applied by the Holy Spirit, will raise up the saints from pining sickness and restore them from the gates of the grave. No heart, however like granite it becomes, can long resist almighty love. The rebel may stand up in bold defiance and stand out in daring obstinacy, but when he begins to feel God loves him he cries-- "Lord, You have won. At last I yield! My heart, by mighty Grace compelled Surrenders all to You! Against Your terrors long I strove, But who can stand against Your love? Love conquers even me! If You had bid Your thunders roll, And lightnings flash, to blast my soul, I still had stubborn been. But mercy has my heart subdued, A bleeding Savior I have viewed, And now I hate my sin." We must briefly notice the modus operandi of this love. "You have embraced my soul out of the pit of corruption." Yonder is the child in the pit and the father, wishing to save it, goes down into the pit and embraces his beloved one and so brings him up to life and safety. After this manner did Jesus save us! He embraced us by taking our nature and so becoming one with us. It is by embraces that He regenerates converts and sanctifies us, for He comes into union with us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! All our lives He communes with us and embraces us with arms of mighty love and so lifts us up from the pit of corruption. In this way, also, He will bring us right up out of our fallen state into perfection of holiness, by continuing the Divine embrace, pressing us nearer and nearer, and nearer, still, to His dear, loving heart till all sin shall be pressed out of us! He will by one eternal embrace of unchanging love lift us out of the pit of corruption into a state of absolute perfection where we shall dwell with Him forever! Glory be unto God for all this! He who has tasted of this cannot but sing as Hezekiah did upon his stringed instruments all the days of his life in the house of the Lord! III. We have now, with much delight, to consider the promise of ABSOLUTE PARDON. "For you have cast all my sins behind Your back." This, King Hezekiah mentions as the cause of his restored peace and health. He could not be healed and cheered till the cause of disease was gone--and that was sin. Sin was the foreign element in his spiritual constitution and as long as it was there it caused fret and worry and spiritual disease. But when the sin was gone, health and peace came back. Now let me take the words before us and set them forth in a few brief sentences and bid you notice, first, the burden--sin. A heavy load, a weighty curse. Observe the owner of this burden--Hezekiah says not sin, only, but my sin. If any sins in the world are heavier than others they are mine. Brothers and Sisters, you feel yours to be so, do you not? Then take the next word, which is a word of multitude and note the comprehensiveness of that burden. All my sins! "You have cast all my sins." Let us spell that word, ALL my sins. What a row of figures it would take to number them all! As to the record of them, surely it would reach round the sky--all my sins! In what balance shall they be weighed? What must the wrath be which is due to me on account of them? Think long and humbly of the words--all my sins. Now, see the Lord comes to deal with them! He takes them all and what does He do? He casts them. "You have cast all my sins." What a deed of Omnipotence! What a Divine cast! None but Jehovah Jesus, Himself, could ever have lifted all my sins, but He did lift them and, like another Atlas, He bore them upon His shoulders! And having done that, even till He sweat great drops of blood and bled to death, He then took the whole mass of my sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west! No, more! He cast them behind Jehovah's back. Where is that? Behind God's back? Where can that be? Men throw things behind their back when they cannot bear the sight of them. Our sin is loathsome and abominable to God. He will not look upon it and so He casts it behind His back! But then He is a just God and He must punish iniquity! It must come before the eyes of His Holiness to be avenged. We have not, therefore, seen, as yet, the full meaning of the passage. No, it means that the Lord becomes oblivious of His people's sins. Somebody said, the other day, concerning a certain piece of business, "I shall never think of it again. It is gone as though it had never been." The Lord means all that concerning His people's sins--"I shall never think of them again. They are quite gone as far as I am concerned, I have thrown them where I shall never see them again. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." What a gracious mode of pardoning sin! God Himself passes an act of oblivion and declares, "I will not remember their sins." He looks upon His people who have been so provoking and are still so prone to sin, and yet He beholds no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel! He sees His people washed in the blood of the Lamb, robed in the righteousness which is in God by faith--and He beholds in them neither spot nor wrinkle, nor any such thing--for He has cast their sins so far away that they are out of sight of Omniscience and out of mind of Omnipresence! Again, I would remind you of the words, "behind Your back." Where is that? All things are before God's face--He looks on all the works of His hands and He sees all things that exist. Behind His back! It must mean annihilation, non-existence and non-entity! O my Soul, your God has flung your sins into non-entity and effectually made an end of them! He treats you as though they never existed and, as far as His justice is concerned, through the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, they are to the Lord as though we had never transgressed at all! "You have cast all my sins behind Your back." I do not think I need preach any longer upon this subject. Go home and turn it over in quiet meditation under the overshadowing of the Divine Spirit. Dear child of God, endeavor to get a grip of this great privilege of perfect pardon and never let it go! May the Holy Spirit seal it home to you. You are right in bringing your sins before your own face and mourning over them. That is where they should be, but do not, at the same time, forget that they are forgiven. When a man casts his sins behind his back, God will put them before His face--but when, in penitence, a Believer sets his sins before his own face to mourn over them, then the Lord, in mercy, declares that He will cast them behind His back. Oh Believer in Jesus, Your sins are gone forever! Be restful, happy, secure, for you are accepted in the Beloved! Your sin has ceased to be! The longest lines can never reach the bottom of that sea into whose depths Jehovah has cast them! The utmost industry of the devil can never travel into that land which does not exist, even the land which lies behind Jehovah's back into which He has cast Your sins! Who would not be a Believer in Jesus? Even if he were sorely sick and had to lie like Hezekiah, on the bed of death, who would not be a Believer? Even though he had to cry out, "Marah, Marah, bitterness twice over," who would not be a Believer and be embraced out of his misery by that mighty Love which abolishes the sin of the penitent? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, O Sinner, and this shall be your portion, also, by God's abundant mercy. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Work For Jesus (No. 1338) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Son, go work today in My vineyard." Matthew 21:28. I AM not going to confine myself to the connection of these words, nor to use them strictly after the manner in which they were first spoken. I may, perhaps, explain the parable very briefly at the close, but I take leave to withdraw these words from their immediate context and use them as a voice which, I believe, sounds often in the ears of God's people, and sometimes sounds in vain--"Son, go work today in My vineyard." It is certain that God still speaks to us. He has spoken to us in His Word. There are His precepts and promises, His statutes and testimonies. He that has ears to hear let him hear these sacred oracles! But beside this open Revelation there are counsels and rebukes more closely and personally addressed to the conscience. Voices--as soft, sometimes, as whispers--at other times loud as the thunders that pealed from Sinai. The Lord has a way of speaking to men when, "He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction," as Elihu said. Thus He speaks when He calls them effectually by His Grace in conversion. So He once called, "Samuel, Samuel!" till the child answered. So He said, "Matthew, follow Me." So He called out, "Zacchaeus, come down!" So He cried out, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" So He bid some of us till the Divine accents were clear and irresistible. In like manner we have, many of us, heard Him say, "Son, give Me Your heart," and we have given Him our hearts--we could not do otherwise. That voice exerted such a charming spell and swayed us with such a Divine power that we were subdued by it and we yielded our hearts to the God of Love. Since then, you who know the Lord, must often have heard a voice speaking to you and bidding you seek His face in prayer. Perhaps you have been busy with the world, but you found an impulse of a mysterious kind coming over you and you have been glad to withdraw yourself for a few minutes to the closet that you might speak with God. You know how it has been when you have been meditating alone and yet not alone. One whose Presence you knew, whose face you could not see, was with you! You felt as if you must pray. It has not been any effort on your part. The exercise has been as easy as to breathe and as pleasant as to partake of your daily bread. You felt the Lord drawing you to the Mercy Seat and saying in your soul, "My Son, ask what you will and it shall be done unto you." You must have been conscious of such a voice as that. And have you not, at times, in the silence of your mind, heard the Lord call you to a closer communion with Himself? Has not the sense, if not the words, of the spouse in the canticle been heard in your soul--"Come, My Beloved, let us see if the vines flourish. Come with Me from Lebanon, My Spouse, with Me from Lebanon"? You have been up and away! You have gone into the secret places where Christ has shown you His love till you sat under His shadow with great delight--and His fruit has been sweet to your taste. Our experience makes us know that there are heavenly voices that invite prayer and call us to communion. And probably some of you have also been conscious of another voice which I earnestly desire we may all hear tonight, namely, the more martial and stirring call to service for the Lord Jesus Christ! Some of you have been obedient to the call these many years, but it calls louder and louder and louder still! You have been reaping and bearing the heat and burden of the day, but you cannot throw down your sickle, your hands cleave to it. Yes, rather do you take more gigantic strides and sweep down more of the precious corn at every stroke you take! You feel that you can never cease from it till you do-- "Your body with your charge lay down, And cease at once to work and live." A voice Divine seems to be calling you and saying, "Follow Me, and I will make you a fisher of men. Behold I have made you a chosen vessel to bear My name unto the Gentiles." You have heard that voice and you are striving to obey it more and more. Others either have never heard it, or hearing it, have forgotten it. There are none so deaf as those who will not hear! And there are some who have a very deaf ear to any admonitions of this kind. They are like Issachar--a strong donkey crouching down between two burdens, but yet lifting neither. I fear lest upon them should come the curse of Meroz, because they come not, "to the help of the Lord--to the help of the Lord against the mighty." Now, perhaps this evening there are some Christian men or women here that shall feel as if the hand of the Crucified were laid upon them and they will hear Him say to them," You are not your own. You are bought with a price. Why don't you glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits, which are His? Awake, you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light." The text, I hope, may be blessed of God to be such a voice as that! Listening to it, we notice four things. First, the character under which it calls us, "Son." Secondly, the service to which it calls us, "go work." Thirdly, the time for which it calls us, "go work today." And fourthly, the place to which it directs us, "go work today in My vineyard." I. First, then, THE CHARACTER UNDER WHICH IT CALLS US. It appears to me to be a very powerful selection of terms. "Son, go work today in My vineyard." It puts work on a very gracious footing, when we are bid to work for the Lord, not as slaves, nor as mere servants, but as sons! Moses speaks to us, and he says, "Servant, go and work for your wages." But the Father in Christ speaks to us, and He says, "Son, go work today in My vineyard." No more as a servant, but as a son, shall you serve the Lord! The returning prodigal said, "Make me as one of your hired servants." That was not an evangelical prayer and was not answered. The father said, "This, my son, was dead, and is alive again," and so he received him, not as a hired servant at all, but as a son. Oh, dear people of God, I trust you always draw the distinction very clearly between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. When you work for God you do not work for life but from life. You do not try to serve Christ in order that you may be saved, but because you are saved! You do not obey His commands that you may become His children, but because you are His children and, therefore, are imitators of God as dear children! You say, "Abba, Father," because you feel the spirit of adoption within you and you endeavor to obey the commands of your Father for the same reason. I do not, therefore, say to anyone here, "Go and work for God that you may be saved." I would not venture to put it on that footing! "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved." But turning to those who are saved, the Gospel exhortation is put after a Gospel sort--"Son, go work today in My vineyard." And it has all the more strength on this account, because, in addressing us as sons, it reminds us of the great love which has made us what we are. We were by nature heirs of wrath even as others, but, Beloved, "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." Think of the love which chose us when we were still aliens and enemies! Think of the love which adopted us and put us into the family--itself wondering while it did it--for the Lord is represented as saying, "How shall I put you among the children?" as if it were a strange thing that such as we are should ever be numbered among the children of God! The love which adopted us did not stay there, but having given us the rights of children, it gave us the nature of children! We were regenerated--"Begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; born not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which lives and abides forever." Now, just think of election, adoption, regeneration and when the Lord addresses you by that term of, "Son," think of all that and say, "I owe to God an immeasurable debt of gratitude for having enabled me to become His son! He, by His Grace, has given me power and privilege to become a child of God! Therefore do I feel the claims of obligation and I would endeavor to work in the vineyard because I am His child, His son, His daughter, made so by His Grace." This you see, dear Friends, engages us to work in the vineyard all the more convincingly, because we may reflect not only on the Grace which has made us sons, but on the privileges which that same Grace bestowed upon us in making us sons, for, if children of God, the Lord will provide for us, will clothe us, will heal us, will protect us, will guide us, will educate us, will make us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light! Remember, too, that precious passage, "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if, indeed, we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." If heirs of God, how large is our inheritance! And if joint-heirs with Christ, how sure that inheritance is! And we have been brought now, Beloved, to such an estate as this that the angels, themselves, might envy us, for I venture to apply a passage of Scripture to this case--I hope without wresting it--"Unto which of the angels said He at any time, You are My son?" But He speaks, thus, to us poor worms of the dust! And when He is bidding us serve Him, He comes to us under this character and addresses us in this relationship! He says, "Son, Daughter, go work today in My vineyard. I have given you boundless privileges in making you My child. I have given you this world and world to come. Earth is your lodge and Heaven your home. And therefore, because I have done all this for you--and what could I have done more for you than have made you My child?--therefore I say, Go, work today in My vineyard." In appealing, thus, to us under the name of Son, it is supposed that we have some feelings within us correspondent to the condition to which our heavenly Father has called us. He says, "Son." If any of you, being a son, has a father, and if that father wished you to do something for him, and he addressed you as, "my Son," you would feel, at once, that whatever you could do you were bound to do because you were a son! It would awaken in you the filial feeling which is swift at once to yield obedience and love. And when the Lord looks upon you, my Brothers and Sisters, and says to you "Son," or, "Daughter," it is supposed that there is, in your heart, a child's nature given, by His Grace, and that this filial instinct prompts the quick response, "My Father, what do You say to me? Speak, Lord, speak, Father, for Your son or daughter hears You. I long to do Your will. I delight in it, for to me it is the greatest joy I know that you are my Father and my God. Therefore, Lord, my heart stands ready now to listen to whatever You have to say, and my hand is ready to do it, as Your Grace shall enable me, only strengthen me in Your ways." "Son, Daughter, go work today in My vineyard." By the use of that term "son," it is supposed, also, that you have something of the qualification that will fit you to do what He bids you. A man who has a vineyard naturally supposes that his son knows something about vineyards. The boy will have learned something through his sire and you that know the Lord are the only people who can serve Him in His vineyard--that is to say, in winning souls for Christ none can do this but those who are won, themselves. If there is a lost child to be reclaimed, he shall be brought in by one of the children who has, himself, been found. Unto the wicked God says, "What have you to do to declare My statutes?" but to you who are His sons and daughters He entrusts the Gospel, putting you in trust with it that you may bear it to others and bring others to know and love His name. Oh, dear Friends, it must be a dreadful thing to be trying to save the souls of others while you, yourselves, are lost! And what an unhappy mortal must he be who has to preach the Gospel that he never knew--to tell of promises that he has never believed, and to preach a Christ in whom his soul has never trusted! But when the Lord speaks to you as His son and His daughter, the very fact that you stand in that relationship to Him proves that you have some qualification for the service and, therefore, dear Brother or Sister, you must not back out of it. You must not wrap your talent in a napkin, for you have got some talent in the very fact of being a child of God--a son or daughter of the Most High! Thus have I tried to open up the character to whom the Lord speaks, but I cannot do it so as to interest those who are not His people. But I do say this to those of you who are a people near to Him, to whom He stands as a Father, that this fact has strong claims upon you. If I am a father, where is my honor? If you are my children, where is your fear? If, indeed, the Lord has put you into His family, do you not owe to Him the obedience and the love of children? And what can be more natural that if there is household work to do--vineyard work to do--your Father should look to you to do it, and turn to you whom He has loved so long and loved so well, and say, "Son, Daughter, go work today in My vineyard"? II. Well, now, secondly, let us turn to the next point, and that is, THE SERVICE TO WHICH THE LORD CALLS US--"Go work." I know some Christians who do not like the word, "work," and they look very black in the face if you say anything about duty. As for the matter of that, I do not mind how black they look, because there are some people who very much expose their own disposition by black looks and sullen moods. And when they turn sour they only manifest what is in their own nature. He that quarrels with the precept, quarrels with God! Let him remember that. And he that does not like the practical part of Christianity may do what he likes with the doctrinal part of it, for he has neither part nor lot in this matter. The language of the true child of God is, "I delight myself in Your precepts." And, as David put it, "Your precepts have been my song in the house of my pilgrimage." He would even sing about the precepts of the Gospel! And now the text says, "Go work." That is something practical, something real! Go work. He does not say, "My Son, go and think and speculate, and make curious experiments, and fetch out some new doctrines and astonish all your fellow creatures with whims and oddities of your own." "My Son, go work." And He does not, here, say, "My Son, go and attend conferences, one after another all the year round and live in a perpetual maze of hearing different opinions and going from one public meeting and one religious engagement to another--and so feed yourself on the fat things full of marrow." All this is to be attended to in its proper proportion, but here it is, "Go work! Go work!" How many Christians there are that seem to read, "Go plan." And they always figure in a way with some wonderful plan for the conversion of all the world, but they are never found laboring to convert a baby--never having a good word to say to the tiniest child in the Sunday school! They are always scheming and yet never effecting anything. But the text says, "My Son, go work." Oh, yes, but those who do not like to work, themselves, display the greatness of their talents in finding fault with those who do work, and a very clear perception they have of the mistakes and the crotchets of the very best of workers, whose zeal and industry are, alike, unflagging. However, the text does not say, "My Son, go and criticize." What it distinctly says, is, "Go and work." I remember that when Andrew Fuller had a very severe lecture from some Scottish Baptist Brethren about the discipline of the Church, he made the reply, "You say that your discipline is so much better than ours. Very well, but discipline is meant to make good soldiers. Now, my soldiers fight better than yours and I think, therefore, you ought not to say much about my discipline." So the real thing is not to be forever calculating about modes of Church government and methods of management and plans to be adopted and rules to be laid down which it shall be accounted a serious breach to violate. All well in their place, for order is good in its way. But come, now, let us go to work! Let us get something done! I believe the very best working for God is often done in a very irregular manner. I get more and more to feel like the old soldier of Waterloo when he was examined about the best garment that could be worn by a soldier. The Duke of Wellington said to him, "If you had to fight Waterloo over again how would you like to be dressed?" The answer was, "Please, Sir, I should like to be in my shirtsleeves." I think that is about the best! Get rid of everything superfluous and get at it and hack away! I would to God that some Christians could do that, just strip to it, get rid of the superfluities of orderliness and propriety--and everything else which hampers them in trying to get back poor souls. There they are, going down to Hell! And we are stickling about this mode, and that, and considering the best way not to do it--and appointing committees to consider and debate to adjourn and to postpone--and to leave the work in abeyance! The best way is to arise and do it! Let the committee sit afterwards. God grant we may. My son, go work today. Let it be something practical, something real, something actually done! And by good work is meant something that will involve effort, toil, earnestness, self-denial--perhaps something that will need perseverance. In right earnest you will need to stick to it. You will have heartily to yield yourself up to it and give up a good deal else that might hinder you in doing it. Oh, Christian men and women, you will not glorify God much unless you really put your strength into the ways of the Lord and throw your body, soul, and spirit--your entire manhood and womanhood--into the work of the Lord Jesus Christ! To do this you need not leave your families, or your shops, or your secular engagements. You can serve God in these things! They will often be vantage grounds of opportunity for you, but you must throw yourself into it! No one wins souls to Christ while they are half asleep! The battle that is to be fought for the Lord Jesus must be fought by men and women who are wide awake and quickened by the Spirit of God. "My Son, My Daughter, go work today." Do not go and play at teaching in Sunday schools. Do not go and play the preacher! Do not go and play at exhorting people at the corners of streets, or even play at giving away tracts. "My Son, go work." Throw your soul into it! If it is worth doing, it is worth doing well! And if it is worth doing well, it is worth doing better than you have ever done before! And even then it will be worth doing better, still, for when you have done your best you have still to reach forward to a something far beyond--for the best of the best is all too little for such a God and for such a service! "My Son, go work." Well, now, such a claim as this may, perhaps, you think, sound rather hard. But I could tell you of many who would be very glad, indeed, if the Lord would say that to them! I might tell you of some who seldom leave their couches! Some who can seldom sit upright through their weakness. Some to whom the nights are often full of pain and the days are spent in weariness. They have learned, by God's teaching, to be content to suffer--but sometimes they cannot stifle an ardent wish--they wish the Lord would let them serve Him! They do not envy, but yet there sometimes crosses over their mind the shadow of something like envy when they remember what opportunities some of you have, who are full of health and strength. I have seen my Brother minister laid aside, the voice, perhaps, gone, the lungs feeble, the heart prone to palpitate, and, oh, how he has wished that he could preach again! With what fervor has he said, "Oh, if I had but those opportunities over again, how I would try to use them better than when I was favored with them!" I tell you there are thousands of God's servants who would kiss the dust of His feet if He would only say to them, "Go work." I remember reading of a minister who had been laboring in America till he had fairly broken down. He had to take a tour for his health. He had not been away many days before he wrote in his diary, "There may be some ministers who count it a pleasure to be relieved from the duty of preaching, but I count it a misery. I would sooner preach as I have done in my own pulpit continually than I would see all the kingdoms of the world." And, indeed, there is no pleasure in the world like that of serving God! You will soon get tired if you have a vacation, but you will never get tired of a Divine vocation, though you may sometimes grow tired in it. Now, think that the Lord might have said to you, "Now, go and lie on that bed for 10 years. Go and pine away in consumption. I have nothing much for you to do. You have got to bear My will." Are you not glad that you are full of strength, or that you have some share of it, and that now your heavenly Father says, "Son, go work. I have given you strength. Go work"? Lord, we thank You for so kind and gentle a command! Besides, there is a great deal of honor in this work. You know how much your little boy wants to be a man. All boys do. When he first wears stick-up collars he congratulates himself upon the sign of anything like being a man. How proud he is of it! And if you, being a father, were to say to your boy, "My Son, you are now of such an age that I can trust you to do some work for me," see how the little man would begin to lift himself up! He is glad of it! And I am sure that if we look at it rightly, we who are the children of God ought to feel honored by our heavenly Father saying to us, "You may do something for Me." We must be very humble, for, after all, we cannot do anything except as He works in us to will and to do! But it is really very gratifying and ennobling to a poor mortal spirit to be allowed to do anything for God, yes, and to do what perfect saints above and holy angels cannot do, for oh, dear Brothers and Sisters, there is no glorified spirit that can go down that back street and up that blind alley, and up those staircases that seem as if they would tumble down under your feet! Go and talk to that dying woman about Christ! You have a privilege which honored Gabriel has not! Be thankful that you have it! There is no angel that can take that little child in the Sunday school class and tell it of "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild," and carry the little lamb for the Good Shepherd! The Lord sends you to do it. And it should be a point of thankfulness with us all that He has counted us worthy and put us into the ministry--into any part or parcel of that ministry--to do something for His name's sake. Well, we are always receiving--always receiving and it is very blessed--but still, in this, as in other things, it is more blessed to give than to receive! And when we can give back to God some little trifle of service, stained with our tears because it is no better than it is, oh, it is a happy and a blessed thing! How grateful you ought to be that the Lord says to you, "Son, go work today." And remember, once more, on this point, that the work to which the Lord calls us is very varied, therefore there is a great deal of change in it. And, besides that, it suits the different temperaments, constitutions, dispositions and abilities of His people. He says, "My Son, go work today in My vineyard." But He does not give you to do my work, and He does not give me to do your work. Dear Sister, you would like to do the work of such-and-such an excellent Christian woman, would you not? Yes, but that is naughty of you. Be satisfied to do your own! Suppose your housemaid always wanted to do the cook's work--the house would soon be in a mess! Better keep to your own place, dear Sister. Ah, there is a Brother here who says, "I think I could preach if I only had such-and-such a congregation." Very likely, Brother, but you had better preach to your own and do what good you can, there. Very likely I should do better with my own congregation and you will do better with yours than I could. Every man had better keep to his own work in his own place. And how thankful we ought to be that if one can preach a sermon, yet another can offer a prayer--that if one can go and speak to thousands--yet another can speak to ones and twos! There is work in the school. There is work in the family. There is work in the street. There is work in the workshop. There is work everywhere for Jesus if you will but stretch out your hands to find it and follow Solomon's good advice, "Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might." III. Now, THE TIME is the next thing. "My Son, go work today." That means directly--now. Brother, Sister, I will not say a word about what is your duty to do tomorrow. Let the morrow take care of itself. I will have nothing to say about what it will be right for you to do in 10 years. If you are alive, Grace will be given to you for that. But what I have to say to you, in God's name is, "Go work today," and as the sun has gone down, let it be, "Go work tonight in My vineyard," if there is opportunity, even tonight, before another day's sun has dawned upon the world. "And why today?" Because, Brothers and Sisters, Your Father wants you to be at it at once. "Why do you stand here, all the day, idle?" If you have done nothing for Christ, you have wasted enough time. Do not rest today, but be at it now. He wants you to do it now because the vines are in a certain condition that require, just now, work. There is somebody in the world who is in a tender state of mind--to whom you may speak successfully. There is a mourner here who wants comfort tonight. There is one struggling against his conscience who needs urging on tonight in the right way. If the case is neglected, tonight, it will be like neglecting to trim the vines just at the proper time for taking away the superfluous wood. Now you can do it. You cannot do it on any other day. Therefore, "go work today." "Today," because there are certain dangers to which those whom you are about to bless are just now exposed. The devil is tempting them--it is necessary that you go and help them against that temptation. They are just now in despair. It is necessary that you step in with the Word of comfort from your Master's mouth. They are, perhaps, this very night, before they go to their rest, about to commit a great sin. Perhaps the Lord means you to interpose just now, before that sin is done. Son, Daughter, go work today--you are needed. There are very few laborers just now--many of them have gone. Son, Daughter, go today, while the others have gone out for their recreation--while the others are asleep and grown idle. There is a gap just now. It is at this very moment. Many a brave deed of valor owed its success to being done at once. If Horatius had not kept the bridge just in that same moment when the enemy endeavored to pass over, we should never have heard of him, nor of the brave deeds of old. There is a time of dearth--of need--there is an urgency. Son, God says to you, "Hasten, even now, and go work today in My vineyard." "Today." Mark that. It means work all day--work as long as you live! Son, if once you get into that vineyard, do not come home, again, until the day is done. I am always sorry when I hear of Christian people beginning to give up some of their work before the infirmities of old age come on. Although I think that many a minister, when he gets old, had better give up a charge for which he is not equal and take one smaller for which his strength would prevail. But I know that some give up this work and that, and they say, "Let the young people come and take their turn." Yes, yes, but suppose the sun were to stop shining and say, "There is a star over there. Let him have a turn and shine instead of me"? Suppose the moon were forever to give up shining in the night watches, and say that she has had enough of being out at night? And suppose the earth were to say it has had enough of yielding harvests? "Why should I yield any more? Let the sea take its turn and grow corn." And so, dear Christian Friends, keep on as long as you can! Who can blame dear old John Newton? When he got too feeble to get up the pulpit stairs of St. Mary Woolnoth, he was helped up and then, leaning on his pulpit Bible he poured out his soul. A friend of his said to him, "Dear Mr. Newton, don't you think you ought to give up preaching?" "What?" he asked, "shall the old African blasphemer ever give up praising the Grace of God as long as there is breath in his body? Never!" And so he went to his work again. Oh, for more of that spirit to persevere in the Master's service! Only there is this thought--it is only a day. "Son, go work today." It will only be a day. The longest life is no more and then the shadows of death will gather. But there will be no night, for instead, the day shall break and the shadows shall flee away--and then life's service, here below, will all be over. There will be no troublesome children to teach, no hard-hearted sinners to rebuke, no backsliding, lukewarm Christians to reprove, no deceivers to encounter, no skeptics to answer with the testimony that cannot be shaken, no scoffers to put up with, patiently bearing their contumely. It will be all over, then! And then shall those who have served their Master behold Him gird Himself and sit down and serve them--and they shall feast at His table and enter into His joy! "My Son, Daughter, go work today," for you shall rest tomorrow. Work on, for there is rest enough in Heaven! Work on, for eternity shall well repay you for the toils of time! IV. Then, as to THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD CALLS US TO THE WORK. "My Son, go work today in My vineyard." I like to think of this special sphere of labor because it must be a pleasure to work in our Father's vineyard. For everything that we do there will be done for Him! I trim this vine--it is my Father's vine. I dig this trench--it is my Father's ground I turn. I gather out these stones--it is my Father's vineyard that I am engaged in clearing. I repair this fence--it is my Father's soil that I am thus hedging about. It is all done for Him! Who would not do all that he could for the dear Redeemer, dying Lamb and for the blessed Father of our spirits? "Go work today in My vineyard." Then what interesting work it is, for it is our own vineyard because it is our Father's vineyard! All that belongs to Him belongs to us. We are sons working in our Father's vineyard, so we can say, "This vine? Why, I have an interest in it, for I am the heir of my Father's property. This ground that I endeavor to dig about and fertilize? It is my ground, it is my Father's. And this wall that I try to mend? It is mine, it is my Father's." It is always pleasant to work for ourselves, you know. And, in a blessed sense, when we are working for God we are working for ourselves. You are laborers, you are God's farmers, you are God's people--and when you are working for the Lord you are really taking shares with Him. And what a work it is, too! "Go work today in My vineyard." One likes working in a vineyard because it pays. Working in a desert may be thankless toil, but working in a vineyard where there will be clusters is very different. One can already think of those juicy grapes that will be ready for the winepress! And for the festival, when the ruddy juice comes freely forth--when they make merry and joy in the vintage. And you will have the new wine and the wine on the lees well-refined. All sorts of pleasures await the man who serves the Lord! "Go work in My vineyard." Does it not mean that the work is plentiful? There is always something to be done in a vineyard. If you ask those who keep vines, they will tell you that there is much labor required. From one part of the year, right on to the end, there is something to be done, many dangers to be averted, and many enemies to be kept off the vines. So there is plenty to do, Brothers and Sisters. Go work in the vineyard where there will be need of all your hands. It is close at hand, hard by you, for the heavenly Father did not say, "Son, take a ship and go to Tarshish, or to Ophir." He said, "My Son, go work in My vineyard," and the vineyard was just out the back door there. Now, your heavenly Father's vineyard is close to you. Those streets where you live--the very house in which you dwell, perhaps the very chamber in which you sleep--is God's vineyard where you are to work for Him. It is your heavenly Father's own work to be done by you in your heavenly Father's own strength! Oh, if I might, tonight, by God's Grace, set one young man on fire with love to Christ I would be glad! If I could but be, by His Grace, the humble means of inspiring some Christian woman with the high mission of being useful in her day and generation, how much would my soul rejoice! There came into this Tabernacle one evening a young gentleman who was well known as being a great hand with his cricket bat. He was a Christian and full of earnestness in laying hold upon the great truths of Revelation! But he had never served his God. He thought it right to spend his leisure time in manly exercises and, in such pursuits, he sought recreation. But while I spoke, a fire kindled within him and he went home to begin to preach the Gospel in the streets of the city where he lived! And now he is the pastor of a large and influential Church which he has gathered together. Since then he has preached more than once, in this place, the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Oh, that some other Believer who may happen to be in that condition--some young man of ability who is spending all his strength on the world without going into anything grossly wrong, but simply wasting his talent--might hear a voice saying to him tonight, as he goes down that aisle, "My Son, go work today in My vineyard"! After dwelling so long upon the practical admonition, I have but little time left for that brief explanation of the parable, or more properly the parables of the vineyard with which, on the outset, I promised to close. The occasion on which they were spoken is memorable. Assailed "while He was teaching"--rudely interrupted by the legal Sanhedrim of the Jews with the High Priest in the forefront--they confronted our Lord, as it were, with a warrant and propounded to Him two questions. One as to the authority or title by which He acted--the other as to the source from which His authority was derived. You all know how skillfully He evaded His unscrupulous antagonists. "I, also, will ask you one thing," He said. And He asked them a question that left them in a ridiculous parley, for, "they reasoned among themselves," went aside to whisper, and then drew back in sheer timidity declining an answer, for, "they feared the people." Or, as you may read it, "They were afraid of the mob!" The advantage our Lord thus gained, He quickly followed up with a parable--in fact, with the parable we have been talking about. He opened it thus--"What do you think"--putting a query about two sons. The one forward in profession, yet utterly disobedient. The other sullen in appearance though afterwards penitent in spirit and diligent in labor. The thing was so obvious that they answer without hesitation with a reply that nailed the censure to their own breasts! "Which of these two did the will of his father?" They said unto Him, "the first." Read it, read the parable for yourselves. Realize the force of it if you can! The penitent harlot and the obdurate High Priest are put in the scales. "In the way of righteousness"--according to the truthful caricature--the chief priests and elders, themselves, admit that "the first" of these two did the will of our heavenly Father! Digest this parable, I pray you! Almost without a break the vineyard supplied Him yet, again, with another parable which He insisted on their hearing--a parable that brought out the character of the dispensation and "the signs of the times" so distinctly that they could not fail to read it in the light of their own Prophets--and at the same time exposed the treachery of their counsel and conspiracy that they recognized their own portrait at once and perceived that He spoke of them! "The vineyard," you are all aware, was the constant symbol of the Jewish nation as a theocracy. The men that sat in Moses' seat were the stewards in charge of that vineyard which was Jehovah's special property. They, like the perverse rulers of every age, sought to shelter their evil designs under cover of syndicates and conferences. But the words and warning's of Jesus, His proverbs and parables, were keen enough to probe all their subtleties and leave them to stand abashed without an excuse for the guile of their hearts or the guilt of their conduct! Now remember that the kingdom of God was taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. To what nation is it given? Is it not to the Church which is called "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light"? The vine is the express symbol of our Christian life, as all Believers are incorporated with Christ. Well then, there is a vineyard of God's own planting--you believe that. He has let it out to farmers--you believe that. He will come seeking fruit of this vineyard--you believe that. You are, dear Brothers and Sisters, the children of the farmers-- you believe that, or else you would not presume to sit at His table and drink of His cup. He says, therefore, to you, "Son, go work in My vineyard." What answer do you give with your lips? What answer do you give with your life? Thus far I have not been speaking to unconverted people. I have not said a word to them. To them, however, I have this word to say, and I have done. I shall not ask you to work for Christ. I cannot exhort you to do anything for Him. You are not in a state of mind to do it! You must, first, believe in Him. Oh, let it be a sorrow to you, tonight, that you are incapable of serving Christ! Till you get a new heart and a right spirit you have no capacity to serve Him! You have first, to trust Christ and to prove in your own souls that this Gospel is the power of God to your salvation. Your eyes must be opened! Before you can do anything for Him, you must be turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that you may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Jesus. Then, not till then, will you be meet to be made witnesses both of those things which you shall have seen and of those things in which He will hereafter reveal to you. You must be born again, yourselves, before you can travail in birth for others, till Christ is formed in them. You cannot testify, those of you by whom the testimony of Christ has not been received and in whom it is not confirmed. Your unskilled labor would be mischievous. Hands off such holy work till those hands have been washed clean by Jesus Christ! Come to Him and trust Him! Come to Him and believe in Him, and when He has saved you, then He will say to you, "Son, go work today in My vineyard." __________________________________________________________________ Idols Abolished (No. 1339) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Ephraim shallsay, Whathave I to do anymore with idols?" Hosea 14:8. IDOLATRY was the great sin of the 10 tribes represented by Ephraim. Indeed, it is the sin of the entire human race! When we speak of idolatry we need not think of blocks of wood and stone and men bowing down before them, for our native land swarms with idolaters. Neither need you go into the streets to find them. Stay where you are and look into your own hearts--you will find idols there. This is the one easily besetting sin of our nature--to turn aside from the living God and to make unto ourselves idols in some fashion or another. The essence of idolatry is this--to love anything better than God, to trust anything more than God, to wish to have a god other than we have, or to have some signs and wonders by which we may see Him, some outward symbol or manifestation that can be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears rather than to rest in an invisible God and believe the faithful promise of Him whom eye has not seen nor ear heard. In some form or other this great sin is the main mischief in the heart of man. And even in saved men this is one of the developments of remaining corruption. We may very easily make an idol of anything and in many different ways. No doubt many mothers and fathers make idols of their children. And so many husbands and wives idolize each other and we may even make idols of ministers, even as there were idol shepherds of old. Equally is it certain that many a thoughtful man makes an idol of his intellect. Many another makes an idol of his gold, or even of that little home wherein he enjoys so much content. The ignorant papist holds up his crucifix and worships that--and that is one of his idols. But men who are better instructed often take the Bible and read it and, failing to get through the letter into the spirit, they trust in the mere act of Scripture reading and make even the Word of God, itself, to become an idol to them through their resting in a mere creed, or in Bible reading--not pressing through it to spiritual hearty worship of God, Himself. Anything, however holy, which comes between us and the personal dealing of our soul with God, as He is revealed in Christ Jesus by faith and love and hope, becomes an idol to us! There are idols of all sorts, more or less intrinsically valuable. Just as in material substances one idol is made of wood, another of stone, another of silver and another of gold so that these idols differ in value and yet they are all idols, so may men, according to their different grades of mind, make an idol of this or of that or of the other, every man according to his own fancy. Many of these idols may, in themselves, be considered good enough--but when they are made into idols they are none the better for that--a golden idol is just as obnoxious to God as a wooden one! And so the dearest and best thing on earth, if it is allowed to come between us and God, as an idol, becomes an abomination in the sight of the Most High. O Brothers and Sisters, when you cannot trust the Providence of God, but feel as if you must have something of visible substance to lean upon, you idolize your savings, or the money you covet! When you cannot take the bare promise of God and dare not risk everything for God, but need something over and above the Word of God to rest in, you idolize your own selfishness! When you must have marks and signs and evidences of the things which God has plainly declared-- and will not believe God unless you have corroborative proof--you are playing the idolater's part! Yet human nature continually craves for more than God All-Sufficient because it is so carnal that it will not trust the Invisible One. It is, therefore, a supreme work of Grace when God brings any man to say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" I ask your attention to four points. I. And the first is this--I want you to notice THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THIS PREDICTION. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" God speaks of Ephraim as if Ephraim would do and must do what He declared it should do. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" But who was this Ephraim? If we look at him as an individual, he represents the 10 tribes of Israel at the time when they were wedded to strange gods. Ephraim is a man and, therefore, he has a will of his own. He is a depraved man and, therefore, he has an obstinate will. And yet God speaks about Ephraim as positively as if he had no will, and states that he shall say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" It would be very difficult to say what the wind will do--very hard to say what the waves will do. But man's will is more changeable and uncontrollable than the winds and the waves! Yet God speaks as if Ephraim were absolutely in His hands and He tells us what Ephraim shall say, and, in fact, what Ephraim shall feel. It is wonderful--is it not?--that God, who knows the inconstancy and willfulness of humans, thus speaks about the mind of man and declares what he shall say and what he shall feel? Now, in all this it is to be observed that there is no violation of the human will. Men are not blocks of wood, nor lumps of unconscious clay! God has made man a creature that wills and determines and judges for himself and He deals with him as such. There are persons who seem to fancy that whenever we speak of God as being Omnipotent in the realm of mind and speak of His declaring what men shall do and feel, that we, therefore, deny free agency. By no manner of means! We are never prepared, for the sake of one Truth of God, to deny another! And we do as heartily believe in free agency as we do in predestination! It has never been our custom to murder one Truth of God in order to make room for another! There is room enough for two Truths of God in the mind of the man who is willing to become as a little child. Yes, there is room in a teachable heart for 50 Truths of God to live without contention! God treats men as men and as intelligent creatures. Having granted them power of judgment and will, He treats them as such, and He does not use that force upon the soul which it would be legitimate to use upon a piece of metal if it had to be bored or to be melted! Nor does He even use such force as it is legitimate to use upon "an ox and an ass which have no understanding, whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto you." No, no! Under Heaven there is no man whose will God has ever violated! He has made the saved man's will all the freer by the constraints which Grace has put upon it! Grace does not enchain the will, but frees the will! And when a man sincerely says, "What have I to do any more with idols?" though that speech is totally contrary to all the intent of his former life, yet he says it with the full consent of his heart! No, he never said anything more willingly than he says this, when God, by Divine power has, "made him willing in the day of His power!" I wonder whether you are able to grasp, dear Brothers and Sisters, and lay hold of these two great Truths of God--first, that man is made a creature responsible for all his actions, and a free agent so constituted that God, Himself, will not violate that free agency! And yet this other Truth of God which we will maintain with all boldness--that God is as Omnipotent in the region of mind and free agency as He is in the realm of mere matter! He looks upon the hills and they smoke. He touches the earth and it trembles. The sea obeys Him and pauses where He bids it stay. Yes, earthquake and tempest are entirely under His control! Nobody who believes in an Omnipotent God doubts these things. But it is equally true that God enlightens the dark understanding with a flash of His Spirit. It is true that God removes the iron sinew of the obstinate will. As to the affections--when the heart is like stone, cold, dead, heavy, immovable--He has a way of turning the stone to flesh. He can do what He wills with men and when His Spirit puts forth all His power, though men may resist, yet there is a point beyond which resistance absolutely ceases and the soul is led in joyful captivity to the conquering Spirit of the blessed God! Now, somebody will again say, "But how do you make this consistent? You now talk contrary to the statements you made before." No, my dear Brother, I do not. They are both true--man is free, yet God is a Sovereign in the world of free minds--working His own way and speaking, thus, positively, without if or but or an. Don't you know that He will have His will and man's will shall willingly bow to His will, for He alone is Lord? Let me read you God's wills, God's wonderful wills, as they stand in this chapter, "I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely for My anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel. He shall grow as the lily and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" God speaks about men as if they were absolutely puppets in His hands and yet, at the same time, in other places He puts them upon their personal responsibility--both the doctrines are true! It is not yours or mine to ask how they are to be reconciled, much less to cast either of the Truths of God away! But let us hold them both fast, for these two shall be a clue through many a mystery of intricate doctrine and lead us into the light of God on many a dark saying. I rejoice to hear the almighty Lord speak thus divinely of what man shall do! And I adore the amazing wisdom and power which can rule over free agents! II. But now, secondly, in our text we see A MARVELLOUS CHANGE. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" Who is this Ephraim? Why, if you read the book of Hosea through you will find him turning up continually. Ephraim--Who was he? Who is this that says, "What have I to do any more with idols?" I will tell you. It is that same Ephraim of whom the Lord had said, "Leave him alone: he is given unto idols." This is different talk, is it not? At one time he is "glued" to his idols, for that is the word used in the original--glued to them as if he was stuck to them and could not get away at all. But here he is saying, "What have I to do any more with them?" What a change it is! Is that the same man? Yes, the same man. But mark what the Grace of God has done for him. See, also, how resolute he is. He speaks plainly and positively, "What have I to do any more with idols?" Is this the same man that we read of in a former chapter, "Ephraim is a silly dove without heart"? Yes, he was "a silly dove without heart," but now, this same Ephraim, is saying, "What have I to do any more with idols?" He is speaking as if he had received a new, enlightened, bold and decided heart! This is a change, is it not? The man who was glued to his idols and full of vacillation whenever better things came before him, is now clean separated from his former trusts and made to hate them! He no longer vacillates and hesitates, but takes his stand and asks with glorious promptitude, "What have I to do any more with idols?" It is a great change! And it is such a great change as many of us have undergone! And it is such a change as everybody here must undergo or else they shall never see the face of God with acceptance! Conversion, which is the first fruit of regeneration, makes such a difference in a man that it is as though he had been dead and buried and were now raised from the dead into newness of life! It is as much a change as if the man were destroyed and then were made a new creature in Christ Jesus! I wonder whether you have all felt such a change as this? I sometimes meet with persons who claim to be Christians and Believers and all that, but they have never experienced any change that they can remember from their babyhood. Well, dear Friend, there must have been such a change if you are a Christian! I will not say that you ought to know the day and the hour, but, depend upon it, if you are now what you were when you were born, you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity! If there has not been a turning, you are going the wrong way! Every man must be turned from the way in which father Adam set his face, for our face is towards sin and destruction, and we must be turned right round so as to have our faces towards holiness and everlasting life. Where there is not such a turning, there is the most solemn cause for heart-searching, humiliation and for the seeking of salvation! Have you undergone a great transformation? The necessity for it is no fantasy of mine, remember. It is that most solemn word of the New Testament--"You must be born again." There must be a complete and total change in you, so that the things you once loved you come to hate and the things you hated you are made to love--as great a change as there was in Ephraim who was formerly glued to his idols and then came to abhor them! I pray you all search and see whether such a difference has been made in your hearts by the Holy Spirit--for a mistake here will be fatal. If you have never undergone such a renewing, let the prayer be breathed that the Holy Spirit may now renew you in the spirit of your mind. And if you hope that such a change has taken place upon you, then may God grant it may be a real abiding conversion, so that you may remain in Grace and go from strength to strength till the idols are utterly abolished and your whole nature shall become the temple of the living God! Thus, we have two remarks--a sovereign prediction and a marvelous change. III. Thirdly, there is in our text AN IMPLIED CONFESSION. "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" "Any more with idols?" Then, Ephraim, you have had a good deal to do with idols up till now? "Yes," he says, with tears in his eyes, "that I have." Hypocrites mean less than their language expresses, but true penitents mean much more than their bare words can convey. The confession of the text is all the more hearty because it is tacit and, as it were, slips out unintentionally. Listen earnestly dear Hearers, for, perhaps, some of you may be worshipping idols now. We will go into the temple of your heart and see whether we can find a false god there. I go into one heart and, as I look up, I see a gigantic idol! It is gilded all over and clothed in shining robes! Its eyes seem to be jewels and its forehead is "as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires." It is a very lovely idol to look upon. Come not too close, do not examine too severely, nor so much as dream of looking inside the hollow sham! Within it you will find all manner of rottenness and filthiness, but the outside of the idol is adorned with the greatest art and skill--and you may even become enamored by it as you stand and gaze upon it! What is its name? Its name is self-righteousness! Well do I remember when I used to worship this image which my own hands had made till one morning my god had his head broken off and, by-and-by, I found his hands were gone. And soon I found that the worm was devouring it and my god that I worshipped and trusted in turned out to be a heap of dross and dung--and I had thought it to be a mass of solid gold with eyes of diamonds! Alas, there are many men to whom no such revelation has been given. Their idol is still in first-rate condition. True, perhaps, at Christmas time it gets a little out of order and they feel that they did not quite behave as they ought when the bottle went round so freely--but they have called in the goldsmith to overlay the idol with new gold and gild the chipped places afresh! Have they not been to church since then? Did they not go on Christmas morning to a place of worship and make it all right? Have they not repeated extra prayers and given a little more away to charity? So they have furbished their god up again and he looks very respectable! Ah, it is easy to tinker him up, my Brothers and Sisters, until the Ark of the Lord comes in! And then all the smiths in the world cannot keep this god erect! If the Gospel of Jesus Christ once enters into the soul, then, straightway, this wonderful god begins to bow himself and, like Dagon, who was broken before the Ark of the Lord, self-righteousness is dashed to pieces! But there are thousands all over this world who worship this god and I will tell you how they pray to it. They say, "God, I thank you that I am not as other men are," and so on--not exactly in the Pharisee's language, but after the same style. "Lord, I thank you that I pay everybody 20 shillings in the pound and have brought up my children respectably. God, I thank you that I have been a regular church-going or chapel-going man all my life. God, I thank you that I am not a swearer, nor yet a drunk, nor anything of that kind. I am far better than most people and if I do not get to Heaven it will be very bad for my neighbors, for they are not half as good as I am!" In this manner is this monstrous deity adored! I am not speaking of what is done in Hindustan, but of an idolatry very fashionable in England! The god of self-righteousness is lord paramount in millions of hearts! Oh, that every worshipper of that god may be led to say, "What have I to do any more with this abominable idol?" Another sort of god I have seen in the human heart is the idol of darling sin. A person not long ago said--"Well, I suppose there is a good deal in religion, but, you see, I am on the turf and I could not leave it. How could I? I could not, of course, become a Christian, and yet be known to be a betting man." Yes, the betting ring was his god. The running horse is as favorite a deity as were the calves of Bethel. Another man says, "Yes, yes. I should be glad to be a Christian, but, you see, I love the bottle. I must occasionally enjoy a drop too much. Not often, you know, but now and then at convivial meetings, holidays and bonfire nights. A man must be drunk sometimes, must he not? And where's the harm? I could not give it up." They do not say so in actual words, but that is what they mean, thousands of them! They must still keep Bacchus for their god and offer him their sacrifices. And, ah, what sacrifices they make! How they ruin health and destroy life, itself, beggar their children, make their wives wretched--and all to worship this dunghill god of drink! Others have some other darling sin. I need not mention all. In fact I could not, for the cheek of modesty would tingle if we were to mention certain of the vices which men and women feel that they could not cease from. They would gladly be saved in their sins, but not from their sins. They would worship God after a fashion, but the first place must be given to this darling lust of theirs. O Sir, I care not what idol it is, but if there is anything in this world that you love better than Christ, you can never see the face of God with joy! If there is any sin that you would persevere in, I beseech you change your mind about it and cut it off though it is a right hand! Pluck it out though it is a right eye! It were better for you to enter into life maimed and with one eye than having both hands and both eyes to be cast into Hell fire! Darling sins must be renounced if Christ is to be enjoyed! Behold how idolaters disagree--one adores righteous self and another worships sinful self--but both idols must be utterly abolished! In some men's hearts I see the love of pleasure. That god is seated on the throne of many hearts. They are overcome, not so much by the grosser sins, as by their natural levity and trifling. They cannot think. They do not want to think. They say they are, "dull," if they have to be quiet for awhile. They like to be always amused, gratified, excited. Now, there is a measure of recreation which is as good as medicine to both body and soul. And there are proper recreations to be had. God has provided innocent pleasures and we shall do well to accept them with gratitude from our heavenly Father. But to be a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God is to be dead while you live! To make your belly your god, to live to eat and drink, to be just meat-digesters and wine-strainers, to be living here merely to enjoy yourself-- butterflies flitting from flower to flower, gathering no honey, but merely seeking pleasure--this is evil! Sirs, this is a god that will not be worshipped by one who knows the love of the real God, for his god is his pleasure and pleasure is not his god. He casts aside, full often, things that he might otherwise have allowed himself to enjoy, that he may honor and glorify his Savior the more. Many worship the golden calf. They indulge no vice and pursue no pleasure except their one vice and their one pleasure which is their greed of gold. If you want to awaken all their energies, jingle a guinea near them! This they pursue as the hounds pursue the fox, never resting. They fear they will be poor when they are old. They make themselves poor when they are young. And, lest they should be starved at last, they starve themselves to the last! We have known some to whom honor, love, uprightness, integrity, religion have all been nothing whatever, so long as gain could be had by sacrificing them. The great fabric of their fortune has rolled along, like the car of Juggernaut, crushing everything that has been in its way. Widows might weep and orphans might lament. The groans of those whom they oppressed might go up to Heaven and the iniquities which they have perpetrated might go before them unto judgment--but it was nothing to them. They were adding field to field and house to house and getting richer and richer--they lived for that and for that they seemed content to die. O God, convert the man who worships gold! Milton, you know, describes the demon of greed as-- "Mammon the least erected spirit that fell From Heaven, for even in Heaven His looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of Heaven's pa vement, trodden gold, Than anything Divine or holy else enjoyed In vision Beatific." This vice is very degrading and well does Milton place Mammon in Hell and say-- "Let none admire That riches grow in Hell. That soil may best Deserve the precious bane." Now, when the Lord delivers a man from the power of the devil, he cries, "What have I to do any more with making wealth my idol?" He grows content, becomes the Lord's steward and uses his substance in the service of Jesus. We must go round these temples as quickly as we can and not stop long in any one of them, for they are not very sweet--some in the temple of their hearts have set up unlawful attachments. They form connections which are forbidden by the Word of God. For instance, I have known some who profess to be Christians--God knows whether they ever were or not--who have put altogether out of court the command of our Lord not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. They have followed the dictates of the flesh by joining in marriage with the ungodly. It is a dreadful thing to be married to one from whom you know you must be soon separated forever--one who loves not God and, therefore, can never be your companion in Heaven! If that is your case, already, your prayers should day and night go up to Heaven for the partner of your bosom, that he or she may be brought to Christ. But for any young person willfully to form such a tie is to set up an idol in the place of God! Weeping and wailing will come of it before long! Any form of love which divides the heart from Jesus is idolatry and, alas, I fear the idols are as many as the trees of the field! Lord, remove them far from us! A great number of persons worship an idol called the praise of men. They speak after this fashion, "Oh, yes, you are right enough, but, you see, I could not do it." Well, why not? "Why, I do not know what my uncle would say about it, or I could not tell how my wife would like it. I am not sure if my grandfather would be pleased with me." The fear of relatives and the dread of public opinion hold many in mental and moral bondage--and the fear of men holds many more. I pity those who dare not do what they believe to be right! It seems to me to be the grandest of all liberties, the liberty wherewith Christ makes us free! The liberty to do and dare anything which conscience commands in His name. But numbers of people have to ask other people to allow them to breathe, to allow them to think, to allow them to believe anything! And there is nothing they are so frightened of as Mrs. Grundy. The little society in which they live is all in all to them. What will So-and-So think of it? The working man dares not go to a place of worship because the carpenters in the shop would be down upon him. The men that work with him would be saying to him, "Halloa! What? Are you one of those methodistical fellows?" Many men who are six feet high are cowards and are afraid of some little body half their height! They are afraid that some worthless fellow would make a joke at their expense--and to be joked at seems to be something dreadful! O poor souls! Poor souls! All the jokes they are likely to get will be very lukewarm water compared with the scalding hot cauldron into which some of us have been plunged into year after year--when we could not speak a word without having it misinterpreted--and could not utter a sentence without being belied! Yet they shrink from their little persecutions as if they were a great martyr! We are alive, after all the assaults which were made upon us, and not much the worse for them--and so will you be, too, dear Friends--if you have the heart and the courage to do and dare for the Lord Jesus Christ! This idol of the fear of man devours thousands of souls! This is a bloodthirsty idol! It is as cruel as any of the idols of the Hindus--this "fear of man which brings a snare." Some of you know that you are altogether mean in spirit and dare not do what you know you ought to do for fear somebody or other should make a remark about how strange and how odd you are. God help you to have done with that idol! Thus we have considered the implied confession that we have had most evil dealings with idols. IV. The last point is to be THE RESOLUTE QUESTION, "What have I to do any more with idols?" Let us put it this way, "What have I to do any more with them? I have had enough to do with them. What have my sins done for me, already?" Brothers and Sisters, look at what sin has done for us and all our race! It made that beautiful Eden, which was our garden of delight, to be a wilderness! It has made us to be the children of toil and sorrow! What has sin done for us? It has stripped us of our beauty! It has put us away from God! It has set the flaming cherubim with the drawn sword to keep us back from coming near to God as long as we live in sin. Sin has wounded us, spoiled us, killed us, corrupted us! Sin has brought disease into the world and dug the grave and bred the worm. O Sin, you are the mother of all the griefs and groans and sighs and tears that ever befell men and women in this world! O wretched Sin, what have we to do any more with you? We have had more than enough of you! And have not you and I, personally, had quite enough to do with our idols? I had enough to do with my self-righteousness, I do boldly say, for, oh, how I loathe to think that I should ever have been such a fool as to think that there was anything good in me--to think that I could ever have dreamed of coming before God with a righteousness of my own! Oh, how I abhor the thought! God forbid for one single moment that I should ever be other than ashamed of having boasted in anything that I could do, or feel, or be! Do you not feel yourselves humiliated at the remembrance of such pride and presumption? What have you to do any more with the idol of righteous self? Nothing! We can never bow down before that any more! With regard to other idols, have you not smarted enough about them? The convert who was once a drunk will say, "I have had enough to do with the cup of intoxication. Who has woe? Who has redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine. The men of strength to mingle strong drink." The winebibber has had enough to do with that. He has paid heavy smart money and now he has done with rioting and excess forever. The man who has plunged into vice will often have to say, "It has injured me in body, mind and estate. What more can I have to do with it?" "Ah," said one to me the other day, "when I lived in sin it was so expensive that it will take me years to recover what I have wasted upon the devil and myself. I am not the man for the service of God that I could have been if it had not been for that." Ah, we have all had enough of it--more than enough of it! There is no cup of sin, however sweet it was in the day of our unregeneracy, but we feel that we want no more of it--not even with all its beaded bubbles sparkling on the brim when it moves itself right. We are sick of it--sick to the death and the very name of it causes nausea in our soul. What have I to do any more with idols when I consider what idols have done for me? But there is another view of it. "What have I to do any more with idols?" Do you see? Can you bear to look upon that strange sight yonder--three crosses set upon a hill. And on the center one a wondrous Man, in fearful agony, nailed to the wood. If you look at Him you will see that there is such a mixture of majesty in His misery that you discover Him, at once, to be your Lord! Lo, it is the Bridegroom of your soul--your heart's best Beloved! And He is nailed up there like a felon hanged to die! Who nailed Him there? Who nailed Him there, I say? Where is the hammer? Where did the nails come from? Who nailed Him there? And the answer is--Our idols nailed Him there! Our sins pierced His heart! Ah, then, what have I to do any more with them? If I had a favorite knife and with it a murderer had killed my wife, do you think I would use it at my table or carry it about with me? Away with the accursed thing! How I should loathe the very sight of it! And sin has murdered Christ! Our idols have put our Lord to death! Stand at the foot of the Cross and see His murdered, mangled body, bleeding with its five great wounds and you will say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" The vinegar and gall, the bloody sweat and death pangs have divorced my soul from all its ancient loves and wedded my heart forever to the Well-Beloved, even the King of kings! "What have I to do any more with idols?" Nothing separates a man from sin like a sense of the love and the sufferings of Jesus! Redeeming Grace and dying love--these ring the death-knells of our lusts and idols-- "Soon as faith the Lord can see, Bleeding on a Cross for me, Quick my idols all depart, Jesus gets and fills my heart!" Now, you may remember, again, that we must have no more to do with idols, for the same sins which put our Lord to death will put us to death if they can. O child of God, you never sin without injuring yourself! The smallest sin that ever creeps into your heart is a robber seeking to kill and to destroy! You never profited by sin and never can. No, it is poison, deadly poison to your spirit. Do not, therefore, tolerate it for an instant. What have you to do with it? You know it is to be evil, only evil, and that continually. You know that it injures your faith, destroys your enjoyment, withers up your peace, weakens you in prayer, prevents your example being beneficial to others--and for all these reasons what have you to do any more with idols? Moreover, what have you to do any more with idols, now that you are a child of God--now that you are an heir of Heaven? A poor boy sits down and plays with bits of mud in the street and makes dirt pies with his little friends. One day there comes up a king's messenger who has discovered that this is a lost child from the palace! The child is taken home and washed. He is clothed in royal apparel and is told that he is a prince and that he is heir to a kingdom! Will he go back and play with the dirty boys in the street, again, and be a gutter-child, a street Arab? No, not he! He will be trained to something nobler and more befitting his position. And though you and I once loved the sin that others love and found amusement where others find it, we have now, by faith, received power to become the sons of God! We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ! What have we to do any more with idols? What manner of people ought we to be whom the Lord has adopted into the royal family of Heaven? Within a few months some of us will be in Heaven--perhaps within a few weeks. What have we to do with idols? Even while we are here, the Lord has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ. What have we to do any more with idols? This day are we accepted in the Beloved, the elect of God, justified by faith--our names are engraved on the palms of Jesus' hands! What have we to do any more with idols? Truly, the question answers itself. We have nothing to do with them except to loathe them! And whenever they are set up in our hearts, even for a moment, we are to break them down by the power of the Eternal Spirit. Now Beloved, if God has worked a great work in you and changed your hearts so that the idols you once worshipped you now detest, I would ask you to keep away from the idols all you can. If you have nothing to do with them, do not go into the places where they are held in honor. "What have I to do any more with idols?" If I knew that a street was infected with small-pox, I should not go out of my way to ride down it! I had rather go round about to avoid the plague. Let it be so with your once darling sin! Get as far away from it as you can, even as you would keep clear of a leper! You have nothing more to do with idols, therefore do not enter their temples or make a league with their worshippers. It is an old Rabbinical tradition with regard to the Nazarites that as they were not to drink wine so they were bid not eat the grape, nor go through a vineyard. The old proverb was, "O Nazarite, go about, go about, but go not through a vineyard lest you be tempted to eat of the grape and afterwards to drink of the juice thereof." There is a great spiritual and moral lesson here for us. Keep as far away from sin as ever you can! If you have learned to say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" avoid the very appearance of evil and all those communications which corrupt good manners. The ale house, the dancing saloon and the theater are not for you. I loathe to hear Christian people say, "What do you think of this-and-that foolish amusement? Do you think I might go as far as that?" Well, my dear Friend, if you enjoy anything that has any filth in it, I question whether you know anything about the love of God at all! You remember Rowland Hill's observation to the person who said he liked to go the theater. The person said, "Well, you know, Mr. Hill, I am a member of the Church. And I do not go to the theater often. I only go once or twice a year, just for a treat." "Ah," said Mr. Hill, "you are a great deal worse than I thought you were! Suppose it were reported commonly that Mr. Hill fed on carrion and was very fond of eating rotten meat. And suppose somebody came to me and said, 'I hear, Mr. Hill, that you are very fond of eating carrion.' 'Oh, no,' I say, 'Not at all. I do not regularly feed on it, I only eat a dish of it once or twice a year for a treat!' Then everybody would say, 'You are fonder of it than we thought. For if poor creatures have to eat it every day because they cannot get anything better, their taste is not so corrupt as yours who turn away from wholesome food and find rottenness to be a dainty dish.'" If you can find your pleasure and delight where sin of the worst kind is always very near at hand, where religion would be out of place and where Christ, your Master, would not be expected to come, you have not learned to say with Ephraim, "What have I to do any more with idols?" Run away from anything which has the least taint of sin and may God help you to do so even to the end! Is this in order that you may be saved? God forbid! I am only speaking to you who are saved already! If you are not saved, the first thing is to have a renewed heart by faith in Jesus Christ! And after that we lay no bondage on you and exact no tax from you by way of duty--but it will be your joy, your delight, your privilege--to keep near to your Master and to say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" God bless you for Christ's sake! Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Manoah's Wife and Her Excellent Argument (No. 1340) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would He have showed us all these things, nor would He at this time ha ve told us such things as these." Judges 13:22,23. The first remark arising out of the story of Manoah and his wife is this--that oftentimes we pray for blessings which will make us tremble when we receive them. Manoah had asked that he might see the Angel and he saw Him--in answer to His request the Wonderful One condescended to reveal Himself a second time, but the consequence was that the good man was filled with astonishment and dismay. And turning to His wife, he exclaimed, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." Brothers and Sisters, do we always know what we are asking for when we pray? We are imploring an undoubted blessing and yet if we knew the way in which such blessing must necessarily come, we would, perhaps, hesitate before we pressed our case. You have been entreating very much for growth in holiness. Do you know, Brother, that in almost every case, that means increased affliction? We do not make much progress in the Divine life except when the Lord is pleased to try us in the furnace and purge us with many fires. Do you desire the mercy on that condition? Are you willing to take it as God pleases to send it, and to say, "Lord, if spiritual growth implies trial. If it signifies a long sickness of body. If it means deep depression of soul. If it entails the loss of property. If it involves the taking away of my dearest friends, yet I make no reserve, but include in the prayer all that is necessary to the good end. When I say, sanctify me wholly, spirit, soul and body, I leave the process to Your discretion." Suppose you really knew all that it would bring upon you, would you not pray, at any rate, with more solemn tones? I hope you would not hesitate, but, counting all the cost, would still desire to be delivered from sin. But, at any rate, you would put up your petition with deliberation, weighing every syllable, and then, when the answer came, you would not be so astonished at its peculiar form. Often and often the blessing which we so eagerly implored is the occasion of the suffering which we deplore. We do not know God's methods. This is the Lord's way of answering prayer for faith and Grace. He comes with rods of chastisement and makes us smart for our follies, for thus, alone, can He deliver our childish spirits from us. He comes with sharp plowshares and tears up the soil, for thus, only, can we be made to yield Him a harvest. He comes with hot irons and burns us to the heart. And when we inquire, "Why all this?" the answer comes to us, "This is what you asked for. This is the way in which the Lord answers your requests." Perhaps, at this moment, the fainting feeling that some of you are now experiencing, which makes you fear that you will surely die, may be accounted for by your own prayers! I should like you to look at your present sorrows in that light, and say, "After all, I can see that now my God has given me exactly what I sought at His hands. I asked to see the Angel and I have seen Him, and now it is that my spirit is cast down within me." A second remark is this--Very frequently deep prostration of spirit is the forerunner of some remarkable blessing. It was to Manoah and to his wife the highest conceivable joy of life, the climax of their ambition, that they should be the parents of a son by whom the Lord should begin to deliver Israel. Joy filled them--inexpressible joy--at the thought of it! But, at the time when the good news was first communicated, Manoah, at least, was made so heavy in spirit that he said, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God." Take it as a general rule that dull skies foretell a shower of mercy. Expect sweet favor when you experience sharp affliction. Do you not remember, concerning the Apostles, that they feared as they entered into the cloud on Mount Tabor? And yet it was in that cloud that they saw their Master transfigured! And you and I have had many a fear about the cloud we were entering, although there we were to see more of Christ and His Glory than we had ever beheld before. The cloud which you fear makes the external wall of that secret chamber where the Lord reveals Himself! Before you can carry Samson in your arms, Manoah, you must be made to say, "We shall surely die." Before the minister shall preach the Word of God to thousands, he must be emptied and made to tremble under a sense of inability. Before the Sunday school teacher shall bring her girls to Christ, she shall be led to see how weak and insufficient she is. I believe that whenever the Lord is about to use us in His household, He takes us like a dish and wipes us right out and sets us on the shelf--and then afterwards He takes us down and puts thereon His own heavenly meat, with which to fill the souls of others. There must, as a rule, be an emptying, a turning upside down and a putting on one side before the very greatest blessing comes. Manoah felt that he must die and yet he could not die, for he was to be the father of Samson, the deliverer of Israel and the terror of Philistia! Let me offer a third remark, which is this--great faith is, in many instances, subject to fits. What great faith Manoah had! His wife was barren, yet when she was told by the Angel that she should bear a child, he believed it, although no heavenly messenger had come to him personally! He so believed it that he did not want to see the Man of God a second time to be told that it would be so, but only to be informed how to bring up the child! That was all. "Well might he be the father of strong Samson, that had such a strong faith," says old Bishop Hall. He had a strong faith, indeed, and yet here he is saying in alarm, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." Do not judge a man by any solitary word or act, for if you do, you will surely mistake him. Cowards are occasionally brave, and the bravest men are sometimes cowards. And there are men who would be worse cowards, practically, if they were a little less cowardly than they are. A man may be too much a coward to confess that he is timid. Trembling Manoah was so outspoken, honest and sincere that he expressed his feelings which a more political person might have concealed. Though fully believing what had been spoken from God, yet, at the same time, this doubt was on him as the result of his belief in tradition--"We shall surely die, because we have seen God." Once again, another remark is that it is a great mercy to have a Christian companion to go to for counsel and comfort whenever your soul is depressed. Manoah had married a wonderful wife. She was the better one of the two in sound judgment. She was the weaker vessel by nature, but she was the stronger Believer and probably that was why the Angel was sent to her, for angels are best pleased to speak with those who have faith--and if they have the pick of their company--and the wife has more faith than the husband, they will visit the wife sooner than her spouse, for they love to take God's messages to those who will receive them with confidence. She was evidently full of faith and so, when her husband tremblingly said, "We shall surely die," she did not believe in such a mistrustful inference. Moreover, though they say that women cannot reason, yet here was a woman whose arguments were logical and overwhelming! Certain it is that women's perceptions are generally far clearer than men's reasonings. They look, at once, into a Truth of God while we are hunting for our glasses! Their instincts are generally as safe as our reasonings and, therefore, when they have, in addition, a clear logical mind, they make the wisest of counselors. Well, Manoah's wife not only had clear perceptions, but she had first-rate reasoning faculties. She argued, according to the language of the text, that it was not possible that God should kill them after what they had seen and heard! Oh that every man had such a prudent, gracious wife as Manoah had! Oh that whenever a man is cast down, a Christian Brother or Sister stands ready to cheer him with some reminder of the Lord's past goodness, or with some gracious promise from the Divine Word! It may happen to be the husband who cheers the wife and in such a case it is equally beautiful. We have known a Christian Sister to be very nervous and very often depressed and troubled--what a mercy to her to have a Christian husband whose strength of faith can encourage her to smile away her griefs by resting in the everlasting faithfulness and goodness of the Lord! If God the Holy Spirit shall help us, we will take up the argument of Manoah's wife and see whether it will, also, comfort our hearts. She had three strings to her bow, good woman. One was--The Lord does not mean to kill us, because He has accepted our sacrifices. The second and third were--He does not mean to kill us, or else He would not, as at this time, have told us such gracious things as these. So the three strings to her bow were accepted sacrifices, gracious revelations, and precious promises. Let us dwell upon each of them. And, first, accepted sacrifices. I will suppose that I am addressing a Brother who is sadly tried, terribly cast down and, who, therefore, has begun to lament-- "The Lord has quite forsaken me. My God will be gracious no more." Brother, is that possible? Has not God of old accepted, on your behalf, the offering of His Son, Jesus Christ? You have believed in Jesus, dear Friend. You do not believe in Him now? Lay your hand on your heart and put the question solemnly to yourself, "Do you believe on the Son of God?" You are able to say, "Yes, Lord, notwithstanding all my unhappiness, I do believe in You and rest the stress and weight of my soul's interests on Your power to save." Well, then, you have God's own Word, recorded in His own infallible Bible, assuring you that Jesus Christ was accepted of God on your behalf, for He laid down His life for as many as believe in Him, that they might never perish! He stood as their Surety and suffered as their Substitute! Is it possible that this should be a lie and that, after all, they may be cast away? The argument of Manoah's wife was just this--"Did we not put the slain goat on the rock and as we put it there was it not consumed? It was consumed instead of us! We shall not die, for the victim has been consumed! The fire will not burn us--it has spent itself upon the sacrifice! Did you not see it go up in smoke and see the Angel ascend with it? The fire is gone--it cannot fall on us to destroy us." This being interpreted into the Gospel is just this--Have we not seen the Lord Jesus Christ fastened to the Cross? Have we not beheld Him in extreme agonies? Has not the fire of God consumed Him? Have we not seen Him rising, as it were, from that sacred fire in the Resurrection and the Ascension to go into Glory? Because the fire of Jehovah's wrath had spent itself on Him, we shall not die. He has died instead of us! It cannot be that the Lord has made Him suffer, the Just for the unjust, and now will make the Believer suffer, too! It cannot be that Christ loved His Church and gave Himself for it and that, now, the Church must perish, also! It cannot be that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all and now will lay our iniquity on us, too! It were not consistent with justice! It would make the vicarious sacrifice of Christ to be nullified, a superfluity of cruelty which achieved nothing! The Atonement cannot be made of no effect--the very supposition would be blasphemy! O, look, my Soul! Look to the redeemer's Cross and as you see how God accepts Christ, be filled with content! Hear how the, "It is finished!" of Jesus on earth is echoed from the Throne of God, Himself, as He raises up His Son from the dead and bestows glory upon Him! Hear this, I say, and as you hear, attend to the power of this argument--If the Lord had been pleased to kill us, He would not have accepted His Son for us! If He meant us to die, would He have put Him to death, too? How can it be? The sacrifice of Jesus must effectually prevent the destruction of those for whom He offered up Himself as a Sacrifice! Jesus, dying for sinners, and yet the sinners denied mercy?! Inconceivable and impossible! My Soul, whatever your inward feelings and the tumult of your thoughts, the accepted Sacrifice shows that God is not pleased to kill you! But, if you notice, in the case of Manoah, they had offered a burnt sacrifice and a meat offering, too. Well, now, in addition to the great, grand sacrifice of Christ, which is our trust, we, dear Brothers and Sisters, have offered other sacrifices to God. And in consequence of His acceptance of such sacrifice we cannot imagine that He intends to destroy us. First, let me conduct your thoughts back to the offering of prayer which you have presented. I will speak for myself. I recall now, running over my diary mentally, full many an instance in which I have sought the Lord in prayer and He has most graciously heard me. I am as sure that my requests have been heard as ever Manoah could have been sure that his sacrifice was consumed upon the rock! May I not infer from this that the Lord does not mean to destroy me? You know that it had been so with you, dear Brother. You are down in the dumps, today. You are beginning to raise many questions about Divine love. But there have been times--you know there have--when you have sought the Lord and He has heard you. You can say, "This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and delivered him from all his fears." Perhaps you have not jotted down the fact in a book, but your memory holds the indelible record. Your soul has made her personal boast in the Lord concerning His fidelity to His promise in helping His people in the hour of need--for you have happily proved it in your own case. Now, Brother, if the Lord had been pleased to kill you, would He have heard your prayers? If He had meant to cast you out, after all, would He have heard you so many times? If He had sought a quarrel against you He might have had cause for that quarrel many years ago and have said to you, "When you make many prayers I will not hear." But since He has listened to your cries and tears--and many a time answered your petitions--He cannot intend to kill you. Again, you brought to Him, years ago, not only your prayers but yourself. You gave yourself over to Christ--body, soul, spirit, all your goods, all your hours, all your talents, every faculty, and every possible acquirement--and you said, "Lord, I am not my own, but I am bought with a price." Now, at that time did not the Lord accept you? You have at this very moment a lively recollection of the sweet sense of acceptance you had at that time. Though you are at this time sorely troubled, yet you would not wish to withdraw from the consecration which you then made, but on the contrary you declare-- "Hgh Heaven, that heard the solemn vow, That vow renewed shall daily hear, Till, in life's latest hour, I bow, And bless in death a bond so dear." Now, would the Lord have accepted the offering of yourself to Him if He meant to destroy you? Would He have let you say, "I am Your servant and the son of Your handmaid: You have loosed my bond?" Would He have permitted you to declare, as you can boldly assert tonight, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus," delighting to remember the time of your Baptism into Him, whereby your body washed with His pure body, was declared to be the Lord's forever-- would He enable you to feel a joy in the very mark of your consecration, as well as in the consecration itself--if He meant to slay you? Oh, surely not! He does not let a man give himself up to Him and then cast him away! That cannot be! Some of us, dear Friends, can remember how, growing out of this last sacrifice, there have been others. The Lord has accepted our offerings at other times, too, for our works, faith and labors of love have been acknowledged by His Spirit. There are some of you, I am pleased to remember, whom God has blessed to the conversion of little children whom you brought to the Savior. And there are others on earth whom you can look upon with great joy because God was pleased to make you the instrument of their conviction and their conversion. Some of you, I perceive, are ministers of the Gospel. Others of you preach on the corners of the streets and there have been times in your lives--I am sure that you wish they were 10 times as many--in which God has been pleased to succeed your efforts so that hearts have yielded to the sway of Jesus. Now, you do not put any trust in those things, nor do you claim any merit for having served your Master, but still, I think they may be thrown in as a matter of consolation and you may ask, "If the Lord had meant to destroy me, would He have enabled he to preach His Gospel? Would He have helped me to weep over men's souls? Would He have enabled me to gather those dear children like lambs to His bosom? Would He have granted me my longing desire to bear fruit in His vineyard if He did not mean to bless me?" Now, the second argument was that they had received gracious revelations. "If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have showed us all these things." Now, what has the Lord shown you, my dear Brothers and Sisters? I will mention one or two things. First, the Lord has shown you, perhaps, years ago, or possibly at this moment He is showing you for the first time--your sin. What a sight that was when we first had it! Some of you never saw your sins, but your sins are there all the same. In an old house, perhaps, there is a cellar into which nobody goes and no light ever comes in. You live in the house comfortably enough, not knowing what is there. But one day you take a candle and go down the steps. You open that moldy door and when it is opened, dear Me! What a damp, pestilential smell! How foul the floor is! All sorts of living creatures hop away from under your feet! There are growths on the very walls--a heap of roots in the corner, sending out those long yellow growths which look like the fingers of death. And there is a spider--and there are a hundred more--of such a size as cannot be grown except in such horrible places! You get out as quickly as ever you can! You do not like the looks of it. Now, the candle did not make that cellar bad--the candle did not make it filthy! No, the candle only showed what there was. And then you get the carpenter to take down that shutter which you could not open anyway, for it had not been opened for years. And when the daylight comes in, it seems more horrible than it did by candlelight! And you wonder, indeed, however you did go across it with all those dreadful things all around you and you cannot be satisfied to live upstairs now till that cellar downstairs has been perfectly cleansed! That is just like our heart--it is full of sin--but we do not know it. It is a den of unclean birds, a menagerie of everything that is fearful, fierce and furious--a little Hell stocked with devils! Such is our nature. Such is our heart. Now, the Lord showed me mine years ago, as He did some of you, and the result of the sight of one's heart is horrible. Well does Dr. Young say, "God spares all eyes but His own, that fearful sight, a naked human heart." Nobody ever did see all his heart as it really is. You have only seen a part, but when seen, it is so horrible that it is enough to drive a man out of his senses to see the evil of his nature! Now, let us gather some honey out of this dead lion. Brothers and Sisters, if the Lord had meant to destroy us, He would not have shown us our sin because we were happy enough, previously, were we not? In our own poor way we were content and if He did not mean to pardon us, it was not like the Lord to show us our sin and to torment us before our time, unless He meant to take it away! We were swine, but we were satisfied enough with the husks we ate--so why not let us remain swine? What was the good of letting us see our filthiness if He did not intend to take it away? It never can be possible that God sets Himself studiously to torture the human mind by making it conscious of its evil, if He never intends to supply a remedy. Oh no! A deep sense of sin will not save you, but it is a pledge that there is something begun in your soul which may lead to salvation! That deep sense of sin does as good as say, "The Lord is laying bare the disease that He may cure it. He is letting you see the foulness of that underground cellar of your corruption because He means to cleanse it for you." But He has shown us more than this, for He has made us see the hollowness and emptiness of the world. There are some here present, who, at one time, were very gratified with the pleasures and amusements of the world. The theater was a great delight to them. The ballroom afforded them supreme satisfaction. To be able to dress just after their own fancy and to spend money on their own whims were the very acme of delight! But there came a time when across all these the soul perceived a mysterious handwriting which, being interpreted, ran thus--"Vanity of vanities; all is vanity." These very people went to the same amusements, but they seemed so dull and stupid that they came away saying, "We do not care a bit for them. The joys are all gone. What seemed gold turns out to be gilt. And what we thought marble was only white paint. The varnish is cracked, the tinsel is faded, the coloring has vanished. Mirth laughs like an idiot and pleasure grins like madness." We have heard the words, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity," sounding in our hearts, and now do you think that if the Lord had meant to kill us, He would have taught us this? Why, no! He would have said, "Leave them alone, they are given unto idols. They are only going to have one world in which they can rejoice--let them enjoy it." He would have let the swine go on with their husks if He had not meant to turn them into His children and bring them to His bosom. But He has taught us something better than this--namely, the preciousness of Christ! Unless we are awfully deceived--self-deceived, I mean--we have known what it is to lose the burden of our sin at the foot of the Cross. We have known what it is to see the suitability and all-sufficiency of the merit of our dear Redeemer and we have rejoiced in Him with unspeakable joy full of glory! If He had meant to destroy us, He would not have shown us Christ! Sometimes, also, we have strong desires after God! What pining after communion with Him have we felt! What longings to be delivered from sin! What yearnings to be perfect! What aspirations to be with Him in Heaven and what desires to be like He while we are here! Now these longings, cravings, desires, yearnings--do you think the Lord would have put them into our hearts if He had meant to destroy us? What would be the good of it? Would it not be tormenting us as Tantalus was tormented? Would it not, indeed, be a superfluity of cruelty to make us wish for what we could never have and pine after what we should never gain? O Beloved, let us be comforted about these things! If He had meant to kill us, He would not have shown us such things as these! I shall have no time to dwell upon the last source of comfort, which is what the Lord has spoken to us--many precious promises. "Nor would He have told us such things as these." At almost anytime when a child of God is depressed, if he goes to the Word of God and to prayer, and looks up, he will generally get hold of some promise or other. I know I generally do. I could not tell you, dear Brothers and Sisters, tonight, what promise would suit your case, but the Lord always knows how to apply the right Word at the right time. And when a promise is applied with great power to the soul and you are enabled to plead it at the Mercy Seat, you may say, "If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have made us such a promise as this." I have a promise that hangs up before my eyes whenever I wake every morning and it has continued in its place for years. It is a stay to my soul. It is this--"I will not fail you nor forsake you." Difficulties arise, funds run short, sickness comes--but somehow or other my text always seems to flow like a fountain--"I will not fail you nor forsake you." If the Lord had meant to kill us, He would not have said that to us. What is your promise, Brothers and Sisters? What have you got a hold of? If you have not laid hold of any and feel as if none belonged to you, yet there are such words as these, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," and you are one! Ah, if He had meant to destroy you, He would not have spoken a text of such a wide character on purpose to include your case! A thousand promises go down to the lowest deep into which a heart can ever descend. And if the Lord had meant to destroy a soul in the deeps, He would not have sent a Gospel promise down even to that extreme. I should like to say these two or three words to you who are unconverted, but who are troubled in your souls. You think that God means to destroy you. Now, dear Friend, I take it that if the Lord had meant to kill you, He would not have sent the Gospel to you. If there had been a purpose and a decree to destroy you, He would not have brought you here! Now you are sitting to hear that Jesus has died to save such as you are! You are sitting where you are, earnestly bid to trust Him and be saved! If the Lord had meant to slay you, I do not think He would have sent me on such a fruitless errand as to tell you of a Christ who could not save you! Some of you have had your lives spared very remarkably. You have been in accidents on land or on sea--perhaps in battle and shipwreck. You have been raised from a sickbed. If the Lord had meant to destroy you, surely He would have let you die--but He has spared you, and you are getting on in years--surely it is time that you yielded to His mercy and gave yourself up into the hands of Grace. If the Lord had meant to destroy you, surely He would not have brought you here, for, possibly, I am addressing one who has come here, wondering why. All the time that he has been sitting here, he has been saying to himself, "I do not know how I got into this place, but here I am." God means to bless you, tonight, I trust, and He will, if you breathe this prayer to Heaven, "Father, forgive me! I have sinned against Heaven and before you, but for Christ's sake, forgive Me! I put my trust in Your Son." You shall find eternal life, rejoicing in the sacrifice which God has accepted! You shall, one of these days, rejoice in the revelations of His love and in the promises which He gives you, and say, as we say tonight, "If the Lord were pleased to kill us He would not have showed us all these things!" __________________________________________________________________ Retreat Impossible (No. 1341) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back." Judges 11:35. IN Jephtha case there were good reasons for going back. He had made a rash vow and such things are much better broken than kept. If a man makes a vow to commit a crime, his vow to do so is, in itself, a sin. The carrying out of his vow will be doubly sinful. If a man's vowing to do a thing made it necessary and right for him to do it, then the whole moral law might be suspended by the mere act of vowing, for a man might vow to steal, to commit adultery, or to murder--and then say--"I was right in all those acts because I vowed to do them." This is self-evidently absurd and to admit such a principle would be to destroy all morality! You have, first of all, no right to promise to do what is wrong. And then, secondly, your promise, which is, in itself, wrong, cannot make a criminal act to be right. If you have come under a rash vow, you must not dare to keep it! You ought to go before God and repent that you have made a vow which involves sin--and as to keeping the sinful vow, that were to add sin to sin! "But," says one, "would it not be sin to break my vow?" I reply, there was great sin in making it and there will probably be some measure of sin connected with your breaking it, for few human actions are perfect. But to keep your evil vow would certainly be sin and you must not commit the greater sin to avoid the lesser which, perhaps, may be involved in the breach of your foolish promise. I think it would have been well if Jephtha, though he had opened his mouth before God, had gone back when it involved, as I think it did, so dreadful a necessity as that of sacrificing his own innocent, only child! His having sworn to do it did not make it right--it was just as wrong. If he really did slay her, it was a horrible action, dramatize or disguise it as you may! He had no right to make the dangerous promise. He had still less right to carry it out after he had made it, if it led to such terrible consequences. But now I am going to speak about other openings of the mouth to God in which there is no ill--openings of the mouth which need never be regretted, which certainly never can be recalled--and of which we may rightly say, before the living God, in the strength which He gives us, "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back." My sermon will not have much to do with some of you. You have not given your word to God, or made any sort of promise. No, you remain as you were, far off from Him and negligent of His claims. I do not envy you. Your being under no obligation from any resolution of your own does not prevent your being under as much natural obligation to God on account of your being His creatures and, therefore, subjects under His Law. I sometimes hear of people who say, "You know I do not profess anything," and after that assertion they appear to feel at liberty to say and do whatever they like. Now, if we heard of certain persons entrusted with our business that they had not acted honestly, what would we think of it if one man among them should rise up and say, "Don't blame me. You know I never professed to be honest"? What would that mean? It would mean that he is a confessed and acknowledged thief! Suppose a man were to say, "Well, I never profess to be truthful." What is he? He is an acknowledged liar! And he who says, "Ah, I never made any vows or promises, neither do I pretend to serve the Lord," acknowledges himself to be a godless man. He is living in the daily robbery of God, defrauding Him of His rights! He is living in direct and avowed rebellion against the King of kings! He is living without a hope for the hereafter--without Grace in his soul for the present--and without glory in prospect for the future! Ah, Friend, although the things I may have to say at this time may not directly bear upon you, yet the very fact that they do not bear upon you should make you think, and weigh, and consider, and ponder your ways as to the place which you now occupy! You are, by your non-profession and non-avowal of Christ, making a confession of being on the opposite side, for he that is not with Him is against Him, and he that gathers not with Him scatters abroad. But now I speak to my own Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus. Dear Friends, there are three things which I would bring to your practical remembrance. First, what we have done--we have opened our mouth unto the Lord. Secondly, what we cannot do--"I cannot go back." And, thirdly, what we must do--there are some things that we must seek after if we are to be able to hold on and to act faithfully to our profession. I. First, then, WHAT WE HAVE DONE. "I have given my word to the Lord." We have opened our mouths before the Lord, first, by confessing our faith in Jesus Christ. I have said, and most of you upon whom 1 am looking have, also, solemnly said, before others, "I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart. Let others believe what they will and trust in what they please-- 'My hope is fixed on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.''" We are troubled by no question of our Lord's power to save, or of our interest in His salvation, but we have testified outright, as a matter-of-fact which we feel in our own souls, that we believe that Jesus died for us and that He is all our salvation and all our desire. We have opened our mouth to that in the most decided manner and we are continually doing so in various ways. We have, also, avowed and declared before the living God that we are Christ's disciples and followers. If anyone should ask us, "Are you one of them? Do you consort with Jesus of Nazareth?" We would gladly answer, "Yes." However short we come of perfect obedience to His commands, yet His will is our rule. We call Him, "Master," and, "Lord," and when we read about the disciples of Christ we think of ourselves as belonging to them. Blessed Master, how glad we are to acknowledge that we are, indeed, Your disciples! We are not ashamed to acknowledge that we have opened our mouth unto You, to believe all Your teachings and to obey all Your commands! We have opened our month to the Lord, next, because as we believe in Jesus Christ and take Him to be our Master. we have admitted the Redeemer's claims to our persons and services and have resolved to live for Him only all our days. We have made a dedication of ourselves to His service, declaring that we are not our own, but bought with a price. Some of us did this years ago and-- "High Heaven that heard the solemn vow, That vow, renewed, has often heard," and shall hear it again! We profess that nothing that we have is ours, but our goods, our time, our talents and ourselves are all marked with the broad arrow of the King! We are the perpetual heritage of the Lord, to be His forever, and never to serve self again, or the world, or the flesh, or any except Jesus. We have, also, cast in our lot with His people. We belong to their fraternity, heart and soul. We are not ashamed of them, either. It is some years ago with some of us since we came forward and asked to have our names enrolled with the despised people of God. We opened our mouth to the Lord that we would take part and lot with His people--that if they were abused we would take a share of the abuse--that if they had sorrows we would help to bear their burdens and if they had joys we only hoped that we might be worthy to enjoy the crumbs of their table! We craved to be numbered with the citizens of that noble city, the New Jerusalem, and we requested to share the portion of Zion's blessed but tried inhabitants, whether they held a fast or a festival, suffered siege or enjoyed triumph. We asked to have it said of us that we were born there and when we were asked if we would forego the world and all its allurements to become heirs of the better country, we stood up before the Lord and declared that it was even so. In all these things we have, as Christian people, opened our mouths unto the Lord, have we not? Now, if you ask me when you did so, I shall have to mention several occasions. Some of us opened our mouths in this respect to the Lord in a very solemn way in private. We made our dedication to God a solemn deed performed in a distinct and formal manner. We took time about it, thought it over, and then did it deliberately and definitely. Some have even written out an act of solemn dedication and signed it. Others, perhaps, more wisely, have refrained from writing it, lest it should become a bondage to their spirits, but they have, nevertheless, made a formal act of transfer of themselves and all that they had, to the Lord. At any rate, whether we did it formally or not, we can say-- "'Tis done! The great transaction's done, I am my Lord's, and He is mine!" There was a time when once and for all we gave up the keys of the city of Mansoul and surrendered to the Lord, that He might be ours and that we might be His forever and ever. Then absolutely many of you, beloved Friends, gave your word to the Lord in Baptism. Searching His Word, you saw there, clearly, that as many as believed were baptized. You read of the eunuch to whom the question was put, "Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? For if you believe with all your heart you may"--and then on confession of his faith he was baptized! I have given my word to the Lord in that manner. I remember the solemn occasion when I went into the river! There were multitudes of people as witnesses on either bank to mark my burial with the Lord in the water! And, though I have not the remotest confidence in outward form or ceremony, yet often has my soul recalled that day when I did, before men and angels and devils, declare myself to be the servant of the living God! And I was, therefore, buried in water in token of my death to all the world--and then raised from it as the emblem of my newness of life! Oh, to be always faithful to what we did, when, coming forward of our own accord, we declared that we were dead with Christ that we might, also, live with Him! We have opened our mouth unto the Lord since then, full often when we have come to the Communion Table. The solemn sitting down at the Table of Communion, when others have to go away, or can only look on--the separation which is made in that act--is a declaration on your part, Beloved, that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is your meat and your drink, that you feed at His table and are His servants! There is something very solemn about the communion service--it ought never to be lightly entered upon--and when you have been attending to that ordinance in remembrance of Him, you should feel, "I have given my word to the Lord in a very special manner by sitting at the table with His people." Besides that, how often have we given our word to God in hymn-singing? I am afraid that we do not always think enough about what we say when we sing. But what solemn things you have sung. Did you not sing the other day-- "And if I might make some reserve, And duty did not call, I love my God with zeal so great That I would give Him all"? And did you not sing-- "Had I ten thousand hearts, dear Lord, I'd give them all to Thee! Had I ten thousand tongues, they all Should join the harmony"? Ah, you have given your word very widely unto the Lord in song. And so, too, in prayer--both in the closet and in public. We say great things to God in supplication--do we always make good on what we say? Are we always of the mind of Jephtha, who said, "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back"? Do we remember those vows which our soul, in anguish, made when we drew near to God in the bitterness of our spirit and poured out our troubles before Him? But ah, Beloved, very specially I may speak of some here present who are my partners in the work and ministry of the Church for her Lord. We who bear public testimony, "we have given our word to the Lord, and cannot go back." You who teach classes in the school. You who try to tell the Gospel to other men in the workshop. You who talk of Jesus Christ even to your children--remember that you have committed yourselves! While you are trying to speak to others you make promises for yourselves which bind you to present the Truth of God and future fidelity. As for me, where could I flee from my Master's Presence? Where could I go from His service? Should I desert His ministry, unto what part of the earth could I go to hide myself? Somebody would remember this face which has been seen by so many thousands--the very tones of my voice would betray me--and men would point me out as an apostate from my Lord! Jonah might flee to Tarshish, but if I went to Tarshish someone or other would know me and pronounce my name as soon as I set foot upon the soil! I must fight this battle to the finish, now--retreat is out of the question! "I have given my word to the Lord" so often and before so many, that I am bound by a myriad ties! Nor would I wish to be bound with one less--but daily with more and more! But, Beloved Friends, remember that in proportion as your religion gains publicity and in proportion as, by teaching others, you tacitly or avowedly declare your faith in the Gospel, in that proportion you have given your word to the Lord--and it is not possible that you should go back without deep disgrace and dire destruction! Now, it is worth our remembering after what fashion we have done this. I have shown you that we have given our word to the Lord and I have shown you the occasions when we have done so. But in the very manner of the deed there has been practical force. We have done this voluntarily. We have given our word to the Lord without any compulsion! The little child, you know, who, according to the Prayer Book [Church of England] is made a member of Christ and a child of God and so on, has nothing to do with the business--and is in no way responsible for what others choose to promise without its leave. But you and I did willingly what we did. We came forward and said, "Let me be baptized, for I am a Believer in Jesus. Let me be united with the Church, for I am one of the Lord's redeemed." We said to the Lord Jesus Christ, "I am cheerfully and willingly Your servant." We took upon ourselves the bonds of a Christian profession because we desired to do so! Well, then, if we have done this voluntarily, that is the strongest reason why we should not go back from our own chosen position as the Lord's own disciples. And we did this very solemnly. Oh, to some of you, it was, indeed, a devout action when you avowed yourselves on the Lord's side. Many were the prayers and praises which preceded and followed it. Shall such solemnity be made into a falsehood? Shall the weeping and the supplication be proven to have been base hypocrisy? I hope, also, that we did it very deliberately, counting the cost, looking round about and seeing what it meant--and understanding what we were doing. We did not reckon upon a smooth path. We did not consider that we should gain crowns without crosses, or win victories without fights--and we have found it much as we expected. We passed through the wicket gate and entered on the road to the Celestial City knowing that there were dragons to encounter, giants to fight, hills to climb, rivers to swim and swamps to ford. We set out with considerable knowledge of what we were doing and what it involved--and we were not, thereby, prevented from decidedly and deliberately declaring ourselves to be on the Lord's side. Are we now going to confess ourselves to have been fools and dupes? Will we now tell our Lord that His service is hard and worthless? Most of us made our profession publicly. We had many onlookers. We cannot forget that when we began the race, a cloud of witnesses surrounded us and have ever since kept us in full survey. If there is a little speck in our character, they are sure to point it out! Never a cat watched a mouse as the lynx-eyed world watches the Christian! How it magnifies and multiplies the faults of Believers and cries, "Aha! Aha! We figured they were hypocrites," the moment it finds the slightest trip or mistake. Well, we have given our word to the Lord before multitudes and shall we recant and deny the faith? Men and angels and devils know that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ! We have declared it before all with whom we have come into contact--not always in so many words, but I hope in our actions--by the decided stand that we have taken up for God, for Christ, for Truth, for holiness and for the fear of God in the land. But the weight of it all lies in this--"We have given our word to the Lord." It is not what we promised the Church, though in becoming members of it we have promised to fulfill the mutual duties of Christians. It was not what we promised to the minister, though, in the very fact of becoming members of a Church of which he is the pastor, we have a Christian duty towards him. It was not what we promised one another, though we all owe something to each other. But we have given our word to the Lord! If a man must trifle, let him trifle with men, but not with God! If promises to men may be lightly broken-- and they should not be--yet let us not trifle with promises made to God! And if solemn declarations can ever be forgotten--which they should not be--yet not solemn declarations made to God. Beware, oh, beware of anything like frivolity in entering into covenant with the Most High! If a man should measure his footsteps and weigh his words when he appears before an earthly monarch, how much more when he stands before the King of kings, who is, also, Judge of the quick and the dead? There let your words be few and guarded, but when you have once spoken them, and lifted your hand to Heaven, let your promise stand and keep it faithfully, saying, "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back." II. But enough upon what we have done, for we need our full strength of thought to dwell upon WHAT WE CANNOT DO. "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back." That is to say, having once become Christians, we cannot apostatize from the faith. We feel that we cannot and God's servants in all ages have proven that they cannot. Men have threatened them, "You shall go to prison if you do not go back," but they have said, "We cannot." And they have gone to prison and they have said, like John Bunyan, "I will lie here till the moss grows on my eyelids, but I cannot--cannot do other than God bids me." The enemy has said, "If you do not leave Christ you shall be stretched on the rack," and that means the pulling of every bone from its socket--but in defiance of torture they have replied, "We cannot go hack--we would rather bear the rack." Poor women, like Anne Askew, have been racked most cruelly, but they could not go back. Then the enemies of the Lord have sworn, "We will burn you to the death." The saints have accepted that challenge, also, and they have burned and triumphed in the burning, clapping their blazing hands--for they could not go back. The young people in the old city of London, over the water there, went down to Smithfield in the early morning to see their pastor burned. And when they came home and their mother said, "Why did you go?" the boys replied, "We went to learn the way." They needed to know how to burn when their turn should come! Brave sons of brave sires! God's servants always have known how to burn, but they have not known how to turn! They have lifted their hands to the Lord and if it involved losses, crosses, torture, torment and death, they could not go back! No, Sir, if you can go back, you never knew Christ! If you can go back, He never marked the cross mark on your heart, He never baptized you into His death for, if He had done so, a sacred impulse would be upon you and you would go forward! As though you were a thunderbolt launched from the Omnipotent hand of God, you must go on and burst through every opposition till you reach the end towards which God's eternal might is speeding you! You cannot go back. Moreover, if we are right at heart we feel that we have lifted our hand to the Lord and we cannot go back, even by temporary turning aside. I do not mean that we do not do so, sadly, too often--the Lord have mercy upon us for it. But it ought to be our solemn declaration that we cannot go back. Somebody says to you when you enter the workshop, "Ah, you are one of those Christians fools." The devil tempts you to say that you are not, or, at any rate, to be very quiet about it. Do not fall into cowardly silence, but say at once, "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back. I am in forever. Whatever it costs, I am enlisted and will never desert." Sometimes the temptation is, "Come with me, young man, come with me, young woman"--to such-and-such a questionable place of amusement. "Shall I go? Perhaps I shall not get much hurt." Stand still and say, "No, I have given my word to the Lord and I cannot go back, even if I have the desire to do so. I have committed myself to the pursuit of holiness and I cannot go back to the foolish pleasures of sin." I like you young people to make a very straightforward profession of your faith because it may be the means of keeping you in the hour of temptation. You will say to yourself, "The vows of the Lord are upon me. How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" I heard one say once, "I could not join the Church because I should feel it such a tie." "Yes, but," I replied, "Brother, it is the sort of tie you need to feel." A profession of our faith in Jesus ought to be a very strong cord of love to hold us to that which is good. We ought to feel that the sacrifice is bound to the horns of the altar, but this bondage is true liberty to us and pleasant to us--and it should be our desire to be bound tighter and tighter as long as we live. "I cannot go back" is an inability of the most desirable kind! The enemies of your soul will attempt to persuade you to forsake the Lord. They will try ridicule and threats and bribes, but be as a deaf man and hear them not! If you have really given your word to God with all your heart, you cannot go back--the Divine life within you will laugh to scorn all efforts of the foe. Baffled and discouraged, they will soon give up their wicked endeavors! They will see that it is of no use to tempt such an one as you are--your steadfastness and patient endurance will drive them from the field. But there are some of you that make a profession who attempt compromises and go a little way with the world. If you go a furlong with the world you will soon go a mile! I will give you a sentence to remember--"That man who is only half Christ's is altogether the devil's." Remember that! He who is only half a Christian is altogether an unbeliever! As half clean is unclean, so half converted is unconverted and half a saint is wholly a sinner! You cannot say to the world, "Up to here you shall go, but no further." It is greedy and seeks to win the whole man. To its imperious demands give a stern denial, saying, "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back." Now, what are our reasons why we cannot go back? The first reason is that if we did go back we should show that we have been altogether false. You profess to be believers in Jesus Christ. You say that you have been born again, that you have received that inward principle which lives and abides forever! If you go back to the world and to sin, you say to all mankind, "I made a hypocritical profession. I was a mere formalist. The root of the matter was not in me." You cannot say that, for you know you love the Lord. Even when you are in a doubting mood, you know you love Jesus! Though you question yourselves over and over again, you know that you love your Master. If you hear anybody finding fault with Him, are you not sorely grieved? Oh, yes, it brings the blood into your cheeks and you say, "I cannot bear to hear Him spoken against." You thought that you did not love Him, but the enemy provokes you to feel that you do love Him. You do love Him! You cannot say that you do not! Can you? And yet if you went back it would be tantamount to a declaration that all your former life had been a lie! You cannot go back, dear Friend, because that were to act most basely. Have you been bought with the precious blood of Christ and will you leave Him? Did He die upon the Cross for you and will a little buffeting cause you to desert Him? What? Did He fetch you up out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay by His own death and will you forsake Him and choose sinful ease and the praises of a wicked world? Oh, it were baseness, abominable baseness, for a soul who once has tasted of His wondrous love and seen Him in His Glory and death throes to desert Christ! No, no, NO! We cannot be so base as this, God helping us! To go back from that for which we have given our word to the Lord were to incur frightful penalties, for there is no judgment so great as that which is pronounced upon the apostate. If they have tasted of the heavenly gift and the powers of the world to come--"if these shall fall away, it is impossible to renew them, again, unto repentance." "Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its savor where shall it be seasoned? It is from now on good for nothing but to be trod under foot of men," You know how many passages there are in which it is positively asserted that if a child of God did deliberately and totally apostatize, his restoration would be utterly impossible--not difficult--impossible! This is one of the greatest proofs of the doctrine of the Final Perseverance of the Saints, since there is no man in a condition in which it is impossible to save him and yet any man would be in such a state if he apostatized! Therefore true Believers shall not apostatize, but shall stand fast and shall be kept even to the end. Yet, could they totally apostatize, they could never be restored again! The greatest remedy having already failed, there would remain no other. On the supposition that the power of the Holy Spirit and the cleansing influence of the blood of Jesus could not preserve the man from falling back into his unregenerate state, what else could be done for such an one? If regeneration fails--what then? If the incorruptible Seed which lives and abides forever can die--what then? Oh, we cannot go back! To go back is death, shame, eternal ruin! And to go back would be so unreasonable. Why should I leave my Lord? Why should I let my Savior go? In my heart of hearts I cannot think of a reason why I should forsake my Master. Do I seek pleasure? What pleasure is equal to that which He can give me? Do I seek gain? What gain could there be if I lost Him? Do I seek ease? Ah, to leave Him were to forfeit eternal rest! To whom should we go? That was a forcible question of the disciples when the Master enquired, "Will you, also, go away?" They replied, "To whom can we go?" Ah, to whom can we go? If you give up the religion of Jesus Christ, what other religion would you have? If you were to give up the pleasures of godliness, what other pleasures would you have? "Oh," says one, "we could go into the world." Could you? Could you? If you are a child of God you are spoiled for the world. Before you became a Christian you could have done very well in the world, but now you know too much to be happy there. While the sow is a sow, the mud is good enough for her. Turn that sow into an angel--and if the angel has no place in Heaven--where shall it go? It cannot go back to the sty! What could it do there? The wash of the trough was good enough for the sow, but the angel has eaten heavenly food. It cannot roll in the mire, nor consort with swine--it must have Heaven or nothing! If you can go back to the world you will go back to the world--but if you are a child of God you cannot go back because Grace has so changed your nature that you would not be in an element in which you could exist! There is no reason for apostasy--all the reasons lie the other way. "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back" for this reason--I have no inclination that way. Brothers and Sisters, some of us have been Christians these 25 years and we are glad of it. You know that in the army they have short-time soldiers and long-time soldiers. When I enlisted in Christ's army, I did not go in to enlist for a quarter of a year and then have a new ticket. I enlisted for life! But suppose my Master were to say to me, "Now, you have had some 25 years of it--you may now go home and cease from being one of My soldiers." "Ah, my Master, where should I go? Do not discharge me!" If He were still to say, "You are out of your time and may go home," I would tell Him that I would not leave Him in life or death. If I were put out at the front door I would come in at the back. Ah, my Lord, what anguish has that question stirred, whether I would, also, go as others have done. Go? You have fastened me to Your Cross and driven in the nails! I cannot go. Go? I am dead and buried with You! Your rich Grace has made me part and parcel of Yourself by indissoluble union! "Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?" No, if I were discharged today, I would enlist again today! The man who is married to a good wife thinks to himself, "If I had to marry, again, tomorrow morning, she would be the bride and happy would we be." And so, if we had our choice to make again, we would choose our dear Lord over again, only with much more eagerness and earnestness than we did at first! Dear Friends, we have given our word to the Lord, and we cannot go back because we are so happy as we now are! A man does not turn his back upon that which has become his life and his joy! He is bound to it by the bliss which he derives from it. Can the Swiss forget his country when he listens to the home music which he heard as a child amidst his native hills? Does not the home-sickness come over him so that he longs to be among the Alps, again? Does not the Englishman, wherever he wanders, whether by land or sea, feel his heart instinctively turn to the white cliffs of Albion? And does he not say that, with all her faults, he still loves his country? Who would cease to be that which he loves to be? And so our joy in Christ is great and we cannot wish to be divided from Him. Why should we? Shall the star desert the sphere in which it shines, or the fish the sea in which it lives? Shall the eagle abhor the craggy rock on which he builds his nest, or the angel shun the Heaven in which he dwells? No, Beloved, we cannot go back! Our joy holds us fast to our Lord. And then, besides that, we cannot go back from what we have said, for Divine Grace impels us onward. There is a secret power more mighty than all other forces called the force of Irresistible Grace and this has captured us. When the temptation comes to go back to Egypt and we remember the garlic--that strong-smelling garlic and the cucumbers-- those spongy, watery cucumbers! And when we remember the onions--those pungent onions--the thought of going back to the fleshpots comes upon us like a man of war! But mighty Grace soon puts it down--it drowns the desire in tears of repentance and makes us loathe ourselves to think that we should be such fools as to think more of fleshpots than of manna, and more of cucumbers than of Canaan! Again, we resolutely press forward towards Canaan, blushing to think that we should have, in heart, turned back into Egypt. Grace will not let us return to our old bondage! And there is Another that holds us. It is He with the hands nailed to the tree! Whenever He is revealed in us we feel that we cannot go back. A sight of Him with His face to the world's opposition, His face to the devil, His face to death, His face to Hell, His face towards the wrath of God--and going through it all with boundless courage--makes us feel that we must go forward, too, even till we enter into His rest! Brothers and Sisters, we are moved to testify all these arguments, each one for himself, "I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back." III. Now, the last thing of all is that if this is the case, there is something WHICH WE MUST DO. What we must do is this--if there is a present sacrifice demanded of us, we must make it directly, "I have given my word to the Lord, I cannot go back." Now, if there is anything in your business which you cannot do and be a Christian, renounce it at once and forever! Do not think about it and do not ask a friend what you should do, but follow your conscience. If you know the thing is right, do it. Do not ask your mother, or brother, or the wisest man that ever lived--consult not with flesh and blood--but follow Jesus at all costs. Do not take time for second thoughts, but do it, and have done with it. Oh, I have known Christians falter as to what they ought to do--their duty has been plain enough, but they have not liked it--and so they have wished for somebody to tell them that they might be Christians and yet do wrong! They need to get some sort of excuse from the judgment of others. They have gone fishing about to this and that minister, misrepresenting the circumstances to some extent, to gain the judgment they desired--till at last they have forged a sort of dispensation for sin from some good man's opinion--and then they have cheated their conscience by saying, "I feel much relieved. I can do it, now, for I have consulted a gracious man and he thinks I may." No consultation can be required where duty is plain. "Oh, Sir, but the sacrifice is great." If it were a thousand times greater, that does not enter into the question! Duty is imperative, so let it be done. If your doing right will make yourself and your children poor, so must it be. It were better that you were poor and yet maintained your integrity and continued in the service of God than that you should roll in riches by violating your conscience! Say, "I cannot go back." Make the sacrifice and go on. If you are to do this, however, you must ask for more Grace and, dear Brothers and Sisters, wherever there is an ugly piece in the road, since you cannot go back, all you have to do is to ask the Lord to assist you over it-- for you must go through it and this can only be done in His strength. Remember that your abiding faithful to the end does not depend upon yourself. You have to do it, but the Holy Spirit is to find you strength to do it. The American slave said, "Massa, if the Lord say to me, 'Jump through the brick wall,' I will jump. It is the Lord that will make me go through--but I must jump." So it is with persevering in the face of difficulty and trouble. If you are bid to a hard duty and it involves sacrifice and hardship, do not hesitate, but advance unflinchingly! It is the Lord who bids you do it and if the Lord bids you go through the brick wall, He will make a hole in it for you, or make it soft for you, or in some way or other make you equal to the occasion! Yours it is to go through--do not stand back because of your own weakness, but let faith lay hold on the Divine strength. One other admonition to Christian people is this--burn the boats behind you. When the Roman commander meant victory he landed his troops on the coast where he knew there were thousands of enemies troops and he burned his boats, so as to cut off all chance of retreat. "But how are we to get away if we are beaten?" "That is just it," he said, "we will not be beaten! We will not dream of such a thing." "Burn the boats"--that is what you Christian people must do! "Make no provision for the flesh." Let the separation between you and the world be final and irreversible. Say, "Here I go for Christ and His Cross, for the truth of the Bible, for the Laws of God, for holiness, for trust in Jesus! And by the Grace of God I will never go back, come what may." This is the right spirit. The Lord send it among us more and more! It is the spirit of martyrs. You need it, you converted working men--you need the spirit of martyrs. I know how your workmates jest and jeer, and torment you. Well, do not think yourself harshly treated, but play the man and bear it all and say to yourself, "I did not quite reckon on this, but it does not matter. I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back if it costs me everything." I will not talk to you longer, for what, after all, Brothers and Sisters, can religion cost us compared with what our salvation cost our Lord? What is it to go forward if we compare it with the Glory that is beyond? A pin's prick, that is all--and then you will be in Heaven! Oh, to stand among the glorified!--to hear the Master say, "Well done!" One might die a thousand deaths to get those two syllables, if there were nothing else--"Well done!" To enjoy His smile, to share His crown, to stand among His palm-bearing hosts and participate in His Glory--this is worth all the difficulty and sacrifice involved in going forward--and ten thousand times more! Therefore accept this closing word. Forward, my Brothers and Sisters--forward! Whatever lies before you--the Red Sea or the rage of earth and Hell combined--if God calls you, forward! He will bear you through to the glorious end. The Lord be with you, for Christ's sake! Amen! __________________________________________________________________ Dagon's Ups and Downs (No. 1342) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him." 1 Samuel 5:2-4. The Ark of the Lord was captured by the Philistines though it was guarded by all the men of arms that Israel could muster for the battle. It came to no hurt when it was surrounded by unarmed priests--although the times were exceedingly disturbed and perilous all through the dreary period of the Judges, yet never was the Ark a captive till it was protected by carnal weapons. When those whom God had ordained to take care of the Ark of the Covenant had it in their charge, it was safe enough. But when the proud banners of the State and the warlike array of the nation formed the bodyguard of the sacred shrine, the Ark of God was taken. When the civil power was joined with the spiritual, and the arm of flesh came in to patronize and to take into connection with itself the arm of God's strength, then it was that the Ark was borne away in triumph by its foes! All through human history you will find the explanation of this instructive fact--leave God's Truth alone and it will take care of itself without the aid of kings and princes, laws or establishments, endowments or privileges. Only state the pure Truth of Revelation and it will force its own way. But garnish and adorn it by your eloquent language, or protect and guard it by your carnal wisdom and prudence--and the Truth of God goes into captivity. Leave the Church alone, O you kings and princes, or persecute it if you will, for it will laugh your opposition to scorn! Do not pretend to propagate its doctrines by the civil power, for this is the worst curse that can befall it! Take it under your patronage and the mere touch of your royal hands will create disease within it! Almost to the death has the so-called "Church" come down when her ministers, like Hophni and Phineas, have allied themselves with the temporal power, for God will do His work by His own instruments and in His own way. He will not be indebted to the might of flesh but will defend His own Glory by His own mysterious power. He uses for His instruments His consecrated ones who wear the white linen, which is the righteousness of saints--not the blood-stained men of war arrayed in coats of mail and glittering breastplate of steel. Another lesson may be learned from the incident before us. When the Philistines had beaten the Israelites in battle and captured the sacred chest called the Ark, they boasted and gloried as though they had defeated God Himself! They evidently regarded the golden casket as the very choicest part of the spoil and they placed it as a trophy in the chief temple of their God, Dagon, to show that he was mightier than the God Jehovah who was unable, as they thought, to protect His people. This touched, at once, the honor of Jehovah, and because He is a jealous God this was good for Israel. The fact that God is a jealous God has often a terrible side to us, for it leads to our chastisement when we grieve Him. This, indeed, led to the defeat of Israel. But it has, also, a bright side towards us, for His jealousy flames against His foes even more terribly than against His Friends! And when His name is blasphemed and honors that are due to Him are ascribed to a mere idol--or He is declared to have been defeated by a false god--then His jealousy burns like coals of juniper and He makes bare His right arm to smite His adversaries as He did on this occasion. He thinks it meet to punish His offending people, but when Philistia says, "Dagon has defeated Jehovah," then the Lord will no longer suffer Philistia to triumph! Jehovah's answer to His foes was Dagon broken to shivers before His Ark and the Philistines plagued with tumors, until, in their desperate pain and dire disgrace, they set the Ark free, being no longer able to endure its presence in any of their towns. And so the Jews ever afterwards used to exasperate the Philistines by reminding them of the disease which so sorely tried them. There is a dash of this in the Psalm which says of the Lord, "He smote His enemies in the inner part. He put them to a perpetual reproach." Never did a boastful nation undergo a deeper dishonor in the eyes of their neighbors, to whom they became a laughingstock! And never did an image suffer a worse disgrace than that which befell their God, Dagon. Now, then, whenever, at any time, infidelity or superstition shall so prevail as to discourage your minds, take comfort out of this--that in all these, God's honor is compromised. Have they blasphemed His name? Then He will protect that name! Have they gone further than they used to do in foul utterances against Him? Then they will provoke Him and He will make bare His holy arm! I pray that they may so provoke Him! All His Church will say, "Amen!" to that, so that He may arise and perform the glorious works of His strength and of His love among the sons of men and put the adversary to confusion by proving that He is still with His people--and still the same mighty God as He was in the days of yore. Say to yourselves, then, "Our Lord will not always endure this idolatrous popery which is multiplying its priests within our national Church. His people cannot bear it--much less will He! He will not always tolerate these blasphemous theories by which self-conceited, learned men and vainglorious skeptics seek to get rid of God out of the world. They will provoke Him. He will bestir Himself. He will show Himself strong on the behalf of His Truth! He will roll back the waves of sin and let the ages know that He is still the great I AM, the victorious God over all, blessed forever." Those two Truths of God, seem to me, to lie upon the surface of this passage. And now, though it would be very wrong to make out the Word of God to be a mere set of allegories and so to deny that it records facts--and this, I trust, we shall never do--yet, as the Apostle Paul has shown us that many of the events in the Old Testament are an allegory, and as, indeed, these things are evidently types, and must be regarded as emblems and patterns of things that still occur--we shall use this passage in a spiritual way and make it the channel of experimental teaching. Where the living God comes into the soul, Dagon, or the idol god of sin and worldliness, must go down! This is the one thought which we shall hammer out at this time. I. To begin, then--the coming of the Ark into Dagon's temple was an apt simile of the coming of Christ into the soul. Dagon, according to the best information, was the fish-god of Philistia, perhaps borrowed from the Sidonians and the men of Tyre, whose main business was upon the sea and who, therefore, invented a marine deity. The upper part of Dagon was a man or woman and the lower part of the idol was carved like a fish. We get a very good idea of it from the common notion of the fictitious, fabulous creature called a mermaid. Dagon was nothing more than a merman or mermaid, only, of course, there was no pretense of his being alive. He was a carved image--like that which the papists worship and call the Blessed Virgin, or Saint Peter, or Saint Remy. The temple at Ashdod was, perhaps, the cathedral of Dagon, the chief shrine of his worship--and there he sat erect upon the high altar with pompous surroundings. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts was a small wooden box overlaid with gold. It was, by no means, a very cumbersome or bulky thing but, nevertheless, very sacred because it had a representative character and symbolized the Covenant of God--its capture was grievous, indeed, to pious Israelites, for they felt that the Glory of God was departed when the Ark was taken. The sacred chest was carried in triumph by the Philistines and brought into the temple where Dagon stood. In your mind's eye you can see the fish-god high upon his throne and the incense burning before him as the priests gather around and the princes of Philistia, with triumphant banners, bow before his shrine. We hear the shouts of the Philistine lords as they bring in the golden coffer with the golden staves, set it down at the foot of Dagon and sing their exultant songs. Hear them as they sound their trumpets and chant their blasphemous hymns--"Glory be unto you, O Dagon! You have triumphed this day, O mighty god of the land and the sea! Glorious fish-god, you have vanquished those who vanquished the Canaanites. And though their God slew the Egyptians of old, you have smitten them by their thousands. Glory be unto you, you mighty god!" Thus would they extol their deity and pour contempt upon the captured Ark, which they placed at the foot of the image. Then, when the service was over and they had worshiped Dagon to their heart's content, they shut up the temple and there was darkness in the holy place, or unholy place--which shall I call it? Not long did the Ark remain where it was, with Dagon still supreme, but the mere incoming of the Ark into the idol temple was a fair picture of the introduction of the Grace of God into the human heart. The Philistines brought in the Ark of the Lord, but only an act of Divine power can bring the Grace of God into the soul. By different instrumentalities the Truth of God, as it is in Jesus, is read, is heard, is brought to the recollection, is seen printed in the lives of men and so enters into the temple of the inner man or woman. When it first comes into the heart it finds sin enthroned there--and the Prince of Darkness reigning supreme. The first Grace that enters into the soul finds it in darkness and in death, under the dominion of sin. Brothers and Sisters, we have not to deliver ourselves from sin and death and darkness--and then obtain Grace! No! While we are yet DEAD, Divine Grace visits us! While we are yet slaves, the Liberator comes! On our blackest midnight, the Sun of Righteousness arises! While the Dagon of sin sits firmly on his throne, as if he never could be stirred and his horrid form is, alone, to be seen lording it over all the thoughts and imaginations of the heart, even then it is that "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins," sends His almighty Grace to dwell within us! When that Grace enters the soul, it comes not with observation--and sin, at first does not know any more about the incoming of Grace than Dagon knew about the Ark. The Grace, the Light, the Truth, the Love of God come into the soul and the man does not know, as yet, what the Lord has done for him. He is only conscious of some impression--of a thoughtfulness he had never known before, of a calm frame of mind, of a desire to consider eternal things--that may be all that he perceives of the Lord's work within him. His Dagon seems to still be there in as supreme a majesty as ever--only something strange is also within the mind--the man has no idea what it is. It is the beginning of the end--of a blessed and glorious end! We have now Dagon and the Ark in the same temple--Sin and Grace in the same heart--but this state of things cannot long abide! No man can serve two masters! And even if he could, the two masters would not agree to be served! The two great principles of Sin and Grace will not abide in peace with each other, they are as opposite as fire and water. There will be conflict and victory, but we know which will conquer, for as surely as ever the Grace of God comes into the soul, Sin receives notice to exit! That night, when the Philistines had finished their exulting ceremonies, they thought they had left Dagon robed in glory, reigning and triumphing over the Ark of the Lord. They had scarcely shut the doors and gone before Dagon fell on his face to the ground before the Ark. Down he went! He did not lean over--he fell! Nor did he drop upon his side, but he was made to do obeisance before the Ark, for he fell on his face! And he did not fall merely part of the way, but fell on his face to the ground before the Ark--a change of positions very significant to his worshipers! The Ark was set at the foot of Dagon and now Dagon lies before the Ark as if he were prostrating himself in worship before the great and mighty God! Even thus Grace in the soul is not long before it overthrows sin. What a turning of things upside down Grace always makes! The watchword is, "Overturn, overturn, overturn!" The Breaker is come up, and the images of man's invention must be dashed to shivers! Very likely your Dagon is in the shape of self-righteousness. I shall call it Dagon, for it is nothing better--one of the worst idols in the whole world is the idol of self. The self-righteous man boasts that he is as good as other people, if not a little better, although he is not a Christian. He does not know that he has ever done anything very wrong and he feels that in him there is a great deal that is very good and excellent and, therefore, he expects that things will go well with him at last. He has a very fine figure for his god, and though there may be a rather "fishy" tail to his character, he keeps that as much out of sight as possible and conceals it with excuses. The god of his self-confidence is a very pretty thing, take it for all in all--it is as beautiful as a mermaid and he is fascinated with its beauty. He bows before his idol and sings before it that ancient canticle of the Philistines--I mean the Pharisees--which begins, "God, I thank You that I am not as other men are!" When Grace enters the soul the dominion of self-confidence comes to an end! Down goes the fish-god on its face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord and the man discovers that he has no such righteousness as that in which he trusted. He begins to bemoan his sins and to lament his shortcomings. A perfect change of feeling has come over him. He loathes himself as much as he once admired himself! And now, instead of taking the highest seat in the synagogue, he is willing to be a doormat in the House of the Lord. "Ah, me!" he says, "what a sinner I am! How vile in the sight of God!" Can you see how this brave Dagon has gone down on his face to the ground before the Ark? Perhaps the man never had much of this vainglorious self-righteousness, but he served the Dagon of besetting and beloved sin. The man was a drunk. Bacchus ruled him--but as soon as the Grace of God is brought into his soul, he has done with the drink-God! The horrible Dagon of drunkenness is hurled from its throne by Divine Grace. The man cannot bear to think that he should have so disgraced himself as to be fond of wantonness, drunkenness and such-like abominable sins which bring manhood below the level of the beast! He who is truly penitent hates the very name of these filthy sins! If a man has been guilty of using bad language and profane swearing, the Grace of God generally cures him of that at once. I have heard men who had lived in the practice of swearing for many years say that, from the time they were converted, they have never been tempted to it--that black sin went away--bag and baggage at once! Some sins are slow in dying, but profanity generally gives up the ghost without a struggle. John Bunyan says that a stone from the battering ram slew Mr. Profane by cracking his skull, so that he died early in the siege of outward offenses. Like Dagon, they are soon down before the Ark. Sin of every sort is bowed low before the triumphant Grace of God! Yes, and the man who receives the Grace of God feels that the love of any and every sin is cast out of its place in his heart. Now he desires to be quit of it all and anxiously cries, "Lord, what would you have me to do?" He will no more go and live in sin, as he did before, than Paul will continue to be a persecutor after the Lord, even Jesus, has appeared to him by the way. What a Dagon-fall there was in the Apostle's pride just outside the Damascus gate! Such a fall takes place in the heart of every man to whom the Grace of God comes with power! The parallel may be run a little further. This fall of Dagon very soon began to be perceived, for, "When they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the earth." Very soon after the entrance of Divine Grace, this sign follows and, before long, it is seen and known. Let no man conceive that there is Grace in his soul if Dagon still sits on the throne! This is one of the earliest tokens of the entrance of the life of God into the soul--that sin falls down from its high place and is no more held in honor. At the same time, observe that Dagon was not broken. He had fallen on his face, but that was all--so that the next day his foolish worshipers set him up, again. Sometimes, at the first entrance of Grace, there is a downfall of sin, but nothing like such a breaking and destroying of sin in the soul as there will be afterwards. When the Divine life has entered, sin is dethroned--it no longer sits up there in the place of God--but yet, for all that, there is an awful power remaining in the corrupt nature. There is a deadly tendency to sin, a powerful law in the members bringing the soul into captivity. Still, down the idol goes, even if it is not broken! It cannot reign, though it may remain to trouble us. Now, what happened on the night mentioned in the text? Dagon fell before the Ark when it was all quiet and still in the temple. While the worshipers were there, during the day, there was noise and shouting--the false god sat aloft and you could not tell that there was any mysterious power about the Ark. It was in the quiet of the night that this deed was done and thus, often, in the hearing of the Word, Grace is introduced into the heart. But you would not know that any change was worked, for it is only when the man gets away from the world's business--gets alone and begins to consider--that a Divinely-mysterious might is displayed by the inward Grace so as to sink sin and lay the power of evil low. Would to God our hearers took more opportunities for quietly considering the Word of God! How much more blessing might often be gotten out of sermons and books if there were more meditation! You get the grapes, but you do not tread them in the winepress! There is more trouble taken to collect the sheaves of the sermon than is afterwards expended in threshing them out! The power which smote Dagon was displayed in the quiet of the night--and when the Grace of God has entered into your souls, it is probable that the coming down of sin will be better effected in times of quiet thought and searching of heart than at any other period. Thought is the channel of immense benefit to the soul. Shut the temple doors and let all be still--and then will the Holy Spirit work wonders in the soul! II. Now, secondly, the setting up of Dagon, the second time, and his second fall very well represent the battle going on in the soul between sin and Grace. What fools these Philistines were to continue worshiping a god which, when it tumbled down, could not get up again! To worship a god which fell on its face was bad enough, but to worship one that could not rise when he fell--but needed to be set in his place by human hands--was certainly vile infatuation! But they took up their precious deity and they put him in his place again and, no doubt, sang a special "high mass" to him and then went their way, quietly, to their homes, little dreaming that their pretty fish-god would need their help again so soon! Even thus Satan and the flesh come into our souls and try to set our fallen Dagon up, again, with some measure of success. It often happens that in young converts there comes a period when it looks as if they had altogether apostatized and gone back to their former ways. It seems as if the work of God were not real in their souls and Divine Grace was not triumphant. Do you wonder at it? I have ceased to wonder! The Gospel is preached and the man accepts it--and there is a marvelous difference in him! But when he goes among his old companions, although he is resolved not to fall into his former sins, they try him severely. He is assailed in a thousand ways! Some of our young people, if they were to tell their story, would harrow up your feelings by mentioning the way in which all sorts of jests, insinuations and taunts are hurled at them--and that by influential persons--their parents, their elder brothers and sisters and those who oversee their work. They are beset behind and before, so that if they do not transgress in one way, it is very likely that the devil craftily trips them up in another. I have known a man, when he has been tempted to go into evil company, refuse again, and again, and again. His tempters have laughed at him and he has borne it all--but at last he has lost his temper--and as soon as the enemies have seen his passion boiling up, they have cried out, "Ah, there you are! We have got you!" At such a time as that the poor man is apt to cry, "Alas, I cannot be a Believer or else I should not have done this." Now, all this is a violent attempt of Satan and the flesh to set Dagon up again! They know that the Lord has thrown him down and they cannot bear it. They would gladly set the fish-god, again, on his throne. Sometimes they do, for a time, set Dagon up, again, and cause great sorrow in the soul. I have known a poor lost lamb to be found and brought into the fold, but it has miserably wandered for a time, and the devil has thought that, surely, he had got that lamb and would tear him in pieces. And yet he has been deceived after all! Dagon was only set up for a time and he had to come down again--and so it happens wherever Grace enters the heart. The wanderers have come back, weeping and sighing, to admit that they have dishonored their profession--and what has been the result in the long run? Why, they have had more humility, more tenderness of heart, more love to Christ, more gratitude than they had before! And I have been glad, (not glad that they wandered), but glad that the Grace of God, when He has brought them back again more fully, has given them a deeper conversion and a more lasting and substantial work of Grace, so that afterwards they have continued, by the Grace of God, honorable, useful Christians even to the end! Often and often is that the case, and I speak at this time to any young convert who can say in his heart, "O Sir, I do love the Lord, but I have been such a backslider! I do trust Jesus. I wish to be a Christian, but I have been overthrown by enemies! I fear I must not join a Christian Church because if I could not resist temptation for six weeks, how could I expect to stand fast all my life? I am such a poor, weak creature, so apt to be led astray, what is to become of me?" Dear Friend, grieve to think you were so foolish, but do not doubt the power of God's Holy Spirit to help you and to break in pieces the enemy who seems to have resumed his power over you! Now, notice that although they again set Dagon up, he had to go down again with a worse fall. I have no doubt it took them a long pull and a great heave to haul the uncomely lump of marble into its place again. Many strong limbs were tired and muscles strained to lift up the huge god and set him on his pedestal! But it was no trouble for the Lord to upset the ugly stone! No rope was needed and no straining or pulling! "Bel bows down and Nebo stoops" when Jehovah uplifts Himself! Only shut the temple gates and leave the Ark and Dagon to have it out between them--and Dagon gets the worst of it! Only, mark this, Dagon has not gained much by being reinstated, for this time, when he comes down, behold, he was fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of Jehovah, "and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold." The idol's head was gone and, even so, the reigning power of sin is utterly broken and destroyed--its beauty, its cunning, its glory are all dashed to atoms! This is the result of the Grace of God, and the sure result of it, if it once comes into the soul, however long the conflict may continue and however desperate the efforts of Satan to regain his empire. O Believer, sin may trouble you, but it shall not tyrannize over you! "Sin shall not have dominion over you," says the Holy Spirit, "for you are not under the Law, but under Grace." If the power of evil is set up for awhile, it shall only come down with the greater force--and its head shall be cut off. Then, too, the hands of Dagon were broken off and even thus the active power, the working power of sin is taken away. Both the palms of the idols' hands were cut off upon the threshold, so that he had not a hand left. Neither right-handed sin or left-handed sin shall remain in the Believer when God's sanctifying Grace fetches Dagon down! The secret reigning power is broken and so is the manifest working power. The Christian is kept from putting forth his hand into iniquity. He is crucified with Christ and so both hands are nailed to the Cross and fastened up from performing those deeds of ill towards which the lusts of the flesh would urge him! This happened, too, if you notice, very speedily, for we are told, a second time, that when they arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face. It does not take Grace long, when it is once in the soul, to overturn the reigning power and the active energy of sin, even when these, for a while, appear to get the upper hand. Brothers and Sisters, I hope you know this. I hope that the Spirit of God, which is in you, and the love of Christ, which reigns in you, have destroyed the power which sin once had in your souls. If it is not so, then question yourselves whether the Spirit of God is in you at all! It is not possible that the Ark should be in the temple and that Dagon should be standing there unbroken! Not till the morrow morning shall evil remain unchallenged and unmoved upon the throne! It is not possible that you, dear Friend, could live and delight in sin, and yet be a child of God! If your heart is set upon iniquity, where your heart is, there your treasure is--and if sin is your treasure--you are no heir of Heaven! That which governs your heart is your Lord and your God--what your heart loves, by that you shall be judged--and if you love evil, you shall be condemned! We may sin--ah, would God we did not!--but to love sin is not in the Believer! There is a deadly antagonism between Grace and sin--and where the gracious life comes, the evil life must fall. There cannot be an alliance between Dagon and the Ark, between God and the world, or between Christ and sin! III. And now, thirdly, the parallel still holds good in one more point, namely, that though the fish-god was thus maimed and broken, yet the stump of Dagon was left. The original Hebrew is, "Only Dagon was left to him," or, "only the fish"--only the fish part remained. The head and the upper portions were broken away--there remained only the fishtail of Dagon and that was all--but that was not broken. Now, this is the business which brings us so much sorrow--that the stump of Dagon is left. I wish it were not. I have heard some say that they have no sin remaining in them. Well, dear Brothers and Sisters, may the Lord convert you! I shall say no more than that, for if there were in you enough light for you to perceive your darkness, it were better than to talk as you do. Every child of God who knows anything about himself and the experience of a real Believer, knows that there is indwelling sin in him and that to a most fearful extent, so as to make his very soul cry out in agony, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" I could not go the length of singing, with Ralph Erskine, as a description of myself, the lines written by him in his, "Believer's Sonnets"-- "To good and evil equal bent And both a devil and a saint." But yet, taken with a large lump of salt, there is a good deal of truth even in that unguarded expression! There is the old corruption within us--and there is no use denying it--because denying it will put us off our guard, will make many of the puzzles of life to be quite unanswerable and often bring upon us great confusion of soul. The other Law is within us as well as Grace. Can you draw near to God, my Brothers and Sisters, and not see that He can justly charge you with folly? Can you stand in His Presence, as Job did, and behold His Glory, and not say, "I abhor myself in dust and ashes"? Can you have dealings with Perfection and not perceive your faults? Can you come near unto the innermost court of the Temple and stand in that excessive light of fellowship which is the portion of the Lord's chosen and not see within yourself spots and wrinkles, yes, thousands of them, so as to make you cover your face for shame and adore the amazing Grace which loves you still? Can you not see in your daily life enough to condemn you and cast you into Hell were it not that God still sees you in Christ and imputes not your iniquity to you, but accepts you in the Beloved? Oh, it is so--it is so, indeed! The stump of Dagon is still left! And because it is left, dear Friend, it is a thing to be watched against, for though that stony stump of Dagon would not grow in the Philistine temple--yet they would make a new image and exalt it again, and bow before it as others. Alas, the stump of sin within us is not a slab of stone, but full of vitality like the tree cut down of which Job said, "At the scent of water it will bud." Leave the sin that is in you to itself--let temptation come in the way and you shall see that which will blind your eyes with weeping! It is a good thing to look at your face in a mirror, but your face is not yourself--no mirror can show you yourself. There is a certain temptation which has an affinity to the evil within you and, should Satan bring that temptation near, you will see yourself to your horror and shame! There shall then look out of the window of your countenance a man whom you did not see when you looked in the glass, for you only saw the house he lived in! So ugly is he that he makes the very house he lives in look horrible! When the angry man comes up and is visible to the naked eye, how he deforms the countenance! When obstinate old Adam comes to the window, what a dark forbidding face he wears! When that envious spirit comes up, what an evil glance there is in the eye! When the unbelieving spirit peers through the lattice, what a miserable countenance he shows compared with the face of faith and childlike confidence in God! There is nobody in this world, dear Brothers and Sisters, that you have so much cause to be afraid of as yourself! Augustine used to pray, "Lord, deliver me from that evil man, myself." A very appropriate prayer for a woman, too-- "Lord, save me from myself." If you are saved from yourself, you will be saved from the devil--for what can the devil do unless selfjoins hands with him in unholy league? But, oh, what watchfulness it will need! Here is room for faith, indeed! Faith does not decline the conflict nor puff us up with the notion that the fight is over--on the contrary, it takes to itself the whole armor of God because it sees the battle to be still raging! Faith is needed to be the shield to keep off the fiery darts and the sword with which to smite the foe. Here is the sphere in which faith is to work--it does not talk of ended warfare, but carries on the life-long campaign to ultimate victory. Faith does not say, "I have ceased the conflict"--she knows better! Faith says, "I am in the midst of it, warring with a thousand foes and looking for the victory through Jesus Christ, my Lord." O Brothers and Sisters, be strong in faith by the power of the Holy Spirit, for you have need to be, since the stump of Dagon still remains! The lusting of the flesh abides still in the regenerate! Look at this matter again. That stump of Dagon which remained was a vile thing--it was a piece of an idol--a fragment of a monstrous image which had been worshiped instead of God! Now, the sin which dwells in you is never to be regarded by you as anything else than a horrible, loathsome and detestable thing. After such love as you and I have known, that there should be in us even the power to be ungrateful ought to shock us! After such proof of His Truth as God has shown us, that after such faithfulness and such abundant evidences of faithfulness we should still be capable of unbelief ought to be a sorrow to us! Oh, I wish I could never sin again throughout time or eternity! Oh, that every particle of the tinder of depravity into which the devil could let a spark fall was gone from my nature! It is a mercy to have the sparks put out, but it is a pity to have even the tinder left--and there is plenty of this tinder about us all! Tinder? Yes, gunpowder so quick to take the light which Satan is ever ready to bring! We carry a bombshell heart about with us--and we had better keep clear of all the devil's candles lest there should be an explosion of actual sin. These candles are common enough in the form of some plausible but skeptical friend, or in the form of amusements which are questionable. Keep clear of Lucifer's matches! You have got enough mischief in your heart without going where you will get more! If anybody here feels that he is so very gracious and good that he can safely enter into temptation, I am sure that he is laboring under a very great mistake! I would say to him, "Brother, there is devil enough in you without your sending out invitation cards to seven more! Go to Him that casts out devils! Go into company where the powers of evil will be held in chains and bound--do not go where other devils as wicked as yourself will call to the demon who now besets you and stir him up to work mischief! The stump of Dagon is left. Be careful, watchful, prayerful--and loathe sin with all your soul." IV. But now, lastly, here is mercy that though the stump of Dagon was not taken out of the Philistine temple, we may go beyond the history and rejoice that it will be taken from our hearts! The day is coming, Brother, Sister, in which there will be no more inclination in you to sin than there is in an angel! The day is coming in which your nature shall be so established in the Truth of God and righteousness and holiness that all the devils in Hell will not be able to make you think a wrong thought! "Oh," says one, "I wish that time would come soon." It will come, Brother. The Lord will keep you fighting and warring, but there will come a day when a messenger will wait at your door and he will say, "The pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern. Your flesh must return to the dust and your spirit to God that made it." And then your spirit shall open its eyes with glad surprise and find itself delivered from the body and, at the same time, delivered from all sin! There shall also come, by-and-by, the sound of the trumpet of Resurrection and the body shall rise--and one of the chief characteristics of the risen body will be that as it rises it will be free from the bondage of corruption--it will have no tendency to lead us into sin! When our perfected spirit shall enter into our perfect body, then our complete manhood--body, soul and spirit--shall, by God's Grace, have no stain, or spot, or flaw! All its past sin will be washed away--no, is washed away--in the blood of the Lamb! And all its propensities, tendencies and inclinations to sin shall all be gone forever! The very possibilities of sinning shall be eternally taken away-- " No cloud those blissful regions know, Forever bright and fair; For sin, the source of mortal woe, Can never enter there." John Bunyan represents Mercy as laughing in her sleep. She had a dream, she said, and she laughed because of the great favors which were yet to be bestowed upon her. Well, if some of you were to dream, tonight, that the great thing which I have spoken of had actually happened to you, so that you were completely free from all tendency to sin, would not you, also, be as they that dream and laugh for very joy? Think of it--no more cause for watchfulness, no more need of weeping over the day's sin before you fall asleep at night! No more sin to confess, no devil to tempt you, no worldly care, no lust, no envy, no depression of spirit, no unbelief--will not this be a very large part of the joy of Heaven? Why, I am ready to cry for joy to think that this will happen to me, unworthy though I am! "Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." It will be so, Brothers and Sisters, both to you and to me! As surely as we have trusted Christ, He will perfect that which concerns us-- " The feeblest saint shall win the day, Though death and Hell obstruct the way." The Lord has undertaken our perfect sanctification and He will accomplish it! He has brought old Dagon down and broken his head and his hands--and He will break him to shivers before long. Yes, He will take the Ark of the Lord away where Dagon shall never come into contact with it any more. He will take you--the gracious part of you, your truest and best self--away into Glory to abide with Him forever! Think of this and sing! Yes, Brothers and Sisters, sing with all your might, for all this may happen within a week. A week? It may happen within a day! It may happen before you reach home tonight! We are so near to Heaven that if we were not very dull and our ears very heavy, we might, right now, hear the angels chanting their ceaseless hallelujahs! Some of God's saints--some here, perhaps--have almost got their foot upon the threshold of the Eternal City and do not know it! They are closer than they think to the harp and the palm branch. They would not fret about what they will do next year--they would not be worrying about next quarter--if they knew that they would be among the royalties of Heaven by then! They would not even think about tomorrow did they know how soon it will all be over and how soon the eternal joy will begin! God bless you, dear Friends. May the Lord's Grace reign over all, in the power of the Holy Spirit--and even to sinners in whom sin is triumphant may Jesus Christ come--and His Grace enter! And then their beloved sins must fall. To the only living and true God be Glory forever and ever! Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Jewel of Peace (No. 1343) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 18, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Now the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all." 2 Thessalonians 3:16. WHEN the heart is full of love it finds the hand too feeble for its desires. Therefore it seeks relief in intercession and benediction--wishing, praying and blessing where it cannot actually effect its loving purpose. The Apostle would have done for the Thessalonians all the good that was conceivable had it been in his power, but his wishes far outstripped his abilities and, therefore, he betook himself to interceding for them and to invoking upon them the blessing of the Lord and Master whom he served. Here is a lesson for us in the art of doing good--as we lengthen the eyesight with the telescope, as we send our words afar by the telegraph--so let us extend our ability to do good by the constant use of intercessory prayer. Parents, when you have done all you can for your children, be thankful that you may introduce them to a further and greater blessing by commending them to the care of the great Father in Heaven! Friends, do your friends the best possible deed of friendship by asking for them the friendship of God. You who love the souls of men, when you have poured out all your strength on their behalf, bless God that there is still something more which you can do, for by entreaties and supplications you may bring down from on high the earnest and the effectual energy of the Holy Spirit who can work in their hearts that which it is not in your power to accomplish! The Apostle saw that the Thessalonians were much troubled and he wrote the most encouraging words to cheer them. But he knew that he could not take the burden from off their hearts and, therefore, he turned to the God of all consolation and prayed Him to give them peace always by all means. The slenderness of our power to bless others will be no detriment to them if it leads us to lay hold upon the eternal strength, for that will bring into the field a superior power to bless--and our infirmity will only make space for the display of Divine Grace. Let us look, first, at the many-sided blessing which the Apostle invokes--peace. And then let us note the special desirableness of it. Thirdly, let us observe from whom, alone, it comes. And fourthly, note the wide sweep of the Apostolic prayer. I. First, then, let us look at THE MANY-SIDED BLESSING--"The Lord of Peace Himself give you peace." Some have thought to restrict the expression to peace within the Church since disorderly members were evidently increasing among the Thessalonians. But that is a very straitened and cowardly interpretation and it is never wise to narrow the meaning of God's Word. Indeed, such a contracted explanation cannot be borne, for it does not appear that the disorderly persons mentioned in the chapter had, as yet, created any special disturbance--they had been quietly fattening at the expense of their generous Brethren and would not be very eager to quarrel with the rack from which they fed. Although, no doubt, Church quiet is included as one variety of peace, yet it would be a sad dwarfing of the meaning of the Spirit to consider one phase of the blessing to the neglect of the rest. No, the peace here meant is "the deep tranquility of a soul resting on God"--the quiet restfulness of spirit which is the peculiar gift of God and the choice privilege of the Believer. "Great peace have all they that love Your Law, and nothing shall offend them." The peace of the text is a gem with many facets, but in considering its many-sidedness we must remember that its main bearing is toward God. The deepest, best, and most worthy peace of the soul is its rest towards the Lord God, Himself. I trust we know this and are enjoying it at this moment. We are no longer afraid of God--the sin which divided us from Him is blotted out and the distance which it created has ceased to be. The Atonement has worked perfect reconciliation and established everlasting peace. The terrors of God's Law are effectually removed from us and, instead thereof, we feel the drawings of His love. We are brought near by the atoning Sacrifice and have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We know that all His thoughts to us are thoughts of love and we bless His name that our thoughts toward Him are no longer those of the slave towards a taskmaster, or of a criminal towards a judge, but those of a beloved child towards a kind and tender father. Fervent love reigns in our hearts, casting out all fear and causing us to joy in God by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a great blessing! It is surely a choice delight for a man to know that whether he prospers or is afflicted, whether he lives or dies, there is nothing between God and him but perfect amity, for all that offends has been effectually put away. Beloved, when the Apostle wishes us peace in the words of our text, he no doubt means that our hearts should be at perfect peace by being placed fully in accord with the will of God. But, alas, we have known some who we hope are forgiven and are God's children, who, nevertheless, quarrel with God. They are not pleased with what He does and even complain that He deals harshly with them--they are naughty children and carry on a sort of sullen contention with their heavenly Father because He does not indulge them in all their whims and fancies. Now, may the Lord of Peace put an end to all such grievous warfare of heart in His people! May you love the Lord so well and trust Him so fully that you could not pick a quarrel with Him even if He smote you and bruised you and broke your bones! Whatever He does is not only to be accepted with submission, but to be rejoiced in. That which pleases Him should please us. We have perfect peace when we can magnify and praise the Lord even for the sharp cuts of His rod and the fierce fires of His furnace! May the Lord bring us into this state, for there is no joy like it-- perfect peace with God is Heaven below! Yes, Brothers and Sisters, we reach a little further than reconciliation and submission, for we come into the enjoyment of conscious complacency. There are men who are at peace with God as to the forgiveness of sin and, in a measure, are in accord with His will, but they are not walking carefully in the path of obedience and so they are missing the sense of Divine Love. God is their Father and He loves them--but He hides His face from them. They walk contrary to Him and so He walks contrary to them. We cannot consider such a condition to be one of fullest peace. The truly restful state of mind is enjoyed when the heart and life are daily cleansed by Grace so that there is nothing to grieve the Spirit of God and, therefore, the Lord feels it right to favor His child with the light of His Countenance in full meridian splendor! O how blessed to bask in the sunlight of Jehovah's love, free from all doubt and being no more conscious of sin! In that sense of conscious favor lies the rest of Heaven. May the Lord of Peace Himself give us this peace! This peace, because sin is forgiven, is the sweet fruit of justification--"therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God." This peace, because the heart is renewed and made to agree with the will of God, is the blessed result of sanctification, for "to be spiritually-minded is life and peace." This peace, because the soul is conscious of being the object of Divine Love, is a precious attendant upon the spirit of adoption which is the very essence of peace! Brothers and Sisters in Christ, may this threefold peace with God be with you always! Now we look further and note that this peace spreads itself abroad and covers all things with its soft light. God is great and fills all things. He who becomes at peace with Him is at peace with all things. Being reconciled to God, the Believer says--"All things are mine, whether things present or things to come. All are mine, for I am Christ's and Christ is God's." Behold, the Lord has made us to be in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field are at peace with us! Providence is our pavilion and angels are our attendants. All things work together for our good, now that we love God and are the called according to His purpose. No longer are we afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction which wastes at noonday! Behold the Lord God covers us with His feathers and under His wings do we trust! His Truth is our shield and buckler. Because we have set our love upon Him, He delivers us and He sets us on high because we have known His name. At peace with the Lord of Hosts we are at peace with all the armies of the universe, in alliance with all the forces which muster at Jehovah's bidding! Though we must be at war with Satan, yet even he is chained and made as a slave to accomplish purposes of good contrary to his own will. There is neither in Heaven nor earth nor Hell, anything that we need fear when we are once right with God! Settle the center and the circumference is secure--peace with God is universal peace. This practically shows itself in the Christian's inward peace with regard to his present circumstances, be they what they may. Being at peace with God, he sees the Lord's hand in everything around him and is content. Is he poor? The Lord makes him rich in faith and he asks not for gold. Is he sick? The Lord endows him with patience and he glories in his afflictions. Is he laid aside from the holy service which he so much loves? He feels that the Lord knows best. If he might be actively engaged in doing God's will, he would be very thankful and run with diligence the race set before him. But if he must lie in the hospital and suffer rather than serve, he does not wish to put his own wishes before the will of his Master--he leaves himself in the Lord's hands, saying--"Lord, do as You will with me. I am so at peace with You that if You use me, I will bless You. And if You lay me aside, I will bless You. If You spare my life, I will bless You, and if You bring me down to the grave I will bless You. If You honor me among men, I will bless You, and if You make me to be trod under foot like straw for the dunghill, I will still bless You--for You are everything and I am nothing--You are all goodness and I am sin and emptiness." The soul which thus has perfect peace as to all its personal surroundings is, indeed, happy! It is lying down in green pastures beside the still waters. Blessed be God, this peace is mainly to be found in the soul, itself, as to its own thoughts, beliefs, hopes, expectations and desires. We have not only peace towards the outer world, but peace within! After all, happiness and peace lie more within the man than in anything around him. Heaven lies more in the heart than in golden streets--and Hell's flame consists rather in man's tortured conscience than in the Tophet fire which the breath of God has kindled. So the peace which Jesus gives is within us--"the good man is satisfied with himself." Some minds are strangers to peace. How can they have peace, for they have no faith? They are as a rolling thing before the whirlwind, having no fixed basis, no abiding foundation of belief. These are the darlings of the school of modern thought, whose disciples set themselves as industriously to breed doubt as if salvation came by it. "Doubt and be saved," is their gospel and who does not see that this is not the Gospel of peace? Indeed, they are receptive and are peering about for fresh light, though long ago the Sun of Righteousness has arisen! Such uncertainty suits me not! I must know something or I cannot live--I must be sure of something or I have no motive from which to act! God never meant us to live in perpetual questioning. His Revelation is not and cannot be that shapeless cloud which philosophical divines make it out to be! There must be something true and Christ must have come into the world to teach us something saving and reliable! He cannot mean that we should be always rushing through bogs and into morasses after the will-of-the-wisp of intellectual religion. There is assuredly some ascertainable, Infallible, revealed Truth for common people! There must be something sure to rest upon. I know it is so and declare unto you what I have heard and seen! There are great Truths of God which the Lord has engraved upon my very soul, concerning which all the men on earth and all the devils in Hell cannot shake me! As to these vital doctrines, an immovable and unconquerable dogmatism has laid hold upon my soul and, therefore, my mind has peace! A man's mind must come to a settlement upon eternal Truths by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, or else he cannot know what peace is. I would pray for every one of my Brothers and Sisters that they may find an anchor of mind and heart and never leave it! We have been often spoken of as an old-fashioned Church and your minister is said to be Ultimus Puritanorum, the, "Last of the Puritans," a man incapable of any thought beyond the limit of the old-fashioned theology. I bless the Lord that it is so! I am, indeed, incapable of forsaking the Gospel for these new-fangled theories! Down went my anchor years ago! It was a great relief to me when I first felt it grip and it is a growing joy to me that I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him. Pretensions to original thought I have never made! I invent nothing! I only tell the old, old story as God enables me. "Ah," said a certain Divine to me one day, "it must be very easy for you to preach because you know what you are going to say--your views are fixed and stereotyped. As for me," he said, "I am always seeking after truth and I do not know one week what I may preach the next." Thus speak the teachers--do you wonder if the disciples wander into skepticism?! Has the Lord taught the man nothing of the sure Truths of God? Then let him wait till he has received His message. Till he knows the Gospel in his own heart, experimentally, as the power of God unto salvation, let him sit on the penitent form and ask to be prayed for, but never enter a pulpit! What are Churches doing to tolerate these sowers of infidelity? Time was when the fathers in our Israel would have chased from their pulpits those who glory in the unbelief which is their shame! May the Lord of Peace, Himself, give you peace as to your personal beliefs and convictions--and then when you get into deep waters of trial and sorrow you will say, "Ah, I did believe the right doctrine after all! I can feel the grip of my anchor on the things unseen. I have not been deceived. I have not followed cunningly devised fables, for the promise is true and I feel the power of it! It sustains and cheers and comforts me under all my trials and I know that it will do so even to my dying hour." May every troubled thinker find the peace of faith and never lose it! Many minds are forever restless as to their fears. It is a great thing to know why you tremble, for when you know what you fear, your fear is half gone! The indefinable shape, the mysterious hand which has no arm but writes upon the wall in strange characters--the cloudiness of all things dreaded makes the mind more restless. But blessed is the man to whom the Lord has taught His fear--so that he knows what he fears and does not permit his hopes to be in perpetual eclipse. Of this many-sided peace we must say something more. The Thessalonian Church had been troubled three ways. They had been persecuted from without. That is not a pleasant thing, but the Apostle says, "You that are troubled rest with us." Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ says to a persecuted saint, "I am with you: all the evil which is done unto you is done unto Me, and you are bearing it for My name's sake," then, Beloved, no persecution can break the peace of the soul! But rather, the sufferer rejoices and is exceedingly glad that he is counted worthy, not only to believe in Christ, but to suffer for His sake! Next, the Thessalonian Church was annoyed by certain false teachers. They did not absolutely teach novel doctrine, but upon a basis of the Truth of God they erected an edifice of error. They exaggerated one special Truth and carried its teaching to extravagance. They said, "Christ is coming, therefore the day of the Lord is immediately at hand." They belonged to that order of fanatics who are always raving about "the signs of the times" and pretending to know what will happen within the next 20 years. There were impostors of that sort in Paul's day and there are such impostors now. Believe them not! They can see no more of the future than blind horses! I put them all together as impostors, whether they are preachers or literary hacks, for no man knows the future and no man can tell his fellows about it. I care no more for their explanations of prophecy than for the pretended winking of the eyes of the Madonna--yet they will continue the scam and will be saying one thing this time and another that--that this and that wonder shall happen--and that terrible judgments shall overwhelm our nation. The Apostle would not have the Thessalonians disturbed in their minds by fears about the future. Brethren in Christ, the most terrible fact of the future can be no just cause of alarm to a true Believer! The Lord comforts His people and there is nothing in His plans or purposes which is intended to disquiet them. You may rest assured that if any doctrine in the Bible prevents a godly man from enjoying peace it must be because he has not yet understood it fully, or else has mistaken its bearing towards himself. The Truths of God must minister peace to true men. All Truths of God, whether doctrinal or prophetic, are on the side of the children of God! How can it be otherwise? The Apostle tells the Thessalonians not to be disturbed about the coming of Christ. "The Lord be with you all," he says, and if the Lord is with us, what does it matter to us whether He personally comes at once or chooses to delay? We should be looking for His coming, but not with alarm, for the fact that He has come, already, is a wellspring of delight! We glory in His first advent and do not dread the second. Since we are already raised up into the heavenly places to sit with Him by faith, what does it matter to us whether He is up there or down here--or whether we are in Heaven or on earth--so long as we abide in Him? There may arise, possibly there will arise, wild fanatics who will again spread alarming news about wars and rumors of wars and select some fatal year as the end of all things. Well, if such things should be, if crowds should go into the wilderness or into the city to look for the coming of Christ, believe them not, but sit still in peace and tranquility of spirit and say, "My soul loves Him and He loves me. He cannot mean ill to me whether He destroys the earth or spares it. Though the heavens pass away and the earth, itself, melts with fervent heat, my heart is resting in her Lord and knows herself to be secure." Thus the Lord saves His people from the disturbance caused by false teaching. There were, also, in the Church, disorderly characters--people that went about spreading idle tales and gossiping. They would not do anything for a living and so they set people by the ears. But when the Lord gives a Christian deep spiritual peace within, he soon puts aside the small nuisances of idle tongues and disorderly deeds. He refuses to be worried. Mosquitoes buzz around every Christian Church and blessed is the man who does not feel their bite or heed their buzzing! His soul shall dwell at ease. Peace from Church troublers is a great blessing and we ought to praise God for it when we are in the enjoyment of it, for strife within the Church, like civil war, is the worst of warfare. O to live in holy love and unbroken concord in reference to all our fellow Christians! May the Lord of Peace grant us this! Thus, you see, the peace which is here spoken of has many sides to it. May you possess it in all its forms, modes, and phases--and may your spirit enter into the peace of God which passes all understanding! II. Now, secondly, let us note THE SPECIAL DESIRABLENESS OF PEACE. It is a very great thing for a soul to realize perfect peace, for if it does not do so, it must miss the joy, comfort and blessedness of the Christian life. God never meant His children to be like thistledown, blown about with every breath, nor as a football, hurled to and fro by every foot. He meant us to be a happy, restful, established people. The cattle eat the grass, but they are not fattened till they lie down and ruminate in peace--the Lord makes His people to feed and to lie down in quietness. You do not know the Gospel, dear Friends, if you have not obtained peace through it! Peace is the juice, the essence, the soul of the Gospel! Doctrines are clusters, but you have never trod them in the winepress--you have never quaffed the flowing juice of their grapes if you have not peacefully considered Divine Truth in the quiet of your heart. Without peace you cannot grow! A shepherd may find good pasture for his flock, but if his sheep are hunted about by wild dogs, so that they cannot rest, they will become mere skin and bones. The Lord's lambs cannot grow if they are worried and harried-- they must enjoy the rest wherewith the Lord makes the weary to rest. If your soul is always sighing, moaning and questioning its interest in Christ. If you are always in suspense as to what doctrine is true and what is false. If there is nothing established and settled about you, you will never come to the fullness of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus. Neither without peace can you bear much fruit, if any. If a tree is frequently transplanted you cannot reasonably look for many golden apples upon its boughs. The man who has no root-hold--who neither believes, nor grasps, nor enjoys the Gospel--can never know what it is to be steadfast and unmovable. And neither will he be always abounding in the work of the Lord. We know, too, some who, because they have no conscious peace with God, lack all stability and are the prey of error. That doctrine can soon be driven out of a man's head which affords no light and comfort to his heart. If you derive no sweetness from what you believe, I should not marvel if you soon begin to doubt it. The power of the Gospel is its best evidence to the soul--a man always believes in that which he enjoys. Only make a Truth of God to be a man's spiritual food--let it be marrow and fatness to him--and I guarantee you he will believe it. When the Truth of God becomes to a proud carnal mind what the manna became to murmuring Israel, namely, light bread that his soul abhors, then the puffed up intellect cries after something more pleasing to the flesh! But to the mind which hungers and thirsts after righteousness, the Gospel is so soul-satisfying that it never wearies of it. Brothers and Sisters, you must have peace for your soul's health! What a difference there is between a soul at peace and a soul continually tossed about! I have seen one man's heart like a country whose hedges are broken down, whose walls are laid level with the ground, where irrigation is neglected, where tilling has ceased, where the vines are untrimmed, where the fields are unplowed--and all because there is a perpetual sound of war in the soul--the song of peace is never heard! Such a soul may be likened to the Holy Land beneath Turkish rule where no man has rest and, consequently, the highways lie waste and the gardens are a desert. But I have seen another man's life which has grown up under the influence of holy peace, from whom God has kept back the wandering Arabs of doubt and fear--and to whom He has given a settled government of Grace and an establishment in steadfastness and quiet assurance and, lo, that man has been as the land which flows with milk and honey! As war spends and peace gathers the riches of nations, so does inward strife devour us, while spiritual peace makes the soul fat. Even as Palestine, when it abounded in corn and wine and oil, could nourish Tyre and Sidon, which it borders, even so does the man who is rich towards God, through internal peace, become a feeder of other souls till even they who are but borderers upon Immanuel's land obtain a blessing! Beloved, I would that every Christian knew this soul-enriching peace to the fullest! I am sorry to meet with so many who "hope" they are Believers, and "trust" they are saved, but they are not sure. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, in these matters we must get beyond mere hopes! We must reach to certainties. "Ifs" and "buts" are terrible in the things which concern the soul and eternity! We must have plain and unquestionable security here--Divine security applied to the soul, itself, by the Holy Spirit. Friend, you are either saved this morning or you are not saved! Either you are in the love of God, or you are not! Either you are secure of Heaven, or you are not--one of the two! I beseech you, do not let these things be in jeopardy--chance anything rather than your soul! Cry mightily to God that you may have these things fixed, certain, positive, beyond all dispute--for then shall your soul enjoy peace with God--and so shall you become strong, useful and happy. III. Now, thirdly, we shall get into the very heart of our text while we consider for a minute or two THE ONLY PERSON FROM WHOM THIS PEACE MUST COME--"Now the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace." Who is this "Lord of Peace" but the Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, born into the world when there was peace all over the world? It was but a little interval in which the gates of the temple of war were closed, and lo, Jesus came to Bethlehem and angels sang, "Peace on earth." He came to establish an empire of peace which shall be universal and under whose influence they shall hang the useless helmet high and study war no more. "The Prince of Peace!" How blessed is the title! So was it written of old by Isaiah, and Paul, the true successor of Isaiah, changing but a word, now speaks of, "the Lord of Peace." This is He who, being in Himself essential peace, undertook to be the Father's great Ambassador. And having made peace by the blood of His Cross, ended the strife between man and his offended Maker. This is He who is our Peace--who has made Jew and Gentile one--and has broken down the middle wall of partition which stood between us. This is the Lord who, when He stood in the midst of His disciples, gave them peace by saying, "Peace be unto you." And this is He, who, in His departure, made His last will and testament and wrote therein this grand legacy--"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives give I unto you." This is that Lord of Peace to whom it is part of His Nature and office to give peace! I want to call particular attention to the Apostle's words in this place. He does not say, "May the Lord of Peace send His angel to give you peace." It were a great mercy if He did and we might be as glad as Jacob was at Mahanaim, when the angels of God met him. He does not even say, "May the Lord of Peace send His minister to give you peace." If He did we might be as happy as Abraham when Melchizedek refreshed him with bread and wine. He does not even say, "May the Lord of Peace at the communion table, or in reading the Word, or in prayer, or in some other sacred exercise give you peace." In all these we might well be as refreshed as Israel was at Elim where wells and palm trees gladdened the tribes. But, no, he says, "the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace," as if He, alone, in His own Person, could give peace, and as if His Presence were the sole means of such a Divine Peace as he desires. "The Lord of Peace Himself give you peace." The words are inexpressibly sweet to me. If you will think, for a minute, you will see that we never obtain peace except from the Lord, Himself. What, after all, in your worst times will bring you peace? I will tell you. "This Man shall be the peace." To me it has often afforded great peace to think of His mysterious Person. He is a Man tempted in all points like as I am, a Man who knows every grief of the soul and every pain of the body--therefore His tender sympathy and power to succor. Have you not often derived peace from that sweet reflection? You know you have! His Person, then, is a source of peace. And have you not been rested in your soul by meditating upon His death? You have viewed Him wounded, bleeding, dying on the tree--and, insensibly to yourself--a wondrous calm has stolen over your heart and you have felt pacified concerning all things. Yes, Jesus is, Himself, that bundle of myrrh and spice from which peace flows like a sweet perfume! When He comes very near your heart and lays bare His wounds, and speaks His love home to you, making you feel its Divine fervency. When He assures you that you are one with Him, united to Him in an everlasting wedlock which knows of no divorce--then it is that your soul is steeped in peace! This is an experimental business and no mere words can express it. "The Lord of Peace Himself give you peace"--this, I say, He does mainly by manifesting Himself to the heart of His servants. Then notice that the text says, "give you peace," not merely offer it to you, or argue with you that you ought to have peace, or show you the grounds of peace, but, "give you peace." He has the power to breathe peace into the heart, to create peace in the soul and lull the spirit into that sweet sleep of the beloved which is the peculiar gift of Heaven. "I will give you rest," He said, and He can and will do it. "The Lord be with you all"--as much as to say, "That is what I mean." I pray that Jesus may be with you, for if He is present, you must enjoy peace! Let the sea rage and let every timber of the ship be strained--yes, let her leak till between each timber there yawns a hungry mouth to swallow you up--yet when Jesus arises He will rebuke the winds and the waves, and there will be a great calm! "It is I, be not afraid," is enough to create peace at once. May you always know this peace which Jesus, alone, can give. IV. Now I must conclude with the fourth head which is a consideration of THE SWEEP OF THE PRAYER--"The Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always." What? Always at peace? Yes, that is what the Apostle desires for you. May you have peace given you always. "Well, Sir, I feel very happy on the Sabbath. I have such peace that I wish I could have a week of Sundays." May the Lord Himself give you peace always, on all the weekdays as well as on Sundays. "Truly, I have been very happy of late," says one, "God has prospered us and everyone has been very loving in the family. But I do not know how I should be if I had an awkward husband and unruly children." Sister, I will tell you what I want you to be--I would have you restful under all circumstances-- "The Lord of Peace give you peace always." "I enjoy such peace in the Prayer Meeting," says one. I want you to have peace in the workshop, also. "I have peace when I get alone with my Bible," cries another. We pray that you may have equal peace when you are troubled with the ledger, tired with those unpaid bills, dull trade and all the crosscurrents of business. You need peace always. Our Friends who are commonly called Quakers have, as a rule, set us a fine example of calm, dignified quietness and peace. How undisturbed they generally appear! Whatever they fail in, they certainly excel in a certain peacefulness of manner which I hope is the index of calm enjoyed within. Numbers of professors are very fretful, excitable, agitated, hasty and fickle. It should not be so, Brothers and Sisters--you ought to have more weight about you, more Grace, more solidity. Your soul's affairs are all right, are they not? All is right forever--everything is signed, sealed, and delivered--the Covenant is ordered in all things and sure, and everything is in Divine hands for our good. Well, then, why not let us be as happy as the angels are? Why are we troubled? Is there anything worth shedding a tear for, now that all is well for eternity? Our lack of peace arises from the fact that we have not realized the fullness of our text. "The Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always." He can always give you peace, for He never changes! There is always the same reason for peace. You may always go to Him for peace and He is always ready to bestow it. Oh that we might always possess it! Notice, again, it is written--"May the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always by all means." Can He give us peace by all means? I know He can give us peace by some means, but can all means be made subservient to this end? Some agencies evidently work towards peace, but can He give us peace by opposing forces? Yes, certainly! He can give peace by the bitter as well as by the sweet! He can give peace by the storm as well as by the calm! He can give peace by loss as well as by gain, by death as well as by life! Notice there are two grand ways of giving us peace--one is by taking away all that disquiets us. Here is a man who frets because he does not make money, or because he has lost much of his wealth. Suppose the Lord takes away from him all covetousness, all greed of gain, all love of the world--is he not, at once, filled with peace? He is at peace not because he has more money, but because he has less of grasping desires. Another man is very ambitious. He wants to be somebody. He must be great and yet he never will be and, therefore, he is restless. Suppose the Grace of God should humble him and take away his lofty aspirations so that he only wishes to be and to do what the Lord wills? Do you not see how readily he rests? Another man has an angry temper and is soon put out--the Lord does not alter the people that are round about him, but He changes the man, himself--makes him quiet, ready to forgive and of a gentle spirit. What peace the man now feels! Another person has had an envious eye--he did not like to see others prosper--and if others were better off than he, he always thought badly of them. The Lord wrings that bitter drop of envy out of his heart and now see how peaceful he is--he is glad to see others advanced and if he is tried, himself, it helps to make him happy to think that others are more favored. It is a great blessing when the Lord removes the disturbing elements from the heart! Even curiosity may be a source of unrest. Many are a great deal worried by curiosity. I have sometimes wanted to know why the Lord does this and that with me. Blessed be His name, I am resolved not to question Him any more in that fashion! Somebody prayed the other day that I might see the reason why the Lord has lately afflicted me. I hope the Brother will not pray that any more, for I do not want to know the Lord's reasons--why should I? I know He has done right and I will not dishonor Him by catechizing Him and wanting Him to explain Himself to a poor worm. This is where the mischief has been with most of us--that we have needed to see how this and that can be right. Why should we? If God conceals a thing, let us be anxious to keep it concealed. A servant was passing through a street with a dish that was curiously covered. There met him a fellow who said, "I am most anxious to know what your lord has put in that dish, for he has so carefully covered it." But the servant said, "Therefore should you not desire to know, for seeing my lord has so carefully covered it, it is clear that it is no business of yours." So whenever a Providence puzzles you, take it as a sign that the Lord does not mean you to understand it--and be content to take it upon faith. When curiosity and other restless things are gone, peace is enjoyed. Then the Lord has ways of giving us peace by making discoveries of Himself. Some of you do not know, as yet, the things which would give you peace. For instance, if you did but know that He loved you from before the foundation of the world and that whom once He loves, He never leaves, you who are now afraid that you have fallen from Grace would obtain strong consolation! Yes, and if you understood the grand doctrine of the Divine Predestination and saw that the Lord will not fail nor be discouraged, nor turn aside from one jot or tittle of His purpose, then you would see how you, poor insignificant Believers though you are, are one stitch in the great fabric that must not be suffered to drop or else the whole fabric would be marred! You would understand how the eternal purpose ordered in wisdom and backed up with Sovereign power guarantees your salvation as much as it does the Glory of God--and so you would have peace. Many a soul has not the peace it might have because it does not fully understand the atoning blood. The great doctrine of Substitution is not seen in all its length and breadth by some minds. But when they come to see Christ standing in the place of His chosen, made sin for them and the chosen standing in Christ's place, "the righteousness of God in Him," then will their peace be like a river! The grand Truth of the union of the saints with Christ, if it is once understood, what a means of peace it is! He that believes in Christ is one with Him, a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones! He is one with Christ by eternal and indissoluble union, even as the Father is One with the Son! If this is known, together with the doctrine of the Covenant, the attribute of immutability, the eternal purpose and the marriage union between Christ and His elect, deep peace must be enjoyed, like the calm of Heaven, like the bliss of immortality! But there are some to whom this peace cannot come, some concerning whom the Lord says "What have you to do with peace?" "There is no peace, says my God, unto the wicked." Your works, your prayers, your repentances--none of these can bring you peace! As for the world and the pleasures thereof, they are destructive to all hope of peace. Come this day and believe in the great Sacrifice which God, Himself, has prepared in the Person of His crucified Son! Come look into Emanuel's face and read where peace is to be found! Come to the great gash in Jesus' side and see the cleft of the rock where God's elect abide in peace! Trust in Jesus and you shall begin a peace which shall widen and deepen into the peace of God which passes all understanding, which shall keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Student's Prayer (No. 1344) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts: so shall I talk of Your wondrous works." Psalm 119:27. WHEN we seek any good thing from God, we ought, also, to consider how we may use it for His Glory. It is right that desires for good things should flow from good motives. When the heart is not only gracious but grateful, it will turn to God with doable purpose, desiring the mercy and desiring to use it to His praise. The Grace of God, which brings salvation, marvelously whets the appetite for good things--it does more, it provokes an intense anxiety to glorify God's name in the world--even before it has imparted the ability to do any good thing. Vehement passion and abject helplessness meeting together and struggling in the breast, often lead to despondency, but they ought far rather to stimulate prayer. As soon as we are saved by Grace we are eager after supplies for our soul's needs. "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby." This is the first stage of spiritual childhood, like the infant who cries for the bottle and takes its little fill and feasts, all to itself and all for itself. There follows on this another yearning, a desire for fellowship with the saints, although we feel too weak and too foolish to enter into such good company as we take the older disciples to be, or even to talk to them. But I will tell you what we can do. We may all venture to ask the Lord to instruct us and make us understand His ways, so that our conversation may be welcome to His people--and so He will! "Therefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as, also, you do." This is the second stage of development. Then comes a third grade and come, it surely will, if you follow on to know the Lord. "Then will I teach transgressors Your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto You." Speak, my Brothers and Sisters, on this wise--"You have told me, O my God, to earnestly covet the best gifts. I do covet them, Lord, You know, not to consume them upon my lusts, but to use them for Your service. I will gladly accept Your talents as a trust, not to trifle with them, not to vaunt them as the toys of my vanity, but, by Your Grace, as a wise and faithful steward to bring You all the profit and all the interest, for I am greedy to get gain out of all those endowments You entrust to my care." "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts: so shall I talk of Your wondrous works." I would have you further observe, on the threshold of our meditation, that there is not really any grave duty a man can be called on to discharge, no responsible office he may be elected to fill, nor even any plan or purpose he lays on his heart to accomplish which does not require diligent preparation on his own part to fit himself, to train his faculties and to discipline his mind. What you call unskilled labor may possibly be utilized by efficient officers, but unskillful labor is a sheer waste of power. How much more imperative the demand that we should be endowed with the requisite faculties and qualified by suitable instruction if we have any work to do for God, or any office, however humble, in the service of the great King! Zeal without knowledge would only betray us into reckless presumption. When called to talk of God's wondrous works, we ought not to rush upon that exercise unfitted and unprepared, but we should wait upon the Lord, that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, that our stammering tongues may be unloosed and that our lips may be attuned to tell the noble tale in grateful strains. We must first obtain for ourselves an understanding of the way of the Lord's precepts before we can make it plain to others. He who tries to teach, but has never been taught himself, will make a sorry mess of it. He who has no understanding and yet wants to make others understand, must assuredly fail! Some there are who cannot teach and will not learn--and it is because they will not learn that they cannot teach. I believe aptness for being taught is at the bottom of aptness to teach. The Psalmist had both. He says, "Make me to understand the way of Your statutes." There he would be taught. "Then," he says, "I shall talk of Your wondrous works." There he would be teaching. In pondering the text, it has appeared to me to set forth three things. First, the prayer of a student. Secondly, the occupation of a scholar. And thirdly, the intimate relation there is between them. I. I see in it A STUDENT'S PRAYER. I hope, my beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, that we are all students in the school of Christ--all disciples or scholars--and I trust we shall adopt the student's prayer as our own--"Make me to understand the way of Your precepts." You know that prayer is to study what fire is to the sacrifice. I beseech you, therefore, join heartily in the petition of the text. The student's prayer deals with the main subject of the conversation which is to be that student's occupation, namely, the way of God's precepts. You and I, Brothers, have to teach those things which relate to the counsels and commandments of the Lord. It is not our province to guide men in politics or to tutor them in science. Those things are better taught by men of mark, whose time and attention are absorbed in those profound and laborious researches. As for us who are Christians and servants of Christ, our business is to teach men the things of God. To that one topic we do well to keep, both for our own good and for the good of others. If we have many studies to engage us, our thoughts will soon be scattered--and if we multiply our pursuits, we shall be incapable of concentrating all our energies upon the grand topic which Divine Wisdom has selected for us--"the way of Your precepts." In the way of God's legal precepts we have great need of sound understanding, that we may be competent to instruct others. It is well to be initiated in the Law, to discern its wonderful comprehensiveness, spirituality and severity. We need to know the way of the Law--a way too hard to be trod by any mortal man so as to win salvation. It is well to survey the way of the Lord's precepts to see how exceedingly broad and yet, at the same time, how remarkably narrow they are. "Your commandment is exceedingly broad," and yet, "strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leads unto life and few there are that go in there." It is well for us to know exactly what the Law teaches and what the Law designs--why we were made subject to its prescript, and how we may be delivered from its penalties. Great need, too, have we to understand the way of God's Gospel precepts--what these precepts are--"repent," "believe," "be converted" and the like. We need to be able to see their relation, where they stand, not as means to an end, but as results of Divine Grace--commands but yet promises-- the duty of man but yet the gift of God! Happy is that preacher and teacher who understands the way of the Gospel precepts and never lets them clash with the precepts of the Law, so as to teach a mingle-mangle, half Law and half Gospel. Happy is he who knows the way of God's legal precepts and sees them all ablaze with Divine wrath on account of sin--and discerns the way of the Gospel precepts--can see them all bright and yet all crimson with the precious blood of Him that opened up for us the way of acceptance! The way of God's precepts! Does not that mean that we ought to be acquainted with the relative position which the precepts occupy? For it is very easy, Brothers, unless God gives us understanding, to preach up one precept to the neglect of another! It is possible for a ministry and a teaching to be lopsided and those who follow it may become rather the caricatures of Christianity than Christians harmoniously proportioned. O Lord, what foolish creatures we are! When You exhort us one way, we run to such an extreme that we forget that You have given us any other counsel than that which is just now ringing in our ears! We have known some commanded to be humble who have bowed down till they have become timorous and desponding. We have known others exhorted to be confident who have gone far beyond a modest courage and grown so presumptuous that they have presently fallen into gross transgressions. Is fidelity to the truth your cardinal virtue? Take heed of being uncharitable! Is love to God and man your highest aspiration? Beware lest you become the dupe of false apostles and foul hypocrites! Have you clad yourself with zeal as with a garment? Take care, now, lest by one act of indiscretion your garment should be rolled in blood. Oh, how easy it is to exaggerate a virtue until it becomes a vice! A man may look to himself, examine himself and scrutinize all his actions and motives till he becomes deplorably selfish! Or, on the other hand, a man may look to others, counseling them and cautioning them, preaching to them and praying for them till he grows oblivious of his own estate, degenerates into hypocrisy and discovers, to his surprise, that his own heart is not right with God. There is a "way" about the precepts--there is a chime about them in which every bell gives out its note and makes up a tune. There is a mixture, as of old, of the anointing oil--so much of this and that and the other and, if any ingredient were left out, the oil would lose its perfect aroma. So is there an anointing of the holy life in which there is precept upon precept skillfully mingled, delicately infused, gratefully blended and Grace given to keep each of these precepts and so the life becomes sweet like an ointment most precious unto the Lord. God grant us each, if we are to teach others--and I hope we shall all try to do that--to understand the way of His precepts! As a prayer, too, this must certainly mean, "Make me understand the way to keep Your precepts." It is not in human strength, for he that keeps the precepts of God must be kept by the God of the precepts. To keep the precepts we must keep Him in the heart who gave the precepts and whose life is the best exemplification of them. O Lord, teach us the way to observe and to do Your commands! Give us humble, dependent hearts receptive of the sweet influences of Your Spirit, that we may understand the way in which those precepts are to be kept. Does it not signify-- "Lord, make me to understand the Christian life, for that is the way of Your precepts"? Dear Friends, if you are teachers of others, you must be experimentally acquainted with the Christian life! You must know the great doctrines which support it and furnish motives for it--the great doctrines which are the pavement of the road along which the Christian travels. You must know the practical precepts, themselves--what they are and how the Lord has worded them for each circumstance and each age of the Christian life. You must know the doctrinal and the practical--and you must know the experimental--he is no preacher of any value who cannot tell the way of God's precepts by having experienced that way! He must have felt the joy of running in it--having taken the precepts and been guided by them so as to have proved that "in keeping of them there is great reward." Yes, and he will be none the worse teacher if he has a lively memory of the bitterness that comes of having wandered from those commandments, for he can tell the sinner, with the tears starting in his own eyes, that he who wanders from the way of obedience will miss the paths of peace, for the way of God's commandments is exceedingly pleasant, but they that break the hedge and follow their own will shall find that their willfulness entails upon them grievous sorrow and sore pain. This is what we need to understand the way of God's precepts. Let the prayer go up to Heaven, especially from every young Brother who is hoping to preach the Word before long, "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts." Very obviously a confession is here implied. "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts." It means just this. "Lord, I do not understand it. I am ignorant and foolish and if I follow my own judgment--if I take to my own thinking, I shall be sure to go wrong. Lord, make me to understand." It is a confession of a good man who may understand a great deal, but feels that he does not understand all. In this learning, he who understands most is the man who thinks he understands least. He who has the clearest knowledge of Divine things is the very one to feel that there is a boundless ocean far beyond his observation and he cries "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts." It is a confession which should be made because it is intensely felt--the consciousness of folly and ignorance forcing the confession to the lips. Our student's prayer asks a great gift when he says, "Make me to understand." This is something more than, "Make me to know." He had said just before--"Teach me Your statutes." Every Christian needs this teaching for his own sake, but he that is to be an instructor of others must especially enquire for a thorough understanding. You Sunday school teachers who take the oversight of the children. You elders of the Church who look after enquirers and help them to the Savior--you both must not be satisfied with knowing--you must understand. A superficial acquaintance with the Scriptures will not suffice for your important office. Your mind must penetrate into the deeper meaning, the hidden treasures of wisdom. "Make me to understand." A catechism may supply right answers, but we need the living Teacher to give us true perceptions. Intelligence is not a faculty of babies--in understanding you must be men! Young pupils soon lose confidence in their teacher if he does not seem up to the mark. I heard two schoolboys talking of their teacher the other day. Says one, "I don't think he knows much more than we do." "Well, he always has to look at the book before he can tell us anything, doesn't he?" said the other little chap. Just now, as I came along, I watched two babies trying to carry another baby a little smaller than themselves and they all three rolled down together! It is pretty to see little children anxious to help their little brother, but when the father comes up, he lifts all three and carries them with ease. We have not many fathers, but every Christian man should aspire to that honorable and valuable estate in the Church. The wisdom that comes of experience leads up to it. "Make me to understand." Oh Lord, the children are pleased with the flowers, help me to spy out the roots! Take me into the secrets, let me know the deep things of God! Help me to discriminate! Enable me to judge and weigh and ponder--and so to understand! Such reasons as You give, enable me to comprehend. Where You give no reason, teach my reason to feel that there must be the best of reasons for no reasons having been given! So make me to understand what can be understood and to understand that what I cannot understand is just as reliable as what I do understand. In understanding I can never find You out, O God, to perfection. In Your sight I must still be a baby, though towards my fellow Christians I may be a man. "Make me to understand." I love to meet with those of the Lord's people who have had their senses exercised in Divine things and their intelligence matured. For the most part, we find disciples like babies, unskillful in the Word of Righteousness, using milk because unable to digest strong meat. Thank God for the babies! Pray God they may soon grow and develop into men! He who knows that he is a sinner and that Christ Jesus is his Savior, knows enough to save him. But we have no wish to perpetuate childishness. The spelling book is essential as a primer, but not the spelling book forever! A B C must not be sung forever in wearisome monotone! Nor must, "Only believe," become the everlasting song! Are there not other Truths of God deeper and higher? There is the grand analogy of the faith! There is the doctrine of the Covenant! There is the doctrine of Election! There is the doctrine of the Union of the saints with Jesus Christ! These are the deep things of God and I think we should pray, "Make me, Lord, to understand them." Yet the best understanding is that which aims at personal holiness. "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts." Lord, if I cannot grapple with doctrine, let me know which is the right way for me to take in my daily life. If sometimes Your Truth staggers me and I cannot see where this Truth of God squares with that, yet Lord grant that integrity and uprightness may preserve me! So make me to know and understand the way of Your statutes that if I am tempted and the Tempter come as an angel of light, I may so understand the difference between a true angel of light and the mock angel of light that I may not be taken in the snare. "Make me to understand the way of Your statutes." May my eyes be keen to know the right in all its tangles. May I follow the silken clue of uprightness where it seems to wind and twist. Give Your servant such a clear understanding of what Israel ought to do and of what he, himself, ought to do as a part of Israel, that he may never miss his way. This is the best kind of understanding in all the world. The Psalmist appeals to the Fountain of all wisdom, the Source from where all knowledge springs. Who can put wisdom in the inward parts but the Lord? Or who can give understanding to the heart but God Most High? Our parents and our Sunday school teachers taught us the rudiments while we were supple and pliant with tender age. We thank them much and we esteem them highly. Yet they could only teach the Law and imprint, if possible, the letter of it on our memory, although even that we often repeated and as often forgot. It is the Lord that teaches us to profit by the Divine Spirit. How very wonderfully the Lord teaches us! Some lessons have to be whipped into us--well, He does not spare the rod for our crying! Other lessons can only be burnt into us as with a hot iron. Some of us can bless the Lord that we bear in our body the prints of the Lord Jesus, that He branded His Truth into our very flesh and bones so that we cannot, now, miss it, but must understand it. Into what strange places God will put His children! You have heard of colleges called by odd names--Brasen-nose and the like--but the most amazing college I ever heard of was the whale's belly! Jonah would never have bowed himself to Sovereign Grace had he not been cast into the deep, compassed about with floods and overwhelmed with billows and waves. But the soundness of his doctrine was very palpable in the voice of his thanksgiving, for as soon as he came out of the whale's belly, he said, "Salvation is of the Lord"! A must college for a Prophet! But we may be content to leave the college to God and, if we are, like Joseph, sold into Egypt, or like the Hebrew children, carried captive into Babylon, or wherever it may be--so long as He makes us to understand the way of His precepts we may be well content! Christ taught only three of His 12 Apostles upon Tabor, but 11 of them in Gethsemane. Some, though favored much with high joys, learn more by deep sorrows. He takes but three of them into the chamber where He raises the dead girl, for all His wonders are not to be seen by all His followers. But they may all behold Him on the Cross and learn the sweet wonders of His dying love! I would not be satisfied, dear Brothers and Sisters, without trying to understand all that can be understood of the love of Jesus Christ and of all those precious Truths that make up the way of God's precepts. He is a poor scholar who does not wish to learn more than lies within the bare compass of his task--a good pupil will try to get as much as he can out of his teacher. Be it your resolve and mine always to be learning! Let us never be content to lightly skim the wave or gently sip the river's brim. Rather let us delight ourselves with diving into the clear stream of knowledge! Revelation invites research and it unfolds its choice stores only to those who search for them as for hidden treasures. Oh, my God! I long to glean, to gather, to gain knowledge! I would gladly yield up every hour I have to sit at Your feet! To You I would surrender every faculty I have that I may be learning. By the ear, by the eye, by the taste would I imbibe instruction! Yes, and in every season of recreation I would inhale the fragrance of Your wondrous works. And when I seek repose I would lean my head upon Your bosom that I may learn Your love by the touch as well as by every other sense. May each gate of Mansoul be filled with the traffic of the precious merchandise of heavenly knowledge. And, Lord, I would open the inmost depth of my soul that Your light may shine into the most secret parts of my nature. Oh, hear my cry! Make me to understand the way of Your precepts! II. Now, dear Friends, let us pass on to notice, in the next place, THE OCCUPATION OF THE INSTRUCTED MAN. When the Lord has taught a man the way of His precepts, it behooves him to rightly use his sacred privileges-- "So shall I talk of Your wondrous works." As a faithful teacher, let him testify of God's works--His wondrous works. It is a sorry sermon that is all about man's works, especially if the preacher makes out our good works to be something very remarkable. We are to preach not man's works, but God's works--not our own works, but the works of our great Substitute! There are two works, especially, that you Christian people must talk about to others--the work of Christ for us and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. These are themes that will never be exhausted. The work of God the Son for us in His life and death, Resurrection and Ascension--His intercession at the right hand of God and His second advent--what a theme is before you here! How great are the works of Christ on our behalf! Preach His Substitution emphatically. Let there be no mistake about that! Let it be told that Christ stood in the place of His people and lived and died for them! Moreover, there is the work of the Holy Spirit in us--the vital interest and importance of which it would not be possible to exaggerate. I should not like any man to try and talk about this Divine ministry unless he has been brought under its power and been led, by experience, to understand it--the work of conviction, the work of regeneration, the work of emptying, humbling and bringing down--the work of leading to repentance and to faith, the work of sanctification, the work of daily sustenance of the Divine Life, the work of perfecting the soul for Heaven! There is plenty of room for blundering, here, if God does not make you understand the way of His precepts! But if you have a good clear knowledge of what Christian life is, then, my dear Brothers and Sisters, always be dwelling on these two things--what the Lord has done for us and what the Lord is doing in us when He brings us out of darkness into His marvelous light! The wonderful character of these works of God opens up a study on which the devout mind can discuss with ever awakening emotions of awe and delight! There are a few things in the world that men may wonder at. They used to speak of the seven wonders of the world. I believe that there is not one of those seven wonders which some have not ceased to wonder at. If you see them a sufficient number of times you get accustomed to them and the wonder evaporates. But the works of the Lord, and these two works especially, you may think on them, meditate upon them, inspect them, enjoy them every day of a long life and the result will be, not a decrease, but an increase of your wonder! "Your wondrous works!" God Incarnate in the Son of Mary! Wondrous work, this! God in the carpenter's shop! The Son of God driving nails and handling a hammer! Wondrous work, this! Jesus at the loom, weaving a righteousness for His people, casting His soul into every throw of the shuttle and producing such a matchless fabric for the wedding dress of His own chosen bride that all the angels in Heaven stand still and gaze at it and marvel how such a fabric was worked! Behold Him--God, Himself, in human flesh--dying, bearing human sin with a condescension that is wonderful beyond all wonder! Behold Him casting all that sin into the depth of the sea, with wondrous might of merit, which drowned it in the bottomless abyss forever! Wondrous work, that! Then see Him going forth again, discharged from all His suretyship engagements, having paid the debt. And behold Him nailing the handwriting of the ordinances that were against us to His Cross! Oh, wondrous work! One might talk of it by night and day and never weary. View Him rising as our Representative, guaranteeing life to us! See Him climbing the skies and casting a largesse of mercies among rebellious men. Consider the influence of His mediatorial authority, the power committed to Him by His Father, for He has power given Him over all flesh, that He may give eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him. Listen, listen to His pleading as the Priest upon the Throne! What wondrous work is that! Still through the apocalyptic vista gaze--gaze on all the glories of the future when He shall come to reign upon the earth! There you have new fields of light breaking on your ravished view--fresh incentives to wonder, admire and worship! And what shall I say of these wondrous works which seem so near and so familiar to our observation and yet baffle our investigation, till the more we scrutinize them the more amazement we feel? The Church in the world kept alive from generation to generation by One whose Presence was promised, was bestowed and is now felt and proved by the saints--the blessed Paraclete, the Comforter whom Jesus sent from the Father! By His agency long seasons of drought and despondency have been ever and again succeeded by times of refreshing from the Presence of the Lord by revivals and renewals of signs and wonders such as began but did not end in the day of Pentecost! I never know which to wonder at most--God in human flesh, the Incarnate Son--or the Holy Spirit dwelling in man! The indwelling is as wonderful as the Incarnation! Let every Gospel teacher yield up his own soul to the wonder and gratitude which these works of God are fitted to inspire. I like to see the preacher, when he is talking about these things, look like a man wonderstruck, gazing forth on a vast expanse, lost in immensity! As if he were far out at sea, trembling with adoration! As if the chords of his nature vibrated to the mystery and awe that encircle him. There are lovely traces of God's transcendent skill in things minute when peered at through a microscope--but these wondrous works of God are of another order! They display His grander power! Tell not the old, old story as if it had grown trite and trifling in your ears and tripped from off your tongue. Listen to the slow deep mellow voice of the mighty ocean of Grace until your soul faints within you! Then speak in tones of strong emotion like those of Paul--"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" Yet it becomes you to speak very plainly. See how it is put. "I will talk of Your wondrous works." Talk is the simplest mode of speech. You cannot all preach, but you can all talk and, if some preachers would refrain from rhetoric and tell their plain unvarnished tale, they would succeed better than they do now. Do you think that God meant His ministers to kill themselves in order come out on Sundays with one or two splendid displays of "intellect" and eloquence? Surely this is not God's way of doing things! I do not believe that Paul ever preached a fine sermon, or that Peter ever dreamed of any display of intellect. I asked, the other day, of one who had heard a sermon, if it was likely that sinners would be converted by it. He said, "Oh no! By no means! But it was an intellectual treat." Is there anywhere in the Bible a word about intellectual treats, or anything approximating to such an idea? Is there not a country on the other side of the sea where they are attempting fine flashy oratory sermons that remind you of the way in which they finish up the fireworks--discourses made up of blue lights and blazes? They call it a "peroration," I believe. But the way for the Christian--the real Christian--is to talk of God's wondrous works! Tell me the old, old story! Tell it not stately, but tell it simply, as to a little child! More Glory will come to God from that, more comfort to your soul in reflection and more benefit to the souls of those you teach than from all the flights of poetry or the flourishes of rounded periods. They that would win souls must take David's words here, and say, "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts." And so shall I give up all the "spread eagle" and, "I shall talk of Your wondrous works." "Blessed be God," said a farmer at a Prayer Meeting, "that we were fed last Sunday out of a low crib, for we have mostly had the fodder so high that we poor things could not reach it." When I heard that farmer's thanksgiving, I thought it very wise. When a man is instructed in the faith, he will often speak about these things. Such conversation may be frequent without being irksome. David says, "I will talk." Preaching is an exercise to be undertaken now and then, but talking, I believe, is capable of being carried on by some people very nearly every minute of the day. Certainly few persons account it a hardship to talk every day! And when God makes us to understand the way of His precepts, we shall have the Gospel at our fingertips so that whoever we meet with, we shall be able to talk to them in an earnest and simple style about God's salvation. I would, dear Friends, that our talk were always seasoned with salt--that our most common conversation were bedewed with heavenly unction, ministering Grace unto the hearers. But though very plain and very frequent, the good Psalmist's talk was very much to the point and it did not lack propriety, for he says, "So shall I talk of Your wondrous works." What does he mean? Why, according to understanding. "Make me to understand and then I shall talk like an intelligent man." May you, Brothers and Sisters, who talk about Jesus Christ be enabled to talk about Him in a wise way. Very serious mischief has often come from harping upon some one string. Some men are far more interested in stating their own ideals than in unfolding God's counsels. If we understand the way of God's precepts, acquire the language of it, get into the groove of it--then we shall talk with understanding--and there will be a harmony and a wisdom about our utterances which will be blessed to the edification of the hearers. III. We will close by noticing THE INTIMATE RELATION BETWEEN THE PRAYER OF THE STUDENT AND THE PURSUIT THAT HE SUBSEQUENTLY FOLLOWED. "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts: so shall I talk of Your wondrous works." The connection lies partly in the enchantment of this knowledge and the passion to communicate it. A man who understands Christ and His mediatorial work--and the Spirit and His sanctifying work--cannot be silent! The fire once kindled, the flames will spread. He will be so transported with wonder, admiration and adoring gratitude at the great mercy and love of God that it will cause a fermentation within his breast. He will be like a full vessel needing vent and he must have it. As with a fire in his bones, he will exclaim, "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel!" I would to God there were a deeper understanding of the ways of God, for then many silent tongues would speak. The theme, itself, without any remarkable gifts on the part of the man, would suffice to secure the attention it strongly claims. As the heart swells with thankfulness, the lips burst forth spontaneously into song. Doubtless Hannah would tell you that it was easier for a barren wife to restrain her tears than for a joyful mother to stifle her hymn of praise! Did Jesus love you when you were all forlorn? Did He find you, when a stranger, and prove Himself your Friend? Did He shelter you, when a sinner, and shield you from all harm? Did He die, that you might live? Do you know that Jesus is Your near kinsman and that He takes great delight in redeeming you for Himself? Let the truth of this but dawn on your heart and though your tongue were dumb before, it must now begin to talk-- "Now will I tell to sinners round, What a dear Savior I have found, I'll point to His redeeming blood And say, 'Behold the way to God.'" May this stir up some of you who love the Lord and yet never talk about Him! May it lead you to a holy searching of heart. Surely you have not such an understanding of Him as you ought to have, or else sometimes your silence would be thawed and your words would betray your strong emotions. If I understand the way of God's precepts, then I shall be fully furnished with matter to talk of His wondrous works! What a dreadful thing it must be for a man to set up to be a teacher of others if he does not know the things of God, experimentally, himself. It can be done, you know, and done very cheaply. You can buy sermons ready lithographed and guaranteed not to have been preached within so many miles--for nine pence each! You can be furnished with them for 10 shillings and sixpence a quarter. But there will be a heavy account at the last for the man who does that sort of thing! It is easy for you to teach in your class by reading the Sunday School Union notes, getting up the lesson and having it all in your head. Ah, but, my dear Friends, how will you answer for having taught children in the Sunday school when you have never been God's child and never have been taught of God yourself? "Unto the wicked God says, What have you to do to declare My statutes, or to take My name into your mouth?" Do not try to teach others what you do not understand yourself! Go down on your knees and cry, "Make Me to understand the way of Your precepts, so shall I talk of Your wondrous works." Dear Brethren, especially you who are to be ministers of the Gospel and have begun to preach--seek a deeper understanding of Divine things, or else your ministry will be lean and poverty-stricken. Unless you are taken into the confidence of God and initiated into His counsels, you cannot possibly discharge the solemn duties which lie upon the ambassador for Christ! Cry mightily to be well-filled with an understanding of the Gospel--and so shall you overflow to others and talk of God's wondrous works! Such sound education will clothe you with authority. A man who, in his own heart, knows what he is talking about and preaches what he has tasted and handled of the good Word of Grace, will put weight into every utterance. It matters but little what language he uses--the power lies not in the garnishing, but in the Truth of God, itself, which he proclaims! It is not the polish of his speech but the fervor of his soul which gives force to his persuasions. Oh, how often my heart has been refreshed by a humble testimony from a poor man who has talked only about what the Lord has done for him! What a power there is about experimental talk! Dry doctrine and pious platitudes borrowed from books fall flat on the ears and are gall to the taste--but he who talks of the things which he has made touching the King--he has a tongue like the pen of a ready writer! I know aged Christians who seem, every time they speak, to drop diamonds and emeralds from their lips. One could wish to treasure up every syllable they utter, not because there is anything very ingenious or original in any sentence, but because there is a sound of abundance of rain in every word. There is a Divine depth, a sacred sweetness, a leaping of life in each broken utterance which is born on their lips! You say, "That man knows more than he tells. He does not expose all his wares in the window. He has been in the secret place of communion. His face shines though his voice falters." Such teachers may you and I prove in our riper years, having light in ourselves and illuminating all who are within the range of our influence! What God has led us to understand, may we be the means of communicating by our ordinary conversation, by speech which is simple, unostentatious, yet earnest, faithful and heavenly-minded. Brothers and Sisters, not all can preach, but all can be up and doing, teaching others what you know! Do not try to teach them what you do not know. As far as you know Christ, speak about Him to your kinsfolk and acquaintances, your friends and neighbors. Our dear Brother and Elder, the late Mr. Verdon, on such a night as this would have been anxiously looking after any person who seemed to have heard with thankfulness--and he would not have suffered them to leave the place without accosting them in his own gentle manner and beginning to talk to them about Christ. I need some more like he! He has gone Home. I pray the Lord that some may be baptized for the dead, to stand in his place and fill up the gap which his removal has made in our ranks. We need a host of wise and prudent Christian talkers. I do not know that we have, at present, any more urgent need--people who can talk on the train, can talk by the roadside, can talk in the kitchen, can talk in the workshop, can talk across a counter--can, in fact, make opportunities to talk of Jesus! I need you, dear Friends, to ask the Lord to qualify you for this service and lead you into it. Some of you appear to be marching backward, for you are even more reticent than you used to be! I would have you like Archimedes when he found out his secret and could not keep it for very joy, but ran down the street crying out," I have found it! I have found it!" Come, break your guilty silence and cry aloud, "I have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write, and I cannot help talking about Him." As for others of you who are not Believers, I pray the Lord that you may give a listening ear to the message which I ask others to tell. Here it is--"Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Whoever believes in Him has everlasting life." "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." The Lord bring you to accept these tidings, to believe in Jesus and to find eternal life. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ For Whom Is The Gospel Meant? (No. 1345) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 25, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Mark 2:17. "Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6. "God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Timothy 1:15. LAST Thursday evening, with considerable difficulty, I stood here to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I handled one of the simplest imaginable texts, full of nothing but the very plainest elements of the Gospel. Within a very few minutes I had a harvest for the sermon. The congregation was slender, for you know how ill a night it was, and how little you expected that your pastor would be able to preach, but three souls came forward uninvited to acknowledge that they had found peace with God. How many more there were I do not know, but these three sought out the Brethren and bore a good and hearty confession to the blessed fact that, for the first time in their lives they, had understood the plan of salvation. Now, it seemed to me that if a plain Gospel theme was so promptly profitable, I had better keep to the same subject. If a farmer finds that a certain seed has paid him so well that he never had a better crop, then he will keep to that seed and sow more of it. Those processes of farming which have been successful should be persevered in and even used upon a larger scale. So this morning I shall just preach the A B C of the Gospel, the first rudiments of the art of salvation. And I thank God this will be no new thing to me. May God the Holy Spirit, in answer to your prayers, grant us a reward this morning after the same proportion as last Thursday and, if so, our heart will be exceedingly glad. Out of a very great number I have selected the four texts which I have just read to set forth the Truth of God that the mission of our Lord related to sinners. What did Christ come into the world for? For whom did He come? These are questions of the greatest importance and they are clearly answered in Scripture. When the children of Israel first found manna outside the camp, they said to one another, "Manna?" or, "what is it?" for they knew not what it was. There it lay, a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost upon the ground. No doubt they looked at it and rubbed it in their hands and smelled it. And how glad they were when Moses said, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat." It was not long before they put the good news to the test, for each man gathered his arms full and took it home and prepared it according to his liking. Now, concerning the Gospel, there are many who might call out, "Manna?" for they know not what it is. Very frequently, too, they make a mistake as to its bearings and its objectives, dreaming that it is a kind of improved Law, or an easier system of salvation by works and, therefore they err, also, in their idea of the persons for whom it is designed. They imagine that surely the blessings of salvation must be meant for deserving persons and Christ must be the Redeemer of the meritorious! On the principle of, "good for the good," they infer that Grace is for the excellent and Christ for the virtuous. Therefore it is a most useful thing for us continually to be reminding men what the Gospel is and for whom it is sent into the world, for, though the great mass of you know full well and do not need to be told, yet there are multitudes around us who persist in grave mistakes and need to be instructed over and over again in the very simplest of the Doctrines of Grace. There is less need for laborious explanations of profound mysteries than for simple explanations of plain Truths of God. Many men need only a simple latchkey to lift the latch and open the door of faith--and such a key, I hope God's infinite mercy may put into their hands this morning! Our business is to show that the Gospel is intended for sinners-- that it has an eye to guilty persons--that it is not sent into the world as a reward for the good and for the excellent or for those who think they have any measure of fitness or preparation for the Divine favor. We need to show that it is intended for law breakers, for the undeserving, for the ungodly, for those who have gone astray like lost sheep, or left their father's house like the prodigal. Christ died to save SINNERS and He justifies the ungodly. This Truth of God is plain enough in the Word, but since the human heart kicks against it, we will the more earnestly insist upon it. I. First, EVEN A SUPERFICIAL GLANCE AT OUR LORD'S MISSION SUFFICES TO SHOW THAT HIS WORK WAS FOR THE SINFUL. For, dear Brothers and Sisters, the descent of the Son of God into this world as a Savior implied that men needed to be delivered from a great evil by a Divine hand! The coming of a Savior who would, by His death, provide pardon for human sin, supposed men to be greatly guilty and to be incapable of procuring pardon by any works of their own. You would never have seen a Savior if there had not been the Fall. Eden's withering was a necessary preface to Gethsemane's groaning. You would never have heard of a Cross and a bleeding Savior on it if you had not first heard of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and of a disobedient hand which plucked the forbidden fruit. If the mission of our Lord did not refer to the guilty, it was an altogether unnecessary errand as far as we can see. What justifies the Incarnation except man's ruin? What explains our Lord's suffering life but man's guilt? Above all, what explains His death and the cloud under which He died but human sin? "All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all"--that is the answer to an otherwise unanswerable riddle. If we give a glance at the Covenant under which our Lord came, we soon perceive that its bearing is towards guilty men. The blessing of the Covenant of Works has to do with men who are innocent. And to them it promises great blessings. If there had been salvation by works, it would have been by the Law, for the Law is upright and just and good. But the new Covenant evidently deals with sinners, for it does not speak of the reward of merit, but it freely promises, " I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." If there had been no sins and iniquities, and no unrighteousness, then there had been no need of the Covenant of Grace of which Christ is the Messenger and the Ambassador. The slightest glimpse at our Lord's official Character as the Adam of a new Covenant should suffice to convince us that His errand is to guilty men. Moses comes to show how the holy should behave, but Jesus comes to reveal how the unholy may be cleansed! Whenever we hear the mission of Christ spoken of, it is described as one of mercy and of Grace. In the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, it is always the mercy of God that is extolled--according to His mercy He saved us. He, for Christ's sake, according to His abundant mercy, forgives us our trespasses. "The Law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ." "The Grace of God, and the gift by Grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many." The Apostle Paul, who most fully expounds the Gospel, makes Grace to be the one word upon which he rings the changes--"Where sin abounded Grace did much more abound." "By Grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." "Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." But, Brothers and Sisters, mercy implies sinfulness--there can be no mercy extended to the just, for Justice, itself, secures every good thing to them. Grace, too, can only be for offenders. What Grace is needed by those who have kept the Law and deserved well at Jehovah's hands? To them eternal life would be a matter of debt, a fairly earned reward! But when you talk of Grace, you at once shut out merit and introduce another principle. Mercy can only be exercised where there is sin and Grace cannot be manifested except to the undeserving. This is plain enough, and yet the whole tenor of some men's religion is based on another theory. The fact is, when we begin to study the Gospel of the Grace of God we see that it turns its face always towards sin, even as a physician looks towards disease, or as charity looks towards distress. The Gospel issues its invitations, but what are the invitations? Are they not addressed to those who are burdened with a load of sin and laboring to escape from its consequences? It invites every creature because every creature has its needs, but it especially says, "Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts." It invites the man who has no money, or, in other words, no merit. It calls to those who are needy, thirsty, poor, naked--and all these are but used as figures of states produced by sin! The very gifts of the Gospel imply sin--life is for the dead, sight is for the blind, liberty is for the captives, cleansing is for the filthy, absolution is for the sinful. No Gospel blessing is proposed as a reward and no invitation is issued to those who claim the blessings of Grace as a matter of right--men are invited to come and receive them freely according to the Grace of God. And what are the commands of the Gospel? Repent. But who repents unless a sinner? Believe. But believing is not according to the Law--the Law speaks only of doing. Believing has to do with sinners and with the method of salvation by Grace. The Gospel representations of itself usually look sinnerward. The great king who makes a feast finds not a guest to sit at the table among those who were naturally expected to come--so from the highways and hedges men are compelled to come in. If the Gospel describes itself as a feast it is a great feast for the blind, the crippled and the lame. If it describes itself as a fountain, it is a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. Everywhere, in all that it does and says and provides to men, the Gospel proves itself to be the sinner's friend. The motto of its Founder and Lord still is, "this Man receives sinners." The Gospel is an hospital for the sick--none but the guilty will ever accept its benefits. It is medicine for the diseased--the whole and the self-righteous will never relish its saving draughts. Those who imagine that they have some excellence before God will never care to be saved by Sovereign Grace. The Gospel, I say, looks sinnerward. That way, and that way only, does it cast its blessings. And Brothers and Sisters, you know that the Gospel has always found its greatest trophies among the most sinful. It enlists its best soldiers not only from among the guilty but from among the most guilty. "Simon," said our Lord, "I have something to say unto you--A certain man had two debtors, the one owed him 500 pence and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him more?" The Gospel goes upon the principle that he who has had much forgiven loves much. And so its gracious Lord delights to seek out the most guilty and to manifest Himself to them with abundant and overflowing love, saying "I have blotted out your sins like a cloud, and like a thick cloud your transgressions." Among great transgressors it finds its warmest lovers. When once it has saved them, it receives from them the heartiest welcome and in them it obtains the most enthusiastic adherents. Great sinners, when saved, crown free Grace with its most illustrious diadems. Well may we be sure that it has its eye towards sinners since it is among the chief of sinners that it finds its highest glory. There is one other reflection which, also, lies very near the surface, namely, that if the Gospel does not look towards sinners, to whom else could it look? There seems to have been a revival, lately, of the old quibbling spirit, so that proud Pharisees constantly tell us that the preaching ofjustification by faith is overdone and that we are leading people to think less of morality by preaching up the Grace of God. This often refuted objection is coming forth again because Protestantism is losing its sap and soul. The very force and backbone of the Reformers' teaching was that great Doctrine of Grace, that salvation is not of works but of the Grace of God, alone! And because men are getting away from the Reformation and drifting into Romanism, they are casting into the background this grand Truth of God of Justification by Faith, alone, and pretending to be afraid of it. Most men are knaves and fools upon this matter! I put to all such, this one question--To whom, Sirs, would the Gospel look, if not towards sinners, for what are you but sinners? You who talk about morality being injured, about holiness being ignored--what have you to do with either? The people who usually urge these objections, as a rule, had better be quiet on such topics. In general these fierce defenders of morality and holiness are exceedingly lax, while believers in the Grace of God are frequently charged with Puritanism and rigidity. He who stands out most to speak against the Doctrines of Grace is frequently the man or woman who needs Grace most, while the very man who cries down good works as a ground of trust is just the person whose life is carefully directed by the statutes of the Lord! Know you, O men, that there lives not on the face of the earth a man upon whom God can look with pleasure if He considers that man on the ground of His Law. "They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no not one." Not one heart is sound and right before God by nature! Not one life is pure and clean when the Lord comes to examine it with His all-searching eyes! We are all shut up in the same prison as the guilty--if not alike guilty, yet guilty according to the proportion of our light and knowledge--and each one justly condemned! We have all erred in heart and have not loved the Lord! To whom, then, could the Gospel look if it did not cast its eyes sinnerward? For whom else could the Savior have died? Who is there in the world for whom the benefits of Grace could be designed? II. Secondly, THE MORE CLOSELY WE LOOK, THE MORE CLEAR THIS FACT BECOMES, for, Brothers and Sisters, the work of salvation was certainly not performed for any of us, who are saved, on account of any goodness in us! If there is any goodness in us, it was put there by the Grace of God and it certainly was not there when first the heart of Jehovah's love began to move towards us. If you take the first sign of salvation that was actually visible on earth, namely, the coming of Christ, we are told, concerning it, that, "when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." So that our redemption, my Brothers and Sisters, was effected before we were born! This was the fruit of the Father's great love, "wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins." There was nothing in us going before which could have merited that redemption, indeed the very idea of meriting the death of Jesus is absurd and blasphemous! Yes, and when we were living in sin and loving it, there were preparations made for our salvation--Divine love was busy on our behalf when we were busy in rebellion. The Gospel was brought near to us. Earnest hearts were set praying for us. The text was written which would convert us and, as I have already said, the blood was spilt which cleanses us and the Spirit of God was given who should renew us. All this was done while as yet we had no breathings of soul after God! Is not that a wonderful passage in Ezekiel where the Lord passed by and saw the helpless infant cast out in the open field while it was yet unswaddled and unwashed and was foul and polluted in its own blood? He says that it was a time of love and yet it was a time of pollution and loathing. He did not love the chosen baby because it was well-washed and fitly clad--He loved it when it was foul and naked. Let every believing heart admire the freeness and compassion of Divine love-- "He saw me ruined in the Fall, Yet loved me, notwithstanding all. He sa ved me from my lost estate, His loving kindness, oh, how great!" When your heart was hard. When your neck was obstinate. When you would not repent nor yield to Him but rebelled yet more and more, He loved you--even you--with supreme affection! Why such Grace? Why, indeed, but because His Nature is full of goodness and He delights in mercy? Is not mercy seen to be evidently extended towards the sinful and not exerted because of some goodness moving thereto? Look a little closer, still. What did our Lord come into the world to do? Here is the answer. "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." He came that He might be a Sin-Bearer--and do you think He came to bear only the little, trifling sins of the best sort of men, if such sins there are? Do you suppose that He is a little Savior who came to save us from little offenses? Beloved, it is Jehovah's darling Son that comes to earth and bears the load of sin, a load which, when He bears it, He finds to be no fictitious burden, for it forces from Him bloody sweat! So heavy is that load that He bows His head to the grave and even unto death beneath it. That stupendous load which lay on Christ was the heap of our sins--and, therefore, as we look into the subject, we perceive that the Gospel must have to do with sinners. No sin? Then the Cross is a mistake! No sin? Then the "Lama Sabachthani" was a just complaint against unnecessary cruelty! No sin? Then, O Redeemer, what are those glories which we have so eagerly ascribed to You? How can You put away sin which does not exist? The existence of great sin is implied in the coming of Christ and that coming was occasioned and rendered necessary by SIN, against which Jesus comes as our Deliverer! He declares that He has opened a fountain, filled with the blood of His own veins. But what for? A cleansing fountain implies filth. It must be, Sinner, that somewhere or other there are filthy people, or else there had not been such an amazing fountain as this, filled from the heart of Christ! If you are guilty, you are one who needs the fountain, and it is opened for you! Come with all your sin and foulness about you and wash this morning, and be clean!-- "'Twas for sinners that He suffered Agonies unspeakable! Can you doubt you are a sinner? If you can--then hope farewell. But, believing what is written-- 'All are guilty'--'dead in sin,' Looking to the Crucified One Hope shall rise your soul within." Brothers and Sisters, all the gifts which Jesus Christ came to give, or at least most of them, imply that there is sin! What is His first gift but pardon? How can He pardon a man who has not transgressed? With all reverence do I speak-- there can be no such thing as pardon where there is no offense committed. Propitiation for sin and blotting out of iniquity both require that there must be sin to be blotted out, or what is there real about them? Christ comes to bring justification and this shows that there must be a lack of natural holiness in men, for if not, they would be justified by themselves and by their own works. And why all this outcry about justification by the righteousness of the Son of God if men are already justified by a righteousness of their own? Those two blessings, and others of the same kind, are clearly applicable only to sinful men. To no other men can they be of any use. Our Lord Jesus Christ came girded, also, with Divine power. He says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me." To what end was He girded with Divine power unless it was because sin had taken all power and strength from man, and man was in a condition out of which he could not be lifted except by the energy of the eternal Spirit? And what does this imply but that Christ's errand bears upon those who, through sin, are without strength and without merit before God? The Holy Spirit is given because man's spirit has failed--because sin has taken the life out of man and made him dead in trespasses and sins--therefore the Holy Spirit comes to quicken him into newness of life, and that Spirit comes by Jesus Christ. Therefore the errand of Jesus Christ is manifestly to the guilty. I will not omit to say that the great deeds of our Lord, if you look at them carefully, all bear upon sinners. Jesus lives--it is that He may seek and save that which is lost. Jesus dies--it is that He may make a propitiation for the sins of guilty men. Jesus rises--He rises again for our justification and, as I have shown, we would not need justification unless we had been naturally guilty. Jesus ascends on high and He receives gifts for men--but note that special word--"Yes, for the rebellious, also, that the Lord God may dwell among them." Jesus lives in Heaven, but He lives there to intercede. "Therefore 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." So take whatever part of His glorious achievements you please and you will find that there is a distinct bearing towards those who are immersed in guilt. And Beloved, all the gifts and blessings that Jesus Christ has brought to us derive much of their radiance from their bearing upon sinners. It is in Christ Jesus that we are elect and, to my mind, the glory of electing love lies in this--that it pitched upon such undeserving objects. How had there been any election had it been according to merit? Then men would have taken rank by right according to their own deeds! But election's glories are brilliant with Grace and Grace always has for its foil and background the unworthiness of the objects towards whom it is manifested. The election of God is not according to our works, but it is a gracious election of sinners! Adore and wonder! Turn to effectual calling and see how delightful it is to view that calling as a calling from among the dead, as a calling of the things that are not as though they were, as a calling of condemned ones into forgiveness and favor! Turn next to adoption. What is the glory of adoption, but that God has adopted those who were strangers and rebels to make them His children? What is the peculiar beauty of regeneration but that He has been able to raise up children, from these stones, unto Abraham? What is the beauty of sanctification, but that He has taken such unholy creatures as we are to make us kings and priests unto God and to sanctify us wholly--spirit, soul, and body? To my mind it is the glory of Heaven to think that yonder white-robed choristers were once foully deified--those happy worshippers were once rebels against God! It is a happy sight to see the unfallen angels who have kept their first estate perfectly pure and forever praising God. But the vision of fallen men divinely restored is more full of the Glory of God! Lift, as they may, their joyful voices in perpetual chorales, the angels can never reach the special sweetness of that song--"We have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." They cannot experimentally enter into that Truth of God which is of Jehovah's name its crowning glory--"You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood." Thus I have abundantly shown that the further we look, the more clear it is that the Gospel is aimed at sinners and especially intended for their benefit. III. Now, thirdly, it is evident that IT IS OUR WISDOM TO ACCEPT THE SITUATION. I know that, to many, this is a very unpalatable doctrine. Well, Friend, you had better have your palate altered, for you will never be able to alter the doctrine! It is the Truth of the everlasting God and cannot be changed. The very best thing you can do, since the Gospel looks towards sinners, is to get where the Gospel looks--and I can recommend this to you, not merely on the ground of policy, but on the ground of honesty--because you will be only in your right place when you get there. I think I hear you raising objections. "I do not admire this system. Am I to be saved in the same way as the dying thief?" Precisely so, Sir, unless there should happen to be even more Grace shown towards you than to him. "But you do not mean to assert that in the matter of salvation I am to be put on a level with the woman that was a sinner? I have been pure and chaste and am I to owe my salvation just as much to the absolute mercy of God as she did?" Yes, Sir, I do say that, exactly as it stands. There is but one principle upon which the Lord saves men and it is that of pure Grace. I want you to understand this. Even if it grinds like grit between your teeth and makes you angry, I shall not regret it so long as you know what I mean, for the Truth of God may yet find entrance into your soul and you may yet bow before its power. Oh, you children of godly parents, you young people of excellent morals and delicate consciences, to you I speak, even to you! Rejoice in your privileges, but do not boast in them, for you, too, have sinned! You have sinned against light and knowledge. You know you have! If you have not plunged into the grosser sins in act and deed, yet in desire and in imagination you have gone far enough astray--and in many things you have offended grievously against God. If, with these considerations before you, you take your place as a sinner, you will not be disgraced but be merely standing where you certainly are! And then, remember, if you get the blessing this way, you will have obtained it in the safest possible way. Suppose there are a number of guest chambers and I have my seat in one of the best of them. I may have no right to be there. I am eating and drinking of what is provided for superior guests, but my ticket does not mark me out as one of these and, therefore, I am ill at ease. Every mouthful that I eat I think to myself, "I do not know whether I shall be allowed to remain here. Perhaps the Lord of the feast will come in and say to me, 'Friend, how came you in here?' and I must begin, with shame, to take the lowest room." Brothers and Sisters, when we begin at the bottom and sit in the lowest room, we feel safe. We are satisfied that what we do get is meant for us and will not be taken away from us. Perhaps, also, when the king comes, he may take us up to a higher room. There is nothing like beginning in the lowest place. When I lay hold of the promise as a saint, I have my doubts about it. But when I grasp it as a sinner, I can have no question! If the Lord bids me feed on His mercy as His child, I do it! The devil may whisper that I am presuming, that I never was really adopted by Grace--but when I come to Jesus as a guilty, undeserving sinner, and take what the Lord freely presents to me upon believing--the devil himself cannot tell me that I am not a sinner, or if he does, the lie is too transparent and causes me no distress! There is nothing like having an indefeasible title--and if the description given to you in the title is that you are a sinner, it is an indisputable one--for depend upon it, you are a sinner! So the sinner's place is your true place and your safest place. Another blessing is it is a place into which you can get directly, even at this very moment. If the Gospel looks towards men in a certain state of heart in which there are commendable virtues, then how long will it take me to raise my heart to that state? If Jesus Christ comes into the world to save men who have a certain measure of excellence, then how long will it take me to obtain that excellence? I may be taken sick and die within the next 30 minutes and hear the sentence of eternal judgment--it would be poor Gospel to tell me that I might possibly obtain salvation if I attained a state which would take me several months to reach! At this hour I, a dying man, know that I may be gone out of this world and beyond the reach of mercy within an hour--what a comfort it is that the Gospel comes to me and gives itself to me just now, even as it finds me! I am already in that position in which Grace begins with men, for I am a sinner, and I have only to admit that I am so. Now then, poor Soul, just sit down before the Lord and say, "Lord, does Your Son come to save the guilty? I am such and I trust Him to save me. Did He die for the ungodly? I am such, Lord, I trust in His blood to cleanse me. Was His death for sinners? Lord, I take up the position! I plead guilty! I accept the sentence of Your Law as being just, but save me, Lord, for Jesus died." It is done! You are saved! Go in peace, my Son. Your sins, which are many, are forgiven you! Go, my Daughter, go your way and rejoice! The Lord has put away your sin--you shall not die, for he that believes is justified from all sin. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile! Get, then, into your true position--accept the situation in which Grace considers you to be. Do not talk of justice and merit, but appeal to pity and love. A certain man had, several times, plotted against the first Napoleon and eventually, being entirely in the emperor's hands, the sentence of death was pronounced upon him. His daughter earnestly pleaded for his life and at last, having obtained an audience with the Emperor, she fell upon her knees before him. "My girl," said the Emperor, "it is of no use to plead for your father, for I have the clearest evidence of his repeated crimes, and it is but justice that he should die." The girl replied, "Sire, I do not ask for justice, I beg for mercy. It is upon the mercifulness of your heart and not upon the justice of the case that I rely." She was heard patiently and her father's life was spared at her request. Imitate this appeal, and cry, "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness." Justice owes you nothing but death--mercy alone can spare you. Have done with every idea of making out a good case--admit it to be a bad one and plead guilty! Cast yourself upon the mercy of the court and ask for mercy, free mercy, undeserved mercy, gratuitous favor! This is what you must ask for and as in law they have a form of suing called in forma pauperis, that is, in the form of a pauper, adopt the method and as a man full of necessities beg for favor at the hands of God, in forma pauperis, and it shall be bestowed upon you. IV. Now I close this discourse with the next point, which is, THIS DOCTRINE HAS A GREAT SANCTIFYING INFLUENCE. "There," says one, "I do not believe that. Surely you have been holding out a premium to sin by saying that Christ came to save nobody but sinners and does not call anybody to repentance but the sinful." My dear Sirs, I have heard all that sort of talk so many times that I know it by heart--the same objections were raised against this doctrine in Luther's day by the Papists and, since then, by workmongers of all classes! There is nothing substantial in their notion that free Grace is opposed to morality--it is only their fancy. They dream that the doctrine of justification by faith will lead to sin, but it can be proved by history that whenever this doctrine has been best preached, men have become most holy! And whenever this Truth of God has been darkened, all manner of corruption has abounded. Gracious doctrine and gracious living fitly go together--and legal teaching and unlawful living are generally found associated. Let us show you the sanctifying power of this Gospel. Its first operation in that direction is this--when the Holy Spirit brings the truth of free pardon home to a man, it completely changes his thoughts concerning God. "What?" he asks, "Has God freely forgiven me all my offenses for Christ's sake? And does He love me notwithstanding all my sin? I did not know He was such an One as this, so gracious and kind! I thought He was hard! I called Him a tyrant, gathering where He had not strewed--but does He feel towards me like this? Then," says the soul, "I love Him in return." There is a complete reversal of feeling--the man is turned right round as soon as he understands redeeming Grace and dying love. Conversion follows on a sight of Grace. Moreover, this grand Truth of God does more than turn a man, it inspires, melts, enlivens and inflames him. This is a Truth which stirs the deeps of the heart and fills the man with lively emotions. Before, you talked to him about doing good, about right, justice, reward and punishment--he heard it all and it may have had a measure of influence over him--but he did not deeply feel it. Such teaching is too cold to warm the heart. Then the Truth comes home to the man and appears to him to be new and exciting. It runs like this--God, out of His free mercy, forgives the guilty and He has forgiven me! Why, this awakens him, stirs him up, touches the fountain of his tears and moves his whole being! Perhaps at the first hearing of the Gospel, he does not care for it, and even hates it. But when it comes with power, it obtains a wonderful mastery over him! When he really receives its message as his own, then his cold heart of stone is turned to flesh! Warm emotion, tender love, humble desire and a sacred longing after the Lord are all excited in his bosom. The quickening power of this Divine Truth, as well as the converting power of it, can never be too much admired. Besides, this Truth, when it enters the heart, deals a deadly blow at the man's self-conceit. Many a man would have become wise, only he thought he was already! And many a man would have been virtuous, only he concluded that he had already attained that, too! Behold, this doctrine smites upon the skull all confidence in your own goodness and makes you feel your guilt! And in so doing, it removes the great evil of pride. A sense of sin is the very threshold of mercy! A consciousness of shortcoming, a grief because of past offenses are necessary preparations for a higher and a nobler life. The Gospel digs out the foundation, makes a great vacuum and so makes room to lay in their places the glorious stones of a noble spiritual character. Moreover, where this Truth of God is received, there is sure to spring up in the soul a sense of gratitude. The man who has had much forgiven will be sure to love much in return. Gratitude to God is a grand mainspring for holy action. Those who do right in order to be rewarded for it are acting selfishly. Selfishness is at the bottom of their character-- they abstain from sin only lest self should suffer--and they obey only that self may be safe and happy. The man who does right, not because of Heaven or Hell, but because God has saved him and he loves the God who saved him, is the truly right-loving man. He who loves right because God loves right, has risen out of the fog of selfishness and is capable of the loftiest virtue, yes, he has in him a living spring which will well up and flow forth in holy living so long as he exists. And, dear Brothers and Sisters, I think you will all see that free forgiveness to sinners is very conducive towards one part of a true character, namely, readiness to forgive others, for he who has been forgiven much himself is the very man who finds it easy to pass by the transgressions of others. If he does not, he may well doubt whether he has been forgiven! If the Lord has blotted out his debt of a thousand talents, he will, readily enough, forgive the hundred pence which his brother owes him. Last of all, some of us know and we wish that all knew by personal experience, that a sense of undeserved favor and free forgiveness is the very soul of enthusiasm--and enthusiasm is to Christianity what the lifeblood is to the body! Were you ever made enthusiastic by a cold discourse upon the excellence of morality? Did you ever feel your soul stirred within you by listening to a sermon upon the rewards of virtue? Were you ever made enthusiastic by being told of the punishments of the Law? No, Sirs--but preach up the Doctrines of Grace--let the free favor of God be extolled and mark the consequences! There are people who will walk for many miles and stand without weariness by the hour together to hear this! I have known them labor many a weary mile to listen to this doctrine! Why? Because the preacher was eloquent, or because he put it well? Not so! It has sometimes been badly spoken and in uncouth language--and yet this doctrine has always awakened the people. There is something in the soul of man that is looking out for the Gospel of Grace! And when it comes, there is a hungering to hear about it! Look at the Reformation times, when death was the penalty of listening to a sermon--how the people crowded at midnight! How they journeyed into the deserts and the caves to listen to the teaching of these grand old Truths of God! There is sweetness about mercy, Divine Mercy freely given, which holds the ear of man and stirs his heart! When this Truth of God enters the soul, it breeds zealots, martyrs, confessors, missionaries, saints. If any Christians are in earnest and full of love to God and man, they are those who know what Grace has done for them. If any remain faithful under reproaches, joyful under losses and crosses--they are those who are conscious of their indebtedness to Divine Love. If any delight in God while they live and rest in Him as they die--they are the men who know that they are justified by faith in Jesus Christ who justifies the ungodly. All glory be to the Lord who lifts the beggar from the dunghill and sets him among princes, even the princes of His people! He takes the very cast-offs of the world and adopts them into His family and makes them heirs of God by Jesus Christ! The Lord grant us all to know the power of the Gospel upon our sinful selves! The Lord endear to us the name, work and Person of the Sinner's Friend! May we never forget the hole of the pit from where we were drawn, nor the hand which rescued us, nor the undeserved kindness which moved that hand! From now on let us have more and more to say of Infinite Grace. "Free Grace and dying love." Well does the old song say, "Ring those charming bells." Free Grace and dying love--the sinner's windows of hope! Our hearts exult in the very words! Glory be unto You, O Lord Jesus, ever full of compassion. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Guile Forsaken When Guilt Is Forgiven (No. 1346) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH 25, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Psalm 32:2. THE only blessing the Law can give, it bestows on those who do no iniquity and walk perfectly in God's ways--the Gospel, alone, has a blessing for the guilty. Upon their believing in Jesus, it pronounces the benediction, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity." To be "blessed" is to be in the most desirable state--at peace with God, happy in yourself and full of Divine favor. A man cannot be more than blessed, or, what if I say, doubly blessed since the benediction is pronounced twice? Nor is it a stinted blessing, for no limiting word is put before it or after it to mark an inferior benediction. When our Lord opened His mouth in the Sermon on the Mount, He poured forth a stream of blessings, and even so does the Gospel, when it speaks to the soul--rivers of blessing flow from its every word! The language of the text is very emphatic in the original and implies a multiplication of blessings. There cannot be a more true, real and assured blessedness than that which belongs to the forgiven sinner. All the blessedness which could have come to a perfect man comes to the man whose transgression is forgiven. O you who have sinned against God and are conscious of it, rejoice that you are not shut out from blessedness! If, by faith, you can believe in the sin-forgiving God and accept the matchless Atonement which covers all your guilt and if you will exercise faith upon that blessed system by which sin is no longer imputed, then you are even now among the blessed! God Himself has blessed you and neither men nor devils can reverse the benediction. Now, mark that at the very same time that the guilt of sin is taken away and blessedness is bestowed, it happens unto the forgiven man that he undergoes a change of nature. The work of the Spirit is linked with the work of the Son--when the Son removes guilt, the Spirit removes guile. He who takes away our offenses, also cures our deceit. When we begin to be Believers, we cease to be liars. He who was, before, crafty as Jacob no sooner receives the blessing of the Lord in answer to prayer than he becomes "an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile." It is to this fact that I am going to draw your attention at this time. As I desire to use it as a means for self-examination and awakening, I pray the Holy Spirit to apply it with power to many souls. You must all have noticed in David's case, that after he had fallen into his foul sin with Bathsheba, he ceased to exhibit that transparent truth-speaking character which had charmed us so much before. Until he had obtained a sense of pardon for his great crime, David was as crooked and perverse as he could be. Guile was as abundant in him as guilt, for he made no confession of his sin and would not allow himself to see the heinousness of it. He must have put a fearful strain upon his conscience to have hushed its protests against his grievous offense. Perhaps even months passed without any honest acknowledgment to his own conscience and to God that he had so foully sinned. His entire endeavors were concentrated upon the concealment of his crime and, to that end, all his wits were set to work with horrible cunning. What crafty devices he practiced in seeking to hide his sin--such as bringing Uriah back and making him drunk! Could this be David--the honest and conscientious David of former days? Could he have become so mean, so full of low scheming? Could he be the Psalmist who sung so sweetly? Could he deliberately plan the death of the man whom he had so fearfully wronged? Yes, and worse, when Uriah, being willfully exposed to danger, fell in battle, David manifested no compunction, nor uttered a word by way of confession. He put it off with apparent indifference, saying, "the sword devours one as well as another." He knew right well how Uriah came to die, and Joab knew, also, and yet he trumped up a message, as if nothing had been arranged between them beforehand. Ah, David, what a deceitful heart you had and how you did practice guile upon guile! Yes, so blind had his mental vision become, as to his own sinfulness, that when Nathan outlined a picture which was the very photograph of his own case, he did not see it, but pronounced a fierce sentence against the supposed culprit! It needed the Prophet to come forward and say, "You are the man," before that guileful heart of David was able to perceive that Nathan spoke of him! Yes, sin gives a twist to our entire manhood and makes us play a thousand tricks both with our conscience and with God. But notice, as soon as Nathan said, "The Lord has put away your sin: you shall not die," David became another man! He wrote the 51st Psalm, which is one of the most honest pieces of writing that ever fell from human pen. How plain-spoken it is all through! How bare is the penitent's bosom! In it you do not so much hear the sound of vibrating harp-strings as of throbbing, breaking /zeart-strings! All through it, the man's soul is running over at his lips and at his eyes--concealment and trickery are quite out of the field. Pardoned sin makes an honest heart, but while sin is unconfessed and unforgiven the serpent rules within and men twist, wriggle, wind and turn in a thousand deceitful ways. My first head tonight is this--many men play tricks with God and their consciences. Secondly, the forgiven man gives evidence of having ceased from this evil habit--"In His spirit there is no guile." I. While I speak upon my first head--that MANY MEN PLAY TRICKS WITH GOD AND THEIR CONSCIENCES, I shall be very glad if you will each carefully notice how much of what is said belongs to you personally. I want to be very honest with you, but I should be sorry to be unjust. Do not take home what does not apply to you, but anything which is really yours, I pray you to lay to heart. Court the entrance of the Truth of God, even though it should cut you to the quick. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Avail yourselves of the opportunity which the Lord is now affording us to search our hearts, as in the presence of the Lord who weighs the spirits. May the Holy Spirit aid us in this business. The guile of the human heart shows itself in a refusal to come to serious consideration. Men cannot be induced to examine themselves and to look to the state of affairs between God and their souls. We press them to it and plead with them, even to tears, but they refuse to do themselves this necessary service. They are more or less conscious that something is very wrong, but they have no mind to enquire. Is this truthful? Is it reasonable? If their house were reported to be on fire, would they not see to it? But no, they could not enjoy the fool's paradise of false peace if they were seriously to think and enquire and, therefore, they prefer to take matters easily and ignore as much as possible all that is unsatisfactory about their condition and prospects. From week to week there is no calling of conscience to account. Sabbaths follow one another and though there may be a little occasional awakening, there is no resolute determination to cast up accounts and find out the soul's actual condition. They prefer to shut their eyes and stop their ears rather than see signs and hear tidings which would distress them. What childishness is this! It is worse--it is dishonesty to their souls and God. When a steward declines to render an account, you may easily guess the reason. When a shipmaster refuses to have his vessel surveyed, you shrewdly suspect the sea-worthiness of the ship. When a merchant does not care to look into his books, you judge on which side the balance has turned. Honest men are prepared to go into matters and are willing to see the naked truth, but men who are not brave enough to face uncomfortable facts play the foolish game of bandaging their eyes. Putting the telescope to the blind eye and declaring that you see nothing is an old trick, and commonly practiced even now. May we never be suffered to persevere in the self-deception which is supported by a heedless disregard of warnings. Most men will do anything sooner than think about eternal things. The most frivolous amusements, the most stupid songs, the most carking cares and even the most weary ceremonial fashions are adopted as a happy release from the labor of reflection. Death, judgment, eternity, Heaven and Hell--they dare not think of these--and why? Because they know that all is wrong with them and so they practice a crafty carelessness and a cunning indifference. Others who do think a little are partial in their judgments of themselves. They present accounts, but these are cooked and made to appear other than they should be by a sort of spiritual financing. Ungodly men color all that they do with a rosy tint and endeavor to be gratified with the appearance of their lives. Is it not very usual for business men, when their financial position is becoming more and more unsound, to make a show of prosperity in order to keep up their credit? Doubtful investments are reckoned as available assets and heavy liabilities are toned down by clever adjustments. Public companies often show us fine specimens of the art of coloring. Alas, that reasonable beings should practice this art upon themselves in relation to their most vital interests--yet they do so year after year! They put darkness for light and light for darkness, and reckon themselves to be rich and increased with goods while they are naked and poor and miserable. Well-skilled are many in the method of "making the worse appear the better reason." They exaggerate any little excellence which they think they possess and greatly underestimate their faults. They deny, or extenuate, or altogether excuse their sin--they blame their nature, or their circumstances, or the Tempter--but they, themselves, must be excused. How could they help sinning? Others would have done the same had they been in their shoes--why, then, should they be blamed? Moreover, what they did was not so very bad, after all, and there are all their good deeds as a set off against the bad! Men use false weights and deceitful balances when they are dealing with their souls. They will not endure honest handling. They cry, "peace, peace," where there is no peace and prophesy smooth things for themselves. Like the unjust steward, they permit false statements to be made of what is due to their Lord and when they come up to their false standard they congratulate themselves as if they were the pink of honesty! Again, many are evidently tricking themselves willfully because they rest on such frivolous grounds of confidence. Could any man depend on his own good works unless he had juggled with his judgment? What do you think? Do you believe that any man would build his hope for eternity upon his being christened when he was a baby and his having taken the communion at certain seasons since if he were not anxious to be deceived? Do you think that any man, unless willingly duped, could believe that he was made a child of God by an outward ceremony? Do you think any man would rely upon sacraments unless he desired to be misled? A mortal man believes in absolution given to him by a fellow sinner who calls himself a priest--is he not willingly deceived? If any man relies upon outward performances as a means for the putting away of sin, do you think he has not sense enough in him, if he chooses to use it, to know that this is utter absurdity? True, many are duped by the teachings of others, but if they possess even so much as a trace of brain, might they not see through such false teaching if they chose? If a man would sit down and only think, would he not see that confidences based upon such frail foundations are as sure to fall as houses built upon the sand? But, alas, multitudes of men play such tricks with themselves so that they are led by the nose by the servants of Antichrist! They see that others yield their assent to the pretensions of priests and they conclude that they will go with the many. It is inconvenient to be too particular and so they leap with the majority! But what a wretched way of doing business and how hollow the peace which comes of it! Men will trust their souls upon statements so flimsy that they would not risk a half-crown upon them. There is guile at the bottom of this and those who profess to be easy in these confidences are not so. Sirs, there is no man honest in his peace but the man who gained it through the blood of Jesus Christ! If you come to testing and trying, all other confidences fail you except confidence in the Christ of God! But the sinner is full of guile and does not want to test and try. Like the simple, he believes every word because it would be tedious to discriminate and troublesome to doubt a good report. Some practice guile in another way. They avoid all home truths and keep clear of searching doctrines. If they hear a faithful sermon and it comes home to them, do you know what they say? "The preacher was so very harsh. I could not hear a man like that. I want more love." Of course they cannot abide a ministry which reveals their true state, for, "he that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light lest his deeds should be reproved." Only honest hearts ask to hear that searching Word of God which lays bare the thoughts and intents of the heart--gracious men know that to be turned inside out by a searching discourse is the very thing they need--and they are grateful to the honest man of God who will not spare them. Those persons must be very foolish who prefer a doctor who, when they are dreadfully diseased and near to death, nevertheless flatteringly says, "Oh, this is but a small matter! I shall soon set you right. Here is my wonderful pill--take a certain quantity of boxes and you will be perfectly restored. I have seen many cases worse than yours completely cured." The poor wretch is almost in his grave and yet he promises him long life! Sensible men hate such a deceiver. Rational men choose a trustworthy physician who will, so far as he knows, tell them what ails them and not bolster them up in falsehood. So, if men would but let their senses exercise themselves on the best things, they would prefer an honest teacher and prize his faithful warnings. And they would be glad that things should be put plainly, even if harshly, lest haply they should perish in self-deception. Very commonly we meet with people foolish enough to endeavor to turn the edge of an unpalatable home truth by finding fault with the preacher. He is too censorious and that is your excuse for remaining in spiritual apathy. He blundered in pronunciation, or grammar, or style--and that is tacitly placed as an excuse for your rejecting the Gospel which he preached. Even books come in for the same censures! The plain-speaking volume is not "conceived in a gentle spirit," or is too narrow, bigoted and one-sided. The witness is hated because he prophecies only evil. If the sinner cannot escape the censure of his conscience, he will raise a deal of dust and throw handfuls of it upon those who seek his good, so that in the fog he may effect a retreat. Ah, foolish trickery! Beyond this, many are clever at parrying home thrusts by introducing other themes. Many imitate the Samaritan woman at the well. When our Lord began to unveil her character and touch her conscience about those five husbands of hers, she sought to change the subject by the remark, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and You say that in Jerusalem men ought to worship." Thus with questions about rites or ceremonies, or doctrines, or types, or prophecies, men shield themselves from the blows of the Spirit's sword! A brother minister told me, some time ago, that he visited a woman whose husband had died very suddenly, and he found that she had at one time been an attendant upon his ministry. She was sitting with her brother, who was an elder of the Scot Church, who began at once, somewhat harshly, to remind her of her negligence of Christian ordinances. The woman evidently feared that the minister would follow in the same strain and so she cleverly warded off the expected attack by stating that she had a great difficulty which she could by no means get over. The minister had no idea of rebuking her while just newly made a widow, but her conscience was evidently putting her into a state of alarm. And so she again interrupted the minister's kindly earnest remarks by saying, "But still, you see, Sir, I cannot get my mind easy about this one thing. In the Shorter Catechism it says that God is without beginning and I cannot understand how that can be. That He should be without end I can understand, but that He should be without beginning is quite beyond me." "Well," said the pastor, "my good Soul, I do not think that this is quite the time to talk about such a mysterious matter. You see the Lord has removed your husband from you and it is well for us to hear the voice of the rod." It was of no use, for the woman held to her shield and repeated that still she could not understand how God could be without a beginning. At last her brother, the elder, silenced her objection, by saying, "Woman, what are you doing? Why make such a fuss about a plain subject? Of course the Lord never had a beginning and He never needed any, for He was always there." This, for awhile, silenced that particular form of caviling, but before long the woman was at the same mode of defense. You know how the lapwing pretends to have a broken wing and flies as if it must be taken and all with the view of leading the passenger from her nest--so do our hearers try to lead us away from the main matter. When comparing notes about the way in which the unconverted meet us when we try to deal personally with them, ministers can all bear witness to the cleverness of many in the art of turning the switch and shunting the conversation. You know how it has been with some of you when you have been hard pressed, you have crept under the Doctrine of Election! You have hidden in the dark corner of Predestination, or dodged the Gospel behind some theory of free agency. This is sheer trickery, a display of evil subtlety, exceedingly mischievous! What would it help you if you could understand all mysteries? As long as you are unreconciled to God, what does it matter about what you understand or do not understand? Is it not your business to confess your sin and go and seek mercy at the hands of the Most High? What degree of knowledge will excuse you if you neglect this chief duty? Those points which are worth your knowing, God will teach you in due time by His Spirit. I beseech you, attend to the main business which is that you should be saved from sin by faith in the Lord Jesus! Another very cunning trick which is often practiced by sinners who are full of guile is this--they pass on to other people anything which is uncomfortably applicable to themselves. It seemed as if the preacher had made a cap specially to fit that head, but the result was that the person who watched the making exclaimed, "Dear me! How well he has taken my neighbor's measure." The letter is meant for him, but he puts it in another envelope, drops it into his friend's mailbox and runs away! If there is a solemn warning for unregenerate men, he does not see its bearing on himself. He perceives somebody in the crowd who needs just such a serious word and he hopes that it will be useful to him. You will hear him sometimes say after a sermon in which almost every point has been put personally to himself, "I cannot think how our friend Smith could keep his seat while the pastor was dealing so faithfully with him." "You are the man" is an application as much needed now as ever, for it is one of the common tricks of sinners to get another to wear their robes that they, themselves, may pass unwounded through the battle. Alas for such wretched deceit! One sorry piece of craft which Satan teaches to many is to make them doubt, or pretend to doubt, anything in Scripture which frowns upon them. If they find that, dying as they are, they will be driven from the Presence of God forever, they comfort themselves by recollecting that a wise man has discovered that everlasting does not mean forever! And they hear that a clever Divine has found out that there is to be a general jail release in Hell and everybody is to be admitted into Heaven in due time. They hear this and they hear that--and as drowning men catch at straws, so do they cling to any new inventions which promise them ease in their sins. They lay the flattering unction of false doctrine to their souls as if it were the balm of Gilead. "Perhaps it may be so," they say, and thus they risk their future happiness upon so poor a chance as the hope that, perhaps, these modern thinkers may turn out to be right and the plain teaching of Scripture prove to be a mistake! It is a wonderfully easy thing to make yourself out to be an honest skeptic and from this earthwork to assail your assailants. And yet all the while you may have no doubt at all, but in the core of your heart you may, like the devil, believe and tremble! Ah, you pretended doubters! If you were stretched on a dying bed, you would believe the old Revelation, fast enough, and begin to cry out for mercy in the fear which the approach of death would bring upon you! Half the men who talk so much about their not believing, believe a great deal more than they would like to admit-- but they dare not test their own imaginary infidelity by spending an hour alone in their chamber at eventide and looking into their own hearts. There are many hypocritical Believers, but are there not quite as many pretended unbelievers to whom doubting is a mere sop to quiet the cerberus of their conscience? Guile plays its part with the human intellect and conjures up an army of ghosts in the form of doubts--but when the sun of the Truth of God arises, they immediately disappear. Let us examine another product of the deceit of the natural heart. While yet they are far from God, many calm and quiet themselves with outward religion. They never pray in sincerity--neither does their heart speak at any time with God--and yet they dare not go to bed at night without kneeling down at their bedside and repeating a form of prayer! They have never repented of sin and yet they will repeat words of confession most humbly. They do not praise the Lord in sincerity and yet their voices may be heard in Psalm and hymn. On the Lord's Day they go up to the House of God and sit there and do as God's people do--and they would not be easy if they did not do so--but their heart is in none of the worship. Far be it from me to discourage even outward reverence, but it is a strange cheat that a man puts upon himself when he supposes that mere formal, heartless worship can be a reason for peace of mind! To have mocked God with solemn sounds upon a thoughtless tongue ought not to be a ground of comfort! Repeating words of prayer without life and feeling should rather move us to self-condemnation than to self-congratulation! How can men feel content with rending their garments when the Lord bids them rend their hearts? O Sirs, if you do not pray with your hearts, what are all your forms worth? What are bended knees without broken hearts? If you do not, indeed, repent of sin and lay hold on Christ, what are all your Church goings, or your Chapel goings, however constant they may be? Of what good can external religion be to you while you deny to God the homage of your minds? And yet too many wrap themselves up in this garment of guile. There are others who conceal in the secret of their hearts a blasphemous notion which they hardly dare to put into words, but it amounts to this--the reason why they are not saved is not by any means due to themselves. They reject the Savior and refuse to leave their sins, but they are not to blame for it! In fact, they dare not actually say so, but they insinuate that the blame of their condition lies with God, Himself! They have been waiting, but Grace has not come! They are quite ready, but God is not! They are poor victims of adverse fate and rather to be pitied than condemned! Or so they endeavor to make out for themselves. Distorted truth is used to support their lies and conscience is drugged into a dangerous slumber. Thus do men trick themselves out of their souls with sophistical arguments forged by him who from the beginning is a murderer and a liar! Be not hoodwinked by this slanderous falsehood, but read God's Word where He declares, "As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, but that he turn unto Me and live." He testifies that He waits to be gracious and all day long stretches out His hands to a disobedient and gainsaying generation! What a strong delusion is this, when men dare to lay their blood at God's door and make Him to be the Author of their sin! In their consciences they know better, but their inward crookedness delights in lies. Perhaps the most numerous victims of this guile are those who flatter themselves that they will be right some day. They have been hearers of the Gospel for 20 years and are not saved--but they have a full persuasion that they shall not die as they are now. They nurse the fond idea that one of these days it will be convenient for them to seek the Lord. The convenient day has never come, yet, but still they think it will. There will be a favored hour and a peculiar time--and they half promise that it shall not be very much longer. O you who play at procrastination! You are knaves to your own souls! Think about it--if you resolve that you will repent in a year's time, what is that but a daring defiance of God by declaring that you will continue in sin for 12 more months, at least? Have you ever looked at it in that light? Even if a man knew that he would live a year and that on this day 12 months from now he would carry out his resolution to become a Christian, yet if he should make such a resolution, what would it amount to but this--"I mean for 12 months to refuse the Savior's claims and remain an enemy to God"? Do you think that he who thus resolves is in a hopeful condition? If he is determined to rebel against his Lord for 12 months, do you not conclude that at the end of the year he will be a worse man and be even less likely to yield himself to God? Thus have I exposed a few of the many "knavish tricks" by which our unrenewed hearts manifest their deceit. May God the eternal Spirit bless the searching word to all who are deceiving themselves. II. But now, secondly, THE PARDONED MAN GIVES EVIDENCE OF CEASING FROM THIS GUILE, for, in the first place, he makes an open confession of his sin to God. Here he stands before the Most High and cries, "God be merciful to me, a sinner," for he feels his guiltiness. He takes his fault and criminality to himself and does not cloak his iniquity. He admits that he has sinned against Heaven and in the Presence of the Most High. This he does all the more freely because he has no motive to do otherwise. Why should he hide his sin? There is full forgiveness for him! Why should he deny it when the precious blood of Christ is ready to put it all away? I think the most honest confession is that which falls from the Believer's lips when he gazes upon the-- "Fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins." "There," says a creditor to his debtor, "you owe me a great deal of money, but if you will bring me the account, I will receipt it all." My Friend, would you not willingly put down all you owed in such a case? Ah, I think you would rather put down too much than too little when such a promise was before you! You would be afraid lest you should overlook anything and would be eager to make a clean breast of all your liabilities. And so when the Lord Jesus gives a full pardon to the soul that believes in Him, it is sure to be met with a full confession. How could it be otherwise? The pardoned man has, also, done with all sorts of excuses. He does not try to set his virtues in a brighter light than that of Truth of God or to make his sins appear less heinous than they are. He confesses all their guilt and heartily humbles himself in the sight of God. The lowly words in the language he loves best. The lowest place in the synagogue is his choice. Once he boasted that he was almost a saint, but now he admits that he is altogether a sinner. You shall hear no extenuations, excuses, or denials. The man beholds the pardon of God and it makes him honest. Now he desires to know the worst of his case and longs to be searched and probed. He who has found peace through Jesus Christ surrenders the keys of the most secret chambers of his soul and asks for inspection. "O Lord," he says, "I pray You make sure work with my case. I beseech You cut from my heart this dreadful cancer of sin, even though the painful knife must follow every root of the hideous evil, for I desire Truth in the inward parts and the complete eradication of the love of sin." He is not content to make the outside of the cup and platter clean and leave the inward part filthy, but he cries for inward cleansing and for renewal in the hidden fountains of thought and action. Now he courts Divine investigation and begs his Redeemer to let the winnowing fan discover and remove his chaff. Now would he put himself in the full blaze of Jehovah's light and desire the consuming fire to burn up his dross. He cultivates heart-searching and practices daily repentance. He continually desires a lowly estimate of himself because he feels that self-abhorrence endears Christ to his heart as the great Savior of unworthy ones. He would rather have a little true Grace than abound in great pretensions and he considers the lowest place among the children of God to be better than he deserves. Sincerity has, also, entered into the sinner's belief in the terrible things of God's Word. He now sees their certainty and their justice and does not pretend to question them. He is one who trembles at the Word of the Lord and he leaves the cavilers to do their daring work alone. He knows in his own conscience that there is a Hell. He confesses, also, that it is just that there should be such a place of punishment and he only marvels that he has not been driven there, himself. Such a man now wishes to be dealt with personally and impartially whenever he reads a book or hears a sermon. He does not want the preacher to speak to others and leave him out. No, but he has come hungering and thirsting after the Word and he opens his mouth and pants for his portion. And if, instead of getting comfort, he is to receive rebuke, he is reverently ready to receive it so long as it shall be for his real good. He is ready to take bitter medicine, for he is anxious to be healed. He lays bare his breast, for he desires the heavenly Surgeon to inflict any wound rather than leave the heart of stone within his flesh. He delights in the searching Word, and the more closely it tries and tests him the more thankful he is for it. The pardoned man, also, desires everything that he does to be true. He is often afraid to pray in public lest he should say more than he feels. When he rises from his knees in private, he frequently questions himself--"Has it been real devotion? Did I really mean all that I said?" He catechizes himself lest he should be a hypocrite! And I have known a man, whose sins have been pardoned, when he has dared to preach a sermon, sit down afterwards and take all his sentences to pieces lest he should have said more than he altogether knew and actually felt, for he was exceedingly afraid of going beyond the line of his actual knowledge. The saved soul hates paste gems and mimic jewels. He desires to have true precious stones or none at all. He is afraid of shams. He wants to be real in all things and, therefore, he sometimes doubts his own safety because he is in the habit of pulling himself to pieces--to dissect his heart and to see whether it is sound all through. This habit may be carried to excess, but, in itself, it is an exceedingly good one. It is infinitely better than the dishonesty of setting down all our gilt as gold. The really pardoned man, also, desires to be rid of all sin. I know some who can never hope to obtain forgiveness, for they continue in their iniquity. Can a woman expect to find peace with God while she goes on taking her sly drop and becoming intoxicated in private? Can a man find joy in God who still clings to the drunk's vice? Will God receive into His favor those who continue to practice dishonesty in trade? Shall sin be fondled and yet pardoned? No one dares to expect it and yet deceitful hearts attempt to think so. They will condemn other people's pet sins and yet excuse their own! They pretend much sorrow for sin in general, but hold to one favorite sin in particular. Their delicate Agag must live! Kill all the rest, but surely, as to this one, the bitterness of death has passed! O Sirs, be not deceived--you must be willing for all sin to go! If you desire one sin to live, you will not live yourself! The honest-hearted sinner--he whom the Lord absolves of iniquity--desires to see all his sins brought forth and hung up like the kings whom Joshua found in the cave at Makkedah--hung up in the face of the sun that they might die the death-- "The dearest idol I have known, Whatever that idol be, Help me to tear it from Your Throne, And worship only Thee." We are not perfect, but every really pardoned man wishes that he were so. Though there are sins into which we fall, there are no sins which we love. Though we come short of the Glory of God, yet we do not rest happy in falling short, and we can never be wholly content till it is no longer so with us. Beloved, the pardoned man is cleansed from the guile which would ask for quarter for darling sins. He seeks after perfect purity of life and he has heartily ceased from guile, for now, as an heir of Heaven, he lives in the Presence of God and delights to remember the all-seeing eye. Now he does not say to God, "Depart from me: I desire not the knowledge of Your ways," but he looks upon every action of every day as done before his Father's face. He needs nothing but the Truth of God and that which will bear the test of the Judgment Day. Beloved, I can well understand why a pardoned man becomes a man without deceit--because his pardon is a real pardon--there is no fiction in it. God justifies him, but He does not justify him by a deception, as some have blasphemously ventured to say. No, but there is my sin. Christ took it and was punished for it and, therefore, my sin was honestly put away without any violation of justice, for Christ has made a full Atonement for it--and so my sin has justly ceased to be! Why, with such an honest foundation as that, an honest pardon may well make an honest man! God makes the Believer righteous-- righteous beyond dispute. His faith is counted to him for righteousness, seeing he has believed in Jesus Christ, and that is a righteousness which, at the Last Great Day, will stand the test of the most searching enquiry! The man is saved on honest principles and, therefore, from now on there are no tricks for him. He stands erect and fears no accuser while he cries, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who, also, makes intercession for us." The lesson from the whole is this--be honest. Sinner, may God make you honest. Do not deceive yourself! Make a clean breast of it before God. Have an honest religion, or have none at all. Have a religion of the heart, or else have none. Put aside the mere vestment and garment of piety and let your soul be right within. Be honest. And you who are Christians, remember that your blessedness will never be enjoyed by yourselves unless you continue to be without guile. Some Christians live rather by policy than by honesty--I hope they are Christians, but I am not sure--for their life is full of scheming. They never go straight. They would not care to go straight--they like going a little round about just to show that they can dodge in and out. There are men of this sort in business and you need not go out of your road to meet them. Even their thinking seems to revolve on a wheel--all round about and round about. Now, Friends, you will never be happy while you act craftily. The only life in which a man can enjoy the blessedness of pardoned sin is a downright straightforward life. Be like clear glass so that all who choose to do so may see right through you. There is a way of living guardedly in which you never speak your mind, but are diplomatic and reserved. You take your words out of your mouth and look at them--and judge what other people will think of them. And then you put the best of them back again. There is a system of living, as it were, in armor, buckled up, with your visor down--you never dare show your real self, but maintain great prudence and reserve. What is this but to live in fetters? I would sooner die at once-- "I would rather not be, as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself." To speak his heart and to act honestly is, to a true Believer, the path of peace and happiness. If any man chooses another path and tries diplomacy and policy, so he may, but as sure as he lives he will come to a sorrowful ending and find that such a course is not a way which God approves, nor will He let His servants have peace in it. May God, in His infinite mercy, bring us all to follow Jesus, trusting in His blood and treading in His footsteps! And to Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ How Is Salvation Received? (No. 1347) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 1, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by Grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the Law, but to that, also, which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all." Romans 4:16. WE shall turn during yet another Sabbath morning to one of the great vital Truths of the Gospel. I feel it to be more and more important to bring forward the fundamental doctrines since they are, in certain quarters, placed so much in the background. I met with a remark the other day that even the evangelical pulpit needs to be evangelized--I am afraid it is too true and, therefore, we will give such prominence to the Gospel and to its central Doctrine of Justification by Faith, that no such remark shall be applicable to us. We have heard it said that if an instrument could be invented which would serve the same purpose towards sermons as the lactometer does towards milk, you would, with great difficulty, be able to discover any trace of the unadulterated milk of the Word of God in large numbers of modern discourses. I shall not subscribe to any sweeping censure, but I am afraid there is too much ground for the accusation. In abundance of sermons, the polish of the rhetoric is greatly in excess of the weight of the doctrine and "the wisdom of words" is far more conspicuous than the Cross of Christ. Besides, the Gospel is always needed. There are always some persons who urgently need it and will perish unless they receive it. It is a matter of hourly necessity! There may be finer and more artistic things to speak about than the simplicities of Christ, but there are certainly no more useful and requisite things. The signposts at the crossroads bear very simple words, generally consisting of the names of the towns and villages to which the roads lead. But if these were painted out and their places supplied with stanzas from Byron, or stately lines from Milton, or deep thoughts from Cowper or Young, I am afraid there would be grievous complaints from persons losing their way! They would declare that however excellent the poetry might be, they thought it an impertinence to mock them with a verse when they needed plain directions as to the king's highway! So let those who will, indulge in poetical thoughts and express them in high-flown language--it shall be ours to set up the signposts marking out the way of salvation and to keep them painted in letters large and plain--so that he who runs may read. There is another reason for giving the Gospel over and over, again and again. It is the reason which makes the mother tell her child 20 times, namely, because 19 times are not enough! Men are so forgetful about the things of Christ and their minds are so apt to step aside from the Truth of God, that when they have learned the Gospel they are very easily bewitched by falsehood and are readily deceived by that "other gospel" which is not another! Therefore we need to give them "line upon line and precept upon precept." I scarcely remember the old rustic rhyme, but I remember hearing it sung in my boyish days when the country people were planting beans according to the old plan of putting three into each hole--I think it ran thus-- "One for the worm and one for the crow, And let us hope the other will grow." We must be content to plant many seeds in the hope that one will take root and bear fruit! The worm and crow are always at work and will be sure to get their full share of our sowing and, therefore, let us sow the more! Come we, then, to our text and to the Gospel of faith. Last Lord's Day the theme was, "For whom is the Gospel meant?" And the reply was, for sinners. The question, today, is, "How is the Gospel received?" The answer is, by faith. Our first head shall be the fact-- "it is of faith." Secondly, the first reason for this-- "that it might be by Grace." And thirdly, the further reason-- "to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed." I. First, then, here is THE FACT--it is of faith. What does the "it" refer to? It is of faith. If you will read the context, I think you will consider that it refers to the promise, although some have said that the antecedent word or thought is, "the inheritance." This matters very little, if at all--it may mean the inheritance, the Covenant, or the promise, for these are one. To give a wide word which will take in all--the blessedness which comes to a man in Christ, the blessedness promised by the Covenant of Grace is of faith--in one word, salvation is offaith! And what is faith? It is believing the promise of God, taking God at His word and acting upon that belief by trusting in Him. Some of the Puritans used to divide faith improperly, but still instructively, into three parts. The first was self-renunciation, which is, perhaps, rather a preparation for faith than faith itself. In it a man confesses that he cannot trust in himself and so goes out of self and all confidence in his own good works. The second part of faith, they said, was reliance in which a man, believing the promise of God, trusts Him, depends upon Him and leaves his soul in the Savior's hands. And then they said the third part of faith was appropriation by which a man takes to himself that which God presents in the promise to the Believer--he appropriates it as his own, feeds upon it and enjoys it. Certainly there is no true faith without self-renunciation, reliance and at least a measure of appropriation--where these three are found, there is faith in the soul. We shall, however, better understand what faith is as we proceed with our subject, if God the Holy Spirit will be pleased to enlighten us. Dear Friends, you can easily see that the blessing was of faith in Abraham's case--and it is precisely the same with all those who, by faith, are the children of believing Abraham! First, it was so in the case of Abraham. Abraham obtained the promise by faith and not by works nor by the energy of the flesh. He relied alone upon the Divine promise. We read in the 17th verse--"(As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations), before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead and calls those things which are not as though they were." Abraham's faith consisted in believing the promise of God and this he did firmly and practically. He was far away in Chaldea when the Lord called him out and promised to give him a land and a seed. And straightway he went forth, not knowing where he went. When he came into Canaan, he had no settled resting place, but wandered about in tents, still believing most fully that the land in which he sojourned as a stranger was his own. God promised to give him a seed and yet he had no children. Year followed year and in the course of nature he grew old and his wife was long past the age of child-bearing--and yet there was no son born to them. When at last Ishmael was born, his hope in that direction was dashed to the ground, for he was informed that the Covenant was not with Ishmael--believing Abraham had stepped aside to carnal expediency and had hoped, in that way, to realize the lingering promise! But he had 14 more years to wait--till he was 100 years old and till Sarah had reached her 90th year! Yet he believed the word of the Lord and fell upon his face and laughed with holy joy and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born unto him that is 100 years old?" So, too, when Isaac was born and grown up, he believed that in Isaac should the Covenant be established. Nor did he doubt this when the Lord bade him take Isaac and offer him up as a sacrifice! He obeyed without questioning, believing that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead, or in some other way to keep His word of promise. Now consider that we have multiplied promises and those are written down in black and white in the Inspired Word, which we may consult at any time we please, while Abraham had only, now and then, a verbal promise--and yet he clung to it and relied upon it. Though there was nothing else to rely upon and neither sign nor evidence of any offspring to fulfill the promise that he should be heir of the world and father of many nations, yet he needed no other ground of confidence but that God had said it and that He would make His word good. There was in Abraham, also, an eye to the central point of the promise--the Messiah--Jesus, our Lord. I do not know that Abraham understood all the spiritual meaning of the Covenant made with him. Probably he did not. But he did understand that the Christ was to be born of him, in whom all nations should be blessed. When the Lord said that He would make him a blessing and in him should all nations of the earth be blessed, I do not suppose Abraham saw all the fullness of that marvelous word--but he did see that he was to be the progenitor of the Messiah. Our Lord, Himself, is my Authority for this assertion--"Abraham saw My day, he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). Though there appeared to this man, old and withered, with a wife 90 years of age, no likelihood that he should ever become a father, yet did he fully believe that he would be the father of many nations--and that upon no basis whatever but that the living God had so promised him and, therefore, so it must be! This faith of Abraham we find considered no difficulties whatever. "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall your seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief." Brothers and Sisters, these were, in themselves, terrible difficulties--enough to make a man fear that the promise did but mock him--but Abraham did not consider anything beyond the promise and the God who gave it! The difficulties were for God to consider--not for him! He knew that God had made the world out of nothing and that He supported all things by the word of His power and, therefore, he felt that nothing was too hard for Him! His own advanced years and the age of his wife were of no consequence. He did not take them into the reckoning, but saw only a faithful Almighty God and felt content. O noble faith! Faith such as God deserves! Faith such as none render to Him but those whom He calls by Irresistible Grace! This it was which justified Abraham and made him the father of Believers! Abraham's faith, also, gave glory to God. I stopped in the middle of the 20th verse just now, but we must now complete the reading of it. "But was strong in faith, giving glory to God." God had promised and he treated the Lord's promise with becoming reverence. He did not impiously suspect the Lord of falsehood, or of mocking His servant, or of uttering today what He might take back tomorrow. Abraham knew that Jehovah is not a man, that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Abraham glorified the Truth of God and, at the same time, he glorified His power! He was quite certain that the Lord had not spoken beyond His line, but that what He had promised He was able to perform. It belongs to puny man to speak more than he can do--full often his tongue is longer than his arm--but with the Lord it is never so. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Is anything too hard for the Lord? Abraham adoringly believed in the immutability, truth and power of the living God--and looked for the fulfillment of His words! All this strong, unstaggering faith which glorified God rested upon the Lord alone. You will see that it was so by reading the 21st verse. "Being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able, also, to perform." There was nothing whatever in his house, his wife, himself, or anywhere else which could guarantee the fulfillment of the promise. He had only God to look to--only, did I say?--What could a man have more? Yet so it was. There were no signs, marks, tokens, or indications to substantiate the confidence of Abraham! He rested solely upon the unlimited power of God! And this, dear Brothers and Sisters, is the kind of faith which God loves and honors--which needs no signs, marks, evidences, helps, or other buttresses to support the plain and sure Word of the Lord--but simply knows that Jehovah has said it and that He will make it good! Though all things should give the promise the lie, we believe in it because we believe in God. True faith ridicules impossibility and pours contempt upon improbability, knowing that Omnipotence and Immutability cannot be thwarted or hindered. Has God said it? Then so it is! Dictum! Factum! Spoken! Done! These two are one with the Most High! Well, now, the faith of every man who is saved must be of this character. Every man who receives salvation receives it by a faith like that of Abraham, for, my Brothers and Sisters, when we are saved we, too, take the promise of God and depend upon it! To one Believer, one Word of God is applied. To another, some sweet Word, most sure and steadfast, is discovered upon which we fix our hope and find an anchor for our spirit. Yes, and as we search the Word by faith--we take each promise as we find it and we say, "this is true," and, "this is true," and so we rest upon all of them! Is it not so with all of you who have peace with God? Did you not gain it by resting upon the promises of God as you found it in the Word and as it was opened up to you by the Holy Spirit? Have you any other ground of confidence but God's promise? I know you have not, my Brethren, nor do you desire any! And we, also, believe in God over the head of great difficulties. If it were difficult for Abraham to believe that a son should be born to him, I think it is harder for a poor burdened sinner, conscious of his great guilt--conscious that God must punish him, also, for that guilt--to believe, nevertheless, in the hopeful things which the Gospel prophesies unto him! Can I believe that the righteous God is looking upon me, a sinner, with eyes of love? Can I believe that though I have offended Him and broken all His Laws, He, nevertheless, waits to be gracious to me? While my heart is heavy and the prospect is black around me and I see nothing but a terrible Hell to be my eternal portion--can I, at such a time, believe that God has planned my redemption and given His Son to die for me--and that now He invites me to come and receive a full, perfect and immediate pardon at His hands? Can the Gospel message be true to such a worthless rebel as I am? It seems as if the Law and Justice of God set themselves against the truth of such wonderful deeds of mercy as the Gospel announces! And it is hard for a stricken heart to believe the report--but the faith which saves the soul believes the Gospel promise in the teeth of all its alarms and, notwithstanding, all the thunders of the Law! Despite the trepidation of the awakened spirit, the Holy Spirit enables it to accept the great Father's promise, to rest upon the propitiation which He has set forth and to quiet itself with the firm persuasion that God, for Christ's sake, does put away its sin. At the same time another grand miracle is also believed in, namely, regeneration. This seems to me to be quite as great an act of faith as for Abraham to believe in the birth of a child by two parents who were both advanced in years. The case stands thus--here am I, dead by nature--dead in trespasses and sins. The deadness of Abraham and Sarah, according to nature, was not greater than the deadness of my soul to every good thing. Is it possible, then, that I should live unto God? That within this stony heart there should yet throb eternal life and Divine Love? That I should come to delight in God? Can it be that with such a depraved and deceitful heart as mine should yet rise to fellowship with the holy God and should call Him my Father and feel the spirit of adoption within my heart? Can I, who now dread the Lord, yet come to rejoice in Him? "Oh," says the poor troubled sinner, "can I, that have fought against the Throne of God. I that even tried to doubt His existence--can I ever come to be at perfect peace with Him so that He shall call me His friend and reveal His secrets to me and listen to my voice in prayer? Is it possible?" The faith which saves the soul believes in the possibility of regeneration and sanctification--no, more--it believes in Jesus and obtains for us power to become children of God and strength to conquer sin! This is believing God, indeed! Look this way, yet again, for here is another difficulty. We know that we must persevere to the end, for only he that endures to the end shall be saved. Does it not seem incredible that such feeble, fickle, foolish creatures as we are should continue in faith and the fear of God all our lives? Yet this we must do! The faith which saves, enables us to believe that we shall persevere, for it is persuaded that the Redeemer is able to keep that which we have committed unto Him, that He will perfect that which concerns us, that He will suffer none to pluck us out of His hands and that having begun the good work in us He will carry it on! This is faith worthy of the father of the faithful! Once again, let us behold another difficulty for faith. We believe, according to God's promise, that we shall one day be "without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." I do believe that this head shall wear a crown of glory and that this hand shall wave a palm branch. I am fully assured that He will one day sweetly say to me-- "Close your eyes that you may see What I ha ve in store for thee. Lay your arms of warfare down, Fall that you may win a crown." We, all, who are Believers in Jesus, shall one day be without fault before the Throne of God! But how is this to be? Surely our confidence is that He who has promised it is able to perform it! This is the faith which finds its way to Glory--the faith which expects to enter into the Redeemer's joy because of the Redeemer's love and life! Brothers and Sisters, in this matter we see the difficulties, but we do not consider them--we count them as less than nothing since Omnipotence has come into the field. "Thanks be unto God which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." We know that our Redeemer lives and that because He lives, we shall, also--live and be with Him where He is! At the end of the chapter we are told that this saving faith rests in the power of God as manifested in Jesus-- "If we believe in Him who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." Beloved, we believe that Jesus died, as certainly died as ever any man died--and yet on the morning of the third day He rose again from the dead by Divine power. It is not, to us, an incredible thing that God should raise the dead! We, therefore, believe that because God has raised the dead He has raised us, also, from our death in sin and that He will raise our bodies from the tomb after they shall have slept, awhile, in the earth. We believe, also, that our Lord Jesus died for our offenses and put them away. Our faith builds upon the substitution of the Lord Jesus on our behalf and it rests there with firm confidence. We believe, also, that He rose again because His substitution was accepted and because our offenses were forever put away--rose again to prove that we are justified in Him! This is where we stand! I expect to be saved, not at all because of what I am, nor of what I can do, nor because of anything I ever shall be able to be or to do--but only because God has promised to save those who believe in Jesus Christ through what the Lord Jesus has suffered in their place. Because Jesus has risen to prove that His suffering was accepted on the behalf of Believers, there do we rest and trust, and that is the way in which every Believer is saved--that way and no way else. Even as Abraham believed, so do we! Here is the fact--it is of faith. II. Now we come to the second point. Here we are to consider THE FIRST REASON why God has chosen to make salvation by faith, "that it might be of Grace." Now, dear Friends, the Lord might have willed to make the condition of salvation a mitigated form of works. If He had done so, it would not have been of Grace, for it is a principle which I need not explain now, but a fixed principle, that if the blessing is of Grace it is no more of works, otherwise Grace is no more Grace. And if it is of works, it is no more of Grace, otherwise work is no more work. As water and oil will not mix, and as fire and water will not lie down side by side in quiet, so neither will the principle of merit and the principle of free favor. You cannot make a legal work to be a condition of a gracious blessing without at once introducing an alien element and really bringing the soul under the Covenant of Works and so spoiling the whole plan of mercy! Grace and faith are congruous and will draw together in the same chariot, but Grace and merit are contrary, the one to the other, and pull opposite ways and, therefore, God has not chosen to yoke them together. He will not build with incongruous materials or daub with untempered mortar. He will not make an image partly of gold and partly of clay, nor weave a linsey-woolsey garment--His work is all of one piece and that one piece is all Grace! Again, in Abraham's case, inasmuch as he received, by faith, the blessing which God promised him, it is very evident that it was of Grace. You never heard anyone ascribe Abraham's salvation to his merits and yet Abraham was an eminently holy man. There are specks in his life--and in whose life will there not be found infirmities?--but he was one of the grandest characters of history. Still, no man thinks of Abraham as a self-justifying person, or as at all related to the Pharisee who said, "God, I thank You that I am not as other men." I never heard anybody hint that the great Patriarch had reason to glory before God. His name is not " the father of the innocent," but, "the father of the faithful." When we read of Abraham's life, we see that God called him by an act of Sovereign Grace, made a Covenant with him as an act of Grace and that the promised child was born--not of the power of the flesh, but entirely according to promise. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life in the life of the Patriarch and it is illustrated in a thousand ways whenever we see his faith receiving the promises! The holiness of Abraham, since it arose out of his faith, never leads us to ascribe his blessedness to anything but the Grace of God! Now, inasmuch as we are saved by faith, every Believer is made to see in himself that, in his own instance, it is by Grace. Believing is such a self-renounciating act that no man who looks for eternal life thereby ever talked about his own merits except to count them but dross and dung. No, Brothers and Sisters, the child of the promise cannot live in the same house with the son of the bondwoman. When Isaac grows up, Ishmael must depart--the principle of believing unto everlasting life will not endure a hint about human merit. Those who believe in Justification by Faith are the only persons who can believe in salvation by Grace! The Believer may grow in Grace till he becomes fully assured of his own salvation, yes, and he may become holiness unto the Lord in a very remarkable manner, being wholly consecrated to God in body, soul and spirit. But you will never hear the believing man speak of his experience, or attainments, or achievements as a reason for glorying in himself, or as an argument for becoming more confident as to his safety. He dares not trust his works, or states of feeling, for he feels that he stands by faith. He cannot get away from simple faith, for the moment he attempts to do so, he feels the ground going from under him and he begins to sink into horrible confusion of spirit. Therefore he returns to his rest and resolves to abide in faith in his risen Savior, for there he abides in the Grace of God. Through the prominence given to faith, the Truth of God of salvation by Grace is so conspicuously revealed that even the outside world is compelled to see it, though the only result may be to make them raise trivial objections. They charge us with preaching too much concerning Grace because they hear us magnifying and extolling the plan of salvation by faith. They readily perceive that a gift promised to faith must be a gift of Grace and not a reward for services done. Only begin to preach salvation by works or ceremonies and nobody will accuse you of saying too much of Grace! But keep to faith and you are sure to keep to the preaching of Grace! Moreover, faith never did clash with Grace. When the sinner comes and trusts Christ and Christ says to him, "I forgive you freely by My Grace," Faith says, "O Lord, that is what I need and what I believe in. I ask You to deal with me even so." "But if I give you everlasting life, it will not be because you deserve it, but for My own name's sake." Faith replies, "O Lord, that, also, is precisely as I desire! It is the sum and substance of my prayer." When Faith grows strong and takes to pleading in prayer (and oh how mighty she is with God in supplication, moving His Omnipotence to her mind), yet all her pleadings are based on Grace--none of them upon the merit of the creature! Never yet did Faith borrow weapons from Mount Sinai! Never once did she ask as though the favor were a debt, but she always holds to the promise of the gracious God and expects all things from the faithfulness of her God. Yes, and when Faith grows strongest and attains to her highest stature and is most full of delight, so that she dances for very joy, yet she never, in all her exultation, boasts or exalts herself! Where is boasting, then? It is excluded! By the Law of works? No, but by the Law offaith! Faith and carnal boasting never yet walked together! If a man should boast of the strength of his faith, it would be clear evidence that he had none at all, or at least that he had, for the time, fallen into vainglorious presumption. Boasting? No, Faith loves to lie low and behave herself as a little child. And when she lifts herself up, it is to exalt her Lord, and her Lord, alone. Faith, too, is well calculated to show forth the Grace of God, because Faith is the child of Grace. "Ah," says Faith, "I have grasped the Covenant. I have laid hold on the promises, I have seen Christ, I have gazed into Heaven, I have enjoyed foretastes of eternal joys! But (she says) I am of the operation of God--I would never have existed if the Spirit of God had not created me!" The Believer knows that his faith is not a weed suitable to the soil of his heart, but a rare plant--an exotic which has been planted there by Divine Wisdom--and he knows, too, that if the Lord does not nourish it, his faith will die like a withered flower. He knows that his faith is a perpetual miracle, for it is begotten, sustained and preserved by a power not less mighty than that which raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead! If I met with an angel in a hovel I should know that he was not born there, but that he came from above. And so is it with faith--its heavenly descent is manifest to all! Faith, then, tracing her very existence to Grace, never can be anything but the friend, the vindicator, the advocate and the glorifier of the Grace of God--therefore it is of faith that it might be by Grace! III. Now, thirdly, there is A FURTHER REASON for faith and Grace being the Lord's chosen method of salvation--"To the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed." Look at this, dear Friends, very carefully. Salvation was made to be of faith and not of works that the promise might be sure to all the seed, for first, it could not have been sure to us Gentiles by the Law, because in a certain sense we were not under the Law of Moses at all. Turn to the text and you find that it runs thus--"Sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the Law, but to that, also, which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all." That is to say, the Jew, receiving the seal of circumcision and coming under the ceremonial Law, eating its Passover and presenting its sacrifices, might possibly have been reached by a legal method. But we who are Gentiles would have been altogether shut out. As to the Covenant according to the flesh, we are aliens and have never come under its bonds or participated in its privileges and, therefore, Grace chooses to bless us by faith in order that the Gentile may partake of the blessing of the Covenant as well as the Jew. But there is a still wider reason--it is of faith because the other method has failed, already, in every case. We have all broken the Law and so have put ourselves beyond the power of ever receiving blessing as a reward of merit. Failure at the outset has ruined our future prospects--and from now on--by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified. What remains, then, if we are to be saved at all, but that it should be of faith? This door, alone, is open! Let us bless God that no man can shut it! Again, it is of faith that it might be sure. Now, under the system of works nothing is sure. Suppose, my dear Brothers and Sisters, you were under a Covenant of salvation by works and you had fulfilled those works up till now, yet you would not be sure. Are you 70 years of age and have you kept your standing till now? Well, you have done a great deal more than father Adam did, for though he was a perfect man without any natural corruption, I do not suppose that he kept his first estate for a day. But after all you have done for these long years you may lose everything before you have finished your next meal! If your standing depends upon your own works, you are not safe and can never be safe till you are out of this present life, for you might sin and that one offense against the conditions would destroy the Covenant! "When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall even die thereby." But see the excellence of salvation by Grace--when you reach the ground of faith in the promises, you are upon terra firma and your soul is no longer in jeopardy. Here is a sure foundation, for the Divine promise cannot fail! If my salvation depends upon the Lord and is received by me on the ground that the Lord has decreed it, promised it in Covenant and ensured it to me by the blood of Jesus Christ, then it is so mine that neither life nor death nor Satan nor the world shall ever rob me of it! If I live to the age of Methuselah, my faith will have the same promises to rest upon--and clinging there she will defy the lapse of years to change her immutable security. The promise would not be sure to one of the seed by any other means than that of Grace through faith, but now it is sure to all the seed. Moreover, if the promise had been made to works, there are some of the seed to whom, most evidently, it never could come. One of the seed of Abraham hung dying upon a cross and within an hour or two his bones were broken that he might the more quickly die and be buried. Now, if salvation to that poor dying thief must come by works, how can he be saved? His hands and feet are fastened up and he is in the very grip of Death--what can he do? The promise would not have been sure to him, my Brothers and Sisters, if there had been any active condition! But he believed, cast a saving eye upon the Lord Jesus and said, "Lord, remember me," and the promise was most sure to him, for the answer was--"Today shall you be with Me in Paradise"! Many a chosen one of God is brought into such a condition that nothing is possible to him except faith, but Grace has made the act of believing divinely possible. Well was it for those bitten by serpents that all that was asked of them was a look, for this was possible even when the hot venom made the blood boil and scalded all the frame with fever! Faith is possible to the blind, the lame, the deaf, the dumb! Faith is possible to the almost-idiot, the desponding and the guilty! Faith can be possessed by babes and by the extremely aged, by the illiterate as well as by the instructed! It is well chosen as the cup to convey the living water, for it is not too heavy for the weak, nor too huge for the little, nor too small for the full-grown. Now, Brothers and Sisters, I have done when I have said just this. I will ask you who have believed in Christ, one question--you who are resting in the promise of God, you who are depending upon the finished work of Him who was delivered for your offenses--how do you feel? Are you rejoicing in your unquestionable safety? As I have turned this matter over and thought upon it, my soul has dwelt in perfect peace! I cannot conceive anything that God Himself could give to the Believer which would make him more safe than the work of Christ has made him. God cannot lie! Are you not sure of this? He must keep His promises! Are you not certain of this? What more do you need? As a little child believes its father's words without any question, even so should we rest on the bare, naked promise of Jehovah! And in so doing we become conscious of a peace that passes all understanding, which keeps our hearts and minds by Christ Jesus. I dare not say otherwise, nor be silent, for I am conscious of being able to say--"therefore being justified by faith, I have peace with God." In that place of the soul, much love springs up and inward unity to God and conformity to Christ. Faith believes her God and trusts Him for time and eternity, for little things and great things, for body and for soul and this leads on to still higher results! O blessed God, what a union of desire, heart and aim exists between You and the soul that trusts You! How are we brought into harmony with Your mind and purposes! How is our heart made to delight in You! How completely is our soul "bound up in the bundle of life with the soul of the Lord our God"! We grow up into Him in all things who is our Head, our Life, our All. I charge you, dear children of God, "as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." Live in His peace and abound in it more and more. Do not be afraid of being too peaceful, "rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." When you have to condemn yourself for shortcomings, yet do not question the promises of the Lord! When sin overcomes you, confess the fault, but do not doubt the pardon which Jesus still gives you! When sharp temptations and severe trials arise from different quarters, do not suffer them to carry you by storm--let not the stronghold and castle of your spirit be captured--"let not your heart be troubled." Stagger not at the promise through unbelief, but hold to it whether you walk in the sunshine or in Egyptian darkness. That which the Lord has promised He is able, also, to perform. Do not doubt it! Lean hard on the faithful promise and when you feel sad at heart, lean harder and harder still, for, "faithful is He that has promised, who, also, will do it." Last of all, you sinners here this morning who have heard all about this salvation by trusting--I charge you do not rest till you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ and rested in the great promises of God. Here is one--"I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more forever." Here is another which is very cheering--"Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Call upon Him in prayer and then say, "Lord, I have called, and You have said I shall be saved." Here is another gracious word--"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." Attend you to these two commands and then say, "Lord, I have Your Word for it that I shall be saved, and I hold You to it." Believe God, Sinner! Oh that He would give you Grace this morning, by His Holy Spirit, to say, "How can I do otherwise than believe Him? I dare not doubt Him." O poor tried Soul, believe in Jesus so as to trust your guilty soul with Him. The more guilty you feel yourself to be, the more is it in your power to glorify God by believing that He can forgive and renew such a guilty one as you are! If you lie buried like a fossil in the lowest stratum of sin, yet He can quarry for you and fetch you up out of the horrible pit--and make your dry, petrified heart live! Do you believe this? "If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes." Trust the promise that He makes to every Believer that He will save him! Hold to it, for it is not a vain thing! It is your life! "But what if I obtain no joy or peace?" Still, believe the promise, and joy and peace will come. "But what if I see no signs?" Ask for no signs! Be willing to trust God's Word without any other guarantee but His truthful Character and you will thus give Him glory. "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." Believe that Jehovah cannot lie and as He has promised to forgive all who believe in Jesus, hang on to that Word and you shall be saved! Sinners, I have set before you the way of salvation as simply as I can, will you have it or not? May the Spirit of God sweetly lead you to say, "Have it? Yes, that I will." Then go in peace and rejoice from now on and forever! God bless you. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Great House and the Vessels In It (No. 1348) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 8, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but, also, of wood and of earth; and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man, therefore, purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work." 2 Timothy 2:20,21. ONE of the most serious calamities which can befall a Church is to have her own ministers teaching heresy. Yet this is no new thing--it has happened from the beginning. Paul and Peter and James and John, in their Epistles, had to speak of seducers in the Churches, even in those primitive days, and ever since then there have arisen in the very midst of the House of God those who have subverted the faith of many and led them away from the fundamental Truths of God into errors of their own inventing. The Apostle compares this to gangrene which is one of the most dangerous and deadly mischiefs which can occur to the body. It is within the body--it eats deeper and deeper into the flesh, festering and putrefying--and if it is not stopped it will continue its ravages till life is extinguished by "black mortification." False doctrine and an unchristian spirit in the midst of the Church, itself, must be regarded as such a gangrene--a silent wolf ravenously gnawing at the heart--the vulture of Prometheus devouring the vitals. No external opposition is one-half so much to be dreaded! Yet here is our comfort when distressed at the evils of the present age, among which this is one of the chief, that the Truth of God abides forever the same! "The foundation of God stands sure." There is no moving that. Whether 10,000 oppose it or promulgate it, the Truth of God is still the same in every jot and tittle. Even as the sun shines evermore, as well when clouds conceal its brightness as when, from a clear sky, it pours abroad a flood of glory, the lovers of profane and vain babblings have not taken away from us, nor can they take from us, the eternal Truths of God! The Lord lives, though they have said, "There is no God." The precious blood of Jesus has not lost its efficacy, though divines have beclouded the Atonement. The Spirit of God is not less mighty to quicken and to console though men have denied His personality. The Resurrection is as sure as if Hymenaeus and Philetus had never said that it is passed already. And the eternal Covenant of Grace abides forever unbroken though Pharisees and Sadducees unite to revile it! The foundation of God stands sure and, moreover, the foundation of the Church remains sure, also, for, blessed be God, "the Lord knows them that are His." All that God has built upon the foundation which He, Himself, has laid, keeps its place--not one living stone that He ever laid upon the Foundation has been lifted from its resting place. Earthquakes of error may test the stability of the building and cause great searching of heart, but sooner shall the mountains which are round about Jerusalem start from their seats than the work or Word of the Lord be frustrated! The things which cannot be shaken remain unaltered in the very worst times. "After all," says the Apostle, in effect, though in fewer words, "it is not such a very great wonder that there should be persons in the Church who are not of the sterling metal of sincerity, nor of the gold and silver of Truth which endures the fire. You must not look at Hymenaeus and Philetus as if they were prodigies. There have been many like they are and there will be many more. These ill weeds grow in all ages and they multiply and increase." Where, dear Brothers and Sisters, beneath the skies shall we find absolute purity in any community? The very first family had a Cain in it and there was a wicked Ham even in the select few within the Ark. In the household of the father of the faithful there was an Ishmael. Isaac, with all his quiet walk with God, must be troubled with an Esau. And you know how, in the house of Jacob, there were many sons that walked not as they should. When the Church of God was in the wilderness and had a barrier of desert between it and the outer world, yet you know how Korah, Dathan and Abirain were there, beside many other troublers in Israel! Yes, even amidst the most select part of the visible Church of God, in the priesthood, there were found those that dishonored it. Nadab and Abihu were slain with fire before the Lord and Hophni and Phineas died in battle because they had made themselves vile, though God's anointed priests. Even when our Divine Master had formed for Himself-- "A little garden, walled around, Chosen, and made peculiar ground," in which there were but 12 choice trees, yet one of them bore evil fruit. "I have chosen you 12, and one of you is a devil." In the great field which Christ has sown, tares will spring up among the wheat, for the enemy takes pains to sow them. Neither is it possible for us to root them up. In the king's garden, briars will grow--thorns, also--and thistles will the most sacred soil yield us. Even the lilies of Christ grow among thorns. You cannot keep the best of Churches altogether pure, for though the Lord Himself has prepared a vineyard and make a winepress and built a wall about it, yet the foxes come and spoil the vines. And though our great Lord has an orchard which yields rare fruit, yet when He comes to visit it, He finds a barren fig tree, dug about and fed, it is true, but still barren! Look to Christ's fold on earth and behold there are wolves in sheep's clothing there! Look to the net which His servants draw to shore and there are both good and bad fish in it. Yes, lift your eyes to the skies and though there are myriads of stars, yet you shall mark wandering stars among them--and meteors which are and are not--and are quenched in the blackness of darkness forever. Until we shall come to the Heaven of the Most High we must expect to find chaff mixed with the wheat, dross with the gold, goats with the sheep and dead flies in the ointment. Only let us see to it that we are not of that ill character, but are precious in the sight of the Lord. Coming to the text, the Apostle suggests the encouragement I have already given, under a certain metaphor. He says that in a great house there will naturally be varieties of furniture. And there will be vessels and utensils of many kinds-- some of them will be of wood and of earthenware, for meaner purposes--but others of gold and silver, for state occasions--when the honor and glory of the great proprietor are to be displayed. There are vessels of precious metal in a great house and these are its honor, decking the tables on high festivals when the Master is at home. But there are others of baser stuff kept in the background, never displayed at times of rejoicing, but meant for common drudgery. There are cups and flagons of solid silver prized as perpetual heirlooms of the family which are carefully preserved. And there are plates and pots which are soon worn out and are only of temporary use. There are many sets of them being broken up in the lifetime of a family. The same is true in the Church of God which, being in the world, has its common side and its common vessels. But being, also, a heavenly house, the Church has its nobler furniture, far more precious than gold which perishes though it is tried with fire. For our instruction, may the Holy Spirit help us while we look, first, at the great house. Secondly, at the meaner vessels, peeping into the kitchen. Thirdly, at the nobler vessels, going into the china cabinet to look at the silver and gold. And then, fourthly, before we leave the house, let us ask for an interview with the Master, Himself. I. First, let us consider THE GREAT HOUSE. The Apostle compares the Church to a great house. We feel sure he is not speaking of the world. It did not occur to him to speak about the world and it would have been altogether superfluous to tell us that in the world there are all sorts of people--everybody knows that! The Church is a great house belonging to a great Person, for the Church is the House of God, according to the promise-- "I will dwell in them, and walk in them." The Church is the temple in which the Lord is worshipped, the palace in which He rules. It is His castle and place of defense for His Truth. It is the armory out of which He supplies His people with weapons. The Church is God's mansion in which He abides--"This is My rest forever. Here will I dwell for I have desired it." There it is that He rests in His love and, in infinite condescension, manifests Himself as He does not unto the world. King Solomon built a house for himself in the forest of Lebanon, and behold, the Lord has, of living stones, built for Himself a far more glorious house where He may abide! It is a great house because it is the house of the great God! Who can be so great as He? It is a great house because planned and designed upon a great scale. I fear that some who live in the house have no idea how great it is. They have a very faint notion of its length and breadth. The great thoughts of God are far beyond their most elevated conception, so that He might say to them as He has said to others, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, says the Lord." The palace of the King of kings is "exceedingly magnificent," and for spaciousness far excels all the abodes of earthly princes. We read of the golden palace of Nero, that it reached from hill to hill and enclosed lakes and streams and gardens beneath its wondrous roof. But behold, the Lord has stretched the line of His electing Grace over nations and kindreds even to the ends of the earth! His house takes in a mighty sweep of humanity. Many are the rooms in the house and there are dwellers in one room who have never yet seen any part of the great house but the little chamber in which they were born! They have never walked through the marvelous corridors, or moved in the vast halls which God has built with cedar pillars and cedar beams and carved work of heavenly workmanship. Some good men hardly care to see the long rows of polished columns, quarried by Grace from the rough mass of Nature which now shine resplendent as monuments of Divine Love and Wisdom! Colossal is the plan of the Eternal--the Church of God is worthy of the infinite mind! Angels and principalities delight to study the stupendous plan and well they may--as the great Architect unrolls His drawings, piece by piece, to let them see the various sections of the complete design, they are struck with admiration and exclaim, " Oh the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!" The Church is no narrow cottage wherein a few may luxuriate in bigotry, but it is a great house, worthy of the infinite heart of Jehovah, worthy of the blood of Jesus, the Incarnate God, and worthy of the power of the ever-blessed Spirit! It is a great house because it has been erected at great cost and with great labor. Who can tell the cost of this mansion? It is a price beyond price, for God has given His only-begotten Son--He had but one, and Heaven could not match Him--that He might redeem unto Himself a people who should be His dwelling place forever. Solomon's temple, now that they have laid bare a part of the foundations, even though it is in utter ruin, astonishes all beholders as they mark the enormous size and accurate adjustment of the stones--what must it have been in its glory? What cost was lavished on that glorious house! But think of the labor and the skill, the Divine art and engineering with which Jehovah has hewn out of the rock of sinful nature the stones with which He builds up His spiritual house! What energy has the Holy Spirit displayed! What resurrection power! Harder than any granite we were by nature, yet has He cut us away from the rock of which we formed a part and fashioned and squared us--and made us to be built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Tell it to the praise of the glory of His Grace, that the Lord's Omnipotent power and boundless wealth of love are revealed in His Church! When our eyes shall see the Church of God, at last, in all her beauty descending out of Heaven from God, having the Glory of God and her light like unto a stone most precious, even like unto a jasper stone--when we shall see, I say, that the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal--when we shall see its deep foundations laid in the eternal purpose and its walls built up with lofty pinnacles of glory, high as the Divine Person of her Lord. And when we shall mark its wondrous compass, broad enough to hold the glory and honor of the nations--then shall we shout for joy as we behold the riches and the power and the splendor of the great King of kings who has built for Himself this great house! It is a great house, again, because its household arrangements are conducted on a great scale. You know how country people, when there is some rich lord living in the village, speak always of his mansion as "the great house." It is the great house for which those bullocks are being fattened and those sheep and lambs will be consumed at the great house, for there are many in the family and none are allowed to go hungry. Solomon kept a great house. When you read the account of the daily provision for his table, you see that it was a great house, indeed--a vast and truly royal establishment! Yes, but neither for quality nor quantity could Solomon's palace match the great house of God in its plenty. Speak of fine flour--behold, He has given us angels' food! Speak of royal dainties--behold, the Lord has given us fat things full of marrow, wines on the lees well-refined! What a perpetual feast does the Lord Jesus keep up for all His followers! If any of them hunger it is not because their rations are stinted. If there are any complaints, it is not because the Master's oxen and fatlings are not freely provided! Ah, no, to every man there is a good piece of meat and a flagon of wine dealt out, even as David dealt it out in the day when he removed the Ark unto the hill of Zion. Glory be to God! He has said, "Eat, O Friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, O Beloved!" In this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest and He will make unto all nations a feast of fat things. Behold, His oxen and fatlings are killed, all things are ready. It is a great house, where great sinners are fed on great dainties and filled with the great goodness of the Lord! It is a great house for the number of its inhabitants. How many have lived beneath that roof tree for ages. "Lord," they say like a great host, "You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations." God is the home of His people, and His Church is the home of God! And what multitudes are dwelling there now! Not only the companies that we know of, with whom it is our delight to meet for solemn worship, but all over the world the Lord has a people who dwell in the midst of His Church! And, though men have disfigured their Master's house by chalking up odd signs over some of the rooms and calling them by other names than those of the Owner, yet the Lord's people are all one Church--and to whatever part or party they may seem to belong, if Christ is in them they belong to Him of whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named--and they make up but one spiritual house. What a swarm there is of the Lord's children and yet not one of the family remains unfed. The Church is a great house wherein thousands dwell, yes, a number that no man can number! Once more, it is a great house because of its importance. People speak of "the great house" in our remote counties because to the whole neighborhood it bears a special relationship, being connected with some of its most vital interests-- county politics and police--dignity and wealth find their center at "the great house." The Church is a great house because it is God's hospice where He distributes bread and wine to refresh the weary and entertains wayfarers that otherwise had been lost in the storm. It is God's hospital into which He takes the sick and there He nourishes them till they renew their youth like the eagle's. It is God's great lighthouse with its lantern flashing forth a directing ray so that wanderers far away may be directed to the haven of peace. "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined." It is the seat of God's magistracy, for there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Behold, the Lord has set His King upon His holy hill of Zion and therefore shall the power of His scepter go forth to the ends of the earth! The great house of the Church is the university for teaching all nations! It is the library wherein the sacred oracles are preserved! It is the treasury wherein His Truth is deposited and the registry of new-born heirs of Heaven! It is important to Heaven as well as to earth, for its topmost towers reach into Glory and there is in it a ladder, the foot of which rests on earth, but the top reaches to Heaven--up and down which the angels come and go continually. Said I not well that the Apostle had wisely chosen the figure when he called the Church a great house? II. We will now go inside the great house and we at once observe that it is well furnished. Our text, however, invites us to note that it contains a number of MEANER VESSELS, articles of the coarser kind for ordinary and common uses. Here are plates, wooden buckets, pitchers and pots and various vessels of coarse pottery. Some have thought that this figure of vessels to dishonor relates to Christians of a lower grade, persons of small Grace and of less sanctified conversation. Now, although Believers may, from some points of view, be comparable to earthen vessels, yet I dare not look upon any child of God, however low in Grace, as a vessel to dishonor! Moreover, the word, "these," refers to the earthen and wooden vessels--surely they cannot represent saints--or we should never be told to purge ourselves from them! If a man is God's child, into whatever state and condition he may fall it is our business to look after him and endeavor to restore him, remembering ourselves, also, lest we be tempted. But it cannot be right to purge ourselves from even the least of our believing Brothers and Sisters! Besides, that is not the run of the chapter at all. The real meaning is that in the Church of God there are unworthy persons serving inferior and temporary purposes who are vessels to dishonor. They are in the Church, but they are like vessels of wood and vessels of earth--they are not the treasure of the mansion, they are not brought out on state occasions and are not set much store by--for they are not "precious in the sight of the Lord." The Apostle does not tell us how they came there, for it was not his intent to do so and no parable or metaphor could teach everything. Neither will I stay to describe how some professors have come into the Church of God--some by distinct falsehood and by making professions which they knew were untrue--others through ignorance and others, again, by being self-deceived and carried away with excitement. The parable does not say how they got there, but they are there--yet they are only vessels of wood and vessels of earth. It is no credit to them that they are where they are, for they are not vessels to honor, though in an honorable place. It is no honor to any man to be a member of a Christian Church if he is, in himself, intrinsically worthless though they make a minister of him, or elect him deacon! It is no honor to him to be in office if the metal he is made of does not fit him for so honorable a purpose. He is an intruder in an honorable position and it is a dishonor to him to be where he is. It is no honor to a weed to grow in the best part of the garden. It is no honor to a barren fig tree to cumber the finest ground in the vineyard. Ah, dear Friend, if you are in the Church of God, but not truly one of the Lord's people, it is a dishonorable thing of you to have come there! And it is equally dishonorable for you to remain there without fulfilling that great requisite which is demanded of everyone who names the name of Jesus--that he departs from all iniquity! The vessels in the great house are, however, of some use, even though they are made of wood and earth. And so there are persons in the Church of God whom the Lord Jesus will not acknowledge as His treasure, but He, nevertheless, turns them to some temporary purpose. Some are useful as the scaffold to a house, or the dogshores to a ship, or the hedges to a field. I believe that some unworthy members of the Church are useful in the way of watch dogs to keep others awake, or knives to let blood, or burdens to try strength. Some quarrelsome members of the Church help to scour the other vessels lest they should rust through being peaceful. The Church is made up of men who are yet in the body and it has to deal with the outside world. And sometimes the worldly men who are in her serve some purpose in connection with this, her lowest need. Judas made a good treasurer, for his economy saved more than he stole. Joab was a good warrior for David, though he was by no means a saint. False professors do not make the Gospel untrue and sometimes, when they have spoken it, God has blessed it. You may see, if you go down the Kennington Park road today, a row of young trees planted by the road--how are they kept up while yet they are slender? Why, small posts of dead timber hold them up! And even so, a dead Sunday school teacher may yet be useful to a genuine Christian child--and a dead deacon may be the financial support of a living Church! Yes, and there are dead preachers, too, who, nevertheless, serve to fill up a space--but what vessels to dishonor they are! It is a dreadful thing, however, for those who are like the posts I just mentioned, because the quicker the young tree grows, the sooner will the post be taken away, having no participant in the life which it helped to support. You see, then, that the base professors who get into the Church are turned to some good for His Church by our great Master. The servants of the great house can use the wooden ware and the earthenware, for a while, for rough everyday purposes, even as mere formalists can be employed in some scullery work or another. There is one thing noticeable--the wooden and earthen vessels are not for the Master's use. When He holds high festival His cups are all of precious metal! "All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold." Would you have the King of kings set an earthen pot upon His royal table? Shall the guests at His table eat from wooden bowls? False professors are only useful to the servants, not to the Master--they serve base purposes and are not to be seen on those great days when He manifests His Glory. The Great Master overrules all things, being the Master of the servants and, as far as that which answers the purpose of His servants, is serviceable to Him. But personally, between the King at His table and the wooden vessel, there is no congruity--it would be an insult to hand Him wine in any but a sumptuous cup of precious metal, or to bring Him butter in any but a lordly dish! How sad it is that many Christians are useful to the Church in various ways, but as for personal service rendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, they have no share, whatever, and never can have till Grace changes them from wood to silver, or from earth to gold. Note that in these vessels of which the Apostle speaks the substance is base. They are wood, or they are earth, nothing more. So are we all, by nature, of base material. Grace must make us into silver or into golden vessels or the Master cannot, Himself, use us, nor can our use in the Church ever be to honor. The wooden vessels in the Church are very easily hacked and carved and spoiled--if a man is inclined to mischief, he can put his knife to them and can cut great notches in them. He can ruin their character and render them worthless. Cunning teachers can soon take away from merely nominal Christians what they professed to believe, for they are very readily cut and hacked by those who play at such games. As for the earthen vessels, how soon they are broken! Outside of any great house there are the remains of many broken pots which fell to the ground and shattered to pieces. And, I am sorry to say, we, also, can find enough of such relics to sadden us all. There were some in this house, once, who were comely to look upon. But there came a temptation and brushed them from the table--and they were shattered in a moment! Others of precious metal have endured far more shocks and tests of a severer kind. But those being only of earth were broken at once. Heaps of crockery accumulate outside every great house and certainly outside the great house of Christ. These vessels unto dishonor, though turned to some account, require a great deal of care on the part of the servants. When our forefathers used to eat from wooden plates, the time the good wives used to spend in scalding and cleaning them to keep them at all sweet to eat upon was something terrible! And there are members of the Church who take a world of time from pastors and elders to keep them at all decent--we are continually trying to set them right, or keep them right in the common relationships of life. There are quarrels in their families which must be settled lest they become scandals--and these occupy the careful thought of their fellow Christians who have to watch for their good. Or they get lax in their doctrines, or foolish in their habits, or loose in their business transactions and we have to be scouring and cleaning them times without number! Certain sorts of earthen vessels you have to be very particular in handling. Like egg-shell china, you may hardly look at them. Thank God I have not many in this Church--perhaps none of that sort as far as my handling is concerned--but other people's touches, though quite as wise, are not so welcome. Certain earthen vessels get dreadfully chipped unless they have dainty handling. If a Brother does not take his hat off to them in very lowly style and behave very reverently, they are ready to take offense! They feel themselves hurt and slighted when no such thing was intended. They stand upon their dignity and expect the fullest recognition of it. These are real earthen pots, very apt to be chipped, perhaps a little cracked already and needing a great deal of care and trouble on the part of the Lord's servants, lest they should go to pieces and spill everything that is put into them. There are such in all great houses, and in the Master's great house there are, I fear, not just a few. They are useful up to a certain point, but they bring no honor to the house because there are plenty as good as they in other houses--every cottage can have common earthen pitchers in it. They are vessels in which is no pleasure. They are not peculiar, or precious. Nobody ever sounds abroad the Master's fame because He has so many thousands of wooden bowls or earthen pots. No, the king's honor comes from the plates--the gold and silver vessels, the peculiar treasure of kings. People speak about these rich goods and say, "You should see the sideboards loaded down with the massive services of gold and silver! You should see how the tables groan beneath the splendor of the royal feast when the king brings forth his treasures." True Christians are the glory of Christ, but false professors bring, at their very best, only dishonor. Better the smallest silver vessel than the largest earthen one! Better the least of all the saints than the greatest of vain professors! So much upon the vessels of dishonor. III. We are now going into the treasury, or plate room, and will think of THE NOBLER VESSELS. These are, first of all, of solid metal--vessels of silver and vessels of gold. They are not all equally valuable, but they are all precious. Here is weight for you--here is something that is worth treasuring--something which will last for ages and at any time will endure the fire. Now, in real Christians, those who really love the Lord, there is something substantial and weighty. When you get hold of them, you know the difference between them and the wooden professor. Even those who do not like them--strange taste, that which does not appreciate silver and gold--are nevertheless compelled to say, "That is a genuine article, worth a great deal, weighty and substantial." Now, we shall, none of us, ever be vessels of silver and gold unless the Lord makes us so by Divine Grace. Vessels of earth are things of nature--any potter can make them. Vessels of wood are common enough. Copper soon produces a pail. But a vessel of silver or of gold is a rarer thing! It costs mining and searching, furnace work and fashioning, toil and skill. On each vessel unto honor, Jesus Himself has put His hand to mold and fashion it--and to cause it to be "prepared unto glory." Did you ever hear how vessels come to be golden? Listen to this, and you shall know. One very dear to me has put the story into rhyme-- " 'Oh that I were a cup, a golden cup Meet for the Master's use! Brimming and trembling with that draught of joy (The love of His beloved and purchased ones) Which fills His heart with gladness.' So spoke a poor, vile, broken, earthy thing, A worthless castaway. The Master heard and when He passed that way He stooped and touched it with His wounded hand-- When lo! Its baseness vanished, and instead There stood a golden chalice wondrous fair, And overflowing with deep love for him! He raised it to His gracious lips, and quaffed 'The wine that makes glad the heart of God,' Then took the cup to Heaven." On the vessels of honor you can see the hallmark. What is the hallmark which denotes the purity of the Lord's golden vessels? Well, He has only one stamp for everything. When He laid the foundation what was the seal He put upon it? "The Lord knows them that are His, and let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from all iniquity." That was God's seal! That was the impress of the great King upon the foundation stone. Do we find it here? Yes, we do. "If a man, therefore, purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor." You see, then, that the man who is the golden or silver vessel, departs from all iniquity--and that is the token of his genuine character. The man who is truly the Lord's, seeks to be cleansed, not only from the open sin of the world, but from the common sin of professing Christians. He labors to be purged from that which the wooden vessel and the earthen vessel would delight in. He wants to be pure within and without. He desires perfection. He labors daily to conquer every sin and strives with all his might to serve his Lord. He is not content to have a fair appearance, as wood and earth may have--he wishes to be solid, substantial metal, purged and purified to the utmost possible degree and fit for the highest purposes. Now, this seeking after purity is the hallmark of the King's vessels of gold and silver. Notice, however, that they are purged, for the Lord will not use filthy vessels no matter what they may be. He will only use those that are clean. And He would have His true people purged, as I have said before, not only from gross sin, but from doctrinal error and from association with the perverse-minded. We are to be purged from Hymenaeus and Philetus and from the vain babblings of which the Apostle has been speaking in the previous part of the chapter. I fear that Christian men do a great deal of mischief by their complicity with those who are teaching what is downright falsehood. If we are to serve the Lord in the matter of advancing His Truth, we must be true to the Truth of God ourselves. If we join hand in hand with others and so form a confederacy when the very pillars of the temple are being pulled down by rude hands, it may be we shall be partakers of other men's sins. We must be clean-handed in this matter! And then notice that these gold and silver vessels are reserved as well as purged. They are made meet for the Master's use. Nobody is to drink out of them but the King, Himself. This is the blessedness of the child of God when he comes to be what he should be, that he can sing as we did just now-- "I am Yours and Yours, alone, This I gladly, fully own! And in all my works and ways, Only now would seek Your praise." As Joseph had a cup out of which he, alone, drank, so the Lord takes His people to be His peculiar treasure, vessels for His personal use. Brethren, I count it an honor to be useful to the meanest child of God, but I confess that the honor lies mainly in the fact that I am thereby serving the Master, Himself. Oh, to be used by God! This is to answer the end of our being. If you can feel that God has used you, then may you rejoice, indeed! There are some Christians whom the Lord cannot much use, because, first of all, they are not cleansed from selfishness. They have an eye to their own honor or aggrandizement. The Lord will not be in complicity with selfish aims! Some men are self-confident--there is too much of the "I" about them--and our Master will not use them. He will have our weakness, but not our strength! And if we are great somebodies, He will pass us by and take some little nobody and make use of him. The Lord cannot use other men because they are too apt to be proud. If He were to give them a little success, it would be dangerous to their Christian existence! Their poor brains would begin to swim and they would think the Lord could hardly do without them! Indeed, when they meet with a little encouragement they swell into such wonderful people that they expect everybody to fall down and worship them! God will not use them, neither will He set upon His table vessels which are in any way defiled. There must be purity! A man may work his heart out in the ministry or the Sunday school, but if he is practicing some secret sin he cannot prosper--it is not possible that God should honor him! There may be a measure of apparent success for a time and, in God's Sovereignty, He may use His Truth, itself, in spite of the man, but the man himself will not be useful to the Master. Littleness of Grace and contentedness with that spiritual poverty, also puts many a man aside. We must be full if God is to pour out of us to the thirsty! We must be full of His Light if we are to illuminate the darkness of others! We cannot reveal to the world what the Lord has not revealed to us. Oh, for a holy character and holy communion with God! Then we shall be golden vessels fit for the Master's use and so, according to the text, we shall be ready for every good work--ready for the work when it comes and ready at the work when it has come--because completely consecrated to God and subject to His hand. In this readiness for whatever comes we shall be honored. Men may despise us, as they will, but what does it matter if God honors us? This height of Grace may cost us a sharp experience, but must not gold be tried with fire? As thieves are most anxious to steal not the pots and wooden vessels, but the gold and the silver, so we may expect to be exposed to greater temptations and greater persecutions than others. More Grace involves more trials, but then we shall have the delight of glorifying God more. Oh, to be vessels unto honor! Beloved members of this Church, aspire to this! You have acknowledged in your names, that you are Christians! You have been baptized into the sacred name of the Divine Trinity! You have borne, up to now, a consistent moral character, but oh, see to it that the inner substance is the real metal--the gold and silver! See to it that you are reserved for the Lord's own special use! Be as consecrated to Him as were the bowls before the altar. Never let the world drink out of you, as Belshazzar did out of the vessels taken at Jerusalem. May the Lord grant that you may never be defiled, but may be kept, by His Grace, pure and consecrated to Him. IV. Fourthly, for a moment we must speak about THE MASTER. He is introduced here, you see, as having certain vessels meet for His use--and this shows that He is in the house. There would be no need to reserve vessels for His use if He were not there--He is in the midst of His Church by His indwelling Spirit. How this ought to make us wish to be purged, sanctified and ready for Him! Your Master is not far away. His Presence in the Church is promised--"Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." What manner of persons, therefore, ought you to be? Secondly, the Master knows all about the house and knows the quality of all the vessels. There is no deceiving Him with the wooden plate--He knows it is not gold. And as for that earthen cup, though it may be gilt all over, He knows it is not gold. He reads the heart of everyone here present--wood or earth, silver or gold--the Master understands us. And then reflect that the Master will use us all as far as we are fit to be used. We are in God's house and if we are wood, He will put us to wooden use. There are many wooden preachers. If we are earth and earthly-minded He may put us to earthly uses, as He did Judas, who carried the bag, but had no Grace. If you are silver He will give you silver use. And if you are gold He will give you golden service in which you shall be happy, honored and blessed. What comes of this, then, lastly? Why, Brothers and Sisters, let us bestir ourselves that we be purged, for the text says, "If a man therefore purges himself." It throws this business upon each one of us personally--a man must purge himself from ill company! And when we have confessed the responsibility, let us turn to God in prayer and feel that thorough purging is a work which we cannot achieve and, therefore, we cry, "Cleanse me, O God! Sanctify me! Make me meet for Your service and prepared for every good work." Beloved, finish with earnest prayer. Pray God that you may not be hypocrites! Beseech the Lord to search you and try you, that you not be found deceivers. And when you are sure that you are His, then ask Him to make you not merely silver, for it is very apt to tarnish, but rather the precious gold which, when exposed to the worst influences, scarcely shows a trace of dullness. Pure unalloyed gold may we be! And then may the Master, both in secret and public, use us to His own joy. May He refresh Himself with our love and faith, yes, may His joy be fulfilled in us, that our joy may be full. God grant it may be so, for Christ's sake. __________________________________________________________________ Faith Purifying the Heart (No. 1349) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 15, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Purifying their hearts by faith." Acts 15:9. THE Jewish or Pharisaic party violently opposed the Gospel from without. Wherever the Apostles went, the Jews who believed not, being moved with envy, stirred up the people against them. They could not endure to hear of the salvation of the Gentiles by Grace through faith! It grated on their ears, for they thought that this doctrine was contrary to the Law of Moses in which they boasted. They were children of the bondwoman under the old Covenant of Works and they could not endure that the children of the promise should come to the inheritance. They struggled and rebelled against the Gospel of salvation by Grace, for it went against their natural pride and their national exclusiveness. Yes, and even when any of them, as blessed be the Grace of God was the case, became converted, the old man was still within them and the spirit of bondage was still apt to assert itself. Those who had been of the sect of the Pharisees brought a good share of Pharisaic tendencies with them into the Church--and these were dangerous to the young kingdom of Christ. I scarcely know whether legal principles were not able to do more mischief inside the Church by perverting pure doctrine than they could do outside the Church by exciting persecution. One can hardly imagine how the Gospel could have escaped being overlaid and smothered by Judaism, like a baby by its mother, had it not been for the preserving Grace of God and the indwelling Spirit within the Church of God. You know, Brothers and Sisters, how we mourn, today, that certain who claim to be Christians are laboring most zealously to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. They invent pompous ceremonies, observe days and months and are bound by rubrics and regulations--all of which are an idle and needless servitude to outward forms. Certain others would bind us with creeds and ordinances not plainly taught in the Word of God, nor agreeable thereto--of which Peter and John knew nothing whatever--having no force but that which comes of human authority. The old Pharisaic spirit is a great forger of bonds and builder of prisons! It would subject us to ordinances of, "Touch not, taste not, handle not," and fetter us with rules of many sorts--for it cannot understand the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. It teaches this and it teaches that, whereof the Apostles would have said, "We gave no such commandment." We must contend against this spirit as much now as ever! We must refuse to be entangled, again, with the yoke of bondage. Christ is all! We are complete in Him and we will not permit a single letter to be added to His perfect Law of Liberty. Peter, at the great Jerusalem council was enabled, through his experience to answer those who said that unless a man was circumcised he could not be saved. Depend upon it, Brothers and Sisters, there is nothing like practical work for Christ to teach us Christ's Truth! For the most part, the heretics of the present day are a clique of literary men, adept at the pen, but quite unable to speak. It may be that their failure in this direction sours them and sets them upon opposing the Gospel ministry. At any rate, they are a set of theorizers who know nothing of practical service for the Lord! And so they make up all manner of nonsense according to their own fancies. They sit in their studies and do nothing----and then criticize those who are doing hard service and are successful in it. They are so busy with nibbling their quills and polishing their periods that they care nothing about saving souls! And they are so intent upon making discoveries which shall manifest their own gigantic intellects that they cannot soil their hands with practical work among the poor and ignorant. Having nothing upon their hearts, their whole nature runs to their head and the head being unbalanced by a busy heart takes to spinning cobweb theories and novelties of heresy. Fiercely liberal, the spirit which they manifest against the orthodox is grandly bigoted--in this they are earnest--but in little else except in engendering grievous errors which are ravaging the Churches and ruining souls. Among the do-nothings all mischief begins! Give a man practical work for Jesus and keep him at it, and he will, like Peter, learn as he goes and, like a river, filter as he flows. Peter could not continue to believe in restricting the Gospel to the Jews after the Lord had bid Cornelius send for him from Joppa, that he might teach him the Gospel--his actual service refined his theory! If those who ruled botanical science never saw a flower, would you wonder if they ran into gross heterodoxies of belief? A naturalist who never saw a living animal would not be likely to be very sound in zoology and, even so, those who never deal with the souls of men--who never see penitents under conviction, nor hear the songs of new-born Believers in Christ, nor see men rejoice in affliction and triumph in death--are sure to blunder when they set up for teachers. They lean back in their study chairs and blow bubbles and vent doubts to the subverting of the faith of many godly but feeble souls--and all for the need of something better to do. I prescribe as medicine for them and I heartily wish they would take it, to do something for Christ and the good of fallen men. Peter got out of what would otherwise have been his natural condition of bigotry by being exercised in the service of his Master. Peter tells us how he came to see that circumcision was not necessary. At the Divine bidding, he went in and preached to Cornelius and his household--and while he was preaching they believed! He had not finished his sermon before they had all become Believers and he adds, "God the heart-knower bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as He gave unto us." They believed and he knew that their faith had purged their hearts, for the Lord sent the Holy Spirit upon them then and there! The Holy Spirit dwells not in unclean hearts! But when the temple of the heart has been purified, there He comes. Though these men had never been circumcised, yet they were purified in heart, for the Spirit of God rested upon them--it was evidently the same Spirit which had descended upon the circumcised ones at Jerusalem since it produced the same results--"for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God." Now, if the Spirit puts no difference between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, why should the Church do so? Peter therefore said, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?" He therefore commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord and thus affirmed his belief that faith had purified them. He saw that the Lord had given the choicest of Gospel blessings to uncircumcised Believers, even the power of the Holy Spirit and, therefore, he felt that they were to be received into the Church without circumcision. Peter's argument is eminently clear and convincing. You and I cannot be impartial because we, being Gentiles, are naturally pleased with an argument which includes us in the blessing. But if we were sitting as judges to listen to the pleading of the Apostle, I feel sure we would say--Whether it blesses us or curses us, the reasoning is unanswerable--if God would not give the Spirit unless the heart had been purified, then these men's hearts were purified and it is evident that they were purified by faith, alone, seeing that they were uncircumcised and altogether outside the Jewish Law. Seeing, then, that they are pure in heart, what need can there be of further purification? What need to lay upon them the outward and visible sign, the putting away of the filth of the flesh, when it is proven by the Divine witness What they are pure in heart already? It is well argued, Peter, and we rejoice in the conclusion! Now let us consider the point upon which the argument depends, the statement which made, to a great extent, the hinge of Peter's reasoning--namely, that by faith the hearts of the Gentile Believers had been purified. First, consider the agent of this purifying, "by faith." Secondly, the secret of its power--it was God that purified them by faith. Thirdly, the seat of its action-- "purifying their hearts." And, fourthly, (what is not in the text, but which we gather from our own experience), the mode of its operation, or how faith purifies our hearts. I. First, then, dear Friends, let us speak of THE AGENT OF HEART PURIFICATION--FAITH. There was nothing but faith in the case of Cornelius, nothing but ordinary faith such as you and I possess--faith born of hearing and resting alone on Jesus. Faith alone did it! Read Peter's sermon to Cornelius and you will perceive that his faith was not created by Peter's eloquence and did not stand in the wisdom of man. Peter told a very simple story about the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth--just such a story as a converted a lad from our Sunday schools might relate, in fact, "the old, old story." And while he was telling it, I hope not so hoarsely as I am compelled to do this morning, the power of God was present and the centurion and his family believed the testimony. The innate power of the story, itself, by God's blessing, worked faith in the hearts of his hearers and they were straightway purified by that faith! If I were to talk of Jesus Christ and His matchless death, this morning, and some of you hearing the story were to trust Him, you would be purified just as these Caesarean Believers were. Their faith came by hearing, just as yours would, and they heard the very same Gospel of the Grace of God which I would preach to you. By such faith hearts are purified! Their faith purified them at once. They were not purified by month after month of contemplation. Faith purified their hearts immediately, for, to the astonishment of the circumcised Believers who were looking on, the Holy Spirit fell upon them then and there--the evidence from Heaven that their faith had made them meet for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! What matchless energy is this which purifies hearts stained with original sin and defiled by actual transgressions--and cleanses them at once! The sacred power which requires not even a single day for its marvelous operations, but achieves its purpose in a moment, is worthy of our highest admiration! How speedy is the work! The hearing ear, the believing heart, the purified heart--these three follow each other in rapid succession, without long pauses of dread conviction or dreary doubt. Delays may occur in some cases, but they are not necessary to the work, neither are they of the Lord. Here the operations of mercy followed upon the heels of one another--hearing, believing, purification--the gift of the Spirit, the public avowal of the same by Baptism into the sacred name came in rapid succession--and here you see the wondrous power of faith by which the soul is purified at once. The agent of the purification was FAITH alone! And it is clear from the narrative that water Baptism did not aid it at all. It is supposed by those who deal with suppositions only, for they certainly can have no facts to support their theory, that there is something purging in Baptism. Do they not say that by it they are made members of Christ, children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of Heaven? Now, no baby has ever yet given any evidence that such a thing took place! How could it? The little creature is unconscious, at the time, and as he grows up he does not show any superiority to others who have not undergone the aqueous regeneration! We find our unbaptized sons and daughters converted by Grace in quite as large a proportion as those little "members of Christ" and "inheritors of the kingdom of Heaven." These "children of God by sprinkling" show that they need converting, for they grow up to be heirs of wrath, even as others. The regeneration seems to be only skin deep if we may judge by the character of 99 out of every hundred of those who are thus regenerated. But in this case there was no mistaking the meaning of Baptism, for Cornelius and his household were not baptized till after they had received the Holy Spirit--and the Holy Spirit was the sign that their hearts were already purified. Now, my Brothers and Sisters, the Lord will not permit us to mix up His own ordinances with the work of His blessed Spirit in purifying the heart by faith, alone! God forbid we ever should fall into such an error! No--soul-purification is of faith, it is not of Baptism. It is not by any outward rite even of God's own ordaining, nor by the will of man, nor by blood, nor by birth, but by the work of the Holy Spirit through the agency of faith and that alone. If it should, however, occur to some Brother that perhaps the case of Cornelius may have been somewhat special because he had been a devout man and an alms-giver even before he knew the Gospel, I reply that Peter, in his narrative and argument, said not a word upon that point! He held forth the centurion's case simply as that of an uncircumcised person who had believed and had been purified in heart. It seems to me clear enough that if Cornelius, instead of having been a devout man, had been called by God out of the utmost profligacy, he would have been purified in heart in precisely the same manner. If not, Peter was unfair in quoting as a typical instance what would have been a palpable exception to the rule--but he speaks of the centurion and his family as being specimens of what God was doing for Gentile Believers. So Peter saw nothing at all exceptional about them. He saw, indeed, nothing but that they were Believers and were purified in heart by their faith. The fact is that the instrument by which hearts are truly purified is faith which comes by the hearing of the Gospel--and this is all. And so I say to you upon this point, even to you who know not the Lord as yet--do not be looking for pure hearts within yourselves before you come to Christ by faith. Do not look for the fruits before you have the roots! Look by faith to the great Purifier, however impure you feel your heart to be. There is a blessing for the pure in heart, but you cannot claim it at present and, therefore, be it yours to believe as sinners in whom is no good thing whatever. Though you mourn the deep depravity of your nature, do not vainly endeavor to alter it before you believe, but, sinner as you are, condemned by the verdict of your conscience, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that you may be completely renewed! I beseech you seek purity of heart by faith, alone, for you will be disappointed if you search for it in any other way. Do not think that anything else can touch the matter, for it cannot! No washing and cleansing can make the Ethiopian white--only the Redeemer's Divine power can do it! Read your Bibles, by all means, and pray, by all means, and hear sermons, by all means, but none of these things are of any use to change the radical impurity of your inward nature. FAITH must behold the bleeding Lamb and know the virtue of the water and the blood which flowed from His pierced side--and until then the soul must remain in the impurity of the Fall. All the efforts of unbelieving nature do but plunge us deeper in the mire and increase our defilement! Faith is that branch of hyssop which, being dipped in the blood of Jesus, makes the heart clean from sin--and nothing else will do this. Look, then, poor Soul, away from yourself that you may have yourself renewed. Look to your black, disordered and loathsome self and mourn, but look not there for cure--that were to seek for riches amid bankruptcy and death amid life! That were to search for Hell in Heaven and for God among demons! Look to JESUS, whom God has set forth to save His people from their sins--and as you look to Him, FAITH will purify Your soul! II. How is faith strong enough to do this? What is THE SECRET OF ITS POWER? Believing other things does not purify the soul--why does believing the Gospel? Trusting is a very simple act--how does it come to pass that trusting Christ becomes the means of cleansing the heart? I answer, because God works by it. Let us read our text with the preceding verse. "God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Who was it that was purifying their hearts? The answer is clear. It was the Omniscient God. Ah, Brothers and Sisters, you must not look, alone, to the instrument which the Lord uses, but you must have regard to His own power which He puts forth in connection therewith. Faith alone would be nothing--but when God works by faith, wonders are accomplished! You remember the old story of the sword of Scanderbeg with which he used to cleave men in two from the crown of the head downwards? As one looked at it he declared that he saw nothing about the sword to make it so fatal a weapon. But another replied, "You should have seen the arm which was used to wield it." Faith looked at, of itself, appears to be contemptible, but oh, the arm that wields it! Who shall resist that everlasting arm? Jacob may be but a worm, but God can thresh the mountains with him! Faith may be but a poor broom, but when Jesus comes to purge the temple of the heart, He sweeps out all the accumulated filth by this feeble means! This greater than Hercules cares little for the weakness of the instrument, but behold, He cleanses the Augean stable of our nature with no other agency than childlike faith! God works through faith, and so faith does marvels! Ah, Beloved, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ your inbred sins have another champion to meet them beside yourself. God Himself is with you for your Captain and He will use your faith to be the ram's horn to lay low the walls of Jericho, or to be as the pitchers and the trumpets, by whose means the Midianite myriads were overthrown! Your iniquities shall bow before His Grace! Only trust and your poor child-like trust shall be in God's hands the sacred scourge of small cords which shall free your soul from all the thieves who now make it their den! Besides, the text suggests that God is at work in the heart by His Holy Spirit. Now, where the Holy Spirit comes, He burns as a heavenly fire and consumes sin. He comes, also, as a flowing stream and cleanses away evil. He comes as a rushing mighty wind to chase away all that is foul and polluted which has gathered in the stagnant air of the soul. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of holiness and as He always dwells with faith, being its Author, its Strengthener and Guardian, you may be sure that where faith comes, the heart will speedily be purified. The fact is, Brothers and Sisters, faith sees sin, loathes it and flings itself into the eternal arms to be delivered from it. Faith feels sin, like a huge mountain, pressing on its bosom and crushing down its heart. And Faith cries, "Eternal God, You have promised to deliver Your people from their sins. Lo, I invoke Your power and challenge Your promise! I cast myself upon Your might to lift this load from off my bosom and to let me breathe freely as being delivered from its terrible weight." All is well when such an appeal is believingly made! When you bring God into your quarrel it is ended. When you lay hold on the Divine strength, Goliath falls, though your weapon is but a sling and a stone. Here is the power of faith, that she wears the promise of her God as her belt of strength! She has laid hold upon the Omnipotence of Him that makes Heaven and earth to stand! Well may she perform miracles, for God is at her beck and call. See, then, where the power of faith lies whereby she works the purification of the soul--it is GOD that works by her! "But," you ask, "how does God purify the heart? He cannot do it by physical force." No. Who thought He could? He does it by His wisdom which was never baffled yet, bringing before the human mind arguments which suit the case, revealing His Truths which convince the understanding and plying the conscience with facts which gain its verdict. If human wisdom wins men's minds, what shall Infallible Wisdom do? Together with Omnipotent Wisdom there is the most important element of Irresistible Love. Do you think there is no power anywhere but that which can be measured by pounds and gauged as we compute the force of steam in the locomotive engine? Ah, Brothers and Sisters, in the impulse of persuasion, in the force of conviction, in the plea of love, there are powers which never violate the human will, but yet rule it with sacred supremacy! What is stronger than the power of love--love which makes the most obdurate at length to yield? Love which compels the most malicious to love, in spite of themselves? Love which surprises men into repentance and gratitude before they are aware of it? God loves men until they must love Him! God loves them with such Omnipotence that at last they hurl their weapons of rebellion down and submit with eagerness! Nothing conquers like love! Now it is because Faith trusts in this Wisdom and this Love--and these come to aid her in her war with sin--that the raging lusts and wayward passions of the heart are subdued and Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. So, then, I say, as we leave this point, Brothers and Sisters, remember humbly and hopefully that the battle is not yours after all! The Lord has undertaken the conflict and He will gain the victory! The conquest of sin is to be achieved by the Almighty--you are to wrestle and contend--but God in you is the winner of the contest! Therefore, since God is with you, nothing is impossible! There is no constitutional fault which you cannot remedy! There is no strong passion which you cannot check! There is no inward desire, however fierce, which you cannot, at last, destroy! Have courage! High degrees of sanctity are possible to you, now that God is with you. Despair of nothing! Doubt not, for in all things you shall be more than conquerors through Him that loves you! Only let your faith continually fling herself upon the Omnipotence of God and you shall see that He will purify your hearts. III. Thirdly, let us consider that THE SEAT OF FAITH'S ACTION is primarily the heart--"purifying their hearts." I will not speak upon this topic more than to outline what I would have said had I been able to utter my words with greater rapidity. Infirmities of voice are a sad hindrance to ministers--pray that they may be removed, for in my case, at least, the brain is slow when the speech is hampered. Faith changes the current of our love and alters the motive which sways us--this is what is meant by purifying the heart. It makes us love that which is good and right. It moves us with motives free from self and sin--this is a great work, indeed! Therefore, the change which faith produces is very radical and deep. It is a small matter to wash the outside of the cup and of the platter--the inside of the cup must be first and chiefly attended to. If the heart is changed, the conversion is thorough and complete--it is not a mere superficial affair, but a through and through renewal. "Rend your hearts and not your garments," was God's command to His people--and faith acts in this spirit--it does not begin with the garments nor frame regulations for the external actions. It begins with the inner man. Faith lays the axe at the root. It heals the stream at the fountainhead and what is done is, therefore, done thoroughly, effectually and honestly. The heart being purified, the purification becomes operative throughout the whole life. A diseased heart means a sickly man all over--you cannot get your heart wrong but what every organ is, in its measure, wrong--the whole life is disarranged. Neither can you have the heart right without its affecting the entire nature and affecting, for the better, all that is within you and all that comes forth of you--of thought, word and deed! There is nothing like beginning at the heart out of which are the issues of life. All else is poor patchwork. But to have the heart made new is to be renewed, indeed! And, therefore, such a change is permanent. Acknowledge appetites which still remain and the dog returns to his vomit. Purify externals, leave the nature untouched, and the sow that was washed goes back to her wallowing in the mire. Transform the dog to a sheep, change the swine to a child and you shall not see the old habits return--but without this, all human goodness is as a fading flower. Such a purification is acceptable with God, who searches the heart. Man judges according to the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. And so, faith, in purifying the heart, produces a purification which is well-pleasing before God. The sum of this is, Brothers and Sisters, do not begin seeking after the purification of your hearts and then seek after faith in Christ as a second thing. No! Let all things be done in order. Emotions are good if they are good, but they are not the source of purity nor antecedent to faith. Faith is the parent of right emotions. Never confuse the mother with the children. If you would have men purified, aim, by the blessing of God, to produce faith in them. The preaching which only stirs the passions is of small value. We have heard a good deal about crowds weeping, but we had rather see one individual believing. We count it far better to lead a man to believe with his heart than to cry with his eyes and, therefore, I aim rather at preaching Christ Crucified, so as to beget faith, than to paint pathetic pictures of deathbeds and dying mothers, which things work on the emotions but have small tendency to lead to faith. If, first of all, we believe that Jesus is the Christ and come to rest in Him, the emotions will be brought right enough in due time--the heart will be changed where once faith assumes the sway. But if you have a faith which never touches your heart--a faith which never causes you to rejoice or mourn, a faith which neither makes you hate sin nor love the Lord Jesus, I charge you, shake off that faith as Paul shook the viper from his hand--for it is a deadly faith and if, instead thereof, you should feel an aching heart and a deep sense of alienation from God, the change will appear terrible to you, but it will be conducive to your highest good. Only the living faith which works upon the heart and influences the desires and the affections can be the faith of God's elect. A moonlight faith, which has light but no warmth, is a thing of the night and is not the faith of the children of the day. Faith which lives in the cold attic of the brain and never descends into the parlor and banqueting room of the heart, will starve with cold--and it is not the life which the Holy Spirit works in man. Judge what I say, but if you forget all, still remember that faith stands first and then the heart's purification follows as a consequence. Never put the cart before the horse, nor the effect before the cause! Do not expect the fruit of holiness without the root of faith, nor try to increase purity, which is a result, without first strengthening the faith which is its original. IV. Lastly, let us consider THE MODE OF FAITH'S OPERATION--how does Faith go to work to purify the heart? Observe, dear Friends, first, that Faith believes in sin as sin and sees the horror of it as an offense against a holy and gracious God in whom she devoutly believes. Faith believes in Hell and sees the "smoke of its torments going up forever and ever." Faith believes in the worm that dies not and the fire that never can be quenched." Faith, "the evidence of things not seen," places before the soul, in dread array, the pomp of that tremendous day when Christ, with clouds, shall come, so that the soul sees sin to be an exceedingly dreadful and damnable thing and turns to God for deliverance from it--this is one element in the purification of the soul. Next, Faith delights to set Christ before the heart and to make it gaze upon His bleeding wounds and pierced side and marred face. Faith makes Him no dream, but a reality! She causes the soul's ears to hear His groans and listen to His "Lama Sabachthani." The soul perceives that when sin was laid on Christ, it bruised Him sorely and crushed Him down and, therefore, the heart hates the sin which slew its best Friend--here is another clement which works towards its purification. Faith delights much in the Person of Christ and, therefore, she sets before the soul His incomparable loveliness, as the Well-Beloved of saints. To Faith, Christ is not an historic Person who flitted over the page of history even as a passer-by moves before a camera when an artist is taking a street photograph and leaves a dim trace of his having passed across the scene while the picture was being fashioned. Faith has learned to see Christ stand out as the most real Man that ever lived, the fact of the ages, the focus of the Truth of God! Faith touches, handles, embraces and feeds upon Christ. She has been so familiar with Him as to have been kissed with the kisses of His lips and she has been filled with His love which is better than wine and, therefore, she feels His constraining power and follows Him. Faith is Christ's familiar Friend. Faith, as John, lies even in His bosom and there enjoys His love and pours forth her own. Faith, by revealing the love and loveliness of Christ to the soul, kindles in the heart a vehement flame of love to Him and this fire of love becomes a powerful element of purification--for you cannot love Christ and love sin! You cannot feel gratitude for deliverance from evil and then go and plunge into it again. Further, faith has a wonderful art of realizing her gracious privileges. Faith says to the man, "Do you not know that you are God's elect? The eternal Father wrote Your name in His Book of Life before He lit up the lamps of Heaven! How ought you to live? You are redeemed, the blood mark is on you! You are not your own, but bought with a price--what a holy life yours ought to be! You are precious to the heart of God! You are His Hephzibah, He delights in you. You are His child, no more a servant, but a son! You are Christ's bride, yes, you are a part of His mystical body, you are one with Him--how ought you to behave yourself?" Brothers, Sisters, did you ever realize any one of these blessings without feeling that such privileges purge the soul? Did they not, each one of them, seem to say to you, "What manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness, since you are partakers of mercies like these?" Faith has another wondrous power of acting upon the telescopic principle by bringing near to us the things to come. Has she not even opened to us the gates of pearl and set the golden streets a-glittering before our eyes? How near to faith's far-seeing eyes, oh you blessed Jerusalem, your celestial splendors have appeared! At such seasons, so far from thinking that we would indulge in sin because we felt our Heaven secure, we have groaned after more purity and begun to take our shoes off, for we have felt that even the suburb of Heaven, where we, then, stood, was holy ground! Transported by Faith's vision, we have commenced to put on the snow-white robes of the immaculate. Having this hope in us, we have purified ourselves, "even as He is pure." O you who are Brothers and Sisters to perfect spirits--co-heirs with the glorified of the Crown of Life that fades not away, with angels for your servitors and Christ Himself for your elder Brother--what should be the manner of our walk and conversation? We feel that we shall never be perfectly content till we are perfectly holy, unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. What could more effectually purify the heart than the vision of Heaven which Faith presents to us? Suffer me, now, to crowd a number of matters together, to show you that faith does not merely give us motives, but that it really finds us power. I will tell you how faith does this, for I have tried it in fighting against sin. Power is gained by faith through pleading the promises of God. Did you ever feel that you could not master a sin and have you then gone and knelt down and cried, "Lord, You have said, 'sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the Law, but under Grace,' Lord save me from the tyranny of sin which now seeks to exercise upon me"? Did you ever plead that other promise, "I will turn My hand upon you, and surely purge away your dross, and take away all your sin"? Did you ever cry, "Lord, I will not let You go till you have taken away my bonds and delivered me from the iniquities which prevail against me"? Then I am sure you have obtained the help of God! Thus does Faith, by pleading God's own Word, gain power to master sin. Try her sacred art! Believe without a doubt the faithful Promiser and hold Him to His Word, a Word from which He never did draw back and never will, for He is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Faith daringly lays hold upon the power of God, Himself! On the strength of the promise she grasps the Divine hand! She has the sacred impudence, the consecrated impertinence to thrust herself near the Throne and lay hold upon God, for she has heard Him say, "Let him lay hold upon My strength." And oh, Beloved, how she then smites the Philistines! How she lays iniquity low when once God, the Irresistible Slayer of sin, has come to her help! She constrains Him to come by laying hold upon Him and then she routs all her adversaries. Faith brings us real power to conquer sin by applying the blood of Christ. She does not merely talk of the Atonement, but she delights in it as her own and makes a medicine of it for the curing of sinful habits. The blood of Jesus is the life of faith and the death of sin! All the saints overcome through the blood of the Lamb! We sprinkle it before us and kings of armies flee! The atonement by blood. The literal substitution of our Lord. The smarting suretyship. The triumphant righteousness and the representative glorification of the Lord Jesus are all great purifiers of the soul-- sharp swords with which to smite sin! Rest happily in Him who died for you and rose again, and you will be strong for virtue--sin shall lose all power over you. The blood of Jesus is the chief and, indeed, the only Fountain for cleansing! It is the supreme source of holiness, the preparation for Heaven! Faith gets us power, for she plunges us in the atoning blood which is our life. Faith, herself, also, gives us power against sin by mixing herself with all Gospel ordinances. We read of some, "that the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." Faith is a necessary ingredient to be mixed with means and ordinances to give them savor and efficacy. With hearing sermons, attending communion, private prayer, Bible study--mix faith! "Without prescribing how much," mix faith, and the more the better! Faith will enable you to draw the nourishment and essence out of Gospel ordinances and so it will make you vigorous in agonizing against sin! Last of all, faith awakens the new man to intense resistance of sin. Faith, like a trumpet, wakes up the unsinning new nature to battle and leads it into the thick of the fight. Did I startle you when I said the, "unsinning new nature"? I said it advisedly, for it cannot sin because it is born of God! There is within the regenerate man a principle of Divine birth, a Seed which is incorruptible which will remain and abide in the renewed soul forever and ever. This seed, or principle faith, excites into growth and energy. Faith arouses love, stirs up courage, girds patience with her belt and perseverance with her shoes. She excites zeal and stirs up jealousy, bestirs desires after holiness and quickens the diligence of devotion. And so she keeps the powers of evil in check and purifies the heart. This is a brief sketch of how faith purifies, from day to day, the soul of man. I have done when I have said--see, then, to the simplicity and energy of your faith. Beloved, "as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in Him." As you believe in Him unto justification, believe in Him to sanctification. If anybody tells you that you are to get justification in one way and sanctification in another way believe him not! Jesus Christ is made of God unto us sanctification as well as redemption. Pharisees virtually teach us that we are to be sanctified by the Law, though justified by faith, but we know better! These are twin Covenant blessings and are not to be had apart. Believe in Christ to conquer sin as well as to pardon sin. Believe that the only power which can subdue a base passion in you is the power which washed you from your iniquity of old. Trust Christ with the power of sin as well as the guilt of sin. You need not go through a round of performances in order to be purified in heart. You need not look for a higher life than Jesus gave you when you looked and lived--there is no higher life, for He gave you His own! What more do you need than the Holy Spirit which quickens you? What is higher than that? What more can you have than what faith has brought you and will bring you? Jesus has given you Himself! Did you believe in half a Christ at the beginning? Did you receive from Him a lower and inferior life? Oh, shame on you to think so! You trusted your soul wholly with Him, did you not? And did He not give His whole self to you? Do you mean to say that you trusted Him to save you from Hell and not from sin? Did you trust Him to blot out the past and were you fool enough to trust to yourself for keeping in the future? If so, you did not believe in Him at all--your faith was faulty at the very core--for Christ must be everything or nothing! And, if up to now you have been so foolish as to have half a Savior--and if even now you are looking for something which is not contained in Him--be foolish no longer! Go back to the very beginning and say, "Blessed Savior, just as I am I come to You. Behold, I take You to be All in All to me, for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption." Doing this you shall find all in Jesus and, by faith, your heart shall be purified. I had intended to appeal to sinners, but my voice refuses to be longer tried and so I leave it with the prayerful desire that the whole subject may appeal to seekers and encourage them. God save you. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Enlivening and Invigorating (No. 1350) DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Quicken me according to Your Word." Psalm 119:25. You will frequently find David uttering this petition. It is a favorite prayer of his, "Quicken me, O Lord!" And, as David was like the rest of us--indeed, his experience is the mirror of the experience of all Believers--you may depend upon it, we all have a great need to pray as he did, "Quicken me, O Lord!" If he felt a coldness and deadness frequently stealing over him, so do we. Did he find it hard to endure such a wretched state? So ought we, also, to loathe and abhor it. And as he cried to the Strong for strength and knew that quickening must come from God, we ought to know--I trust we know--the same resource under the same necessity. Therefore, let it be our prayer now and let the prayer be repeated often--"Quicken me, O Lord, according to Your Word." How are we to understand this quickening? It means, of course, making alive, keeping alive, and giving more life-- in a word, enlivening. He was alive--he was a spiritual man, or else he would not have asked for life. Dead men never pray, "Quicken me." It is a sign that there is life, already, when a man is able to say, "Give me life, O Lord!" This is not the prayer of the unconverted! It is the prayer of a man who is already regenerate and has the love of God in his soul-- "Quicken me, O Lord, according to Your Word." Quickening, of course, comes to us, first, by regeneration. It is then that we receive spiritual life. And as there is no natural life in the world except that of which God is the Author, so assuredly in the new world there is no spiritual life except that which God has created. The first quickening is that which comes upon us when we begin to feel our need of a Savior, when we begin to perceive the preciousness of that Savior and when, with a feeble finger, we touch the hem of the Savior's garment. Then are we quickened into newness of life! But that spiritual life needs to be kept alive. It is like the life of a fire which must be fed with fuel and supported with air. It is like our natural life which needs food to sustain it and needs to breathe the atmosphere in order to its continuance. We are as much creatures of God's power in our continuing to live as in our commencing to live! And, spiritually, we owe as much to Divine Grace that we remain Believers as that we became Believers. As soon as we get spiritual life, this prayer is most proper as a sacred instinct, "Lord, continue this life in my soul, continue to quicken me, for, if You do not, I have no life in myself apart from You and I would die were I severed from You, as does a branch when severed from the vine. Continue therefore, good Lord, to quicken me." Obviously, too, some special invigoration and excitement of life must be implied here. The trees, all through the winter, are alive. Their substance is in them when they cast their leaves. The vitality is not extinct, though our poet of "The Seasons" does sing-- "How dead the vegetable kingdom lies: How dumb the tuneful choir!" A Divine act of power secretly maintains the life, hidden away till spring comes. Then the chains of frost are broken, the genial warmth begins to light upon the sealed buds, the sap flows and the trees, in their reviving tints and bursting buds, give such promise of returning foliage and flower that in a very special sense they may be said to be quickened. As soon as the sap begins to rise, the buds swell, the leaves unwrap themselves and the concealed flowers gradually open--a quickening comes over what was alive and what had been kept alive all through its dreary, wintry time. So, Beloved, you see, first of all, God gives us life then He maintains life. And then, at times and seasons, (would to God they were more frequent and without intermission!), He gives vigor to that life so that it becomes more manifest and mighty. And then it is that in a conspicuous manner the quickening is seen. I would to God that He would lead some poor sinner to pray in the very first sense of the word, "Lord, quicken me! Give me life!" It would be a sign that life was coming! I would that every Christian would incessantly pray the prayer in the second sense--"Quicken me, Lord"--that is, "Continually keep me faithful and true to Your Word." And then, thirdly, I would that we would all go on to the third sense and say, "Lord, inspirit me, revive me, lift me up unto a higher life. Fill me with more of Your Holy Spirit and so make me more truthful and more like Your ever living Son Jesus, who has life in Himself." Having thus introduced to you the prayer, I would use the Psalm to explain it--to explain, rather, the experience which commends the prayer to our constant use. First, Brothers and Sisters, I would assign some reasons why you need quickening. Secondly, I would point out some motives to see it. Thirdly, we shall mention some ways in which it is worked. And, fourthly, we will suggest pleas such as the Psalmist used, for obtaining it. I. THERE ARE MANY REASONS WHY WE SHOULD SEEK QUICKENING. You cannot overlook that confessed in the text--because of the deadening influence of this world--"My soul cleaves unto the dust: quicken me according to Your Word." We are surrounded with dust. We are associated with dust. The best and brightest things that are in this world are made of dust. And as for ourselves, although we have within us a new and higher life that has no fraternity with the dust, there is an old life belonging to us which is brother to the dust--which says to the worm, "You are my sister." "Dust you are, and unto dust you shall return," is true of every one of us. Yet, Beloved, we cannot feed on the dust--that is the serpent's meat--it is not ours. The new life in us craves for something higher, but the old nature tries to be content with dust. It clings to it--the dust cleaves to it and it cleaves to the dust. You know how the care and cross, the work and worry of a busy day will often dampen your ardor in prayer and disqualify your thoughts for devout meditation? You cannot think much of treasure laid up in Heaven if you think a great deal of this world's goods. Riches are often a dangerous encumbrance to those who seek after righteousness. They steal the heart away from God. Matthew Henry, in his own sharp style, warns us that the care in getting, the fear in keeping, the temptation in using, the guilt in abusing, the sorrow in losing and the responsibility of giving account for gold and silver, houses and lands, accumulate a heavy burden for him to bear who would have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man. And yet if you have but little of this world's wealth, you will find poverty a trying ordeal. The cares of poverty, like those of property, often break the calm repose which our faith ought to enjoy. If things go smoothly with you in business, then those smooth, deceitful streams bear you away from God. And, if they go roughly with you, then in the deep and in the storm you are too apt to forget the Lord or to murmur against His Providence. There is nothing in this world to help a Christian--it is all against him! The world holds us to itself as tightly as it can--it acts like bird-lime to us. When we would mount on the wings of eagles, we are often like the eagle that you see in the gardens where they keep such creatures--there is a chain on our foot and we cannot rise. Our soul cleaves to the dust. Now, as this is the case and as you cannot get out of the world, pray that you may rise superior to its influence. You men of business, you heads of families, you who guide and you who follow, you who are sociable and you who are solitary--all of you must still be in the world and mix with men of the world--therefore cry to God, yes, cry mightily, "Lord, deliver us from the deadening influence of the world in which we live! Quicken us, we beseech You, from day to day!" A second reason for our need of quickening lies in the influence of vanity--of that which is actually sinful. Refer to the 37th verse--"Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken me in Your way." As we go about in the world we see a great deal of that which is injurious to us. The sins of others leave some kind of stain upon the conscience. I question whether you can read a newspaper and scan the story of a murder or a robbery, or survey with more distant glance in any book of history the sin of your fellow men without being, in a degree, injured. We are compelled to see much of vanity and sin in our daily callings. We do not merely read of profanity but we hear the oaths. You enter into a railway carriage and you cannot always avoid hearing conversation which is the reverse of pure. You go into your house and, unless you are happily situated so that all are Christians, there will be a great deal of which you cannot approve and which can be of no benefit to your soul. Besides, the whole world runs after its own idols--men each seek his own, and not the things of Christ--and all these things are vanity. "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity." Our eyes are often fascinated by the glitter and the glare of these vanities. The world puts on a very beauteous complexion. She attires her head and paints her face like Jezebel. And it is not always easy, like Jehu, to detest her, and to say, "Fling her down, and let the dogs consume her." We have nothing to do with this vain world! We are not citizens of this land! But, truly, Madam Bubble, as Bunyan calls her, with her purse and her person, continually presenting herself, is enough to make even Standfast, himself, to stagger and even he needs to fall on his knees, and cry, "Quicken Me, O Lord, and turn away my eyes from beholding vanity." There is thus a second good reason why we should seek for quickening. Sometimes we shall have need to cry for quickening because we are surrounded by deceivers. Turn to the 87th and 88th verses--"They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not Your Precepts. Quicken me after Your loving kindness; so shall I keep the testimony of Your mouth." If you are often assailed by foes and if those foes happen to be the men of your own household--if they jeer at your faith, if they make a jest of holiness on purpose to pain you--you will need a great deal of Divine Grace not to be ruffled. To always be a dove--to be a dove in the midst of ravens. To always be a lamb--to be a lamb in the midst of wolves--is not so easy. He must have much spiritual life who shall be able, wisely and discreetly, to behave himself in the midst of those who lie in wait to entrap him in every word that he says. Remember how David acted in the court of Saul, when Saul eyed him. Unsullied purity is the safest policy. Though Saul eyed David, he could not see any fault or rake up any charge that he could bring against him. Oh, that all of you young people, especially those of you who are subjected to scorn and contempt because of your fidelity to Christ, may be doubly blessed with Grace--may you be, indeed, quickened to the full spiritual life that you may stand the test of persecution and reproach, of suspicion and disparagement, of misrepresentation and slander which is sure to come upon you! Do not pray to be rid of the grievance--rather rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer shame for your Savior's sake! You may pray, if you like, that the distress may be lightened because your strength is small. You may pray that your flight is not in the winter--but do not make that the special object of your petition. Rather pray for Grace to endure it! Pray for life, spiritual life, that you may throw it off. I suppose that, in order to prevent disease, it is a good thing to remove the cause of the disease and take away everything that produces ill savors in the air. But the sure thing is for the man himself to be vigorous as to his own life. I have no doubt many die in moderately healthy localities because they have no stamina. They are constitutionally weak, while the young man who is in robust health may even pass through a pestiferous district and be for hours in the midst of malaria without falling a prey to its deadly influence. And this simply because the life that is in him resists the disease. Your business, dear Friend, if you live in the midst of those that are set on fire by Hell--those who pour out venom against you, is to pray-- "Lord, quicken me that I may have so much spiritual life that these evil influences may not be ruinous to me. Deliver me from them when it is Your will, but meanwhile let me have such a full tide of life that I may be able to endure what I must encounter without being injured." Another reason for seeking quickening will be found in the 107th verse: "I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto Your Word." In seasons of affliction we are very apt to fall into a dark, cold, dead state of mind. We have known many persons in poverty. I have often been sorely pained by it--when members of this Church, who have much, become very poor--and have given up attendance at the House of God. I could understand their reasons far better than I could appreciate them. Their pride was doubtless wounded, because they could not dress as they used to do, though I am sure nobody here thinks any better of you for dressing yourselves in fine clothes. I do not think so much of you, myself. As they could not dress quite so well they felt they could not mix as they did with some with whom they were once equal in circumstances. So they have gone out by the wayside. It is a sad thing when they do so. I am much saddened by it. I hope none of you ever will. You ought to think that you will be more welcome at the House of God when you are in trouble than you ever were before! And if you lose your earthly possessions, it is all the more reason why you should seek to hold faster to the riches which are above. If you are in pain, too, that kind of affliction has a great tendency to distract the mind. Who can think when the brow is throbbing? Who can be calm when every vein becomes a road for the hot feet of pain to travel on? It is not easy. Well now, we have reason, when we feel weak, when we feel that the mind is suffering in sympathy with the body, to cry, "Lord, let Grace triumph over nature. Let Your Spirit have power--Your blessed comforting Spirit--to lift me up above the weight which now is laid upon me, that I may glory in tribulation because Your power rests upon me." You look upon a weight as a heavy matter which keeps you down, but mechanics know how to make a weight raise you. A little adjustment of ropes and pulleys and such-like contrivances, and the weight shall lift you up! And the Lord knows how to make our afflictions minister to our quickening, as we shall have to show you directly. But in themselves they deaden us. They do not assist, but rather hinder and so, whenever they come, then is the time for us to pray with special emphasis, "Quicken me, O Lord, according to Your Word." Thus have I endeavored to show you from the Psalm itself some of the reasons why we need quickening. II. Now, let us pass on to describe SOME OF THE MOTIVES FOR SEEKING QUICKENING. There are very many. Seek it because of what you are. You are a Christian and, therefore, already alive unto God. Life seeks more life-- it is its natural tendency. If there is life in a tree, it seeks to put forth its branches. And when it has had its spring growth spurt, you will notice that it then begins to seek for its midsummer spurt. And when the midsummer growth is over, the tree always has an eye to the growth of the next spring! And before the old leaves go there is every preparation made for the new leaves. Life is always aiming at more life. It a law of Nature. There is a propagation continually progressing in which life develops and multiplies itself. Now, if you have the life implanted by the Holy Spirit, you will long for more. If you do not long to have more life, it surely must be because you have no life. The living man will be sure to cry to God that he may have life more abundantly. The next motive is not only because of what you are, but because of what you ought to be. Here is a question for you which I will leave you to answer--"What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" We like, sometimes, to work out a problem. There is one to solve. Draw a picture, if you can, of what you ought to be. I will tell you, if you draw that picture accurately, what it will be like. It will be like Jesus Christ! That is the answer to this question--"What manner of persons ought we to be?" Now Christ was full of life. Although He did not strive or cry, or lift up His voice, or cause it to be heard in the streets by way of seeking after popular notoriety, yet what life was in Him! He was brimful of life! There was nothing stagnant, indifferent, or purposeless in any of His actions or in all His career. Why, the life of Christ was so full that it seemed to flow out even onto His garments, so that when they touched His garments, virtue went out of Him! How full must He have been of the living force--the inward power! O Beloved, we ought to be so! As we are redeemed, as we are quickened by Christ--as we are members of His body, as we belong to Him--we ought to reckon ourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God by Jesus Christ! Above all men that live, the Christian ought to live at the most vigorous rate. We have a race to run! We must not creep and crawl, or we shall not win the prize. We have a battle to fight! If we should sheath our sword, put off our armor and go to sleep, how can we overcome our enemies? We have an agony to endure, according to His power that works in us mightily, and there cannot be this resisting unto blood--striving against sin--unless all our passions are awakened and all our powers are stirred for the wondrous inward strife. We ought to ask for quickening because of what we ought to be. Then, we ought to ask for quickening because of what we shall be. "It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like He, for we shall see Him as He is." Brothers and Sisters, you are to be a pure spirit in Heaven! Be spiritual now! Brothers and Sisters, you are to sing among the angels! Rehearse the music now! Brothers and Sisters, you are to see His face that is as the sun that shines in its strength! Let not your eyes be now sealed with dust! Let them be clear, as clear as they can be in this misty atmosphere of earth. Brothers and Sisters, you are to sit upon the Throne with Christ, for He says, "As I have overcome, and have sat down with My Father upon His Throne, so, also, shall you sit with Me upon My Throne." Remember where you are to be and behave yourself accordingly! You cannot maintain the dignity of your high calling, or your heavenly destiny unless you have an abundance of spiritual life--so pray, "Quicken me, O Lord." Now, to come back to the Psalmist's own confessions and reflections. He gives us another motive for seeking this in the 88th verse: "Quicken me after Your loving kindness; so shall I keep the testimony of Your mouth." We need quickening in order to obedience. If our life decays, then the power of sin will get the mastery over us. We cannot go in the way of obedience and punctuality and scrupulous care and inward heartiness unless we are daily quickened. I am sure you want to be holy, Brothers and Sisters. I am sure you do! Well, then, pray, "Quicken me." There is no such thing as dead holiness--it must be living holiness and you must be made alive in order to be obedient--for there is no such thing as dead obedience. Up to the altar of God they brought birds and they brought beasts, but they never brought fish! Why? Because they could not bring live fish and there must be no sacrifice presented to God but that which has life! Ask for life, that you may have obedience! Look at the 107th verse and you have another reason for seeking quickening, because it will be your comfort. "I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according to Your Word." Or, better still, at the 50th verse, "This is my comfort in my affliction: for Your Word has quickened me." Do you need comforting? Get quickening! Do not so much ask the Lord to give you sweet promises, as to give you inward life, for in life there is always light. "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." As the light is the life, the life is the light--and when you get the life of God within your soul, you will get the comfort of God. I urge you to seek quickening, then, if you are under any distress, because it will be the quickest means of your finding consolation in your trouble. Look, also, at the 87th and the 88th verses, to which we have already referred, and you will see that we ought to seek quickening as the best security against attacks of enemies. We need not examine how we can meet the foe, or with what argument we can refute his sophistries, or with what weapons we can overthrow him. "Quicken me, O Lord," is still the prayer, even though they threaten to consume us from off the face of the earth! We have but to keep close to the precepts of God and pray for quickening, and we shall be "more than conquerors through Him that loved us." The use of the word, "quicken," will be seen in the 93rd verse. "I will never forget Your Precepts: for with them you have quickened me." We are always in danger of forgetting God's precepts. So, to invigorate our memories and to fortify our hearts, we must get quickening. Nothing can make a man so secure of walking rightly and defying all the attacks of his enemies as the reception of spiritual life. The young man can only cleanse his way by taking heed to it according to God's Word. But he cannot take heed to his way if he is not alive in the way. Life is the great thing. Look at a pool of water when it stands still--how it becomes mantled over with weeds--how stagnant and defiled it is. But give it vent and let it run down yonder brook among the stones--let it leap in little cascades on its way down to the river. It is alive and see how pure it gets, refining as it goes, dropping all the filthiness it had accumulated before! It become sweeter and clearer because of life! So it must be with us. We must have life! We shall forget God's precepts, also, and lose the purity of life unless quickening is abundantly given to us. If I needed some one thrilling motive to awaken the reluctant, I would resort to this--the terrible consequences of losing spiritual life. I do not mean the effect of losing it, altogether, but of lacking it in its manifest display. Alas that it should be so easy to give obvious illustrations! But I could tell you of many congregations and Churches where there is no evidence of vitality, growth or increase. It is as if they were all dead. I do not say that there is no spiritual life, but there is none in the sense in which I am using the term. They have fallen into a dead sleep and the members of the Church are cold, apathetic, spiritless. Life among them is at the lowest ebb. You cannot be sure they breathe. By breathe I mean--a breath of prayer. Some of them have not been to a Prayer Meeting, they could not tell when. Some do not know if they ever were. And when they attend Lord's-Day services, not a few of them literally sleep--and the rest of them sleep with their eyes open. The minister is dozing, dreaming, snoring, talking in his sleep--that is what his preaching is like. There is plenty of preaching like that--an inarticulate snoring of the everlasting Gospel! The preacher, perhaps, reads, or else he repeats what he has laboriously committed to memory and says it as a school boy does his lesson--and he is glad when it is over--for he considers that preaching twice on Sunday wears him out, dear man! And well it may, as he does it. It wears his people out as well. They have no evangelical spirit. The surrounding neighborhood is not evangelized by them. They do not increase--they do not think of increasing. In fact, they get fewer as the good people go home to Heaven. Any attempt to do anything there would be looked upon as "an innovation." Yet they do something--they have a disturbance every now and then. They hold what they call a, "Church meeting," which means, in their case, a spiritual bear-garden in which they show their life. And one minister after another is driven away--not that it is a fit place for anybody to desire to go, you know, for there is very little to be had except abuse. But still, that is the style of the thing--and there are hundreds of churches in England in that condition. O that the Lord would quicken them! May this place be reduced to ashes and may the congregation be scattered to the four winds of Heaven sooner than it should become a huge mausoleum, a catacomb of which it may be said, "the dead are there"! Ah, it is ill to have "the means of Grace" without the Grace of the means--to have a name to live and to be dead! God save us from it! Take heed to yourselves! Some of the members of this Church, I fear, are getting into that condition! Yet not, I know, you that are present this evening. You would not, most likely, have been here on such a wet night as this if you had not some care for the things of God. I refer to those that are not here. When you get home tell them so--tell them what I have said about it--and then perhaps they will say, "Well, if the pastor always speaks severely of those who are not there we had better go, so as to escape his censures." III. Now let us mention briefly SOME OF THE WAYS BY WHICH THIS QUICKENING MAY BE WORKED IN US. Of course the Lord, Himself, must do it. In prayer it must be sought because by His power it must be worked. The prayer is, "Quicken me, O Lord, according to Your Word." He does not expect the quickening from any but a Divine source. From where can life come but from the ever living God? How can we expect that we should get life if, while we seek the gratuity, we totally forget the Divine energy of Him who alone can bestow it? In the 37th verse we are told how the Lord often quickens His people, namely, by turning off their eyes from beholding vanity. "Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken me in Your way." The Lord sometimes takes the vanity away of which we made our idol--or else He takes us away from the idol and does not permit us to find any contentment in it. Oh, it is half the battle to be weaned from the creature! It is half the battle, I say, to get the eyes off vanity, for then you are likely to get your eyes turned upon God! May He be graciously pleased to quicken some of you in that way. In the 50th verse we find that God quickens His people by His Word. "Your Word has quickened me." And the part of the Word which He often blesses to this end is remarkable, for, in the 93rd verse it is written, "I will never forget Your Precepts; for with them You have quickened me." Promises are quickening, doctrines are quickening, but David says, "Your Precepts--with them you have quickened me." If we preach frequently and earnestly the precepts of our Lord there are hearers who will complain and say, "The minister is getting legal." No, Brothers and Sisters, it is you that are getting dead, for when you are alive you will love God's Laws and those precepts will quicken you. "But they pain me," says one. That is often how people are quickened! While a person is drowning, we have heard that his sensations are often really delightful--but when he is fished out of the water, as soon as he begins to recover life, the blood begins to tingle in the veins and the pain is intense. The pain of returning life is something terrible. Well, so it is with God's precepts when He quickens us with them. These Laws pain us because they show us our shortcomings, expose to us our faultiness and humble us. Brothers and Sisters--that is the way to be quickened! When you are numbed, you know that is next door to being dead. But when that numbed flesh of yours begins to come to life again--you have felt it, you must have felt it--when the blood begins to circulate by rubbing, a sharp pain is excited in the part that, before, was numbed and painless. Be thankful for the pain--that is an index of life. "I love Your Precepts, for with them you have quickened me." May the Lord apply a text of Scripture to your soul with power, or let Him send a Word from the minister as he speaks in Jehovah's name with a Divine force, and you will soon feel the effect. Though you appeared to be dead, you will start up and begin to live again! Have you not often found it so? Have you not often found great reviving come to your sinking spirit? Pray the Lord to make His Word always thus vivifying and inspiriting to you. In the 107th verse we have another means of quickening which God frequently uses, namely, affliction. "I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according to Your Word." God frequently employs adversity as a black poker to stir us up that the flame of devotion may be brighter. When you observe the fire in your sitting room getting dull and going out, you do not always put more coals on, but you stir it--and sometimes affliction does that for us. It stirs us and makes the life which was languishing to briskly burst forth. Be thankful if God stirs your fire. Then, again, this quickening is sometimes worked in us by means of Divine comfort, as in the 50th verse--"This is my comfort, for Your Word has quickened me." The great flush of comfort, the sudden inflow of supreme joy when you were much depressed--this has greatly cheered and invigorated you. At least I know it has often been so with me. When very despondent and sad at heart, I have felt a soft stream, as though it were the Gulf Stream with its warm, genial temperature, flowing into my soul, melting all the icebergs that had gathered round my heart. and I have wondered what it was. How has my gratitude turned to my gracious God and found sweet expression in that hymn-- "Your mercy is more than a match for my heart, Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart, Dissolved by Your goodness, I fall to the ground, And weep to the praise of the mercy I've found." You will often have proved, I doubt not, how God uses the comfort of His Spirit to quicken His children. IV. Our last point is to enquire WHAT ARE OUR PLEAS WHEN WE COME BEFORE GOD TO ASK FOR QUICKENING? What arguments shall we use? Well, Brothers and Sisters, use first the argument of your necessity. Whatever that necessity is, particularize it, as David does in the 107th verse--"I am afflicted very much; quicken me." Or take our text, "My soul cleaves to the dust, quicken me." Plead your necessities! Your needs shall be the argument for the oil and wine. Your emaciation and your hunger shall be the argument for a festival. Show the Lord what you are and where you are. Confess it before Him and this shall be good pleading. Also plead, if it is in your power to do so, the earnest desire that God has kindled in you. Read the 40th verse-- "Behold I have longed for Your Precepts; quicken me in Your righteousness." This is as much as to say, "Lord, You have given me great longings after You. You gave me these cravings--will You not satisfy them? Do You torture me with the miseries of Tantalus? Do You grieve me with a thirst which You will not gratify? Have You given me a hunger for the Bread of Heaven only for the sake of torturing me?" Beloved, if you have a desire, you may depend upon it, the desire of the righteous shall be granted. God does not excite the appetite without providing the nourishment. If He makes you hunger and thirst after righteousness, remember the promise, "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." They shall not have merely a little, a crumb or two to stay their stomachs, but they shall be filled! Go and plead that before God. "I have longed after Your Precepts; quicken me in Your righteousness." There is the second plea. And then you may find a third in the very righteousness of God, as we have seen in the 40th verse. Appeal to His righteousness! Do I see you start back abashed? Do I hear you say, "Oh no! I could not appeal to that, for the righteousness of God must condemn me." Stop a minute. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Why, the Justice of God is on the side of the man who has received God's promise because it were unjust of God to break it! He will not alter the thing that has gone out of His mouth! The Lord has given His Word that He will give His people life. The very fact of His having made them live at all is the proof that He means to continue to make them live! Go and plead it, then. Say--"In Your righteousness, oh Lord, quicken me." David is very often harping upon that string. As I showed you in the reading, he twice appeals to God's judgment, or His Justice, that He would quicken him. Another, and a very sweet plea is that of God's loving kindness. Read the 88th verse--"Quicken me after Your loving kindness." Look at the 149th verse--"Hear my voice according unto Your loving kindness: O Lord, quicken me according to Your judgment." And so again in the 156th verse--"Great are Your tender mercies, O Lord: quicken me according to Your judgments." "You pitying God, give me more life. O You who wills not the death of any, give me more life. O You that loves as a father loves, give me more life! O You who have engraved me upon the palms of Your hands, quicken me! Quicken me, I beseech You." Are they not blessed pledges to lay hold on--His loving kindness and His tender mercies? With such promises you will be sure to prevail! And then what a comprehensive plea is that of our text--"Quicken me according to Your Word." You have it in the 25th verse and you have it in the hundred and seventh. He pleads the Word of God. What that Word was that David had to appeal to, it would rather puzzle me to tell you. His Bible was not so large nor near so full as ours. I do not find any promise of quickening before David's time. Perhaps a special promise had been given to him, or, at any rate, the promise is virtually in the Pentateuch. But certainly, to us, there is abundant testimony to be found in the Word of God, for our Lord Jesus Christ Himself has told us--"Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." "I give unto My sheep eternal life." The Son of man has come not only that we might have life, but that we might have it more abundantly! Plead the promises, Brothers and Sisters! Plead the promises and, as you plead them before the Lord, you may rest quite certain that God will be as good as His Word and, if you can plead the promise, the promise will be surely fulfilled to you. Beloved in Christ, do tenderly watch over your spiritual life, or otherwise you are hypocrites when you pray "quicken me." Take heed lest you neglect the food of your souls! Do not go where your life would be in danger! Do not seek worldly company, do not indulge in worldly amusements. Keep out of all the deadening influences of the world as much as you can. Have you ever seen the Grotto del Cane near Naples? It has a deadly gas at the bottom of it. They take a dog and throw him in and when they drag him up the dog looks as if he were dead. But by the aid of a fresh water bath he comes round again. As they thus kill the poor dog half a dozen times a day, I do not envy him his experience. Indeed, I rather think if I were that dog I would lose no time in seeking another master! Yet there are some professing Christians that will go into bad company--get into the bad gas of temptation--and then they go and hear a sermon and get back their spiritual life. I would advise you not to be like that poor dog, but to keep out of harm's way. If you have life, do your best to maintain it and do not run the risk of suspended animation. Knowing the worth and joy of life, yourself, pray very earnestly that God would give it to others. Look on the dead in sin, but not with stony eyes. Look on them with tears. Even if I knew that my hearers must be lost, I would pray God to help me to weep over them, because our Savior's tears over Jerusalem, you remember, were accompanied with a distinct indication that Jerusalem would be destroyed. "Oh, that you had known, even you, in this your day, the things which make for your peace! But now are they hid from your eyes." Still He wept. We have no such terrible knowledge about the destiny of any man. We look hopefully upon you unconverted people and we exhort you because we expect you to believe in Jesus! We sincerely trust that you will be saved and, therefore, we pray for you in hope. May the Lord in infinite mercy lead you to feel for yourselves and pray for yourselves-- "Quicken me, O Lord!" Do you feel that prayer welling up from your soul? Does it rise from your heart? Then, already there is something of spiritual life there! Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall have life, for He who said, "He that lives and believes in Me shall never die," said also, "He that believes in Me, though He were dead, yet shall He live." God give you that living faith which is the token of the Divine life. To Him be glory forever and ever! Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Divine Call for Missionaries (No. 1351) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING APRIL 22, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us? Then said I, Here am I; send me." Isaiah 6:8. BROTHERS AND SISTERS, the heathen are perishing and there is but one way of salvation for them, for there is but one name given under Heaven among men whereby they must be saved. God, in the glorious unity of His Divine Nature is calling for messengers who shall proclaim to men the way of life. Out of the thick darkness my ears can hear that sound mysterious and Divine, "Whom shall I send?" If you will but listen with the ear of faith you may hear it in this house today--"Whom shall I send?" While the world lies under the curse of sin, the living God, who wills not that any should perish but that they should come to repentance, is seeking heralds to proclaim His mercy. He is asking, even in pleading terms, for some who will go forth to the dying millions and tell the wondrous story of His love--"Whom shall I send?" As if to make the voice more powerful by a threefold utterance we hear the sacred Trinity enquire, "Who will go for Us?" The Father asks, "Who will go for Me and invite My far-off children to return?" The Son enquires, "Who will seek for Me, My redeemed but wandering sheep?" The Holy Spirit demands, "In whom shall I dwell and through whom shall I speak that I may convey life to the perishing multitudes?" God, in the unity of His Nature, cries, "Whom shall I send?" and in the trinity of His Persons, He asks, "Who will go for Us?" Happy shall we be, today, if earnest responses shall be heard in this house--"Here am I, send me." It is ours, at any rate, very solemnly to put the matter before you, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and while we shall try to plead Jehovah's cause we trust the Holy Spirit may be here, saying of one and another, quite unknown to us, "Separate Me Saul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them." Yes, may the constraining voice of the special call of Grace come to the ear of some here present who shall respond like young Samuel and say, "Here am I, for You did call me." First, we shall, this morning, consider the vision of Glory in reference to the offer of service made by the Prophet--the vision which he saw. And secondly, the vision of ordination which he more than saw, for his lips were touched. Thirdly, we will speak upon the Divine Voice and conclude by dwelling upon the earnest response. I. Reverently, and with all our hearts attention, let us gaze upon THE VISION OF GLORY which Isaiah saw. It was necessary for him to see it in order that he might be brought into the condition of heart out of which should come the full consecration expressed in--"Here am I, send me." Observe what he saw. He saw, first, the supreme Glory of God. "I saw the Lord," he says, "sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple." Was it Jesus that he saw? Was this one of the anticipations of His future Incarnation? Probably so, for John writes in his 12th chapter, at the 41st verse, "These things said Isaiah, when he saw His Glory, and spoke of Him"--referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not, however, insist upon that interpretation, for the word, "Lord," doubtless included, at times, the whole Godhead and, therefore, the vision may have represented the Lord Himself revealed in visible form. As to His absolute Essence, eyes cannot behold the Lord, but He chooses to make an apparition of Himself-- appearing among men in such a form as may come under the understanding of their senses. Now, Brothers and Sisters, we know of nothing that will supply a better motive for missionary work, or for Christian effort of any sort, than a sight of the Divine Glory. This is one of the strongest impulses a soul can feel. Behold, O believers in the Divine Word, at this day the Lord God, even Jehovah, is not dethroned, but sits on the Throne of His Glory! Some know Him not and others deny Him and blaspheme Him, but He is still God over all, blessed forever! See the patience of His infinite majesty--He sits in calm Glory upon His eternal Throne. The nations furiously rage and imagine a vain thing but, "He that sits in the heavens does laugh; the Lord does have them in derision." Still are His purposes fulfilled and His soul abides in its serenity. He is the same and of His years there is no end. He sits as a King, observe, upon a throne--He never renounces His sovereignty and dominion. All things still feel the Omnipotence of the reign of God. "The Lord has prepared His Throne in the heavens and His Kingdom rules over all." The rebellions of men, can they ever shake His firm dominion? No, but out of their wildest uproar He fashions order and by their most violent resistance He works His own purposes! After all, the Lord reigns--let the earth rejoice, let the multitudes of the isles be glad! Still, despite all the hurly-burly of war and all the wickedness of men in the dark places of the earth, and the detestable blasphemies of the heathen against the Most High, the Lord sits on a throne which can never be shaken. Nor is it a mean throne, either, nor one of little dignity. It is "high and lifted up." It is not merely above all other thrones by way of greater power, but over them all by way of supreme dominion over them, for He is King of kings and Lord of lords! I wish, dear Brothers and Sisters, we could get a glimpse of the Glory and power and dominion which belong to the Most High! If we did, though it would certainly humble us in the very dust, yet it would fire us with a consecrated indignation against those who set up other gods. It would fill us with a sacred courage to do and dare anything against these blind, deaf and dumb deities to whom it is almost too great an honor to pour contempt upon them! And it would make us feel confidence in the ultimate success of the cause and kingdom of the living God. Even now, while He restrains His hand, He sits upon a throne high and lifted up and is even now the Governor among the nations. The day shall surely come when all nations shall behold His Throne and bow before it and God shall be seen to be Lord over all. The God whom we serve is able to give victory to His own cause. Here is an impulse for us in all warring for His cause and crown. If you choose to take the text as referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, what a delight it is for us to think that there is no more for Him the thorny crown and the cruel lance and the contemptuous spit, but He who bowed His head to death has left the dead, no more to die and ascended to the right hand of God, even the Father! God, having highly exalted Him, He now sits upon a throne high and lifted up. This, in fact, is the origin of our commission--"Go you, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Because all power is given unto Him in Heaven and in earth, therefore we are to go forth and subdue the people under His feet. O, when will His Church fully believe in the Glory of her Lord and rejoice therein, so that His power shall fill her, as His train filled the temple? If we cannot behold His greatest glories, yet we pray that His Presence, by the Holy Spirit, like the perfumed smoke and the resplendent hems of His robes, may be known among us and fill us with adoration. Did the posts of the door move at that august Presence? Let our hearts be moved, also, as in lowly adoration we bow before Him who is Lord and Christ! But then Isaiah saw, also, the court of the great King. He beheld the glorious attendants who perpetually perform homage, nearest to His Throne. He says, "Above it (or rather above Him) stood the seraphims," not implying that their feet rested upon the earth, or upon any other solid substance, but that they were stationary around and above the great King, poised in mid air in a circle, like a rainbow round about the Throne of God, or as a bodyguard surrounding the Throne of Majesty. There they were, waiting to know His pleasure, on the wing, ready for any errand and adoring while they waited. These seraphim may furnish us with a pattern for Christian service--as the Throne of God becomes the impulse to that service, so let these serve us as the model. They dwell near the Lord and so should we. He is their center and their bliss, even so should He be ours. But I specially note that they were burning ones, for such is the meaning of the word seraphims, a term applied in the Hebrew to the fiery flying serpents of the wilderness. These courtiers of the great King were creatures of fire, ablaze with ardor-- all glowing and shining, they worship Him--"who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire." Jehovah, who is a consuming fire, can only fitly be served by those who are on fire, whether they are angels or men. Hence that solemn question, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" (Isa. 33:14). None can do this but the man on fire with Divine Love. In the Presence of that consuming fire, it is not possible for lukewarmness or indifference to exist, we would be utterly burned up. To act as courtier before the burning Throne of God requires a seraphic or burning spirit and if we become lethargic and soulless we shall not be counted worthy to be employed on Divine errands. Therefore, let all coolness of love and slumbering of spirit be removed. May the Lord make us, like John the Baptist, burning and shining lights! These courtiers of God were burning ones and they are, also, pictured to us--for remember these are only representations of things actually invisible and seen only in vision--as having six wings. Such are His servants full of motion, full of life! Some that I know of who profess to serve the Lord seem to have no wings at all, but are stolid and inactive--more like the sloth than the seraph--having more weight than wing. Those who come near Him should be all in motion, quick, active, willing, awake, energetic, ready to fly upon the Lord's business with a mighty swiftness. In a word, six fold should be their wings, that they may not tarry nor tire, nor linger nor loiter in the way. Have we such readiness of mind as this? Having life and motion, these glorious spirits use their powers with prudence and discretion. They use not all their wings for flight, but with two, each one covered his face, for even they cannot gaze upon the dazzling brightness of Jehovah's Throne and, therefore, in humble shamefacedness of awe they adore with veiled countenance! "With two he covered his feet," or his body, or his lower parts, for the seraph remembers that even though sinless, he is yet a creature and, therefore, he conceals himself in token of his nothingness and unworthiness in the Presence of the thrice Holy One. The middle pair of wings was used for flight, for mere bashfulness and humility cannot offer complete adoration, there must be active obedience and readiness of heart for service. Thus they have four wings for adoration and two for active energy--four to conceal themselves and two with which to occupy themselves in service. We may learn from them that we shall serve God best when we are most deeply reverend and humbled in His Presence. Veneration must be in larger proportion than vigor--adoration must exceed activity. As Mary at Jesus' feet was preferred to Martha and her much serving, so must sacred reverence take the first place and energetic service follow in due course. The angels do His commands, hearkening unto His voice and thus they excel. Our excellence must lie in the same direction--the union of worship with work in due proportions. The covering of the face is as necessary as the flight. The burning one is as seraphic in the veiling of his feet as in the stretching of his wings. Let us pray the Lord will fill us with the Divine enthusiasm, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, and so make us burning ones. And then when He has winged us with sacred energy, may He make us humble in mind, removing from us all vain curiosity, so that we shall not attempt to gaze with uncovered eyes on the great Incomprehensible. Let us pray that He will take away all unhallowed presumption, so that we will use no proud bravado, but cover our feet in the solemn Presence of the Holy One. Let us ask God to make us ready to every good word and work, swift to go anywhere and everywhere, as He may call us, being, as it were, six-winged in the service of our God! Again, another part of the vision of Isaiah in the temple was the perpetual song, for these sacred beings continually cried, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His Glory." Brothers and Sisters, let us take this cry to be the life song of each one of us! Adore the holy God, perfection's self! Whatever He shall do with you, bless Him and still call Him holy. Find no fault with His dispensations--never dare to quarrel with any of His ways. Holy, holy, holy, is He in all things. In creation, Providence and redemption He is holy, holy, holy! Praise Him with ardor! Be not content to call Him holy once, but dwell upon the theme! Extol the Lord with all your might! Raise again and again, and again the sacred song. Adore not only the Father, but the Son and the ever-blessed Spirit--let the Trinity in Unity be the object of your perpetual adoration-- "Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee! Holy, holy holy! Merciful and mighty! God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!" While you praise His holiness do not forget His power, but adore Him as "Jehovah of Hosts." He is as great as He is good, as high as He is holy, as potent as He is pure! He created the heavens, the earth and all the hosts of them. Legions of angels do His bidding! Hosts of intelligences wait His call! All forces of Nature, animate and inanimate, march at His command! From the crash of thunder to the flight of an insect, all things are at His beck and call. Hosts of birds migrate at His direction. Hosts of fishes swarm the sea at His call. Hosts of locusts and caterpillars devour the fields at His order. His armies are innumerable and all living things are in their regiments a part of His camp which is very great. Men, also, whether they will or not, shall be subservient to His supreme dominion. Their armies and their navies fulfill His decrees even when they think not of Him. He is Lord of all! Exult in this and let your hearts be brave because of it. And then dwell, that you may feel a missionary spirit, on that last part of the song, "The whole earth is filled with His Glory," for so it really is in one sense. "Jehovah of Hosts is the fullness of the whole earth." God is glorious all over the world! Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of His Glory. Everything adores Him except that wandering, wayward creature, man! Turn this ascription, for it may be so read, into a wish--"Let the whole earth be filled with His Glory." Read it, if you please, as a prophecy--"The whole earth shall be filled with His glory," and then go forward, O you servants of the Most High, with this resolve--that in His hands you will be the means of fulfilling the prophecy by spreading abroad the knowledge of His name among the sons of men! The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and He must reign over it. Are you going to succumb to the modern theory that the world is never to be converted to God? Is human history to end with the triumph of the devil over the Church of God? Is the Lord about to give up the present battle of good with evil with feeble men as the instruments? Are the conditions of the conflict to be changed altogether? Is the Holy Spirit to fail until an earthly kingdom is set up for the Lord Jesus? Is the Gospel never to spread among the heathen? Is Christ to come upon an unenlightened heathen world, with Mohammed, the false prophet, still unconquered and the harlot of Rome still upon her seven hills and all the idols in their places? Is the battle which now glorifies God by the weakness of man to be fought out in another manner? You may believe it if you will and go to the beds of your inglorious sloth! But I think there is something more worthy of faith than that, namely, that God will be victorious all along the line in the present battle and in the present style of conflict! By His Church, His Word and His Spirit, He means to win the victory! By the testimony of weak, feeble men to the Gospel of His Grace, He means to conquer the powers of darkness! For nearly 2,000 years our Lord has stood foot to foot with Satan and He will not end this wrestling match till He has given His foe a deadly fall! Then the shout shall go up from a ransomed world, "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns." Oar prayers will never end till we see the desire of pious David fulfilled when he said, "Let the whole earth be filled with His Glory! Amen, and amen. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse are ended." We are looking and laboring for that consummation and we believe that we shall realize it, though it looks most improbable, especially just now when the heathen are converting our missionaries instead of the missionaries converting the heathen! We have had bishops turned into Zulus instead of Zulus into Christians and several other instances less known to evil fame! But we still believe in the conquest of the world because we believe in the Omnipotence of God. Nothing short of "dominion from sea to sea" dare we ask in prayer or seek in service for our Lord Jesus! The idols must be utterly abolished! Error and sin must fly before the light of the Truth of God and holiness! The ends of the earth must yet see the salvation of our God and the whole earth must be filled with His Glory! II. Let us now turn our thoughts to THE VISION OF ORDINATION. This man, Isaiah, was to go forth in Jehovah's name, but in order to preparation for so high a privilege, he must undergo a process peculiar but necessary. He was brought into a state which, to human judgment, would seem to disqualify him for all future usefulness, crushing the courage out of him and leaving him like a bruised reed. By reason of the glorious vision which he saw, there was no strength left in him. He was cast down as low as he could well go with a sense of his own utter unworthiness and felt himself to be less than nothing. In the Presence of God he cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips." "Alas, alas, alas," he says, "woe has taken possession of my soul. I am destroyed by it." Yes, dear Brother, and this is our way to success-- God will never do anything with us till He has, first of all, undone us! We must be taken to pieces and made to undergo a process much like destruction--and then we shall be newly fashioned according to a nobler mold--more fit to be used by our great Lord. I shall not regret if every Brother here called to the work of the Lord shall feel as if he could not go on with it and shall mourn daily his incapacity, his unworthiness and failure! It is good for us to be laid in the dust. Downward in breaking, in crushing, in grinding, in being made into dust we must go, for this is the way to be made strong in the Lord and in the power of His might! The death of self is the life of Divine Grace. When we are weak then are we strong. We can only rise to ability for the most noble errands by being emptied of all self-sufficiency and filled with the all-sufficient Spirit of God! Observe, next, that he made a confession of sin while thus prostrate. He said, "I am a man of unclean lips." Why does he lament the uncircumcision of his lips rather than the evil of his heart? It was partly because he longed to join the seraphim in their song but felt his lips unfit. And more because he was a Prophet and, therefore, his lips were the instruments of his office and he was most conscious of sin where he felt most the need of Grace. I know not that Isaiah had ever kept back any part of the Truth of God, or that he had spoken in uncomely tones, or that in his work of prophecy he had in anything been unfaithful, but yet he felt his shortcomings. There was nothing about him that you and I could have seen to find fault with, but he saw it. He felt it! And what minister is there, that God has ever sent, who does not, when he surveys his ministry, feel that he is a man of unclean lips? Often and often does our soul say, "Oh that these lips had language! They are poor dumb things that will not speak aright. O that instead of flesh they were flames--that we might let fall a burning torrent of persuasions, entreaties and solicitations which should run amid multitudes of men like fire in dry stubble!" But it is not so with us. We are often cold and lifeless and so we are made to mourn that we have unclean lips. Who, that ever saw the Glory of God, or the love of Christ, would refuse to join in this confession? And, then, this man of God felt, also, a deep sense of the sin of the people among whom he dwelt. He cried, "I dwell among a people of unclean lips." I do not think a man can be a good missionary if he winks at the sin that surrounds him. Unless it stinks in his nostrils. Unless it makes his soul boil with holy indignation. Unless, like Paul, his heart is stirred in him, how can he speak as he should speak, the message of his God? Familiarity with evil too often takes off the edge of tender feelings. Men readily cease to weep over the sin which is always before their eyes. You may look upon the superstitions of Rome till you almost admire the gallant show! And I suppose you may regard heathen temples till the majesty of their architecture may make you forget the infamy of their purpose. But it must not be so! We must feel that we dwell among a people of unclean lips and we must bear their sins upon our hearts, repenting for them if they will not repent, and breaking our hearts over them because their hearts are as granite against their God. Only in such a frame of mind shall we be fit to go forth in God's name. And do you notice that he had a sacred awe upon him because of the Divine Presence? Do you see how bowed down he was because his eyes had seen the King, the Lord of Hosts? O favored servant of God! Isaiah, you are honored above your fellows, to behold God's Throne and Glory! What would you and I not give if we might but have stood in the temple, peered within the doorway and gazed into the smoke--and have seen some glimpse of the brightness? But Isaiah never exulted in it. On the contrary, he cried, "Woe is me!" There is no thought of the dignity to which the marvelous sight has lifted him--deep in the dust he cries, "I am undone, for I have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!" Now this awe-full sense of the Divine Presence is necessary to make a man serve the Lord fitly and acceptably. Forget that God is all around you, forget that you live in His Presence and are His servant--get away from Him and you can be careless--you can restrain your zeal and your conscience may be at ease. But let a man feel that God sees him and let him know that he is under His immediate guidance and he will be awakened at once to do the will of the Lord on earth after the fashion in which it is done in Heaven! He will put forth all his energies because God should be served with our best! But conscious that when he has done his best, he has fallen short of the glory of God, he will be very humble, as those should be who are in such a Presence. O Lord Jesus, by Your Holy Spirit give us an overpowering sense of Your Presence! If You will but do this, we shall be a tabernacle full of worshippers, first, and of workers afterwards, and shall cheerfully adore You and labor for You. In this second part of the Prophet's vision, the most notable thing is the way in which God met and removed His servant's infirmities. His unclean lips were his great impediment. Where he most needed power, he most felt his infirmity, and so there came a seraph with the golden tongs, or snuffers, and took a burning coal from off the altar and touched his lips with it. What does this mean? We have the explanation--"Your iniquity is taken away and Your sin purged." Fellowship with the great Sacrifice--the application of one of the coals which consumed the ever blessed Jesus is the way to make our lips ready for preaching! I believe that most of my dear Hearers have the application of the live coal to their hearts so as to have been purged, for we believe in Him who died for us and we are resting in His great sacrifice. But in order to be prepared for service we need to have that coal touching us again till we feel the fire. We need fellowship with the pangs and woes of Christ! We need to feel as if we, too, wished to be consumed for others, as He was consumed for us! The disinterested love which made Him die must come and influence us, that we may be willing to die for others. We need just that. Did it not make you feel joy in your fellow men, the other day, when you read of the poor men in the pit and of their gallant deliverers? One rejoiced that manhood could exhibit such heroism. "We can do no more," said some, "it is death to go into the pit again. We cannot rescue the poor fellows and it is idle to throw away life for no purpose." The brave men who had been toiling there in the bowels of the earth, finding themselves in the presence of almost certain death, might well have stood back, but not so the bold Welshmen. One said, "If it is death to go and save them, I will go, death or no death," and then others came forward and said they would go, also. Had I been there I should have been ready to weep, because, being unskilled in the miner's craft, I should have been helpless to assist. But they would not have lacked my heartiest cheers and most ardent prayers, nor anything else that I could have done. Assuredly since Jesus Christ has died for us, we need to be touched with something of that same zeal for the rescue of others from eternal ruin. A coal from off the altar where He was consumed must be laid on us that we may feel willing to make any sacrifice for His dear sake and for the souls of men! That touching of the lips was the Lord's way of setting the Prophet on fire where the fire was needed. He needed lips blistered with the griefs of Christ and burning with love to men's souls--and he had such lips bestowed upon him by his God--and so was he fit to go and preach in the name of the Lord. Here, then, is the true ordination for a Christian worker! You must be nothing, lying in the dust with confession of sin--and you must be purged by the great Sacrifice of Calvary and your tongue compelled to tell the tale because you have felt such royal mercy, such free mercy, such unspeakable mercy, that if you did not speak of it, the very stones in the street would cry out against you! You need this for your preparation and if you have it, my Brother, you have obtained your ordination from the great Shepherd and Bishop of your souls--and you need no other! III. When a man is prepared for sacred work he is not long before he receives a commission. We come, then, to think of THE DIVINE CALL. I feel in my soul, though I cannot speak it out, an inward grieving sympathy with God, that God Himself should have to cry from His Throne, "Whom shall I send?" Alas, my God, are there no volunteers for Your service? What? All these priests and sons of Aaron--will none of these run upon Your errand? And all these Levites, will not one of them offer himself? No, not one. Ah, it is grievous, grievous beyond all thought, that there should be such multitudes of men and women in the Church of God who, nevertheless, seem unfit to be sent upon the Master's work, or at least never offer to go, and He has to cry, "Whom shall I send?" What? Out of all these saved ones, no willing messengers to the heathen! Where are his ministers? Will none of these cross the seas to heathen lands? Here are thousands of us working at home. Are none of us called to go abroad? Will none of us carry the Gospel to regions beyond? Are none of us bound to go? Does the Divine Voice appeal to our thousands of preachers and find no response so that again it cries, "Whom shall I send?" Here are multitudes of professing Christians making money, getting rich, eating the fat and drinking the sweet--is there not one to go for Christ? Men travel abroad for trade--will they not go for Jesus? They even risk life amid eternal snows--are there no heroes for the Cross? Here and there a young man, perhaps with little qualifications and no experience, offers himself--and he may or may not be welcomed. But can it be true that the majority of educated, intelligent Christian young men are more willing to let the heathen be damned than to let the treasures of the world go into other hands? Alas, for some reason or other, (I am not going to question the reasons), God Himself may look over all His Church and, finding no volunteers, may utter the pathetic cry, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" But there were the six-winged seraphim. Why did not the Lord send them? Ah, Brothers and Sisters, that He might have done, but it is not according to the order of the Gospel dispensation, for He is pleased, by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe--and the preachers must be men like the rest of mankind. It is great condescension on His part that He has chosen men and unto the angels He has not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak. But He has given this honor to us, putting His treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be all His own. We ought to rejoice in this, but it is sad, surpassingly sad, that from among myriads of willing seraphim, God's cry should come to unwilling men, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us." I call to your attention, again, to the fact that this is the voice of the one God and it is, also, the question of the sacred Trinity--"Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" The Father, Son and Spirit thus question us--shall not the threefold Voice be regarded? Notice the particular kind of man for whom this Voice is seeking. It is a man who must be sent, a man under impulse, a man under authority--"Whom shall I send?" But it is a man who is quite willing to go, a volunteer, one who, in his inmost heart, rejoices to obey--"Who will go for Us?" What a strange mingling this is! "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel," and yet, "taking the oversight of the flock of God not by constraint but willingly." Irresistible impulse and cheerful choice and Omnipotent compulsion and joyful eagerness most mysteriously combine! We must have a mingling of these two! I do not know that I could put into so many words that wonderful feeling of freeness and overpowering impulse, of necessity and freedom, but our experience understands what our language cannot express. We are willing and yet a power is over us. We are willing in the day of God's power, coming forth as freely as the dewdrops from the womb of the morning and yet as truly the product of Divine power as they are. Such must God's servant be. I wonder if I echo and reecho the voice of God, this morning, whether it will find amidst the thousands in this house and the thousands that may read this word, some loving responses in at least a few chosen hearts? "Whom shall I send?"--it is Jehovah's voice. "And who will go for Us?"--it is the voice of the bleeding Lamb! It is the voice of the loving Father! It is the voice of the ever blessed Spirit! Does no one leap up at this moment and freely offer himself? Must I speak in vain? Ah, that were a light thing--must the Voice from Heaven be in vain? Did the child Samuel reply, "Here am I, for You did call me," and will no full-grown man answer to the voice of the Eternal? With your hearts and consciences I leave it. IV. Now comes the last point, and that is THE EARNEST RESPONSE. The reply of Isaiah was, "Here am I; send me." I think I see in that response a consciousness of his being in a certain position which no one else occupied, which rendered it incumbent upon him to say, "Here am I." There was no one else in the temple. No one else saw that vision and, therefore, to him the voice of the Lord came as at once and personally as if there were not another man in all the world. "Here am I." Now, Brothers and Sisters, if at any time the mission field lacks workers, (it is a sad thing that it should be so, but yet so it is), should not that fact make each man look to himself and say, "Where am I? What position do I occupy towards this work of God? May I not be placed just where I am because I can do what others could not?" Some of you young men, especially, without the ties of family to hold you in this country. You without a large Church around you, or not having, yet, plunged into the sea of business. You, I say, who are standing where, in the ardor of your first love, you might fitly say, "Here am I." And if God has endowed you with any wealth, given you any talent and placed you in a favorable position, you are the man who should say, "Perhaps I have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. I may be placed where I am, on purpose, that I may render essential help to the cause of God. "Here, at any rate, I am--I feel the Presence of the glorious God. I see the hem of His garments as He reveals Himself to me. I almost hear the rush of seraphic wings as I perceive how near Heaven is to earth and I feel in my soul I must give myself up to God. I feel in my own heart my indebtedness to the Christ of God. I see the need of the heathen. I love them for Jesus' sake. The fiery coal is touching my lips even now--here am I! You have put me where I am! Lord, take me as I am and use me as You will." May the Divine Spirit influence some of you who greatly love my Lord till you feel all this. Then you observe that he makes a full surrender of himself. "Here am I." Lord, I am what I am by Your Grace, but here I am. If I am a man of one talent, yet here I am. If I am a man of 10, yet here I am. If in youthful vigor, here I am. If of more mature years, here I am. Have I substance? Here I am. Do I lack abilities? Yet I made not my own mouth, nor did I create my infirmities. Here I am. Just as I am, as I gave myself up to Your dear Son to be redeemed, so I give myself up, again, to be used for Your Glory because I am redeemed and am not my own, but bought with a price. "Here I am." Isaiah gave himself up to the Lord, none the less completely, because his errand was so full of sadness. He was not to win men, but to seal their doom by putting before them the Truth of God which they would be sure to reject. We read, "And He said, Go and tell this people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see you indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." Thank God ours is not so hard a task! The Spirit of God is with us and men are turned from darkness to light. Ought we not to be all the more eager to go? It is a point of great weight, an argument most telling. Do not refuse to feel its power, but yield yourselves up to God, seeing that He calls you to the most happy and blessed work which even He, Himself, could commit to you. Then comes Isaiah's prayer for authority and anointing. If we read this passage rightly we shall not always throw the emphasis upon the last word, "me," but read it, also, thus, "Here am I, send me." He is willing to go, but he does not want to go without being sent, and so the prayer is, "Lord, send me. I beseech You of Your infinite Grace, qualify me! Open the door for me and direct my ways. I do not need to be forced, but I would be commissioned. I do not ask for compulsion, but I do ask for guidance. I would not run of my own head under the notion that I am doing Your service. Send me then, Lord, if I may go! Guide me, instruct me, prepare me, and strengthen me." There is a combination of willingness and holy prudence--"Here I am; send Me." I feel certain that some of you are eager to go for my Lord and Master wherever He appoints. Keep not back, I pray you, Brother, make no terms with God. Put it, "Here am I; send me--where You will--to the wildest region, or even to the jaws of death. I am Your soldier, put me in the front of the battle if You will, or bid me lie in the trenches. Give me gallantly to charge at the head of my regiment, or give me silently to sap and mine the foundations of the enemy's fortresses. Use me as You will. Send me and I will go. I leave all else to You. Only here I am, Your willing servant, wholly consecrated to You." That is the right missionary spirit and may God be pleased to pour it out upon you all, and upon His people throughout the world. To me it seems that if a hundred were to leap up and each one exclaim, "Here am I; send me," it would be no wonder. By the love and wounds and death of Christ. By your own salvation. By your indebtedness to Jesus. By the terrible condition of the heathen and by that awful Hell whose yawning mouth is before them, ought you not to say, "Here am I; send me"? The vessel is wrecked, the sailors are perishing--they are clinging to the rigging as best they can--they are being washed off one by one! Good God, they die before our eyes and yet there is the lifeboat new and trim. We need men! Men to man the boat! Here are the oars, but never an arm to use them! What is to be done? Here is the gallant boat, able to leap from billow to billow, only men are needed! Are there none? Are we all cowards? A man is more precious than the gold of 0phir. Now, my brave Brothers, who will leap in and take an oar for the love of Jesus and yon dying men? And you brave women, you who have hearts like that of Grace Darling, will not you shame the laggards and dare the tempest for the love of souls in danger of death and Hell? Weigh my appeal in earnest and at once, for it is the appeal of God! Sit down and listen to that sorrowful yet majestic demand, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" and then respond, "Ready, yes, ready! Ready for anything to which our Redeemer calls us." Let those who love Him, as they perceive all around them the terrible token of the world's dire need, cry in an agony of Christian love," Here am I; send me!" __________________________________________________________________ Strong Consolation for the Lord's Refugees (No. 1352) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 29, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might ha ve a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Hebrews 6:18. WHEN we read such a choice verse as this we are apt, at once, to conclude that it "belongs to them that are of full age, even to those who by reason of use have had their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." We set this aside as a choice morsel reserved for those who have worn well and borne the burden and heat of the day--for those who have attained to full assurance of faith and, therefore, are able to lay hold upon rich Covenant provisions. Let us at once correct this mistake, for the passage belongs to a very early form of Christian experience! It relates, indeed, to the lowest degree of Christian Grace! Let me read it again. "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation." To whom does the, "we," refer? We "who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." The strong consolation mentioned in the text belongs to those who have fled to Christ for refuge--and surely this is at the very beginning of the Divine life. It belongs, also, to those who lay hold upon the hope of the Gospel and this, also, is a very elementary part of Christian experience. If you have only newly fled to Christ for refuge and if, by a child-like faith, you have freshly laid hold upon the hope that is set before you, then the riches of Grace are yours and God's oath and promise are intended to afford you strong consolation. As far as this text is concerned, you need not examine yourselves to search for strong faith, or deep experience, or great growth in Grace, or advanced holiness, for if you are but Christ's refugee and a grasper of the Lord's promises, you may rejoice in the two immutable things and rest in peace! I gather from God's beginning, thus early, to encourage His people, and from His laying down so much comfort for them at the outset, that He would have them happy all their lives. It is not the Lord's mind that the King's children should go mourning all their days. If you hang your harps upon the willows, it is not by Divine Precept that you do so, for His Word to the Prophet is, "Comfort you, comfort you My people, says your God. Speak you comfortably unto Jerusalem." He would have you clothed in raiment of rejoicing, yes, He desires that your joy may be full! If your heavenly Father would not have you sorrowful, will you not consent to His loving wish concerning you and drink deeply into the comfort which He provides? The Lord knew of old that His people would need comforting, for He foresaw our infirmities and our afflictions from our birth. He knew what creatures of the dust we are, how frail and feeble and, therefore, He has ordained abundant consolation, that His poor, weak, tried and tempted people may be strengthened and cheered. Carefully notice that the Lord has laid most stress upon the point which is most vital to the Believer's comfort. He knew right well that we should often doubt His great Grace and think the Covenant way of salvation to be too good to be true and, therefore, that we might have no excuse for mistrust or suspicion. He has first pledged His word and then has condescendingly uttered a solemn oath, swearing by Himself that from now on we might never raise a question about the foundations upon which the eternal settlements of love are laid. To Believers He has put salvation and all other Covenant blessings beyond dispute in order that all who are interested in them might have the firmest assurance concerning them. The worst possible trial to a Believer is to have it suggested to him that the Gospel is not true, that pardon through the precious blood is a fiction and that God is not reconciled through the atoning Sacrifice. If we are absolutely certain as to the Truth of God's Gospel and our own salvation, thereby, then all other things are of small consequence to us and, therefore, has the Lord fixed on a sure basis of promise and oath this cornerstone of our comfort. He has set His promise in such a light that it becomes blasphemy to doubt it! Our loving Father knew that we should often be assailed by the spirit of distrust and this has led Him so abundantly to certify the Truth of the things which He has promised. You know, Beloved, guilt is very suspicious. When you have done wrong to a man, you cannot believe him. Nothing renders you so full of doubt towards another as your own consciousness of having acted unjustly towards him. Now, when a sense of guilt comes over the soul, Nature begins to say, "Can the Lord be a sin-pardoning Lord? Can He love me as He says He does? Such a base, ungrateful rebel as I--can I really have part in so great a salvation as that which God has provided and set forth?" Knowing the suspicions nature of a guilty heart, God has made His oath and promise to be two sheet-anchors to the soul so that our faith may ride out every storm of doubt. The greatness of the mercies, themselves, often staggers us. When we consider God's electing love, when we reckon the amazing cost of redemption and when we see the high honor of adoption, union to Christ and heirship with Him, we naturally exclaim-- "Why all this for me?" And, alas, we are apt to go a step further and say, "Can it be true? Is it not all a pleasant dream? Has the Lord really made me one with Christ and called me His Beloved? Will He prepare for me, also, a place among the glorified?" Lest the greatness of the blessing should stagger our confidence, the Lord has ensured every blessing to us by a Covenant rendered valid by His own act and deed--a Covenant signed, sealed and delivered so as to be beyond all question! Moreover the Lord knew that we should doubt His faithfulness because we, ourselves, are so false. We remember many a broken promise, broken though made before the Lord. And persons who are untruthful, themselves, are very apt to think others so. Therefore our God, knowing the deceitful nature of our hearts, foresaw that we should be an unbelieving race and has set two swords at the heart of our suspicions and questions--slaying unbelief by His oath and promise. Besides, our nature runs so cross to the whole system of Divine Grace that we need much assuring before we can believe it. We are always for working, deserving and earning! Phariseeism is the religion of Nature. We boast of our merit and yet we are as meritless as Satan, himself. The idea of working and deserving appears to be ingrained in our nature and as certain as the blood is red, so sure is the heart self-righteousness. We cannot divest ourselves of the idea of salvation as payment for work done--that it is a gift, a free gift of Grace--it is hard to make us believe. Even after conversion the old tendency betrays itself. We steal away from Jesus to Moses as often as we get the opportunity and then begin to doubt Free Grace. Therefore the Lord has fettered and bound us down to believing with golden chains of promise and oath. "It must be so," He says, "the Grace that I have revealed is, indeed, true, for I have sworn by Myself." Beloved, we ought earnestly to abhor that wicked legality of ours which so often does despite to the Grace of God, casts suspicion upon His mercy and brings our souls into bondage. Another door for doubt is found in the fear of presuming. It is right that we should be fearful of being comforted in a wrong manner, for nothing is more deadly than false peace. The Lord approves of that holy jealousy which leads us to examine ourselves whether we are in the faith. I am always sorrowful when hallowed fear departs from a man so that he no longer dreads self-deception. But the fear of presuming may be perverted by the Evil One and then it becomes a snare to our feet. Beloved, be sure of this, that it is no presumption to believe God! The presumption lies in doubting Him! Faith is sister to humility, and mistrust is neighbor to pride. But lest any of you tremblers should be afraid to take the promise of God as being absolute and Truth to you, behold, Jehovah swears it! And do you dare doubt it? You dare not question the veracity of God who thus with, "amens," and, "verilys," pledges His own eternal power and Godhead that the Covenant of His Grace shall stand fast forever! Thus does God lay the stress of assurance where we are apt to put the force of our doubt. And by making His own promise sure, He affords to us consolation of the strongest order. At this time, hoping that some of God's people may be comforted thereby, we shall describe the conditions of mind to which the text is addressed and the blessing which it brings. The text speaks of three states--first, we have "fled for refuge." Secondly, we have, "laid hold upon the hope set before us." And thirdly, we have, "a strong consolation." I. First, WE HAVE "FLED FOR REFUGE." Although the original Greek does not quite so plainly refer to a refuge as our authorized version would suggest, the figure here used is undoubtedly that of the City of Refuge to which the man-slayer fled when he was in danger from the avenger of blood. I shall not attempt to draw the parallel at any length, pleasing as such a work would be, for you can easily trace it out for yourselves. I will only follow the figure so far as I need it for my present purpose. The man-slayer, the moment he had, in the heat of passion, killed a man, became an apt representative of an awakened sinner who discovers himself to be in an evil case. There lies the body of the man he has murdered with a hasty blow. He knows not what to do. Can you conceive the rush of unhappy feeling which overwhelms his mind? May none of us never know the pang of seriously injuring, much less of killing, any man by accident. But to have done it in the heat of wrath, in sudden passion--how terrible! What must be the horror of the man's soul! He sees the clay-cold corpse upon the ground and wishes he could die, too! Blood is on his hands and on the soil--and his conscience hears a voice appealing to God for vengeance! He looks around and trembles at the fall of a leaf. Everything is changed. The plot of land which his father left him, once so pleasant, is now a horrible Aceldama, a field of blood. He cannot endure to look upon the homestead which once he loved. He turns his eyes upward and the very skies seem to frown! He wonders that the earth beneath him does not open and swallow him up. Bloodstains are on everything! Even when he shuts his eyes, he sees the crimson blots. He knows not what to do--to go to his house, to hide himself in yonder thicket--or to plunge into the river which flows hard by. He is in a terrible state of mind, the furies hover around him and a thousand stings of serpents are fixed in him. I remember well when I was in a similar state of heart as to my sins, for I saw my Lord upon the Cross and I felt that I was guilty of His death-- "My conscience felt, and owned the guilt, And plunged me in despair I saw my sins His blood had spilt, And helped to nail Him there. Alas! I knew not what I did But now my tears are vain! Where shall my trembling soul be hid? For I, the Lord have slain!" I discovered that I had so sinned as to have involved myself in eternal destruction! What a horrible discovery it was! Everything had been pleasant enough before, but, lo, I found myself a rebel against the Most High and my very existence was dreadful beyond conception. Where should I flee, or how should I escape? An awful dread was over me and I could not bear it. Hell had begun to burn within my spirit and the undying worm had begun its gnawing! It is the work of the Spirit of God to convict men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment to come--and it is well when the soul begins to fear--for then it begins to live. The alarmed man-slayer would, next, if he could calm himself at all, consider what he could do and he would soon come to the conclusion that he could neither defy, nor escape, nor endure the doom which threatened him. The avenger of blood would be sure to be after him. Could he resist him? Would it do to take up arms and defend himself? Could he hope to escape from the vengeance of the tribe by hiding in some secret den or cave of the earth? Or could he endure the wrath of the avenger? He knew that he could not, for the avenger of blood would seek blood for blood and not be satisfied till he had taken his life. Now, it is altogether in vain that men dream of defying the Lord. They would be utterly consumed as stubble in the flame! The Lord of Hosts is terrible in arms and we cannot stand out against Him. We may have thought ourselves strong, but when it comes to an actual facing the Lord before the bar of judgment in our own conscience we find that we cannot stand before Him for an instant--and our loins are loosed with fear. As to escaping from Him, how impossible we feel it to be! The top of Carmel has no caverns in which we could lie concealed! In the deeps of the sea, the crooked serpent, commissioned by God, would find us! The wings of the morning could not bear us swiftly enough to enable us to escape from the right hand of Jehovah, nor could the thick darkness cover us from His eyes. As to bearing the penalty of His wrath, that we know to be impossible, for should He once begin to deal with us in vengeance, we must be driven from His Presence into the lowest Hell. Thus, in the days of our conviction no hope is discovered to natural reason and our dread is increased till fear takes hold upon us as pain of a woman in travail, for we see what we have done and we know not what we can do to escape from the consequences! Then there comes to our ears what, perhaps, we had heard before, but had heard so indifferently as never to have really understood it--we hear of a divinely provided way of escape! The man-slayer had, perhaps, left unnoticed the provision of the six Cities of Refuge because he had, then, no personal need of them. But as soon as he became a murderer, those places became all important in his esteem and his mind admired that merciful statute which had ordained a shelter from blood-revenge. When under a sense of sin men value Christ Jesus! We heard of God's way of salvation but we never studied it, set our hearts upon it, or labored to understand it fully until we saw our guilt before us in all its blood-red hue. How wonderful is the system of Grace! Here it is--that as in Adam we die through Adam's sin, so if we are in Christ, we live through Christ's righteousness. The way of escape for the sinner lies not in himself but in Another. He must come under another headship and then he is saved. Under the first natural headship we became sinners. Under the second gracious Headship we become righteous! How consoling it is to perceive that the second Adam, in whom we become righteous through believing, has the power to save us because the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all--and He has made atonement to the fullest! Instead of dealing personally with every man in Christ and asking from each of them the penalty due for sin, God, in His mercy, has taken the whole sin of those in Christ in the bulk and asked payment for the whole mass at the hand of their great Covenant Head! The Lord has gone, in fact, to the second Adam, to Christ Jesus, and presented to Him the dread account of all the sin of His redeemed. He has said to Him, "Will You discharge all this?" and Jesus has answered, "Yes," and has carried up to the Cross all the gigantic load of sin and made an end of it there! He shouted the victory, saying, "It is finished," for the whole debt of His people was forever blotted out! Their sins were buried in His sepulcher, never to rise again! But He, Himself, has risen, having personally discharged of all the liabilities which He took upon Himself on our behalf, and so we, also, are discharged, for He died for our offenses--and He rose, again, for our justification! Now, when a man begins to perceive that his sin can be reckoned with by God rather than according to what he has personally been and done. When he learns that God regards Believers as being in Christ and, therefore, reckons with Christ for them, then his soul finds peace. Behold this and admire--I, believing, am dead to sin, for Jesus died! I, believing, have borne Jehovah's wrath, for Jesus bore it on my behalf! Behold, He says unto the Believer, "Your warfare is accomplished and your sin is pardoned, for you have received, at the Lord's hands, in the Person of His Son, double for all your sins." The Believer's debt was imputed to the Lord Jesus and, therefore, it is no more on the Believer! He is discharged and may go his way in peace! Dear Hearers, such a plan as this may not please some of you who have never felt the horror of guilt and have known no need of a Savior, but it charms us! You have always been so good and excellent that you feel no joy at the thought of another standing in your place--but a man who is alarmed, distressed, amazed and conscious of his guilt--when he hears of this strange, this wondrous plan of not imputing unto us our trespasses because God has laid all our iniquity upon Jesus, our Surety and Substitute! That man, I say, rejoices when he hears of it and at once flies to it! The text, however, not only implies that we need the refuge and have heard of it, but that we have fled to it. To flee away from self to the provided Refuge is a main act of faith. The manslayer left his house, his wife, his children, his farm and the oxen with which he was plowing. He left everything to flee away to the City of Refuge. That is just what a man does when he resolves to be saved by Grace--he leaves everything he calls his own! He renounces all his rights and privileges which he thought he possessed by nature. Yes, he confesses to have lost his own natural right to live and he flies for life to the Grace of God in Christ Jesus! The manslayer had no right to live except that he was in the City of Refuge. He had no right to anything except that he was God's guest within those enclosing walls. And so do we relinquish heartily and thoroughly, once and forever, all claims and rights arising out of our supposed merits! We hasten away from self that Christ may be All in All to us. We have "fled for refuge." Observe that fleeing for refuge implies that a man flees from his sins. He sees it and he repents of it, but he flees away to Christ, the Sin Bearer, at once. His thoughts return gloomily to the sad memories of the past, but from all these he flies to Christ. He thinks of himself as under the Law and he soon finds that he cannot keep it and, therefore, the Law curses him for his failures. He will then have no consolation unless he flees away to Christ who kept the Law on our behalf. In Christ is our refuge from the Law and nowhere else. When despair hovers over a man like a black cloud charged with lightning, he must run to Jesus! "How can you be justified?" asks the wounded conscience. The answer must be found in Jesus. When we fly to Christ, the Fulfiller of the Law, despair vanishes at once, for we see that we are righteous in the righteousness of Christ and accepted in the Beloved! Every now and then we foolishly go back to our own self-righteousness, but our wisdom is to flee from this as from the plague. We cannot live in that abomination! Creature righteousness is all a lie and a forgery-- it ought to be regarded by us as dross and dung, for it is no better. Flee from it with all your might! A Christian is always fleeing from himself! It is the business of his life to escape, alike, from his sin and his righteousness--that he may never regard himself before the Lord as an individual, sole and separate from Christ, but only as one with Jesus and, therefore, in Him, dear to the Father's heart--cleansed, justified and accepted. May the Holy Spirit keep us to this. You will perhaps ask me, "How came the Apostle Paul to get where this text lands him? What line of thought led him to speak about the strong consolations which furnish the Lord's fugitives with such confidence?" He had been speaking of three matters which represent the confidence to which we flee. He spoke just before (Heb. 6:13-16), of the Covenant which the Lord made with Abraham in which He had sworn with an oath that He would bless him and his seed. Now it is understood that the seed of Abraham is, first, the Lord Jesus, and secondly, all Believers--for the Covenant was by promise, as in another place the Apostle proves--and was made with a seed, not after the flesh, but after the spirit, so that Abraham was the father of the faithful, or of all who have faith. Now a Covenant firmly established by oath with the Father is sure to the heirs and, accordingly, Paul says, "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath." He, then, who is a Believer, is certified by the oath of God that in blessing He will bless him. This is sure to all Believers and sure to me and to you if we are Believers. As Believers we flee away from ourselves and the Covenant of Works to the sure Covenant of unchanging Grace--and our consolation is strong, because God is true. The Apostle had, also, been speaking of the inheritance of rest which was typified by Canaan. An oath was sworn by God that the unbelievers in the wilderness should not enter into His rest and this was tantamount to an oath that Believers would enter into His rest, seeing that some must enter therein. Now, we, because we are Believers, and upon that ground, alone, enter into rest. Believing in Him who justifies the ungodly, we, by faith, enjoy peace with God. And we need not fear that we shall enter into eternal rest, for the oath of God will bring us in. Furthermore, the Apostle referred to the eternal priesthood of Christ as set forth in the type of Melchisedec and, there again, we have a matter in which promise and oath unite. In a later chapter Paul opens up what he had already mentioned--"For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by Him that said unto Him, the Lord swore and will not repent, You are a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." By the oath of God, the Son is consecrated forevermore and, having offered one Sacrifice for sins forever, He sits at the right hand of God, able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him. Well then, I, a poor convicted sinner, without any other hope, flee away from myself to the eternal priesthood of Christ and to the Sacrifice that He has offered once and for all! And I know, because God has sworn it, that His Sacrifice avails for me and for all Believers. In thus fleeing for refuge to our great Lord and Priest, we find a strong consolation in the oath and promise of God. The one solemn question is--beloved Hearers, have you fled for refuge? Are you the Lord's refugees today? Are you fugitives, daily, from self and sin? Are you in Christ as in a city of Refuge? And is He the sole ground of your security? If so, the strongest consolations are your portion! II. But, secondly, WE HAVE COME TO "LAY HOLD." Here we have a change of figure unless we recall the case of Joab who fled for refuge to the temple and laid hold upon the horns of the altar. We will not insist upon that rare incident, for probably it did not occur to the Apostle's mind. Beloved, we feel that we need a refuge and we find that God has been pleased to set one forth. He says, "Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life." He bids us cease from all hopes of merit and simply come and believe Him and trust in the great work which His Beloved Son has finished for us. He bids us accept the great plan of Christ's Headship on our behalf and His sacrificial suffering in our place. Justification by faith in Jesus is set before us. What are we to do according to the text? We have to "lay hold" upon it. We are not commanded to prepare ourselves for it, or to get what the Romish writers call, "the grace of congruity," by which we should be fit for it. It is simply to be laid hold upon by us just as we are. Everybody here knows what it is to lay hold upon a support or a treasure. Sinner, that is just what you have to do with Christ! You have to lay hold upon Him by faith. You are drowning--there is a rope thrown to you. What have you to do? "Lay hold." You are not to look at your hands to see whether they are clean enough. No, lay hold, dirty hands or clean hands! "But my hands are weak." Lay hold, Brother, as best you can, weak hands or not, for while you are laying hold of Christ, God is laying hold of you! You may rest assured of that. If you have the faintest grip of Christ, Christ has a firm grip of you as never shall be relaxed! Your business at this moment is to lay hold and keep hold. God has given us this blessed hope, that those who are in Christ are, for Christ's sake, forgiven all their iniquities. They are accepted and are secure of everlasting life--and of this we have only to lay hold! What does it mean? What is to be done in order to lay hold? Well, first, we must believe the Gospel to be true. Do you, all of you, believe it to be true that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them? Yes, I know you believe that God has sent His Son to be a propitiation for sin. So far, so good. The next thing is to apprehend for yourselves this Truth of God. Christ justifies Believers. He is worthy of trust-- trust Him--and He has justified you. "I do not feel it," says one. You do not need to feel it! It is a matter of believing, not feeling. Believe in Jesus and, because you are a Believer, be assured that you are saved. "But I thought I should feel," says another. Yes, you shall feel enough by-and-by, but now there is a question between you and God. Is the Lord a liar or not? "He that believes not has made God a liar," and, on the other hand, "He that believes on Him has set to his seal that God is true." Which of the two is it to be? God, with a solemn oath, declares that Believers are blessed. Being the seed of Abraham they are blessed according to His Covenant. With an oath He declares that Believers shall enter into His rest! With an oath He declares that His Son, the everlasting Melchisedec, is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him! What then? Do you believe Him or not? "Oh," says one, "I believe God's Word, but I doubt its application to me!" You do not believe it unless you believe it for yourself, for there are no exceptions made in the case! If you believe, you are blessed. If you believe, you shall have rest. If you believe, the great Melchisedec lives for you and pleads for you--and you are saved. If you believe--that is the point--if you honor God by accepting His Word as true, and by relying upon Christ for yourself--then is it well with you! If you say, "Yes, the rope is a strong one, and I believe it will support a sinking man," why not lay hold upon it? That is the vital point of faith--to believe God practically by resting one's own eternal destiny upon the Truth of God which we say we believe. "Lay hold on the hope." While a man lays hold upon a thing he goes no further, but continues to cling to it. We have fled for refuge, but we flee no further than the hope which we now lay hold upon, namely, eternal life in Christ Jesus. We never wish to get beyond God's promise in Christ Jesus to Believers, the promise of salvation to faith. We are satisfied with that, and there we rest. "Laying hold" in the forcible language of the Greek, would imply firm retention of that which we have seized. I remember well when first I laid hold on the hope that God had set before me. I was terribly afraid to grasp it, for I thought it was too good to be true. But I saw that there was no other chance for me and, therefore, I was driven right out of myself to be bold and venture all. I knew that I must flee somewhere and it seemed to be that or nothing. I was forced to believe in the wondrous plan of salvation by Another and in Another, even in salvation by Jesus Christ! I made a dash at it, believed it--and joy and peace filled my spirit! That is 27 years ago, now, and I am still laying hold upon it. Brothers and Sisters, I have not gone an inch beyond the old hope! Jesus Christ was All in All to me, then, and He is the same now, only I am more resolved than ever to lean my soul on Him and upon Him alone. I profess to you this day I dare not place a shadow of reliance on any sermons I have preached, or any alms I have given, or any prayers I have offered, or any communion with Christ I have enjoyed, or on anything that I have done, or said, or thought. I rely wholly on what Jesus did and is doing, as my Covenant Head and Surety! I know He bore my sin in His own body on the tree. I know He buried my sin where it never shall have a resurrection and I know He stands as my Representative at the eternal Throne. And I also know that I shall soon be where He is because I am one with Him, since I have believed in Him. Now, my Friend, if you believe in Him, too--if it were but five minutes ago that you received faith--you are just as safe in the hands of Jesus as those of us who have been in Him for years. If by an act of trust you do but accept what God has set forth, fleeing to it and laying hold upon it, the "strong consolation" of which the text speaks belongs to you! I pray God, in His mighty mercy, will lead many to believe in Him now. Did you notice that the Apostle speaks of laying hold upon a hope? This does not mean that we are to lay hold, by imagination, upon something which we hope to obtain in the dim future, for the next verse goes on to say, "which hope we have." We have our hope now! It is not a shadowy idea that possibly, when we come to die, we may be saved. We know that we, at this moment, are safe in our refuge and we lay hold on our confidence as a present joy. Yet that which we lay hold upon is full of hope--there is more in it than we can now see or enjoy. What is the hope? The hope of final perseverance! The hope of ultimate perfection! The hope of eternal Glory! The hope of being with our Lord where He is that we may behold His Glory forever--a purifying hope--elevating and full of glory! A hope which cheers and delights us as often as we think of it! This we have laid hold of by a simple act of faith, believing God to be true. This laying hold upon the hope which God sets before us is a very simple matter and yet there are some who do not understand it, for they ask us again and again, "What is faith?" Well, it is laying hold, but if you want to know more about it, lay hold at once, and see what it is by practice. Lay hold at once, Sinner! It is all you have to do--and the Spirit of God enables you to do it! As I said before, black-handed Sinner, do not stop to wash your hands, but lay hold! That which you lay hold on will wash you and cleanse you. And poor, feeble, trembling, paralyzed Soul, Jesus bids you stretch out your hands and as you lay hold you shall find peace and consolation! III. This is our last point. WE ENJOY "STRONG CONSOLATION." I have not time to speak upon this as I should like and, therefore, will just throw out a few hints. Many of our fellow men have no consolation. When trouble comes, woe is unto them! There are many others who have a weak consolation. They depend upon the "absolvo te" of a priest. That must be a very poor thing, I should think, for anybody to get consolation out of--to know that you have been to "mass," have "confessed," and have been assured of forgiveness by a poor, mortal man who is no better than yourself, except that he has had his head shaved! What ground for consolation poor beings can see in this, I cannot tell--it must be a very poor support when sin and Satan assail the soul. Many have a very insufficient consolation, for as soon as trial or trouble arise they faint--and when they have the prospect of death before them their consolation vanishes like the dew in the sun. But we have a strong consolation! We call that additive strong of which a very few drops will flavor all into which it falls! How wonderfully the consolation of Christ has affected our entire lives! There is such potency in it that it sweetens everything about us. It is so strong that it masters all our fears and slays all our skepticisms. Though there are many teachers busily engaged in suggesting unbelief, yet our strong consolation flings a thousand doubts aside as Samson slew a thousand Philistines! It conquers all our trouble, too, for it makes us feel that, being called according to the eternal purpose, all things work together for our good. Yes, this consolation is so strong that it vanquishes death, itself, and makes us descend into the chill precincts of the sepulcher without a shiver, joyfully triumphant because Christ has promised us life, God has sworn it and the promise and the oath must be true! What I want you to note is that the consolation of the Christian lies wholly in His God, because the ground of it is that God has sworn and that God has promised. Never look, therefore, to yourselves for any consolation--it would be a vain search. Flee from yourselves and lay hold upon the hope set before you. Oh Christian, you lose consolation when you look away from your God! Fasten the eyes of faith on Him and never let them glance elsewhere. His promise, His oath, Himself--a true and faithful God--this consideration, alone, can sustain you. Remember, too, that your consolation must come from what God has spoken and not from His Providence. Mind that you do not look to the Lord's Providential dealings for your springs of joy, for He may chasten you with the rod of men and beat you with many stripes. But His promise smiles when His Providence frowns. See how the Apostle dwells upon the promise and the oath as the two immutable things and not upon temporal blessings! Outward Providences change, but the oath never changes--remember that! Your comfort must not even depend upon sensible realizations of God's favor, nor on sweet communions and delights. No, but upon--"He has said it and He has sworn it"--those are the two strong pillars upon which your comfort must rest. Not upon what you think He says to your heart, nor upon what you may believe you have felt to be applied to your own soul, but upon the bare Word, promise and oath of God without feeling or evidence to back it. God has said it and sworn it--there is your strong consolation. Remember, however, that the power of the strong consolation derived from the oath of God must, in your personal enjoyment, depend very much upon your faith. What is the consolation of a promise if you do not believe it? And what is the comfort of an oath if you doubt it? O Brothers and Sisters, I charge you by the veracity of God, labor after an increased faith! If you never doubt God till you have cause to do so, you will never doubt again! It is impossible for Him to lie in anything and, above all, in the great things that your soul rests upon! Therefore do not treat Him as if He could lie, nor dare to suspect His faithfulness, but hold on to the immutable veracity of God. Remember that this consolation which is intended to come to you by faith, if you do not get it, will prove that you are insulting God. It may appear to be a small and an easy thing to believe God, but it is a horrible and a detestable thing to disbelieve Him! Picture some generous friend in this assembly coming before us and saying "I promise such-and-such a thing." He would be grieved at heart if someone should rise and say, "I am willing enough to believe it, but I cannot." I can hardly think of anything which would be more insulting to an honest man than to have doubt cast upon him by one who pretends to be anxious to believe him. But suppose in great gentleness of spirit the person so mistrusted were to say, "To put an end to all questions, prepare a deed and I will set my hand and seal to it. And I will, at the same time, take a solemn oath, calling God to witness that what I promise is true"? Now if any person should say, "I still do not believe it," can you conceive the pain of heart, yes, and the indignation which would naturally take possession of our friend's mind? Now God cannot swear by anything greater than Himself, for there is no greater, and so He has sworn by Himself. By His own existence, by His holiness from which He can never part, by the majesty of His Deity He has solemnly sworn that the believing seed shall be blessed--and blessed they must be. There shall be forgiveness and eternal life to everyone that believes in His Son Jesus Christ. This is no fiction! God cannot deceive us on such a point as this, nor, indeed, upon any other! This is no dream, no charming myth as some would seem to fancy! It is reality, Divine reality! Now then, Souls, will you cast yourselves upon this Divine reality? May the devil be kept back from you that you may cease blaspheming God by doubting Him! May the eternal Spirit now convince you how natural, how proper, how necessary it is that you should at once believe the promise and the oath of God and trust yourselves with Jesus Christ, whom He sets forth to be a Prince and a Savior to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins this day! I wish I knew how to plead with you, but the time has gone. There was a time with me when to have heard this message would have made my heart leap within me, for I needed Christ. And when I heard that I must lay hold upon Him and flee to Him and so be saved, I was delighted to do so! Those of you who are as sinful as I was and as conscious of it, will, I trust at this very moment, look unto Him and be saved--and if you do, by the promise and the oath of God, you are eternally secure! May God the Holy Spirit lead you to Jesus. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Ecce Rex (No. 1353) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 6, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "He said unto the Jews, Behold your King." John 19:14. PILATE said much more than he meant and, therefore, we shall not restrict our consideration of his words to what he intended. John tells us considering Caiaphas, "and this spoke he not of himself," and we may say the same of Pilate. Everything said or done in connection with the Savior during the day of His Crucifixion was full of meaning, far fuller of meaning than the speakers or actors were aware. Transformed by the Cross, even the commonplace becomes solemn and weighty! When Caiaphas said that it was expedient that one man should die for the people, that the whole nation perish not, he little thought that he was enunciating the great Gospel principle of Substitution! When the Jewish people cried out before Pilate, "His blood be on us and on our children," they little knew the judgment which they were bringing upon themselves which would commence to be fulfilled at the siege of Jerusalem and follow them, hanging like a heavy cloud over their race, for centuries! When the soldier with a spear pierced His side he had no idea that he was bringing forth before all eyes that blood and water which are, to the whole Church, the emblems of the double cleansing which we find in Jesus, cleansing by atoning blood and sanctifying Grace. The fullness of time had come and all things were full. Each movement on that awful day was brimming with mystery. Neither could the Master or those around Him stir or speak without teaching some Gospel, or enforcing some lesson. Whereas on certain days frivolity seems to rule the hour and little is to be gathered from much that is spoken--on the day of the Passion even the most careless spoke as men inspired! Pilate, the undecided spirit, with no mind of his own, uttered language as weighty as if he, too, had been among the Prophets. His acquittal of our Lord, his mention of Barabbas, his writing of the inscription to be fixed over the head of Jesus and many other matters were all fraught with instruction. It was to the Jews that Pilate brought forth Jesus, arrayed in garments of derision, and to them He said, "Ecce Rex"--"Behold your King!" It was by the seed of Abraham that He was rejected as their King. But we shall not think of them in order to blame that unhappy nation, but to remind ourselves that we, also, may fall into the same sin. As a nation favored with the Gospel, we stand, in many respects, in the same privileged condition as the Jews did. To us is the Word of God made known! To our keeping, the oracles of God are committed in these last days and we, though by Nature, shoots of the wild olive, are engrafted into that favored stock from which Israel has, for a while, been cut off. Shall we prove equally unworthy? Shall any of us be found guilty of the blood of Jesus? We hear of Jesus this day--are we rejecting Him? The suffering Messiah will be brought forth, again, this morning, not by Pilate, but by one who longs to do Him honor. And when He stands before you and is proclaimed, again, in the words, "Behold your King!" will you, also, cry, "Away with Him! Away with Him!"? Let us hope that there will not be found, here, hearts so evil as to imitate the rebellious nation and cry, "We will not have this Man to reign over us." Oh that each one of us may acknowledge the Lord Jesus to be his King, for beneath His scepter there is rest and joy! He is worthy to be crowned by every heart! Let us all unite in beholding Him with reverence and receiving Him with delight! Give me your ears and hearts while Jesus is evidently set forth as standing among you. And for the next few minutes let it be your only business to, "Behold your King." I. Come with me, then, to the place which is called The Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha, and there, "behold your King." I shall first ask you to BEHOLD YOUR KING PREPARING HIS THRONE, yes, and making Himself ready to sit upon it. When you look, in answer to the summons, "Behold your King," what do you see? You see the "Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief wearing a crown of thorns and covered with an old purple cloak which had been thrown about Him in mockery. You can see, if you look closely, the traces of His streaming blood, for He has just been scourged and you may, also, discover that His face is blackened with bruises and stained with shameful spit from the soldiers' mouths-- "Thus trimmed forth they bring Him to the rout, Who, 'Crucify Him,' cry with one strong shout, God holds His peace at man, and man cries out." It is a terrible spectacle, but I ask you to gaze upon it steadily and see the establishment of the Redeemer's Throne. See how He becomes your mediatorial King. He was setting up a new Throne on Gabbatha, where He would reign as the King of pardoned sinners and the Prince of Peace! He was King before all worlds as Lord of all by right of His eternal power and Godhead. He had a Throne when worlds were made, as King of all kings by creation. He had, also, always filled the Throne of Providence, upholding all things by the Word of His power. On His head were many crowns and to Pilate's question, "Are You a king, then?" He did fitly answer, "You say that I am a king." But here before Pilate and the Jews, in His condition of shame and misery, He was about to ascend and, first of all, to prepare the Throne of the heavenly Grace which now is set up among the sons of men that they may flee to it and find eternal salvation! Mark how He is preparing this Throne of Grace--it is by pain and shame endured in our place. Sin was in the way of man's happiness--and a broken Law and justice required a penalty--and all this must be arranged before a Throne of Grace could be erected among men. If you look at our suffering Lord you see at once the ensigns of His pain, for He wears a crown of thorns which pierce His brow. Pain was a great part of the penalty due for sin and the great Substitute was, therefore, sorely pained. When Pilate brought forth our martyr Prince, He was the very mirror of agony. He was majesty in misery--misery worked up to its full height and stature. The cruel furrows of the scourge and the trickling rivulets of His blood down His face were but the tokens that He was about to die in cruel pangs upon the Cross! And these, together, were incumbent upon Him because there could be no Throne of Grace till first there had been a substitutionary sacrifice. It behooved Him to suffer that He might be a Prince and a Savior. Behold your King in His pains! He is laying the deep foundations of His Kingdom of mercy! Many a crown has been secured by blood and so is this--but it is His own blood! Many a throne has been established by suffering and so is this--but He Himself bears the pain! By His great sacrificial griefs our Lord has prepared a Throne upon which He shall sit till all the chosen race have been made kings and priests to reign with Him. It is by His agony that He obtains the royal power to pardon--by His stripes and bruises He wins the right to absolve poor sinners! We shall have no cause to wonder at the greatness of His mediatorial power if we consider the depth of His sacrificial sufferings! As His misery is the source of His majesty, so the greatness of His pains has secured to Him the fullness of power to save. Had He not gone to the end of the Law and honored Justice to the highest degree, He had not, now, been so gloriously able to dispense mercy from His glorious high Throne of mediatorial Grace. Behold your King, then, as He lays deep in His own pain and death the basis of His Throne of Grace. Nor is it only pain, for He wears, also, the tokens of scorn. That crown of thorns meant mainly mockery--the soldiers made Him a mimic monarch, a carnival king--and that scarlet robe, too, was cast upon His shoulders in bitter scorn--and thus did this world deride its God! The Evangelists give you the description in brief sentences, as if they stopped between each line to cover their faces with their hands and weep. So there He stands before the crowd, helpless, friendless, with none to declare His generation or give Him a good word. He is deserted by all who formerly called Him, Master, and He has become the center of a scene of rioting and ridicule. The soldiers have done their worst and now the chief men of the nation look at Him with contempt and are only kept back from the most ribald scorn by a hate too furiously eager for death to afford them leisure for their scoffs. His enemies had done everything in their power to clothe Him with scorn and they were asking for permission to do more, for they cried, "Let Him be crucified." Behold how He has left all the honor of His Father's house and His own Glory among the angels--and here He stands with a mock robe, a mimic scepter and a thorny crown--the butt of ridicule, scoffed at by all! Yet this must be, because sin is a shameful thing and a part of the penalty of sin is shame, as they will know who shall wake up in the Day of Judgment to everlasting contempt! Shame fell on Adam when he sinned and then and there he knew that he was naked. And now shame has come down in a tremendous hail upon the head of the Second Adam, the Substitute for shameful man, and He is covered with contempt. "All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn." It is hard to say whether cruelty or mockery had most to do with the Person of our Lord at Gabbatha, but by enduring these two things together He laid on an immovable Foundation the cornerstone of His dominion of love and Grace. How could He have been the King of a redeemed people if He had not thus redeemed them? He might have been Lord over a people doomed to die--the stern Ruler of a people who continued in sin and would so continue till they perished forever from His Presence. But He not seek such a kingdom. He sought a kingdom over hearts that should eternally be under obligation to Him. Hearts that, being redeemed from the lowest Hell by His atoning death, would forever love Him with the utmost fervency. His sorrow secured His power to save! His shame endowed Him with the right to bless! "Behold your King." Look at Him with steady eyes and see what a King He now is by right of benefit conferred. Behold, He has put away sin, forever, by the sacrifice of Himself and, therefore, all the ransomed ones agree that He should be king who smote the great dragon which devoured the nations. Behold, by His stooping to shame, He has dethroned Satan who was the prince of this world! And who should occupy the Throne but He who has won it and cast out the strong one who ruled before? Christ has done more for men than the Prince of Darkness could or would, for He has died for them and so He has earned a just supremacy over all grateful hearts. As for death, Jesus, by yielding to death, has conquered it. Let Him be crowned with the victor's wreath who has destroyed the world's destroyer! In His shame you also see the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilling the Law and making it honorable. He who could honor that Law which otherwise would have cursed us, deserves to have all honor and homage paid to Him by the sons of men whom He has rescued from the curse! You see, then, our Lord, when He put on the old red cloak and submitted His brow to be pierced with thorns, was really establishing for Himself an empire--the foundations of which shall never be shaken! He was performing that saving work which has made Him King among sinners whom He saves and Lord of the Kingdom of Grace which through His death is bestowed upon men! Note this, too, that men are kings among their fellows when they can show deep sympathy and give substantial succor. He who can sympathize wins power of the best sort, not coarse force, but refined spiritual influence. For this cause our Lord was afflicted, as you see Him afflicted, that He might have sympathy with you in your direst grief and in your most grievous dishonor. As the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He, Himself, also took part of the same. And as they must suffer, so the Captain of their salvation was made perfect by suffering. This gives Him His glorious power over us. He is a faithful High Priest, for He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And this ability to enter into our infirmities and sorrows makes Him supreme over our hearts. Look at your King in pain and mockery-- and see how royal He is to your heart! How sovereignly He commands your heart to rejoice! With what regal power He commands your fears to lie still and how obediently your despondency yields to His Word! Now, as it is with you, so is it on a larger scale in the world. The suffering nations will yet see their true Deliverer in their suffering Lord. That scepter of a reed will secure Him power far greater than a rod of iron. His love to man is proved by His suffering to the death on their behalf and this, when the Holy Spirit has made men wise, shall be to the myriads of our race the reason for proclaiming Him Lord of all! The kings and princes who rule mankind by reason of their descent or by the force of arms, have but the names of kings. The true kings are the great benefactors. The heroes are our kings, after all. We look upon those as royal who can risk their lives for their fellow men to win them liberty, or to teach them truth. The race forgets its masters but it remembers its friends. Earth, but for Jesus, had been a vast prison and men a race of condemned criminals. But He who stands before us in Gabbatha, in all His shame and grief, has delivered us from our lost estate and, therefore, He must be King! Who shall say no to Him? If love must ultimately triumph--if disinterested self-sacrifice must obtain homage--then Jesus is and shall be King! If eventually, when the morning breaks and man's heart is purged from the prejudice and injustice occasioned by sin, the might shall be with the right and truth must prevail! Then Jesus must reign! The eternal fitness of things demands that the best should be highest, that he who does men most service should be most honored among them! In a word, that He who was made nothing of for man's sake should become everything to him. See, then, how the crown of thorns is mother to the crown which Jesus wears in His Church! The scarlet robe is the purchase price of the vesture of universal sovereignty and the mock scepter of reed is the precursor of the rod of nations with which the whole earth will yet be ruled! "Behold your King," and see the sources of His mediatorial power! II. O you who see in your bleeding and rejected Lord, "the King in His beauty," come here, yet again, and BEHOLD HIM CLAIMING YOUR HOMAGE. See in what way He comes to win your hearts. What is His right to be King over you? There are many rights, for on His head are many crowns--but the most commanding right which Jesus has over any of us is signified by that crown of thorns--it is the right of supreme love! He loved us as none other could have loved us. If we put all the loves of parents and of wives and children all together, we can never rival, even for a moment, the love of Christ to us! And whenever that love touches us, so that we feel its power, we crown Him King at once. Who can resist His charms? One look of His eyes overpowers us! See with your heart those eyes when they are full of tears for perishing sinners and you are a willing subject. One look at His blessed Person subjected to scourging and spitting for our sakes will give us more idea of His crown rights than anything besides. Look into His pierced heart as it pours out its life flood for us and all disputes about His Sovereignty are ended in our hearts. We acknowledge Him Lord because we see how He loved! How could we do otherwise? Love in action, or rather love in suffering, carries an Omnipotence about it! Behold what His love endured and so, "Behold your King." Jesus, in the garb of mockery, marred with traces of His pain, also reminds us of His complete purchase of us by His deeds and death. "You are not your own, you are bought with a price." Behold your King and see the price! It is the price of immense suffering, of most cruel shame! It is an incalculable price, for the Lord of All is set at nothing! It is an awful price, for He who only has immortality yields Himself to die! It is the price of blood. It is the scourging and bleeding and woe of Jesus--no, it is Himself! If you would see the price of your redemption, "Behold your King." 'Tis He that has redeemed us unto God by His blood! It is He that "made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a Servant; and being found in fashion as a Man, humbled Himself; and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross." You acknowledge that claim--the love of Christ demands it--you feel that from now on you live for Him, alone, and count it joy that in all respects He should reign over you with unlimited sway. Jesus, because He suffered, has acquired a power over us which is far superior to any which could be urged in courts of law, or enforced by mere power, for our hearts have voluntarily surrendered to Him and given Him the right of our free submission, charmed to give allegiance to such imperial love! Is it possible for a Believer to look at the Lord Jesus Christ without feeling that he longs to be more and more His servant and disciple? Do you not thirst to serve Him? Can yon behold Him in the depth of shame without pining to lift Him up to the heights of glory? Can you see Him stooping thus for you without pleading with God that a glorious high Throne may be His and that He may sit upon it and rule all the hearts of men? There is no need to argue out the right of King Jesus, for you feel it--His love has carried you by storm and it holds fast its capture. You cannot have a Savior without His being your King. And seeing such a Savior in such a condition, you cannot even think of Him without delighting to ascribe to Him all power and dominion! Could we escape His sway it would be bondage to us--and when we, at any time fail to admit it, it is our worst affliction! "Behold your King," then, for He Himself is His own claim to your obedience! See what He suffered for you, my Brothers and Sisters, and from now on never draw back from any labor, shame, or suffering for His dear sake. "Behold your King," and reckon to be treated like He. Do you expect to be crowned with gold when He was crowned with thorns? Shall lilies grow for you and briars for Him? Never again be ashamed to carry His glorious name, unless, indeed, you can be so vile as to prove a traitor to such a Lord! See to what shame He was put and learn from Him to despise all shame for His Truth's sake! Shall the disciple be above his Master, or the servant above his Lord? If they have thus maltreated the Master of the house, what shall they do to the household? Let us reckon upon our share of this treatment and, by accepting it, prove to all men that the despised and rejected of men is really the King over us and that the subjects blush not to be like their Monarch! Even though the cost is all the shame the world can possibly pour upon us, or all the suffering that flesh and blood can, in any condition, endure, let us be faithful in our loyalty and cry, "Who shall separate us? Shall persecution, or distress, or tribulation divide us from our King? No! In all these things we are more than conquerors! King of Griefs, you are King of my soul! O King of Shame, you are absolute Monarch of my heart! You are King by Divine right and King by my own voluntary choice! Other lords have had dominion over us, but now, since You have revealed Yourself after this fashion, Your name, only, shall govern our spirit!" Do you not see, then, that Jesus, before Pilate, reveals His claim in the appearance which He wears? "Behold your King." III. "Behold your King," for a third time, that you may see Him SUBDUING HIS DOMINIONS. Dressed in robes of scorn and with a visage marred with pain, He comes forth conquering and to conquer! This is not very apparent at a superficial glance, for He is not arrayed like a man of war. You see no sword upon His thigh, nor bow in His hand. No fiery threats fall from His lips, nor does He speak with eloquent persuasion. He is unarmed, yet victorious! He is silent, but yet conquering! In this garb He goes forth to war. His shame is His armor and His sufferings are His battle-axe. What do you think? How can it be so? I speak no fiction, but sober fact--and it shall be proven. Missionaries have gone forth to win the heathen for Christ and they have commenced with the uncivilized sons of sin by telling them that there is a God and that He is great and just. The people have listened unmoved, or have only answered, "Do you think we don't know this?" Then they have spoken of sin and its punishment and have foretold the coming of the Lord to judgment, but still the people stirred not, but coolly said, "'Tis true," and then went on their way to live in sin as before. At last these earnest men have let fall the blessed secret and spoken of the love of God in giving His only-begotten Son and they have begun to tell the story of the matchless griefs of Immanuel! Then have the dry bones stirred! Then have the deaf begun to hear! They tell us that they had not long told the story before they noticed that eyes were fastened on them and that countenances were beaming with interest which had been listless before. And they have said to themselves, "Why did we not begin with this?" Yes, why, indeed? For this it is that touches men's hearts--Christ Crucified is the Conqueror! Not in His robes of Glory does He subdue the heart, but in His vestments of shame! Not as sitting upon the Throne does He, at first, gain the faith and the affections of sinners, but as bleeding, suffering and dying in their place! "God forbid that I should glory," said the Apostle, "save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." And though every theme that is connected with the Savior ought to play its part in our ministry, yet this is the master theme. The atoning work of Jesus is the great gun of our battery! The Cross is the mighty battering-ram to break in pieces the bronze gates of human prejudices and the iron bars of obstinacy! Christ coming to be our Judge alarms, but Christ, the Man of Sorrows, subdues! The crown of thorns has a royal power in it to compel a willing allegiance! The scepter of reed breaks hearts better than a rod of iron and the robe of mockery commands more love than Caesar's imperial purple! There is nothing like it under Heaven! Victories 10,000 times 10,000 have been achieved by Him whom Pilate led forth to the multitude-- victories distinctly to be ascribed to the crown of thorns and vesture of mockery! Are they not written in the book of the wars of the Lord? There will be more such as He is more frequently set forth in His own fashion and men are bid, in the Man of Sorrows to behold their King. Has it not been so at home as well as among the far-off heathen? What wins men's hearts to Christ today? What but Christ in shame and Christ in suffering? I appeal to you who have been newly converted-- what has bound you as captives to Jesus' chariot? What has made you, from now on, vow to be His followers, rejoicing in His name? What but this--that He bowed His head to the death for your sake and has redeemed you unto God by His blood? You know it is so! And oh, dear children of God, if ever you feel the power of Christ upon you to the fullest--till it utterly overcomes you--is it not the memory of redeeming grief which does it? When you become like harps and Jesus is the minstrel and lays His finger among your heartstrings and brings out nothing but praise for His dear name--what is it that charms you into the music of grateful love but the fact of His condescension on your behalf? Is not this your song, that He was slain and has redeemed you unto God by His blood? I confess I could sit down at the foot of His Cross and do nothing else but weep until I wept myself away, for His suffering makes my soul to melt within me. Then, if the call of duty is heard, I feel intensely eager to plead with others. At that time I am ready to make any sacrifice to bring others under my Lord's dominion! Then, by His Grace, I am full of a holy passion that even death could not quench--all this, I say, if I have but just come from gazing on the Redeemer's passion and drinking of His cup and being baptized with His Baptism! The scepter of reed rules as nothing else ever did, for it awakens enthusiasm. The crown of thorns commands homage as no other diadem ever did, for it braces men into heroes and martyrs. No royalty is so all-commanding as that which has for its insignia the crown of thorns, the reed, the red cloak and the five wounds! Other sovereignties are forced and feigned. They are hollow compared with the Sovereignty of "the despised of men!" Fear, or custom, or self-interest make men courtiers elsewhere, but fervent love crowds the courts of King Jesus! We do not merely say that the marred Countenance is the most majestic ever seen, but we have felt it to be so on many an occasions. Yes, and feel it to be so now. Do you want to make our hard hearts soft? Tell us of Jesus' grief! Would you make us, strong men, into children? Set the Man of Sorrows in our midst! There is no resisting Him. Look, also, at backsliders if you would see the power of the despised Nazarene. If they have gone away from Christ. If they have become lukewarm. If their hearts have become obdurate to Him who once could charm them--what can bring them back? I know but one magnet which, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, will attract these sadly fallen ones--it is Jesus in His shame and pains! We tell them that they crucified the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame--and they look on Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him! O you, who, after having sipped of the communion cup, have gone to drink at the table of Bacchus! You, who, after having talked of love to Christ, have followed after the lusts of the flesh! You, who, after singing His praises, have blasphemed the sacred name with which you are named--may His Omnipotence of love be proven in you, also! What can ever bring you back but this sad reflection, that you, also, have twisted for Him a crown of thorns and caused Him to be blasphemed among His enemies? Still the merit of His death is available for you! The power and efficacy of His precious blood have not ceased, even for you! And if you come back to Him--and oh, may a sight of Him draw you--He will receive you graciously as at the first. I say to you, "Behold your King," and may the Sovereignty of His humiliation and suffering be proven, this morning, in some of you as you shall come bending at His feet, conquered by His great love and restored to repentance and faith by His marvelous compassion! A sight of His wounds and bruises heals us, so that we grieve at our rebellions and long to be brought home to God, never to wander more. Ah, dear Brothers and Sisters, we shall always find, as long as the world stands, that among saints, sinners, backsliders and all classes of men, Jesus Christ's power is most surely felt when His humiliation is most faithfully declared and most believingly known! It is by this that He will subdue all things to Himself. If we will but preach Jesus Christ to the Hindu, it will not be necessary to answer all his metaphysical subtleties--the sorrows of Jesus are as a sharp sword to cut the Gordian knot. If we will go down among the degraded inhabitants of Africa, we shall not need, first, to civilize them--the Cross is the great lever which lifts up fallen men--it conquers evil and establishes truth and righteousness. The most depraved and hardened learn of His great love and hearts of stone begin to beat--they see Jesus suffering to the death out of nothing else but love to them--and they are touched by it! And they eagerly enquire what they must do to be saved by such a Savior. The Holy Spirit works in the minds of many by setting forth the great love and grief of Jesus. May we who are His ministers have great faith in His Cross and from now on say, as we preach the suffering Jesus, "Behold your King." IV. In the fourth place I beg you to "Behold your King" SETTING FORTH THE PATTERN OF HIS KINGDOM. When you look at Him, you are struck, at once, with the thought that if He is a king He is like no other monarch, for other kings are covered with rich apparel and surrounded with pomp, but He has none of these. Their glories usually consist in wars by which they have made others suffer. But His Glory is His own suffering! No blood but His own has flowed to make Him illustrious! He is a King but He cannot be put in the list of sovereigns such as the nations of the earth are compelled to serve. When Antoninus Pius set up the statue of Jesus in the Pantheon as one of a circle of gods and heroes, it must have seemed strangely out of place to those who gazed upon its visage if the sculptor was at all true to life. It must have stood apart as one that could not be numbered with the rest! Neither can you set Him among the masters of the human race who have crushed mankind beneath their iron heels! He was no Caesar--you cannot make Him appear like one! Call Him not autocrat, emperor, or czar--He has an authority greater than all these--yet not after their kind. His purple is different from theirs and His crown, also. But His face differs more and His heart most of all. "My kingdom," He says, "is not of this world." For troops, He has a host of sorrows. For pomp, a surrounding of scorn. For lofty bearing, humility. For adulation, mockery. For homage, spit. For glory, shame. For a Throne, a Cross. Yet there was never a truer King! Indeed, all kings are but a name, save this King, who is a real Ruler in Himself and of Himself--and not by extraneous force. Right royal, indeed, is the Nazarene! But He cannot be likened unto the princes of earth, nor can His Kingdom be reckoned with theirs. I pray that the day may soon come when none may dream of looking upon the Church as a worldly organization capable of alliance with temporal sovereignties so as to be patronized, directed, or reformed by them. Christ's Kingdom shines as a lone star with a brightness all its own! It stands apart like a hill of light, sacred and sublime--the high hills may leap with envy because of it--but it is not of them nor like unto them. Is not this manifest even in the appearance of our Lord as Pilate brings Him forth and cries, "Behold your King!"? Now, as He sets before us in His own Person, the pattern of His Kingdom, we may expect that we shall see some likeness to Him in His subjects. And if you will gaze upon the Church, which is His Kingdom, from the first day of her history until now, you will see that it, too, is wearing its purple robe. The martyrs' blood is the purple vesture of the Church of Christ. The trials and persecutions of Believers are her crown of thorns. Think of the rage of persecution under Pagan Rome--and the equally inhuman proceedings of Papal Rome--and you will see how the ensign of Christ's Kingdom is a crown of thorns--a crown and yet thorns--thorns but still a crown! The bush is burning, but it is not consumed! If you, Beloved, are truly followers of Jesus, you must expect to take your measure of shame and dishonor. And you may reckon upon your allotment of griefs and sorrows. The "Man of Sorrows" attracts a sorrowful following. The Lamb of God's Passover is still eaten with bitter herbs. The child of God cannot escape the rod, for the elder Brother did not and to Him we are to be conformed. We must "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, which is the Church" (Col. 1:24). Remember, however, that Christ's sufferings, as a pattern, were not for His own sins, nor brought upon Him as a chastisement for His own faults. The sufferings which belong to His Kingdom are those which are endured for His name and for His Glory's sake, and for the good of others. If men lie in prison for their own crimes, that has nothing to do with His Kingdom. If we suffer for our sins, that is no part of His Kingdom. But when a man loses of his substance for Christ's cause, lays out himself to toil even unto death, bears contempt and suffers hardness as a Christian--this is after the type of Christ's Kingdom. When the missionary goes forth with his life in his hand among the heathen, or when a Believer in any way divests himself of comfort for the good of others, it is then that he truly copies the pattern set him in Pilate's Hall by our great King. I say to you Christians who court ease, to you who are hoarding up your gold, to you who will do nothing that would bring you under the criticism of your fellow men, to you who live unto yourselves--would it not be irony of the severest kind if I were to point to Jesus before Pilate and say, "Behold your King"? Living in undue luxury, amassing wealth, rolling in ease, living to enjoy yourselves! Is that your King? Poor subjects, you--and very unlike your Lord! But if there are among us those who, for His sake, can make sacrifices, we may look upon our King without fear. You who are undaunted by contempt and who would give all that you have, yes, and give yourselves to know Jesus--and are doing so--to such I say, "Behold your King," for you are of His Kingdom and you shall reign with Him! In your conquest of yourselves you have already become kings! In reigning over your own desires and carnal inclinations for the sake of His dear love, you are already kings and priests unto God and you shall reign forever and ever! He who is ruled by his passions in any degree is still a slave. But he who lives for God and his fellow men has a royal soul. The insignia of a prince unto God are still shame and suffering--which adornments are readily worn when the Lord calls him to do so. In Christ's Kingdom those are peers of the highest rank who are most like their Lord and are the lowest and humblest in mind--and most truly the servants of all. The secondary princes of His Kingdom approximate less closely to Him and the lower you descend in the scale the less you are like He is in those respects. The Christian surrounded with every comfort who never endured hardness for Christ, who never knew what it was to be sneered at for Jesus' sake, who never made a sacrifice which went so far as to pinch him in the least--if, indeed, he is a Christian--is least in the kingdom of Heaven. Proud, rich men who give but trifles to Christ's cause are pariahs in His Kingdom! They who are who are willing to be least of all, are the chief--they are princes who make themselves the offscouring of all things for His name's sake, such as were the Apostles and first martyrs and others whom His love has greatly constrained. V. Our concluding remark shall be, "Behold your King"--PROVING THE CERTAINTY OF HIS EMPIRE--for if, Beloved, Christ was King when He was in Pilate's hands, after being scourged and spit upon, and while He was wearing the robe and crown of mockery, when will He not be King? If He were King at His worst, when is it that His Throne can ever be shaken? They have brought Him very low. They have brought Him lower than the sons of men, for they have made Him a worm and not a man, despised of the people, and yet He is King! Marks of royalty were present on the day of His death. He dispensed crowns when He was on the Cross--He gave the dying thief a promise of an entrance into Paradise. In His death He shook the earth, He opened graves, He split the rocks, He darkened the sun and He made men smite on their breasts in dismay! One voice after another, even from the ranks of His foes, proclaimed Him to be King, even when dying like a malefactor! Was He a King then? When will He not be King? And who is there that can, in any way, shake His Throne? In the days of His flesh, "the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers took counsel together, saying, Let us break His bonds asunder, and cast His cords from us," but He that sat in the heavens did laugh--the Lord did have them in derision and Christ on the Cross was acknowledged, in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, to be, still, the King of the Jews. When will He not be King? If He was King before He died and was laid in the grave, what is He, now, that He has risen from the dead? What is He, now, now that He has vanquished the destroyer of our race and lives no more to die? What is He now? You angels, tell what glories surround Him now! If He were King when He stood at Pilate's bar, what will He be when Pilate shall stand at His bar, when He shall come on the Great White Throne and summon all mankind before Him to judgment? What will be His acknowledged sovereignty and His dreaded majesty in the day of the Lord? Come, let us adore Him! Let us pay our humble homage in the courts of the Lord's house this day! And then let us go forth to our daily service in His name and make this our strong resolve, His Spirit helping us, that we will live to crown Him in our hearts and in our lives--in every place where our lot may be cast--till the day breaks and the shadows flee away and we behold the King in His beauty and the land that is very far off. None can overturn a kingdom which is founded on the death of its King! None can abolish a dominion whose deep foundations are laid in the tears and blood of the Prince, Himself. Napoleon said that he founded his empire by force and, therefore, it had passed away. "But," he said, "Jesus founded His Kingdom upon love and it will last forever." So it must be, for whatever may or may not be, it is written--"He must reign." As for us, if we wish to extend the Redeemer's Kingdom we must be prepared to deny ourselves for Christ. We must be prepared for weariness, slander and self-denial. In this sign we conquer! The Cross will have to be borne by us as well as by Him if we are to reign with Jesus. We must both teach the Cross and bear the Cross. We must participate in the shame if we would participate in the Glory! No thorn, no Throne! When again shall be heard the voice, "Behold your King," and Jew and Gentile shall see Him enthroned and surrounded with all His Father's angels--with the whole earth subdued to His power happy shall he be who shall then, in the exalted Savior, behold his King! The Lord grant us this day to be loyal subjects of the Crucified that we may be favored to share His glory. __________________________________________________________________ All Things Are Ready, Come (No. 1354) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 13, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "Come, for all things are now ready." Luke 14:17. THIS invitation was first of all made to the Jews, but it seems to me to have a peculiar appropriateness to ourselves. It is later in the day than when first the Lord was here and, therefore, the supper time is evidently closer at hand. The shadows lengthen, the sun of the present dispensation is nearing its setting--by nearly 1,900 years has its day been shortened since first the Lord sent forth His servants at supper time. The fullness of time for the marriage supper of the Lamb must speedily arrive and, therefore, it behooves us to be more than ever earnest in delivering the message to the invited guests. And if all things could be said to be ready, even in our Savior's day, we may say it with still greater emphasis now, for when He delivered this parable, the Holy Spirit was not yet given. But Pentecost has now passed and the Spirit of God abides with us to accompany the Word, to fill it with power and to bless our souls as we feed upon His Truth. Very emphatically, then, at this time all things are now ready and the supper awaits the guests! I pray you do not begin to make excuses, but be prepared to follow us when we bid you come, to go with us when we seek to bring you in, or at least to yield to our entreaties when, with all the sacred violence of love, we would compel you to come in. We will not grudge the use of all the three increasing modes of persuasion so long as you are but led to "Come, for all things are now ready." There are two things clearly in the text and these have a close relation to one another. A plain invitation--"Come," and then a forcible argument--"for all things are ready." The argument is fetched from the Divine preparations, gathered from among the dainty provisions of the royal feast. "My oxen and My fatlings are killed, come to the supper." The readiness of everything on God's part is the argument why men should come and partake of His Grace--and that is the point upon which we will dwell at this time--the readiness of the feast of mercy is the reason why men should come to it at once. I. We will begin our meditation by laying down the first statement which shall make our first division of discourse, namely that IT IS GOD'S HABIT TO HAVE ALL THINGS READY, whether for His guests or His creatures. You never discover Him to be behind in anything. When the guests come, there is not a scramble to get the table arranged and the food prepared, but the Lord has great forethought and every little point of detail is well arranged. "All things are ready." It was so in creation. He did not create a single blade of grass upon the face of the earth until the soil and the atmosphere had been prepared for it and until the kindly sun had learned to look down upon the earth. Imagine vegetation without a sun, or without the alternation of day and night! But the air was full of light, the firmament upheld the clouds and the dry land had appeared from out of the sea--and then all things were ready for herbs and plants and trees. Nor did God prepare one single creature that has life, nor fowl that flies in the midst of Heaven, nor fish that swim the seas, nor beast that moves on the dry land until He had prepared its habitat and made ready its appointed food. There were no cattle before there were meadows for their grazing. There were no birds till there were trees for their nests, no, nor even a creeping insect till its portion of meat had been provided. No creature had to wait in a hungry mood while its food was growing--all things were ready--ready, first, for vegetation, and then afterwards for animal life. As for Adam, when God came to make Him as His last and noblest work of creation, all things were ready. The garden was laid out upon the banks of flowing streams and planted with all kinds of trees. The fruits were ripe for his diet and the flowers in bloom for his delight. He did not come to an unfurnished house, but he entered into a home which his Father had made pleasant and agreeable for his dwelling. The world was first fitted up and then the man who was to govern that world was placed in it. "All things are ready," the Lord seems to say, "Spring up, O herbs yielding seed." And then, "All things are ready, come forth you roes and hinds of the field!" And then, "All things are ready, stand forth, O man, made in My own image!" In later times we may gather illustrations of the same Truth of God from the ways of God with men. The Ark was first of all built and the various creatures were gathered into it, with all their necessary food for that strange voyage which they were about to take. And then the Lord said to Noah, "Come you and all your house into the Ark." "All things are ready, come," was His voice to the chosen eight as they entered into the Ark. There was no need to tarry any longer. Every preparation was made and, therefore, God shut them in. Everything is done with punctuality and exactness by the only wise God. The same day that a thing is needed, it is prepared. Take another event in Providence, such as the going down of Israel into Egypt. God had determined that Jacob and his seed should sojourn, awhile, in the land of Ham, but how wisely He prepared the whole matter. He sent a man before them, even Joseph, and Joseph was there upon the throne of Egypt clothed with power to nourish them through the famine. He had been there years before, all in good time to store the wheat while the seven years of plenty lasted, that they might be well fed during the seven years of famine. Goshen, also, was at the disposal of Joseph, so that the flocks and herds of Israel might dwell in that fat land. Not into Egypt shall God's Israel go till all things are ready! And when all things are ready they will come out again with a high hand and an outstretched arm! So it was when the tribes migrated into Canaan itself. God took them not to the promised land until all things were ready. They were made to wait for the exact time, for the Lord said, "The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Not till the inhabitants of the land had passed the bounds of mercy and were condemned to die, were the Israelites brought upon the scene to be, at once, their executioners and successors! And when the tribes came to the river Jordan, God had prepared everything for them, for He had sent the hornet before them to drive out the people and a pestilence, also, for the spies said, "It is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof." The Lord God had gone before them to fight their battles before they came and to prepare a place for them, so that when they entered they dwelt in houses which they had not built and they gathered the fruit of olives which they had not planted. They came to a land that flowed with milk and honey, a land in a fine cultivated condition and not a wilderness which must be reclaimed with hard labor. Israel came to a country which was as the garden of the Lord, whose fruit might at once be enjoyed, for they ate of the old corn of the land almost as soon as they passed the Jordan. So you see, "All things are ready," is a proclamation which the Lord has often, in spirit, made to those whom He chooses to bless. Now the fact that in the great Gospel supper all things are ready teaches us, first, that God's thoughts go before men's comings. "Come, for all things are ready." Not, "If you come, all things will be ready," but, "they are ready and, therefore, come." Grace is first, and man at his best follows its footsteps. Long before we ever thought of God, He thought of us! Yes, before we had a being and time, itself, began, in the bosom of the Eternal there were thoughts of love towards those for whom the table of His mercy is now spread! He had planned and arranged everything in His august mind from of old. He had, indeed, foreknown and predestinated all the provisions and all the guests of His supper! All things were settled in His eternal Covenant and purpose before the earth was! Never think, oh Sinner, that you can outstrip the love of God! It is at the end of the race before you are at the beginning! God has completed before you have begun. His thoughts are before ours and so are His acts, for He does not say, "All things are planned and arranged," but, "All things are ready." Jesus, the great Sacrifice, is slain! The Fountain for our cleansing is filled with blood! The Holy Spirit has been given. The Word by which we are to be instructed is in our hands and the light which will illuminate that sacred page is promised us through the Holy Spirit. Things promised ought to encourage us to come to Christ, but things already given ought to be irresistible attractions. All things are already completed by the sacred Trinity before we come to cry for mercy. This should make us very hopeful and eager in our approaches to the Lord. Come, Sinner! Come at once! This ought to encourage you, since all that God has to do in your salvation is done before you have a thought of Him or turn one foot towards His abode. All things are ready. Come! This, also, proves how welcome those are who come. If you are invited to see a friend and when you reach the place, you find the door locked and, after knocking many times no one answers, for there is no one at home, you reckon that there is some mistake, or that the invitation was not a sincere one. Even if your host should come to the door and let you in, but should evidently be embarrassed, for there is no meal provided and he has made no arrangements for your rest, you soon detect it and like a wise man you quickly move off somewhere else, for if you had been welcome, things would have been prepared for you. But oh, poor Soul, if you come to God, all things are ready for your entertainment-- "Spread for you the festive board, With His richest dainties stored." The couch of rest and quietness is prepared for you. All things are ready! How freely does Jehovah welcome you, how genuine is the invitation, how sincere the desire that you should come to feast with Him! So much upon our first remark. It is the habit of the Lord to have all things ready for His guests. II. Our second statement is that THIS READINESS SHOULD BE AN ARGUMENT THAT HIS SAINTS SHOULD COME continually to Him and find Grace to help in every time of need. O children of God, I will lift the parable away from the immediate use which the Savior made of it to employ it for your good. You know, Beloved, that whenever the Lord Jesus Christ invites His people to come to Him and to taste of His bounty, all things are ready. It was a beautiful scene by the sea of Tiberias when the Lord spoke to those who had been toiling on the lake at fishing and said to them, "Come and dine." They were willing enough to dine, but they were busy dragging to the shore those great fishes. Remember, when they did land, they found the invitation to be no vain one, for it is written, "They saw a fire of coals there and fish laid thereon, and bread." How the coals came there and the fish, and the bread, the Evangelist does not tell us, but our Lord would not have asked them to dinner if He had not been able to give them a warm reception. There were the fire of coals and the fish and bread laid on them. Whenever, therefore, your Lord and Master, by His blessed Spirit, calls you to come near to Him, you may be quite sure that all things are ready for your immediate enjoyment. You need never pause or hesitate, but approach Him without delay. I want to caution you against replying, "But, Lord, I do not feel ready." That is most true, but that is not an argument which you should use to excuse yourself in holding back. It is His readiness that is the main thing, not yours, and as all things are ready, come whether you feel ready or not! I have heard of some Christians who have said, "I do not feel in a proper frame of mind to pray." My Brothers and Sisters, pray till you do! Some have said, "I do not think I shall go up to the house of God today. I feel so unhappy, so cast down." When should you go so much as then, in order that you may find comfort? "Still," says one, "you would not have me sing a hymn when of heavy heart, would you?" Yes, I would, I would, indeed! I would have you sing yourself up from the depths of the sea when all God's billows have gone over you. David full often did so. When he began a Psalm in the deeps, he gradually rose and rose, and rose till he was in a perfect rapture of delight before the Psalm was over! All things are ready with your Lord, therefore come whether you happen to be ready or not! Note the times when this Truth of God ought to have power with you. All things are ready, therefore come to the storehouse of Divine promises. Are you in spiritual poverty? Come and take what God has provided for you, for all things are yours and all the blessings of the everlasting hills belong to all the people of God. Are you needing strength? There is a promise, "As your days so shall your strength be." It is ready, come and take it! Are you needing consolation? Do you not know that all things are ready for your comfort, that two immutable things, wherein it is impossible for God to lie, are already set before you? Come and take your solace! Yes, remember that all that God has promised belongs to all those who believe the promise and that you may, therefore, come at all times, however deep your need. And if you have but faith you shall find the special supply for the special need. All things are ready, therefore come with holy confidence and take what is ripe enough to gather, ripe for you. Come next to the Mercy Seat in prayer, all things are ready there. The Mercy Seat is sprinkled with the precious blood of Christ. The veil, also, is torn in two, and from between the cherubim Jehovah's Glory now shines forth with mildest radiance. Let us, therefore, come with boldness unto the Throne of the heavenly Grace, because everything there is ready for the pleading suppliant. You have no need to bring anything with you. You have no need of making preparations other than the Holy Spirit waits to give you in the form of groans which cannot be uttered! Come, child of God, notwithstanding your carelessness and indifference, or whatever it may be you have to complain of, for though you are unready, the Throne of Grace is ready and, therefore, draw near to it and find the Grace you need. If at this time we feel strong promptings towards communion with Christ, what a blessing it is that Christ is always ready to commune with His people. "Behold," He says, "I stand at the door and knock." We think that we stand at the door and knock, but it is scarcely so. The greater Truth, with regard to His people, is that Jesus asks for fellowship with us and tells us that if we open the door--and that is all He bids His people do--He will enter in and sup with them and they with Him. Suppose there is no supper, He will provide it--He has all things ready. The Master says, "Where is the guest chamber?" He does not say, "Where is the feast?" If Your heart will be the guest chamber, He will provide the supper and you shall sup with Him and He with you. At whose door did Christ knock according to the Scriptures? It was at the door of the Laodicean Church, at the door of the very Church concerning which He had said, "Because you are neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth." Therefore you poor Laodicean Believers that are here this morning, if you have any promptings towards Christ, arise, for all things are ready and before you are aware, your soul shall be as the chariots of Amminadab! He is ready to receive us to His heart of hearts! How sweetly this ought to constrain us to fly into the arms of Jesus. I think the same thought ought to cross our minds with regard to every daily duty. We wake up in the morning, but we do not know exactly what lies before us, for God's Providence has constantly new revelations. But I like to think, in the morning, that all things are ready for my pathway through the day. That if I will go out to serve God in my ministry, He has prepared some ear into which I am to drop a gracious word and some heart in the furrows of which I shall effectually sow some blessed seed! Behold, all Providence with its mighty wheels is co-working with the servant of the living God! Only go forward in zeal and confidence, my Brother, and you shall find that every step of your way is ready for you! Your Master has trod the road and marked out for you the houses of refreshment where you are to tarry till you shall come to the Celestial City, itself, and the hallowed spots where you shall bring glory to His blessed name! For a useful life all things are ready for us. Yes, and if beyond the daily service of life we should feel a prompting to aspire to a higher degree of holiness--if we want to grow in Grace and reach the fullness of the stature of a man in Christ Jesus--all things are ready for us! No Christian can have a sacred ambition after holiness which the Lord is not prepared to fulfill. You that wish to be like Your Master, you that desire to make a self-sacrifice that will show the power of His Grace in you--the Holy Spirit waits to help you--all things shall work for you, for all things are ready! Come, therefore, without fear. One of these days it may be that you and I shall either be grown very old, or else disease will lay hold upon us and we shall lie upon the sick bed watching and waiting for our Master's coming. Then there shall suddenly appear a messenger from Him who will bring us this word, "All things are ready, come unto the supper," and closing our eyes on earth we shall open them in Heaven and see what He has done who so sweetly said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Oh, it will be a joyous moment when we shall hear the summons, "All things are ready, quit your house of clay, your farm, your merchandise and even her who lies in your bosom, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and you must be there! Therefore, rise up, My love, My fair one and come away. The winter is over and past, the time of the singing of birds is come for you, all things are ready, come!" I feel tempted to linger here, but I must tear myself away from this point to pass on to the next. III. THE PERFECT READINESS OF THE FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY IS EVIDENTLY INTENDED TO BE A STRONG ARGUMENT WITH SINNERS WHY THEY SHOULD COME AT ONCE. To the sinner, then, do I address myself. Soul, do you desire eternal life? Is there within your spirit a hungering and a thirsting after such things as may satisfy Your spirit and make you live forever? Then hearken while the Master's servant gives you the invitation. "Come, for all things are ready"--all, not some--but all! There is nothing that you can need between here and Heaven but what is provided in Jesus Christ--in His Person and in His work. All things are ready--life for your death, forgiveness for your sin, cleansing for your filth, clothing for your nakedness, joy for your sorrow, strength for your weakness--yes, more than all that you can ever need is stored up in the boundless Nature and work of Christ. You must not say, "I cannot come because I have not this, or have not that." Are you to prepare the feast? Are you to provide anything? Are you the purveyor of even so much as the salt or the water? You know not your true condition or you would not dream of such a thing! The great Master of the house, Himself, has provided the whole of the feast--you have nothing to do with the provision but to partake of it! If you lack, come and take what you lack! The greater your need, the greater reason why you should come where all things that your needs can possibly lack will at once be supplied! If you are so needy that you have nothing good at all about you, all things are ready. What would you provide when God has provided all things? Superfluity of naughtiness would it be if you were to think of adding to His, "all things." It would be but a presumptuous competing with the provisions of the great King--and this He will not tolerate. All that you need--I can but repeat the words--between the gates of Hell, where you now lie, and the gates of Heaven, to which Grace will bring you if you believe--all is provided and prepared in Jesus Christ the Savior! And all things are ready, dwell on that. The oxen and the fatlings were killed. What is more, they were prepared to be eaten, they were ready to be feasted on, they smoked on the board. It is something when the king gives orders for the slaughter of so many bullocks for the feast, but the feast is not ready. And when, beneath the poleax, the victims fall and they are stripped and hung up ready for the fire, there is something done, but they are not ready. It is when the meat is served hot and steaming upon the table and all that is needed is brought forth and laid in proper order for the banquet-- it is then that all things are ready! And this is the case now. At this very moment you will find the feast to be in the best possible condition. It was never better and never can be better than it is now. All things are ready, just in the exact condition that you need them to be, just in such condition as shall be best for your soul's comfort and enjoyment. All things are ready! Nothing needs to be further mellowed or sweetened. Everything is at the best that eternal love can make it. But notice the word, "now." "All things are now ready"--just now--at this moment! At feasts, you know, the good housewife is often troubled if the guests come late. She would be sorry if they came half-an-hour too soon, but half-an-hour too late spoils everything! And in what a state of fret and worry is she if, when all things are now ready, her friends still delay. Leave food on the fire, awhile, and it does not seem to be, "now ready," but something more than ready and even spoiled. So does the great Master of the house lay stress upon this, "all things are now ready," therefore come at once. He does not say that if you will tarry for another seven years, all things will, then, be ready--God grant that long before that space of time, you may have got beyond the needs of persuasion by having become a taster of the feast--but He says that all things are ready now, just now. Just now that your heart is so heavy and your mind is so careless. Just now that your spirit is so wandering--all things are ready now! They are all ready just now though you have never thought of these things before and dropped in this morning to see this large assembly with no motive whatever as to your own salvation, yet all things are ready now. Though your sins are as the stars of Heaven and your soul trembles under an awful foreboding of coming judgment, yet, "all things are now ready." After all your rejections of Christ. After the many invitations that have been thrown away upon you, come to the supper! And if they are ready now, the argument is come, now, while still all things are ready. While the Spirit lingers and still strives with men. While mercy's gates still stand wide open that, "whoever will, may come." While life and health and reason still are spared to you and the ministering voice that bids you come can still be heard, come now, come at once--all things are ready--come! Delay is as unreasonable as it is wicked, now that all things are ready. Notice that all things were ready for those who were bid. They did not come, but they were not mocked when they were bid to come. The fact of all things being ready proved that the invitation was a sincere one, although it was a rejected one. There are some who will not have us give an invitation to any but to those whom we believe are sure to come, no, in a measure have come. That is to say, they make a minister to be a mere superfluity. Why need he come and invite those who have already begun to come? But we believe it to be our duty and our privilege to invite the whole mass of mankind! And even those who will not come--if we knew they would not come we should not, therefore, exempt them from the bidding--for the servant was sent to bid them to the wedding who, nevertheless, "all with one consent began to make excuse." They were invited and earnestly invited, and all things were ready, though they came not. O my dear Hearers, if you do not come to Christ you will perish! But you will never be able to say you were not invited and that there was nothing ready for you! No, there stands the feast all spread and you are sincerely and honestly bid to come. God grant that you may come and come at once! IV. Now I am going to pass on to my fourth and last point, which may God bless to the comfort of some seeking soul. THIS TEXT DISPOSES OF A GREAT DEAL OF TALK ABOUT THE SINNER'S READINESS OR UNREADINESS, because, if the reason why a sinner is to come is because all things are ready, then it is idle for him to say, "But I am not ready." It is clear that all the readiness required on man's part is a willingness to come and receive the blessing which God had provided. There is nothing else necessary. If men are willing to come, they may come. They will come when the Lord has been pleased to touch their wills so that man has a desire towards Christ. Where the heart really hungers and thirsts after righteousness, that is all the readiness which is needed. All the fitness He requires is that first you feel your need of Him, (and that He gives you), and that secondly, in feeling your need of Him, you are willing to come to Him. Willingness to come is everything! A readiness to believe in Jesus, a willingness to cast the soul on Him, a preparedness to accept Him just as He is, because you feel that He is just the Savior that you need--that is all. There was no other readiness. There could have been none in the case of those who were poor and blind, and crippled and maimed, yet came to the feast. The text does not say, "You are ready, therefore come." That is a legal way of putting the Gospel. No, the Gospel says, "All things are ready, the Gospel is ready, therefore you are to come." As for your readiness, all the readiness that is possibly needed is a readiness which the Spirit gives us, namely, willingness to come to Jesus. Now notice that the unreadiness of those who were bid arose out of their possessions and out of their abilities. One would not come because he had bought a piece of land. What a great heap Satan casts up between the soul and the Savior! What with worldly possessions and good deeds, he builds an earthwork of huge dimensions between the sinner and his Lord. Some gentlemen have too many acres to ever come to Christ! They think too much of the world to think much of Him. Many have too many fields of good works in which there are growing crops in which they pride themselves and these cause them to feel that they are persons of great importance. Many a man cannot come to Christ for all things because he has so much already! Others of them could not come because they had so much to do and could do it well--one had bought five yoke of oxen. He was going to test them. A strong man, quite able for plowing, did not come because he had so much ability. Thousands are kept away from Grace by what they have and by what they can do. Emptiness is more preparatory to a feast than fullness. How often does it happen that poverty and even inability help to lead the soul to Christ? When a man thinks himself to be rich he will not come to the Savior. When a man dreams that he is able to repent and believe at any time and to do everything for himself that is needed, he is not likely to come and by a simple faith repose in Christ. It is not what you have not, but what you have that keeps many of you from Christ! Sinful self is a devil, but righteous self is seven devils! The man who feels himself guilty may, for a while, be kept away by his guilt. But the man who is self-righteous will never come! Until the Lord has taken his pride away from him, he will still refuse the feast of Free Grace. The possession of abilities and honors and riches keep men from coming to the Redeemer. But on the other hand, personal condition does not constitute an unfitness for coming to Christ, for the sad condition of those who became guests did not debar them from the supper. Some were poor and doubtless wretched and ragged--they had not a penny to bless themselves with, as we say. Their garments were tattered, perhaps worse. They were filthy. They were not fit to be near respectable people--they would certainly be no credit to my Lord's table--but those who went to bring them in did not search their pockets, nor look at their coats--they fetched them in. They were poor, but the messengers were told to bring in the poor and, therefore, brought them. Their poverty did not prevent their being ready and oh, poor Soul, if you are literally poor, or spiritually poor, neither sort of poverty can constitute an unfitness for Divine mercy!-- "The poorer the wretch the more welcome here." If you are brought to your last penny, yes, if that is spent. And if you have pawned all and are left in debt over your head and think that there is nothing for you but to be laid by the heels in prison forever, nevertheless you may come, poverty and all! Another class of them were maimed and so were not very comely in appearance--an arm had been lopped off, or an eye had been gouged out. One had lost a nose and another a leg. They were in all stages and shapes of dismemberment. Sometimes we turn our heads away and feel that we would rather give anything than look upon beggars who show their wounds and describe how they were maimed. But it did not matter how badly they were disfigured-- they were brought in and not one of them was repulsed because of the ugly cuts he had received! So, poor Soul, however Satan may have torn and lopped you, and into whatever condition he may have brought you, so that you feel ashamed to live, nevertheless this is no unfitness for coming! Just as you are, you may come to His table of Grace. Moral disfigurements are soon rectified when Jesus takes the character in hand. Come to Him, however sadly you are injured by sin. There were others who were halt, that is to say, they had lost a leg, or it was of no use to them, and they could not come except they had a crutch and crawled or hopped upon it. But nevertheless that was no reason why they were not welcome. Ah, if you find it difficult to believe, it is no reason why you should not come and receive the grand absolution which Jesus Christ is ready to bestow upon you! Lame with doubts and distrust? Nevertheless come to the supper and say, "Lord, I believe; help You my unbelief." Others were blind people and when they were told to come they could not see the way, but in that case the messenger was not told to tell them to come--he was commanded to bring them--and a blind man can come if he is brought. All that was needed was willingness to be led by the hand in the right direction. Now, you that cannot fully understand the Gospel as you desire to do. You that are puzzled and muddled, give your hand to Jesus and be willing to be led--be willing to believe what you cannot comprehend and to grasp in confidence that which you are not able yet to measure with your understanding. The blind, however ignorant or uninstructed they are, shall not be kept away because of that. Then there were the men in the highways. I suppose they were beggars. And the men in the hedges. I suppose they were hiding and were probably thieves. But nevertheless they were told to come and though they were highwaymen and hedge-birds, even that did not prevent their coming and finding welcome! Though outcasts, off casts, spiritual gypsies-- people that nobody cared for, yet, whatever they might be, that was not the question--they were to come because all things were ready! They could come in rags, come in filth, come maimed, come covered with sores, come in all sorts of filthiness and abomination, yet because all things are ready they were to be brought or to be compelled to come in. Now, lastly, I think it was the very thing which, in any one of these people, looked like unfitness, was a help to them. It is a great truth that what we regard as unfitness is often our truest fitness. I want you to notice these poor, blind and lame people. Some of those who were invited would not come because they had bought some land, or five yoke of oxen. But when the messenger went up to the poor man in rags and said, "Come to the supper," it is quite clear he would not say he had bought a field, or oxen, for he could not do it. He had not a penny to do the thing with, so that he was clean delivered from that temptation. And when a man is invited to come to Christ and he says, "I do not need Him, I have a righteousness of my own," he will stay away. But when the Lord Jesus came along to me, I never was tempted in that way, because I had no righteousness of my own and could not have made any if I had tried! I know some here who could not patch up a garment of righteousness if they were to put all their rags together--and this is a great help to their receiving the Lord Jesus. What a blessing it is to have such a sense of soul poverty that you will never stay away from Christ because of what you possess! Then, next, some could not come because they had married a wife. Now, I think it is very likely that these people who were maimed and cut about were so injured that they had no wife and perhaps could not get anybody to have them. Well then, they had not that temptation to stay away. They were too maimed to attract the eye of anybody who was looking for beauty and, therefore, they were not tempted that way. But they found at the ever-blessed supper of the Lamb an everlasting wedlock which was infinitely better! Thus do souls lose earthly joys and comforts and, by the loss, they gain supremely--they are thus made willing to close in with Christ and find a higher comfort and a higher joy! That maiming which looked like unfitness turned out to be fitness! One excuse made was, "I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to test them." The lame could not do that. When the messenger touched the lame man on the shoulder and said, "Come," he could not say, "I am going out tonight to plow with my new teams." He had never been over the clods ever since he had lost his leg, poor soul, so that he could not make such an excuse. The blind man could not say, "I have bought a piece of land and I must go see it." He was free from all the lusts of the eyes and so far was all the more ready to be led to the supper! When a soul feels its own sinfulness, wretchedness and lost estate, it thinks itself unfit to come to Christ--but this is an assistance to it--since it prevents its looking to anything else but Christ! It kills its excuses and makes it free to accept salvation by Grace. But what about the men that were in the highway? Well, it seems to me that they were already on the road and at least out of their houses, if they had any. If they were out there begging, they were the more ready to accept an invitation to a meal of good food, for it was that they were singing for. A man who is out of the house of his own self-righteousness, though he is a great sinner, is in a more favorable position and more likely to come to Christ than he who prides himself in his supposed self-righteousness. As for those who were under the hedges, well, they had no house of their own and so they were all the more likely to come and fill God's House. Men do not take to hedges to sleep under them as long as they have, even, a hovel where they may rest their head. But oh, poor soul, when you are driven to such distress that you would gladly hide under any hedge-when you have nothing left but a fearful looking for of judgment! When you think yourself to be an outlaw and an outcast before God, left to wander like Cain, a waif and stray, lost to all good, you, I say, are the very man to come to Christ! Come out of your hedges, then! I am looking for you. Though you hide yourselves away, yet God's own Spirit will discover you and bring you, I trust, this very morning, to feed on Divine Love! Trust Jesus Christ, that is all, just as you are, with all your unfitness and unreadiness! Take what God has made ready for you, the precious blood to cleanse you, a robe of righteousness to cover you, eternal joy to be your portion! Receive the Grace of God in Christ Jesus! Oh receive it now! God grant you may for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ Our Lord's Question to the Blind Men (No. 1355) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MAY 13, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "And when Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Son of David, ha ve mercy on us. And when He was come into the house, the blind men came to Him: and Jesus said unto them, Do you believe that I am able to do this? They said unto Him, Yes, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened." Matthew 9:27-30. [On this occasion the Members of the regular Congregation left their seats to strangers.) IN OUR own streets we meet, here and there, with a blind beggar, but they swarm in Eastern cities. Opthalmia is the scourge of Egypt and Syria and Volney declares that in Cairo, out of a hundred persons whom he met, 20 were quite blind, 10 had one eye, and 20 others were more or less afflicted in that organ. At the present day everyone is struck with the immense number of the blind in Oriental lands, but things were probably worse in our Savior's times. We ought to be very grateful that leprosy, opthalmia and certain other forms of disease have been wonderfully held in check among us in modern times, so that the plague which devastated our city 200 years ago is now unknown and our Lock hospitals are no longer crowded with lepers. Blindness is now often prevented, and frequently cured. And it is not, by any means, an evil of such frequent occurrence as to constitute a leading source of the poverty of the country. Because there were so many blind folk in our Savior's day and so many gathered around Him, we very commonly read of His healing the blind. Mercy met misery on its own ground. Where human sorrow was most conspicuous, Divine power was most compassionate. Now, in these days it is a very usual thing for men to be blind spiritually and, therefore, I have great hope that our Lord Jesus will act after His former manner and display His power amid the abounding evil. I trust there are some here at this hour who are longing to obtain spiritual sight, longing especially, like the two blind men in our text, to see Jesus, whom to see is everlasting life! We have come, tonight to speak to those who feel their spiritual blindness and are pining for the light of God--the light of pardon, the light of love and peace, the light of holiness and purity. Our eager desire is that the pall of darkness may be lifted, that the Divine Ray may find a passage into the soul's inner gloom and cause the night of Nature to pass away forever. O that the moment of day-dawn may be just at hand to many of you who are "only blind!" Immediate illumination is the blessing I implore upon you. I know that Truth of God may abide in the memory for years and, at last, produce fruit. But at this time our prayer is for immediate results, for such only will be in accordance with the nature of the light of which we speak. At the first, Jehovah did but say, "Let there be light," and there was light! And when Jehovah Jesus sojourned here below, He did but touch the eyes of the blind and straightway they received sight! O for the same speedy work at this hour! Men who were led by the hand to Jesus, or groped their way along walls to the place where His voice proclaimed His Presence, were touched by His finger and went home without a guide, rejoicing that Jesus Christ had opened their eyes! Such marvels Jesus is still able to perform and, depending upon the Holy Spirit, we will preach His Word and watch for the signs following, expecting to see them at once! Why should not hundreds of you who came into this Tabernacle in Nature's blackness go forth from it blessed with the light of Heaven? This, at any rate, is our heart's inmost and uppermost desire--and at this we aim with concentrated faculties. Come with us, then, to the text, and be at once friendly enough to yourselves to be willing to be affected by the Truths of God which it will bring before you. I. First, in explaining the passage before us, we must call your attention to THE SEEKERS themselves--the two blind men. There is something about them worthy of imitation by all who would be saved. We notice at once that the two blind men were in downright earnest. The word which describes their appeal to Christ is, "crying," and by this is not meant mere speaking, for they are represented as, "crying and saying." Now, crying implies earnest, energetic, pathetic imploring, pleading and beseeching. Their tones and gestures indicated that theirs was no holiday fancy, but a deep, passionate craving. Imagine yourselves in such a case. How eager you would be for the blessed light if for years you had been compelled to abide in what Milton called, "the ever-during dark." They were hungering and thirsting after sight. Now, we cannot hope for salvation till we seek it with equal vigor and yet, how few are in earnest about being saved! How earnest some men are about their money, their health, or their children! How warm they are upon politics and parish business! But the moment you touch them upon matters of true godliness they are as cool as the Arctic snows. O Sirs, why is this? Do you expect to be saved while you are half asleep? Do you expect to find pardon and Grace while you continue in listless indifference? If so, you are woefully mistaken, for "the kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force." Death and eternity, judgment and Hell are not things to play with! The soul's eternal destiny is no small matter and salvation by the precious blood of Christ is no trifle. Men are not saved from going down into the pit by a careless nod or a wink. A mumbled, "Our Father," or a hasty "Lord, have mercy upon me," will not suffice! These blind men would have remained blind had they not been in earnest to have their eyes opened. And so, many continue in their sins because they are not in earnest to escape from them. These men were fully awake. Dear Hearer, are you? Can you join with me in these verses?-- "Jesus, who now are passing by Our Prophet, Priest, and King You are! Hear a poor unbeliever's cry, And heal the blindness of my heart Urging my passionate request, Your pardoning mercy I implore, Whoever rebuke I will not rest, Till You my spirit's sight restore." The blind men were thoroughly persevering in consequence of being in earnest, for they "followed" Christ and so continued to urge their suit. How did they manage to follow the movements of the Lord? We do not know. It must have been very difficult, for they were blind, but they, no doubt, asked others the way which the Master had taken and they kept their ears open to every sound. Doubtless they said, "Where is He? Where is Jesus? Lead us! Guide us! We must find Him." We do not know how far our Lord had gone, but we know this, that as far as He had gone they followed. They were so bravely persevering that having reached the house where He was, they did not stay outside waiting till He came out again, but they pressed into the room where He sat. They were insatiable for sight! Their earnest cries took Him off from His preaching. He paused and listened while they said, "Son of David, have mercy on us." Thus does perseverance prevail--no man shall be lost who knows the art of importunate prayer! If you will resolve never to leave the gate of Mercy till the porter opens to you, he will assuredly unbar the door. If you grasp the Covenant angel with this resolve, "I will not let You go except You bless me," you shall come forth from the place of wrestling more than a conqueror! A mouth open in never-ceasing prayer shall bring about eyes open in full vision of faith. Pray, therefore, in the darkness, even if there is no hope of light, for when God, who is Light, itself, moves a poor sinner to plead and cry out before Him with the solemn intent to continue to do so till the blessing comes, He has no thought of mocking that poor crying heart! Perseverance in prayer is a sure sign that the day of the opening of the eyes is near. The blind men had a definite object in their prayers. They knew what they wanted, they were not like children crying for nothing, or greedy misers crying for everything! They wanted their sight and they knew it. Too many blind souls are unaware of their blindness and, therefore, when they pray, they ask for anything except the one thing necessary. Many so- called prayers consist in saying very nice words, very pretty, pious sentences, but they are not prayers. Prayer, "to saved ones," is communion with God. And to persons seeking salvation, it is asking for what you need and expecting to receive it through the name of Jesus, whose name you plead with God. But what sort of prayer is that in which there is no sense of need, no direct asking, no intelligent pleading? Dear Hearer, have you in distinct terms asked the Lord to save you? Have you expressed your need of a new heart, your need of being washed in the blood of Christ, your need of being made God's child and adopted into His family? There is no praying till a man knows what he is praying for and sets himself to pray for it as if he cared for nothing else. If being already earnest and importunate, he is, also, instructed and full of definite desires, he is sure to succeed in his pleading. With a strong arm he draws the bow of desire and fits upon the string the sharp arrow of passionate longing. And then with the instructed eye of perception, he takes deliberate aim and, therefore, we may expect that he will hit the very center of the target. Pray for light, life, forgiveness, salvation--and pray for these with all your soul--and as surely as Christ is in Heaven, He will give these good gifts to you. Whom did He ever refuse? These blind men in their prayers honored Christ, for they said, "Son of David have mercy on us." The great ones of the land were loath to recognize our Lord as being of the royal seed, but these blind men proclaimed the Son of David right lustily! They were blind, but they could see a great deal more than some with sharp eyes, for they could see that the Nazarene was the Messiah, sent of God to restore the kingdom unto Israel! They gathered from this belief that, as the Messiah was to open blind eyes, Jesus, being the Messiah, could open their blind eyes. And so they appealed to Him to perform the tokens of His office, thus honoring Him by a real, practical faith! This is the manner of prayer which will always speed to Heaven, the prayer which crowns the Son of David! Pray, glorifying Christ Jesus in your prayers, making much of Him, pleading much the merit of His life and death, giving Him glorious titles because your soul has a high reverence and a vast esteem of Him. Jesus-adoring prayers have in them the force and swiftness of eagles' wings! They must ascend to God, for the elements of heavenly power are abundant in them. Prayer which makes little of Christ is prayer which God will make little of, but the prayer in which the soul glorifies the Redeemer rises like a perfumed pillar of incense from the Most Holy place and the Lord, Himself, smells a sweet savor. Observe, also, that these two blind men in their prayer confessed their unworthiness. "Son of David, have mercy on us." Their sole appeal was to mercy. There was no talk about merit, no pleading of their past sufferings, or their persevering endeavors, or their resolves for the future! No, nothing but, "Have mercy on us." He will never win a blessing from God who demands it as if he had a right to it. We must plead with God as a condemned criminal appeals to his sovereign, asking for the exercise of the royal prerogative of free pardon. As a beggar asks for alms in the street by pleading his need of it and requesting a gift for charity's sake, so must we apply to the Most High, appealing and directing our supplication to the loving kindness and tender mercy of the Lord. We must plead after this fashion--"O God, if You destroy me, I deserve it. If never a comfortable look should come from Your face to me, I cannot complain. But save a sinner, Lord, for mercy's sake! I have no claim upon You whatever, but oh, because You are full of Grace, look on a poor blind soul that gladly would look on You." My Brothers and Sisters, I cannot put fine words together. I have never occupied myself in the school of oratory. In fact, my heart abhors the very idea of seeking to speak finely when souls are in peril. No, I labor to speak straight home to your hearts and consciences. And if there is, in this listening throng, any who are listening in the right manner, God will bless the Word to them. "And what kind of listening is that?" you ask. Why, that in which the man says, "As far as I perceive that the preacher delivers God's Word, I will follow him, and I will do what he describes the seeking sinner as doing. I will pray and plead tonight and I will persevere in my entreaties, laboring to glorify the name of Jesus and, at the same time, confessing my own unworthiness. Thus, even thus, will I crave mercy at the hands of the Son of David." Happy is the preacher if he knows that such will be the case! II. Now, we will pause a minute and note, secondly, THE QUESTION WHICH WAS PUT TO THEM. They sought to have their eyes opened. They both stood before the Lord, whom they could not see, but who could see them and could reveal Himself to them by their hearing. He began to question them, not that He might know them, but that they might know themselves. He asked only one question--"Do you believe that I am able to do this?" That question touched the only thing which stood between them and sight. On their answer depended whether they should go out of that room seeing men or blind. "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Now, I believe that between every seeking sinner and Christ there is only this one question--"Do you believe that I am able to do this?" And if any man can truly answer as the men in the narrative did, "Yes Lord," he will assuredly receive the reply, "According to your faith be it unto you." Let us look, then, at this very weighty question with very serious attention. It concerned their faith. "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" He did not ask them what kind of characters they had been in the past, because when men come to Christ the past is forgiven them. He did not ask them whether they had tried various means of getting their eyes opened, because whether they had, or had not, they were still blind. He did not ask them, even, whether they thought there might be a mysterious Physician who would effect a cure in a future state. No. Curious questions and idle speculations are never suggested by the Lord Jesus! His enquiries were all resolved into a trial upon one point--and that one point is faith. Did they believe that He, the Son of David, could heal them? Why does our Lord, everywhere, not only in His ministry, but in the teaching of the Apostles, always lay such stress upon faith? Why is faith so essential? It is because of its receptive power. A purse will not make a man rich and yet, without some place for his money, how could a man acquire wealth? Faith, of itself, could not contribute a penny to salvation, but it is the purse which holds a precious Christ within itself! Yes, it holds all the treasures of Divine Love. If a man is thirsty, a rope and a bucket are not, in themselves, of much use to him, but yet, Sirs, if there is a well near at hand, the very thing that is needed is a bucket and a rope, by means of which the water can be lifted. Faith is the bucket by means of which a man may draw water out of the wells of salvation and drink to his heart's content! You may, sometimes, have stopped a moment at a street fountain and have desired to drink, but you found you could not, for the drinking cup was gone. The water flowed, but you could not get at it. It was tantalizing to be at the fountainhead and yet to be thirsty, still, for lack of a little cup! Now faith is that little cup which we hold up to the flowing stream of Christ's Grace. We fill it and then we drink and are refreshed. Hence the importance of faith. It would have seemed to our forefathers an idle thing to lay down a cable under the sea from England to America. And it would be idle, now, if it were not that science has taught us how to speak by lightning--yet the cable, itself, is now of the utmost importance--for the best inventions of telegraphy would be of no use for purposes of transatlantic communication if there were not the connecting wire between the two continents! Faith is just that--it is the connecting link between our souls and God--and the living message flashes along it to our souls. Faith is sometimes weak and comparable only to a very slender thread, but it is a very precious thing for all that, for it is the beginning of great things. Years ago they were wanting to throw a suspension bridge across a mighty chasm, through which flowed, far down, a navigable river. From crag to crag it was proposed to hang an iron bridge aloft in the air, but how was it to be commenced? They shot an arrow from one side to the other and it carried across the gulf a tiny thread. That invisible thread was enough to begin with. The connection was established and, by-and-by, the thread drew a piece of twine. The twine carried after it, a small rope. The rope soon carried a cable across and all in good time came the iron chains and everything else that was needed for the permanent way. Now, faith is often very weak, but even in that case it is still of the utmost value, for it forms a communication between the soul and the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believe in Him, there is a link between Him and you. Your sinfulness rests on His Grace. Your weakness hangs on His strength. Your nothingness hides itself in His all-sufficiency! But if you believe not, you are apart from Jesus and no blessing can flow to you. So the question that I have to address, in my Master's name tonight, to every seeking sinner, has to do with his faith and nothing else. It does not matter to me whether you are a 100,000 pounds man, or whether you earn a few shillings a week. I care not whether you are a peer or a pauper, whether you are royal or rustic, learned or ignorant. We have the same Gospel to deliver to every man, woman and child--and we have to lay the stress upon the same point--"Do you believe?" If you believe, you shall be saved, but if you believe not, you can not partake of the blessings of Grace. Notice, next, that the question concerned their faith in Jesus. "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" If we were to ask the awakened sinner, "Do you believe that you can save yourself?" His answer would be, "No, that I do not. I know better. My self-sufficiency is dead." If we were, then, to put the question to him, "Do you believe that ordinances and means of Grace and sacraments can save you?" If he is an intelligent, awakened penitent, he will reply, "I know better. I have tried them, but in and of themselves they are utter vanity." Truly it is so! There remains in us and around us nothing upon which hope can build, even for an hour. But the enquiry passes beyond self and casts us upon Jesus only, by bidding us hear the Lord Himself say, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Now, Beloved, we are not talking concerning a merely historical Person when we speak about the Lord Jesus Christ. We speak of One who is above all others. He is the Son of the Highest and yet He came to this earth and was born a Baby at Bethlehem. He slept upon a woman's bosom and grew up as other children do. He became a Man in fullness of stature and wisdom, living here for 30 years or more, doing good. At the last, this glorious God in human flesh, "died, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God," standing in the place of guilty man, that He might bear man's punishment--that God might be just and yet the Justifier of him that believes. He died and was buried, but only for a short time could the grave contain Him. Early in the morning of the third day He rose and left the dead, no more to die. He tarried here sufficiently long for many to see Him alive and really in the body. No event in history is so well authenticated as the Resurrection of Christ. He was seen by individuals and by twos and twenties, and by above 500 Brothers and Sisters at once. After having lived here a little while, He ascended up into Heaven in the presence of His disciples, a cloud receiving Him out of their sight. At this moment He is sitting at the right hand of God in human flesh--that same Man who died upon the Cross is now enthroned in the highest heavens, Lord of All--and every angel delights to do Him homage! The one question which He asks of you tonight, through these poor lips, is this, "Do you believe that I am able to save you--that I, the Christ of God now dwelling in Heaven, am able to save you?" Everything depends upon your answer to that question! I know what your answer ought to be. Surely, if He is God, nothing is impossible or even difficult for Him. If He has laid down His life to make atonement, and God has accepted that Atonement by permitting Him to rise from the dead, then there must be efficacy in His blood to cleanse me, even me! The answer ought to be, "Yes, Lord Jesus, I believe that You are able to do this." But now I want to lay stress on another word of my text and I want you to lay stress on it, too. "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Now, it would have been of no use for these blind men to say, "We believe that You can raise the dead." "No," says Christ, "the matter at hand is the opening of your eyes. Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They might have replied, "Good Master, we believe that You did stop the woman's issue when she touched Your garment." "No," He says, "that is not the question. Your eyes have now to be attended to. You need sight and the question about your faith is, Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Ah, some of you can believe for other people, but we must bring the question more fully home to you and say, "Do you believe that Christ is able to save you--even you? Is He able to do this?" Possibly I address someone who has gone very far in sin. It may be, my Friend, you have crowded a great deal of iniquity into a short space. You went in for a short life and a merry one and according to your present prospects you are likely enough to have a short life. But the merriment is pretty nearly over with you, already, and as you look back upon your life, you reflect that never did a young man or a young woman throw life away more foolishly than you have done. Now then, do you desire to be saved? Can you say from your heart that you do? Answer me, then, this further question, Do you believe that Jesus Christ is able to do this, namely, to blot out all your sins, to renew your heart and to save you tonight? "Oh, Sir, I do believe He is able to forgive sin." But do you believe that He is able to forgive your sin? You, yourself are the case in hand! How is your faith on that point? Let the cases of others, alone, just now, and consider yourself! Do you believe that He is able to do this? This--this sin of yours, this misspent life--is Jesus able to cope with this? On your answer to that question everything depends. It is an idle faith which dreams of believing in the Lord's power over others, but then declares that it has no confidence in Him for itself. You must believe that He is able to do this--this which concerns you--or you are, for all practical purposes, an unbeliever. I know I am speaking to a great many persons who never did go into the vices of the world. I thank God on your behalf that you have been kept in the ways of morality and sobriety and honesty. Yet I know that some of you almost wish, or at least it has occurred to you that you might almost wish--that you had been great, open sinners--that you might be preached to as open sinners are and that you might see a change in yourself equal to what you have seen in some of them about whose conversion you can never doubt. Do not indulge in so unwise a wish, but listen while I put this question to you, also. Your case is that of a moralist who has obeyed every outward duty, but has neglected his God-- the case of a moralist who feels as if repentance were to him, impossible, because he has been so long eaten up with self-righteousness that he knows not how to cut out the gangrene! The Lord Jesus Christ can as easily save you from your self-righteousness as He can save another from his guilty habits! Do you believe that He is able to do this? Come now, do you believe that He is able to meet this, your own peculiar case? Give me a, "yes," or a," no," to this question. "Alas," cries one of you, "my heart is so hard." Do you believe that He can soften it? Suppose it is as hard as granite--do you now believe that the Christ of God can turn it into wax in a moment? Suppose your heart is as fickle as the wind and waves of the sea--can you believe that He can make you stable-minded and settle you upon the Rock of Ages forever? If you believe in Him, He will do this for you, for, according to your faith shall it be unto you. But I know the pinch lies here. Everybody tries to run away to the thought that he does believe in Christ's power for others, but he trembles for himself. But I must hold each man to the point which concerns himself! I must buttonhole you and bring you to the real test! Jesus asks each one of you--"Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Why," says one, "it would be the most surprising thing that the Lord Jesus ever did if He were to save me tonight!" Do you believe that He can do it? Will you trust Him to do it now? "But it will be such a strange thing, such a miracle!" The Lord Jesus works strange things! It is the way of Him. He was always a miracle-worker! Can you believe Him able to do this for you, even this, which is now needed to save you? It is wonderful, the power which faith has--power over the Lord Jesus, Himself! I have often experienced, in my little way, how confidence will master you. Have you not frequently been conquered by the trustfulness of a tiny child? The simple request was too full of trust to be refused. Have you ever been grasped by a blind man at a street crossing who has said to you, "Sir, would you take me across the road?" And then, perhaps, he has said somewhat cunningly, "I know by the tone of your voice that you are kind. I feel I can trust myself with you." At such a time you have felt that you were in for it--you could not let him go. And when a soul says to Jesus, "I know You can save me, my Lord. I know You can, therefore in You do I trust," why He cannot shake you off! He cannot wish to do so, for He has said, "Him that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." I sometimes tell a story to illustrate this. It is a simple enough tale, but it shows how faith wins everywhere. Many years ago my garden happened to be surrounded by a hedge, which looked green, but was a poor protection. A neighbor's dog was very fond of visiting my garden and as he never improved my flowers I never gave him a cordial welcome. Walking along quietly one evening I saw him doing mischief. I threw a stick at him and advised him to go home. But how did the good creature reply to me? He turned round and wagged his tail! And in the merriest manner, he picked up my stick, brought it to me and laid it at my feet! Did I strike him? No, I am not a monster! I should have been ashamed of myself if I had not patted him on the back and told him to come there whenever he liked! Soon he and I were friends, because, you see, he trusted me and conquered me. Now, simple as the story is, that is just the philosophy of a sinner's faith in Christ. As the dog mastered the man by confiding in him, so a poor guilty sinner does, in effect, master the Lord, Himself, by trusting Him when he says, "Lord, I am a poor dog of a sinner and You might drive me away, but I believe You to be too good for that. I believe You can save me, and lo, I trust myself with You. Whether I am lost or saved, I trust myself with You." Ah, dear Heart, you will never be lost if you thus trust! He who trusts himself with Jesus has given the answer to the question, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" and there is nothing now left but for him to go his way and rejoice, for the Lord has opened his eyes and saved him! III. Now, thirdly, THAT QUESTION WAS A VERY REASONABLE ONE. "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" Just a minute, let me show that it was a very reasonable question for Christ to put--and equally reasonable for me to urge home upon many here present. Our Lord Jesus might have said, "If you do not believe that I am able to do this, why did you follow Me? Why did you follow Me more than anybody else? You have been after Me down the streets and you have come into this house after Me. Why have you done this if you do not believe that I am able to open your eyes?" So a large proportion of you who are here tonight attend a place of worship. You like to be there, but why, if you do not believe Jesus? Why do you go there? Do you go to seek a savior who cannot save you? Do you foolishly seek after one in whom you cannot trust? I have never heard of such madness as for a sick man to run after a doctor in whom he has no confidence. And do you come here, tonight, and attend your places of worship at other times without having any faith in Jesus? Then why do you come? What inconsistent people you must be! Again, these blind men had been praying to Jesus to open their eyes, but why did they pray? If they did not believe that Jesus could heal them, their prayers were a mockery. Would you ask a man to do a thing which you knew he could not do? Must not prayer always be measured by the quantity of faith that we put into it? I know that some of you have been in the habit of prayer ever since you were little children. You scarcely ever go to bed at night without repeating the form of prayer your mother taught you. Why do you do that if you do not believe that Jesus Christ can save you? Why ask Him to do what you do not believe He can do? What strange inconsistency--to pray without faith! Moreover, these two blind men had called Jesus Christ the "Son of David." Why had they thus confessed His Messiahship? The most of you do the same. I suppose that out of this congregation there are very few who doubt the Deity of Christ. You believe in the Word of God--you do not doubt that it is Inspired--you believe that Jesus Christ has lived and died and gone into His Glory. Well, then, if you do not believe that He is able to save you, what do you mean by saying that He is God? God and yet not able? A dying, bleeding, atoning, Sacrifice--and yet not able to save? Oh, man, your nominal creed is not your true one! If you were to write your true creed out it would run something like this--"I do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, or that He has made a full atonement for sin, for I do not believe that He is able to save me." Would not that be correct and all of a piece? Well, then, I charge you by your frequent hearings of the Word, by your habitual prayers and by your profession of being Believers in that grand old Bible, answer me--How is it that you do not believe in Jesus? Sirs, He must be able to save you! Do you know it is some 27 years or more since I put my trust in Him and I must speak of Him as I find. In every hour of darkness, in every season of despondency, in every time of trial I have found Him faithful and true! And, as to trusting Him with my soul, if I had a thousand souls I would trust them with Him! And if I had as many souls as there are sands upon the seashore, I would not ask for a second Savior, but would just put them all into those dear hands which were pierced with the nails, that He might grasp me and hold me fast forever. He is worthy of your trust and your trust is all He asks of you! Knowing that He is able--and you cannot doubt that He is willing, seeing that He has died--He asks you to act upon your belief that He is able to save you and trust yourself to Him. IV. Now, I must not detain you much longer and, therefore, I want you to notice THE ANSWER which these blind men gave to His question. They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Well, now, I have been pressing that question upon you and I again repeat it. Do you believe that Christ is able to save you? Do you believe that He is able to do this, to touch your case in all its specialty? Now for your answer. How many will say, "Yes, Lord"? I am half inclined to ask you to say it aloud. But I will rather beg you to say it in your secret souls--"Yes, Lord." And now may God the Holy Spirit help you to say it very distinctly, without any holding back and mental reservation, "Yes, Lord. Blind eyes, dumb tongue, cold heart--I believe that You are able to change them all and I rest myself on You, to be renewed by Your Divine Grace." Say it and mean it! Say it decidedly and distinctly, with your whole heart, "Yes, Lord." Notice that the two men replied immediately. The question was no sooner out of Christ's mouth than they gave the answer, "Yes, Lord." There is nothing like being prompt in your answers, for when you ask a man a question and you say, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" and he stops, rubs his forehead, strokes his head and, at last says--"Y-y-yes," does not such a, "yes," sound uncommonly like "no"? The best "yes" in the world is the "yes" which leaps forth at once! "Yes, Lord. Bad as I am, I believe You can save me, for I know Your precious blood can take away every stain. Though I am an old sinner, though I am an aggravated sinner, though I am one who has gone back from a profession of religion and have played the backslider's part. Though I seem to be an outcast from society, though I do not, at this time, feel as I could wish to feel, and am the very reverse of what I ought to be, yet I do believe that if Christ has died for sinners, that if the eternal Son of God has gone into Heaven to plead for sinners, then He must be 'able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.' And so I come to God tonight by Him, by His Grace, and I do believe that He is able to save even me." That is the kind of answer which I long to get from you all! May the Spirit of God produce it! V. Then see OUR LORD'S RESPONSE to their answer. He said, "According to your faith be it unto you." As much as if He had said--If you believe in Me there is light for your blind eyes. So true the faith, so true the sight. If you believe decidedly and fully, you shall not have one eye opened, or both eyes half opened, but all your sight shall be given to you. Decided faith shall clear away every speck and make your vision strong and clear. If your answer is quick, so shall My answer be. You shall see in a moment, for you at once believed. The Lord's power just kept touch with their faith. If their faith was true, His cure was true. If their faith was complete, His cure was complete. And if their faith said, "yes," at once, He give them sight at once. If you are a long while in saying, "yes," you will be a long while in getting peace. But if you say, tonight, "I will venture it, for I see it is so. Jesus must be able to save me. I will give myself up to Him." If you do that at once you shall have instantaneous peace--yes, in that very seat, young man, you who are burdened tonight shall find rest! You shall wonder where the burden has gone, and look round and find that it has vanished, because you have looked to the Crucified One and trusted all your sins with Him. Your bad habits, which you have been trying in vain to conquer, which have forged fresh chains to hold you fast-- you shall find them fall from off you, like spiders' webs. If you can but trust Jesus to break them and give yourself up to Him to be renewed by Him, it shall be done and done tonight! And Heaven's eternal arches shall ring with shouts of Sovereign Grace. Thus I have put the whole matter before you. My only hope is that God, the blessed Spirit, will lead you to seek as the blind men sought--and especially to trust as they trusted. This last word. There are some persons who are specially diligent in finding out reasons why they should not be saved. I have battled with some such by the half-hour together and they always finish up with, "Yes, that is true, Sir, but"--and then we try and chop that, "but," to pieces. But after a while they find another and say, "Yes, I now see that point, but"--so they buttress their unbelief with "buts." If anybody here should be willing to give you a thousand pounds, can you tell me any reason why he should not? Well, I fancy if he were to come to you and present you with a bank note for that amount you would not worry yourself to discover objections! You would not keep on saying, "I should like the money, but"--no, if there were any reason why you should not have it, you would let other people find it out. You would not labor and cudgel your brains to try and find out arguments against yourself--you are not so much your own enemy! And yet with regard to eternal life, which is infinitely more precious than all the treasures of this world, men act most absurdly and say, "I earnestly desire it and Christ is able to do it, but"--What folly is this to argue against yourself! If a man were in Newgate, condemned to die, and had to stand upon the drop tomorrow morning, and the sheriff came and said, "There is a free pardon for you," do you think that man would begin to object? Would he cry, "I should like another half-hour to consider my case and find out reasons why I should not be pardoned"? No, he would jump at it! Oh that you may, also, jump at the pardon tonight! The Lord grant that you may feel such a sense of danger and guilt that you may promptly cry, "I do believe; I will believe in Jesus!" Sinners are not half as sensible as sparrows. David said in one of the Psalms, "I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop." Well, have you noticed the sparrow? He keeps his eyes open and the moment he sees a grain of wheat or anything to eat down in the road, he flies to get it. I never knew him wait for someone to invite him, much less to beg and beseech him to come and feed! He sees the food and he says to himself, "Here is a hungry sparrow and there is a piece of bread. Those two things go well together--they shall not be long apart." Down he flies and eats up all he can find as fast as he finds it! Oh, if you had half the sense of the sparrow, you would say, "Here is a guilty sinner and there is a precious Savior. These two things go well together--they shall not be long apart. I believe in Jesus and Jesus is mine." The Lord grant that you may find Jesus, tonight, before you leave this house! I pray you may. In these very pews and aisles may you look to Jesus Christ and believe! Faith is only a look, a look of simple trust! It is reliance, a believing that He is able to do this and a trusting in Him to do it and to do it now! God bless every one of you and may we meet in Heaven, for Christ's sake. Amen. __________________________________________________________________ The Heavenly Wind (No. 1356) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 27, 1877, 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. THE Holy Spirit is to be admired, not only for the great Truths of God which He teaches us in Holy Scripture, but also for the wonderful manner in which those Truths are balanced. The Word of God never gives us too much of one thing or too little of another. It never carries a doctrine to an extreme, but tempers it with its corresponding doctrine. Truth seems to run at least in two parallel lines, if not in three, and when the Holy Spirit sets before us one line He wisely points out to us the other. The truth of Divine Sovereignty is qualified by human responsibility and the teaching of abounding Grace is seasoned by a remembrance of unflinching Justice. Scripture gives us, as it were, the acid and the alkali--the rock and the oil which flows from it--the sword which cuts and the balm which heals. As our Lord sent forth His Evangelists two and two so does He seem to send out His Truths two and two, that each may help the other for the blessing of those who hear them. Now in this most notable third of John you have two Truths of God taught as plainly as if they were written with a sunbeam and taught side by side. The one is the necessity of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the fact that whoever believes in Him is not condemned. This is a vital doctrine, but there is a possibility of preaching it so baldly and so out of relation to the rest of God's Word that men may be led into serious error. Justification by faith is a most precious Truth of God. It is the very pith and heart of the Gospel and yet you can dwell so exclusively upon it that you cause many to forget other important practical and experimental Truths and so do them serious mischief. Salt is good, but it is not all that a man needs to live upon, and even if people are fed on the best of dry bread and nothing else they do not thrive. Every part of Divine teaching is of practical value and must not be neglected. Therefore, the Holy Spirit, in this chapter, lays equal stress upon the necessity of the new birth or the work of the Holy Spirit and He states it quite as plainly as the other grand Truth of God. See how they blend--"You must be born again," but, "whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." "Except a man is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," but, "He that believes on Him is not condemned." Two great Truths are written in letters of light over the gate of Heaven as the requisites of all who enter there-- Reconciliation by the blood of Jesus Christ and Regeneration by the work of the Holy Spirit. We must not put one of these Truths of God before the other, nor allow one to obliterate or hide the other. They are of equal importance, for they are revealed by the same Divine Spirit and are both necessary to eternal salvation. He who cares to preach either of these ought, also, diligently to teach the other, lest he be found guilty of violating that salutary precept, "What God has joined together let no man put asunder." Avoid all neglect of faith and equally shun all undervaluing of the work of the Holy Spirit and so shall you find that narrow channel in which the way of the Truth of God lies. You must rest in Christ that you may be accepted before God, but the work of the Holy Spirit within you is absolutely necessary that you may be able to have communion with the pure and holy God. Faith gives us the rights of the children of God, but the new birth must be experienced that we may have the nature of children! Of what use would rights be if we had not the capacity to exercise them? Now, it is of the work of the Spirit of God and of the man in whom the Spirit of God has worked, that I shall speak this morning, according to the tenor of the text. The text may be read two ways. First it may evidently refer to the Holy Spirit Himself. Do you not expect the text to run thus--"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, also, is the Spirit of God"? Is not that the way in which you, naturally expect the sentence to end? Yes, and I doubt not that such was really the Savior's meaning, but frequently, according to the New Testament idiom, the Truth of God is not stated as our English modes of speech would lead us to expect. For instance, "The kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that sowed good seed in his ground." Now the kingdom is not like the man, but like the whole transaction of the parable in which the man is the principal actor. "The kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls," but the kingdom is not like the man, but the comparison runs into all that the man does. So here the Lord Jesus lays hold of one grand sphere of the Spirit's operations and puts it down, intending, however, a wider sense. There are certain readings of our text which would make this more clear if we could think them allowable, as, for instance, that which does not render the Greek word by, "wind," at all, but translates it "Spirit," and makes it run, "The Spirit blows where He wishes, and you hear the sound of Him." I do not adopt that reading, but there are several great authorities in its favor and this tends to show that our first head is correct. When we have spoken upon that, we will take the language in its second sense--in reference to the regenerate man--and then we read, "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 every man that is born of the Spirit." He himself, like the Spirit of which he is born, is free and is mysterious in his ways, but discerned by the sound of his works and life. I. Take the text in reference to THE HOLY SPIRIT HIMSELF. The figure is the wind and, as most of you know, the Hebrew word for, "wind," and for, "spirit," is the same. And it is interesting to note that the same is true with the Greek word, "pneuma," which signifies both, "breath," and, "spirit," so that the figure which the Savior used might very naturally grow out of the word which He employed. The wind is air in motion and is, of course, material. But air is apparently more spiritual than any of the other elements, except fire, since it is not to be grasped by the hand nor seen with the eyes. It is certain that wind really exists, for we hear the sound of it and observe its various effects, but it is not to be touched, handled, or gazed upon. Men cannot traffic in it, or measure it in scales, or weigh it in balances. We may watch the clouds for hours as they hasten along like winged birds, but the wind which drives them is out of our sight. We observe the waves roused to fury in the tempest, but the breath which so excites them we cannot see. Therefore the word becomes all the more excellent a figure of that mighty power, the Holy Spirit, of whose existence no man ever doubts who has come under His influence, but who, nevertheless, is not to be tracked in His movements, nor to be seen as to His Divine Person. He is mysterious, incomprehensible and Divine. The metaphor of the wind cannot fully set forth the Holy Spirit, as you know, and, consequently, many other natural figures are employed, such as fire, dew, water, light, oil and so on, in order to exhibit all the phases of His influence. But still, the wind is a most instructive metaphor, as far as it goes, and as we cannot draw forth all its teaching in one sermon, let us be content to keep as closely as we can to the text. First, the wind is a figure of the Holy Spirit in its freeness--"the wind blows where it wishes." We speak of the wind as the very image of freedom. We say to those who would enthrall us, "go bind the winds." As for ourselves, we claim to be "free as the winds which roam at their own will." No one can fetter the wind. Xerxes threw chains into the Hellespont to bind the sea, but even he was not fool enough to talk of forging fetters for the winds! The breezes are not to be dictated to. Caesar may decree what he pleases, but the wind will blow in his face if he looks that way. The Pope may command the gale to change its course, but it will blow around the Vatican neither less nor more for the "holy father" and the cardinals. A conference of plenipotentiaries from all the powers of Europe may sit for a week and resolve unanimously that the east wind shall not blow for the next six months, but it will take no heed of the arrangement and will cast dust into the counselors' eyes and whistle at their wisdom! No proclamation nor purpose under Heaven will be able to affect the wind by so much as half a point of the compass. It will blow according to its own sweet will, where it pleases, when it pleases, how it pleases and as it pleases, for "the wind blows where it wishes." So is it, only in a far higher and more emphatic sense, with the Holy Spirit, for He is most free and absolute! You know that the wind is in the hands of God and that He ordains every breeze and each tornado-- winds arise and tempests blow by order from the supreme Throne, but as for the Holy Spirit, He is God Himself and absolutely free. He works according to His own will and pleasure among the sons of men. One nation has been visited by the Holy Spirit and not another--who shall tell me why? Why do the heathen lands lie in the dense darkness while on Britain, the Light of God is concentrated? Why has the Reformation taken root in England and among the northern nations of Europe, while in Spain and Italy it has left scarcely a trace? Why blows the Holy Spirit here and not there? Is it not that He does as He wills? "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" is the declaration of the Divine Sovereignty--and the Spirit of God, in His movements, confirms it. Among the nations where the Spirit of God is at work, how is it that He blesses one man and not another? Why is it that of two men hearing the same sermon and subject to the same influences at home, one is taken and the other left? Two children nursed at the same breast and trained by the same parents grow up to different ends? He who perishes in sin has no one to blame but himself, but he who is saved ascribes it all to Divine Grace--why came that Grace to him and not to the other? We never dare to lay the fault of man's not repenting and believing upon God--that rests with the evil will which refused to obey the Gospel--but we dare not ascribe the saving difference in the case of the one who believes to any natural goodness in himself! We attribute it all to the Grace of God and believe that the Holy Spirit works in such to will and to do according to His own good pleasure. But why works He in us? Why in any of the chosen? Ah, why? "The wind blows where it wishes." So, too, is it with the blessing which rests upon ministries. One man wins souls to God and, as a joyous reaper, returns with full sheaves. But another who goes forth with strong desires and seems to be as earnest as his fellow, comes home with a scanty handful of ears which he has painfully gleaned. Why is one man's net full of fish and another's utterly empty? One servant of the Lord seems, whenever he stands up to preach the Gospel, to attract men to Jesus as though he had golden chains in his mouth which he did cast about men's hearts to draw them in joyful captivity to his Lord! But another cries in bitterness of soul, "Who has believed our report?" Truly, "the wind blows where it wishes." Yes, and these changes happen to each man differently. One day the preacher shall be all alive, his spirit shall be stirred within him and he shall speak evidently with the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven. But tomorrow he shall find himself dull and heavy, even to his own consciousness and even more so to his people's experience, for the power rests not upon him. One day he speaks like the voice of God and another day he is but as a reed shaken of the wind. His fat time of years gone by are devoured by the lean cattle of the present! He has his famine as well as his plenty. You shall see him come forth today with the unction of the Lord upon him and his face shining with the Glory of fellowship with the Most High! And tomorrow he shall say, "Look not upon me, for I am evil," for the glory shall have departed. We know what it is to come forth like Samson when his locks were shorn and to shake ourselves as at other times and discover that the Lord is not with us. Why all this? Is it not because "the wind blows where it wishes"? The Holy Spirit, for His own wise reasons, puts not forth an equal power upon any man at all times. We cannot control nor command the Spirit of the living God! He is, in the highest sense, a free agent. "Your Free Spirit" is a name which David gave Him and a most appropriate name it is. Yet, Beloved, do not fall into a misapprehension. The Holy Spirit is absolutely free in His operations, but He is not arbitrary. He does as He wills, but His will is Infallible Wisdom. The wind, though we have no control over it, has a law of its own, but the Holy Spirit is a law unto Himself. He does as He wills, but He wills to do always that which is for the best. Moreover, we know, with regard to the wind, that there are certain places where you will almost always find a breeze--not here, in the teeming city, nor down in the valley shut in by the mountains, nor on yonder steaming marsh! But lift up your eyes to the hills and mark how the breeze courses along the downs and sweeps the summits of the mountain ranges! In the morning and the evening, when the inland air is hot as an oven, gentle winds come to and from the sea and fan the fishermen's cheeks. You may find places where the air seems always stagnant and men's hearts grow heavy amid the feverish calm, but there are elevated hillsides where life is easy, for the air exhilarates by its perpetual freshness. Brothers and Sisters among lively saints, in the use of the means of Grace, in private prayer, in communion with the Lord, you will find the wind that blows where it wishes always in motion! The wind, too, has, at least in some lands, its times and seasons. We know that at certain times of the year we may expect winds and if they come not to a day or two, yet, as a rule, the month is stormy. And there are, also, trade winds, monsoons which blow with remarkable regularity and are counted upon by mariners. And so with the Spirit of God. We know that at certain times He visits the Churches and under certain conditions puts forth His power. If, for instance, there is mighty prayer, you may be sure the Spirit of God is at work. If the people of God meet together and besiege the Throne of Grace with cries and tears, the spiritual barometer indicates that the blessed wind is rising. Besides, the Holy Spirit has graciously connected Himself with two things, truth and prayer. Preach the Truth of God, publish the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is the habit of the Holy Spirit to make the Word of God quick and powerful to the hearts of men. If we falsify His Word, if we keep back part of the Truth of God, if we become unfaithful--we cannot expect the Holy Spirit to bless us. But if our teaching is Christ Crucified, lovingly set forth, and if the Grace of God in its fullness is really declared, the Holy Spirit will attend the Truth and make it the great power of God. I will not say that it is always and without exception so, but I think exceptions must be rare. Almost invariably the Spirit bears witness with the Truth of God in the conversion of men. So, too, with prayer. The Holy Spirit is pleased to connect Himself with that, also, if it is believing prayer. Here the connection is exceedingly intimate because it is the Spirit of God who Himself gives the believing prayer and it is not only true that the Spirit will be given in answer to prayer, but the Spirit is already given or the believing prayer would never have been offered! The spirit of prayerfulness, the spirit of anxiety for the conversion of men is one of the surest indications that the Holy Spirit is already at work in the minds of His people. Coming back, however, to the great fact that we cannot command the Holy Spirit, what influence ought that Truth of God have upon us? Should it not be just this?--It should lead us to be very tender and jealous in our conduct towards the Holy Spirit so that we do not grieve Him and cause Him to depart from us. Vex not the Spirit! When you enjoy His gracious operations be devoutly grateful and walk humbly before God that you may retain them. And when He is at work, let not negligence on your part cause you to receive the Grace of God in vain. The wind blew, but the sailor was asleep. It was a favorable breeze but he had cast anchor and his boat moved not. If he had but known it, all through the night he would have spread his sail and have made good headway towards his port. But he slumbered and the blessed wind whistled through the cordage and the ship lay idle at its moorings! Let it not be so with us! Never suffer the Spirit of God to be with us and find us not aware of His Presence. In the olden times, when country people depended more than they do now on the use of windmills to grind their corn, some parishes would be half-starved when, week after week, there had been no wind. The miller would look up anxiously and everybody in the parish would become a watchman for his sails, hoping that they would soon be set in motion. If the breeze stirred at the dead of night and the miller was sound asleep, somebody or other would run and wake him up. "The wind is blowing, the wind is blowing, grind our corn." So it ought to be whenever the Spirit of God is vigorously working in His Church--we should eagerly avail ourselves of His power! We should be so anxious for His Divine operations that all should be on the watch, so that if some did not discover it, others would, and observant ones would cry, "The Holy Spirit is working with us! Let us arise and labor more abundantly." Hoist sail when the wind is favorable! You cannot command it, therefore carefully value it. But we must pass on. The Holy Spirit is described as being like the wind as to His manifestations. "You hear," says Jesus, "the sound of it." It has been suggested and some have enlarged upon it, that there are many other manifestations of the presence of wind--you can feel it, you can see its results upon the trees and the waves and sometimes you can be sure that the wind has been at work by the devastation which it has caused. But in this place our Savior was not so much alluding to a great wind as to the gentler breezes. The Greek word, "pneuma," is translated, "breath," and can hardly be made to mean a tempest! It was a gentle wind like a zephyr of which the Lord was here speaking. The great winds, as I have already said, can be somewhat calculated upon, but if you sit in the garden in the cool of the evening it is utterly impossible for you to tell from where the zephyrs come and where they go. They are so volatile in their movements and untrackable in their course! They are here, there, everywhere--the soft breezes of evening steal among the flowers. Our Lord tells us that such gentle zephyrs are heard. Nicodemus, in the stillness of the night could hear them. "You hear the sound of it." The leaves rustle and that is all. You hear a gentle movement of branch and stem and, as it were, the tinkling of flower-bells, and so you discover that the wind is flitting among the beds and borders. Now, Beloved, this shows us that the hearing ear is intended, by God, to be the discerner of the Spirit to men--to the most of men the only discerner that they have. "You hear the sound of it." What a wonderful dignity the Lord has been pleased to put upon this little organ, the ear! The Romish Church gives the preference always to the eyes. Her priests are always for astonishing men into grace with their wonderful "performances"! But God's way is, "Faith comes by hearing," and the first detector of the Holy Spirit is the ear. To some men this is the only revealer of His mysterious Presence, as I have already said--they hear the sound of it, that is to say, they hear the Gospel preached--they hear the Word of God read. Truth, when it is couched in Words of God, is the rustling of the holy wind, it is the footstep of the Eternal Spirit as He mysteriously passes along a congregation. Oh, what grief it is that some never get any further than this, but abide where Nicodemus was at the first--they hear the sound and nothing more. Some of you are now daily hearing the Truth of God which has saved thousands, but it does not save you! You are hearing the very Truth of God which peoples Heaven, but yet it leaves you without a hope of eternal life! Yet be you sure of this, the Kingdom of God has come near you. "You hear the sound of it," and that wind whose whispers you hear is not far off your own cheeks. When you hear the rustling among the branches of the trees, the breezes are not far to seek, nor is the Spirit of God far away when His sound is heard. Some hearers, however, go further, for they hear the sound of the Spirit in their consciences and it disturbs them. They would sleep as others do, but as the wind sometimes comes whistling through the keyhole or howls down the chimney and wakes the sluggard, or if the man is lying in a garden, asleep, the breezes play around his ears and face and startle him, so it is with many unconverted people! They cannot be quiet, for they hear the sound of the Holy Spirit in their consciences and are troubled and perplexed. There is a revival and they are not saved, but they are startled and alarmed by it. Their sister is converted, they are not, but still it comes very near them and they feel as if an arrow had gone whizzing by their own ear. It is hard living in a careless state in the midst of revival. "You hear the sound of it." But some of you, in your conscience, are hearing the sound, now, in your family circle, from the fact that one after another of your relatives have been brought to know the Lord. You cannot avoid feeling that there is something powerful abroad, though it has not yet exerted its regenerating power upon you. As for the man who is saved, he hears the Holy Spirit in the most emphatic sense and with what variety that sound comes to him! At first he heard it as a threatening wind which bowed him in sadness and seemed to sweep all his hopes to the ground, as the sere leaves of the forest are carried in the autumn's wind. When the Spirit's voice sounded in my ears at the first it was as a wail of woe, as a wind among the tombs, as a sigh among faded lilies! It seemed as if all my hopes were puffed away like smoke, or as the night mists in the morning breeze. Nothing was left for me but to mourn my nothingness. Then I heard a sound as of the hot south wind of the East, as if it issued from a burning oven. You know the text, "The grass withers and the flower thereof fades away, because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it: surely the peoples are grass." In my soul there had bloomed a fair meadow of golden kingcups and fair flowers of many dainty colors, but the Spirit of God blew on them and withered them all and left a dry, brown, rusty plain where there was neither life nor comeliness. So far the sacred wind destroys that which is evil, but it ends not there, for we thank God we have heard the sound of the Spirit as a quickening wind. The Prophet cried, "Come from the four winds, O Breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live," and the Wind came and the dead arose an exceedingly great army! The same miracle has been worked on us. The sere bones of our own death have crept together, bone unto his bone, and flesh has come upon them and now, because of the Divine Breath, we have begun to live! Now, also, when the Holy Spirit visits us, He renews our life and energy and gives us life more abundantly. The Holy Spirit has, since then, been to us full often a melting wind, "He causes His wind to blow and the waters flow." Locked up in the chains of ice all through the winter, the waters are still as a stone, but the spring winds come, the brooks find liberty and leap away to the rivers! And the rivers flow in all their free force to add their volume to the sea! So has the Spirit of God oftentimes broken up our frost and given our spirits joyous liberty. He melts the rocky heart and dissolves the iron spirit--at the sound of His goings men are moved to feeling. We know the sound of this wind, also, as a diffusive breath, drawing forth and diffusing our slumbering graces. "Awake, O north wind; and come, you south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." Oh, what a sweet freeing of holy gratitude, love, hope and joy has there been in our heart when the Spirit of God has visited us! As sweet essences lie hidden in the flowers and come not forth until the loving wind does entice them to fly abroad and so do sweet Graces lie within renewed spirits until the Holy Spirit comes and speaks to them! And they know His voice and come forth to meet Him and sweet fragrances are shed abroad. Yes, my Brothers and Sisters, all this we know! And we have heard the sound of the Holy Spirit in another sense, namely, as going forth with us to the battle of the Lord. We have heard that sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees which David heard and, by God's Grace, we have bestirred ourselves and victory has been ours! If we have not heard that rushing mighty wind which came at Pentecost, yet have we felt its Divine effect, which ceases not, but still brings life, power, energy and all that is needed for the conversion of the sons of men to us who are bid to go forth and preach the Gospel among the nations. In all these respects the Holy Spirit has manifested Himself, as wind does, by His sound. "You hear the sound of it." "Their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world." A third likeness of the Spirit to the wind is set before us in the point of mystery. "You cannot tell from where it comes nor where it goes." Of the wind we may tell that it comes from such-and-such a quarter or point, but you cannot put your finger on the map and say, "The north wind began in this region," or, "here the west wind was born." Indeed, we know very little about the winds--their origin or their laws. One of the best and most accurate observers of the wind during 30 years, recorded every wind in his regions until, at the end of the term, he abandoned the few rules which he had laid down during the first two or three years, for he found that no rule held good. No man can say from where the wind leaps forth. The heathen dreamed of a certain cave where the winds were enclosed as in a prison and suffered to go abroad one by one--it was but a fable. We know not where the winds first spread their wings, or where they sleep when all is still. So is it with the Holy Spirit in the mind of man. His first movements are hidden in mystery. You know that you are converted, my dear Friend, and you know somewhere about the time. And you probably remember somewhat as to the means which the Lord used for your salvation. Those outward circumstances you know, but how the Holy Spirit operated upon you, you do not and cannot tell any more than you can tell how the life swells within the seed until it springs up and becomes the full corn in the ear, or how the sap in the trees first descends in the winter and afterwards climbs, again, in the spring. There are secrets which Nature does not reveal--the work of the Spirit is even more a secret--and no man can explain it to his fellow or to himself. Why is it, my Friend, that you obtained a blessing under one sermon but not under another? And why, when you spoke to your sister, was she more blessed under the second than the first? The power does not come from the preacher, then, it is clear--and "you cannot tell from where it comes." There are times in which you feel not only that you can pray but that you must pray--how do you come to be in that state? I know what it is to feel a very ecstasy of delight in the Lord, for which I can scarcely account. And, at another time, when I have been engaged in the same work and I think with the same earnestness, I have not been conscious of any such delight in God! At one time the heart will be full of penitence as if it would break because of sin. At another season it will overflow with such delight in Christ that the sin seems almost forgotten in the pardoning Sacrifice. Why these various operations? We know what it is, at times, to feel such a sense of death upon us as to be earnestly preparing for our last hours. At another time we seem to be altogether forgetful of death and to be living, as it were, the immortal life already, raised up together and made to sit together with Christ! But how these various modes and forms and workings of the Spirit come, who among us shall tell? Go trace the dewdrops, if you can, to the womb of the morning, and discover which way the lightning flashes went, or how the thunder rolled along the mountain tops! But you cannot tell nor can you guess from where comes the Spirit of God into your souls! Nor can we tell where He goes. Here, again, is another mystery. Oh, it charms me to think that when we let loose the Truth of God in the power of the Spirit we never know where it will fly! A child takes a seed, one of those little downy seeds which has its own parachute to bear it through the air. The little one blows it into the air, but who knows where that downy seed shall settle and in whose garden it shall grow? Such is the Truth of God, even from the mouths of babes and sucklings. Whole continents have been covered with strange flowers simply by the wind blowing foreign seeds there! Mariners have discovered sunny islets out there in the Southern Sea where foot of man has never trod, yet covered with abundance of vegetation which the wind has, by degrees, blown there! Scatter the Truth of God on all sides, for you cannot tell where the Spirit will carry it! Fling it to the winds and you shall find it after many days. Scatter the living Seed with both hands--send it north, south, east, and west--and God will give it wings!-- "Float, float you winds the Story, And you, you waters roll, Till like a sea of Glory It spreads from pole to pole." I had a letter but the other day when I was sorely sick. It was written by a Sister in Christ in the very heart of the empire of Brazil. She said that she had met with a copy of my, "Morning Readings," and had found, thereby, the way of peace and, therefore, she wrote me such a loving, touching letter that, as I read it, it brought tears to my eyes. There was something more affecting yet, for at the end was written in another hand, some words to the effect that his dear wife who had written the above letter had died soon after finishing it, and with a bleeding heart the lone husband sent it on to me, rejoicing that the Word of God came to his wife's soul in the far-off land. Brethren, you do not know where the Word will go and the Spirit with it! In Bohemia the papists thought they had stamped out the Gospel and with cruel edicts they kept down all thought of Protestantism. But just lately, since the Toleration, the Gospel has been preached in that country and, to the surprise of everybody there, men and women have come forward from lone cottages in the woods and from different corners of the great cities of Bohemia, bringing with them ancient copies of the Word of God, themselves being eager to know the precious Truths of God for which they remember that their fathers died! A Truth of God will go down the centuries--like the river, it sings-- "Men may come and men may go, But I go on forever." "You can not tell where it goes," it will travel on till the millennium! Send that saying abroad that the Truth of God cannot die! The persecutor cannot kill it, it is immortal like the God who sent it forth! The persecutor cannot even stay its course! It is Divine! Popery will always be in danger so long as there is one leaf of the Bible upon earth, or one man living who knows the Savior! Antichrist cannot triumph! The Holy Spirit wars against it with the sword of the Word of God and you cannot tell how far into the heart of error any Truth may be driven. To the overthrow of falsehood and the death of sin, the Spirit speeds on, but you know not how. "You cannot tell where it goes." If you have received the Holy Spirit into your heart, you cannot tell where He will carry you. I am sure that William Carey, when he gave his young heart to Christ, never thought the Spirit of God would carry him to Serampore to preach the Gospel to the Hindus! And when George Whitefield first drank of the life-giving Spirit, it never occurred to him that the pot-boy at the Bell Inn at Gloucester would thunder the Gospel over two continents and turn thousands to Christ! You know not to what blessed end this Wind will take you! Commit yourselves to it--be not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Be ready to be borne along as the Spirit of God shall help you, even as the dust in the summer's breeze. And O child of God, you do not know to what heights of holiness and degrees of knowledge and ecstasies of enjoyment the Spirit of God will bear you. "Eye has not seen nor ear heard the things which God has prepared for them that love Him," and though He has revealed them by His Spirit (for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God), yet even to the best taught child of God it is not yet known, to the fullest, where the Spirit of God goes. "Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength," and He will bear you onward and upward, even to perfection, itself, and you shall be with Jesus, where He is, and behold His Glory! II. I have but a few minutes left for my second head, but I do not need many, since I do not wish to say much upon it. The text relates TO THOSE WHO ARE BORN OF THE SPIRIT. "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." The birth partakes of the nature of the parent. That which is born of the Spirit is like unto the Spirit of which it is born, even as that which is born of the flesh is flesh and is similar to the flesh by which it is begotten. The twice-born man is like the Holy Spirit who produced him, and he is like He in each of the points which we have already dwelt upon. As to freedom, you may say of him, "He blows where he wishes." The Spirit of God makes the Believer a free man, bestows on him the freedom of his will which he never had before. He gives him a delightful consciousness of liberty. "If the Son makes you free, you shall be free, indeed." I do not affirm that every spiritual man does as he wishes, because, alas, I see another law in our members warring against the law of our mind and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin and death. But still, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Now you can pray, which you could not do before. Now you can praise, though before you could not extract a note of praise from your ungrateful heart. Now you can cry, "Abba, Father." Now you can draw near to God. You are no longer under man's control, you go where you wish. You are not now ruled by priestcraft, nor domineered over by the opinion of your fellow man. The Lord has set you free and you wish to go where God's Word bids you go. And you find the utmost liberty in going that way. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, I cannot tell you the change which is felt by a regenerate man in the matter of spiritual liberty! When you were under the bondage of the law of custom and of sin, and of fear of death and dread of Hell, you were like a man shut up in one of those cells in Venice which lie below the level of the water mark, where the air is foul and the poor prisoner can only stir half-a-dozen feet and then walk back again in the darkness. But when the Spirit of God comes, He brings the soul from darkness into light, from clammy damp into the open air! He sets before you an open door. He helps you to run in the ways of God's commands and, as if that were not enough, He even lends you wings and bids you mount as the eagle, for He has set you free! Again, the man who is born of the Spirit is somewhat manifested and is known by his sound. "You hear the sound of it." The most ungodly man, if he lives near a Christian, will hear the sound of him. The secret life within will speak words, for Christians are not dumb. But actions will speak more loudly, still! And even apart from actions, the very spirit and tone of the man who is really regenerated will speak and the ungodly man will be compelled to hear it. "You hear the sound of it." And now notice the mystery there is about a Christian. You know nothing, if you are unregenerate, about the life the Believer leads, for he is dead and his life is hid with Christ in God. You know not from where he comes forth in the morning--those beds of spices which have made his garments fragrant, you have not seen. That weeping in prayer or that rejoicing in fellowship with which he opened the morning you know nothing of--and you cannot know until you are, yourself--born of the Spirit! Neither can you tell where the spiritual man goes. In the midst of his trouble you see him calm. Do you know where he went to win that rare quietude? In the hour of death you see him triumphant! Do you know where he has been to learn to die so joyously? No, the unregenerate man knows not where the Believer goes. There is a secret place of the Most High and they shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty who have once learned to enter there, but carnal men come not into this secret chamber. The Christian life is a mystery all through, from its beginning to its end. To the worldling it is all a mystery and, to the Christian, himself, a puzzle. He cannot read his own riddle, nor understand himself. This one thing he knows, "Whereas I was once blind, now I see." This, also, he knows, "O Lord, I am Your servant! I am Your servant and the son of Your handmaid: You have loosed my bonds." This, also, he knows, that when his Lord shall be revealed, then will he, also, shine forth as the sun! The Life within him, in its coming and going, is all a mystery to him, but he blesses God that he has fellowship in it. He goes on his way feeling that though men know not from where he is, nor where he is going, yet the Lord knows him, and he, himself is sure that he is going to his Father and his God! O that every one of you had so delightful a hope! The Lord grant it to you, for Jesus' sake. __________________________________________________________________ A Business-Like Account (No. 1357) DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 3, 1877, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but dung, that Imay win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Philippians 3:7-9. OUR Savior's advice to those who wished to be His disciples was, "Count the cost." He did not wish to entice any man to enlist in His army by keeping him in ignorance as to the requirements of His service. Again and again He tested professed converts Himself--and He frequently exhorted men to try themselves, lest they should begin a profession and be unable to maintain it. True religion is a matter of enthusiasm, but at the same time its Truths and precepts can endure the severest examination. The exercise of our judgments upon the Gospel is invited, yes, required! It is true that many persons are brought to Christ in earnest assemblies, where they are addressed in fervent language. But also, a man may sit down in his study or his counting house with his pen in his hand, and in the coolest possible manner he may calculate and, if under the Holy Spirit's guidance, he shall be led to calculate truthfully--he will come to the conclusion that the cause of the Lord Jesus is worthiest and best. Do not imagine, as some do, that religion consists in a wild fanaticism which never considers, calculates, judges, estimates, or ponders--for such an imagination will be the reverse of the truth. Ardor, fervor, enthusiasm--these are desirable and we cannot have too much of them--but at the same time, as I have already said, we can justify our attachment to Christ by the most calm logic, by the most patient consideration. We may make a lengthy and deliberate estimate, taking both things temporal and things eternal into review, and yet we may challenge all gainsayers while we declare that it is the wisest and the best thing in all the world to be a disciple of Jesus Christ! In our text the Apostle gives us the word, "count," three times over. He was skilled in spiritual arithmetic and very careful in his reckoning. He cast up his accounts with caution and observed with a diligent eye his losses and his gains. In his reckoning he does not ignore any losses that may be supposed to be sustained, or really may be sustained. But he does not, on the other hand, forget for a moment that blessed gain for which he counts it worthwhile to suffer surprising loss. Paul, here, seems to be in a mercantile frame of mind, adding and subtracting, counting and balancing, with much quiet and decision of mind. I commend the text to businessmen. I invite them to follow the Apostle's example, to use their best judgments upon eternal things, to sit down, take out their pen and figure as he did, and make out estimates and calculations as to themselves and Christ, their own works and the righteousness of faith. The subject this morning will be, first, the Apostle's calculations and, secondly, our own. The objective being, in the second part, to put questions to ourselves as to whether we estimate things after the Apostolic fashion. I. First, then, let us consider THE APOSTLE'S CALCULATIONS. Looking at the text, you will notice that he made three distinct counts. They all came to much the same thing, with this difference, that each one, as it succeeded its fellow, was more emphatic in its result. The result was the same, but it was more and more forcibly expressed. And, first, we have his counting at the outset of his Christian life. When he became a Believer, he says of himself, "what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." That is to say, at the first and earliest period when, from being Saul the Rabbi, the intense Pharisee, he became Paul the convert and the preacher of the faith which once he destroyed, those things which had seemed very splendid gains all dissolved into one great loss. At that time he says he made a calculation and formed a deliberate opinion that what had appeared to him to be most advantageous was really, so far as Christ was concerned, a positive disadvantage and hindrance to him--the gains were a loss. Now, you will notice that in this first calculation he dwelt upon the separate items, noting each with great distinctness. The list of the things of which he might glory in the flesh reads like a catalog. "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of Hebrews. As touching the Law, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church. Touching the righteousness which is in the Law, blameless." These are the things which were gains to him and the list is very comprehensive, beginning at his birth and circumcision and running right on to the date of his conversion. He dwells with a high degree of interest upon the items of his Jewish advantages. They had been as precious pearls to him, once, and while he freely renounces them, yet he remembers that they were once dear as the apple of his eye. They had been his pride, his patent of nobility and his daily boast. He felt himself to be, in these respects, far in advance of the most of mankind and second to none, even of his favored race, for even now he says, "If any other man thinks that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I have more." "Circumcised the eighth day"--the rite which introduced him to the outward Covenant of Abraham had been performed exactly when ordained by the Law--he was not one who had been circumcised as proselytes were, late in life, nor at an irregular season on account of ill health, traveling, or parental neglect. But to the moment as the Mosaic ritual required, he had, as a baby, been received into the congregation of Israel. Next, he was of "the stock of Israel." He was not one who had been converted to the Israelite faith, nor a descendant of Gibeonites or of proselyted parents--he was of the pure stock of Israel, descended by a clear line which, probably, he was able, genealogically, to trace from that Israel who was a prevailing prince with God. He was proud of this descent and well he might be, for every Jew is of noble lineage. Speak of ancient families who can match the seed of Israel! Theirs is the best blood in the universe, if one blood is better than another. Paul, also, boasted that he was "of the tribe of Benjamin"--the tribe which Moses called the Beloved of the Lord! The tribe within whose canton the temple stood! The tribe which was descended from the beloved wife of Jacob, even Rachel, and not from the sons of either of the bondwomen. The tribe of Benjamin was that from which the first king of Israel was chosen and he bore the same name as that by which Paul had been known among his Jewish brethren. Paul was, therefore, of the very choicest branch of that vine which the Lord, Himself, brought out of Egypt. He next adds that he was a "Hebrew of the Hebrews." He was the cream of the cream, the very pick and choice out of the choice nation and the elect people. If there was any benefit to be had by being of the seed of Abraham, the Hebrew, he had all that benefit in the highest possible degree. Then he had appended to all the advantages of birthright and of nationality that of entering into a peculiar sect, the most orthodox, the most devout--for "as touching the Law, he was a Pharisee," and belonged to the sect which attached importance to the minutest details of the Law and tithed its mint and its anise, and its cumin. What more could he be? He was a Jesuit among the Catholics, one who went to the extreme among extremists, one of those initiated into the innermost secrets of the faith! Then, as to personal character, he felt that here, in his natural state, he had something which was gain, for he was so full of zeal that those who appeared to speak against the Law of Moses by declaring the Gospel were counted as his enemies. He hunted them down with all his might--"concerning zeal, persecuting the Church." This he had done in all honesty of purpose as the result of his thorough self-righteousness. He finishes by saying that he, himself, was, as to every detail of the Law, every little point of ritual and every particular rubric, altogether blameless. This was no small thing to say, but he spoke no more than the truth. These things all put together are what he counted gains, (for the Greek word is in the plural), and I think he dwells somewhat lingeringly upon each separate point, as very well he might, for they had been very dear to him in former days. And these privileges were, in themselves, things of no mean worth. But now, what was to be set on the other side? Here is a long list on one side, what is to be placed per contra? He says, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.''" What? What? Nothing on the other side but one item? One? Only one? And yet there were so many privileges on the other side! There was but one name, one Person in that scale, while in the other there were so many advantages! Why, one begins to think that the calculation will soon come to an end in favor of Saul's Israelite descent and the rest of it! But not so--the One outweighed the many! Here I want you to notice that Paul does not say that those he counted loss for Christianity, or for the Church, or for the orthodox faith. There would have been truth in such a statement, but the center of the truth lies here--he counted these things loss for Christ, that is, for the Lord Jesus Christ Himself! He thought of that Divine One, blessed be His name, that Brother of our souls who was born at Bethlehem, the Kinsman, Redeemer of His people--Christ! The living, loving, bleeding, dying, buried, risen, ascended, glorified Christ! This was the glorious Person whom he placed on the other side of the balance sheet! And now see the result. He says, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss." An amazing result. Not only that after putting the one under the other and making a subtraction, he found that all his carnal advantages were less than Christ, but, far more than this! He found those gains actually transformed into a loss! They were not a plus on that side to stand in proportion to the plus on this side--but they were turned into a minus of actual deficit! He felt that his fleshly advantages, when he came to look at them in regard to Christ, were disadvantages and what he had reckoned to be gains operated rather against him than for him when he began to know Christ! My Brothers and Sisters, he does not mean that to be a "Hebrew of the Hebrews" was, in itself, a loss, nor that to be of the stock of Israel was a loss, for there was a natural advantage about all this. "What advantage, then, has the Jew?" he says in another place. And he replies, "Much every way." But he meant that with respect to Christ, those things which were naturally an advantage became a disadvantage because their tendency had been to keep him from trusting Christ. And their tendency was still to tempt him away from simple faith in Jesus. "Alas," he seemed to say to himself, "it was because I gloried that I was of the stock of Israel that I rejected the Christ of God! It was because I boasted that as touching the Law I was blameless that, therefore, I refused to accept the glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith. These advantages were scales upon my eyes to keep me from seeing the beauty of my Lord! These privileges were stumbling blocks in my way to prevent my coming as a poor, humble, needy sinner and laying hold on the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus." My Brothers and Sisters, it is a grand thing to have led a virtuous life. It is a matter for which to praise God to have been kept in the very center of the paths of morality. But this blessing may, by our own folly, become a curse to us if we place our moral excellences in opposition to the righteousness of our Lord Jesus and begin to dream that we have no need of a Savior! If our character is, in our own esteem, so good that it makes a passable garment for us and, therefore, we reject the robe of Christ's righteousness, it would have been better for us if our character had been, by our own confession, a mass of rags--for then we should have been willing to be clothed with the vesture which Divine Love has prepared! Yes, it were better, so far as this matter is concerned, to be like the open sinner who will not readily be tempted that way because he is too foul, too bankrupt to pretend to be righteous before God! I say again, Paul does not say that these things are not advantages, but that for Christ--and when he comes to look at them in the light of Christ--he regards them as being a loss rather than a gain! If I had, this day a righteousness of my own, yet would I fling it to the winds to lay hold of the righteousness of Christ, fearing all the while lest so much as the smell of it should cling to my hands! Had I never sinned in one solitary open sin and if but one secret transgression of my heart had ever been committed, yet would I loathe my righteousness as filthy rags and only tremble lest my proud spirit should be so foolish as to cling to such a useless thing! Adam fell through one sin and lost Paradise, and lost us all--so that one sin suffices to curdle the purest righteousness into utter sourness. Away, then, with the very shadow of self and legal righteousness! But let us now proceed to notice that Paul gives us his second calculation, which is his estimate for the time then present. "Yet indeed," he says, "I also count"--not, "I counted"--as he said before, but, "I also count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." We are always anxious to hear what a man has to say about a thing after he has tried it. It is all very well to begin with eagerness, but how does the venture answer after a trial? After 20 years or more of experience, Paul had an opportunity of revising his balance sheet and, looking again at his estimates and seeing whether or not his count was correct. What was the result of his latest search? How do matters stand at his last stock-taking? He exclaims with very special emphasis, "Yet indeed, I also count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." The two words, "Yet indeed," are a very strong affirmation. He is speaking very positively as to his present confirmed assurance and established judgment. Look at him, then, again, making his estimate today, after he has been, for some time, a Christian and has been made to suffer as the result of his earnest service. You perceive that He has not forgotten the things that were gains, for, as we have already seen, he has given us a detailed list of them. On this second occasion he does not repeat the catalog, partly because there was no need for it and partly because he cares less for each item. But mainly because, for fear anything should have been omitted, he succinctly sums up the whole by saying, "all things." He as good as says--yet indeed, I also count as loss all the advantages of birth, nationality and self-righteousness which once I reckoned to be gains. If I have left out anything of which, as an Israelite I might have gloried, I beg you to insert it in the list, for I mean that all should be included when I say that I count all things loss for Christ's sake. So you see he has not altered the or